We had a great trip. We arrived on Saturday, July 20, and left on Friday. We usually stay until Saturday, but the kids are getting older and have jobs to get back to. 

It was a typical trip and very relaxing. The highlights were

1. A family of minks, one of which came within 2 feet of me one day, investigating the humans, I'd guess.
2. It rained one night only, but it came down so hard. Fortunately, it was not windy. We all stayed dry, though the tent had a lake at the front and some bedding got wet at the bottom. Weather otherwise was sunny and around 75. 
3. The games of the trip were backgammon and Code Names. Chess was played of course by all but me, and Thome played me Spit and Farkel. Backgammon was all the rage though; Thome taught Thomas and me to play and there were many games played. We played Code Names at night in the tent.

On our last evening, the Other Reussers visited and we had a nice campfire, hot dogs, and s'mores.

When we arrived, Scott decided to shore up the deck a bit before we pitched the tent. He sure knows how to do hard stuff.

It helped and the tent was dry except the night it rained. Here's our tent setup.

Most of the usual activities occurred:

Sorry, I did it the least of anybody, but these are the only pictures. Hideous.

The view from inside the tent is amazing. The moon would come up glowing orange, and one night it was full. 

Scott took pics of sunsets and sunrises.

Scott found the minks' home, and we saw 2 wolf spiders. One was in the tent and we couldn't usher it out so it had to be crushed. The other was outside and it was carrying an egg sack. Ugh.

Leaving today, sad. We got up early and got everything ready to go. We realized we still had a couple hours before we had to vacate the site, so we decided to go for a final hot tub!

My original itinerary for the trip home had us stopping at 4 Cracker Barrels: Albuquerque, NM; Amarillo,  TX; Springfield, MO; and Terre Haute, IN. But Scott felt he could drive farther each day and if we did, we'd get home a day earlier. So we ended up doing 3 Cracker Barrels: Albuquerque, NM; Oklahoma City, OK; and Effingham, MO (which was a lot of fun making fun of, "where in the Effingham are we?). All were very nice, and eating at them is a great way to add fun to the trip home. Here's a sunrise Scott caught one morning.

And we arrived home to a little snow on the ground. Sigh. Here is a comparison of our last moments in Tucson and our arrival home.

We got up early because we wanted to get a hike in that was 45 minutes away and have time for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. We had our coffee and exercised and then we headed to Kartchner Caverns State Park, which we knew about because we went there a few times a couple years ago when we stayed at the Benson KOA. We wanted to do the Guindani Trail again, so that's what we did. It was a beautiful day and the hike was awesome. This year, there was water in the stream on the back side of the mountain. Scott noticed this time that there are no saguaro cacti around here, just agave, prickly pear, and maybe small barrel cactus. Lots more trees and bushes.

​It's mah 65th birthday today. I got to talk to Thome after our hike and Thomas in the morning. After our hike we tried a new (to us) Mexican restaurant, Little Mexico. It was cute but the food was not that great; maybe we were maxed out on Mex. After we got back to the KOA, we rode our bikes around the campground for an hour. It was very pleasant, and lots of people were sitting outside or walking their dogs.

And we finally saw another Vintage Cruiser, and it was a Woody, like ours. Theirs was a lot bigger and it had a slide. The owner said she loved it. And then we came back and had a fire. Scott's going to watch some tv with Thomas and when that's done, I'll ask for my birthday present, more cards!

After our usual morning routine, we hit the hot tub! It felt great after that long hike yesterday. Then we played tennis at Reffkin again for 1.5 hours. Then we went back to Saguaro National Park and hiked the Cactus Flower and Lime Falls trails. Total trip was 4 miles and it took us 1.5 hours. It was a beautiful, beautiful path. I didn't expect it. I thought it would be flat and dry and boring, but it was green and varied and hilly. 

Then we did a Walmart run, came back to the campsite, and while I made dinner, Scott watched a show with Thomas. Then we had a night time hot tub! The tub closest to us was occupied, so we rode our bikes over to the main hot tub which was empty after a guy and his daughter got out after about 5 minutes. 

Wow we had an awesome day and an epic hike. The day started early. The campground announced it would shut the water off at 8 am to fix some leaks, so I got up before 6 to put a load of laundry in. Then we did our usual morning routine: coffee, exercise, relaxing. This day we had breakfast because of the challenging activity we had planned.

Our hike was back in Saguaro National Park. We walked all the way to Bridal Wreath Falls this time, on the same path we started a couple days ago: Loma Verde to Squeeze Pen to Carrillo, then onto the new trails of Three Tank, Douglas Spring, and Bridal Wreath. It was a 12.5 mile hike, and it took us 5.5 hours. It was an absolutely beautiful day, the temperature was mild (low 70s), the sky was bright blue, a few puffy clouds were floating above the peaks, and there was a light breeze. The paths wound through a hilly terrain at the base of the mountains, so there was always something different to see. Very beautiful. 

Bridal Wreath Falls had water. The view here was amazing. 

In the evening, we did our typical routine: Scott watched a movie with Thomas while I did dishes from breakfast and made dinner. When Thomas went to bed, Scott and I had a drink and played cards. Then we went to bed and watched a couple episodes of the Chosen before falling asleep.

One awesome feature of this KOA is that there are citrus trees all over the campground. The fruit seems to be ripe now. Every day, I see mounds of fruit on some campsites' tables, and the KOA puts some in baskets at registration that anyone can take. I picked up two grapefruit from the registration building and an orange. Both were delicious, though not as sweet as at home. We have a tree at our site, but it's not doing too well. I hope it will be okay, but the few fruits on it are all dark, shriveled, and hard as a hockey puck. 

