Southwest Trip 2008

January 7, 2008

Happy New Year everyone...Yee..Haaa! We are really doing it...Randy and I have begun our great adventure together, touring this great country of ours! I flew into San Diego on January 3rd...Randy and his brother met me at the airport...we spent a few days with kin and moved on up the coast heading north...San Diego..LA...Santa Barbara...San Simeon....toured Hearst Castle...Big Sur...and now in Carmel on the Monterey Peninsula. We headed up the coast on California Highway 1 winding through the Santa Lucia Mountains and the Los padres National Forest. We did run into rain and wind up there on a two lane road with our "big ass red truck and fifth wheel" in tow. Words cannot express the breathtaking views where sea meets mountains! Around every curve was another spectacular view! We even stopped to see the migrating elephant seals napping on shore and viewed whales from our vantage point high on the mountain roads. Today we watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. Tomorrow we head out on our journey to the Sequoia National Forest.Love to you all and I will try to keep you posted...many times we end up in areas with no communication service so days may go by before I can update.

Love you,
julie



Monday-January 14, 2008

Hello to all our family and friends!

Thanks for all your well wishes...we have seen an amazing amount of sights in just a short period of time. I believe my last e-mail was from the Monterey Peninsula. From there we drove thru the central valley (very agricultural and full of moo-moos) and camped at a place called Millerton Lake...we were one of three campers and had the glorious park all to ourselves. Using that point as our base, we drove to high altitudes and witnessed the beauty of Yosemite National Park...Oh my gosh!..breathtaking comes to mind...it was a winterwonderland and the first time seeing snow in several decades. The following day we drove thru even steeper mountains to visit the giant forest and the awesome sequoias, the largest living things on our planet. They almost didn't seem real and nothing prepared us for their wonderous majesty. The following day we headed out for Las Vegas...the country side went from lush pacific coast to giant mountain forests covered in snow...to expansive, barren desert. California is diverse and has so much to offer...I'm quite sure we will return someday. I have enjoyed the excellant produce in the markets and can only hope that Nevada will offer the same.

As we drove thru the Mojave Desert I was looking at the map and said, "hmm, we should be driving by Edwards Air Force Base and see it on out left". As I looked up there it was...how cool is that...the place where our space shuttle lands when it can't land at Cape Canaveral. We camped that night in a town near Calico and the following morning checked out an authentic ghost town reminiscent of wild west days. We toured on foot the old silver mines and walked thru the streets full of original structures. We made Vegas that night and spent the next day touring the strip....we walked thru quite a few of the grand hotels and I did a bit of gambling in each one. My favorite hotel was the Bellagio with its amazing botanical gardens and water fountain show at night. The city is as spectacular during the day bathed in desert sunshine as it is at night with the dazzling lights. Yes, I would definitely like to come back again.

Today we head out to camp near the Hoover Dam so we can visit it tomorrow on our way to the Grand Canyon. Our great adventure is only half over...feels like I've been gone from home for longer than a few weeks.

Love you all,
julie



Monday - January 21, 2008

Hello My Sweethearts!

From Vegas we headed to Lake Mead and enjoyed the most scenic campsite yet. We overlooked the lake and mountains with no obstructions…such quiet beauty. We visited the great Hoover Dam the following day and took the tour. When we were hungry we decided to eat there and Randy had a “Dam Dog” while I had the special a “Dam Burrito”…oh, my gosh…that burrito was huge…as big as our dog Lana….I couldn’t believe I ate the whole thing (well, Randy did help a little). That night we enjoyed a campfire shared with the coyotes…yep, they were real close.

I have fallen in love with Sedona and the desert! We have spent 3 days here and have seen so many wonderful sights from National Monuments of ancient pueblo ruins to Red Rock Mountain Majesty. I visited several vortexes…for those that don’t know…Sedona is said to contain a curiously high number of vortexes or swirling centers of subtle energy…one of the few places in the world that possesses all three types of energy emitted from the earth. Electrical = masculine, magnetic = feminine, and Electromagnetic = neutral.

