Tucson, Arizona

We are settled in the Casino Del Sol parking lot. It may seem like a strange place to be camping but they allow camping for free for an unlimited time, unless they have a major event in their outdoor concert arena. It is an RV constantly evolving community, from B Vans to semis. Everyone is looking for a place to camp for the night.

There is a population of travelling RVers that don't want to stay in regulated RV parks. Casino del Sol provides a wonderful place to stay with the option to eat buffets, gamble on the slots and even play bingo. Our neighbours from Abottsford told us they have won almost $1000 playing bingo, maybe beginners luck, as they have never played bingo before, Lol

We have spent a couple of days unwinding but also doing the maintenance chores to restore our rig to its clean state after the long trip from Rockport. I have been able to do a little sketching/painting in the mornings.

Bob and I are both enjoying being back in Arizona. The weather is wonderful; cool nights and warm, sunny, dry days. I keep in touch daily with Sherry, who is in Melaque now, and we exchange our journal paintings. We inspire each other and it is a special way of seeing how we each are evolving in our journalling styles.

Now that we, and our rig, are clean, we will take a few days off and tomorrow plan to revisit the San Xavier Mission. When we were last here almost 5 years ago it was under exterior renovations. It is a beautiful Spanish Mission and we look forward to seeing it in its restored condition.

We have had two Casino buffet dinners and tonight we ate at "home" ...it's a toss up which one I enjoy more:) ....buffets, we over-eat, but also get a lot of choices. The salad bar is a treat as we don't carry all the vegetables and greens to make great salads. Balance is good....the days seem to be getting noticeably longer. I'm not sure if it is because the days are warmer and we tend to leave the door open longer than we did in Rockport or the winter in the south is acually behind us. Whichever it is I am happy for the warmth and dry weather,

This is a rather disjointed post.....unfortunately my thoughts don't always flow smoothly and today I'm feeling unsettled, both in my sketching and my blogging....tomorrow is another day and new experiences and inspiration are just around the corner.

 

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Our last miles in Texas

We have travelled 1000 miles from Rockport to Tucson ...we have crossed the hill country and the desolate high country of Texas. We have had Texas smoked BBQ and all the fixins' in Beeville and Kerrville. We stayed in the Sonora fairgrounds for a night and a Walmart and it's neighbour K Mart in Fort Stockton, Texas and Deming, New Mexico.

It has been some of the most uninteresting countryside we have travelled including all the prairies of both Canada and the US. Sorry Texas but I think much of the interest in this state must be in its major centers.

We have travelled from hollers, to bayous, to mesas, rest areas to parking areas, pump jacks, oil rigs, and wind turbines. Even though sometimes it seems like endlessly boring landscapes it is still interesting in its own way. I don't think we can regret a mile of our travels. This section is a means to an end as we transition from our trip of discovery back to our second home in the deserts of Arizona.

We have felt like long distance truckers travelling with the semis and the trains. I am entranced by the variety of semi trucks. Most are plain but many are decked out (pimped) and have such personality in design and colour. Another interesting aspect of interstate travel is the variety of plates. America travels so much more than we do in Canada. Vehicles pass us loaded down with their belongings or pulling a UHaul. We see state plates of a variety we never saw traveling the Mississippi corridor. Such is the crossing of the country on an interstate. America is on the move both personally and commercially.

We cross the continental divide at 4585 feet, again, this time moving west instead of east. We have climbed from the sea level of Rockport to 5000 feet and now we are descending from New Mexico into Arizona, sliding into Tucson and its warm temperatures and blue desert skies we love. We thought we were bored with Arizona but after our experiences of this trip we now know we really are desert snowbirds not Winter Texans.

 

Casino del Sol in west Tucson provides free unlimited camping. We have stayed here before and after dumping and taking on water at TTT we set up to see how the RV traffic flows. We treated ourselves to Saturday night buffet. Interesting comment...usually we are asked if we qualify for seniors discount....tonight we didn't get asked ...just received the discount automatically...what does that say...:( I'm a little sad about that but maybe the staff person was exceptionall young, I can't remember, duh!!

