Las Cruces

Wow, what a day! It started out with a phone call from my son John saying they would be coming to the lake over memorial Day weekend with David and all of the grand kids. This should be a fantastic weekend and an opportunity for everyone to hang out together. The next bit of good news was that the recent rains at home have now raised the lake level to over 311 feet. which is only about 4 feet below conservation level. When I called my neighbor Steve, and fishing partner, to talk about the lake level he told me that they had a real bad storm on Thursday evening with winds over 60 MPH. he said he would go to check our house later that morning and give me a report when I called again when we reached Las Cruces.

My second call to Steve revealed that we only had a few shingles torn from the roof of the house but to my surprise Steve had already replaced them. Checking the lake level after this phone call I discovered that the lake level was now over 312 feet and approaching 313 feet. They are also expecting more rain tonight so I will keep checking the lake level as we move to Arizona tomorrow. The bottom line to this lake level is that we can now move the boat to the boathouse when we return at the end of April.

It sounds like Corsicana, a nearby city, was flooded pretty bad, but they are getting back to normal today. We will drive to Tucson tomorrow, 275 mile trip, and then a short 143 mile trip to Surprise on Sunday. Tippy and I went to an early dinner at Lorenzo's and had a terrific meal again. We even brought home a small pizza and our dinner leftovers that will take care of us tomorrow as well. More from Tucson tomorrow, maybe with pictures, so be safe.

Cowgirl Alex

Alex on patrol

Our Spot at Trapark

Trapark Office

Abilene to Pecos

Well, in spite of what I said yesterday, we do have wireless access here at the Trapark in Pecos, Texas. This is an Escapees park, a membership organization, and members can stay here for $10 a night. As a non-member I must pay $18.50 but that is the lowest rate we will pay on this trip! I will include a couple of pictures of the park and the coach. The spots are a little tight but we do have 50 amp power and full hook-ups so we won't complain.

Our drive today, 241 miles, was beautiful! We woke up to a rain shower that was hard enough to sound like hail and had a cloudy sky for the first 50 miles or so. By the time we passed Sweetwater, Texas, home of the great rattle snake round-up each year, we had sunny skies, no wind, and very light traffic. We made a fuel/lunch/weigh the coach stop at a TA station at the 177 mile marker. Our recent mileage was 7.25 MPG which isn't great but will have to do. We made a second stop at a rest area at mile marker 69 which left only a short 29 mile trip to the Trapark in Pecos.

Pecos, by the way, is the home of the "World's first Rodeo." They even have a Walmart which isn't bad for a town of less than 9,000 people. We will eat in again tonight. I had a terrific chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes last night and Tippy is making pork chops tonight. Tomorrow, in Las Cruces, we will go to a little Italian place we both like. There is also a Super Walmart there so Tippy will stock up on a few things we forgot about before we head into Arizona on Saturday. Enjoy the pictures and be safe.

On The Road Again

Hi Y'all,
We left for a month long trip to Arizona today after a wonderful drenching rain on Monday evening and Tuesday morning. The lake level is now up to 310.36 feet and is still rising as a result of the recent storm. More rain is also in the future so we have high hopes that there will be enough water to move the boat over to our boathouse when we return at the end of April.

We had a pretty windy trip today but nothing that was dangerous. We traveled from home to Abilene, about 251 miles, today and will travel to Pecos, Texas tomorrow which is a 246 mile trip west of here on I-20. I know we will not have any Internet access in Pecos so our next report will be from Las Cruces, NM on Friday.

Y'all be safe and we will try to get a picture or two for our next post.