Yet another absence....

At least this time I've got half an excuse!  We've been traveling!  We took off on December 30 and spent the next six weeks on the road.  It was quite a road trip from here to the Florida Keys and back.  I'll spend a few posts covering some of the high points.  One of the LOW points, almost everywhere, was the promise of wifi and the failure to deliver.  There were a few rv parks where they delivered but the vast majority were just confused.  At one park that actually had working wifi we checked in and got the password 'SunnyFla1' - it didn't work.  So I went back to the office.  No, the lady was certain that was the password.  In fact they had it written on a bulletin board.  She took me to see it.  Sure enough 'sunnyflorida1' - hmmm.  I know the office staff may not be required to be computer literate but that's just incompetence.

Anyway, as I said we left on December 30 and headed to Congress, AZ and the Escapee park there North Ranch.  The park is nice enough but the primary reason for stopping here is to get the rig weighed.  RV'ers are always supposed to be careful about being under the design weight for their rig; I don't think many actually check.  Certainly we've been doing this for years without getting weighed.  Weighing is done (in our case) by doing the truck alone then the truck hitched to the trailer.  We were happy to find that we are actually under our design limits.  Both our vehicles and our tires are under their limits. 

Our next stop was Benson, AZ and the Butterfield RV Resort.  The extra added attraction of this particular park is that they have a small observatory on site and every night (weather permitting) a volunteer opens up the roof and shows people the stars through their 16 inch telescope.  We really enjoyed the show (about 2 hours of taking turns looking at the stars) but it was COLD!  I know it was January 1st but, it was cold for southern Arizona.  Of course you can't heat the building because it would foul up the air around the telescope. 

We did get to see snow in the mountains but the weather was rather dull and windy.  Wind in the face, of course, helping our fuel usage go the wrong way!

Every time we cross I-10 we are amazed by Texas Canyon, AZ.  There has to be a story about how this area got named Texas Canyon but I sure don't know it! 

The boulders just suddenly appear on both sides of the road and then they are gone in just a few miles.  It's hardly what one might call a canyon either but there it is.  It's cool.

We wandered East on I-10 until getting off and heading in the direction of Fredricksburg, TX.  Our plan was to visit Austin, TX for the first time.  We discovered that Austin has some of the worst traffic in the known universe!  We chose this RV park because it advertised itself as being the closest to downtown.  Well, traffic was so bad it was just a joke.  The reason for stopping in Austin was two-fold:  to see a little of the city and to visit the LBJ Presidential Library.  The city is young and vibrant.  It has a very nice 'feel'.  We got to visit the Texas state capital building; very interesting.  The building was full of tours but you could walk around on your own which is what we did.  You can see the houses of the state legislature; everywhere there are star images just like the star on the state flag.  There was, however, a metal detector to go through and an officer armed with an assault rifle just to keep you honest. 

Then we went to the Library on the UT grounds.  Wow!  It is a huge four story building; very grand.  The general public is allowed on two of the floors.  You learn about LBJ as a young politician and get a good overview of his years as President.  It brought back quite a view memories of the Vietnam conflict but also reviewed the tremendous amount of legislation that was passed that is very influential even today.

We found a state road out of town that worked really well.  Next we wanted to stop at the G.H.W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, TX.    It was really much different; less grand to start with.  You learn about Mr. Bush's early years including being a Navy pilot in WWII even though he was only 19!  Then they bring in the entire Bush family including rooms devoted to his wife, Barbara.  Interesting. 

Got back on the road and spent the night at another Escapee's park.  This was in Livingston, TX and is the home base for the organization.  It's not a particularly good park for visitors because it is full of homes and permenent residents.  Still, it's a good organization.  This was the first night, but not the last(!), that we needed to unhook the water for the night because of freezing weather.  NOT what we were expecting in the South. 

That's enough drivel for today.  I'll be back again in a day or two to inflict more pain.  Thanks for stopping by!