Moving on Down the Road

This past week our home has been in Catalina State Park, just north of Tucson in Oro Valley, AZ. Located at the base of the Catalina Mountains it has become a favorite place to park The Wanderer. Undoubtedly, the restrooms/shower houses are the cleanest of any park where we have stayed; the campground hosts are very friendly and helpful; it is convenient to the Oro Valley/Tucson extensive bike paths as well as many hiking trails. 

The moderate to difficult Romero Pools Trail is located in the park.

The Pima Canyon Trail is not far.

The public access right of way goes past some very beautiful homes. (Bet the parties here serve very good wine and food!)

Captain on the trail

There are so many more trails yet to explore.

We love that we can get on the 100 + mile shared-use path, The Loop,  just outside the entrance to the park. 

And go just about anywhere in Oro Valley and Tucson. 

This trip we parked in the Ring Tail Loop, without the convenience of electricity, water or sewage. We were pleased with the solar panels, only running the generator for an hour or so each day (that was more of a prophylactic measure than a necessity,) It was a bit chilly in the early mornings with temperatures in the high 20s/low 30s, but by 10:00 a.m. it was an enjoyable 50s/60s. 

Our Colorado friends, Adele and Steve, were parked in Campground A.

As always, it was great fun to share meals, stories, RV upgrades and, of course, good wine.

Meritaggio  from David Arthur Vineyards 

Adele took this photos of the hummingbirds feeding at our window. 

Last, but certainly not least, another favorite reason to visit in Oro Valley is connecting with Cousin Lin and her husband Fred. They love showing us around the area they love so much. This time it was Mt. Lemon, a popular ski area.

Today we moved on down the road toward the border with high expectations of enjoying some authentic Mexican food. 

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City of Rocks

Gale force winds (Is 30+ mph winds gale force?) greeted us when we entered New Mexico on Friday afternoon. Certainly too windy to enjoy the outdoors, so we parked The Wanderer at City of Rocks State Park and headed to St. Clair Winery to sip some wine and listen to a local band. The Cab-Zin made us think of home; we left with some nice port.

It seemed like a good idea to nestle The Wanderer in the rock formation, however Captain realized she would not be taking full advantage of the sun (which we needed to provide our electricity) so he scooted her out a little bit. It was really a cool campsite.

Saturday we woke to a nice, calm day with a brilliant blue sky. After ABN’s yoga session

we conquered Table Top Mountain

for a moderate 4-mile hike.

This is City of Rocks from the top of Table Top Mountain;

Sunday brought us another beautiful day. We hiked to the Observation Point

and explored the “city.”

It is estimated City of Rocks was formed from a volcanic eruption about 34.9 million years ago. It is a small, quiet state park located between Deming and Silver City in New Mexico. We found it to be wonderfully relaxing after spending the past month with family and friends. Now, if you know us or read our blog, you know the people with whom we connect as we travel are a large part of what feeds our souls; but sometimes solitude is nice.

Whether with friends or alone, at the end of the day it is all about serenity.

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Texas is in our rear view mirror.

What in the world would take us to Menard, Texas?

You guessed it, friends. Deb, a classmate of Captain’s lives in Menard with her husband, Gary. They graciously provided us a beautiful, quiet spot along the San Saba River to park The Wanderer.

We wanted to share a little wine with our friends. Of course, it had a College Station connection: Bill Gunn at Jodar Vineyards and Winery, and Mike & Valerie Thompson of Thompson 31Fifty Wines were all at A&M Consolidated High School with Captain and Deb.

(You may be familiar with Gary if you have watched the popular hunting show, Carnivore.)

Once again, we made the trek over to Andrews to visit with our good friends, Steve and Wendy. This time our visit included another former co-worker, John and his wife Deborah.

We had a good time catching them up on what (and what not) is happening in our home town as well as sharing the whereabouts of mutual friends and co-workers in the nuclear industry.

While having a bit of downtime we explored Andrews on foot; that didn’t take long. But we did meet a few of the local residents.

After miles and miles of oil fields and a Walmart night in El Paso, we left Texas in the rear view mirror  

and entered New Mexico in a dust storm.

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Break is over.

What a way to end the year! The Aggies took care of the Wolfpack very nicely in the Gator Bowl. And we were rewarded with Spice Cookies, Cheese Stix

and Moravian Sugar Coffee Cake from Dewey’s in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Delicious!

Thank you, Lee!

And no better way to start the New Year than with great friends at Carney’s Book Club. 

College Station version of Tipsy Tuesday

 During the holidays we heard our girls were visiting their Waco relatives, so we wandered up that way to have lunch with them.

In spite of the rain we were able to get some walking in, including a walk over to the new Zachry Engineering Building on the campus of Texas A&M.

Atrium

Sculpture

Captain spent many hours in the old Zachary Building. As one of his former classmates stated, “That building was brand spanking new when we were sophomores, now it is old enough to need a complete rebuild. What does that say about us?”  Captain is quite impressed with the sleek design of the new building including the learning studios (previously known as classrooms.)

We have had our Texas fix including brisket, ribs, Mom’s sweet rolls, hamburgers at Top of the Hill,

many games of pinochle and dominos and a new pair of boots.

Break is over and we are headed west. Next stop, Menard, Texas.

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