We had another great day. We had coffee, exercised, and lazed about until 11:30. Then we headed out to Reffkin Tennis Center, another local tennis facility. It was also amazing! It cost $2.50 to play. There are 17 tennis courts, some pickleball courts, a wall, and I saw several ball machines and one guy using a ball machine. You don't have to be a member. Wow. We played for an hour and a half. It was fun. Then we drove to a bike trail and rode for an hour and a half. The trail was very nice. It's paved, wide, and it goes through some pretty landscape. The last third we rode was along a major street, and it was very hilly, so I didn't like that very much. The other part was all the usual desert plants, plus a roadrunner ran right across the path in front of us! Going north, one's view is mountains. Pretty nice.

Then we came home and had a hot tub! After that, we took showers and made dinner: meatballs again! Time for an evening walk around the campground and then cards.

By the way, why no photos or news of the the White Ingrate? We didn't bring him! My friend Ruth is watching him. This trip has been a LOT more pleasant without him. I am a little sad when I see other people walking nice and pretty dogs, but the White Ingrate was not fun, so traveling without him is, in the end, much better.

Today was a good day. We had coffee, Scott had breakfast, and then we exercised. Then, we headed out about noon for a trail in the Saguaro National Forest.  We were intending to do Bridal Wreath Falls. We used AllTrails to navigate. Oh jeez. We got to a dirt road that forked; one way led through gates and there was a sign saying "this ain't the way to Bridal Wreath Falls." The other was a narrow dirt road. I said, no thanks, let's find the actual entrance to this place.

So we googled it. Google maps said 20 minutes. We started and went down a road for a mile or so and hit "road closed" signs. The road looked washed out. We turned around and went another way. Finally, we got to the entrance. It was swarming. There was no available parking at the visitors' center, but a ranger at the entrance gave us a map and suggested other places to park, so we had what we needed.

The park has an 8-mile loop road, along which there are a few trail heads. There are many trails in this part of the park (there's an eastern area and a western area; this is the eastern), and it would be a long hike to get to most of  them. I guess that's why AllTrails shows you how to get to them by parking along city streets, which out here means remote, narrow, and possibly washed-out dirt roads.

Anywho, we parked at the Loma Verde trail head, got on that trail but quickly switched to Squeeze Pen, and then got onto the Carrillo Trail. It was a fabulous trail, and the day was beautiful, sunny and warm. It was probably mid-70s at least; in fact, I got a little hot. Scott carried plenty of water for us, still, I got so tired. There was a fair bit of climbing; maybe that was it. On this trail, we crossed a stream with running water! Maybe coming from Bridal Wreath Falls? We are planning on going on this trail again and making it to the falls so we'll find out. We hiked for 3 hours, probably about 7 miles.

There were cool rocks, beautiful and varied plants, but very little wildlife. We saw a phainopepla again at the start of the trail, a sparrow, a small lizard, some tiny butterflies, and some insects.

Then we came home and made dinner. Scott had a webinar and I practiced. Then we relaxed.

So today was a day of chores and errands. We needed groceries. The hotspot died last night, so I needed a new one. The KOA's wifi is terrible. The propane firepit had an accident so to fix it, Scott disassembled the electronic ignition, and to bypass it and reattach the propane tank, he needed to find a particular propane fitting.

Oh, but before heading out, we hopped on our bikes to check out the hot tub.  Occupied, but by just one man, so we went in. We stayed about 30 minutes. It was awesome.

So then we started our chores. First, we went hunting for the propane fix. We went to one RV store, then to Camping World, then to a hose and fitting store, where the super helpful guy made Scott a new hose and assembly. Then we headed to BestBuy for a new hotspot. I waited a loooong time for help (they were short staffed). After I got the hotspot, we got lunch. Then we went shopping at Walmart.

Back at the site, I realized that the hot spot was the wrong thing as soon as I read the packaging. It only works on its service; doesn't work on ATT. While I was still trying to set it up just to make sure (I never got it to even connect to anything), Scott was attaching the hose to the propane tank. But something was going wrong and it took him a while to figure out. He got it working, and then we headed out to the ATT store, which happened to be near the BestBuy. The rep was super nice but ATT is so screwed up. He said he couldn't really help and that I should go to BestBuy. OMG. I pressed him to give me other options through ATT, and they were just plain astronomical. You have to buy the device—okay, not a problem—then you have to pay for service. A lot. And you have to keep paying for the service all year; you can't just use it when you need it. So I said no thanks.

On my way out, I saw a Verizon store. I went over and in 15 minutes had a hotspot that I can use as often as I want. It's a prepaid plan. I buy the device ($80) and then a service plan. I chose 25 gigs for 30 days for $60. When I don't pay next month, the number is deactivated, but when I want to use it again (next December), I go back to Verizon, they give me a new number, and I prepay for service. Unbelievably easy and sensible. I don't know what ATT is thinking. Oh, and then I called and canceled the extra line I was using for the ATT hotspot. That felt good. Then I tried to return the wrong hotspot device to BestBuy and they took it! That felt amazing!

So in the end, it was a successful day. No hiking, no tennis (but I did talk to a man at BestBuy who recommended some courts to us), but at least these issues worked out in the end. We have wifi, we have fire, we have food.   

We got up early and had our coffee. Then we started to pack up because we wanted to be out early enough to get to our 10 am tennis reservation at the Mesa courts. We got there in plenty of time. We played for 70 minutes and had a lot of fun. Those courts are really beautiful. There are orange trees all around. Scott picked one and ate it. Then we headed out to Tucson. 

