DAY 13 – 15, March 15 – 17: Amarillo, Texas

  
It snowed really hard on our last night in New Mexico. We could hear it hitting the trailer. The whole campground was covered with a blanket of snow and all that white lit up the night sky. A few hours before it was pitch black. This is a new experience for us. You can tell us Californians haven’t much experience living in the snow. Stop laughing all you ‘snow’ savvy people. We discussed staying in Santa Rosa another night. We just didn’t want to experience driving in snow storms again. But all was well when we woke up in the morning. Most of the snow had melted and it was slightly overcast, and cold. The drive to Texas was short and uneventful. It rained most of the way. After 3 hours and 170 miles we arrived at Oasis RV Park in Amarillo, Texas.  

OASIS RV PARK, AMARILLO, TEXAS: This is an excellent RV park. It is very large with 192 sites (mostly pull-thrus). All the interior roads and sites are paved. All the sites are very spacious with room for the largest of big rigs and room left over for a patio area and parking space for a few cars. There is lots of space between the sites. The landscaped areas between each site have gravel and pampas grass. There is no green or trees. But hey, this is the desert. The park is nicely laid out and completely level. We had full hook-ups with cable TV (40 channels), but no local channels (our antenna was not working). So we had no local news and I missed my favorite show; Lost. There was free WiFi with a strong signal, but it never connected to the internet. Occasionally we did get a connection, but it was slow. Very frustrating. I needed to get on Facebook and harvest my crops in Farmville!! The owner of this RV park was on site and he and the staff were very friendly and accommodating. The owner explained about ongoing problems with the WiFi and he was “working on it”. The bathrooms were excellent! They were individual rooms with shower, sink and toilet. Very private, very clean with lots of hot water and good pressure. We rated this RV park a 4 (out of 5). It would have been a perfect 5 if we had WiFi and local channels.

  

  
DAY 14 – MARCH 16 – THE AMARILLO ZOO & BOTANICAL GARDENS:
Amarillo has a small zoo that was established in 1955 on 15 acres with over 60 species of animals. It was very nice for a small zoo. It even had lions, tigers, and bears. But there were no elephants, giraffe, or zebra.

  

  
It was not the right season for visiting gardens, but we went anyway. Being that it was still the winter season and most of the plants looked dead, the entrance was free. The gardens are very small, but nicely laid out and would be a nice garden when everything is blooming. There was a nice tropical conservatory that was newly constructed. It looked like they were expanding as there was other construction going on. We will have to visit again at a later year.  

After dinner we treated ourselves to a movie. We saw ‘Alice in Wonderland’ (without the 3-D glasses – it was just as good). A great magical movie!

DAY 15 – MARCH 17 – PALO DURO CANYON STATE PARK:

About 20 miles outside of Amarillo, in the middle of all this flat land, is a big hole and Texas’ ‘best kept secret’. That hole is a canyon of "spectacular geologic wonders and panorama of colors”. You drive down into it on 16 miles of roadway (one way). It is full of campgrounds (some with full hook-ups) and lots and lots of trails for hiking, horseback riding and bicycling. This is a beautiful, fun place and it’s on our list to return to it and camp there.

  

  

  
HISTORIC ROUTE 66: On our way to visit Palo Duro Canyon we made a stop along Route 66 to check out ‘Marsh’s Cadillac Ranch”. This is a row of ‘dead’ Cadillac’s sticking nose first in the ground. Stanley Marsh created this artistic attraction that consists of 10 Cadillac’s, from a 1949 Coupe to a 1963 sedan. They are buried in a simple line at the same angle as the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt. It was originally installed in 1974 in the outskirts of Amarillo. But development crept closer. By 1997 several mega stores and a Cadillac dealership became neighbors. That same year Marsh moved the whole thing two miles down the road. People are invited to spray paint their names or their own art on the cars. Unfortunately the area is littered with spray paint cans, even thought there are a few large signs asking people to not toss the cans, but deposit them in a large trash bin outside the gate.

Yesterday when we visited the zoo and gardens, we drove through downtown and noticed a lot of life size painted horses. After visiting the Canyon, we drove downtown and walked around and took pictures of all of the horses we could find. We believe the project was done this year and it is called “Hoof Prints of the American Quarter Horse”. It was sponsored by the American Quarter Horse Association.

