Albuquerque - Balloons and More Wild Weather !

Hello Again and Greetings from the 10th Annual RV Rally.

So spring time in the southwest brings some really different weather. Cold temps, snow, winds, sunshine and warm breezes. I guess we experienced all them in a weeks time here in Albuquerque.

We joined about 3000 other RV’ers and camped at the Balloon Fiesta Park on the outskirts of the Duke City. The event is hosted by the Good Sam organization and is held in a different part of the country each year. The drawback to this year’s location was that all the exhibits and commercial vendors were located some 12 miles away from the camping area at the state fairgrounds. The organizers did a poor job of planning for the crowds and only had 8 buses to move the folks back and forth. By Friday nite the wait for a bus ride was over 3 hours. By Saturday, there was plenty of room on the buses, since everybody drove their own cars and trucks !

Some of 3000 rigs !

A view from out the front of our coach.

Up & Away !

They did have some pretty good entertainment (and that tent was near the campsite) and on Friday Neil Sedaka performed. It's amazing how many top hits that man had ! Rita Coolidge stopped by on Saturday and the Osmond Brothers took the stage Sunday nite. We skipped the DooWop band on Monday nite.

Neil Sedaka on stage.

While we didn’t go for an expensive balloon ride, we did get to see them sailing over the grounds and took an interesting tour of the Museum and learned some facts about World War II and Japan’s launching of 10,000 balloon fire bombs toward the Pacific northwest. Hundreds made it across the Pacific and one actually made it to Michigan, but it was done during the winter and not a conducive time for brush fires. Scarily, the balloons could have carried biological agents but the Japanese opted for fire first !

Japanese "fire bomb" balloons.

We had fun visiting the area and seeing the sights. Had to buy a new tow bar for the coach and donated some monies to the Sandia Casino.

Off to Santa Fe and some really high altitude.

We’ll talk again soon.

Gene & Laurie

Winds in Phoenix - Snow in Sedona

Hello Again:

After leaving our winter home in Tucson we headed north for a week in the Phoenix area and a visit with retired railroad conductor Howie Weiss and his wife Pat. Oh boy, did we find some wind. The drive up on I-10 (and yes, I-10 heads north from Tucson) was only about 100 miles but the wind storm coming across from California generated dust which found every little crevice and crack in the coach. 40’ long and 12’ high was perfect for 50+ mph gusts to try and push us of the road. But we made it and enjoyed a good week with Pat & Howie; some golf, some good dinners and an overall a good visit..

Dinner in the Coach with Pat & Howie.

We headed north over Easter weekend for a visit in Sedona with retired RR Superintendent Ray Anderson & wife Becky. We’ve been friends for years and camped together back on LI. They’ve been in “Red Rock” country for 16 years now and have a fabulous home at the base of the Rocks. What a view !

Snow on the Red Rocks !


"Boondocking" in the Elks parking lot !

We stayed at the Elks Lodge and enjoyed a couple of meals there and did some sight-seeing in Flagstaff and Prescott. Unfortunately, the weather brought some snow to the area and the high altitude let it stay around on the mountain tops. Sedona is in the process of building a new “traffic calming” roadway into the place. It’s only one lane wide + a bike lane and sidewalk. All the intersections are “round-a-bouts” and the curbs are 8” and everything is designed to prevent folks from passing and driving only 25 mph. Of course it’s not done and the construction is a nightmare and certainly not motor coach friendly.

Becky, Ray & Laurie @ the Lava Flow in Flagstaff

Overall, a good visit and some great fun and wonderful views of a beautiful area in Arizona. Onto New Mexico and the RV Rally in Albuquerque.

We’ll talk again soon.

Gene & Laurie

New Update

Hello Folks:

Sorry for the length of time since our last post but we’ve had some problems and I been very busy. We’re both OK but we are victims of identity theft ! Earlier this month, someone gained access to my E-bay & PayPal accounts. Shortly thereafter they got access to our credit card account on-line. We’ve been fortunate in that the monies never got past PayPal and I discovered the credit card before anything was charged.

We’ve had to reinvent ourselves with all our financial accounts (although a lot is still in the process) and I had to wipe the hard drive on the laptop and completely rebuild it from day 1. Not an easy set of tasks.

Needless to say most of my spare time has been absorbed in getting all the new accounts set up and still trying to see some of the various sights along the way. We’re in Santa Fe, New Mexico and I promise to get a new post up later this weekend.

We’ll talk more…

Gene & Laurie

It's Spring & We're On The Move Again !

Hello and greetings from Phoenix.

We left Tucson this past Friday and are starting to travel again after an exciting and wonderful winter at Voyager Resort in southeast Tucson. We were there a total of 81 days and really had a fun-filled time. We were joined by our good friends Bob & Betty Sobeck from Vero Beach, Florida . Golf, sightseeing, visits with Laurie’s cousin Dee and her husband Pete, board games, and outstanding weather made for a great time. Walt & Pat Whirshup, retired LIRR engineer and fellow RV’er also stopped to visit.

Friday’s trip north began somewhat slowly with detour to Beaudry RV for a generator service and a check of the rear A/C unit that had quit working. They’ve ordered a new unit and hopefully that will get installed in Phoenix later this week.

Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate as we headed north. A huge low pressure center was heading for the mountains and the mid-west and brought high winds through the southwest desert. Most of the trip gave us a great "tailwind" as long as we were headed north, but at times our coach's trek along I-10 was buffeted by 50+ mph winds and blowing dust that completely obscured the mountains and sometimes parts of the roadway. Further north, I-40 east of Flagstaff was closed due to dust storms. At times I had the steering wheel at a 15 degree angle just to keep the coach straight. Thankfully, we only had 110 miles on the trip and we got into Chandler (suburban Phoenix) in good shape. Of course the newly washed coach was now covered in dust ! Oh well !

