A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

When we departed Santa Fe, we took a couple of days to travel leisurely to San Antonio, TX. Our travels from Santa Fe took us through the town of Roswell, famous for its alien sightings. Then we drove through miles of oil fields before we landed in Carlsbad, NM for the night. We actually found a couple of aliens waiting for us at the campground! This KOA campground had a small cafe offering several BBQ items on their menu. We had smoked beef brisket and spare ribs with homemade potato salad. It was simple, inexpensive and very good. When we woke up the next morning, the odor of oil from an oil refinery permeated the air. It seemed strange because there wasn’t any odor in the air when we arrived the night before. Once the wind changed direction, the odor dissipated, so I guess the breeze was blowing the odor in a different direction the previous day. I can’t complain because that oil is probably helping to fuel our travels in the motor home.

The Aliens Have Landed

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Back on the road, we continued to see many more oil fields as we headed for a campground in Fort Stockton, TX. We stayed at this campground back in 2009 when we made our last cross-country trip. The campground is home to the Roadrunner Café that makes the best biscuits we have ever had. They are also “famous” for their chicken fried steak, so I decided to give it a try. It reminded me of a breaded and fried cube steak. It was tender and surprisingly, pretty flavorful.

When we next hit the road, we saw mile after mile of pecan groves. We stopped for the night in Junction, TX and camped under pecan trees. I had to laugh when I found out that their password for the Wifi network was: eatmorepecans. I’m glad we didn’t arrive a week earlier at this campground because the owner told us they had received six inches of rain the week before and the campground had flooded. No wonder they had lots of green grass. Simon and Rosey thoroughly enjoyed being able to walk around and play in the grass instead of all the sand and gravel they had encountered for the past few weeks.

Speaking of the dogs, they have been phenomenal travelers. They are so into our routine when we set up at a campsite. If I forget, Simon reminds me to “unpack” his Kong toy which I keep on the upper bunk bed while traveling. He stands on his hind legs and woofs at me while looking up at the bunk. When we are packing up in the morning, they know that we are getting ready to travel and they are very good about going out and doing their business before we leave. Rosey is an old pro at traveling, we estimate that since we brought her home in 2004 she has traveled at least 75,000 miles with us. When she knows it will be a traveling day, she jumps up on the couch and patiently waits until we roll out of the campground or RV park.  Simon is more of a “gotta know everything that’s going on” kind of dog. He likes to stand up front by the dashboard of the motor home or jump up on the dashboard and use it like his bay window at home to survey what is going on outside. When we first take off in the morning, he’s the “navigator” and has his nose glued to one of the air vents in the console sniffing the air like crazy. Then he usually lies across my lap with his hind legs on the floor and the rest of his body on my lap. He often rests his head on the arm rest to my right so he can look out the window. Simon almost always takes a short nap this way and then heads over to the couch where he and Rosey snooze. If we are on a smooth highway, they will sleep for quite a while. If the road is bumpy they wake up sooner. If we begin to slow down to take an exit or we come up on some traffic lights, they notice right away and come up front to check out what is going on. Simon knows that when we are traveling he cannot jump up on the dashboard. As soon as the engine is off, that becomes his perch to guard the homestead! I have a small carpet up there so he can lie down comfortably. We have had numerous people in campgrounds and RV parks comment about how Simon stays up on the dashboard when we are away from the motor home. They think it’s really funny when he is lying down and sleeping up there.

 Rosey found the pillow

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 Simon is on Duty Safeguarding the

Home on Wheels

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Simon Relaxing up on the Dashboard

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  Now Simon has the pillow

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 Simon and Rosey Sharing the Couch

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 Simon and Rosey Snuggling on the Floor

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 Can you find the real Dalmatians?

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 Rosey on the Couch and Simon on the Floor

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 Simon and Rosey Snuggling on the Couch

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Simon has had quite a bit of socializing with people throughout this trip. He has been very friendly, especially to women. Unfortunately, he and Rosey are not happy about other dogs so we are always vigilant about where we walk and play with them. We had one incident in Pasadena where people were letting their dog run around loose. Unbeknownst to me, the dog ran under our motor home while I was out with Simon. All of a sudden I heard yelping and spun around to find Simon going after the dog. It was so small; I think he thought it was a squirrel, which he hates because they tease him at home. Well, that little dog flew back under the motor home and back to his/her campsite and never ventured down to our site again. We have had a couple other incidences where people have not had their dogs on a leash and those dogs came charging at us when we were walking Simon and Rosey. Every place we have camped has stated in their rules that all dogs must be on a leash at all times unless in a designated, fenced in, dog park offered by the campground. I guess some people don’t think the rules apply to them or maybe they can’t read!

When we have been able to find open grassy areas where we can play with Simon and Rosey, Simon gets to play with his fire hose material Frisbee. It’s the only kind of Frisbee that lasts with him. The plastic ones get destroyed in minutes. Simon knows which outside compartment we keep his Frisbee in and he goes over to it and waits for us to open up the compartment so he can get his toy. He carries it to wherever we are going and carries it back “home” when we are finished. We have a very long leash for him at play time so he can run around and catch his Frisbee when we toss it. He actually likes to flip it into the air by himself and catch it. It’s really funny to watch him. Rosey has no interest in chasing after a Frisbee. At 12 years old, she’s been there and done that. Her favorite pastime is sniffing every tree, bush, post and rock that she can find. Rosey has made it her job to be our trail blazer. She stops and pees numerous times in her quest to help us find our way back “home”. Simon couldn’t care less about that stuff.  He’s also not a leg lifter unless he finds a tree or post that some other dog has peed on. Then he lifts his leg so high that he sometimes falls over backward. I’ll start laughing at him and he will give me a sheepish kind of look.

Simon on His Way to Play Frisbee

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OK, enough about the canines! Back to our travels…

The day we left Junction, TX, we were on our way to San Antonio. While in San Antonio, we visited my godmother (who is also my cousin), her husband and their children and grandchildren. We all had a great time together catching up on what was going on in each others families. My godmother and I spent time looking through old family photo albums and found pictures that I had never seen before of some of our relatives, including a photo of my father when he was a young boy. My godmother cooked up a storm and had us over for brunch and a couple of dinners. Pete really enjoyed her beef brisket the last time we were here and she cooked brisket for us this time too. It was delicious! My cousin, Lisa, baked a decadent chocolate cake for dessert. Pete and I really enjoyed our visit and being able to hang out and relax for a couple of days without running around like tourists. The last time we were in San Antonio the temperature was over 100 degrees. This time the temperatures were in the 80s and it was much more comfortable.

My Godmother and Me

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Once we left San Antonio, we spent one night in Waco, TX where we looked up Naaman’s Championship BBQ for dinner. They won the top prize in the brisket category at the 2010 Mississippi State Championship competition.  It’s the kind of hole-in-the-wall place in a converted gas station that you might see Guy Fieri visiting on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives! The gas station building became the dining room, and the food prep actually takes place in a food truck that is parked along the side of the building. It was fun and the food was really good!

Naaman's Championship BBQ

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We also spent one night in Texarkana before driving across the state of Arkansas and heading to Memphis, TN.

Some of our Travel Trivia:

So far on this trip…

Pete and I have taken over 2,500 pictures.

We have traveled over 7,500 miles.

We have spent over $2,500 on gas for the motor home.

We have stayed in over 35 campgrounds/RV Parks.

Pete's command Center with Three GPS Units, a Cellphone,

and Laptop Computer with Mapping Software

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