Jan 1
Helloooooo.... 2008. May all of us have a happy and healthy New Year. This is Sim. 2007 has been an adventurous year for us. We have seen 15 states in Mexico, 6 provinces in Canada, and 23 states in the U.S. Our mission was to go wherever the temperature was greater than 60 degrees. We easily achieved it when traveling in Mexico, but it was inevitable that we would not meet our expectations. We experienced cold temperatures and uninvited winds in Canada and Alaska. Many places will be in our memory to hold forever, but some we forgot a week later.

To downsize our living space from a house to a motorhome and be with each other 24/7 was quite challenging, but we made it just fine with some “let's face it” disagreements and arguments. It would be odd if we didn't have any of those, so I am glad we are a normal couple. We found the solution to get rid of the cause of some arguments and created a “Me Time”. Jim spends “me time” outside cleaning, repairing, and maintaining the coach while I take care of the Interior Department that includes cooking and cleaning. Sometimes you will see our wheels look really shinny. That means Jim doesn't have anything to fix, so he keeps polishing the wheels to avoid spending time inside with me. Smart guy.

Food wise, we didn't have any trouble even when we were in the small remote towns in Mexico. We ate whatever the local people grew and consumed. My favorite food in Mexico was Thursday Pozole in Zihuatanejo, in Canada it was Lillian's wild game steaks, and in Alaska it was the halibut and salmon that Jim caught. I must say no where can beat the variety of fresh fruits and vegetables in California.

Unfriendly people; Fortunately none crossed our travel path. Every town we visited we experienced kind and friendly people; especially in Alaska, South Dakota, and Nebraska. That is not entirely true. We encountered the one jerk in Whitehorse, Canada.

Have we been lost? Two times; First when our trusty GPS took us to the middle of no where in Oroville, WA. And that where we had to break the jeep window in the back seat (detail is in May 2007 Travelogue); Second when driving in Nebraska at night and didn't have our GPS ( stolen in Alaska). The point is, it didn't matter whether we had a GPS or not, we still got lost a couple of times. Oh! another time was in Mexico and our giant vehicle ended up on a narrow road in the heart of a small town.

Holiday season; we were grateful to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with our friends and relatives in Southern California. We survived a heavy, heart-unhealthy, but scrumptious holiday season feast. We achieved our goal of gaining back a few pounds, during the festive season, that we lost in Alaska,. I will let Jim take over now.

Jan 2 – 13 ( 10 nights, Bolsa Chica State Park, Huntington Beach, CA USA)
Jan 2
Here we are starting Year Two of Jim and Sim's Great Adventure. It is hard to believe we have been traveling for almost 400 days now. We have been in almost one half of the US States, seen a lot of Mexico, almost all of Alaska and a good part of Canada. We have driven over 22,000 miles. This coming year will take us east of the Mississippi and all that the East Coast has to offer. Let Part 2 of the Great Adventure begin.

I guess we are going to move today and drive up to the park on the beach just north of Huntington Beach. We also need to go by the Costa Mesa house and pick up my medications and the latest batch of snail mail. We are arriving at the park without reservations, so I hope there is space available.

We got to Bolsa Chica and there is lots of room. The only problem is that you have to check daily for availability if you do not make reservations by phone or web. They charge you $7.50 extra to do that. So we are here on a day by day basis. No problem, we can do that.

Went shopping in Huntington Beach this afternoon, stopped by the CM house to pick up mail and took a long walk on the beach.

Jan 3
More walks on the beach today. We figured we had better get in all that we can as the weathermen are forecasting rain for the next 4 days. We went downtown again today, not to shop, but to find some free internet. They are supposed to have internet here at the campground. It is advertised on their website but it isn't here. No signal. Nada. So we found an open net at Crabbys on Main St. in town. We downloaded emails and sent off our outgoing mails including the late November travelogue to webmaster Dennis. We cruised the downtown area and did some window shopping. We stopped into Jack's, the surf shop that has been here in the same location for 50 years. I have been coming here for at least 40 years to buy gear.

Jan 4
As predicted, the weather has turned nasty. It rained really hard last night. The only good thing is that the sunsets should be spectacular when this storm blows through. We had breakfast on the beach this morning. It was a pleasant morning and we had the beach all to ourselves.

