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Solar Eclipse

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Yes! We got to experience the Total Solar Eclipse! We are staying at a Thousand Trails park on Lake Tawakoni, about 60 miles east of Dallas. The park itself is probably the nicest Thousand Trails park we’ve ever been in. We got here several days before the eclipse and had a chance to relax. It’s nice to actually ‘camp’ again. We even sat outside around a fire for a little while one night!

We’d been watching the local weather and unfortunately they were calling for heavy cloud cover for the day of the eclipse. We woke up that morning to almost total cloud cover but decided to go set up near the lake to watch the eclipse anyway. We figured even if we couldn’t see the sun we’d at least experience the darkness during totality.

About an hour before the start of the eclipse it was still completely cloudy and we had a hard time finding the sun. Then as the eclipse began the clouds moved and we started getting glimpses of the sun!!! Luckily those glimpses kept getting bigger and we were able to see the full sun for most of the eclipse! We also experienced 4 minutes of totality, which is hard to explain but is awe-inspiring!! Another thing that was pretty cool was an intense solar flare that was easily visible to the naked eye!

This video shows the early cloud cover clearing up, then the dramatic change in light during totality!!! To watch the video, click on this link: https://youtu.be/Y13-iecqQ8s

Carlsbad Caverns

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We always keep an eye on the weather as we’re traveling and noticed that one of our travel days was going to have some strong winds with gusts of up to 50 miles an hour. Since we were going to be traveling through an area that often has strong cross winds and dust storms we decided to rethink our travel plans.

We generally plan short travel days and when we looked at our trip on RV Trip Wizard we realized we could combine 2 days travel into 1 and stay an extra night at Roswell. Fortunately, Trailer Village had the night available due to a cancellation.

With an extra day in Roswell we decided to drive to Carlsbad Caverns which was about 90 miles away. WOW – so glad we did!! It made us happy we had to rearrange our travels.

The main viewing area of the Caverns is called The Big Room and there are 2 ways to get there. You can take an elevator, or you can walk down through the Natural Entrance Trail. This trail is listed as being strenuous and extremely steep (downhill). We decided to give it a try and again are so glad we did! I wouldn’t call it strenuous, but it was dark and somewhat steep in areas. What an incredible way to enter the cave. The pictures will never do this justice, but we tried!!

The Natural Entrance Trail

The Big Room

Roswell, NM

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We thought Tombstone was hokey? Roswell is the epitome of it!!!

Another stop on our way to Texas for the eclipse. One of those places that you’ve heard about all your life so you just have to stop and visit if you go by!

As you drive around town there are a bunch of alien sculptures and pictures which are fun to see.

We visited the International UFO Museum and Research Center which has a lot of information about the “Roswell Incident” as well as other UFO sightings.

Then, we had lunch at the only McDonalds that’s shaped like a space ship!!

So … you may ask, do we believe …. ?

Alamogordo, NM

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Another stop on our way toward Texas for the Solar Eclipse.

The main reason we stopped here was that it was a convenient stop on the way East, but we did want to see White Sands National Park. The White Sands in the middle of the desert is beautiful in a very surreal way.

This area is known for its pistachio farms (who knew?!?) so when we found a pistachio wine at a local winery, we had to try it! We liked it and bought two bottles to take home as well as a really good Chardonnay.

Then we had a great dinner at D. H. LesCombes Winery & Bistro. We went early for a wine tasting and found a Chenin Blanc to share at dinner, which was very tasty!

But the highlight of this stop was actually a community theatre production of Rent!! We love Rent and have seen it many times, including on Broadway. So when we happened to notice a sign on the highway for the local production we knew we had to go. We gotta say, it was great, especially for community theater!! (Maureen was probably the best we’ve ever seen!!) Alamogordo Music Theater,Flickinger Center for the Performing Arts

Shakespeare Ghost Town

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Another fun stay at a Harvest Host, this one was very different from any of the others we’ve stayed at!

Shakespeare Ghost Town is an abandoned mining town in Lordsburg, NM. The town and buildings were purchased by the Hill family in 1935 and it has been passed down in the family since. The family maintains the buildings as well as they can while still keeping the original look and feel of the early mining days.

We took a tour with Dave, one of the owners. His knowledge of the town is amazing and you can tell how much he cherishes it by the care he has taken of it and how he shares it with others.

It was interesting to see how historic towns have evolved over the years. Our visit to Bisbee showed us an old mining town that has become a hippy-tourist area where the old buildings have been turned into restaurants and shops. Tombstone is a tourist attraction where they try to recreate the feel of the original town by reconstructing some of the bars and scenes. Shakespeare Ghost Town has a more authentic feel to it and may be a better way to understand what it was actually like to live in that time.

Tombstone

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The town of Tombstone is about 25 miles from Bisbee so, of course, we HAD to visit it while we were there. It was fun to see all the historic buildings and how the town has been maintained to look like it did 150 years ago.

The re-enactment of the gunfight at The OK Corral was a must-see! It was a little hokey (well, maybe a lot!) but still interesting.

Then we had lunch at Big Nose Kate’s bar and restaurant. It’s on the same site that Doc Holliday’s romantic interest had a bar back in the day. The food was fine and the atmosphere was fun!