 

 

 

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

We had forgotten that St. Patrick’s Day was upon us (and I am half Irish!) so we were unprepared for it when we realized it was today. We did wear green and we saw several people wearing green too. But we could not find any Irish pubs or restaurants advertising corn beef and cabbage (guess there are not a lot of Irish people in Texas). So we stopped at a grocery store to see if we could find some fixings for a corn beef dinner. All we could come up with was a package of sliced corn beef deli meat and Brussels sprouts and potatoes. So that night, Dave fixed us an Irish dinner and we enjoyed our feast with a glass of wine (sorry, no green beer).

Our visit to Amarillo was fun and very pleasant. We like Amarillo. There are lots of things to see and do here. We also found the people very friendly. We were smiled at a lot and also greeted by several passing people. We did not notice a Texan drawl accent at all. I guess the Panhandle is not ‘southern’ enough. We will be returning some day to visit again.

Our next destination is Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Facts: Became a state in 1907. Often called “Little Dixie”, but has a Midwestern feel due to the acres of wheat and grain elevators. It covers 69,919 square miles with a population of 3,450,650. The capital is Oklahoma City.
State Flower: 1893 – Mistletoe, 1910 – Indian Blanket, 2004 – Oklahoma Rose
State Bird: Scissor Tailed Flycatcher
State Animal: American Buffalo
State Tree: Redbud
State Song: Oklahoma (Rogers & Hammerstein)

DAY 12, March 14: Santa Rosa, New Mexico

  
We will not be exploring any area in New Mexico. We already did this in a past trip. Santa Rosa will just be an overnight stay on our way to Texas.

We had a horrible drive into New Mexico. When we woke up this morning there was a light dusting of snow on the Ford and the picnic tables in the RV Park. This was a bad sign to what the weather was going to be like for the day. From Holbrook, AZ we continued on Highway 40 (Historic Route 66). We found driving this highway and pulling a trailer in bad weather can be very dangerous. All of the truckers with their big rigs drive this highway and they drive fast and reckless, in all kinds of weather. We have been ‘blown’ to the shoulder of the highway many times while driving Highway 40; by the truckers and the wind. It often brings back memories of that time during our first cross country trip when our trailer tipped over. So I am often holding my breath.

The weather just got worse as we drove on. First it was raining and then light snow, then a blizzard with the snow blowing sideways. Now the snow was sticking to the asphalt and turning into slush. Traffic was stopped several times. You could see a line of traffic, (all big rigs) stopped on both sides of the highway due to the weather and a few wrecks. We started looking for RV parks along the highway. We were going to stop overnight and wait out this storm.

  

Finally we came over this crest and found two small trucks had slid sideways and as we tried to move into the other lane, a big rig came zipping by blocking our way (he didn’t even slow down!!). We managed to slow down and stay in control and avoided a disaster (we already had our disaster for this trip). As we continued over this crest we came out from under that storm cloud and it stopped snowing and raining. In fact everything was dry and there was no snow anywhere. WEIRD?! After 9 hours of driving and 352 miles later, we safely arrived at in Santa Rosa, New Mexico.

  
SANTA ROSA CAMPGOUND: This campground is rough looking and barren with a few short trees and no grass. The interior roads and sites are dirt and gravel. It has the look of a former KOA. There are 70 sites, mostly pull- ins. There is an area for tents. The office has a store and gift shop with a Bar-b-que restaurant in back. The campground is nicely laid out with level sites. One side looks out into the desert. There are some walking trails in this desert area. There is a nice pet area. The staff is very friendly and accommodating. We got full hook-ups with cable TV (with 30 channels), and free WiFi (with easy log on and a strong signal). The campground is next to the highway so there is some traffic noise and but not enough to disturb sleeping. We could hear train horns, so there is a railway nearby. The bathrooms are old, but clean and the shower stalls are private with lots of hot water, but so so pressure. We rated this RV park a 3 (out of 5)

Our next destination is Amarillo, Texas!