Today we went into Costa Mesa and did some shopping at the Gap. I picked up a couple of tee shirts on sale. Sim didn't buy any thing.

Jan 5
Today we are going up to Long Beach to have lunch with Tuk. Tuk is a former co-worker of Sim's back in the day when she was living in Thailand and worked at Sony. Tuk came to the US a number of years ago to help out at one of Buddhist Temples. She is taking Accounting classes, working part time in the accounting field, and helping out at a Thai restaurant in Long beach once a week. That is where we are going today for lunch. We got a special treat from Tuk, and the restaurant owner didn't charge us for lunch.

We left the restaurant with a big bag of fresh picked tangerines, a loaf of imported sweet bread, and one big package of nuts and soy snacks. Those were from Tuk. Sim spotted Thai basil plants when we walked to our car. So, she went back inside the restaurant and asked if she could have some basil leaf. She said we were going to have chicken basil tonight.

There is a story about Tuk that Sim enjoys telling people. A while back when they were working for Sony, they attended their Supervisors funeral. Tuk didn't have a close relationship with the Supervisor as much as Sim did. Sim cried at the funeral, and so did Tuk. Later, Tuk told Sim that it was not the Supervisor who caused her to cry, but it was Sim. She thought about if Sim died, she would be really sad, and that made her start to cry. Yep! Sim and Tuk are very close friends.

Jan 6
Still here at Bolsa Chica. Sim lured Tuk down to the coach today with the promise of showing a famous Thai concert DVD. The weather is still overcast, cool and cloudy. I think we are in for another dumping of rain today. It is Sunday and the football wild card playoffs are on TV. It is a good day to stay inside and watch football. Tuk called to say she arrived, and we jumped in the car to pick her up over in the day use parking lot. Our jeep did not start right away and I suspect there is something about to break. Tuk and Sim talked and laughed for several hours while I watched football and worked on the Travelogue. They turned on the DVD and watched the Thai concert for an hour before Tuk had to leave to go practice meditation with a group of her buddhist friends. After Tuk left, we did manage to get out and take a long walk. The rain held off until later in the evening. The storm did not live up to the hype on the televised news; at least in our location. And we are still waiting for those glorious after storm sunsets.

Jan 7
My suspicions about the car were confirmed today. When I tried to start it this morning, all I got was a series of rapid clicking sounds. I think the starter or starter solenoid has failed. I called Good Sam Emergency Roadside service and they are sending a tow truck to tow the car over to Willys Auto Service. I called Willy, and he said it will be about $250 for an installed rebuilt starter. So this morning we are sitting here waiting for the tow truck to arrive. Willys is only about 4 miles from where we are camped so at least we can just ride the bikes there to pick up the car when it is finished.

It turned out not to be the starter, but the battery had developed an internal short and needed to be replaced. So the bill was only $180. and we were back in business.

Jan 8
Today we just goofed off. Took a walk on the beach. Rode our bikes a bit. Oh, the sunset was pretty nice this evening.

Jan 9
We rode our bikes from the park all the way south to Huntington Beach today. It was about 5 miles each way. I think we could have ridden all the way to Newport. We will have to try that another day.

We called our friends, Odd and Oy who live in Huntington Beach. We have not seen them for about 6 years. We met them when we lived in Costa Mesa, but did not see much of them after we moved back up to San Jose. Tonight we was going to meet them at their house and went out to dinner at..., you guessed it, a Thai restaurant. The restaurant owner gave us two on-the-house dishes. One was Asian Chive Spring Rolls, and the other was a dessert made from the root in the potato family. They were different, and good. Both Odd and Oy are doing well, Odd is now a director at a UPS manufacturing company. Oy is a hairdresser at a local hair salon.

Jan 10
Today Webmaster Dennis is coming by for lunch. We started preparing at 10:00 or so and Dennis arrived around 12:00. We had a delicious lunch of Kung Pao Chicken over rice and Yogurt, Jello, Strawberries and Pistachio Dessert. Dennis brought his brand-new MacBook over to get some operational tips from me, so we sat down and played with them until Sim told us lunch was ready. Sim often makes fun of my computer habits. She likes to say “when Jim messes around with a computer, time became infinite, and Sim became invisible”. Dennis left around 3:00 and I ran some papers over to Costa Mesa to the mortgage company.


