Ship’s Log - Stardate: 2015-08-31 - Monday - Mission Day 99

First Officer’s Entry:

I just realized that I have come full circle.  And I don’t mean this trip although we will return to Phoenix Wednesday having gone more than a 9,700 mile, 101 day, full circle.

The full circle I am writing about dawned on me as I was standing in the center of our rig’s “Living Room” and I realized that at 40 feet long, and with the slides out, I have just about as much space as I did when I lived in my first bachelor pad efficiency apartment down at Oakwood Garden Apartments at 40^th street and Camelback.   

Seriously, that was one small apartment!  It didn’t even have a bed, just a pull out couch.  At least now I have a bed!  And to top it off I had two motorcycles parked in the apartment's garage, my Norton and a R80 BMW.  Well, I still have the Norton but the Beemer has long since been replaced by a string of bikes, the latest of which is my little 500cc Triumph Bobber, and both bikes are parked in the rig's garage.

Another aspect of the “full circle” is that Oakwood is where I was living when I met Ms. Cheryl Thomas who is currently sacked out on our living room couch playing with her iPad.  Well, at least that much has changed.  At Oakwood all we had to play with was, a) each other, and b) a very small television set with no VCR, DVD, or cable.  Remember, home computers, smart phones, and the internet were still the stuff of Star Trek.  (Of which our rig is named after.)

Thank goodness we had “a”, above.

Anyway, today we are safely ensconced in the Elk Pines RV Park in Overgaard, AZ.  The trip from Pie, NM was only 4 hours and we picked up another hour when we entered Arizona so it’s really strange to be in the park so early.  We are staying here to rest and avoid the Valley’s heat for one more day.  The plan is to leave here Wednesday morning, and we’ll be at the house by mid-afternoon.

Resting has never been my favorite thing to do, so tomorrow I am going to drive up to Holbrook to press a few pennies.  That should fill a few hours.  Then I will sit around the rig and try to not get too antsy. 

I promised CKT we could go out to dinner tomorrow night, and we scoped out the local restaurants a little while ago.  Pickings are slim but there’s a small café down the road, and I guess we’ll end up there.

That’s it.  We’ve talked about and think we will do a “wrap up” blog after we get home and talk about the trip’s highlights.  Maybe we will, maybe we won’t.  Don’t count on it.  Life may well get in the way of our plans.  It works that way sometimes.

End First Officer’s Entry

Captain’s Entry:

It’s chilly this evening in Overguaard! Isn’t that just the greatest news! We only ran our air conditioner about an hour this afternoon as the sun was going down. The rest of the afternoon was great with a light breeze and about 78 degrees. We sat outside the RV and read books under the tall pine trees. Lovely!

I really like it here, but Frank is itching for Phoenix and getting back to business. I’ve got tons to catch up on when we get home, but I’m not looking forward to being locked inside with the air on full time. At least I’ll have a month’s worth of swimming left in September. October should bring some sweet relief and November through the winter months will be heaven. I’ll be gardening and taking daily walks with the puppies.

The two Chihuahuas, Cleo and Peanut, have been a delight on this trip. They know when we’re taking off so they hunker down in their beds under my feet in the passenger seat. They also know when we're about to leave them alone in the coach while we go exploring. They slink away to their beds under the table in our dining booth and things are always as we left them when we return. They greet us as if they haven't seen us for months, and we feel properly appreciated every time. It's great having them along.

Even though I’m looking forward to being home, I’ll miss the fun of seeing new places almost every day. We’ve visited some unexpected and unplanned places this time like the Very Large Array near Pie Town, New Mexico, the Carriage Museum near Long Beach, Washington, and the Duesenberg and RV Museums while we were staying in Elkhart, Indiana.  All of these visits turned out to be exceptional. 

I’ve especially enjoyed the scenery through our big front windows as we’ve traveled down the many highways all across America. My gosh, this country has so much to offer, and we are so thankful we can wave the flag and sing, “Oh say can you see . . .” 

We can assure you "our “flag is still there.” It flies over ranches, car dealerships, RV parks, front yards, schools, parks, marinas, state capitol buildings, post offices, and up and down the streets of many a small town and near mailboxes on the back roads.

We’ve loved getting high on the freedom of the road. Thanks for hitching a ride with us. It's been grand having you along.

End Log

Ship’s Log - Stardate: 2015-08-30 - Sunday - Mission Day 98

First Officer’s Entry:

Yesterday as we expedited ourselves expeditiously across NM Rt.60 to get to Pie Town we passed the Very Large Array (VLA).  I knew what it was because of my work at NASA and other government agencies and Cheryl and I both knew it from it being featured in several movies we’ve enjoyed, the most prominent being “Contact” with Jodie Foster.

