Another day at the ranch

Went to town again this morning, this time to pick up a new fuel filter I ordered at NAPA yesterday and stop at Walmart for carrots for the donkeys and some donuts for Belle, arrived back at the ranch and couldn't wait to pass out some carrots to my donkey friends, well that turned out to be a big mistake, as soon as they relaized what I had they charged me for them, honest to God there were donkeys droping from the sky, I had no idea there were so many, it seemed like hundreds, but I stopped counting at 30, I couldn't get away fast enough, no time to take pictures, I was running for my life!! Belle has a gated patio out side her rear door and I made a run for that with my donkey friends in hot persuit, I made it thru the gate but couldn't close it fast enough behine me, they busted thru, so I started yelling to Belle what should I do, donkeys were coming thru the gate into the patio like crazy, now I'm really scared, Belle opens the back door and grabs a hose that I assume is just for this very thing and yells to me to get out of the way, I do as told and she starts spraying them with the hose, they don't like that very much and soon depart, I then thanked her for saving my life and we both laugh. I have since hidden the rest of the carrots and will never let the donkeys see them again, next time I might not be so lucky.

                              While talking to Belle I find out she has had a colorful life, in the early fifties she played in a band in Nashville Tenn. and was friends with Patsie Cline and Lorretta Lynn, also knew Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and numorous other stars before they were stars, what a interesting lady to talk to. Her place is a little run down but I love it anyway, it goes back to the 1800's and part of the orignail ranch house is still standing, her house is adobe and was built in 1928, it is vary clean and she does it all herself, not an easy job when your confined to a wheel chair, I have to give her lots of credit. There was a old gold mine at the base of the mountians in the back of her place, she said there was a old fellow who lived back there a long time ago and still got enough gold out of it to eeak out a living but he's been dead a long time now and no one goes back there anymore, must go check it out, gold at almost $1000 a ounce it might be worth looking into, sounds like it might be fun.
                                Well its almost the end of another day and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings, nite all

Douglas AZ

Well after our little talk I was off to Douglas for Belle's buttermilk and some things for myself since I've decided to stay for awhile, Douglas is 11 miles away and fairly large town but you can see its slowly dieing, like so many other towns across our nation, its very clean but for 9:30 on a Monday morning its very empty, I stand in the middle of main st and snap a few photo's, first one way then the other,  no worries about getting run over here. Every other store is closed, what a shame, not that long ago this was a thriving town, now its almost a ghost town, but the Walmart just out side of town is very busy, go figure.Our country is dieing and all we can do is sadly sit by and watch it go, how things have changed in the last 50 years, I liked it better back then but there's no going back now, what's it going to be 50 years from now, who knows, time marches on. I'm back home at Belle's and happy to be here.

First day here at Belle's

 Had a wonderful sleep last nite, it was cool only 59 when I woke up this morning, I have A/C but didn't have to use it, My donkey friends came rite over to greet me as soon as I walked out the door, I have to buy them some carrots as I've been talking to Belle and it seems they like them the best, I sat outside with them and had my morning coffee, then around 8 I went over to Belle's and told her I was going to town and if she needed anything, she said she would like some buttermilk and could I pickup some allergy shampoo for her little dog who has a skin problem, she is so cute and so small you can hold her in one hand even tho she's 2 years old. We had a little talk about her life, which I might add has been a hard one, at one time she was very well off and was not poor by no means but after 3 failed marriage's and alot of people taking advantage of her she has only the ranch and SS to live on. I can see how easy it is for someone to take advantage of her as I have only been here one day and she lets me have full run of the place, I have decided to stay awhile and help her out as she needs it despertly. She is totally confined to her wheel chair and can't go out, she had a power chair and could go outside with it but she went out to close the gate one nite and it got stuck in the yard and she had to crawl back inside, the chair got wet over nite and now it won't go anymore, so her outside travels are over for now. Before being confined to a wheel chair she had MS for the last few years and couldn't walk very well but did get around OK, well one evening about a six months or so ago she fell outside while feeding her animal's and broke her hip, she lay ed there in the horse pen for 17 hours before someone found her, her trusty dog stayed with her the whole time and did not leave her side, in fact when the medics arrived the dog was fighting them off until it realized they were there to help,OMG

Arriving at Belle Starr's silverodo ranch

I arrive at Belle Starr's silverodo ranch and its a bit of a disapoinment, first the gate is closed and it looks deserted except for all the animals around, I call my daughter and tell her the bad news but she says's to open the gate and go in, its OK I won't get shot, so that's what I do, making sure I close the gate behind me, I pull up around back of the house, its adobe and cute,and holler( anyone home) a little voice answers me back saying come on in, that's what I do and there in a wheel chair cute as a button is 83 year old Belle Starr, she broke her hip about six months ago and also has MS so now she is confined to that wheel chair, what a shame but she is in good spirts and a joy to talk to, so full of life.