Jan 11 – 15 (5 nights, Irvine, CA USA – Greg's house)
We cannot get an open spot here at Bolsa, so we have to move. I called Greg in Irvine and he said we were welcome in front of his house. We pulled up our stakes and drove to Irvine and set up in front of Greg's house. We will stay here until next Wednesday, when we will move back down to Bolsa for a couple more days.

Jan 12
Greg told us about a weekly event over at the Mazda and GM buildings off Gateway Street in Irvine called Coffee and Cars. Apparently every Saturday many different makes of cars show up for a morning of coffee and car watching. Today there were hundreds of cars and it looked like it was the BMW marque day. Along with lots and lots of BMW, old and new, there were lots of Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, and other exotic cars. Also at the parking lot across the road, there were Corvettes, Hot Rods and other old classics. We got there at 7 am. And by coincidence Tag, my brother-in-law, and I pulled into the parking lot at the same time. He was driving his 48 Mercury Woody. I didn't know he was coming to the event. He was surprised to see us there as he thought we would be out of California traveling some where. There were so many interesting and beautiful cars that took us hours and hours to see them. We left at 11 am and went over to my sister's house in Laguna Hills. Sim chose to ride over in the Woody with Tag, and left me to go in the Jeep by myself.

Jan 13
I called my friend David a few days ago and we set up a game of golf this morning. I am meeting him at Costa Mesa County Club at 6:30 a.m. We are just playing the back nine because Sim and I are going to Los Angeles around noon. David and I had a good game. I have to give him 9 strokes per side ever since I made that Eagle a few weeks ago. No problem. I still beat him by 3 strokes.

After golf, I came back to change before we headed over to Odd and Oy's house. We piled into their car and headed off to Los Angeles. First stop was lunch at, you guessed it, a Thai restaurant. I had a noodle soup with seafood dish that was most excellent. We stopped at the Thai Temple in Los Angeles before our next stop.

Next we headed over to a friend of Odd and Oys that hosts ballroom dance lessons at his house every Sunday. There was quite a turnout and we had a lot of fun learning some new dance steps including the Cha-Cha, Samba and Waltz. We even learned a Cha Cha line dance. We danced for over 4 hours and I am glad I did not have to drive home.

Greg had to go on a business trip to Mexico, so we have his house to ourselves for the next few days.

Jan 14
I slept late today. We have a 10:00 appointment to sign escrow papers on our refinance today. We made our appointment and now that is out of the way nothing is standing in our way to take off for the East Coast.

The other day I was running the generator and I lost AC power for an unknown reason, so this afternoon I am going to tackle that issue. After pulling out the generator and taking the lid off the control box, I found a broken wire. Ah-ha! I repaired the wire and fired up the generator, but still no AC. I read the manual, asked for help on the online forums and contemplated my options. We cannot go to Arizona without a generator because we will be boondocking for about a week. I went back out to the generator to look at it again and discovered a circuit breaker that had tripped. I reset the breaker, started the generator and viola, we have AC. While I was on a roll, I fixed a couple of the bay doors that had sticking locks. While I worked on the coach, Sim cooked non-stop. She made Pork Thai Basil with Egg over Rice for lunch, and Fresh Spring Rolls with peanut and hoisin sauce for dinner.

Jan 15
Sim could not help herself and dug into Greg's cupboards. She rearranged about 4 or 5 cupboards by pulling everything out, cleaning the cupboard and then putting everything away in a logical, to her, way. Greg should be pleasantly surprised when he gets back from his business trip.

Jan 16 -17 (2 nights, Bolsa Chica State Beach, Huntington Beach, CA USA)
Today we are moving back to Bolsa Chica State Park. We have reservations for Wednesday and Thursday. After that it is going to be a day to day guess whether we can stay until Sunday. The weekends are all booked on the website, but based on our experience the last time we were here, we believe there will be open spots for us.

We got to the beach and settled in around 2:00 p.m. Odd and Oy are coming down for dinner around 7:00 p.m. and we will have them park across the street and then go out and get them to save the $10. entrance fee. Sim will not have to cook tonight because Oy is going to cook three dishes and bring them over.

