THANKSGIVING

In just 60 minuets it will be Thanksgiving 2009. Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays that we celebrate. After all there is no lies connected to it, it is just being THANKFUL for anything and everything.

Marcia and I have many things to be very thankful for, we have great family and friends. We are able to follow a dream by having a home on wheels, and we can celebrate anywhere we want to.

This Thanksgiving we have chosen to celebrate in Donna Texas with some special friends we had the privilege of meeting two years ago in the middle of the desert at a place called Laposa South, just south of Quartzsite AZ. We were part of the graduating class of 2007. Escapee RV Club members that gave up living in a traditional house and moved to a motorhome, or fifthwheel travel trailer. About 32 rigs gathered there and spent a couple weeks telling tells and getting to know each other, we all had a terrific time.

I don't care how down and out you might be, or how fortunate you may be, everyone has something to be thankful for, so take a few moments today to thank someone. You may thank your GOD, your neighbor, your spouse, your family, the soldiers, or even the stranger walking down the road, but thank someone for the blessing that you have. Who knows, by thanking someone you may be making their day and cheering them up which may cause them to thank someone. You get the point, the happiness may just spread like the wild fires in CA..............

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Texas is a BIG state

We stopped off in Deming NM to visit the SKP park, and to see our friends Jim and Kris Todd. We met them in Bushnell Fl last year when Marcia was working for the escapees as a camp host. They were the managers there at Sumter Oaks, and then we spent most of the summer with them at Raccoon Valley. It was really good to see them again, but they wanted Marcia to work for about 6 weeks there. I had to step in and decline the offer because it is just too dang cold there.

We did decide to stay an extra day because our friends Howie and Norah Glover were going to be there the next day. I made the sacrifice and suffered through the cold nights just so we could see them in person and not just pass them on I-10 somewhere in TX. We spent the evening playing with their new toy, a wii. Howie schooled us all in bowling.

The next morning we all left, (except Jim and Kris, they will be at the Dream Catcher RV Park until the middle of January) headed in opposite directions. Howie and Norah were headed to AZ and we were headed east, and then south to Southern Texas where we will be spending a month or two or three. Driving across Texas we saw a whole lot of nothing, and then we saw a whole lot more of nothing. I think we put on about 1200 miles since we entered Texas and we are almost to the very bottom now. It will be a long time before we get out of Texas.

I want to spend a few weeks down here in the bottom of TX, and then spend several weeks driving up the eastern side along the Gulf of Mexico. There is South Padre Island, North Padre Island, Rockport, Corpus Cristi, and a few other towns and places we want to visit while we are in this area.

Everyone that really knows me knows that a few COLD days can change my mind really quick, and if we don't like the weather here in Southern TX, or the weather along the coast, we could very easily skip a lot of places and head for the SOUTHERN MOST POINT IN THE US. KEY WEST FL. Remember all our plans and written on an Etch-a-Sketch.............

Fort Huachuca

We have been here almost a week and I'm getting hitch itch, so tomorrow we will pull out and head to the SKP Park in Deming NM. It will be COLD there so we will just stay long enough to say hi to some friends.

We did manage to take a ride to Tombstone AZ, one of the most famous towns of the wild wild west. Now it is a big tourist trap, but when I was stationed here at Ft Huachuca AZ it was a lot different. It wasn't as commercialized as it is now, you could walk the streets and see a lot of the history without having to pay at each stop.

We did sit down at the bar in the Crystal Palace, a saloon that hosted many of the card games and gun fights that made Tombstone so famous. I even sat at the bar and drank a beer just as many did before the town became so famous. Although mine was in a bottle and theirs probably came from the tap.


Here is one of the many signs you will see in Tombstone.


As I said before Sierra Vista had it's balloon festival and Marcia got to hitch a ride in a hot air balloon, and we went to see the "glow" Saturday night. The glow is where they blow up the balloons and turn on the flames after dark making them glow. Although there was only four balloons there it was an amazing sight to watch them putting the air and fire to the balloons. I guess it gave me just enough of a taste for balloons to want to go see the big balloon fest in Albuquerque NM.
Here are a few pictures I took.




Sunday was an interesting day, there was a planned protest against torture, and the war. The Fort was put on alert with added security, the main gate was closed and barricades were placed across the road to prevent unauthorized access to the Fort. The state police had several extra patrolmen standing around ensuring everything went peaceful. The Sierra Vista police, and the shrrifs department also had their swat teams in place along with many extra police to again keep things peaceful.

Many supporters of the troops gathered on a corner of Fry BLV to show support for the troops. I don't think anyone really wants war, but sometimes you have to do what is best for the nation, and I really believe that us fighting the war on terror OVER THERE prevents us fighting it as much OVER HERE.