 

Sunday is a sunny, warm and quiet day. We are unwinding, and after breakfast we walk around our camp and then spend the rest of the day watching football, taking in some sun, and even doing a little painting. Desert colours are so much more vivid than than the ' watered down' colours of the Texas gulf.

We are happy to stay here for awhile. It has been 4/ 5 years since we have spent time in Tucson and we look forward to revisiting places from the past.

 

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Across Texas

Not much to blog about. We are trying to put in the miles to get to Arizona. When we stop each day I am trying to sketch and/or paint in the daylight left. Texas is not my favourite state. I think if you spent time in San Antonio, Austin, maybe even El Paso one might have a different opinion. The cities are where the culture, the art and the restaurants stand out. Driving across country on the I10 there is only a few small highway towns servicing the oil industry. Today was mostly wind turbines and pump jacks over a barren plateau. It does make me think of western movies with all the mesas and open spaces. Being a fan from the 50's of Roy Rogers, the Lone Ranger and all the big western movies I see childhood memories happening around me.

We stop in the Walmart in Ft Stockton, and because it is on the interstate there are several rvs here for overnight. There are so many going east, I have to wonder where they are all going ....will they be pulling into Rockport or heading for Brownsville. We seem to be the only rig moving west. I think maybe people who wait until after Christmas to travel south have waited for the cold weather to end and now there is an influx of travellers on the road.

I'm sad that I seem to have lost my enthusiasm for our travels. This trip has been a journey of so many different adventures. But once we left Louisiana and crossed into Texas the adventure changed. Our expectations for the Rockport area were somewhat unknown. I feel we saw an area of great beauty all along the "Coastal Bend". I will remember Rockport, the Fulton Beach road, Aransas Pass and the little ferries across to Port Aransas. Gulf Prawns, piers, Key Alegro, vacation home of George Strait. Corpus Christi, the beaches of Padre Island. Fishing docks and prawn boats, bait shops, seagulls, pelicans, herons and egrets. We had the best accommodation in Shorty's RV park. Tom and Wanda Walker were great and I wish them all the best in their new venture as RV Park owners. It had everything we needed and wanted, and especially a quiet home for six weeks.

The weather was the only negative of our stay along the Gulf. As the locals say, "they don't remember a winter as cold as this" ....just our luck, but I am still happy to have experienced Rockport. Will we ever come back here? Maybe not, but I will always have fond memories of the area.

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On the Road Again

Our journey away from the Coastal Bend area of the Gulf of Texas has begun. Bobs understanding of our rig and experience with towing has found a solution to our hitch balance. By 10:00am we are prepared to leave. We say our good byes to Shorty and Tom and drive away from Rockport and the gulf. It has been a much needed rest providing a look into an area we will probably not visit again. We have had sunshine, rain, wind and freezing temperatures.

I think for us as winter travelers we are more desert creatures than gulf denizens. We have enough marine living at home on the Island. We are feeling somewhat unbalanced as we move away. We have had so many agendas of places to see and things to do right up until arriving in Rockport that as we head across Texas we have no expectations of places we want to see. It is such a huge state but so much of it is open land with not many redeeming qualities.

We are stopped on the outskirts of San Antonio this afternoon at Discount Tire to have the tires on the RV rotated and serviced. From there we moved over to Lowes and are parked for the night. It has been a worrisome and strenuous few days dealing with the hitch and also the cold weather.

We stopped in Beeville, about 2 hours north of Rockport and bought beef brisket by the pound with beans and slaw.....good Texas Smoked BBQ ....a change from Gulf prawns and hot spiced rice. Good for lunch and also dinner.

It takes time to get back into travel mode after staying put for 6 weeks, but routines come naturally to us after all the time we have spent on the road. All our maintenance chores have now been done so we are in good condition to make the trip to Arizona. Bob keeps our unit running ship shape....sometimes at the expense of his own well being. It is because of his perseverance and experience that we have travelled safely for so many years.

