More from New Mexico - Christmas Day

The Great Poker Run:  we lost.  We are in the middle of a 7000 acre ranch; there's an annual event called the Great Poker Run.  Lots of the semi-permanent and permanent residents have ATVs for exploring the desert and the park owner has four of his own.  (We rode with him.)  There is a course onto the 18 miles of trails and at four stops, you draw a card.  When you return to the camp, you draw a 5th card and the best poker hand wins.  Mike and I together couldn't  get a decent hand.  It was lots of fun and I was glad the camp owner was driving, as it was a rough ride in spots.

The dogs are living their dream here.  Once we are off the park grounds, they can be free and explore.  So far they have been good about coming back when called.  The ranch has cattle, horses, goats, jack rabbits, coyotes and who knows what else so they are busy cataloging new smells.  As the weather warms up, we will need to watch for rattlesnakes, as they are also common here.  Needless to say, they come home from their walks exhausted (see photo). 

Mike went back to KC to have his new cornea checked and he is doing fine.  Our daughter-in-law Michelle is improving every day and we are feeling pretty good about the important stuff. 

We will be here until March.  When we were staying at the park in Sequim WA we had an offer to work camp this coming summer.  Mike will contact the park owner to see if her offer is still good.  If it is, we will head north and travel up the West Coast and then on to Sequim for the summer.  Plan to return here to Hidden Valley next winter.  It's just a great place.

We bought a new barbecue smoker which is propane-fired and about 25% of the size of the one we had in Leawood.  Mike has done a test run with brisket.  It was tasty but not as tender as he likes.  Wyatt says that the beef here is not equal to the Midwest beef we are accustomed to using so Mike will need to adjust his techniques.  We have problems remembering the altitude here in 4800 feet.  Stuff cooks differently than at 700 feet.

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and we will be reporting again soon.  (Mike has ordered a signal booster for the park WiFi so I should be able to get onto the internet more reliably.)

Catching up at last

Mike is on his way back to KC to get his new cornea checked so I have some time to update without his assistance.  Below is a photo of what we see in front of our trailer:

We watched the Chicago-Dallas game last night and don't miss Chicago one bit.  By the end of the game it was something like -11 with the wind chill.  Kansas City has also been slammed with the extreme temps and assorted other bad weather.  While it can be chilly and sometimes windy here, I will take it over snow/ice/sub-zero temps.

The park is lovely and very, very quiet.  And we are in the middle of the WEST of yesteryear.  See below.

Note the bullet holes in the sign.  You have to watch for loose cattle on this road as they can pop up out of nowhere. 

The dogs are in a state of ecstasy....all these new sights, sounds, and especially smells.  Coyotes and bobcats are known to come onto the park so we are careful with Snack1 and Snack 2.  They, of course, have no sense of danger (or any other type of sense for that matter).  Lots of other dogs around but all on leashes and well-behaved. 

The park specializes in ATV'ers.  There are lots of ATV trails out into the desert and we are hoping to get an invitation to take a ride one of these days.  Until then we are walking the dogs.  Just have to be careful to keep them out of the various spikey, spiny, sticky vegetation.  All new to them and Muppet likes to stick his nose into everything. 

We have been into the closest town, Deming, a couple of times.  Although it's the county seat, it's really small and doesn't look much changed in the past 40 years.  Just on the other side of Deming is the border with Mexico.  My son's mother-in-law has offered to take us into Palomas, the town across the border, after the holidays. 

We are giving each other a propane-fired bbq smoker for Christmas since our old smoker from the house was way too big to bring.  I am looking forward to good 'cue again soon as the local joints leave a lot to be desired.  Mexican food here, obviously, is great everywhere. 

The Weather

Bright sunshine here and  temps will hit 50 today.  We are grateful we are NOWHERE IN THE MIDWEST as it seems everyone is getting slammed with snow, sleet, ice, temps in the teens and lower. 

On the Road Again, Finally

My, my, it certainly has  been an interesting four months.  Our return to Kansas City for Mike's unexpected cornea transplant went well.  Except for the 14 degree night that froze our hoses, etc.  That wasn't all that great.

As soon as Mike could see clearly enough to drive we left Kansas City one jump ahead of a winter storm.  Stayed ahead of it until Amarillo when we had to get off the road for two days due to high winds.  And of course it was very cold.  And I picked a park that was right at the end of a private airport runway.  Nothing personal, you understand, but I will try not to go through Amarillo again...ever.  Tucumcari is only 113 miles from Amarillo and we had to get off again, this time for snow.  Sat three days in that park waiting for roads to clear and then finally drifted into Albuquerque.

We were supposed to have Thanksgiving with my son Wyatt, his wife Michelle, and their two daughters, Taylor and Madison.  By the time we got to Albuquerque, Michelle was very ill, in the hospital, and had three hours of surgery the day before Thanksgiving.  Mike and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner and Wyatt spent most of the day at the hospital with Michelle.  She is now doing much better and hopes to leave the hospital this week. 

We left Albuquerque headed south to a wonderful park outside Deming NM.  I will try to post a photo (I am still figuring out this application.)  Both of us hope your Thanksgivings were a lot less stressful than ours. 

October 18th - we are still out here

Been out of touch for some time due to:  1)  being in areas so remote we didn't even have a cellphone signal; 2) RV Park WiFi that is so anemic you can't get on it; 3) racing from place to place.  We should now SLOW DOWN. 4) Operator errors using this new PC...can't get my pages to post.

Since August, when we finally got our truck back, we have been three weeks in KC, a week in Council Grove at the COE Park, a week at Chanute in a sleazy motel while we waited for repairs to the Hitchhiker, four days at Coffeyville for my 50th high school reunion (a hoot!), four days at Tahlequah, OK for a Hitchhiker Rally, five days at Little Rock just doing nothing and another week at West Memphis AR on the banks of the Mississippi watching the tugboats/barges. 

