No place like home, no place like home.

Received a call this evening from a neighbor from Whale Pass. No snow and it's in the 40's. I miss my house, the studio, workshop, my cat Dude, and the solitude. As much as traveling has been fun, I'm getting anxious to head North.

We're enjoying the grand kids and not having to boil water for showers and washing dishes. Sounds strange doesn't it.

Finally I can stop and smell the roses.

We're still in Parker with Tana and her family. She and Marty opened a new business and it's doing well. Part of their success is all the hours involved. So, we're helping out with the grand kids and a few chores around the house.

During this time I'm taking several art classes from Dona Mares, a local artist. She teaches different mediums and several techniques. Hopefully my art will get better.

On a wing and a prayer

That's how my computer is operating. So updating may become sparatic.


There are 67 stop lights between Carlsbad and Taos

How many do you think I had to stop at.
A. 67
B. 67
C. 67
D. All of the above
And that's why they call them stop lights.


Taos, New Mexico....a slice of Heaven

There's just too much to mention about Taos to discribe here. Just know it's an art community with many fine and famous artist.

I went back and talked to Doug Scott. A famous sculpter now turned painter and making a living with it. This is his 2nd yr of painting. He's self taught, he's broken many 'rules' for painting. Probably because he didn't know what they were to begin with. Besides, his paintings are selling. I talked to him for an hour again this trip. Great inspiration for me to get back to painting.
Here's some of what he's painted http://www.dougscottart.com/paintingarchives.htm

Visited J. D. Challenger studio/gallery. Saw where he paints when he's there in the summer.

Saw my first $45,000 and several $30,000 paintings in another gallery.
Pam went to Hobby Lobby and bought me more paint. I guess my next goal is $100 paintings.

Walked across the Rio Grande Bridge. Long way down.

We're at my daughter's now. Her husband opened a Firehouse Sub sandwich shop. They had a heck of a grand opening day.

Well, that pretty much brings you up to date....Hopefully this computer will work next time I turn it on.

Driving down the road kickin rocks and singing cowboy songs.

After a two and a half day drive, we're finally in New Mexico. We did hear a lot of cowboy songs that we've never heard before.

I think the next time we come thru Texas, I need to get a cowboy hat to sit on the dash board. Nuff said.

Holy crap Batman!

Yep, we visited the bat cave and have video to prove it. We drove to Carlsbad this morning after a night in Ft. Stockton again. The trip here was worth it. Video below. Short video. All in all I took about 30 minutes of the cavern. The path down to the Big Room was about a mile long. Then in the Big Room the path was a 1 mile around the edge, You can fit 14 football fields in it. Enormous and beautiful.

Decided to spend the night in Carlsbad. Word of advice.....drive thru town before getting a room. Hurry up and buy gas before next day. As we were fueling up, a guy came out and changed the price from $2.79 to $2.89 . Does the expression "prices going up before your eyes," mean any thing. Decided to eat in a All You Can Eat Chineese Buffet. Sounded good to us and a change of diet wouldn't hurt. Nice place, pretty Chineese ladies, clean walls, rug, tables, $8.00. Food looked good and tasted pretty good. Then I saw a 7 yr old kid drop something on the floor and throw it back in the serving dishes. Nuff said.

Tomorrow it's on to Taos and spend a day there.

North to Alaska

Farewells said this morning and it was time to leave. Donning our sunglasses and rolling our windows down I pointed the front of the truck North for the first time in over a month. The sun and warm breeze felt good on my arm as it rested on the door. 61 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. As our kids would say,"Sweet".

First stop Fredericksburg 60 miles away. Thought it was going to be a few hours stop, but we opted to spend the night. Nice town and lots to see. Tomorrow we'll spend a little time walking around town and look in the shops and galleries.


We went thru the National Museum of the Pacific War. Certainly worth the trip here and the walk thru the museum.

Just because we're headed North, the trip isn't over. We still have people to see Colorado, Nebraska, Michigan, and Indiana.

Texas Mountain Cedar

Didn't do much today so not much to write about. So guess I'll just mention a few things that I'll share about the trip.
When the TM Cedar is pollinating, it plays heck with my sinuses. Didn't get to sleep until 4am this morning. Heck of a time with allergies.


Restrooms

The further South you drive, the better the restrooms are. The ones in Canada are of the outhouse variety. When you get to the states. The ones just across the state lines are usually the best you'll find in that state. Take advantage of the stop and grab some tour literature that's there. Also get a booklet with coupons in them. You'll save money on items including motel rooms.
Carry an extra roll of TP with you when going thru Canada. No guarantee they'll be TP in them. Also carry a bottle of hand cleaner. They'll be no water or soap in them either.

Thought I got the big one

Ate lunch while out at a shopping mall the other day. I ordered a chicken fried steak. $7.99 for a small one and $8.99 for a big one. I ordered the small one since I wasn't that hungry. When it came, it covered 3/4 of the plate. Thinking the waitress made a mistake and not wanting to hurt her feelings, I said, " Gosh!, I should have ordered a small one". The waitress said that it was the small one. The Big ones come on a plate by themselves. Seems like all we do is eat and much more than we need.
I guess I'm stimulating the economy and spreading the wealth at the expense of spreading my as setts.

The restaurants down here seem to all be very busy in the evenings......"what recession".
Saw a 5lb bag of Idaho potatoes for 88 cents a bag. Amaretto is $6.00/ bottle. In Alaska it's $24-27.00/ bottle.

Like I said at the beginning, slow day in Texas

For Laura and her Spice Monkey

Let's see, last time I updated was back in Arizona a week ago. We drove across the lower part of New Mexico in a day. I heard about the beautiful women in New Mexico and wanted to try and photograph them and then do a sketch and maybe a painting. Well, from what I saw while traveling thru NM is that someone contaminated the gene pool. Perhaps I need to look closer when we drive thru again next week.

Don't Mess With Texas

Saw that sign a lot when we got to Texas.

We spent New Years Eve at Fort Stockton, Texas. We rented a room for $42.00 tax included. After we, I mean I rented the room, we went out to get something to eat. On the way back we decided to get some bubblie for the New Year's celebration. So one bottle of sparkling cider and some snacks.
Back in the room and in a few hours we'll be ringing in 2010. In a $42.00 room including tax one doesn't get coffee maker, hair dryer, clock, or cups to drink sparkling cider. So at midnight Pam and I drank our cider like two recovering wineos passing the bottle back and forth. So welcome to Texas and say hello to 2010.

What can I say about driving across Texas. It's big, it's flat, and you can go fast. 80 mph fast.

Remember the Alamo

We're at Chuck and Jan's house just a few miles outside San Antonio. We haven't been to The Alamo this year, but we did see it last year.
It's been cold here, but not as cold as the rest of the country.

Hablo Espanol ?

We went to a WalMart and I needed to use the restroom. As I walked in so did a young man just in front of me He started talking so I looked around and we were alone. The fact that he said something to me wasn't unusual. What was unusual is he was speaking Spanish. I certainly don't look Mexican. As we were standing at the urinal he kept speaking Spanish. So I finally looked at him and said , " I don't speak Spanish". He looked at me and kept talking. I then said "No habla Espanol". We just looked at each other. He kept talking and I could only imagine what he was now saying to me. As he went to wash his hands, I noticed he had a wireless earpiece for his telephone in his ear. I'd forgotten about those things.

That's about all that was funny to happen this week. Hey, it's Texas.