Today was a transition day. Hopefully tomorrow it will be warmer and we will find country that excites us. If not we will continue to move on.

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Pouting in Rockport

It's still cold, cold, cold and we are still here. Spent most of today trying to deal with our hitch issue before we leave. Bob has had it on and off and torn apart too many times to count. The manufacturers have been very forthcoming with assistance, but over the phone instructions and email pictures did not do the trick by dark tonight. Today has been the coldest day we have experienced on our whole trip so far. I think the high was 3 degrees with a 20 mile an hour wind. We didn't sign up for this:(. We have run our phone minutes down and our physical and emotional well being also. We are inside licking our wounds, eating leftovers, now having to stay at least another day, maybe two, until this problem is fixed or the hitch components are replaced.

Good news is that the cold front will be over by tomorrow afternoon and we could be on the road Wednesday morning. Fingers are crossed.

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Coming and Going

Yesterday the sun was out and we were visiting with Tom and Shorty. I was feeling a bit sad to be leaving as this has been the longest time we have stayed anywhere.... but today the "next front" has arrived with strong winds and decreasing temperatures and I am ready to go but....

......we are concerned with our hitch assembly. It is not carrying the weight it should be. Bob has tried a variety of configurations but is not happy with any of them. He wants to talk to the manufacturer tomorrow so we will not be leaving in the morning as planned. It's OK cos we are paid up here til the 7th.

We are now about as prepared to leave as possible. Inside is cleaned, vacuumed and dusted. laundry is done, clean sheets and towels, and even us...showered and cleaned up too. Now we wait for a comfortable leaving scenario.

My watercolour journaling family keeps increasing. My first journaling inspiration was Danny Gregory and now he and Jane Lafazio, our Italy 2014 instructor, along with Koosje Koene, are joining forces to provide a new and mysterious web site. It is a large and small world of sketchers and painters. I am excited everyday to follow blogs from every part of the world by people that share this passion to record, in paint and pencil, our daily lives. I am inspired to work and learn everyday.

The wind is still blowing and the temperatures are still dropping. Anyone following this weather pattern that has North America in its grip can see we, in southern Texas, are not suffering too badly. It's all comparative to life in Arizona. I try to find the positive in every day and not wish our time away, 'but' I crave the warmth in my bones and the blinding blue sky of the desert. I want to go to my second home....the desert....

 

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Sunshine!!!

The forecast is still unsettled but the sun on my face today feels wonderful. Made our last trip to Corpus Christi this morning to pick up one of the two 'new to us' beauty rings for the truck's back wheels.
So many of our moving on times have been dictated by having to wait for things to be delivered or become available for pick up by us. In this age of computers we can track where our parcels are at anytime. It is amazing to watch the round the world path some of these things take......doesn't matter whether it's UPS, FedEx, or USPS. The shipper is given an expected date of delivery and if it gets close too early it just sits somewhere until it's time to arrive at its destination. So it's Friday afternoon, the mail has been delivered here at the RV park and nothing for us. So we wait hoping they will deliver on Saturday, otherwise we will still be waiting Monday morning, our leaving day. Funny thing is it was in Corpus Christi early this morning....we could have picked it up ourselves, Bahahaaa.
We have stocked up on wine at a good price, a last purchase of Gulf Prawns and some T Shirts for the kids. After Monday we won't see salt water again til we cross on the ferry to Vancouver Island.

One of the many beach wear shops all along the gulf area. Pretty quiet at this time of year. But even with no customers they are open. They had me today:). Next busy time will be all the different Spring Break vacationers. A very different scenario than what we have experienced at this time.

It feels like the end of a vacation....when you're sad it's over but excited to be going home. We have had quite a run so far but we have lost our enthusiasm for this area mostly due to the weather. Hopefully the weather will cooperate til we reach Arizona...'home' for the next couple of months.
We will spend the next two days preparing to leave...I'm excited to see more of Texas hopefully in the sun.

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