Arizona, Mesa - Saturday, October 29, 2016 - Ft. Stockton, TX to Mesa, AZ

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SON DAVID!!!

This picture is for you.  This was in a store window in Tombstone and we thought of you, “best line ever”.

Before we left Ft. Stockton we had to have breakfast at the Roadrunner Café.  It was full of calories (and wonderful) so we skipped lunch.  There was lots of open road on I-10 that morning.

This was a surprise

It turned out to just be closed for bridge work.  We exited went over to the entrance lane and were right back on I-10.

The mountains changed dramatically during this leg of our trip.

El Paso wasn’t quite as big a problem as expected, but it seemed to go on forever.

We have been here before at Hacienda RV Resort in Las Cruces and enjoyed our stay so we opted for an overnight stay this time through.

It was in the 90’s so we didn’t walk too far but we did get in a mile or so with a trip over and back to Barnett’s Las Cruces Harley Davidson.

They had a lot of 2017 Harleys, in fact they were packed in so tight I had trouble getting a good picture.  I didn’t think it would be a good idea to end up knocking over a bike because they would have fallen like dominoes.

More open road after we left Las Cruces, NM.

Mountains are changing again.

We have been seeing large pecan orchards since western Texas.  These are just over the Arizona border.  Last time through we picked up a large bag of pecans in Las Cruces but we didn’t make the trip downtown this time.  We did find some locally grown fire roasted chili peppers in the guest services building at the Hacienda RV Resort.  We were pleasantly surprised that they contained no sodium.  We purchased a couple of jars since we like them added to our Mexican dishes.

Another mountain variation.  This one had huge boulders that looked like they were just barely hanging on.

All is quiet on Tombstone’s main street.  We like the RV park that is within walking distance of downtown.  They pack the RV’s in like sardines there, we couldn’t open one of our living area slide outs or the people next to us might not have been able to get out their door.  Not a park we would normally pick but the fact that it is within walking distance of Tombstone downtown makes it a winner.

The stage coach was entertaining tourists.

Cowboys were looking for some action.

We weren’t sure whether this is the beginning or the end of their tourist season.  A few of the stores were closed.  We found enough of them to wander through and even spent a little money.

I bought a blouse at the Oriental Saloon that will look good with my long square dance skirt or jeans.

We stopped for some olive oil tasting at Tombstone Oil & Vinegar.  We have purchased some wonderful flavored oils here in the past and we weren’t disappointed this time.  We purchased a pasta finishing oil and a bread dipping oil that were sodium free.

As we made our way through Tucson we enjoyed the elaborate tile work at each of the overpasses.

Yet another mountain formation.  This one is Picacho Peak.

We see these all around the Phoenix area.  The hay fields are enclosed by dams so they can be flooded to provide adequate water.  Picture is not very good – too many bugs on the window.  I understand this is butterfly migration time into Texas.  I’m sorry to say that more than one of them won’t be finishing the trip.  I would see them coming at the windshield and silently think, “go high” but it didn’t work.

Starting to look like our winter home.  Palm trees are looking good.

We arrived at Val Vista Villages in Mesa around noon on Friday.

Flowers are in full bloom.  Last we heard over 35,000 of them have been planted around the resort.

We went walking early this morning before the temperatures reached 90.

We walked by the grill where we will be working starting Tuesday.  Looks like there is still a lot of work to do.

It was still too early for the pool or hot tub crowd.

We occasionally enjoy this indoor hot tub after work.

This will be our home until April 15 of next year.  This is our third year of workamping here.  The previous two years we each had to work 12 hours a week to pay for our site and utilities.  This year it has been changed, we each only have to work 5 hours a week until January.  After that we will be working 12 hours a piece.

Texas, Ft. Stockton - Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - Ft. Stockton RV Park

We haven’t stopped here before, but are pretty impressed.  This is a former KOA which we normally avoid because some of them are kind of uncared for.  This one seems to be doing a booming business and is very well kept.  We will be here for the night in site 49.

The Texas Hill Country between San Antonio and here has some pretty scenery, lots of wide open spaces and not much else.  All in all an enjoyable drive (at least for me, I was kicked back in my recliner passenger seat).  I did have to get up every once in a while for some refreshments for the driver – it’s a hard life.

This is our view from the front window this evening.

We started seeing cactus about halfway through our trip today.  Lots of big ones here at the park.

