Tuesday dawned sunny but smoggy in El Paso. The local geography causes air pressure inversions that trap pollution from cars, trucks, trains, etc. along with emissions from local industries.
As we pointed ourselves northeast, we noticed a drastic improvement in Mike’s performance. We spent the day driving through west Texas, dominated by oil and gas fields. Sarah read that the Texas Department of Highway spreads 30,000 pounds (!) of wildflower seeds each year along the ditches. The Texas state flower, bluebonnet, is a regional species of spring-flowering lupin. There are a few different legends about how this blue-purple wildflower got to Texas. One 18th century story claims a Spanish nun appeared to indigenous people to teach them about Jesus. She was wearing a blue cloak over her brown habit and appeared several times to two different groups. On the morning after her last appearance, the fields were covered in a new flower the same color as the nun’s cloak. Even more miraculous is that the nun in this story never actually left her convent in Spain. It is said that she projected herself to North America through deep contemplation and prayer.
We spent the night in Seymour, Texas at the HH Creek Inn. We split a delicious 16 oz ribeye dinner at the Rusty Spur Saloon and thoroughly enjoyed watching the Breakaway Roping competition from the Lazy E Arena on the newly launched Cowgirl channel.
We bade farewell to sunny Yuma on Saturday and struck east for Deming, New Mexico. Crossing the Continental Divide at more than 4, 000 feet, Mike was struggling with the winds and the long, slow inclines. We made it into town at 7:57 pm local time; Si Senor (highly recommended to us by friends) closes at 8:00 pm, so we tried Cactus Cafe, instead. Delicious tacos, a homemade mushroom swiss burger and cold beer filled us up!
On Sunday morning, Mike just did not want to start. We were stuck until garages would open on Monday. There is not much to do in Deming, New Mexico. Joe made two trips to Walmart on foot and we settled in for an afternoon of Netflix and naps. PBJ for dinner!
No one in Deming could work on Mike, but the VanAlert app pointed us to Fox Land Auto in El Paso, Texas – 82 miles away. Gerry from AAA re-arranged his morning plans and safely towed us to Rico’s garage. Journey was a champ riding alone in the van being towed backwards for an hour and a half, while we sat in the tow truck cab with Gerry. it was about this time last year that Mike broke down on our way to Vegas. I think he’s trying to tell us he wants to stay in Yuma.
Rico conferred with our Vegas mechanic who rebuilt the engine last summer. After running some compression tests, we all agreed a leaky valve was probably the culprit. Rico also installed an electrical starter component, giving us more power and reliability.
We took an Uber to the Travelodge and checked in for the afternoon. Rico and his father had Mike fixed by the end of the day!
Rico, Sr. trained in Germany – worked on VWs for his whole career!
We celebrated with dinner at Carlos & Mickey’s Cantina. Sarah reacquainted herself with melon margaritas!
This winter we were kept busy with puppy training, in addition to our usual schedule of fun in the sun with our snowbird pals. Most days, we would head to the pool around lunchtime for a floating visit with friends. Stories were spun and jokes were shared and we all had a good time not shoveling snow.
Joe golfed on a few occasions and thought about joining the pickleball craze, but they start playing at 8:00 a.m. which is way too early to be bouncing around competitively!
Sarah quilted, joined a crafty card-making group, and painted a bit. We both read a lot of books and on colder evenings, watched Arizona PBS Check, Please and Finding Your Roots.
We flew back east for a long weekend visit with our grandchild to watch the Super Bowl. A quick road trip to Newport Beach for Joe to attend his Football Dinner gave Journey a chance to stick her paws in the Pacific Ocean.
We are grateful for another winter in the southwest desert. Thanks to all who came to visit us this season!
Adopting another dog, after Molly, was not a sure thing for us. In our marriage, we have been blessed with three extraordinary dogs, all adopted as adults/seniors. Shasta taught us the benefits of living with a retired service dog and Molly eventually completed training to work as Sarah’s service dog. When we started to look for a new dog, we were daunted by how the rescue/foster system has devolved into a money-making cottage industry. Folks are adopting the best-behaved dogs from the shelters and then re-packaging them as available for adoption for huge “re-homing” fees, rivaling the cost of purchasing a pure-bred puppy.
We continued our research and met several candidates in shelters in different states. None of them passed all of the tests we had set; a potential service dog must be calm and relaxed, responsive when approached, and accept boundaries and training readily. A dog that is clearly frustrated, reactive to people or other dogs, has issues with resource guarding, or is overly sensitive to touch cannot easily be trained to work as a service companion. Hip health is also important. It has been more than thirty years since Sarah last raised a puppy and Joe has only lived with adult dogs. Puppies are a big commitment and require a huge investment of time and patience. But as our search for an adult rescue dog with potential for service training continued with no definite results, we started to consider the benefits of puppy-raising.
