This is a long one, but we wanted to get caught up and our pace quickened once we had a buyer for our Airstream...in Florida.
We left the Bash and headed to Quartzsite, AZ for the "Big Show." The town of 2,358 residents grows to hundreds of thousands in the winter, and some reports say a staggering 2 million during the week of the RV Show. We had to see what all the hype was about.
Next it was off to Luke AFB in Glendale, AZ. This gave us a chance to charge things, do laundry and do some on-base shopping while Kelly worked. We didn't think of hard frosts as something to worry about outside of Phoenix, but were wrong.
After our stay at Luke, and a KZfaq milestone, we pointed south toward Bisbee, AZ. But, first sopped in Tombstone and the best brewery in AZ (or so we were told, and are inclined to agree with), Tombstone Brewing Co. After leaving, we continued south. We planned to stay at Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area, but there was no room. Plan B took us to the Harvest Host of Hofmann Vineyards. Their German-style wines were very good and their hospitality was terrific.
From the vineyard, we headed to Bisbee (thanks for the info, Mom!) for a day to check out this quirky, European influenced, rejuvenated mining town. Bisbee is the home of the Queen Mine and produced a staggering 8 billion pounds of copper from 1877 through 1975, when they ceased mining operations. Today, it is a culturally rich community with a welcoming spirit that we thoroughly enjoyed visiting. If we're back in the area, we'll spend more time here.
Next, we were off to Raptor Lake for some more dispersed camping close to White Sands National Park. We spent an afternoon playing in the dunes and checking out Alkali Flats Trail before the wind beat us back. With Alamogordo not too far, we changed tacks and went to see the world's biggest pistachio at McGinn's Pistachioland. We tried their pistachios and wines and left with some of both, but not before getting an ice-cream sundae for me and a pup-cup for the boy, then taking a selfie with the giant pistachio.
The next day proved to be a pucker-factor-10 drive through Guadalupe Pass as we hit an ice-storm on our way to Sunset Reef Campground, near Carlsbad Canyons. We thought the weather looked okay until we made our ascent and realized the fog was icing on the shrubs, truck, and road. We turned on the hazard lights, slowed to a crawl, and carefully made our way for the next hour through freezing conditions. The next two days didn't let up and ROAMN and SEEMOR looked like popsicles the next morning. Fortunately, these were Kelly's work days, so with Starlink connecting her to the world, we hunkered down until it passed.
We stopped overnight behind the Andrews, TX chamber of commerce, where they have five free camping sites for travelers, then headed to Farm Ale Brewing in Eola, TX for a night. The beer and food were good and the hospitality was A-mazing! The brewer took us on a tour of the K-12 schoolhouse turned brewery, which was super cool, and the chef made some special meals for us. They both made us feel right at home and we we can't recommend them enough if you're heading through the area.
From there we spent a couple nights at Cranes Mill Park in Canyon Lake, TX. The waters of this reservoir were a beautiful blue, and teaming with bird life. We enjoyed a delicious Italian meal from Gennaro's Trattoria and a few nice walks before heading further east toward Jasper, TX, but not before experiencing a famous Buc-ee's gas/convenience station. Wow! This was certainly the biggest, best stocked, cleanest gas station we'd ever seen. Then we finished this leg at Sandy Creek Campground in Jasper. We got some rain and thunderstorms, then did some chorin'.
Then it was off to Louisiana and Lake Fausse Pointe , where we reconnected with the Reynold's Krewe in nearby St Martinville for lunch at St. John Restaurant. The Reynolds Krewe sponsored the Sailors of the 2515th Naval Air Ambulance Detachment during our one-year deployment to Kuwait performing MedEvac missions into southern Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. They were a life-line to all, and even sent us a Christmas tree with all the fixings and a King cake, not to mention the hundreds of other luxuries our folks were missing from "the world". They have become life-long friends and part of our framily, who we rarely get to see. From there, we tried out Parish Brewery in Broussard, then back to the park for some on-foot exploration.
After our too-short-a-stop in LA, we were moving eastward for a couple days in McLeod Park in Kiln, MS. The next leg past by the USS Alabama Battleship and into Florida. Finally, we arrived in Milton, FL, at Avalon Landing RV Park where we would meet SEEMOR's new owners and bid farewell to our Airstream that served us well for four years and over 16,000 miles. See you next time when we say goodbye to SEEMOR and head to Hohenwald, TN to meet Piccolino, our new Oliver Legacy Elite II.