DAY 10 – 11, March 12 – 13: Petrified Forest and Painted Desert NP

DAY 10 - MARCH 12 - HOLBROOK, ARIZONA
On Friday, day 10, we headed north up into the ‘high desert’. It was a clear, sunny day and as we approached the White Mountains, we can see snow covered scenery. Our destination is Holbrook, Arizona; a ‘cowboy’ town located on the Historic Route 66, and about the only good size town that is located in northeastern Arizona.

It is the nearest town to the Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert National Monument. Both parks are side by side and one road runs through them both. We will be spending two nights in Holbrook and will be visiting these parks. After 3.5 hours and 170 miles, we arrived at the Holbrook KOA.

HOLBROOK PETRIFIED FOREST KOA: From what we could find, there are only two RV parks in Holbrook. We determined that the KOA was the better one. It is a mid size RV park with 100 sites, mostly pull thrus. Being in the desert, it is very sparse with all dirt interior roads and sites. It is probably very muddy after it rains. There are a few small trees and no grass. It is nicely laid out and the sites are fairly close together, but there is enough room for slide outs and awnings. The place was pretty empty when we stayed there so we had no neighbors which gave us lots of room. It is close to the highway, so there is a lot of traffic noise and we could hear a train nearby. But it was fairly quiet at night. There is cable TV (with 50 channels) and free WiFi (strong signal). The bathrooms are old, but clean. We rated this park 3.5 out of 5.

I want to introduce you to “TT” Traveling Turtle, aka Beanie Baby ‘Slowpoke’. This little stuffed critter is our travel mascot. He is always in my (Jo) car and goes wherever I go. When we travel, he rides in the Ford and we take him along to see all of the sights with us. He has been on all of our cross country trips including Canada and Alaska. Look for TT in our travel pictures. He is somewhere in some of them. Can you find him??

DAY 11 – MARCH 13 – PETRIFIED FOREST NP and PAINTED DESERT NM:              
It was a beautiful, sunny and warm day when we visited Petrified Forest NP and Painted Desert NM. Petrified Forest National Park was established in 1906 to protect one of the worlds’ largest and most colorful deposits of petrified wood. Millions of years ago this area was once a vast floodplain crossed by many streams. Tall, stately trees grew along the banks. There were also ferns and other plants and small dinosaurs. The trees fell and a mix of silt, mud and volcanic ask buried the logs. This sediment cut off oxygen and slowed the logs’ decay. Silica laden ground water seeped through the logs and replaced the original wood tissues with silica deposits. Eventually the silica crystallized into quartz and the logs were preserved as petrified wood. In the mid 1800’s US government mappers and surveyors exploring this area carried stories back East of the remarkable “Painted Desert” and its trees turned to stone. Next all of the ranchers and sightseers visited the area and took the petrified wood for souvenirs and commercial ventures. Finally this area’s value was recognized and in 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt set aside selected stands of petrified trees as a Monument. In 1932, 53,000 more acres of the Painted Desert were added to the Monument. In 1962 it was designated as a National Park.

Petrified Forest National Park.  Can you find TT?

  

  

Petrified Forest National Park - Crystal Forest

We explored the 28-mile road through this National Park area and took lots of pictures and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. A very strong wind came up later in the day, so strong that it blew you off the trail so we did very little hiking. It was just too windy and cold.
  
The Historic Route 66 runs through these parks with Painted Desert on one side and Petrified Forest on the other side. We came across this ‘artifact’ of the past on Route 66 near the parks visitor center.

We had an unpleasant surprise when we returned to our trailer. We forgot we had put the awning out. It was such a sunny day when we arrived, we put it out to shade the trailer. That strong wind that come up while we were at the National Park had torn out the rods holding the awning in place, and draped the whole thing over the top of the trailer. It was completely ruined. Dave was able to remove the whole thing and stow it under the trailer. We will try to find replacement parts and fix it sometime during the trip. Things happen and we hoped that this incident will be the worst that will happen to us during this 4 month trip.

Our next destination is New Mexico.

Day 5 - 9 / March 7 - 11: Arizona

DAY 5, March 7th - LOS ANGELS TO PHOENIX:
This was a very long trip so we got an early start. We traveled along Interstate 10 under cloudy and dark skies. It rained, but it was not constant. The sun did peek out on occasion. When we passed through Palm Springs, the surrounding mountains were covered with snow. It was a pretty sight and I bet a real treat to this desert city.

