On the Road Again!

Our first RV trip of this year, we are revisiting the Florida Keys!  Why?  Well, when we were last there 3 years ago, we never got to see Dry Tortugas National Park, due to confusion on our part.  We thought we could get tickets for the ferry over to it by walking up to the ticket counter a few days before we wanted to go – NOT!  At least, not during Spring Break month!  But, we’re smarter this time around and already have tickets!!  But, before we can do that tour, we need to get there……

We left home and the weather was pretty good.  To be safe, we decided to just head south and then make our way east.  So, off we were to Las Cruces, we thought!  But, due to a reenactment of a historic march (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataan_Death_March ) where over 1,000 New Mexican guardsmen died, every campground in Las Cruces (near the march site) were full.  So, we detoured to Deming, NM, and enjoyed a wine tasting at the largest winery in New Mexico, that also happens to have wine we enjoy!  Great Plan B!

The following day, we took off for Fort Stockton, TX.  However, our luck with good weather ran out – we took off with snow and icy sleet accompanying us – ugh!  However, the silver lining to that cloud (no pun intended) was the great cloudscape created by the clouds swirling around the Organ Mountains!  That is a National Monument (see https://www.organmountains.org/ ) that we checked out a few years ago.  I’m happy to say the weather transitioned to just rain and finally to sun, so things worked out after all!  Whew!!

On the third day, we had a much better day traveling, and enjoyed the various rest areas along the way.  One stop had a lovely little path with some local flowers just starting to bloom!  There was also a bird calling very loudly.  I think it was a female cardinal (mostly brown, but some very vibrant red), but she was illusive and didn’t let me get a photo of her.  At another stop, we had a very nice quiet lunch – a nice respite from the drive.  We ended up in San Antonio, where spring has definitely sprung!!

One of the things I have always loved to do is to daydream about the frontage roads that run alongside the highways.  When I was a kid, I’d start to make up stories about the people that drove those roads on a daily basis – where they were heading or coming home from, their jobs, their dreams, if they wanted to leave, etc.  When I see one now, as we are prone to do on this trip, my mind wanders back to those imaginings and in a way, I’m a kid again!

One of my favorite parts of this drive is the I-10 route through Louisiana.  The road is very close to what would be the ground, if it wasn’t on swamp land.  It always feels very odd to be on solid ground, but then look off the shoulder of the road and see nothing but swamp!!  

We had a nice 2-night break in our travels when we got to the Gulf Shores, AL, area.  Granted, this was another man-made lake, but we both welcomed the getting warmer weather and sunny skies!  So peaceful – let us recharge our batteries a bit!

As we were driving thru the panhandle of Florida, I commented to Jeff that we were seeing a lot of damage that looked to me to be either tornado or hurricane damage.  When we thought about it for a minute, we realized that this was still the visible damage from Hurricane Michael, which hit the panhandle on October 10, 2018 (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Michael  ).  There have been 27 hurricanes that hit the panhandle since the late 1800s.  The last hurricane to make landfall close to the panhandle was Hurricane Ivan in 2004 (it make landfall in Gulf Shores, AL) and the last direct hit to the panhandle before Michael was Hurricane Opal in 1995 (it made landfall in Pensacola, FL). These photos were taken roughly 5 ½ months after the hurricane hit and the clean-up is still underway.  The photo on the bottom is what the land area looks like after it’s been cleaned up.  It really hit home to see this devastation so long after the hurricane was gone.

The last stop in our travels down the road to mid-Florida, where our fun really got started, was in Tampa.  We had lunch with some friends – a guy I used to work with and his wife.  They took us to a Cuban restaurant for a great dinner, and then we got to see the sunset from the balcony of their condo!

Enjoy!!