Mile 2495

Carolyn here - wow, we've been lazy and now I have a lot of catching up to do. We had a great time visiting with Adrienne and Heath and their two kids Mason and Gates. What cuties! We explored a local park that included a science center so I got to touch the outside shell (?) of an armadillo - OK, it was dead but I think it should count. I haven't given up seeing a live one on the side of the road but they aren't as numerous as I'd heard - road kill doesn't count. Gail slipped into the grandma role very easily and we enjoyed playing with the boys. It's a different world in Louisiana. We've tried to stay off the main roads, so we traveled through lots of small towns and enjoyed seeing the countyside. It has recently rained so there is a lot of standing water everywhere along the roads. Miles of it, complete with moss hanging from trees and large cypress trees. The hardwood forest has this amazing understory of palmettos, like 3 foot high palm trees everywhere. The water is a great chocolate color and sometimes has a layer of a green algae type growth. My hair has finally lost the static electricity that has plagued me in the desert. Another big thrill was to cross the Mississippi River - now that's a river! We'll be staying in Baton Rouge for a few days so Gail and Diana can catch up on their lives - if last night was any indication, it's going to take more than a few days! As it is with good friends, they started right in as if they saw each other every day. We're going off exploring today so stay tuned for the next exciting adventure! XXOO cj

Mile 2036

Gail - We stayed last night in Lamesa, TX - a bit more off the beaten path than we had expected. It was the first point where we both realized it was a good thing I wasn't traveling by myself. We were safe, but I would have felt uncomfortable there alone. Today's traveling wasn't too exciting. We opted to stay off the interstate and take a parallel path to the north. It started out looking like Tulare County - miles of post harvest cotton fields. But soon we were riding through some great rolling country with scrubby vegetation, lakes, and juniper/oak forests. We saw lots of hawks and pick up trucks.

We arrived in Arlington about 2 at Adrienne and Heath's house. It got so warm (70) on the drive over that I thought about turning the air conditioner on! We had a fun afternoon and evening visiting with them and playing with my grandsons, Mason (4) and Gates (1). Adrienne says Carolyn can never leave because she entertains Mason so well!

Mile 1744

Carolyn here - Well, we're in Texas and we heard our first "ya'all" at dinner last night. I feel like I'm "not in Kansas anymore." We said goodby to Tami and Mark and hit the road a little later than we'd planned. We saw the beautiful Guadelupe mountains and then lots of flat land until we reached Carlsbad Caverns. I was blown away with the beauty of the caverns. It isn't prime tourist season so we felt like we had the caverns to ourselves. There were lots of times that we couldn't hear or see anyone else. Almost spooky. Beautiful formations and when you think about the time that it took for them to form, I felt even shorter and smaller. We got some exercise by taking the natural entrance and walking about 3 miles. It felt good after being in the car for so long. Beautiful vista from the visitors center, there is lots of empty open land out here. We're heading toward Dallas today so off we go. XXOO cj

Mile 1385

Gail - Firstly, thanks to you all for posting comments. We look forward to them because you keep us laughing and it makes us feel like you are there exploring with us. Keep commenting (we'll make room for you in the back seat)!

Today we had a much saner pace. We stayed in Socorro, New Mexico last night, finding a decent motel within walking distance of the microbrewery. We had a leisurely morning before heading south to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. We were under the impression that it was one of the places to find wintering whooping cranes. But no. There were lots of sandhill cranes, snow geese, and assorted waterfowl. We thought it was odd that there were lots of images of whooping cranes in the visitor's center and published literature, but that they do not yet winter here. It would have been cool to see a bird that is bigger than Carolyn!

One of the best sights today was a pair of coyotes that were sort of stalking a small group of Canada geese that were standing on a frozen pond. The yotes didn't actually chase the geese, but they circled the pond with longing gazes, licking their chops the whole way. We also had a huge flock of snow geese circle over the car for about 5 minutes. It sounded and looked so cool, I experimented with the video feature of the camera. We finished out the 12 mile driving loop by seeing a pair of bald eagles sitting together on a limb of a dead tree in the midst of a frozen pond.

We're having a lovely evening with Mark and Tammy in Las Cruces. The nanny (our British accented GPS travel assistant) took us unerringly to their door. Tammy made a fantastic New Mexico dinner with locally grown chilies and traditional pinto beans.