Painted Churches

As they have almost every day this week, Tom and Roland played golf today. No big surprise there. Sadly for Tom, Roland has to leave on a business trip tomorrow afternoon, so his golfing buddy will be gone. Elizabeth and I will have to drag him along on some touristy outings.

Like the one we made today. We took a leisurely drive to visit some of the "painted churches" in this area. There are over 20 painted churches in Texas, most built by Czech immigrants in the late 1800's and early 1900's. From the outside, they look like any charming old country church. But inside nearly every surface is covered with bright painting; beautiful murals behind the altar and on the ceilings, elaborate foliage trails the walls, wooden columns and baseboards shine like polished marble in shades of green and gray. The artistry is amazing. Click on any image in the slide show below to see a larger version.



The drive took us along some very picturesque country roads, past rolling hills of green dotted with grazing cows, and by fields bursting with blooming wildflowers. What a beautiful day. A reminder of God's amazing work.

Stormy Weather

Yesterday we experienced our first tornado watch. Not as serious as a tornado warning (which was in effect for the Austin area), but was enough to make us a tad nervous. The day had been a bit breezy, but basically was clear and warm despite the local evening news telling us we were under a tornado watch. Then all of the sudden, the skies darkened and the wind whipped up enough for us to sit up and take notice. Luckily it was short lived and the storm moved east of here. No tornadoes actually developed which was good news.

This morning started out with cloudy skies, but nothing too threatening. Tom, Roland and I went to a nearby driving range for some golfing practice. Elizabeth planned to meet up with us later. When we got there, it was starting to sprinkle and being the fair weather golfer that I am, I lost interest in hitting golf balls. But being the fanatic golfers they are, Roland and Tom got a big old bucket and went out on the range. Soon the sprinkles turned to a steady drizzle and then lightning hit close enough to make Tom's hair stand on end. Everyone took shelter for a few minutes, but when no more thunder sounded, several golfers went back out on the range. They got in a few more shots before there was more lightning and the driving range was shut down.

We left the range and met Elizabeth for lunch. But the men were not to be denied their day of golf. After lunch, they went back to Roland and Elizabeth's house to play the Tiger Woods golf game on Play Station.

When Elizabeth and I got back to the house after running a few errands, they were still at it. By the time dinner was ready, they were still playing. I finally dragged Tom away from the game around 9:00 tonight. Is there such a thing as a video golfer's anonymous?

Luling, TX

We're in Luling, TX right now, which is about an hour from San Antonio. Our good freinds Roland and Elizabeth live in this area and we're spending the next couple of weeks visiting with them.

We got here on Wednesday early afternoon and by 4:00 that day, I was in the dentist chair getting fitted for a new crown. How's that for a fun introduction to town?

Our RV park is on the San Marcos river, a very lovely, peaceful spot. And right next door is a small horse stable where apparently a couple of race horses must live. They have a dirt practice track plowed into the field. We can see it from our living room windows and it's been fun to watch the horses run each morning.

Love Creek's Apple Orchard

Yesterday we drove about 20 miles to Medina, TX to visit Love Creek's Apple Orchard. I'd seen it on a travel show on TV years ago and have wanted to visit ever since. They have a gift shop, a cafe and a bakery where they make a giant apple pie that weighs about 4 pounds! We had lunch at their cafe and ended up buying a whole pie to take home. YUMMY. That may be the best apple pie I've ever had. Crust was good and the spices in the filling were wonderful. More than just cinnamon and sugar. Maybe some allspice in there? Worth the drive. As you can see, we've already made a huge dent in the huge pie.

And Texas Makes Ten

We have a map of the United States on the side of our motorhome and each time we visit a new state, we put a sticker of that state on the map. Yesterday we were able to add Texas, which makes the tenth state we have been to since starting our motorhome travels. It's hard to believe when we first started out we thought we'd take two, maybe three years to visit all the continental states. Obviously it's going to take us a lot longer than that. We've been on the road for over a year and a half now and we've only been to ten states!

Yesterday we drove about 350 miles from Deming, NM to Fort Stockton, Texas. I took quite a few pictures along the way, but after looking at them, they all looked pretty much the same. Lots of wide open, mostly flat spaces. Today we drove another 250 miles from Fort Stockton to Kerrville. We saw our first oil rigs today and we're now in an area they call "the hill country." It's quite lovely.

I will call the dentist tomorrow to see when I can get an appointment, but we're hoping to stay here for a couple more nights to explore the area before we go to Luling.

Deming, New Mexico

On Friday we started our trip toward Texas. First stop, Hidden Valley Ranch RV Park in Deming, New Mexico. The place is aptly named as it is hidden away at the end of about 7 miles of gravel road in a picturesque valley just north of Deming. Our original plan had been to spend 3 nights in Deming. But we decided to cut our visit short since the crown on one of my teeth broke Friday afternoon. We figured we should move along to get to Luling, Texas (where we plan to stay for a couple of weeks) a few days early so I'd have more time to get my crown fixed.

We will definitely have to come back to this park when we have a chance though. It was so peaceful and quiet and lovely and we enjoyed watching all the critters in the area.

