JANUARY - MARCH 2014

THE SLABS, ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO and TEXAS

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2014 Home

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TRAVELOGUE #7

February 11 - February 28, 2014 - More Texas: North thru Central Texas to Dallas, visiting friends, then on thru the Panhandle, into NM and visit with another friend outside Albuquerque.

After leaving Padre Island and the Gulf, I headed north toward Dallas. Stopped in La Grange and then Waco. There were bad ice storms in Dallas and I ran into some around Waco and was glad to stop before the roads got too bad! At the park in Waco, it was starting to get warmer and I heard drops on the roof. Rain? No - it was the ice on the trees melting and falling on my RV!

Finally made it to Plano, a bit north of Dallas, and the home of Judy and Lew Robinson. Judy and I worked together at Computab in Hawaii in the early 70's. We've been close friends ever since, even though we rarely see each other. I spent four days with them, parked in their yard behind an 8' fence. Judy and I never ran out of things to talk about! With Lew's help, I got my battery terminals cleaned and found a place to change the oil. RV is running great, but I had traveled about 4500 miles at this point and thought it a good idea to do some basic maintenance. Sunday afternoon, I bid them farewell and headed north to McKinney to see Pam and Bob Hatch. Pam and I worked together at TSW (The System Works) - the job that allowed me to live on Lopez and work in Redmond for almost 9 years from 1986 - 1994 (she was the boss). It was great to see good friends and always amazing that we still have lots in common and lots to talk about!

From McKinney, which was north of Plano, I headed east. I drove thru Wichita Falls and stopped at a park and we took a walk along the Wichita River. I headed NW through the Panhandle toward Amarillo and camped at Palo Duro Canyon State Park just south of Amarillo. Not many people in the park but a beautiful place - we were camped at the end of the canyon and only a few other RVs around. We were woken up about 5AM by howling that sounded really close. Not sure what they were, but most likely coyotes.The moon was close to full...

After hiking some trails, we traveled north. Big wind storm and temps dropping. Yuk! Stayed several night at an RV park to avoid driving in high winds and ice storms. Then we headed north toward the Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument. This unique flint made very sharp stone tools and has been found all over north America, including at mammoth kills over 10,000 years old!! You can only see the site on a ranger-led tour - there weren't any signs so they can avoid (any more) scavengers. It was really fascinating!

Next, we headed west towards Albuquerque. Stopped in Tucumcari, NM (very small town) and ended up spending several nights because I was having vibration issues and decided not to keep driving until I had it checked out (had to wait til Monday for shops to open). Turned out I had a front tire about to fail - with a big bubble in it. Had them put the spare on, called ahead to tire store in Albuquerque to order two new tires, then proceed to Linda Dowling's place in Bosque Farms NM, about 30 miles south of Albuquerque. We had a great time! One day, I drove up to get my new tires, next day we went to the Balloon museum, and the following day we went to a wonderful natural history museum. Linda raises Arabians horses and has 3 dogs, so we had lots of company! She and I worked for Informatics in 1976 - me in San Francisco, Linda in LA. We've been great friends ever since.

Loved the birds - especially the cardinals.

This is the Texas Colorado River outside La Grange - not to be confused with the Colorado R. We had some great walks.

Cardinal above - pine siskins (?) below.

 

Notice the ice here - we saw this while driving the day before and knew it was time to stop!

 

Judy Robinson

Bella. They had two cats, so Sunna stayed outside. Fortunately, the yard was fully fenced.

Judy and Lew

Lew and me

In 4 days we never ran out of stuff to talk about. Duh.

Lew is a car guy - so I squeezed into his backyard. He had to park his pickup on the street. Lots of privacy with the 8' fence.

Lew caught me in the morning before I had a chance to get dressed!

Sunna found a rabbit hole with several baby bunnies. We tried to protect them. Sunna thought they were toys. Lew said they were OK after we left.

I love this sign!

in McKinney Texas - Pam and Bob Hatch with daughter Jessica.

Back on the road! Sunna always sits on the couch behind the driver's seat. When she sees something to bark at, she barks right in my ear!

The Wichita River, in Wichita Falls.

South of Amarillo

Beautiful canyon

 

 

Wild turkeys - just like Lopez!

Took a nice hike along the river. Above is a seam of gypsum.

 

 

 

 

Hiked up to the top of a bluff. Great views of the canyon walls on either side.

 

Cedar waxwing.

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One of the signature peaks in Palo Duro.

They had a bird watching area with food and water.

White crown sparrow and finch.

Texas Longhorn cattle.

Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument. Above: view from the top of the mesa.

Flint deposits.

All that you can see in evidence of the mining of flint are some shallow holes. The deposit is only about 6' thick.

"The Blue Hole" in Santa Rosa, NM. Very clear deep natural spring. People scuba dive in it (you have to be careful becuase it's so deep). It's level is very low here becuase they were painting the building and water slides (on left). As soon as they close the gate, it will be full again. In the foreground, you can see the spring water trickling in.

Linda and her great Pyranese. Can't remember his name. She also has a corgi (Amy) and a lab (Maggie). Sunna and Maggie spent a lot of time together in the yard.

The Balloon Museum in Albuquerque. There's a huge field outside where they gather in October...