Southwest

Texas, New Mexico and Arizona

Sorry for the long post – but it’s been awhile since we’ve had internet!  Chris has been doing a lot of driving this week!  We made it all the way from Branson to the western Arizona!  Sunday we stayed in Dallas and walked around the area where John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  We met two gentlemen who spend their weekends downtown trying to share the “truth” about what happened that fateful November day in 1963.  One of the men actually witnessed the whole thing and is sure there was a shooter in the infamous “grassy knoll.”  He said that several policeman and spectators ran toward the grassy knoll soon after the shots were fired (and they had photos showing this) where they only found two men flashing Secret Service badges.  The other guy has been researching the Kennedy assasination for over 40 years now.  He was a consultant and bit player in Oliver Stone’s movie “JFK”.  All very interesting stuff!

We spent Tuesday in Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.  It is a huge cavern – we toured just 2 miles out of 30 documented miles.  It has a steep natural entrance (my legs were sore for the next few days!) that winds 1-1/2 miles down to “the Big Room.”  This room is home to many beautiful formations.  I was very glad that the lights never went out on us – we were 750 feet down – losing power would not have been fun!  

Wednesday we took Jess to Rockhound National Park.  She loves collecting rocks.  This park lets you collect up to 15 pounds to take home.  She was so excited – she got a bag and a paintbrush to brush away any dirt.  Chris got a hammer (in case they needed to break open some geodes or make a big rock smaller ().  Jess came back so excited with her bag full of rocks!

We spent Thursday in Tombstone, Arizona.  Unless you are into touristy Old West towns and gunfights – this is not necessarily somewhere I’d recommend going out of your way to visit.  Luckily, it wasn’t too far off our route.  We did a little browsing in the shops.  We found a really cool magnet - a live cactus in a little pot ( (we’ve been collecting magnets to put on the metal walls of the bus!)  The girls enjoyed a sarsaparilla and Chris went to a comedy gun show.

Friday we explored Saguaro National Park in Tucson.  The Saguaro (sa-wore-oh) is the largest cactus and is only found in the Sonoran desert.  They are huge!  We also saw several other varieties of cactus.  The girls worked hard to complete their Junior Ranger badge here.  We even got a little too much sun – we were a little pink in the cheeks!  We enjoyed In-N-Out Burger for dinner – didn’t even know they had them in Arizona.  We then made a quick trip into Lowe’s to pick up some Christmas decorations for the bus.  We have a lit-up Christmas tree decoration in the front of the bus and Chris strung lights on the inside – you definitely can’t miss us now (as if you could before!)  

Today we stopped in Quartzite, Arizona hoping to find more rock stuff for Jessica.  Quartzite is a hopping RV mecca in January and February – so we just missed the chaos – and all the cool rock and mineral vendors.  Jess did manage to find a pretty opal necklace (something she’s been wanting for awhile – it’s her birthstone.)  We are now officially back in California – the Palm Springs area.  We are planning on exploring Joshua Tree National Park tomorrow.  Then we plan on spending a little time in Southern California.  We should be home by next weekend – although Chris and I aren’t quite ready to be back in the “real world.”   (