HappyTrails

Where the two lanes and old highways take us

We haven't been on the road with the motorhome recently but during some reorganizing I rediscovered two books that will be important for when we're on the move again; Road Trip USA by Jamie Jensen, and Where the Old Roads Go: Southwest, by George Cantor. Both provide some entertaining guidance on routes and places to check out. There could be some updates to these volumes.

Happy Trails!

Arizona Easter

On a final shopping trip in Las Cruces I discovered a street fair.    It was a beautiful Saturday morning and many artisans were displaying their work along a protected walkway in the downtown area.  Street fairs are plentiful in California and it is typically a good place to find interesting local art.  I decided to take a stroll through the booths and found a surprising number of interesting one of a kind creations.  One of my favorites are the crosses created out of yucca from the desert around Las Cruces.  Each cross was embellished with turquoise beads tied with natural fiber.

 

This artist's beautiful glass work can be seen every Saturday in downtown Las Cruces.

We finally left our park near Old Mesilla heading for Arizona on Easter Sunday. 

We are now enjoying a brief stop at one of our favorite Southwest locations, Benson.  Our plans will remain fluid because of recent maintenance and personal business matters.  Sometimes it is necessary to give up a plan due to factors outside our control.  At this moment we believe we will be arriving in Pahrump, NV later this week. We're hoping to get to the SKP Park in Pahrump while our friends, Jerry and Barb, are still there.  Our tentative schedule allows for about a week in Nevada and then on to some appointments. Unfortunately, this change in route may result in missing a visit with another couple we know from Deming, NM. 

Bird sighting:  Jack observed a real "roadrunner" today (I didn't see it but I believe him). 

Easter bunny spotted

   

We wish our family and friends, Happy Easter!

Getting to know Las Cruces

When we decided to make Las Cruces a destination for annual checkups with a physician we had no idea what life in Las Cruces might be like.  Our visit last year was punctuated by hospital stays, long waits in doctors' offices and we hardly noticed the surrounding enviornment.  Since arriving a few days ago we've discovered that there are a number of interesting day tours, several historical landmarks to visit, birding opportunities and our personal favorite, quite a few great restaurants.  After getting an excellent report from the physician, Jack asked him if he had a favorite restaurant in Las Cruces.  He told us about a restaurant called Mix with such enthusiasm that we thought we'd give it a try, right away.  We're congratulating ourselves for this choice because we enjoyed a fantastic dinner of seafood prepared in Japanese style.  Mix also prepares sushi from their cozy sushi bar.  We're hoping to return before we leave.

We still have a couple of days remaining to get our mail and receive some packages so we should get to know this area quite a bit better than last year by the time we continue West on Saturday.

For our birding friends - Las Cruces, NM

 

Birding in Las Cruces.

Night Out in Old Mesilla

We decided to splurge and take ourselves out to dinner.  After checking the park information sheet and the internet, we chose a restaurant called Double Eagle in Old Mesilla.  This restaurant is located in one of the oldest parts of Las Cruces (address is actually Mesilla) but we missed it on our previous visit.  Our meals were very good.  We both ordered carefully with the knowledge of having cholesterol checked soon.  After dinner we walked around the Plaza and took in the New Mexico evening air and the feeling of the Plaza.

Pecos and on to New Mexico

After a day of high winds in Pecos, TX we were happy to be moving on to New Mexico. We had planned to stop at Camping World to purchase some items and possibly spend the night in their lot.  The Anthony, TX store is on the property of a RV dealer and they have their own campground (which looked like a large gravel lot.)  We weren't too pleased with that option so we moved on to Las Cruces. We're now set up at the park where we will remain until Jack has completed his annual visit with the cardiologist.  Some new readers may not know that Jack went biking in the desert last year with a friend and had a heart attack.  He was fortunate to have been with a guy who was aware and knowledgable and 911 was called right away.  The EMS in Deming, NM was outstanding and reached him within about four minutes.  The procedures to curtail damage to the heart were done professionally and Jack left a few weeks later with a new stent.  We feel truly blessed to have met Howard and Fran in New Mexico last year.  We give them high praise for helping us through that unexpected situation.

This return to New Mexico is the first leg of a "return" journey West.  We started out in January, 2005 and traveled this way as we began our fulltime RVing adventure.  This time we hope to do a little more sightseeing and finalize our route to Calgary where Jack will fish the Bow River with his grandson.  Ahhh, what a life!