Where do the days go? Like the miles, they slip swiftly by!
We made it to Silver City safely and spent two nights in the Silver City RV Park, which is very nice and right downtown, handy to everything. We met the previous owners while doing the walk-through and they were very nice and helpful. After closing, we left the Casita and the Mountaineer (and about 20 boxes of books and other stuff) there ... leaving us feeling like we were traveling in a limo with just us and our luggage in the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
The trip down was beautiful! We had wondered about color in the "southland" ... there was lots of it. We came down through Quemado and south of there, toward Reserve, there were these beautiful stands of cottonwoods glowing bright gold in the river bottoms. Further on south, the leaves hadn't turned yet, so we have that to look forward to.
We went around Silver City tending to utilities, etc., and in every instance people were just as friendly and helpful as we could hope for. We tried breakfast at Vicki's, which was good. On our way out of town, we needed one last coffee for the road, so we stopped at a coffee shop we'd been looking at ... can't remember the name, but it has a porch overlooking Bullard on the west side) and got great made-as-you-wait fresh coffee and pastries.
Tuesday afternoon we trekked out to the Bear Mountain Lodge on the northwest edge of Silver City, where the folks who owned the Blue Dome Gallery in downtown SC have relocated ... what a peaceful, beautiful setting. And the art they are installing in and around this renovated facility is mind-blowing. We will for sure be going out there for brunches and other events once we are in residence! More about the lodge at: www.desertexposure.com/201010/201010_bear_mtn_reborn.php
By happy coincidence, we were in town the day entries were being accepted for the Mimbres Region Art Council's juried show. So, we joined online (we had crashed their annual meeting/party at the opera house in Pinos Altos the last time we were down) and each brought two large photographs. Wonder of wonders, all four were accepted! We couldn't be there for the reception, but the show will still be up when we get back before Thanksgiving.
Anyway, after our busy but thoroughly enjoyable fall days in Silver City, we got headed west before noon on Wednesday. Took a few minutes to tour downtown Lordsburg ... don't think we'll be finding many reasons to go there. "La Migra" seems to be the biggest industry there ... must have seen 30+ Border Patrol vehicles in the yard there. (We also got stopped at two temporary-permanent BP checkpoints on I-10 in California; they eyeballed us old gringos and waved us on.)
Tucson was 3 1/2 hours away and we found our motel and got our "Outback fix." Unfortunately, we also got an odd auditory alarm from inside the car a couple of times. Couldn't figure it out, and that didn't make me rest any easier. Checked the owners manual; nada. Went online for help; nada. Went to a Chrysler/Jeep dealership in the morning; nada after an hour or two. I've concluded the sound is coming from the TomTom GPS device ... some sort of intestinal problem it has that we haven't been able to decipher.
Onward. I-10 would be my candidate for an experimental highway with built-in automated driving controls ... get on, set the car for your destination and go to sleep, watch a movie, make love, etc. Boring!
Lunch in Yuma, taking advantage of Denny's 20 percent offer to AARP members, and into Sandy's brother's place in Poway before evening. Great supper and visiting with Les and Saskia and the four kids! A good night's sleep and then out for breakfast with Les and Saskia ... good chance to catch up on family history, etc., over good food and coffee. Did some errands and headed north.
There's a lot of cars in California! We didn't get rolling till about 11, but it was (for me) heavy traffic and often rainy as we worked our way through the urban areas and up the coast. We had set TomTom for Morro Bay, but we called it quits at Buellton/Solvang.
For one thing, we had headed out to the coast and stopped to get our "ocean fix" at Hobson State Park. It was fun to walk along the exposed rocks and sand and watch the surfers and wildlife in the water. I didn't realize till later that the surfer dude shown was sporting a white mustache! The blonde beach babes in their wet suits were just walking out with their surfboards as we were driving out of the park. Oh, well, I enjoyed watching the hermit crab!
We indulged in Solvang's Danish heritage with a so-so smorgasbord at the Red Viking, then turned in for a good night's sleep after all the driving in traffic.
Rainy, foggy, overcast the next morning. We went north a ways, then out to the ocean again and found a few spots of sunlight. Had breakfast in Pismo Beach, where we walked out on the boardwalk and watched surfers, including the water-photographer with his halo of foam.
We did finally get to Morro Bay and walked along the shore there for a while, watching the birds running back and forth with the surf. Liked the clouds piling up over the coastline to the north.
Inland through LOTS of vineyards and some other truck-farm planting, through the brown hills and canyons and into the Central Valley and the boredom of I-5. We did enjoy the sunshine for a while, after being fog- and rain-bound along the coast. But, by the time we reached Stockton and Sacramento, it was raining and trafficky again. We reached Bob and Colleen's at our ETA (LIKE that TomTom!) and were most happy to tuck it in with family! tv
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