Thank goodness for lots of friendly Texans who stopped by to witness to the police, and help clean up lots of debris. Thank goodness for our cell phone too. We have canceled our Disney vacation and lots of PR stops along the way. We still plan to get to Lazy Days in time for our
January seminars. But we will be here a long time. The adjuster took a quick look this morning and on the motorhome alone, guestimated $40-50,000 in damage.

If you want to see what the motorhome looks like, go to Accident.

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:

A NEW TABLE IN THE MOTORHOME
SKIPPING ALONG ON INTERSTATES
FINALLY A "RED ROAD"
CAMPGROUND REPORT
POTPOURRI
LETTERS
THIS 'N THAT
For more information and pictures when I have them go to What's New

For a long time, I have wanted a round table which would cover the steering wheel. We are very lucky to have a friend (Grant Joy) who knew just what to do and it is beautiful. Next time you get a chance take a peek at our What's New page for the pictures.  What's New

It seemed like such a short beginning to our travels to only go to Tucson. But while there, we were able to get email many times because they have a wonderful computer station at Beaudry RV. That helped wean me from our land line.

We were treated well, but it was a big job and took a long time. We arrived Thursday evening so we could be ready to be worked on at 7:30 a.m. Friday and not on the road until noon on Saturday. For some reason we were tired from sitting around so we only drove as far as Benson and stayed at the SKP park there. Our stay in their parking area each evening was okay; we were comfortable and had water and electric.

Escapees sure know how to run a campground and we were welcomed warmly especially by some of our Movin' On friends there---Skip and Georgia Harding and Bob and Margaret Wright.

Sunday we were officially on our way and we just couldn't find a better way to go than I -10 --- not from where we were. Our mapping program wanted us to go into Mexico to avoid the interstates, but I won't go that far to ride a red road.

The scenery was boring. There were few buildings (mostly old abandoned houses). There weren't even any billboards to read until we were approaching Amela Flats and then there were at least a half dozen in a row touting all that you could buy there. Snacks, moccasins, fireworks,
paper mache dolls, agate bookends, rattlesnake earrings, pecans, tee shirts and much more could be purchased at this shopping oasis. We didn't stop. We were amazed at this large facade of old western stores and wondered where the employees come from.

Demming was just a one night stop after an easy day. It was nothing special.

The next morning we continued on I-10 east, but at least the scenery changed. Rust colored trees set against a background of mountains and the sight of civilization was refreshing. Ron always says, "I know of  a good hospital here," when we go through Las Cruces. Of course he is being sarcastic remembering our bad experience there early in our  full-timing life.

I remembered that we always detoured to Silver City on our way east or west on that southern route. We don't do that anymore since my stepmother died and dad moved to the assisted living place in Michigan.

A sign pointed the way to Albuquerque (I-25) and we remembered our visits there --- driving old Route 66, having a malt and fries at an old diner, driving up a mountain to make a snowball and visiting friends. We hardly go anywhere that we haven't been before and we share our memories out loud.

Still heading east and not far from Las Cruces our noses reminded us of that area. There were miles or stockyards. The smell permeated everything. Our windows were closed yet we felt like we are in the middle of you know what. It was not a pleasant stop 9 years ago when we camped across from the stockyard (I was sick and Ron got sick ---  not from the smell, but it didn't help our flu). The campground is still there and I wonder who would build a campground there across  from stockyards. The smell followed us from east of Las Cruces to just west of El Paso.

East of El Paso they are rebuilding I-10 and there were miles of single lane traffic. East of the construction the road was so badly rutted that it was hard to drive; we knew why they were reconstructing that road. More than ever we were looking forward to Van Horn where we would get off the freeway and head south east on U.S. 90.

Our night in Van Horn was uneventful. It is the saddest of towns and hasn't changed in the 9 years we have been traveling through that town. Most of the stores haven't been open in ages; they sit the way they were left crumbling in the dusty ground. We went in the hardware store there which was a combination auto parts and hardware. An old man sat at the counter alone waiting for any customer to enter. He looked as dusty as the items on the shelves. Neither had been cleaned up in quite a while. He found the part we needed for the water filter and our purchase was minimal. We wondered if we were his biggest sale of the day. We did notice that the city was putting up brand new street lights. They were real fancy and such a contrast to the disheveled town.

West Texas is wide open spaces. It would be a good place to live if you had an air strip so you could fly to a big city for shopping. If someone wanted to get away from the world and trees, this would be a good place to settle. Route 90 is wonderful and it was so good to get off the freeway. There is no traffic and the road is in great condition. There are big shoulders and wide spacious rest areas often.