The good news was we had reserved ourselves into a two day stay in Pie Town, all half mile, two café’s, no post office, no grocery store, no stop light, no sidewalks to roll up of it, and had all of today to either relax (the original plan) or to drive the 50 miles back to the VLA.  The VLA won, and boy-oh-boy are we glad it did!

The VLA has 27 antennas on-line, each 80 feet wide weighing 100 tons and one spare. The on-line antennas are arranged in a “Y”, nine to an arm each arm being 13 miles long.  The antenna spacing is adjustable from about one mile to the full 13 miles and since they function as one big antenna that makes an antenna 22 miles across. 

I really enjoyed the VLA.  For a REALLY NEAT movie narrated by Jodie Foster, see:  https://public.nrao.edu/gallery/beyond-the-visible-vla .

Now I will let the Captain tell of our adventure in much more flowing, descriptive, emotional, and feelingfull, words.

Captain’s Entry:

We’re all alone in the campground, and I love it. Last night it was velvety quiet way up here at 8,000 feet! Yep, it was so cool last night we snuggled under two blankets and turned up the heat this morning to take the chill off the rig. There’s a sign next to the small road by the campground that says PIE – 200 yards ahead! It’s the Pie Town Café the sign is promoting, and we ate breakfast AND lunch there today.

Everyone we’ve met who lives in and around Pie Town has been super friendly, and when we stopped back at the Café for lunch, we felt like old friends. I walked in the door, and without hesitation said, “We’re back!” Isn’t it great to have been made so welcome that you lose all inhibitions about saying the wrong thing?

To top off lunch we each had a piece of pie that had been fresh-baked this morning. When we were there for breakfast the waitress was just sliding two coconut cream pies into the glass case. We both thought we’d order a slice for lunch. Not on your life. That pie was long gone when we got back around 2:30 p.m. for lunch.

Anyway, Frank ordered New Mexican Apple Pie (with green chili and pinion nuts).  He said it was better than Aunt Imogene’s Apple Pie that I slave over and bake at home!! Can you believe that Heather Godel??? The photo and recipe can be found here, http://www.pietown.com

 

I had a piece of dark chocolate pie with whipped cream on it that I have to admit was better than my Aunt Olive’s recipe for chocolate pie that I bake at home. That’s saying a mouthful! 

I’ve decided I’ll never bake again. I’ll just roll out the RV and head for Pie Town whenever I’m hungry for a piece of pie!

The First Officer has fairly well covered the technical aspects of the visit to the Very Large Array, so I’ll just say I’ve never seen scenic vistas like we saw today on the way there, while we were there and on our way back. The atmosphere here is clear as can be and the high-desert landscape is backed by shrouded, light -blue tinted mountains under a brilliant blue sky full of giant, snow white cumulus  clouds.  The feeling you get while you’re driving through it is electric!

Tomorrow we’re off to Arizona and a couple of days in Heber/Overgaard up on the Mogollon Rim where it’s cool and smells like wet pine boughs.  I won’t want to go home on Wednesday, but I’m sure the resort where we’re staying will be all booked up Thursday through Monday for the Labor Day Weekend.

Well, we almost did it. We almost stayed on the road in our RV from Memorial Day to Labor Day. As Maxwell the Smart piped up and said, “Missed it by THAT much!”  I told him to pipe down, or I’d seriously consider leaving all those bugs smashed on his grill until after Christmas. 

When we return home on Wednesday, we will have been on the road for 101 days! It’s been a pretty good test of whether we’d like to do this full time.

End Log

Ship’s Log - Stardate: 2015-08-29 - Saturday - Mission Day 97

First Officer’s Entry:

Whoooo, boy!  Did we luck out!  Today we won!

We arrived in Pie Town, New Mexico about 3 PM.  After setting up the rig in the Pie Town RV Park, we went in search of pie.  Just up the hill from us is the Pie Town Café, which is closed today.  Up the hill a tad bit further is the Pie-O-Neer Café.  We found that the two café’s split up the week so there is always a café open, and pie available, for folks passing through and for folks like me to whom this is a specific out of my way gotta see it destination.

So, how did we luck out?  The café closes at 4 PM and we walked in at 3:30 not knowing that. And there were three slices of Oat/Pecan Pie left and we got two of them. And two servings of Green Pepper Pork Stew, which was delicious by the way, and then the pie was beyond delicious also by the way.