Oy made excellent Beef Stew and Panang (Thai curry). Sim loved Oy's Napa and Tofu saute. I am not a big fan of Tofu and never will. Oy also came prepared to give Sim a haircut, but our conversation got carried away and before we realized it, it was 9 o'clock. So Oy will give Sim a haircut on Friday when we go to their house for dinner. Oy said she was going to make a fish dish and it would be non Thai dishes. We watched American Idol and had a good laugh. We still couldn't believe why so many people are in such denial and think they can sing. What are they thinking?

Jan 17
The wind blew really hard last night. We were rocking and rolling most of the night. In the morning the wind had subsided somewhat and we took a 3 mile walk along the beach. We also put our name on the “list” at the front gate of the park, so we are signed up for a open space tomorrow. If there is no open space we will have to figure out somewhere to go until Sunday.

A quick trip into town and we checked email. At about 5:20 while I was comfortable laying down on the couch watching TV, Sim saw the sun was about to set, so she urged me to go see the sunset on the beachfront. Why?? Anyway we stood outside on the sand in a windy and cold evening and waited for the perfect moment of sunset. Sim stated that it was not that cold when she saw me chilled. You are right, Sim. She used me as a windshield (she stood behind me, and of course with her size, my body could block all the wind) Tonight Sim is cooking Chicken wonton and bok choy soup, and we will have cold fresh papaya for dessert.

Jan 18 – 19 (2 nights, Huntington Beach, CA USA – Odd & Oy's House)
Beautiful day today. The Santa Ana winds died down and the weather is much warmer than yesterday. We don't have a spot reserved for today. Normally, there are a few cancellations each day. We will see.

It is 11 am and there is only one cancellation. We are the third on the wait list, so we don't get the spot. While we are waiting for a spot, we plan to finish a few errands and Sim wants to go to Farmers/Craft Market on the beachfront at Huntington beach. Well, it is 2 p.m. and there is no spot available, so we shall leave. We decided to park in Odd and Oy's neighborhood. When we went to their house a few days ago, I noticed that there was a good spot to park our RV that is right across from their house.

Jan 19
We woke up in much cooler temperatures today, so we stayed in our PJs until noon. Sim said we should go to the beach since it was going to be our last day to enjoy southern California. We went to Huntington Beach and stopped to shop at Jack's Surf Shop. Two weeks ago we were window shopping here and I spotted a hooded sweat shirt that I liked, and Sim also had her eye on a long sleeve shirt that has a beach bicycle and surfboard print. We didn't buy that time because we wanted to wait to see if we really liked them. When you don't have an income, you need to weigh things, sleep on it, and think twice before you buy it. It had been two weeks and we still wanted them, so we bought them today.

While we were traveling in Alaska, we discovered Black to Nature brand Granola Cereal. We tried several flavors and loved them all. However, when we tried the Cranberry Pecan, it did not meet Sim's expectations because she didn't see any pecan pieces. She wrote an email to Black to Nature via their website giving them her friendly suggestion to make Pecan pieces bigger. They sent Sim two free coupons for their Cereal. We used them today at Mother's Market. Guess what we got? Cranberry Pecan. We strolled down a commercial strip to get in our walking exercise. We saw a Bagel Me shop, so we stopped in and left with a half dozen bagels and jalepeno cream cheese. Does that sound right; walking exercise to get bagel and cream cheese? Anyway, we are on vacation.

We went out for dinner with Odd and Oy. Sim suggested three restaurants: California Pizza Kitchen (her favorite thin crust pizza), Taco Mesa (our favorite Mexican restaurant in Costa Mesa), and Souplantation (just for a healthy option). We agreed to go with the healthy choice although Sim was hoping for CPK.

Jan 20 (1 night, Indio, CA USA – Fantasy Springs Casino)
At about 9 am, Odd and Oy knocked on our door with a big box of kaffir leaf, lemongrass, Thai chili, guavas, and dessert. Sim was ecstatic with the authentic Thai goods they had brought. We are heading for Indio today, but before we head out, Odd and Oy are taking us out for Dim Sum lunch. Now, I am not a big fan on Dim Sum and most of the stuff they serve is not on my diet, but Sim likes it and Odd and Oy like it. We spent a couple of hours and $$$ on Dim Sum at Sunshine Seafood in Fountain Valley then came back to the coach to get ready to leave. We said our goodbyes and thanked Od and Oy for their hospitality. Their daughter Eunice was home from UCLA for the weekend, so we got to see her again before we left. Odd and Oy told us the good news about their Son, Simon, who was accepted for the MBA program at USC. Eunice and Simon are fine young adults who make their parents proud.