So we arrived in Tucson around about 3 pm. A new KOA. How would it be? Well, it is beautiful. It is enormous. We rode our bikes around after dinner and it took us 30 minutes. There are lots of orange trees, hedges, and trees. The sites are pretty darn big for a KOA. It is a very pleasant atmosphere. Our site is very nice. We have a concrete patio with a metal patio table and chairs. We have an orange tree and a hedge right along the side of our campsite, giving privacy from the neighboring monster RV. Soon after we arrived, we saw 2 roadrunners running around the site. There are two pools, two hot tubs, and 2 bath houses. However, that's not enough for all theses campers. The bathrooms are okay, not all that clean. We walked to the hot tub about 5 pm. It was teeming. We left and went up about an hour later on our bikes. Still full. We checked out the other hot tub near the front of the campground. Packed. We gave up. It is Sunday, so hopefully things will be less busy tomorrow. 

We arrived at the KOA at 3:35. We're always anxious to see what an unfamiliar campground will be like. This one was not too bad for Arizona. The RV parks you see from the highway all over Arizona are downright depressing to me. Who knows? Maybe there are many tucked away from the highway that are lovely, but the ones I see are dumpy, dusty, dry, crowded, and brown. They look like parking lots either in the middle of nothing or riddled through with and surrounded by rusty, decaying buildings and trash.

So this KOA has trees and cacti sprinkled around, and it looks nice. Our site is actually pretty private and nice. I just need to get used to it. It's not perfect, but there are plusses and minuses, and in the end, the plusses far outweigh the negatives.   

Minuses of this KOA

• I feel a tenser ambiance, like what rats probably feel when they're packed together in some experiment. Sites are no closer together than in any other KOA, so I don't know where I'm getting the impression. Maybe seeing on arrival a line of people carrying laundry to the laundry room and our placement next to tent sites, with the one next to us a bit hillbilly-looking (although probably pretty pleasant on the inside). UPDATE: The ambiance of this campground is super nice, and all the people we've run into have been as nice as anywhere.  
• There is only one bathroom for the whole campground. There are 133 sites! The ladies have 3 toilets and 3 shower stalls. The men have 2 toilets and 3 showers. Scott said there was a line to use the johns when he went at 7:30 am. Update: Scott has been going in a little earlier in the AM and having no problem. I've never had a problem going to the bathroom or getting a shower when I wanted one.
  
  One thing we are doing for the first time on this trip is using our RV toilet, but we use it only for tinkle. We still use the KOA facilities for showers and their toilets for doo-doo. But being able to use the RV kitchen sink for water and washing dishes and the RV toilet has been a game-changer. We didn't hook up to water before on our February trips because we were apprehensive about water freezing and plus we were newbies to the sewer-dumping process. However, on this trip I insisted we use it because I was tired of carrying dirty dishes to the outdoor sink (or the bathroom if there was no outdoor sink!) and trekking to the KOA johns in the middle of the night. If the johns were too far, I'd use a porta potti that I have, but that was a pain because I'd have to empty it every morning.
• At Las Cruces, we had full hookup (water, electric, and sewer). Here there is no sewer hookup. So in the middle of the week, we will have to hitch the camper up and drive over to the dump station. It's a chore because there is a lot of leveling and stabilizing that Scott has to do. I'll probably have to secure some stuff inside the camper as well, but not as much as if we were heading onto the road. Update: We have had to dump once, and it was not too bad. It took Scott almost 30 minutes to unhook and get the RV ready to drive 20 yards. So it's ideal to have full hook up, but not too bad if you don't.
• Their wifi sucks. The receptionist warned us it's good only for minimal searching, no streaming. Thank goodness we have our WeBoost and hotspot, though we pay through the ass for the latter. Update: our WeBoost and hotspot have been working pretty well. 
• Our site is on the end of a row. In the end, this is awesome because it gives us a lot of privacy. But we are next to a fence that hides the workers' equipment and sheds. They work over there and we hear a lot of noise. My view is fairly blocked, but Scott can see straight over it because he's tall. Update: One day it was super noisy, but it hasn't been bad since.

Plusses of this KOA

• There is a hot tub. It is small and tucked into a kind of gross corner, but it exists. Two people were in it yesterday and it didn't look big enough to hold more politely. Update: it holds about 6–8 people. We've been in three times in 6 days, about any time we wanted. We have shared with at most 3 others, and they have been nice.
• Our site is located next to the showers, bathrooms, laundry, pool, and hot tub.
• As mentioned, our site actually gives us great privacy. We will never see neighbors on the main side of the site. The tent people are visible only looking out the window on the other side. We have two big trees at the back of the site with lots of foliage.
• Over the fence, we can see the Superstition Mountains.

Creepy hot tub. 

We lazed around until about noon. Then we headed over to Usery Mountain Regional Park. We had hiked here two years ago and loved it. And today, OMG we had such a fabulous hike! We started on the same trail, the Blevins Trail, which is a mostly gravel and sand path through hilly terrain filled with a variety of desert plants and sprinkled everywhere with saguaro. It's so gorgeous. We added the Cat's Peak Trail, which climbed to a beautiful view and went through similar terrain as Blevins, though the trail was more narrow. We got back to the parking lot and felt ready for more so we made another loop out of bits of the Noso, Blevins, Cat's Peak, Meridian, and Pass Mountain Trails. It was extremely pleasant, maybe our favorite hike. Total hiking time was about 2.5 hours and about 7.5 miles. 

We saw a lot of wildlife! Unfortunately, they all move quickly and it's hard to be sure exactly what you're seeing. We saw a number of rabbits, a lizard (I don't know what's out here but it looked like an anole), prairie dogs, prairie chickens or partridges, chipmunks, a hummingbird, a Gila woodpecker (I think), and a number of sparrow-sized birds with all different sorts of markings.