And we got to meet Kathy!  Yes, that Kathy!  Kathy Knapp, the Pie Lady of Pie Town, New Mexico.  And now we have a new friend for life.  Seriously, she is sweet as pie.  (Did I really write that?)

Ya know, if you gotta go east from Phoenix you can go up to I-40 and super-slab it, (ugly ride) or you can go south to I-10 and super-slab it, (super ugly ride) or you can slide up to Payson, meander out Rt. 260 to Show Low (be-yoot-iful drive) and then cruise  to Pie, NM.  After that go ahead and pick up the super-slab if you want to because your tummy will be so full of happy pie it won’t care what the rest of you is doing.

This morning I had a senior moment mental misfire.  I knew we had crossed a time zone when we entered New Mexico, so I reset all the clocks and watches in the rig.  Then at about 9:30 AM we drove from the Red Barn RV Park (love that park) into Roswell to visit the UFO Museum to squash a few pennies, arriving at 10 AM or so.  And the museum was closed!  And right there on the front was a huge “Open Seven Days a Week, 9 to 5” poster.  So I was really torqued and thought, “What’d I do, arrive in the only 8 day week of the year?”

We sat in the rig in their parking lot for about 20 minutes with me grousing about our luck, and the museum’s lack of consideration when I spotted two ladies having a smoke behind the building.  I went and asked them if the museum was going to be open today and they said, “Yes, at 9 AM.”  

I said, “but it’s 10:30 now!”

And they replied, “No, it’s 8:30 now.”

And that’s what happens when you have a senior moment mental misfire.  I had set our clocks and watches ahead one hour rather than back one hour.

Anyway, we stayed in their lot for another half hour and I put the time to good use making pancakes, pork chops, and coffee for breakfast.

At the real 9+ AM I went in, skipped the ticket counter (I’ve been there before), went directly into the gift shop, squashed three pennies for the GK’s, bought a “been there” pin, and we cruised our way to Pie Town, New Mexico.

And here we are.

Captain’s Entry:

(The captain is napping.  This is all you get today.  FO)

She surfaced long enough to process a photo splash and upload this entry.

End Log

Roswell New Mexico UFO Museum and Penny Press Location

Note the Street Lamp's Globe

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

 (Very Large Array)

A bit closer! Tomorrow we hope to get VERY close

                                                          

A Metal Sculpture Store Along Rt 380

An Abandoned Adobe House on Rt 380

A Windmill and a Hip Roof Along the Way to Pie Town

Ship’s Log - Stardate: 2015-08-28 - Friday - Mission Day 96

First Officer’s Entry

Today was an easy day. We slept in. Did a little maintenance on the rig. Left about 9:00 a.m. Arrived here at the Red Barn RV Park in Roswell about 2:00 p.m. This is a small family-run business with about 12 back-ins and 2 pull-throughs, purchased by a young couple (I'm 72. Everyone seems young.), Randy and Lee Fudge, about 2 years ago. They have been working diligently to make it into what it is, which is clean as a pin, cute as a bug, and Texas-friendly in New Mexico. After the previous 2 parks we stayed in, this place is a breath of fresh air. Here's a link to their website.

 “Momma says RV parks are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Frankly, as we travel we seldom plan more than a day or two ahead because sometimes we’re not sure where we’re going to end up. The process is for us to look ahead about 200 or 300 miles in the general direction we’re traveling, find what appear to be small- to medium-sized towns on the map and then Google RV parks around those towns.

We look at the individual park websites and online reviews to make our selection. “Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, sometimes it rains.” We have stumbled across some of the nicest RV parks that way and some that fall into the category of “we-can-survive-one-night-here.” So after surviving two nights in that category, this place feels really down-home comfortable.

We are in one of the pull-throughs, which is fascinating because it looks like a back-in that ends at a white fence. On closer examination, the white fence is actually a wide gate that opens directly onto the roadway outside of the park. Tomorrow morning we will simply open the gate and drive out. I think that’s clever as heck.

We had an interesting experience this morning as we left Post, Texas on our way to Roswell, New Mexico. The Garmin BIB absolutely, positively would not plot a course directly west on State Route 380 which runs from Post, Texas to Brownfield, Texas and then on to Roswell, New Mexico. No matter what we did, even putting in way-points, the BIB wanted us to go north to Lubbock and then south to Brownfield. We finally shut her off and dead reckoned ourselves out of Post and cruised to Brownfield and beyond. Once we got past Brownfield, she got with the program and took us to Roswell. As with a lot of things in this digital age, we were successful in spite of the system, not because of it.

End Log