Homeward Bound

HOMEWARD BOUND

1- May 2006

After being away from our summer home for over eight months, we reluctantly left our winter home in Southern California on the 1st of May. Our plan is to make several stops along the way. Before arriving in Maryland by mid-May and traveling over 3,300 miles, we hope to have visited The Saguaro National Park in Tucson, explore the Albuquerque and Taos Area, see one of Patricia's childhood friends in Oklahoma City and finally visit the horse country in Kentucky.

At the new Texaco truck stop in Ehrenberg, we weighed the truck with a full load of fuel and all of the "stuff" that we are taking home. I calculated that "stuff" weighs approximately 1,200 pounds! There are two truck stops in Ehrenberg, Flying J and Texaco. For the life of me, I don't understand why people line up at the Flying J just to get a few cents discount with their loyalty card when they can just breeze through at the Texaco station; diesel prices are the same at both stations.

We thought that there might be some problems associated with the immigrant's boycott in Tucson on the 1st of May. We did not notice any problems what so ever despite the media touting big shut downs and service interruptions.

On our last visit to the Saguaro National Park (West) in January 2004, the Saguaro Cactus Flowers were not in bloom, but they were during this visit on 2 May 2006. We were thrilled to see them this year! Cactus flowers were also in bloom at the De Grazia Gallery in Tucson.

One third of our return trip home was spent in New Mexico, the "Land of Enchantment." The first New Mexico Rest Stop/ Visitor Information Center on I-10 heading east was rather neat, in addition to being spotless. Several picnic tables were enclosed around a court yard and the Ocotillo were in full bloom. After spending a night in Las Cruces we drove to Santa Fe via the Turquoise Trail, a scenic highway, from Albuquerque. Stopping in Madrid, a once ghost mining town, now flourishing as an artist haven, we enjoyed a lunch at the local tavern and watched artist at work.

Taos is another large artist community. There are plenty of shops to browse and search for that one special piece of South Western Art. Taos Pueblo is a Registered National Historic Landmark as well as being inscribed in 1992 onto the World Heritage List by UNESCO as: The First Living World Heritage.

It's easy to see why Santa Fe is only second to New York as an art market. Hundreds of art galleries are tucked into the cities streets and alleys. Art is every where! We enjoyed strolling along Canyon Road and visiting the fine art galleries, not to mention a delicious lunch at one of the many outdoor restaurants. Visiting the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum was one of the highlights of our homeward bound journey. At Jackalopes, a rather colorful shop, we purchased a few south western decorations for our RV.

On the ride from Santa Fe to home we saw things that we hadn't seen in a while and some new things. First was the rain; we had more rain in two day then we had for the entire Snowbird season!. The we saw many pronghorn (no pictures though) on the plains in eastern New Mexico and the pan handle of western Texas. It wasn't long after leaving Amarillo that we entered the "Long Green Tunnel." It had been a while since we last saw green country sides. In Oklahoma City we had an enjoyable, though brief, visit with Norman Jean, a childhood friend of Patricia's, and her husband. Then we saw the artistic curves of rice paddies in Arkansas, something that we had never seen before.

After being away for 9 days shy of 9 months , we arrived home at 14:27 on 12 May 2006. A fantastic trip! Please click on the Statistics link below for further trip details. We plan to return to Two Springs in the Fall.

HOMEWARD BOUND PHOTOGRAPHS