At our campsite we have routinely mourning doves, thrashers, cactus wrens, and some other birds I haven't identified yet.

We got out about 11 am and headed straight to Usery Mountain Regional Park again. We first hiked the Wind Cave trail, a narrow and steep climb to a cave. It's gorgeous the whole way and a good workout. It got a little scary for me in places, but not as bad as the last time we hiked it two years ago.  

Then we went and had a carb-filled and delicious lunch at Nandos, and then we went to some beautiful courts in Mesa and played tennis for an hour. It was a lot of fun. We got back to the campground and checked out the hot tub hopefully. No dice. It's packed with people who weren't going anywhere. Not much of an amenity if you can never get in it.

We woke early--6:30 am mountain time. We had coffee and exercised. At 9 the hot tub was open and empty, so we ran to the camper, got ready, and ran to the hot tub. A guy was stepping into it. We said "screw it, we're going anyway." He was nice, and once we were in the tub, we realized it's plenty big enough to hold 6 stranger couples. I wouldn't want to be the fifth and sixth person stepping into it, but it wouldn't bother me if a fifth and sixth person came in when we were already in it. Anywho, it was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Later, another guy came in for about 15 minutes, also nice, and then the original guy's wife. They were from BC, Canada, and we had a nice chat with them. 

After hot tub, we headed back to Usery Mountain Regional Park! We hiked Pass Mountain Trail. It was AMAZING. It was 7.5 miles and it took us 4 hours. I logged 22,000 steps on my fitbit. The trail was 98% fun and 2% absurdly scary. The worst was at the peak of the trail; we had to cross what was basically an f-ing cliff face, slanted down toward the cliff below. One fellow jogged across it as I was on my butt gripping the sides with my nails. Another couple passed us and walked across like it was a sidewalk in the city. Scott wasn't afraid at all but I had to cross it on my hands and knees. I was terrified and felt nauseous.  After that, the trail was normal again for a bit, and then it got scary, narrow and on the edge of a steep, steep slope; plus, we were high up. The views were absolutely stunning. I wish I wasn't so afraid of heights, but so it is.

This is where I panicked. 

When we got back to the campground, we ate dinner outside! It was warm and sunny.

We sat outside today by the fire drinking our coffee. We took off at 9:30 to head back to the Mesa tennis courts. We played for an hour and had a lot of fun. Then we went to Walmart, came back to the KOA, and made a bee line for the hot tub. Only one other odd person was there, so it was super nice.

Next, we tried a new place to hike, Lost Dutchman State Park. It cost more to get in than Usery ($10 vs $7), and was okay. The views of the mountains were beautiful, the terrain was a little different so it was something new, and the first third of the path shot almost straight up the mountain so it was a good workout (which after Pass Mountain yesterday and tennis this morning, I didn't really need). The second third was super rocky and a chore to hike. The last third was a nice walking trail but the views were less amazing. Pleasant, but not stunning. I don't think we'll do this one again. We hiked the Treasure Loop to the Prospector's View to the Jacob's Cross Trail. The trails were not well marked at all but we didn't get lost until we came out into the wrong parking lot. Thank God Scott could figure out the map. I would have been lost and I was exhausted.

Then we went to Nando's. Again. It's so good.

Well, today we were quite exhausted, me especially. We exercised, Scott fixed a couple things, and we took a bike ride around the campground for about 15 minutes. Then I practiced for 2 hours and Scott watched a webinar. Then we went to the hot tub again!

We were planning on going over to Usery again and walking some easier paths for a couple hours, but then we didn't have enough time before Scott and Thomas were scheduled to watch a show together. In the end, I'm glad because my legs really really need a rest. They watched their show, and I read Citizen of the Galaxy.

We woke up with enough energy and strength to go hiking. We drank our coffee and exercised; then Scott fixed something else that fell off the camper and I did dishes. Then we did a half-hour hot tub and after that, we headed out to Usery again to do Pass Mountain Trail again!

It was an absolutely beautiful day. The temperature was perfect and there was a small breeze. The scenery was again stunning. The trail is challenging, with plenty of climbing and walking over rocks but often it's sand or pebbles and generally comfortable to walk. ​

I was still scared at the scary parts of the trail, but less so this time. I studied the death trap that the locals call "the saddle" before walking over it. It wasn't AS steep as I imagined the first time, and I realized I wouldn't die if I fell, though I would be covered in cactus barbs. I get scared up there because it's VERY high up and exposed. 

When we got back, we had another hot tub and then we ate our meatball dinner outside.

Our plan for this year's February trip was to get to warmth as quickly as possible. I mapped out various Cracker Barrel stops to three final weeklong destinations (Las Cruces, Phoenix, and Tucson), and then various Cracker Barrel stops to home. As per usual, the plan was adapted once we got going.

Then it was on to Bloomington to see our son. We arrived early enough to go for a long hike with him and then get dinner at the Cracker Barrel. We went back to his apartment, where he and his dad watched their show and I chilled. Like literally and figuratively because he keeps the temperature at like 55 degrees. Anywho. 

During the day, we could see the Organ Mountains.

You could see the view sitting at the table.

Right before we left, I said I wanted to get a propane fire pit. I'd been debating it a long time. On the one hand, I prefer a real fire a million times over, but on the other hand, you can't take enough wood for a monthlong trip or buy any good wood when you're traveling to make all the fires you'd want. My sister has had a propane pit for a while and I discovered I enjoyed sitting around it more than I thought I would. So we picked one up and we're both so pleased. You can fire it right up and it's quite enjoyable. It's not as nice as real, no question, but it's pretty nice. And it's always available, with instant and easy startup.