Bisbee, Arizona

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Our first stop heading east out of Mesa was Bisbee, Arizona. Bisbee was first founded in the late 1800s as a mining town and is now a touristy town with a hip vibe. We stayed at the Copper Queen RV Park with a great view of downtown from our rear window.

Bisbee today

Bisbee 1909

On our first full day we took the Copper Queen Mine Tour. Wow, we can’t imagine the miners that worked underground in those dark, claustrophobic conditions. Our tour guide told us his father had worked at the mine on a 28/10 schedule – yes, he worked 10 hours a day for 28 days straight, then had 2 days off and started over!! Learning about how the miners worked, especially when they used dynamite to blow out new sections was fascinating!

For dinner we went to The Quarry Bisbee which had great reviews. I have to admit that when we first walked in and took a seat we had our doubts and considered leaving. Glad we didn’t, our dinners were excellent.

We also found this cute little wine bar and stopped for a glass of dry Riesling that was really good!

Nearby Erie Street in what used to be Lowell is a reminder of time gone by.

Mesa, Arizona

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It’s hard to believe that we have been full time RVers for 5 years already! We have had so much fun exploring the Western part of the country, but one thing we’ve realized is that there really aren’t many places to spend the winter if you want to stay in warm weather.

So, we’ve spent the last four winters in Mesa, Arizona, which is a great Winter base for exploring the West Coast. Ya gotta be somewhere in the Winter and you can’t argue with the Winter weather in the Phoenix area!

There are so many great things to do in the area, and we know we didn’t see them all, but we were fortunate enough to get to see many of them like … Pima Air and Space Museum, Titan Missile Museum,
Tortilla Flat, Scottsdale, MIM, Museum of Illusions, TranSiberian Orchestra, Tucson Book Fair, International Guitar Night, Whose Live Anyway!, Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar, Concerts and Dances, Starz American Bar for watching the Ravens! (with breakfast beer), Vito’s Cellar Comedy Club nights. Plus, we found a tequila we like that is only available locally.

We also had the opportunity to get to know and work with a great group of workampers and a fantastic boss over the years.

When we first started this ‘road trip’ we thought we’d never go back to the same place twice, we ended up coming back for 4 Winters. But now we feel like it’s time to move on. So for now we bid this area adieu and move on … back to where we started – the East Coast! After 5 years we’d like to spend some time closer to family and visit some beaches! Although the West Coast is beautiful, the beaches don’t compare to the East Coast beaches.

Growing up in Maryland our weekend/vacation resort was always Ocean City, MD – so we are psych’d to be returning there this summer … more to come!

Musical Instrument Museum

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We’ve wanted to go to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix for years and and not quite got around to it. So just before we left the area we did make it and luckily for us, it coincided with a new Exhibit called Acoustic America, Iconic Guitars, Mandolins, and Banjos! What a treat! The entire museum by itself is a ‘bucket list’ thing to do if ever in the area. It’s impossible to even begin to describe the breadth of the collections of instruments from all over the world contained here, and throw in the Acoustic America exhibit … wow, we were just blown away. LOL, we thought we’d take a couple of hours and be fine … we could have spent a couple of DAYS in this place … and probably still missed things! P.S. – a special shout out to two Maryland companies that were represented well as part of the exhibits, PRS Guitars, and Pearl Works!

12 fret dreadnought owned by Peter Yarrow of Peter Paul and Mary, with set list still taped to the top.

This 12 string was owned and played by Paul Stookey of Peter Paul and Mary.

Although not a Baltimore native, Michael Hedges studied at Peabody Institute and spent several years in the Baltimore area. This is his harp guitar he used frequently. Mike followed him for years and he is one of Mike’s favorite guitar players.

A couple of PRS guitar examples, the sunburst is owned by Al DiMeola, the blond is owned by Carlos Santana, both custom made by Paul Reed Smith himself.

The Pearl Works display, which includes a PRS.

A special guitar, a 1975 Martin D-28, played by Elvis Presley on his final live performance in 1977.

A few more items of interest, and a couple of Candi and Mike just playin’ around!

Pima Air & Space Museum

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We took a day trip down to Tucson to visit the Pima Air & Space Museum. It’s a huge indoor/outdoor facility with over 400 current and historical aircraft spread out over 80 acres including 6 hangers. One of the big reasons Mike wanted to go there is the number of Glenn L. Martin aircraft they have and one noteworthy plane: the last remaining PBM5 Mariner. This aircraft is literally the last one in the world and at the time of it’s donation to the museum back in the ’70’s – was flown in to the facility! So it was airworthy at the time!

The museum is also home to several other Martin aircraft: 2 – B-57’s, a 404, and a B-26. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) the B-26 is not on display and undergoing restoration at this time. Fun fact/sidenote: Those that know us know we are huge Doobie Brothers fans … ‘back in the day’ the Doobie Brothers had their own plane called the Doobie Liner – it was a Martin 404!

There are of course many more aircraft to see from a tiny BD-5 mini jet to several B-52’s and 747’s, as well as aircraft from around the world.

There is also a ‘museum within the museum’. There is a single building within the complex dedicated to the 390th Bombardment Group and home to a fully restored B-17.