Horse Ridge Trail Shooting

 Friday afternoon, myself and fellow fulltimer Ed took a ride out to one of my favorite areas in the Lincoln National Forest for a little shooting and off roading. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors especially since the weather is turning cooler on Saturday.

 We only ran a few rounds through our pistols, as Ed mainly want to check the alignment on his laser sight. I shot a few few just to keep up the ole double tapping skills.

 After the shooting was done, we started up Horse Ridge Trail. The trail climbs approx 1500 feet in a mile or so. There are some pretty steep parts, but the main obstacle is the loose rocky trail combined with the steep grades.

 Once at the top, the views of the White Sands National Monument and the Tularosa Basin are just amazing.

 We also found a Geocache I had never seen before, I was surprised, considering the number of times I've been up here. Guess I never walked over to that particular spot.

We stayed at the top for a while just enjoying and taking in all the views. Great thing about 4 wheel drive vehicles, is the ability to go places and see things the average person never gets a chance too. After an hour at the top it was time to start the slow decent back down and towards home. It was a good day out and I enjoy showing folks some of my favorite places. You can see more pictures on the photo page Here

The past week, has been busy with medical appointments, housekeeping and just living life here at the park. Nothing exciting to bore you with, unless of course you call laundry, dishes and walking Scrappy exciting.....lol

Ok, until the next go round......keep Lovin Your Life as we do ours!!!

Alamogordo Downtown, Southern New Mexico

Took a walk around the Downtown area of Alamogordo, New Mexico. We love small towns and these downtown areas give you a nostalgic look at there past. See more on the Photo Page

Warming the Pipes

 You may have remembered a couple of post ago, I was trying to figure a simple way to keep the pluming warm during some of these cold winter nights. The 5ver does have a heating vent going to the area, but that requires running the furnace all night, something we would rather not do. So instead I found this alternate heat source. A work lamp with a 60 watt bulb should do the trick. I also chose a plastic work lamp instead of the metal kind, to prevent the metal housing from getting to hot and presenting a fire hazard. I remember my dad used to tell me, they would put these lamps under car hoods to help keep the engine from freezing when he lived in Michigan.

 As luck would have it, our 5ver has all the water connections for the rig in one central location next to the water heater and in enclosed area. There also just happens to be a small hole in the floor where the washer pipes are routed up into the closet above. I hung the work lamp off of one of the pipes and ran the cord up thru the hole.

Of course being a washer/dryer closet, there are two elec outlets inside and I was able to plug the lamp in there. Another thing I found was an on/off switch that plugs into the outlet, then the lamp plugs into the switch. This allows us to turn the lamp on from the closet at will, without going outside to the compartment. Total cost for the project $8.00 and resulting in a little peace of mind.

While we were out yesterday, we also wanted to see a movie, specifically "War Horse", figured we'd hit an early matinee and be home to do dinner. Well early matinees don't seem to exist here in Alamogordo, as the first showing was at 3:00pm. Since it was 12:00 we decided on an alternate plan, see what was playing at the Space Museum's IMAX Theater.  The IMAX had Mount Everest showing at 1:00pm, so that it was. This is our second IMAX movie experience, and it's just amazing, we love how your are just immersed in the film. "War Horse" will have to wait for another day.

That's it for the big project of the day and the day out around town. So we'll see you next time, with warm pipes and a happy heart.  

Sand Storm, White Sands National Monument, NM

The wind was screaming and the sand was blowing at the monument. I went out in an attempt to capture it in pictures, while being sand blasted myself. See more on the Photo Page.

Bike Riding Weather

 The weather took a turn for the better the last couple of days, upper 50s/low 60s and yesterday was the best so far. We decided to get the bikes down and go for a ride. Then we had a thought, hmmmmm I wonder if Scrappy would ride in Sheryl's basket?? without trying to jump out. Well there was only one way to find out, give it a whirl. In he went and off we went, he did great, he loved just sitting in there with his little head up and just watching the world go by as mom peddled away.............boy were pitiful, aren't we......lol

Of course with great weather come great grillin, out came the Weber and a couple of steaks. Baked potato's and a nice salad rounded out the meal. It's been a couple of months since we've had he grill out and it sure was nice to get that flavor again.

The day ended with another amazing New Mexico sunset. It's sure has been nice settling back into day to day life and not worrying about running here and there, as the last couple of months have been. We sure enjoyed visiting everyone across the country, but now a little down time is in order.

That's it for today, we'll see you back here in a day or two, so keep Lovin Your Life as we do ours..................hmmmm..............I wonder if Scrappys going to need a helmet now???

