October 3 - Las Cruces, NM

Barb - We spent the day in rainy Las Cruces, which is an unusual event for this time of year. We went downtown to the local Farmer's Market but found that most vendors were packing up by mid-morning because of the weather. We did buy a couple of items but would have like to have strolled through to see local artisans that are usually there. We did see sacks of the Hatch green chiles that are well known here! Upon arriving back at the RV, we trekked through the rain to catch up on laundry and were able to pick up the Iowa State/Kansas State game on Sirius radio - which didn't come out in Iowa State's favor - 24 to 23, with K State scoring during the last minute. Greg and some fraternity brothers had driven to KC for the game, so I'm sure they and all ISU fans were disappointed, but the Cyclones got to play at Arrowhead Stadium (KC Chiefs' home) so that had to be fun.

Back to us - in the late afternoon, Bess was our local tour guide and showed us many areas of Las Cruces. We enjoyed seeing her neighborhood, New Mexico State campus, and the Southwest-style housing. We briefly visited a Farm and Ranch Museum where they had some neat cactus gardens (along with the antique John Deere tractors in the front yard!)

Ed - The town is nice and appears to be well laid-out. The city is growing to the north and east with many new homes, businesses and shopping malls. The housing developments around here are all built using adobe style house plans - flat roofs and various tones of light brown paint. There is no (or little) grass around the homes which are mostly landscaped using colored rock. I think we might look into what it would cost to come back here sometime this winter. There appears to be a lot of things to do in the area.

October 2 - Gallup to Las Cruces, NM

Barb - Our drive through northern and central New Mexico was done on the two interstate highways - 40 and 25. This is the first weekend for the big hot-air balloon festival in Albuquerque. I have read about it in the past and with a school schedule in my blood have always thought, "That's in October! I can't get to that!" Well, maybe another year - with some advance reservations! We arrived in Las Cruces by mid-afternoon and located a pleasant RV park for the weekend. Bess Hobson, former Hoglan art teacher who has been retired for a few years, decided to make New Mexico her retired home. We have been in e-mail/Facebook touch during our trip and decided to come this way for a couple of days. We want to spend some time in the winter months in warmer climes, but aren't sure where. Las Cruces has pleasant winter weather, so this area could be a possibility. We went with Bess to Mesilla, an old-town area where we had dinner and a quick tour.

Ed - The day's drive was pretty easy, except for Albuquerque traffic and some road construction there. I found myself wondering how the settlers made it through this territory as we drove the 200 miles south to Las Cruces. There would have been no roads (still not very many across the desert areas) and little to no water resources. We noticed a reservoir or two on our way south, and also the start of the Rio Grande River.

October 1 - Williams, AZ to Gallup, NM

Barb - I feel like I should be quoting the Route 66 song, about "Gallup, New Mexico..." Plus we've at least seen interstate signs for Winslow, Arizona, Barstow, San Bernadino - all those great places in the song that was done so well by Manhattan Transfer. We left Williams (not quite as early as the day before!!) and after a couple of hours, enjoyed the drive through Petrified Forest/Painted Desert National Park areas in Arizona. We took a walk on one of the easy trails by the visitors' center so we could see the various types of petrified forest specimens.

The Painted Desert loop was very colorful (north end of the total loop) so we were glad we drove the whole route. Wouldn't want to do that road in a storm or have road trouble there! It wasn't a steep mountain road - there's just NOTHING there for 20 miles!

Ed - The driving today was easy. We had a few hills to climb and stayed above the 7,000 foot level even with all of the ups and downs. The old Route 66 road to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert had a big sign that said "no services, no police support, no snow plowing and no help after dark"- but we took it anyway. The road through the park was nice with nice turnouts and a very interesting museum.