  

  

  
We stopped in Buckeye, AZ and had an early dinner at Cracker Barrel. This is one of our favorite places to stop at to eat. It is a friendly, southern home style restaurant with a real nice gift shop. We have found many treasures at this gift shop. A 'must have' treat that I (Jo) look forward to is the stick candy. This place has quite a selection of flavors and they are only 15 cents a piece (or 10 for $1). Every other place that sells this candy charges 50 cents to $1 a piece. Cracker Barrels are quite popular in the southern part of the US. They are all over the place along major interstates and highways. After nine & half hours and 385 miles, we reached our destination in Mesa, Arizona, Val Vista Village.
  
VAL VISTA VILLAGE is a community for seniors. This facility has about 1000 sites. Most of the sites have permanent structures on it, others have the huge rigs parked on gravel with cement 'patio' pads, and then a few sites scattered about the facility are left empty for 'over nighters' like us. There is the village center with a card room, library, billiards and other activities for seniors. There is also a craft room, computer center, and fitness center and of course a couple of pools here and there. People purchase their own cable TV, so us over nighters have to depend on whatever local channels our antenna can pick up. But there is free WiFi and we get a pretty good signal.

A lot of the residents are only here for the winter. Their 'home' then stays empty while they return to Canada or the north. When winter returns to the Phoenix area, and the population increases by 80,000; it's places like this where that population resides. Mesa and Apache Junction is where most of these facilities are.
  

  

  
It was 6:00pm by the time we settled in. Just in time to catch the last two hours of the Academy Awards. Fortunately we got that channel loud and clear. There was this huge dark cloud overhead as we entered Mesa and it seemed to get darker as we got closer to Val Vista Village. As we were unhitching the trailer and loaded the pets into the trailer, the thunder and lightening started. What a show. I really miss those light shows we often had when we lived in Phoenix. It was later on in the evening that the rain started and it came down hard.
  
DAY 6, March 8 - SHOPPING:
It was a dark and stormy day so we decided to visit places that are indoors. And those places, of course, are the Malls. Arizona has some of the best malls. These are summer hangouts when the temps outside reach 110 degrees and higher. We visited Chandler Fashion Mall and a discount mall called Arizona Mills. Another stop was a wonderful bead shop in Tempe called 'Beads Galore'. I spent about two hours there. Our last stop was Trader Joe's. We will be stopping here a few more times before we leave Arizona, as there will be no more Trader Joe's until we reach Washington DC.
  
DAY 7, March 9 - MORE SHOPPING:
This morning was cloudy with some blue sky and sun. So we decided to visit the Phoenix Zoo and Desert Botanical Gardens (next to each other). However, as we got closer the sky really darkened and it just poured and the wind was blowing. It felt like we were in a hurricane. So we continued into Scottsdale and had lunch at Scottsdale Fashion Mall then walked around. The sun finally came out late afternoon, but by then it was too late to visit the zoo and gardens. That evening we had a nice visit and dinner with Joanie, a friend and co-worker from our Fireman's Fund days. For those of you who do not know this, we lived in Phoenix for 12 years. Joanie and Dave were with a small group of Fireman's Fund staff that moved to Phoenix to open a 2nd data center. "It was nice to see you again Joanie and we enjoyed 'catching up' with you."
  
DAY 8 & 9, March 10 & 11 - TUCSON, ZOO & GARDENS:
The next two days were just beautiful! Scattered fluffy clouds and lots of blue sky and bright sun. We spent one day in Tuscon visiting the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. This place is high up in the hills surrounded by Saguaro cactus. If you enter the area in one direction you go through Saguaro National Park. This Museum is a combination zoo, natural history museum and botanical garden; everything native to the Sonoran Desert region. There are more than 300 animal species and 1200 kinds of plants on display, alive in their natural desert settings. There are almost two miles of paths over 21 acres of desert. the museum also has gift shops, coffee bar, a cafe and a fine dining restaurant called Ironwood Terraces (the food is delicious here). Displays are always changing here so everytime we visit we see something new.
  