We also spent 10 days at a Corps of Engineers park at Cherryvale and got kicked out during the shutdown.  A local reporter interviewed us, complete with photo, so we have now had our 15 minutes of fame.

One day we went to see Big Brutus,  See  photo.

 

Now the not-so-fun news:  Mike's right cornea (less than a year old) has gone bad and we are on our way back to KC to see about a(nother) transplant. 

September 1 - Kansas City

September 1, 2013

Okay, and now for an update from the road.  We had an accident in Hood’s Canal.  No one hurt, truck and rv drive-able so we spent time with our friends Joan and Jerry Enneking at Port Orchard and then went to Mike and Kathy Downey’s place in Kent.  They live on an acreage and have a large paved area where we could “camp out” while the truck was being repaired.  We saw a lot of that area: Emerald Downs Race Track (Mike won, I lost), the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, several farmers’ markets, local landmarks of various kinds.

It took almost a month for the truck to be repaired.  I’m sure Mike and Kathy will be happy to see us again in ten years or so. 

As we had eye appointments in KC August 23^rd (we thought) we left Kent and drove straight back, unable to stop to see our friends Kathy and Bosco in Idaho.  When we picked up our mail at Dick’s house, we had letters (!) telling us our appointments had been moved back to 9/9.  AAARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH.  

So now we sit here in Kansas City for an extra two weeks waiting for our re-scheduled appointments.  It has been the hottest stretch of the summer (of course) and miserably humid as well.  How can you tell the difference between Kansas in August and Hell?  Hell is cooler…

Dick and Marge had the local family together yesterday at their house for burgers.  I brought my friend Cheryl and her twins and their Chihuahua, together with our two dogs.  Dave and Vicky brought their new puppy so we had almost as many dogs and people. 

What to do in Washington while waiting for truck repairs.

10 August 2013
Go to the American Legion and watch Mike's long-time friends (the Captains of Industry) play cribbage.

9 August 2013  
Yesterday the four of us (Mike Duggan, Mike Downey, Kathy Downey and me) went to Redondo Beach on Puget Sound for lunch.  Another perfectly spectacular day.  Walked the boardwalk and then to Salty's for lunch on the patio.

We are delayed.

1 August 2013
Instead of staying at Poulsbo, we wound up at Hood Canal in a nice RV park right across from the water. Things were going well until we got ready to leave and had an accident which required repair.  Fortunately the truck was drive-able so we went to Port Orchard and stayed a couple of days with some new friends. Joan and Jerry live on an acreage and we had room to park the rig.  We had a great time, with lots of laughing, good food, and wine.  We went to dinner in Gig Harbor and enjoyed both the food and the view.

Joan and Jerry introduced us to their friends down the road, George and Barbara.  George is a retired Thoroughbred jockey and we were fascinated by his tack shop and his stories.  Barbara is a retired interior designer and their house looks like it came out of Architectural Digest.

So now we are in Kent WA parked in my brother's driveway as we wait for repairs on the truck.  Initial estimate was 22 days!  They called Mike yesterday to say they had the truck apart and had ordered the new parts.  Patience....patience....

We are scheduled to be in Kansas City August 23 so I'm hoping they get the truck back together next week so we don't have to either re-schedule all our appointments or go madly back across the country.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Wrapping Up Washington

We are in Hoodsport WA on Hood Canal and will get back to Kent WA (where Mike and Kathy Downey live) by the end of the week.  Our previous stop was Port Townsend where our site was next to the marina and right on the water.  One morning Mike looked out and said "Look...a submarine!"

There's a sizable submarine base south of Port Townsend.  This one came about even with us and then the sub and its Coast Guard escort made a wide turn and disappeared in the direction they came.  

We try to sample the local cuisine as much as we can but sometimes it's prohibited.

So we do the next best thing.

In the beginning...

Finally have time to complete the blog I started three months ago.  We're gone from KC to Roswell NM to Ruidoso NM to Deming NM to Silver City NM to Albuquerque.  Whew!  and that was just the first month...

Our granddaughter Taylor graduated from high school (YEAH TAYLOR) and we got to see our younger granddaughter Madison race her car on the dirt track.

Madison's race car

l to r:  Madison, Michelle, Taylor and Pat

Mike asking directions in Roswell

We then headed north through Park City UT to see Mark and Molly Stephens, our friends from the old days at Sprint.  Thanks, Mark and Molly, for being tour guides for us.

Then on to Midvale ID to visit our old KC friends Kathy and Bosco Bosler.  It was Bosco's 65th birthday and a great time was had by all.

Arrived in Kent WA in time for my brother Mike's 70th birthday.  We had exceptionally nice weather and the party outside was a smashing success.

Mike cooks for the bday Mike

We left Kent headed south.  Took the highway up to Mt. St. Helen's.  Beautiful.

We circled the Olympic peninsula and are now staying at Port Townsend.  This is a really charming small town on the water and they have preserved their Victorian buildings, both residential and commercial.  The photos below were taken from our RV park which is right on the water.

I've left out tons of photos and stories but I will do better now that I know how to build this!  We are going to Poulsbo WA Friday for 5 and then back to Kent to meet up with my other brother and his wife, Dick and Marge. 

Mike's 70th birthday party

We are in Kent WA parked in Mike and Kathy's drive.  The birthday party yesterday was a huge success.  We are guessing there were 50 or more party goers and they all had a good time.

We'll probably be here until Mike and Kathy disconnect the water and electricity.  At that point, we're considering doing a loop of western Washington State, returning here to meet Marge and Dick in late July.