Holloman AFB FamCamp

We rolled into Alamogordo a few days ago, setting up camp at one of our favorite RV Parks (Boot Hill RV Resort). We were hoping to stay at Holloman AFB, but when we called they said they were full. Skip ahead a couple of days, we had a medical appointment on base, along with some time to kill, so we took a drive over to the RV park, low and behold there was an empty site???  We stopped by the Camp Host (Who we've know for a while) and they said, no, the site has been pen for a while now, hmmmm. Well it seems, the folks that run the RV Park (Outdoor Recreation) don't talk to the Camp Host and frequently get it wrong!!! Ok, enough whining, long story short, we picked up and moved out to Holloman, even though we had paid for a month at Boothill. WHAT!, Why you ask would we do that?? Well first, for some reason, we can not get a cell phone signal at the park, and with all the appointment we have set up, we need to be in contact with our doctors. Secondly, TV reception is very poor at the park, here Cable TV is provided. Lastly we are close to all the base amenities. Yes, we lost alittle money, but we have paid higher monthly rates at one RV park than we did here at two, gotta love the rates in this area of NM.
The past few days have been pretty busy with appointments, moving and getting our Black tank taken care of. Speaking of which, we took the trailer back to the RV repair shop where they quickly found and fixed the issue, seems it was just a lose fitting on the tank. They were very accommodating and stood true to their work about taking care of us, we have no problem with using them again if needed.

Today is Saturday, so we'll take a ride over to the BX, need to pick up a new water filter and look at a way to heat the area with all the water piping in the storage compartment. It's well below freezing each night now, so need to take all the precautions we can. Did the water leak thing in our last rig, not fun and don't want to do it in this one.

That's all for this episode, we'll catch up later, so take care and enjoy your day.

Goodbye OKC, Hello New Mexico

 It's after the New Year and we have left OKC, however before we left we had some work to do. Josh and Kaileigh received a few hundred dollars in Lowes Gift Cards to help with their new home. So off to Lowes we went, a couple of hours and several decisions later, we began work on the house. All new fixtures were hung and paint went on the walls. We must say, the house looks much better and with their character all over it, it's truly their home now.

 Another surprise we go was the return of our little granddaughter (she was visiting the other grandparents in Atlanta for Christmas) and Christmas all over again. I'll tell you, the little one really made out with two Christmas's and double the toys!!!

 Sheryl got in all the quality time she could.

 As did I. Ok, how many grand dads would let the little one paint their toe nails bright pink!!! Yea, I'm a great guy. P.S. you know how hard that stuff is to get off your toes............sheesh.

 It was time to say our goodbyes and start heading toward New Mexico. We had a great time for the last month visiting with all the kids.  Here are Sheryl, here daughter Kaileigh and the little one Clara.

While in OKC we watched the weather and saw our original route may have some pretty poor weather. We changed our plans and decided to head south to Dallas and take I-20 into El Paso. Well we were out smarted (which doesn't take much) and ended up in a 7" snow storm in Midland TX. We did a little Wally Docking before the weather cleared the next afternoon. One fun thing that happened while we were holed up, is Scrappy got to experience his first snow, and we must say, he had a ball in it.

We have finally arrived back in Alamogordo, NM. We'll be here for a month or longer depending on how our Doctors appointments go. We are also getting our black tank re-fixed, as what ever the repair shop did in Nov, something went awry and we still have a leak.

That's it for now, so stay tuned for more form sunny southern New Mexico.

2011 the Finally!!!

 Aug 2011

Staying true to our decision to move around (even if it's just in the area) we moved back up to Alamogordo, NM and the Boot Hill RV Resort. This turned out to be a good move, as the hosts were the friendliest and most helpful of any we have seen on our travels. They were also the reason we decided to stay with them until our departure in late Oct.

 We also made the decision to get out and see the sights alittle more. Sheryl was feeling better so off we went. On a trip combining business with pleasure (needed to finish up some paperwork from the sale f our old trailer) we took a trip to Silver City, NM. After the business end we cleared up, we stopped of at the City of Rocks State Park (between Deming and Silver City) we spent several hours exploring and hiking around and through the rock outcroppings.
It was getting late and we needed to start heading toward the house, we did stop in Deming for diner and found the Mimbres Valley Brewery, where we discovered Green Chili Beer and Chocolate infused wine, a very interesting experience and more than yummy!!!

 We also took a trip down NM 28, we had travelled this scenic hwy before and just wanted to check it out again. The drive takes you along the southern Rio Grande Vally of New Mexico, with mile after mile of rich farmland and the high desert mountains as a back drop. The road is also home to several southern NM wineries.

 Sheryl being Sheryl, could not stand the early 90s decor of the new rig, so out came her sewing machine and in came new valances and matching accessories. Definitely gives the rig a more updated look.

Aug also brought the purchase of a new camera for yours truly. I wanted to expand my photographic horizons and creativity, hopefully it helped and it's a purchase I have really been enjoying.

 September 2011

Fall is beginning here in the high desert and what better way to see it than head to the mountains. Alamogordo is located at the foot of the Sacramento Mountain Range so it was just a short drive up to some beautiful scenery and our favorite little mountain town of Cloudcroft.