On our first day, we headed out to the Desert Peaks National Monument area in the Organ Moutains. We followed AllTrails looking for the Achenbach Trail, couldn't find it, and wound up at the Bar Canyon Trail. We hiked for about 2 hours. It was awesome!

Here are some pics from the day although I can't honestly say that these were all from this trail. I may have mixed some in from the next day.

The next day we went back to the same area, but this time we went on a bunch of trails that start with the Dripping Springs Trail and then make a big loop back to the starting point at the visitors' center. Dripping Springs ends at a tiny dribble of water coming out of the rocks, and there are 2 historical sites there as well. One is Van Patten's camp, which was a recreational resort for folks in the 1800s and early 1900s. Several buildings are still standing. The other is Boyd's sanitorium. Some of those buildings are standing, too, and they are creepy. The hike was beautiful.

​Next we took another trail, the Crawford Trail, which led to an offshoot trail, the Fillmore Canyon Trail. We went down that. I saw a mule deer on the way, but it was too fast for me and I didn't get a photo. The end of Fillmore was a bunch of huge tumbled rocks, many worn smooth and round by water that was not there now. It was bone dry. Very pretty.

​We came back out to the Crawford Trail and it soon turned into or onto La Cuerva (the cave) Trail. Indeed, there was a small cave along the trail. Then the trail led back to the visitors' center. Total hiking time was 3 hours. 

The Organ Mountains, according to some literature at the visitors' center, were formed by an upwelling of a shit-ton of magma into the sedimentary layers formed during the time the Southwest was a massive inland sea. This orogeny makes for loads of cool rocks. 

We used the morning to get some projects done. Scott put in a new clear window with a shade in the RV door to replace the frosted glass, he painted the tires so they look like whitewalls (like the original tires, but they blew and he bought better tires but no whitewalls), then he took apart our propane tubing and valves because we had a leak and all the propane was gone, and I worked on this blog writing about this vacation instead of living it. After that, we went hunting for propane replacement parts. First we went to the RV store. They had only the valve bit but not the hose. Then we went to Home Depot. They don't have propane stuff. Then we went to Griffin's propane. The guy who knows parts was out for a bit so we had to go away and come back. 

But we were close to super nice tennis courts! So we went and played tennis. It was fun but it was pretty windy, which did interfere quite a bit with the play. Hopefully we can play again there when it is not windy.

​Then we went back to Griffin's and the fellow helped Scott get the one hose off the part that needed replacing, then we went home and ate dinner. After that we had an hour of daylight left and we decided to go for a bike ride. We had spotted a nice bike path along the Rio Grande. So we went and did that. It was very pleasant. Cold, but a pleasant ride. The Rio Grande is not that wide here and it is bone dry. I googled and found out they divert the water with dams and levees this time of year and they'll start to release it when growing season begins. About a mile down the path, there was some water flowing into the river. There were a lot of birds hanging out there—geese, ducks, crows or ravens, and doves.

Day 4 we decided to hike City of Rocks. We were there two years ago on our Western trip and we really loved it. It was an hour and a half drive from our campsite, but we thought it would be worth it. It was. We hiked the Hydra Trail again, and the Table Top Trail. We hiked for 3 hours. The temperature alternated from needing a coat to not as we went through shade or sun. It was a beautiful day.

​City of Rocks is an igneous formation that has been eroded into pillars over the years. According to the display in the visitors' center, there were eruptions starting 35 million years ago and repeating periodically. There is a lot of pumice because lots of the eruptions went high in the air.

We had lunch at a picnic table near the visitors' center and then headed home. 

As soon as I sat down at the picnic table, birds started flying in. In all, three different species visited us. One flew right on to Scott's head! I thought it was a wood thrush, but after buying a guide to local birds later in the trip, I am pretty sure it's a cactus wren. Then we saw a bunch of black-throated sparrows, and finally, there was a thrasher of some sort, curved-billed, Bendire's, or Crissal's. There are 3 thrashers here, and I can't tell them apart. Also we saw a hawk or falcon soaring. It was big and beautiful.

There is a botanical garden at City of Rocks with little plaques in front of various species.

Some plants probably look a bit different when it's summer; I was curious about "Bird of Paradise" and found this picture on the web.

Our plan was to do the Pine Tree Trail on the other side of the Organ Mountains.. But it was rainy and chilly early in the day, so we decided to wait a bit before going. So, in the morning, we hung out at the camper. Scott was making an improvement to the bed and fixing the exercise band in his truck. I was working on this post, doing dishes, and exercising. Then we went to Walmart to pick up supplies. 

Then it was off to Pine Tree. Slushy snow was falling as we headed out of the KOA! As we got to about 20 minutes before the trailhead, the weather got bad. The snow was fairly heavy. Traffic on the highway slowed. Then we turned onto our turnoff with 15 minutes to go to get the the trailhead. There was a sign about watching out for bad weather and windy roads. I started to get nervous. About 2 miles up the road, the gate was pulled closed. There was a camp host station at that point and a couple of cars. A guy in a truck saw us arrive and came over. He was in an NPS truck, so not sure if he was a ranger or the camp host. He said he'd just closed the gate because a car had gotten stuck up the road, and he could not get to them because the road was so bad. He said we could park and hike the terrain or walk up the road.

We decided to walk up the road. It was slushy but tires had left tracks where we could walk snow free. The hike turned out to be exceptionally fun and beautiful. We never made it to the trailhead, but we walked 1 hour 20 minutes out and another 1 hour something back.  The landscape was lovely, with hills, mountains, various flora, and beautiful rocks tumbled onto hills and into canyons. 