We headed out around 2;00 in the afternoon for our next destination; the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio. We found it without any problems and pulled into the big parking lot and settled in for the night with about 10 other Rvers. We will meet up with Mike Weeks and others in the morning to caravan to Quartzsite.

We wandered over to check out the casino later that evening. It is your typical Indian gaming casino. Lots of smokers, which made it a bit unpleasant to walk around. We found a bowling alley attached, and there was no smoking there, so we sat and watched the playoff game between Green Bay and the NY Giants before going back to the coach to retire for the night. Sim planned to go back to the Casino tonight to ask them to turn on CBS for the reality show “Amazing Race”, our all time favorite show if we didn't get CBS at the coach. We got it, and even though it was not crystal clear, it was watchable.

Jan 21 – 26 (6 nights, Quartzsite, AZ USA)
Got up early today, as I thought the wagon train was pulling out at 9:00. It turns out that 9:00 was the time for breakfast in the casino. About 6 RVs showed up and we all went to the cafe inside the casino and had some breakfast before taking off down the road around 10;30. Sim and I wanted to fuel up at the Flying J just over the border in AZ because diesel was a lot cheaper there, and we needed to dump our tanks and take of fresh water before boondocking in Quartzsite, so we jumped into the lead and put the hammer down hoping we could get all that done while the pack caught up. We got to the Flying J and there was a line of 15 RVs waiting to pull into the pumps. I finally figured out that most of them were gassers, and I jumped out of line to go to the truck diesel pumps. We had a slight mishap at the pumps however. Normally I just fill from one side, but because we were in a hurry, I was pumping from both sides. The problem was that I had forgotten to level the coach, so it was leaning to one side. When the tank got full, diesel started pouring out of the low side. I lost at least a gallon of fuel on the ground before I could get the cap on the fill spout. Another messy lesson learned.

We got to Quartzsite and found a place to dump the tanks and take on water. They were doing a brisk business. $10. charge for water and dump and we saw 15 RVs come and go while we were there. It takes forever to fill our fresh water tank. It is 100 gallons and takes at least 45 minutes when it is empty. We found Mike and the gang at the Quartzsite location called Hi Jolly and got situated in the Wagon Circle. They really do circle the “wagons” at this annual event. Tonight we went to the big campfire in the middle of the circle and enjoyed the conversation and company of like minded campers. Parked right next to us is a couple named Dennis and Janet that live in Apple Valley about 2 miles from my son Joel. Small world eh?. They were not part of the Week's group, but just happened to be in the same spot that Mike Weeks usually uses for this annual get-together. They were cool and we invited them to the party.

Jan 22
Today we are going out to see the Big Tent. For those of you that have never been to Quartzsite, it is quite a sight to see. Tens of thousands of RVs come to camp in the desert. Thousands of vendors set up site like a flea market and see everything from RV supplies, clothes, rocks, minerals, and a lot of junk. We went to the Big Tent event today, and finding a parking spot was and adventure as hundreds and hundreds of other RVers were going to the Big Tent as well. It really is a big white tent full of vendors selling RV stuff, miracle cleaners, pain relievers, and campground memberships. They even have RVs for sale, new and used. We bought a new door mat for the coach to replace the one we left at Michael and Ying's place in Sunnyvale.

Tonight at the big campfire we are having a pot luck. Sim is cooking up Pad Thai. We enjoyed carne asada, homemade tamales, chile Rellenos, green goo, baked beans, fresh fruit and of course Sim's Pad Thai. For dessert, Hazel, the Dessert Queen as we were told, makes desserts to die for. There was lemon cake, pecan tarts, stuffed chocolates, and something called Almond Bars that did not have any almonds in them but they tasted wonderful nevertheless.