We passed through Valentine (population 217), but wondered where the people live. There were two closed up cafe's, two old (30's variety) gas stations (out of business) and a dozen or so sad looking houses, a church and a small grocery store/gas station. Just out of town two antelope were grazing next to the road.

The road was so straight that we could have run on auto pilot. When we passed the entrance to the Ryan Ranch (big arch across the driveway), we tried hard to see the buildings. The dirt road went to the horizon; don't know how far away the house was, but we did see cattle grazing up
a little ways from the ranch entrance.

Marfa was a better looking town than Van Horn and we thought that we should have stayed there instead. Then we could have seen the mysterious lights at night. We have never seen them, but people have been talking about them since the 1800s and they even have a parking spot south of
town where the viewing is the best.

About 15 miles from Alpine our view changed. It was a little hilly, green and there were lots of pretty trees. Alpine is the center of commerce for a large area and with a population of 5,000 has just about anything one could need. We remembered that the rangers from Big Bend told us that they did all their shopping and so on, in Alpine. It was only 106 miles away from the park (one way). I could live in Apline; it was very nice.

Our next stop was Del Rio and we even managed a quick walk over to Mexico just to say we did it. We chose not to camp in a commercial park and enjoyed the solitude of the national park. There was only one other RVer in the campground and it was very pleasant.

It was a short drive from Del Rio to the Summit Coast to Coast resort just north of New Braunfels. We knew the area well from our other visits there so had no trouble getting to the park. We had forgotten how beautiful the Hill Country of Texas was. And actually I loved that the sky was just a little overcast. I was tired of the hot, bright Arizona sun. We were also amazed that a glass of water setting on the table actually sweated. Wow!!! Humidity!!! Since the temperature was only in the low 80's it was very pleasant.

We had met Ed and Laurie Waples at the campground breakfast in 1991 when we had our little motorhome and have kept in touch over the years. Originally they talked of full-timing (and sometimes Ed still does), but they built a beautiful home high up on the hill near the campground
and they go to Colorado in  the summer. We enjoyed two nights with Ed and Laurie and had just said good-bye to them before our accident.

We thought it would be helpful to list and make comments on the campgrounds visited during our winter travels and we have a few to report on before we were interrupted with the accident here in Texas. So far our campground experience has been economical as well as good and hopefully we will be on the road soon with more to report on.

SKP Saguaro Co-op, Benson AZ.  This Escapee (SKP) park has roomy, level, well landscaped full hook-up sites for a daily fee of $9 plus electricity. The park is close to I-10 south of Tucson and is a great stopping place. Reservations are recommended during the busy winter season.

Dream Catcher RV Park, Deming, N.M.  Another SKP park and a good place to stay overnight with a easy on/off connection to I-10. The park isn't fancy, but the hook-ups are level and good. Pull-throughs are available and we didn't unhook. Arrangements have been made for guests to use the pool at the neighboring Holiday Inn. Cost is $9.50 including electricity.

El Campo RV Park, Van Horn, Texas. This park has a "Good Neighbor" arrangement with Coast to Coast and your cost is $10 plus a blue card for full hookups. Sites are level and hook-ups are good, but the campground may be dusty. The owners are very cordial and you can always get in here. The town is pretty run down with very little in the way of facilities.

Amistad National Recreational Area, near Del Rio, Texas, off of Highway 90. Listed under Amistad. The national park campground does not have hook-ups, but it has spacious level pull-through sites with a covered picnic table. There are lots of sites available and the Golden Age rate is only $2 a night. Del Rio (large city) is only 8 miles away and has an international bridge to Mexico. Although the park is close to the main highway, it's necessary to drive a half mile on a very dusty gravel road.

The Summit Vacation Resort, Sattler, Texas (near Canyon Lake). This is a 5 star Coast to Coast park and is truly a 5 star resort. The campground is beautiful and they have a nice section for CC guests. The facilities are first class including a new additional swimming pool near the
campground complex. This park will be busy in the spring and summer, but is easy to get into during the fall and winter. It's off the beaten track, but is worthwhile to visit. Plan on spending some time here.

Everyone knows that this old conservative accountant is frugal, but staying free for a month at a repair facility is not my way of saving money even though we have electricity.

It looks like our beloved Toyota tow car will be totaled out by the insurance company and it ain't fair. It looked great and ran super even though it had 178,000 miles (half were tow miles). It was so dependable and now we will have to buy a new one which we didn't want to do at this time.