When we were ready to turn around, we decided to hike up a small hill that promised a good view. On the way we saw a statue of Mary! Scott made another statue out of rocks. In the basin below, we could see White Sands Missile Range. It wasn't that exciting.

Reading the reviews of this trail, a couple people saw oryxes. These were brought in from the Serengeti decades ago and now they roam the area. I was hoping to see one, but alas, I did not. We did see cows. A couple, one a baby, even crossed the road in front of us.

When we got back, the setting sun was hitting the mountains and the dark clouds were above. It looked like they were on fire!

We decided to add a trip to our yearly allotment: Fort Pickens State Park in Pensacola.  All in all, a great decision and a nice trip.

We went the week before Christmas. I wish we could have gone early and stayed later, but I had a concert on December 15, and Christmas is always on December 25 doncha know.

Scott was feeling pretty bad driving down and for the first half of the week, being on the tail end of a bad cold. Other than that, it was a great trip. We still hiked a lot, rode bikes, took a trip to the naval aviation museum, and had a nice visit with my sister. The weather was cooler than we would have liked that week, high 50s, low 60s, but they had snow at home, so we still preferred being here than there. 

We took the White Ingrate because he used to enjoy camping trips, or so it seemed. He was so annoying this time. We barricaded him in the back seat while driving because he wouldn't stay still, wanting to walk all over the driver and me incessantly with his little pointy nails. At the campsite, even though it was chilly, he refused to stay inside, clawing at the screen door whenever he was in there. We only brought him in when we went to bed, turned out the lights, and barricaded the screen so he couldn't get at it. The only thing he seemed to enjoy was his daily walk.

Also, he did not go in his camper one single time. That's because Scott worked so hard on it to make it beautiful and comfy. He'd rather shiver in the cold than be appreciative of anything the Human did for him, even if he has to suffer a bit. ​I suppose you have to admire his steadfast adherence to his principles.

My sister is camp hosting at Krul Lake and she came down to visit. We went to the Naval Aviation Museum, which is finally open again to the public. Scott liked it. My sister and I did the simulator (not pictured) and that was a lot of fun. We did loops and rolls. Then we went to dinner and had a good meal.

We walked past the hideous pre-Civil War military fortifications we hadn't seen before and realized where George Lucas got his ideas for Star Wars.

We saw more armadillos, three this time. One walked right through our campsite, oblivious to the dog in his pen. I saw a yellow-rumped warbler and a ruby-throated kinglet. There were pelicans and three variations on the theme of "shore bird with big, pointy beaks that fed by chasing after the receding waves and gobbling up something before the waves came back." Two were small, one of which was white, the other gray, and the third was double the size and gray.

We had some nice campfires and sunsets.

We had a 3-day honeymoon in Salt Fork (in the lodge) back in 1993. This year, we went there for a 4-day camping trip to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. Our 29-year-old daughter joined us one night for dinner, a walk around the campground, and cards. Sadly, I didn't get a photo of her.  It was a great trip.

On the first full day (Saturday), we hiked from our campsite up to the trailhead for Gunn's Glenn. Then we did the Valley Brook Trail and the Deer Run Trail. Oh, first we did the Forest Ridge Trail, which is a paved, short trail. We thought we could hit one of the others, but it didn't.

Day 2, we did Morgan's Knob and Morgan's Knob Loop Trails, and Pine Crest, which we had to drive to. Then we came back to our campsite and walked up to the Beach Point Trail, which led back to the loop we were staying in, just on the other side from where we were situated. 

Day 3, the day we were leaving, we parked at the Camp Check-in and walked to the Shadbush trailhead and did that trail, out and back. 

They were all beautiful. I can't say which was my favorite. 

We had a great family camping trip this year. This picture was taken in an area called the Carolinas. 

The water level was down, and we decided we could use the deck for the Clam (which we use as our tent)!!!

This is a picture of the deck after we took the Clam off when we were leaving. That's why the water spot is there. But notice that the deck has turned 180 degrees from its original location! The pointy end at the front should be directly opposite, where it was contoured to the shape of the cove. 

The deck also was no longer level after its rotation, so it sinks a bit, which you can see along the left side of the water spot. We placed the Clam as far from the depression as possible, but a couple feet of the front fell over it. No worries until the wind shifted, the water rose, and it rained one night straight at the front door, which had just a screen, no panel. I didn't realize we had an extra panel we could have used until we were packing to go. 

We got a little water inside when it rained HARD all night into the tent. But that was all, and we stayed totally dry in our cots, so we felt pretty lucky.

It's such a relief to be able to put the tent on the deck for several reasons:

• The cove is sheltered and our alternative, up on the top of the island on the windier side, is far more vulnerable to the wind
• It frees up that rocky area on the top of the island for things other than a tent
• Our stuff is less exposed to the elements. When we're on the rocks on the top of the island, the gross roach bugs get in more easily and sometimes get in our belongings. EEEEWWW!
• The floor is way more level, even in its current state, than the rocks on the top of the island. That makes it easier to set up tables and organize our things.

But also, the views are amazing. You're right on the water. It was really awesome when the deck wasn't flipped, because then our picnic table was set up right on the water, too.

Pretty nice, eh?

We set our kitchen, pantry, and table up in our usual non-deck area. It works nicely. I do have to be careful when I'm preparing meals, hopping up and down on the rocks. The pantry is about two feet above the table area and my stove.

Kids in the kitchen.

Meals in the kitchen.

Views from the kitchen table.