Jan 23
We are going to the Main Event today. It turned out to be more of a swap meet than what we expected. Actually I don't know what we expected, but we walked the whole thing and saw a lot of stuff we did not know we needed. We bought nothing, but had fun walking around people watching. Sim saw some RVers crocheting or knitting and she thought about doing it. We stopped at a craft supply shop to buy yarn and a crochet needle. Sim didn't have much knowledge about it. The shop owner suggested her what yarn to use and with what needle. When she was asked what she was going to make and if she had a pattern. Sim had no idea. but she didn't think she needed a pattern and was going to do it freehand to see what came out. We will see. Back at the coach we had lunch and took a much needed shower. Tonight was kind of a potluck which, if you didn't feel like cooking, you didn't need to bring anything as Bob and Hazel cooked a whole bunch of hot dogs plus a big tray of Hazel's mean desserts. It was a windy and chilly night, and we really had to keep the fire blasting to keep everyone warm. As the night went on conversation turned into singing. It was the kind of singing that would make you think something must be wrong with your radio. Tomorrow we are heading to the south end of town to visit the Lemon Gathering in the Desert group. The Lemon group is another bunch of RVers that come to Quartzsite on an annual basis. Roger and Linda, the couple we met in South Dakota, are supposed to be there as well.

Jan 24
It rained a bit last night. There is supposed to be a big storm coming from the West. We got up and it was raining off and on while we packed up and got ready to move on to our next destination. We are going about 15 miles south to meet up with the Lemon party. We said our goodbyes and headed south right after lunch. The rain had stopped and we found the Lemon party without any problems. We settled in among 10 other Foretravel motor-homes and fit right in. This is not an official Foretravel get together, but just a bunch of friends who happen to have Foretravels.

Tonight the group is going out to dinner at a local restaurant in a nearby town. We have been way off our diet for the last 3 days and decided not to join the group. We did spend the afternoon getting to know the people still here. Kenny and Ann Lemon are great hosts. Kenny went on for hours telling us the story about how this group got started and how it continues to get larger every year. Apparently there was 15 or 16 coaches here at one time earlier in the week.

Jan 25
This morning we are having “eggs in a bag” with the Lemon group. You start by writing your name on a ziplock bag, then you add your stuff; like bacon bits, onion, cheese, bell pepper, ham chunks or anything else you might like in your bag “omelet”. Then you add a big ladle of beaten eggs, seal the bag and drop it into a pot of boiling water for about 12 minutes. Viola!! you get a nice rolled egg omelet. Salsa, salt and pepper to taste and you are good to go. We had muffins, peaches and coffee with breakfast as well.

Sim is cooking chicken satay for the pot luck tonight, so while she prepared for that, I went into town to pick up windshield wiper refills for the coach. Had to go to three places to find ones that would fit, but mission accomplished, and we are prepared to drive in the impending storm coming this weekend. Remember Sim's crochet project? She finished her first crochet prototype today. Hard to tell what it was, and she started her second one already. No pattern again, of course. We will see if I can tell what it is.

Jan 26
It is our last day in Quartzsite. We had a leftover potluck today. The idea was to finish off all of the leftovers from all the meals. We spent part of the afternoon playing Po-Ke-No, Bridge, and Cribbage since no one had to cook. At about 5 p.m after finishing the potluck, we took down the shade awnings where we had eaten our community meals. It is supposed to start raining hard tonight and rain all day tomorrow so it is better to get the camp broken down and put away before the rain comes. With 10 guys helping, Kenny's trailer was loaded with all the camp stuff in about an hour. Later in the evening we had our last campfire and attempted to burn most of the wood left over as most everyone was leaving in the morning. I tried a trick I had heard about with the fire. When you get a good pile of red hot coals, you take a small shovel and place a small pile of the red hot coals directly under your campfire chair. They keep your backside toasty warm for about half and hour. Everyone thought it a great idea and I was busy for 3 hours making coals and piling them under all the chairs around the campfire.

Jan 27 – 28 (2 nights, Tucson, AZ USA)
We left Quartzsite and the Lemon group at about 10:00 A.M. The rain had stopped but it looked like more was on the way. We had not been on the road towards Tucson for more than 20 minutes and it started to pour down rain. I was sure glad I put new wiper blades on yesterday. We stopped for lunch at a rest stop along the way and after lunch it was only another couple of hours to the Crazy Horse RV Park just south of Tucson. We pulled in, hooked up and both took a long hot shower that felt really good after a week of boondocking and military showers in Quartzsite.