This youngster was born in Indiana last June at Foxwood K-9. This extraordinary kennel is powered by solar and geothermal systems and the dogs are raised with love. She was ready to come home to us at the end of November. Because we were getting ready to leave Cape Cod for the winter, it was tricky to figure out the best way for our new pup to get to us. Delivery options were compromised by airline restrictions so we landed on the idea of picking her up directly from the kennel in Shipshewana.
We flew to Detroit on a Tuesday morning, picked up a one-way rental car, and drove to Indiana. We picked up puppy supplies and the puppy and headed out west. Thank goodness she adapted to car travel without incident! Mornings were spent bonding with Sarah in the front seat and the rest of the afternoon was spent sleeping in her crate. The three nights in hotels were relatively easy as she slept in her crate without complaint.
On our second day, we passed a sign that said we were 90 degrees west of Greenwich – one-quarter of the way around the world! An hour later we saw Mark Twain’s boyhood home before crossing the Mississippi River into Missouri. Chillicothe, MO is the Home of Sliced Bread and Sarah was stoked to stop at Missouri Star Quilts. After lunch, we passed by the birthplace of Jesse James. And in Kansas City, we met Boon and his human who works at Bar K Dog Park. We slept in Hays, KS.
Thursday’s adventures included meeting a flock of chickadees in a pre-dawn cold walk before loading up the car and heading into Colorado where we gained another hour due to entering Mountain Standard Time. The temperature was a bit warmer (56 F) as we cruised through Denver and headed up into the Rocky Mountains. When Journey woke up after lunch we were at ten thousand feet elevation in Vail and found Bighorn Park to introduce her to the snow. We stopped in Green River, UT (pop. 847) for the night – known for watermelons and its annual Melon Fest.
Friday morning was a bit tense as we got caught in a blizzard coming over the summit to Salina, UT. While Journey slept blissfully unaware, Joe did a great job navigating the un-plowed road and we made it to Mom’s Cafe for breakfast by mid-morning. We time-traveled to Mesquite Dog Park (Pacific Time Zone) before steering into the megalopolis called Vegas.
Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona
We saw a lot of sights and experienced a range of weather conditions (sun, rain, sleet, snow, winds, hail) on our journey cross-country. We returned the rental car in Las Vegas, picked up Mike (with his refurbished engine!) and after visiting our friends Friday night, we turned south to Yuma on Saturday morning.
We will be staying here in Arizona for the winter and plan to drive cross-country back home to Cape Cod in March. In these first weeks living together, we have set new routines, started training classes, and adapted to sharing our RV with our growing four-legged goofball. Her antics as she explores and learns about the world are keeping us smiling and we made more friends at the RV park in one week than the entire winter season last year. Everyone wants to pet the white, friendly puppy.
Joe proposed registering her as “Journey” because it was a journey to find her, we trekked cross-country on a literal road trip to pick her up, and we look forward to sharing many travel adventures together. She has the perfect name!
We found a rooftop bar for our first afternoon in Bratislava. Daughter Jordan taught us this pro travel tip as a great way to orient ourselves in a new city. The Michael’s Gate is undergoing renovations under that scaffolding.
Cousin Bobby took an overnight train from Warsaw to meet us for a weekend in Bratislava. We did a 90 minute guided bus tour on Saturday morning, which is the best way to see a medieval town with its fortified castle built on a tall hill!
This region has evidence of human settlements going back 7, 000 years. Located on the Danube River, the city has a multi-cultural history with various influences and languages dominating different eras. In the early twentieth century, Slavic national identity was emphasized and the city was re-named Bratislava and became part of the newly established Czechoslovakia. Nazi occupation gave way to Soviet occupation and eventual independence was achieved after the Velvet Divorce. Bratislava is now the capital of Slovakia and is the wealthiest region in the country.
Our hotel was in Old Town and was originally built as a monastery in the thirteenth century. Gorgeously appointed, the central atrium is capped with beautiful stained glass panels. And the buffet breakfast here came with champagne (Sarah added a drop of fresh orange juice for vitamin C benefits).
On Saturday night, we attended a concert of Slovakian chamber music by the Štátny komorný orchester Žilina. The program concluded with Mikuláš Moyzes’ Mass in C Major sung by the Lúčnica Choir. It was a beautiful evening in a neo-baroque building.
Joe Gill has a gift: finding free live music and beer! After eighteen (!) hours of travel, including a stop in London to pay our respects to QEII, we took a short nap in our Prague lodgings and then set out to find dinner. We had only walked a few blocks in light drizzle when we stumbled upon a park hosting a free concert! We think it was a Christian rock band fronted by women. A priest came out to thank them before beginning 7 pm Mass at the church behind the outdoor stage. We enjoyed our first Czech beer (pivo) while dancing with locals!