Activities included 

• Swimming
• Fishing
• Kayaking
• Lots of games, mostly Poison, some Crew in the evenings, and chess
• Reading
• BB golf
• Running into town for supplies
• Boat rides
• Fires and S'mores
• Exercising
• Hanging out together
• Building sculptures
• Enjoying the views
• Making meals and eating.

Here's the island as you're driving in from town.

Some views around the island.

The bathroom.

Here's a view of "town": Some marinas (now all owned by the same megacompany), a general store, some other businesses like construction companies, a gas station, and a restaurant.

The White Ingrate is not a great Canada dog. He doesn't cause problems, but he sleeps most of the day, and when he's awake, he's usually right at your feet trying, I can only surmise, to kill you. He also liked to dig, and he got dirty and also very, very, very smelly. However, he is a great boat dog. He loves speed and wind. He does cause trouble trying to get as far onto the edge as we'll let him. 

We saw some interesting wildlife.

• As usual, the song sparrows were singing throughout the day, mostly at 6:30 am and dusk, and flitting about the trees.
  
• There was a LOT of loon activity and communication. Most mornings and nights we heard them, and many days we saw them. One day there were four swimming about 4 feet in front of Scott and Thome.
  
• We saw a hummingbird a couple times.
  
• We saw an enormous toad that hopped out of the water when we were stepping onto the same rock to get into the kayaks.
  
• We saw mink--once on the island, once fishing, and once swimming in the water.
  
• We saw a harmless snake on the island
  
• We saw bald eagles a couple times. I saw one once when kayaking. I got pretty close while it was on a high branch and where I could see it very clearly. Scott was with me but wasn't close enough to get a good look or a photo.  And then when he and Thome were on the boat, they spotted one near town.

Click on images below to pop up the images for a clearer view.

Some folks were momentarily fooled into thinking the bald eagle had landed on our fire pit. (It was a log.)

We learned from the locals this year that we are the "tent people." We have always referred to ourselves as the "Beverly Hillbillies"—for fairly obvious reasons.

We had a great trip. I wish it could have been longer. We went to the Smoky Mountains, Pensacola, Galveston, San Antonio (twice), Big Bend National Park, and Hot Springs, with stops in Columbus, Atlanta, and Bloomington (Indiana) to see family.

This is the second time we stayed at this campground. We love it. It is wooded and well-maintained, the showers are amazing, and it's right next door to the Smoky Mountain National Park.

Right behind our spot was the back of the campground and the entrance to a path leading to national park trailhead, 1/2 mile down the road. 

We had a fabulous hike, the same path we took the last time we were here. This time, temperatures were in the 60s. No snow on the trails!

We loved Fort Pickens! The campground was very nicely maintained with lots of trees. It is located on an island and is part of the Gulf Island National Seashore. On one side of the island was Pensacola Bay, and on the other was the Gulf of Mexico.

We hiked the beaches and the Blackbird Marsh Trail. A beautiful, white-sands beach surrounded the island, and through the center of the island there were old dunes covered with bushes and trees. Blackbird Marsh Trail runs through the island's center. There are newer dunes closer to the beach with short trails through those.

We saw an armadillo on the path!

We saw a huge snapping turtle, too, a huge heron, and lots of mockingbirds. 

We visited the fort and one of the hideous "batteries," which were structures for defense that housed guns and provided protection for soldiers.  There were about four spread over the island. The one we climbed up was the least hideous. The last one in the picture below was especially gruesome. We came upon it by accident on one of our walks. We needed to go past it to get to a beach path, and I could not look at it as we went by. Look at it! It's repulsive. Even the photo of it gives me the creeps.

It was a nice campground. Campers packed in as per usual for a KOA, and the campground was packed! But there were some palm trees around and nice grass. I liked our spot.

One warm day we stayed in the hot tub for a couple hours. I know they say "limit 30 minutes." But we didn't care and we didn't die. We did have a jolly good time. We chatted with a couple other campers who popped in and out. 

We hiked a couple times on the beach. The beach here was easier to walk on than the Pensacola beach, but I found it kind of boring. 

One cool thing we got to do is tour NASA Johnson. A friend's son works there and he gave us a personal tour! We were very lucky because he only got the request a day before we arrived but he made time for us, and he was transferring back to Ohio in just a month. He drove us around the base and took us into a couple cool buildings. One was where an enormous space holds loads of exact models of various International Space Station structures. People from different countries are working on them, testing things out. 

The other thing I loved was Mission Control. You go into a room overlooking the actual mission control where technical specialists are manning various stations while they are keeping an eye on the astronauts on the International Space Station. It's operational 24/7. There are large screens at the front of the room and the one in the middle was dark when we got there. But as we were watching, the space station was heading to the light side of the Earth and the ship came into view. It was a lot like being on the starship Enterprise.

My husband loved the models. There are some big ones when you drive in, one of the shuttle on top of an airplane, and one of the Space X rocket that transports astronauts to the space station. The other set of models he liked were these that showed comparisons to scale of different rockets through the years.

Here's a shot of everyone in the camper having a cozy time of it.

The White Ingrate got a little antsy on the drive. He loves to look out the window, but even when he could get close, he wouldn't sit still. So Scott made him this shelf and it worked really well, keeping him (the dog) content enough to tolerate.

We had a very nice campsite.

Right in front of our site was an entrance to a city path that ran miles and miles through  a number of city parks and out through fields and woods.

The campground was nice, with lots of trees. There was a pretty pond.

We walked along the city trail one day and rented bikes the next and went a lot farther. Both days were very bright, warm, and pleasant.

One day we went to Mission Concepción and then walked the River Walk. It was fun but very hot and we didn't bring water. Toward the end, I was spent and close to having heat stroke. But did I learn my lesson? No. Stay tuned for San Antonio #2.