Jan 28
We are heading out today to find my Grandfathers grave. My mothers father died when he was only 31 and mother was just a child. I, of course, never had the chance to meet him but have been told I share his looks and personality. We found the cemetery and his grave after a bit of detective work. His name had been miss-spelled on the burial card. Anyway he is resting with his buddies in the Veterans section of Evergreen Cemetery in Tucson. I have no idea why he is in Tucson since he lived in La Jolla, CA at the time of his death from Tuberculosis. Sim said my mother told her that my grandfather moved to Tucson because his doctor suggested that the dry air in the desert could help him with his lung condition. It is interesting that sometimes Sim knows more about my family than I do even though she spent a lot less time with my mother than me. She has a sponge brain, perhaps.

After visiting Grandfather, we drove out to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. It is not really a museum but more a botanical garden and zoo. They have every desert plant there and a couple of aviaries and many animal enclosures with both top and bottom level viewing. The best of which was the cat compounds where they had an ocelot, a couple of bobcats, and a couple of mountain lions or puma as they are known as well. There was also an educational presentation at 12.15 at on of the theaters. Today it was about rattlesnakes and gila monsters. The Zoo Keeper said each year thousands of people die in Africa and India from snake bites, but in the US the number is less than a dozen. The availability of anti-venom accounts for the difference in fatalities. Statistics show that the profile of those most likely to be bitten by poisonous snake is a white young male with a tattoo, that says right before he is bitten, “Hold my beer and watch this”. The presentation was informative and fun. We got a good laugh with the Zoo Keeper's jokes. We spent several hours wandering the grounds and had a great time. Highly recommend this place if you have a few hours in Tucson.

I called Foretravel factory and made an appointment to fix the right windshield that got cracked in Canada. They could not take us until February 15. We have 17 days to kill, so we were thinking about spending one week at Big Bend National Park and another week at Port Aransas and Corpus Christi.

Jan 29 ( 1 night, El Paso, TX USA)
We took off today around 10:00 a.m. after doing some cleaning inside, dumping and rinsing the tanks. We are probably going to boondock for a couple of days along the way to our next destination. We drove across Arizona and southern New Mexico, and by 4 p.m. we arrived in El Paso, Texas. Tonight we are staying at the Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino. We found the park just fine and pulled into the lot with about 15 other RVs. They even have about 10 spots with hookups of water and electric.

After we settled in, we went to the casino. It was your typical Indian Casino. Oh! I forgot to mention that we are actually in New Mexico here at the parking lot of Sunland casino. There is a small boot at the southeastern part of New Mexico that sticks into Texas. Anyway the Casino was a smoke filled house of slot machines that was relatively packed with gamblers. We strolled around and found the buffet. It was Mexican night and they had enchiladas and Chile Rellenos so we decided to eat dinner there. The food turned out to be marginal to OK. The roasted jalapenos were delicious and the Chile Rellenos were not too bad. I didn't think Sim liked the food, however, but she said the tomatoes and cucumbers from the salad section were delicious. I thought it was pretty funny... We pigged out for $8.95 ea. and went back to the coach stuffed on the good dishes.

Jan 30 (1 night, Ozona, TX USA)
For no reason we decided not to go to the Big Bend, but shoot straight to Port Aransas and Corpus Christi instead. We headed out again around 10:00 a.m. That seems to be our usual departure time. No real destination today, just going to see where we end up. We stopped for lunch at a rest stop and checked our email. Texas has cool rest stops in that they all typically have wireless internet access for free.

After driving a couple hours more we stopped at the Wal Mart in Fort Stockton. We thought we might like to stay there tonight. Sim wanted to see American Idol so we checked the TV to see if we could receive that channel. Not really sure we got it but the parking lot at Wal Mart was really small and I did not think it was a good fit for us, so we moved on. We ended up at a rest stop just west of Ozona, TX. We have no TV reception here and the wireless internet is down. Oh well, it is too late to move on so we are going to have to talk to each other or play a game or something.

Jan 31
Today we are heading for Austin, TX. We called Margaret and Joe yesterday, you remember them from Alaska, because we knew they were in Texas somewhere. They are heading to Austin today as well. Austin is only a 100 miles out of our way, so we will head that way and spend a couple of days visiting Austin and Joe and Margaret.

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