Using Sedona as our base we took one day to make a loop, visiting Sunset Crater Volcano, the pueblo ruins of Wupatki National Monument, viewed the Painted Desert, and finally got to the Grand Canyon in the late afternoon. One of the earth’s most powerful, inspiring landscapes – overwhelms the senses. I was able to take some fabulous shots of the canyon boasting rich reds and purple shadows…yes, it was a bit chilly…high teens…luckily we were dressed warm and the sky was a brilliant blue.

The moon is almost full and I shall be dancing under it in the company of the desert.

Love you all,
julie

PS I have a lava rock from Sunset Crater Volcano…my favorite rock yet…I figured one little rock from acres of them would be OK…



1/23/2008
I'm trying to type as we bounce down the road, meaning there is a lot of vibration when pulling the 5th wheel. I have gotten pretty good at writing and painting in my sketch book...then, after we set up "camp", I rewrite my journal notes in another book. To answer your question about warm clothes for cold weather, we have done well by layering our clothes...for example, I might wear my silk long underwear top, followed by a sweater, layered with a down vest and finished off with a lined parka…topped off with hat, scarf, gloves, and hiking boots. This garb worked well for up in the mountains, removing layers as needed when the sun warmed the landscape or the truck warmed up…anyway, not bad or a couple of Floridians. Besides our propane furnace, we have been using extra space heaters to keep warm at night. There was one night when we were camping up in the mountains in Flagstaff, AZ and the temperature got down to 6 degrees...Randy woke me up at 0330 and said we got to go before our water system freezes...the water was at the slush stage...we drove out of the higher elevations until we arrived at the temperature of 34 degrees (2 hours later) so the system could thaw...in about 4 hours we had water again and nothing broke. With a little foresight on Randy's part we have managed to avoid winter storms.Thanks for your support dear friends...more, later.

Love you,
Julie and Randy



Hi All! January 29, 2008

Upon leaving Sedona, we changed our itinerary from Albuquerque/Santa Fe, New Mexico to San Antonio, Texas. We opted to take a more southern route due to heaps of snow arriving in the northern region of New Mexico. Perhaps we will get to see Santa Fe on another great adventure. In the mean time, we did stop to investigate more National Monuments/Parks…as you may have surmised by now, we have become National Park Junkies…that’s right, I search them out on our map and beg Randy to stop!!! The Agua Fria N.M. was nothing but rugged terrain and dirt roads…we were towing our 5th wheel making it impossible to enter the monument. As luck would have it, Peggy and her Husband are volunteers and offered to take us in their vehicle after I mentioned how much I wanted to see some petroglyphs. Petroglyphs are marks either pecked or scraped into rocks by ancient cultures as symbols of communication…also known as rock art. So off we went in search of some “glyphs”…they drove us to a newly discovered site. As we hiked up a small hill, Randy came upon a stone with markings…that’s right, he actually discovered a new petroglyph and Peggy dubbed it “Randy’s Rock”. How cool is that? Our tour guides pointed out some more before we headed back to our rig.

We stopped at Saguaro National Park and saw cacti as far as the eye can see. The Saguaro Cactus has been described as the monarch of the Sonoran Desert, one of the hottest and driest regions on the continent with <12” of rain/year…good thing we are here in January. However, the lushness and variety of life in this desert far surpasses all other North American Deserts. On our next stop, I bought a hanging bundle of home grown (no not pot) red hot chili peppers from a little town called Mesilla…well, we’re not getting very far down the road so we need to make some time!

We made it to San Antonio, welcomed by overcast skies and cool temps. We debated whether or not to stay, but despite the weather, decided to take in some sites. “Remember the Alamo”…located a short drive from our campsite in the heart of downtown San Antonio…a short walk from there brought us to the famous River Walk…and we also drove to four Spanish Missions making up the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park (NHP).

New Orleans, here we come…well, who knew that we would be arriving in NOLA during the first weekend of Mardi Gras…so we did get to sample a taste of the festivities, including a parade called Barkus…that’s right, it was a dog parade…we sat for several hours in fascination with all manor of dogs and costumes and owners. I loved it.

This is my last e-mail update, for alas we are nearly home. “Our Great Adventure” was indeed the experience of a lifetime…the question is, can we do it again next year?

Love,
Julie