Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Wanderlust

Las Cruces KOA —
  A Hilltop RV Park

We arrived at our campground today without incident. We drove straight through the planned route and stopped only once in Alamogordo to take on fuel.

We were pleasantly surprised that our campground RV park is elevated above the southwest end of the city of Las Cruces – actually a pretty big town in this region of New Mexico. In the image above, you can see our rig parked with the mountain ranges in the distance and the urban sprawl below.

Later this evening, Damsel and I took a walk down to the front of the park where there is an overlook of the area. I used my S23 Galaxy phone to photograph the city lights:

In the above image, you can dimly see the mountain range beyond the city we crossed coming here today. We also crossed the Rio Grande River, which flows through the area on its way to the Big Bend and thence to the Gulf of Mexico, where we were just a few days ago.

Click on either image to open the image viewer.

17 Apr 2024 by Notions Retirement Travel Wanderlust

Camping Carlsbad

We’re camped in Carlsbad, NM this evening, not to see the Caverns, but to just camp overnight. We wanted to make it to Artesia, which is another 20 minutes north of here, but the local RV campgrounds were (a) unavailable and (b) shabby, so we stopped at a nice, clean KOA on the north side of the Carlsbad area.

Tomorrow, we will continue to the west, eventually arriving at Las Cruces, NM for a couple of nights. We need to have a rest from the road, get a good shower, shave, etc. and plan the next phase of our return to the Arizona mansion.

16 Apr 2024 by Notions Travel Wanderlust

Camping — Junction, TX

We’re camped in Junction, a little town just off of I-10. The town is located a hundred miles or so west of San Antonio. It’s a pleasant rural-ish RV park alongside the Llano River. We’re staying here for a couple of nights just to relax for the weekend. We have already had our dinner and are settled in watching TV and surfing on the internet.

The ride out of San Antonio was even more of a nightmare than the arrival last night. It took us a full hour to just get of the urban area and head west on I-10. Traffic was backed up horribly due to freeway and other construction. The departure was very annoying and tedious. I recommend staying out of San Antonio until they finish their road projects.

On Monday, we will continue west and probably stay another night in West Texas before heading back into New Mexico. We’re going to have to be home by late in the week to take care of some appointments, etc. there.

We thank the Lord that we have been safe thus far, and pray that He will continue to bless us.

13 Apr 2024 by Food & Dining Notions Retirement Wanderlust

San Antonio

Just a quickie to let you know that we’re in San Antonio at the Alamo KOA. The trip here from Port Lavaca KOA near the Gulf Coast was pretty good except for the last few miles on I-10 Westbound where there was massive road construction underway. All that was exacerbated by some heavy traffic, making for a tedious final approach to the off-ramp.

We’re here for tonight and will be continuing westbound where we’re booked in for a couple of nights in Junction, TX for some needed R&R.

When we leave in the morning from here, we will do a drive-by at the Alamo in the morning for a photo-op (perhaps).

12 Apr 2024 by Notions Retirement Wanderlust

Camping in El Campo, TX

Our travel day started out with moderate to heavy rain showers in the Waco, TX area, Then, as we progressed southward towards our destination, the weather improved to overcast with no precipitation for the “middle” of the drive. The clouds gradually broke up and as soon as we parked in our camp spot, the sky became clear.

On the way, Damsel took a shot of one of the many pastures we pass, usually no big deal, but this pasture had a little something unusual about it:

Damsel found that this herd belonged to FreBo Ranch.

Click on images to view enlarged.

10 Apr 2024 by Environment Retirement Wanderlust

Eclipse Day

What we anticipated to be a dismal forecast for the weather on Eclipse Day, turned out to be not so bad, especially during the totality phase. Clouds passed between us and the sun often, but then opened up for partial phase glimpses and during totality, most of the four minutes of darkness, we were able to see the corona and in the image below, a couple of prominences at two-thirty and five-thirty on the disc. The 5:30 prominence was huge.

I wasn’t very well-prepared to take photos given the woeful forecast, which affected my motivation, but I was able to attach the big 100-400mm telephoto lens and shoot bunches of photos hand-held (no tripod) and had a few fair results including the one above. Damsel had similar results and captured the “Diamond Ring” at the end of the totality show:

As I’m blogging this, we are getting some moderate to heavy thundershowers with lightning and thunder, but, Praise the Lord, no tornadoes. The precipitation knocked out the satellite TV a few times, but it is up and running now.

We’re here until Wednesday and then off to other parts of Texas south of us towards the Gulf of Mexico and thence via westerly routes heading back to Arizona over the next several days.

08 Apr 2024 by Astronomy Environment Notions Science Wanderlust

Camping — Waco, TX

We didn’t post about our campsite last night since the internet connection was almost non-existent. (Note to self: next trip get Starlink and bypass crappy internet service.) At any rate. we had a nice overnight at Abilene, TX last night.

Tonight and for the next few nights we are where we expect to view the total solar eclipse on Monday. We’re all settled in and relaxing after another tedious driving day with gusty crosswinds most of the way from Abilene to here.

The outlook for clear skies on Monday for the eclipse isn’t looking too good as of the current weather forecast; mostly cloudy and possible rain. We are optimistic that we will be able to see some of the totality with breaks in the clouds possible.

Damsel and I will be spending the weekend with our usual emphasis on dining, albeit on the road. The menu currently features entrees of Steak Salad (Filet Mignon, of course) and BBQ Country-style Pork Ribs. We hope y’all will eat as well this weekend.

05 Apr 2024 by Travel Wanderlust

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