 Just down the street from the RV Park were two Pistachio farms and wineries. The high desert climate of this area seems to be prime for pistachio growing. Both farms offered tours and wine tasting so it was a no brainier for us to check out.

 During our travels I have become fascinated with what I call Highway Ghost Towns. One that we drive by a couple of time a month is just outside Las Cruces, NM. so one day I decided to stop and shot some photos which now has me hooked on checking out these little gems of history we all drive right by.

 Sept is also Sheryl's birthday, it was a nice day so a drive up into the mountains for lunch and sight seeing sound like a great way to spend Sheryl's B-Day.

 While we were out, we stopped by the ghost town of White Oaks, an old mining community out in the desert mountains. It's in the process of being restored, so not as deserted as we thought, very interesting to explore though.

Speaking of desert mountains, it was time to give Big Red his first off road test. While I was in the Las Cruces area one day, the Dona Ana mountains were just looming there calling my name. I pointed Red in the direction and off I went for the day. The mountains are very rugged with rugged two track roads winding through them. I had taken the Jeep there a couple of times, and Big Red, held his own during the day.

Oct 2011

In Oct we stayed really busy, a bit of a contrast to earlier months were we were mostly just hanging out. The beginning of Oct brought the Trinity Tour, a twice a year tour of the first atomic bomb test site. Very interesting to see and learn the history of the atomic age.

Even though we had lived in Alamogordo for almost three years before fulltiming and spent time here afterwards, we had never gone out to the White Sands National Monument together.  Nice thing about white sands is, you can spend just a little time there and still see most all there is to see.

Another day out was a really cool dinner show held up in the mountains. They put on a Chuck Wagon style dinner, then a great western show afterwards. We had a great time out with friends from the RV Park.

The end of Oct drew near and so did the medical appointments, we were off and running once again! First stop southwest Kansas and Sheryl's Family Farm which her Grandfather Homesteaded in the early 1900s. We had a big old style family gathering with more food and fun than you can shake a stick at!!!

We also experienced the first snow of our RV season.

One highlight was getting to meet up with fellow fulltimers Ron and Elena. They just happened to be in SW Kansas on there way back from there Alaska adventure. We met for lunch and had a great visit before they had to continue on.

While in KS we also stopped in at one of the local history museums, it's always fun to learn the history of these areas and there is no better place to do it.

 Nov 2011

November brought a fast run for Florida and our sons wedding at the end of the month. Alot of driving and many miles covered in a short period of time, but we did stop to catch our breath once in a while. First real stop was more Moochdocking at Sheryl's Cousins home in North FL.

 While we were there, fresh seafood was in order and a local place was just the ticket to put a dent in our craving.

 Hit up the local museum for another history lesson.

 and explored the North FL. scenery.

 After a couple of days rest, the jaunt was on again, net real stop, St Augustine, FL. The weather was pretty poor for a couple of days but finally cleared and gave us a day of sightseeing before the push on to Miami.

And of course the whole reason for coming to FL was to see our son marry the lady of his dreams. It was a great week, with lots of fun and wedding bliss.

Dec 2011

December was another busy travel month, we had agreed to watch Sheryl's bothers kids in Austin TX. while they took a couples vacation and we also agreed to spend Christmas in Oklahoma City with our other batch of kids, so off and running we were.

First stop after Miami and a quick rest stop from the crazy busy wedding week was McDill AFB in Tampa FL. We were able to get a spot (highly unusual for this time of year we were told) for 3 days off. We fixed a flat on the rig, eats some good food and just enjoyed some more great FL weather.

 Hitting the road again we did a long push into North FL and Apalachicola for some of the best oyster known to man. We had to stop at our favorite place for oysters, Raw is the only way to go for me, however Sheryl differs in opinion, Rockefeller for her.

 We made it into Austin TX a couple of days later. Watching the kids was a joy and we managed to keep them entertained. Good thing Austin has lots of activities going on during the holiday season. Of course what is TX without eatin some good BBQ, luckily one of the best places in TX is just down the road form the house, yea we put a dent in their inventory.

 Dec also brought us a new travelin buddy by the name of Scrappy Doo. On his registration paperwork he will be know by the stuck up name of Sir Scrappious Doobeious, however to us he's just a bouncing bundle of fur named Scrappy.

 After Austin, we made a quick stop in Dallas to say hey to Kayla and Chris and also pick up our daughter Kaileigh from DFW airport. She'll be catching a ride back up to OKC with us.

 Once in OKC we fond hat Santa had come early one morning and dropped off a nice new table in our rig, man wasn't that nice of him.

 During our stay, we all went to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and Museum.

 Of course there was tree trimming to be done

and lots of Christmas holiday fun to be had by all.

Whew, 2011 was quite a ride and we are hoping for a great 2012, abit at a little slower pace. However, we were advised of a couple of surprises that are to take place in 2012, but we'll keep that secret for now.................Ok, 2011 has come to it's end and here's to a great and happy 2012 to everyone!!!!