Greg came out of the office after registering telling me about the home cooking at the café here at the campground – homemade biscuits and real mashed potatoes.  He was pretty sure the potatoes would win me over because I don’t like instant potatoes.  I could tell it wasn’t going to be a heated up leftovers kind of night. 

When we are doing quick one night stops just to get miles covered I usually don’t get too involved with cooking, usually just leftovers or something quick like a sandwich and potato salad.  This was a long day of travel so not having to do dishes sounded appealing to me.  We tried the pork ribs and the chicken fried steak – very good.  We have to get to Mesa quick so we can eat healthy again!!!

We are in for the evening watching the Cubs and Indians game – GO CUBS!!!

Texas, San Antonio - Monday, October 24, 2016 - Travelers World RV Park

Since we left Bonita Springs, MS about a week ago we’ve had some enjoyable travels.  We were headed west through Mississippi when we saw the exit coming up for Vicksburg and started talking about how good the fried green tomatoes were the last time we were through Vicksburg so we decided on an unscheduled stop.

We booked three days at the Ameristar Casino RV Park.

Just after we arrived this place filled up with an RV caravan, it was a good thing we got here when we did.

The first night here we took the free shuttle over to the casino and played for quite a while and felt lucky we just lost $20.

The next morning we walked down to the casino area and took some pictures of the bridge and river.  The flag flying in the breeze always brings a smile to my face.

The tug boats were out working.

Rusty’s Riverfront Grill was our destination on our last day there.  The sun wasn’t shining on the front of the building so the picture isn’t the best one.

These tomatoes are amazing!!  They are supposed to be appetizers and the last time here we split a plate and each had a shrimp po’boy sandwich.  This time we knew better – we each ordered a plate and considered it our entrée.  There is nothing at all healthy about eating these, the tomatoes are deep fried, topped with lump crab meat and a cheese sauce.  Not something you want to eat every day, but once every couple of years it’s a real treat.

From Vicksburg we decided to head south to take I-10 on west.  When we got down to I-10 which was just inside Louisiana we remembered a casino campground that was just a ways back into Mississippi on I-10 so we headed that way for the night.  We stayed one night in Bay Saint Louis, MS.  We decided we were having a real hard time getting out of Mississippi.  I'm usually so intrigued by just looking at the Mississippi I forget to take a picture, did get one decent one this time.

As we were coming into Louisiana they were burning the sugar cane fields.  This is a picture out of my side window.  We could see the smoke from the fires in several areas.  As I understand it it is illegal to burn the cane fields now but the fines are so low the farmers feel it is worth the fine to get rid of the leaves from the cane so it is easier to harvest.

We stopped at one of the few rest areas along I-10 in Louisiana to have lunch.  From where we were parked I could walk underneath I-10 for some pictures.  This is looking back east.

This is looking west.

Not too far down the road from where I was taking pictures underneath I-10 there is water under the road.  I think this stretch of road is called the bridge over the basin, most of it is through water.

I love this bridge, it looks like you are just going to drop off the other side.

I-10 through Louisiana is a really rough road, not so much from potholes, but it is made of concrete and just beats on you.

Before we made our way through Houston we decided to stop about an hour and a half away in Vidor.  Greg had picked the Boomtown USA RV Resort as our stop based upon the information he saw on the Good Sam website.  Good Sam needs to update their pictures and description.

This is a picture of the office.  This is the only picture worth taking.  Our site had full hook ups and it was off the highway (barely) that's all I can think of to say nice about it.  I-10 runs right by it and traffic runs on that road all night long at 75+ miles per hour.  We won’t be making a return trip.

Welcome to Houston.

The Houston skyline is awesome.

Tonight we are staying at Travelers World in San Antonio, TX.  The office looks pretty plain Jane but this is a really nice park.  It is right next to an extension of the River Walk that is downtown so you can go walking, jogging or bike riding along a very nice paved trail.  We are only here for one night this time (we were here for two weeks in 2013).  We decided to take the city bus into town to have dinner on the River Walk.  The bus stop is just across the street from the RV Park.  We managed to figure out where we needed to get off and found our bus to bring us back home when we were done.

The River Walk is just an amazing place.

This was our view on the patio of the Original Mexican Restaurant.

Once again we were saying “we should have split a meal”, we brought home lots of leftovers for later.