You may have heard of the great American recall---American coach, that is. They are changing the front tires and making front end modifications on thousands of late model American coaches (ours included). It's got to cost a bundle and I'm glad that I sold our Fleetwood stock several years ago. I do admire the way Fleetwood stands behind their products and would purchase another one. No, we are not planning on buying another motorhome.

In medical circles low numbers are good and lately mine have all been low. That includes sugar, blood pressure and P.S.A.  I don't even crave sweets anymore. I will admit to a Scotch now and then -- - especially last night after the accident.

One of my favorite meals is beans and rice with good Cajun seasoning. A pot is simmering in the cooker as I write this. It's driving me nuts and I take a little taste once in awhile. Barb has been on a cooking tear lately and I am benefiting. Although she is a wonderful cook, if we ever get to Florida, I hope to get my fill of seafood by dinning out.

Most of the letters which we received about the shopping center camping article I wrote last month were negative. Three follow.

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Movin' On electronic Newsletter Volume 2 #15-Thu, 11 Nov 1999

    "... EXCITING CAMPING INFORMATION
   Campground owners probably won't like this, but it is great for us
RVers. USA Today  ..."

Some of us are rather unhappy about this thing. Overnighter's Association is collecting $5.00 from us (don't know if the mall gets any of it) and providing essentially nothing.

They are encouraging the malls to get bureaucratic about the whole thing - identifying specific parking sites, taking reservations, requiring registration, etc.

So if this spreads, we will be paying for something we used to get for free, and will lose the freedom to simply pull off the road into an empty parking lot late at night, shut off the engine, and go to sleep (as we do now at Wal-mart and quite a few other places).

Dave and Helen Damouth
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Re: Movin' On electronic Newsletter Volume 2 #15-

Hi Barbara

Enjoy your newsletter. Had a comment on one of the articles this month -- the one on overnighters. Sounds like these guys are promoting a new system where they charge RVers $29.95 per year and $5 per night to park where we all used to park free. I've been parking in mall parking lots, race tracks, casino parking lots, and other places they're talking about since I started traveling in 1984. I've never had to pay a fee. I figure if I use the mall, casino or  whatever, I shouldn't have to pay a fee to park anymore than people in cars do -- even if I stay all night.

Occasionally, generally in high tourist areas like California and Florida, the principalities have laws against overnight parking, but usually not. Sounds to me like Overnighters aren't doing us any favors!

Keep up the good work ...
Bob Hoffman
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Shopping Center Parking

I am not thrilled to have shopping centers start charging $5 for what we have always had for free--overnight parking when shopping there.  What do we get?  Security?  We already have that.  The malls are well lit and patrolled. This is an opportunistic person figuring out how to charge for something that has been free in the past. I am not impressed.

Loved the story of the "Unwelcome Visitor" and how the first step in resolving the situation was to get his wife outside.

We are in Clayton, CA staying with kids until after the holidays. Will take care of routine (hopefully) medical appointments while we are here.

Ramblin' Reeces
Tom & Bonnie
BonniReece@aol.com
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THIS 'N THAT by Barb

I am so sorry that I slipped and put about 100 email addresses in the last newsletter. I was so tired before we left but wanted to get the newsletter sent while I had a land phone. I normally send one copy of the newsletter to us (movinon friends) and the rest (600 or so) go as blind carbon copies so you don't have to get all those names. Somehow, I clicked on carbon copy for those you saw. It puzzled a lot of people because they didn't see their name yet got the  newsletter. The rest of the names were blinded so you couldn't see them. I felt so bad and could
hardly wait to apologize. It would have been my first comment in this newsletter, but the accident won the honor.

Then I had trouble with the Netscape program on the lap top and was sending 5 or 6 duplicate emails to a few of you. My program showed that they weren't sent yet, but they really had gone. Oh, these computers will give me gray hair.

Do you remember how I blamed Ron for his jinxes? Well, I will take the blame for this accident. You see, the morning we were leaving, after we drove up the hill to say good-bye to the Waples, I said, "I had really forgotten how beautiful it is here. Let's plan to spend a winter here sometime." It looks like that sometime is now.

When given lemons, make lemonade, is an old saying so we will visit San Antonio again even though we didn't intend to on this trip and we will go to Austin. We might go to the LBJ Ranch or wherever; we have lots of time.

Be sure to read the latest From the Driver's Seat page.
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Trails!!!