We stayed at ​Marathon RV Park and Motel. It's pretty barren, but that's par for the course in this part of Texas from what I can tell. It was a nicely run, nicely maintained park. Here's our site.

We had planned on staying 5 nights, because it's like really far from home. But several things combined to compel us to leave after two nights.

First and foremost, it was cold. The first night it got into the teens. Hiking during the day was very pleasant, but part of the fun is hanging out at the site, too, and it was too cold for that. Plus, that's no fun at this type of campground.

Second, there was one bathroom. It was a very nice bathroom, but that's all there was and it housed the shower, too. But then on our second night, the park hosted a music festival. That is cool and all (though we stayed in our camper), but still there was just the one bathroom. The music festival was going to happen on the second night, too.

And third, the drive to hiking in Big Bend was over an hour. For some locations, it would have been closer to two. The drive was actually beautiful and it went by fast. But we had to leave the dog in the camper and including time for the hike, he would be have to be left alone for 5 to 8 hours. Five is pushing it, more is not possible. ​

So we hiked for one day. It was a splendid hike.

​We drove to the Chisos Basin Campground and walked the Window View Trail. It was spectacular. I was surprised by the number of other people on the trail.  The mountains are cool. They're volcanic.

The window view at the end of the trail.  There is a crazy person in this  photo. You can see his arms and head as he's getting a picture. Admittedly, it's a better picture, but not worth death in my book. Do you see those shiny, slick rocks you have to cross to get to this perch? He said it was less dangerous than it looked. But he's always saying that.

Here's the view you get when you risk your life.

As we were leaving the park, we stopped at another short trail and exhibit. Eocene-era horse-ancestor bones had been uncovered here and there was an exhibit dedicated to that, other fossils, and the geology of the area. It was interesting.

So we cut Marathon short and added three more days to the next San Antonio stop we had planned. I'm so glad we did. I still feel guilty leaving Big Bend with only one day in the park, but we had a blast in San Antonio the second time. And it was warm. Very warm. Upper 70s and low 80s. You can't beat that.

This time our site was next to the pond. The sites were close together, and while one large camper was on our right, no one ever came into the site on our left. We had a big space behind the camper where the dog had his area and we had our campfires overlooking the pond.

For the second hike, we started out on the same Joe Johnston Trail, but then we decided to make it a long hike and add some other trails (Cave Creek, Sendero Balcones, Overlook Trail). Looking at the map, I thought we were pushing it, but I guess I figured if we got tired, we could double back. 

Well, we did the whole thing but it was monumental. It turned out to be 11.6 miles. It would have been a challenge in any case, but stupid us, we didn't bring water. We were extremely thirsty when we got back to the visitors' center. OMG. But it was mostly shaded, and for that reason I think we are not dead or rescued by local law enforcement.

The next day we rented bikes at a nice little shop in San Antonio, Blue Star, and went for a long ride on the River Walk. The bikes were reasonable and very comfortable. This time we brought water. We had a terrific ride.

We drove in at night and couldn't see much. We were pleased when we woke up and saw the campground in daylight. It's a nice little campground. We were close to the bathrooms. No one took the site next to us and that's a bamboo patch behind us.

We had only one day and we drove to the trailhead for Hot Springs Mountain Trail in Hot Springs National Park. It was under 10 minutes from our campsite. The trailhead was in the campground, and that campground looked very nice. 

The hike was beautiful. A couple nice climbs and lots of beautiful woods. We saw plenty of other people on the trails. We hiked the Hot Springs Trail and the Peak Trail up to a fire tower. I don't like heights, but Scott really wanted to climb it. I agreed and we went inside to pay.

We had forgotten to bring money! So we finished the hike, went back to the car and got his wallet and my America the Beautiful pass, and started the trail again. 

Our trip started at a Cracker Barrel in Columbus. Our daughter came to visit and we played some cards. Our favorite game these days: Poison.

We stopped in Atlanta for a day and night to visit my husband's father, who was in a rehab facility, and stepmom. 

Our final stop was at a Cracker Barrel in Bloomington, Indiana. We visited our son who is teaching at a charter school and has an apartment nearby.

We took my mother-in-law for an RV experience to Salt Fork September 23 to 25, 2022. My daughter joined us for a day. I brought my daughter a present and a cassata cake from Baraona's bakery in Middleburg Heights and we celebrated her birthday. The cake was delicious, but she was not surprised because she went in the cooler to get something for me and she saw the box it was in and suspected!

Do you see the goosebumps on her arm????

Mostly pics from this trip, little commentary. Yay for you.

​One thing we did differently this year was to set up the Clam as our tent. We had to use the back side of the island again because the deck is under (ish) water, and there is a large, flat (ish) rock on that side. The upside is we could leave the panels down most of the time because the weather was fine, and we had splendid views and a breeze.

We set our kitchen up on the big rock on the front of the island. Why front? I guess because that's where we park the boat.

This is the view from the kitchen. That's the little Clam on the left.

This trip began with a bit of disaster. We got our boat in the water, went about a hundred yards, and the motor died. For evah. Fortunately, a passerby towed us to the nearby marina, and they had a motor we could buy and they could install that weekend. 

​Here we are outside the marina.

Another thing different about this trip was that my brother-in-law was up there the same time with his two kids. He towed us out to our island, we unloaded, and then they towed the boat back to the marina.

Oh, here are a few more. They are either fishing or playing BB golf.

The White Ingrate was an okay Canada-camping dog.

Morning coffee.

Island views.

The daily swim around the island.

Fishing. 

Kayaking.

Annual Burning of the Trash.