We’ll be here a week seeing the area and getting in some golf with good friend and retired RR conductor Howie Weiss and his wife Pat who live here. From here it’s on to Sedona and another railroad retiree Ray & Becky Anderson, then over to Albuquerque for the big Good Sam Rally in mid April.

We’re well, the winter was great and it’s good to be back on the road again.

We’ll talk again soon,

Gene & Laurie

Our winter home in Voyager.

A nice restaurant, bar and market on the grounds.

Dinner with friends !

Golf Holes of The Tucson Area

Hello Again:

I've been fortunate to join a group of folks here at the Voyager Resort who play golf twice weekly a different course nearby Tucson. The views are fantastic; the company is great and I'm playing some pretty good golf. So I thought I would post a few pics from some of the courses.

Enjoy the views.

Gene

Saddlebrook Golf Club, Oro Valley, AZ.

A true desert course, yet surrounded by homes.


A Roadrunner visiting the green area.

Mt. Lemmon, at 9,500+ feet gets plenty of snow and provides an awesome background while we still wear shorts !


The Pines Golf Club, Tucson, AZ

Built in an old sand quarry, the elevation changes are staggering.

A 181 yard Par 3 with a 40' drop to the green !

A 362 yard, par 4, yet with an elevation change of over 20 yards !

Long Time between Posts............

Hi Folks and welcome to busy world of a retiree ! I am utterly amazed at how fast the hours and days go by and that it has been 40 days since my last Post. I sincerely apologize. We are "wintering" in Tucson, Arizona in a resort RV park and are parked next to good friends, Bob & Betty who also have a coach. We've been sightseeing, playing golf, having dinners out, playing golf, enjoying some board games, oh did I mention playing golf and just plain enjoying life.

Bob & I have hooked up with a group of men from the Park and also a community in Green Valley (just south of Tucson) and we play at different courses around the area on Monday's and on Wednesday's we play in Tubac at a resort course with three 9's and just fabulously maintained. Tubac is an "artsy" community half way between Tucson and Nogales, Mexico surrounded by mountains and beautiful vistas. I'll get some pics this Wednesday and post them.

Now to update you on our past travels since January.

We left the Houston area in early January and headed west towards Arizona. Our first stop was San Antonio, Texas. We've been there several times. I started my Air Force tour in basic training in 1970 in San Antonio. A "rough around the edges city" that hosted a World's Fair but then seriously declined. We came back in 1991 while on our x-country MH trip with our daughters and surprise, the city had been reborn & gentrified. A new "river walk" complex running through the downtown with shops, restaurants and safe vistas. We were anxious to see the sights again. Unfortunately, once a year the city fathers divert the water in the San Antonio River away from the downtown and send in the workers for a clean-up.

They retrieve the cell phones, cameras, i-pods, restaurant silverware and assorted beverage bottles during a 4 days shut down in January. So, we got to see the river without the river, just the mud. It was actually pretty fascinating. The city is still friendly and most of the restaurants are open along with the shops. The Cotton Growers of America was there with a big convention.

We moved onto New Mexico and much higher elevations and real cold temperatures. One night in Deming it got to 15 degrees at night. Way too cold for us. We moved on quickly. But we did stop at a neat little Ghost Town called Shakespeare. The place was only open 1 weekend in January, and we were lucky. But we were the only tourists there. However, a local newspaper was doing a travel section piece on the town and they sent the editor and travel writer and we had a extra special tour and got interviewed for there article.

The Old Town.


A wagon from Days Gone By


The town's land has been owned by the same family for years since it was purchased back in the early 1900's after falling into disrepair. Billy the Kid once worked at the old hotel in town and the place is really a neat walk back in time.

(from Left) the Editor: Cheryl Fallstead; Travel Writer Bud Russo and land owner: Mr. Hill.

Laurie listens in as Mr. Hill explains the town.

On January 12th we moved on to Tucson and the Voyager RV Resort. A full service "campground" with over 1500 sites + 2 housing developments. Voyager boasts it's own 9 hole golf course, restaurant, market and small hotel. 3 pools, hot-tub, tennis, and pickle ball courts + boccie, horseshoes and every craft imaginable from glass fusion to wood working and lapidary. There are several full time activity directors and a staffed clinic, full gym and enough to keep you busy every day.

Laurie has joined the "fun band" and is practicing each Monday night and they have their first concert later this month. Like I said, I've been playing golf and we've been sightseeing.

Tucson is nestled in the southwest valley of Arizona between several mountain ranges. The Catalina's, the Rincon's and the Tucson mountains all compete for your eye. Mt. Lemmon in the north at 8,250 feet boasts a great ski resort. The snows can be seen from the valley floor while I'm in shorts. For me, that's the ONLY way to see snow. The Saguaro National Park is close by and Noagales, Mexico is an hour away.

Saguaro National Park

Laurie's cousin lives here with her husband and we've had time to visit with them. Long ago neighbors from East Northport also live here and are on our list of folks to see.

We plan on being here till mid-March before moving north to Phoenix and Sedona then over to New Mexico and a big RV rally in late April.

Happy Valentines Day to all and I'll post more (I promise) in a few days.

Til then,

Gene & Laurie

Family Wedding Pics

The "Groom" Cuts the Cake !

Crossed Swords for the Happy couple.

Big brother Bill with his daughter.

Vanessa & Christian.