  

  

  
On our last day we finally visited the Phoenix Zoo and the Desert Botanical Garden. There were changes at the Phoenix Zoo so it was like visiting for the first time.

   

  

The Desert Botanical Gardens were established in 1939. It is the only botanical garden in the world that focuses solely on desert plants. It sits on 145 acres and has more than 50,000 plants on display. There are five thematic trails that exhibit cactus and succulent species from around the world. This place is a 'must see' if you visit the Phoenix area. Unfortunately, both my camera batteries died, so I only got a few pictures. And those pictures were at the entrance where there is a stunning display of glass sculptures by renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly called 'Tower for the People'.
  

   

  
That evening we met with another friend for dinner and a visit. Katie and I (Jo) are childhood friends and lived in the same neighborhood in Terra Linda, CA. We've known each other since the 5th grade. "Had a great time visiting with you, Katie. Wish we had more time to hit some garage sales. Maybe next time".
  
Time to move on. Our next stop will be in Holbrook, AZ for two nights to visit the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Park.
  

Day 2 - 4, March 4 - 6 'The Happiest Place on Earth"

DAY 2, March 4th: We had an uneventful drive to Los Angeles; except for the time when we were traveling at 55 mph along the highway and as we approached a highway entrance, the car in front of us suddenly slowed down to 5 mph, almost coming to a stop, to let on a car that had stopped dead at the entrance (instead of merging). As Dave applied the brakes, we prayed that the trailer didn't start fishtailing. But all went well. Seven hours and 261 miles later we arrived safely at Anaheim RV Village.

ANAHEIM RV VILLAGE is a very nice RV park with a nice layout and manicured lawns. The people running the place are extremely friendly and very accommodating. The village is large with over 200 sites. The interior roads are paved and each site is also paved and very level. The sites are too short to park your car by your trailer, so you are given the next site over for your car and in between is a paved area with a picnic table. The bathrooms are old, but clean with lots of hot water and good water pressure. No cable TV, but you could get about 3 local stations. The WiFi is free with easy log on and a strong signal most of the time. We gave this park a 4 rating (out of 5).

After we settled in we walked over to Disneyland. It's only a .6 mile walk down the street, turn left over the overpass and there you are. You could see the Matterhorn as you top the overpass. Disneyland was open until 8:00pm this evening so for the next two hours we had dinner and walked around.

DAY 3 and 4, March 5 and 6th: The next two days were spent at both California Adventure and Disneyland. Both places were quite crowded (maybe because it was the weekend). But I mean really crowded. It was gridlock on Main Street! On both days the weather was pleasant. Friday was sunny and warm, Saturday was cold and cloudy, but it did not rain on either day. Disneyland was open until midnight on both days, but we only lasted until 9pm on Fri and 3pm on Saturday. We just can't get around like we used too. But we had great fun and we are now ready for our next adventure.

Our next destination will be 5 days in Mesa, Arizona.

Day 1 - March 3rd - Paso Robles, CA

After a hurried morning of completing our packing we departed Cotati at 10:30am.  Only a 1/2 hour past our scheduled departure time.  Almost immediately it started to rain.  It rained almost the whole 5 hours it took to reach our destination.  On occasion the sun would pop out and light up the landscape.  260 miles later we arrived in Paso Robles.  When we entered San Louis Opispo County, we saw some very beautiful scenery.  The sun reflected through the clouds causing the green rolling hills to become more vivid and almost magical.  It was very beautiful and made you feel like you were in Ireland.

The WINE COUNTRY RV RESORT is a very nice RV park. It is large with 166 sites. It is very clean and nicely laid out. Next door to the park is the Firestone Vineyard with a tasting room. Nearby is a small plane airport, but the noise is minimal and quiet at night. There is free cable TV (with 22 channels) and free WiFi!

This evening we went downtown to the city square and found a very nice restaurant called Berry Hill Bistro. They serve sweet potato fries (my favorite!). We returned to the trailer and opened up a bottle of Chocolate wine and celebrated our first night! Then it started pouring rain. I love the sound of rain on a trailer roof. Especially when we are snug and warm inside.

Tomorrow we head to Anaheim with two days at Disneyland!