September 30 - Kingman to Williams, AZ

Barb - We didn't drive very far today in the RV - about 100 miles. But we had a method to our madness! We decided to get up early and avoid the winds that would pick up later, making it difficult for RV steering. The plan was: go early, get a campsite in Williams (50 miles south of the Grand Canyon), and then enjoy the day at the canyon, using only the Jeep for driving back and forth. The problem was that we thought we were on Mountain Time, but Arizona evidently is still on Pacific Time - so the "early" was 5 AM, not 6 AM! We were 100 miles down the road and at the new KOA by 8:30 AM! We did enjoy a chunk of the day at the Grand Canyon. We visited 6 0r so scenic turnouts along the South Rim. Ike enjoyed sniffing for something - probably a snake for me! We don't know how the summer crowds have been here but today was delightful with light traffic.

Ed - The winds the night before were getting very bad by the time we quit and found a campground outside of Kingman. The forecast was for gusts to 35 - 45 mph when we pulled in for the evening. The next morning, the high wind warning was continued and expanded with gusts from 45 to 65 mph just north of us. There was no way I was going to try an drive in those conditions so Barb and I left early. It was just a bit earlier than I had thought. (See above!)

September 29 - Acton, CA to Kingman, AZ

Barb - I am starting this on the road to Arizona - namely I-40. We had no Internet service or TV last night at the KOA, so I am taking advantage of excellent Verizon card service while on the road. There is not much out here to block the signal! We are headed for western Arizona and a visit to the Grand Canyon in the next couple of days.

Ed - We met my brother and his wife last night and had a nice meal at a local restaurant while we caught up on what each has been doing. Tom is still working as a concrete contractor and I am actively doing nothing.in immediate retirement! We did find out that we both like to use metal detectors. We had both bought the same Whites detector a couple of years apart. He has found many more items than I have - but he does not need to worry about winters and freezing temperatures.

September 28 - Marina to Acton, CA

Barb - OK - time to head east - sort of! We spent most of today on I-5 headed south toward Los Angeles. I-5 in central to southern California, if you haven't traveled it, runs through the San Joaquin agricultural valley. It's flat, dry, and filled with numerous crops - mostly nut trees are visible from the interstate. When we approached the area north of Santa Clarita, CA, we did find some more interesting driving for Ed - the Tejon Pass. He was in the company of many trucks driving slowly both up and down the pass. We located the KOA in the Soledad Canyon. I'm glad we were on the right road but wondered about it a time or two! I don't try to make direction mistakes when planning for 60 feet (RV plus car attached) going down the road - or up the canyon! We connected with Ed's brother Tom and his wife Jo, who live in Simi Valley, for a nice Mexican dinner in Acton. I felt like we were really "out in the boonies" until the commuter train servicing metro L.A. ran on the mountainside across from our campsite!

Ed - The RV runs at least as well as I had hoped on the freeway. I set the cruise control at 55 mph (Cal law) and headed south. Of course I was the only one going 55 but what the heck, the cops were out. We must have seen at least one highway patrolman every 50 miles if not more often. When we finally made it to the "hills" an hour out of L.A., I only needed to worry about being hit by a speeding bike while going up the mountains. You really can get there by going 25 mph. I now know how the early settlers felt in their covered wagons. I learned when visiting with my brother Tom that he also has purchased a metal detector! (Photo above) He's done a lot more time on his than I have - he has more beaches at his disposal!

September 27 - Salinas and Monterey, CA

Barb - Today's events for us included going out to breakfast with Greg and taking him to the Monterey Airport for his flights back to Des Moines. He had an uneventful 2 flights to Los Angeles and Denver so far - much different than Friday! I think he still had a fun, if short weekend on the coast. Ed and I then drove to Salinas where the National Steinbeck Museum is located and spent a couple of hours there. We returned to the Cannery Row area of Monterey for a bay-view seafood lunch and some shopping. The sea otters were present in the bay! It was another banner day weather-wise - until we returned to the fog of Marina. Someone had a bad accident on Highway 1 South which tied up the busy road completely. We walked our mile-plus on Marina State Beach and once again needed our jackets.