Grow old along with me

April 29, 2018 All of our traveling through Florida, Texas, and New Mexico has reminded us of the horrible way the white settlers in the 1800’s treated the native Indians. Fort Stanton in New Mexico is a place that was established especially for helping the local   white settlers protect themselves as they took over lands that the Mescalero Apaches had lived in for thousands of years. Officer's barracks Sunday afternoon we visited Fort Stanton and found its history fascinating. First it was a military post (Kit Carson, Black Jack Pershing, Billy the Kid) -to kill the local Indians who were threatening the white settlers - and then it was a TB hospital for Maritime Marines - when the only treatment we had for TB was fresh air. Then it became a mental health facility, then a low security correctional facility for women, and finally it became a State Monument. I tried to imagine being a nurse there for TB patients. I loved seeing the nurses quarters. Aside...

April 22, 2018 It was 96 ° F in the RV when we returned from the Ross Maxwell scenic drive in Big Bend National Park. So we turned on the generator, then the A/C, and I put a load of wash in the dryer that I had washed that morning. We sat outside to let the RV cool awhile before making supper. Since it was about 88 ° F outside, I thought I could stand 88 ° inside and went in and put the instant pot on “saute”. BOOM! Not really—all went silent. Everything went off- the generator, the A/C, the dryer—everything. We turned off all switches, checked fuses, and tried to turn the generator again. It sounded like a lawn mower that would hardly start and needed more gas.   UGH! Our supper was pimento cheese on crackers. The propane keeps the refrigerator cold so we had cold drinks. But it was WAY TOO HOT to sleep in the RV. We did not bring a tent or sleeping bags - mistake - although we do have a large mosquito net we had had in Haiti. We watched the night sky from...

April 15, 2018 Ba-ba-ba Bamba…… was playing as we sat on the top of a double decker bus and toured San Antonio. We had a 3 day Mega-Pass so we could hop-on-hop-off the bus all over town. We saw the Alamo, saw an IMAX movie about the Battle of the Alamo, toured the Buckhorn Saloon to learn about the Texas Rangers and saw Bonnie and Clyde’s car full of bullet holes. We floated down the River and walked the River walk in different areas of it. We ate BLT’s at the charming Guenther house – where a German started a mill in the 1800’s and there is still Pioneer flour made nearby.   We skipped the 3 lb cinnamon roll and had peach strudel instead. I forgot to mention last week that probably our favorite thing in New Orleans was the WWII museum. We could have stayed there 2 or more days. Tickets for the Movie there sell out fast. We were reminded of the Japanese interment during the war and how many manufacturing sites stopped making appliances, etc. in order t...