Tombstone, Arizona

We went to the town of Tombstone, Arizona yesterday. It is known as "The Town Too Tough to Die." It was a booming mining town in the late 1800's. Days of lawlessness and violence, which nearly had then-President Chester A. Arthur declaring martial law in Tombstone and sending in military troops to restore order, climaxed with the infamous Earp-Clanton battle, fought near the rear entrance of the O.K. Corral, on October 26, 1881.

The historic downtown area of Tombstone is well preserved, with most of the original buildings still standing. The "Gunfight at the OK Corral" is re-enacted a few times a day and miners, cowboys and gunslingers roam the streets. We enjoyed the authentic old west feel.



The Tombstone Cemetery - known as Boothill - is evidence of the violent lifestyle so many of Tombstone's residents lived. Among the average citizens, the graveyard is filled with victims of shootings, bar fights, murders, lynchings, etc. It was interesting, but kind of sad too.



But Tombstone was not without beauty. Tombstone is home to the world's largest rosebush. It is a white Lady Banksia. The original root came from Scotland in 1885, a gift to a new bride so she could have a spot of beauty in the rugged town. The rosebush has never been fertilized or sprayed with any insecticides and it now covers an area of more than 8600 square feet. It is just beginning its spring bloom and is absolutely covered with buds. I can imagine how incredible it must be when in full bloom.

Golf Course View

We're back in Casa Grande for a couple nights as we prepare to begin our journey east. We are staying at the Casa Grande Golf and RV resort again which is quickly becoming one of Tom's favorite RV parks due to the cheap golf rates for RV park guests. We have a really nice site this time around right beside the tee box for the 9th hole. It has a gorgeous view. Monday we will leave here and travel about two hours to Benson, Arizona where we will stay for a few days seeing the sights in the south central area of the state.

Scrumptious Strawberries

While the motorhome was in the shop yesterday, we ran a few errands and then decided we'd go back to our "camping site" at a local casino to sit outside and read. But along the way I missed a turn and we ended up off the main road for a mile or so. That's when we noticed a long line at a small roadside strawberry stand. We thought that sounded like a good idea so stopped to buy some. The line moved very slowly which irritated us a little at first until we realized the workers were picking the strawberries in the field in front of us as we stood there and were bringing them directly to the stand. The gals at the stand were then checking each strawberry as they packed it into baskets for sale. Can't get much fresher than that! We got a few baskets and I couldn't wait to sample them. Sweet, juicy and delicious! What a great find.

Roof Repair Saga Concludes

Those of you who have been following this blog know we've been dealing with recurring stress cracks on the roof seams of our motorhome. We found what we hope and pray will be the last of the cracks in November. A shop in Yuma repaired them in December by adding extra strips of fiberglass along both the front and rear seams. The expectaion is that this reinforcement of the seams will prevent new cracks from forming. The addition of the fiberglass strips went well, but the shop did not do as good a job as we would have liked of matching the paint.

We brought the motorhome back to Yuma in January so they could fix it. They got the front end matched/blended well, but the back end was still not satisfactory.

So yesterday we came back to Yuma to give them one more shot at getting things right. They did the work today and Glory Hallelujah the paint on the rear looks perfect. We'd been praying the third time would be the charm and God answered yes.

Tomorrow we will start heading east with the goal of being in Texas, near San Antonio, by mid March to visit our friends Elizabeth and Roland and then in Florida by early May for a long anticipated trip to Disneyworld.

Which means we're on the move again. Keep checking the blog to see where we are and what we're doing.

I Drove It!

After travleing and living in our motorhome for almost a year and a half and leaving all the driving duties to Tom, today I finally bit the bullet and got in the driver's seat. I drove from one rest area to another (about 60 miles) down I-8 between Casa Grande and Yuma, AZ. It took me awhile to get the feel of things, but I was feeling pretty relaxed by the time we pulled into the rest area to switch places.

I'll still leave the city driving to Tom for now, but at least I know I can comfortably spell him on the highway stretches if need be. And maybe as time goes by, I'll get brave enough to stay behind the wheel in small towns and someday even graduate to driving in the big city. Or, maybe not.

Scottsdale Dog Show - February 2009

Last Wednesday we drove up to Scottsdale to get settled into our spot at the showgrounds. There were 5 days of shows with major wins available in Norwich every day. So I had high hopes that Gracie might be finished by the end of the weekend. But it was not to be. It just wasn't our weekend. No additional points for Gracie.

In spite of that, we had tons of fun hanging out with all our dog show friends. We had a big party at our RV on Saturday night and grilled burgers and drank margaritas.

Several of our friends had success over the weekend including our buddy Bill Shelton who took Best In Show with his Pembroke Welsh Corgi one day.

So we are still in search of majors for Gracie. Kind of disappointing, but we're not overly upset. It just means we still have an excuse to go to more dog shows.

Tom's Best Golf Game

While at the Casa Grande Golf and RV resort, Tom had his two best golf games ever! He shot a 92 one day which was the first time he broke 100. Then the next day he shot an 82! The next day we had to leave for the Scottsdale dog shows so he didn't get to try for 72. But hopefully we'll be back to that park so he can play the course again soon.