The protesters were bussed in from Tucson and other cities around AZ. They do it a couple times a year, and one priest, (at least that is what he profess to be) always has to cross the street against the orders of all the law enforcement present to kneel and pray on Ft Huachuca Property. He always is handcuffed and led away. I heard he was handcuffed and led to a van that took him directly to the east gate of Ft Huachuca where he had some of his supporters pick him up.
It really makes me sick knowing U S citizens will stand up and protest against our service men and women. It really is demoralizing to our soldiers to see and hear about people protesting against what they are putting their lives on the line for. I really think there are too many goody too shoes in the USA today.
Can you imagine where the USA would be today if all these politically correct people would have been around before the atomic bomb was dropped in Japan? Yes it did cause a lot of destruction, and cost many their lives, but imagine how many AMERICAN LIVES it saved. I'm a firm believer in protecting Americans at ALL COSTS. Just read the book of Joshua and what God instructed his army to do.








Back to a more pleasant ending for my blog today, Apache Flats is the R V Park here on Ft Huachuca, where we are staying. You have to be active duty, retired military, a civil servant working or retired, for DOD, or 100% disabled veteran to be able to stay here. Which I recently was awarded the 100% status due to me being unemployable and the V A recognizing that fact after me telling them that for seven years.
Ft Huachuca is located at the foot of the Huachuca mountains, and there is a lot of wildlife around. Almost every time we drive into the CG, or out of the CG we see deer. Sometimes we see wild turkeys, maybe a coyote, or possibly even javalina.


That is one of the reasons we enjoy Ft Huachuca, besides it being my first permanent party duty station 30+ years ago, and having a son stationed here now. And the weather is pretty nice most of the time.

While we were in Tucson we visited my cousin Bill and his dog Ginger. I had taken this picture and neglected to post it, but when I saw it today I wanted to post it so our friends and family could see.

Waiting out the COLD front

We are sitting at Ft Huachuca in AZ waiting on the current cold front to pass through. We arrived here Tuesday planning on spending a day or two, but things changed really quickly. Jon was going to be in the field for several days and Tuesday was going to be the time we could see him, and there was a cold front moving in.

The cold front was going to be a lot worse in Deming NM where we plan on going once we leave here, temperatures in the 30's isn't for me, and I will avoid being in temps that low if at all possible, so we decided to hang out here until next week.

Marcia will be able to see all the balloons at the Sierra Vista Annual Balloon Festival this weekend, and we will be able to see Jon some next week too, so it was a no brainer to stick around and let the cold front pass right on through. Besides we have full hookups for $14 a night and we are NOT on a metered electric so I can keep the rig real toasty using the new heat pump we installed back in the summer.

Yesterday we did manage to take a trip to Tombstone, the town too tough to die. We walked the streets, and declined to watch the comedy shoot out that they charge to watch. We did sit down at the bar in the Crystal Palace and have a beer where the legendary out laws and law men sat years ago drinking.

Tomorrow Marcia will go into Sierra Vista to watch the balloons and I will watch the ball game on TV. Tomorrow night we will both go to see the "lighting of the balloons".......

FT HUACHUCA AZ

It is a great time to be visiting Ft Huachuca, with today being veterans day I'll have many vets to say thank you to. THANK YOU to all the veterans that read this, and thank you to all the family of veterans for supporting them while they served this great country.

We will spend a week or so here waiting on Deming to warm back up. We came at a good time and there will be plenty to see and do in this area for the next week. The veterans day parade later today, a few special musicians playing through out the week and then the balloon fest this weekend.

On the down side we won't get to spend much time with our son that is stationed here because he and his unit will be "in the field" training for deployment to Iraq. The unit spent about 15 months there in 2008-2009, and will be headed back sometime in December. Jon won't be going with them to Iraq this time because he will be going to Korea for 18 months.

We did get to have dinner with him last night, and I am sure we will get to see him before we leave even if we have to hang around here for a few extra days. If you know a veteran tell them thank you, if you don't know a vet find one today to thank.....

Leaving the desert

Today we packed things up and took off, we left the quiet seclusion of Ogilby Road. We spent seven days parked right out in the middle of the desert, no hookups, and very few neighbors. I really didn't want to leave, but it was time to start meandering towards the RGV where we will be spending much of this winter.

We are currently at the Aux Air Field near Gila Bend AZ at the Fam Camp. It is $7 a night for full hookups so we will hang here for a day or two while Marcia catches up on the laundry, and I rest up some more.

When we leave here we will stop off for a day or so in Tucson, and then a day or so at Ft Huachuca, and then a week or so at Deming NM. I'll even try to charge the batteries for my camera so I can post up a picture or two.....

Ogilby road

Since the casino wouldn't take my donation we left and drove about 11 miles to our favorite boondocking area.


I counted five RV's that I could see from ours. It is a lot different come the end of December.


Since we have the place almost to ourselves we will hang here for a few days.

Tomorrow we will chase down a lead on an 07 Simba, we will take in the Arizona Market, and hopefully catch up with Smokey and Pam since we missed them on our last visit to Yuma. If anyone is in the area there is plenty room for a few more rigs....