Dinner was delicious at a neighborhood restaurant. Our waiter and the bartender were patient teaching us proper pronunciation and etiquette in Czech hospitality. We both loved the warm, filling flavors of český guláš and svíčková.
After twelve hours of sleep, we woke up to a lovely buffet breakfast at our hotel and then set out to meet our tour guide, Ivitsa. Starting at the National Museum on top of the hill, we walked down through New Town (established In the 14th century!) and across the medieval stone arch Charles Bridge to the Lennon Wall. Our archaeologist guide was super-knowledgeable and is a great storyteller!
In addition to learning about the history of Czech people, we were treated to modern art sculptures by David Černý located throughout the city. This particular artist has been active since 1991, when he was briefly jailed for a controversial piece involving a former Soviet tank painted bright pink and a sculpted obscene gesture protruding from it. He has made a reputation in Prague with his provocative large-scale sculptures that walk a thin line between controversy and obscenity. We both appreciate an artist with a point of view and the audacity to display art in accessible public spaces. Viewers are free to discern their own interpretations.
Our tour group included folks from India, Macedonia, Mexico, and Pakistan. Part of our motivation to travel is to meet people from other parts of the planet and to learn more about our commonalities and differences. This diverse tour group signed up for an english-language walking tour of Prague and ended up spending the day together, concluding with beers at an Old Town restaurant. Joe and I enjoyed hearing about our fellow travelers’ adventures and motivations. What a great day!
Best tour group!One may text messages to a specific number and these two statues will interrupt their literary quotations and “write” your text message, instead!Medieval church by wall of Old TownJoe found a gingerbread house!At Czech McDonalds, one can order beer and vodka-sodas!Ready for fall harvestThe Lennon Wall just got a do-over…all new paintings were created just days before we arrived.Na zdravi
The title of this post sums it up! After two and a half years of domestic road trips, we are venturing off to international destinations and discoveries. This will be the classic planes, trains, busses, trams and ferries visit to Central Europe to learn about and enjoy the cultures of the region. Bon voyage!
Warm clothes donned for 2700+ mile journey to the Northeast in January
Totally worth every snowflake to visit with this cutie for ten days!
If you know Sarah, you know that cold, winter air is not a friend to her lungs. While Grampaw bundled up and ventured outside with our grandchild a few times, Nana remained indoors organizing toddler activities for our ten-day adventure in babysitting. We graduated from playdough to bread dough. We danced a billion times to “Baby Shark” and “Wheels On The Bus.” And we snuggled with lots of books!
When we parked Cornelia in a “secure” storage facility last spring in Desert Hot Springs, CA, we calculated it would be cheaper than driving her another six thousand miles (round-trip), knowing we wanted to return to the desert southwest for winter ‘21-‘22. Unfortunately, the facility we chose doesn’t guarantee security from catalytic converter theft!
Practiced thieves can roll under an RV, make two saw cuts, and roll back out with a length of pipe that fetches $200-$300 on the black market, due to the trace amounts of platinum, palladium, and rhodium. As of December 18, 2021, platinum is fetching $30.29/gram, palladium is at $58.28/gram, and rhodium is an astonishing $376.16/gram.
Each catalytic converter contains between three-seven grams of these precious metals. Scrap metal processors need specialized machinery to recover these specific metals and police are now warning that unscrupulous buyers may fill a container to send overseas for processing, to evade authorities. A quick Google search confirmed that black market thieves can monitor the best prices that international companies are offering to “recycle the most expensive scrap.” One Turkish company advertises: “Worth of Platinum metal is increasing with time as its (sic) shown on the table. It’s (sic) economic value never decreased as seen in the table last 20 years. So that’s meaning Platinum’s value is getting more important every day.”
Cornelia was built with TWO catalytic converters. We learned that flexible dryer vents do not make good replacements. She now sounds like a very loud diesel truck when driving. We opened all her windows, to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning, and made a run for Yuma, AZ. Professional replacements will take weeks to receive and cost thousands of dollars.
To deter thieves from stealing your vehicle’s catalytic converter, police recommend:
etch your VIN on to converter
paint converter a bright color
install a cage or shield over converter to slow down would-be thieves
set vehicle alarm to detect minute vibrations
park in a secure, locked, indoor garage
None of these measures will stop a determined thief, but perhaps stories about the Law of Gravity will begin to circulate among the criminal-minded. In recent months, at least three would-be thieves have been found crushed to death in North Carolina, Georgia, and California, when the carjacks failed while the (unrelated) men were trying to steal catalytic converters.
Where in the world are the Gills? 