          She has someone come in everyday to feed the animals and there's lots of um, holy cow, I counted 20 or more donkeys, of various sizes, at least six or more horses, then dogs, cats, birds and who knows what else. She is pleasant to talk to and you have to love her rite away, what a sweet person, I tell her I'm only passing thru on my way to Quartzite and she says that's OK to hook up anywhere, what's the fee I ask, she says's I'm flexible, what ever you want to pay, I can even work the fee off, rite away she asks me to stay awhile and do some work for her and by the looks of things the place needs it, I'll have to thing about it.  I go out and hook up to water and electric and while doing so all the donkeys are very interested in what I'm doing, they mull around me and its hard to get anything done, they are very curious and friendly, I love them, one trys to eat my belt and I have to tell him no, no, that holds my pants up.

Off to El Paso

I leave Guadalupe park around 8 AM this time I make some coffee to take with me and lucky I do cause the next town I see is El Paso 101 miles from Guadalupe, there are some small towns but they are dried up, no one home, there are no signs saying you will not hit a gas station or food for the next 100 miles, lucky I had my coffee and I stopped at a rest area around 9:00 and had some cereal and finished my coffee. I arrived in El Paso at 11:30 and rite away got lost,I wanted to cross over into New Mexico so I set my Garman for Columbus Texas when it should have been Columbus New Mexico, so about 25 miles later I realized I was going the wrong way, of coarse I blamed it on Garman but then figured out it was me so I had to apologise, I hate doing that, but she forgave me and then headed me in the rite direction.
         I get to New Mexico and cross it in record time as its only 143 miles wide at the bottom end, the road from just west of El Paso where I entered New Mexico is strait as an arrow and like Texas there are no signs saying no gas or food for the next 50 miles, there was one small town half way across with a gas station. Arazonia

New day

OK Seminole state park was great, had a good sleep and now I'm rare'n to go, I don't fix any coffee, I figure I'll just stop and get some, I leave the park and head west, according to the map there should be a town about 20 miles down the road called Langtry, you know where Judge Roy Bean set up shop way back when, well so much for Langtry, nothing there but a museum and that's even closed, so its off to the next town another 50 or so miles, now I not only need coffee I'm hungry too, guess what only one small gas station, but they do have coffee and a donuts, thank God, next town of any size is Alpine Texas, a good 150 miles from where I started, I get there around 11:30, I just make breakfast and I'm starved. My  yeggy oil is a little low so I look for a Chinese restaurant and find one but its closed, so I go around back and there's the tank with no markings on it of any kind and its full, so in goes the hose and I fill up, I normaly ask first but who knows when I'll have another chance to get any.

      I head out of Alpine a happy camper and head for Van Horn Texas another 100 miles west, I get there around 2:30 and look up my old friend Big Al who is full blood Indian, how I met him is another story but find no one home, I wait a half hour then leave and start heading north to Guadalupe Nat park and arrive at 4:30 just in time to sign in and pay my $4.00 for one nights stay, its a nice park but has no hookups but clean showers and restrooms, the views are great, i set up than go for and short hike to take in some of the scenery, its beautiful here, then its back to take a shower, read a little of Clive Cussler's Inca gold and then to bed, nite all

Leaving Refugio and heading west

      I left Woodie standing in her driveway waving me goodbye, and I'm off to my next adventure, I could have stayed longer but I was getting a bad case of itchy feet, its a great day for traveling, lots of clouds but no rain, with my A/C kaput this is a blessing. Traffic is very light and its easy going, I got a little veggy oil at a Chinese place Woodie and I had dinner at the other night so I have almost a full tank to start off with, I've traveled about 200 miles and came opon the town of Del Rio on the Mexican border, looks like the last town of any good size for quite awhile so I start looking for more oil to top off my tank. I found a Chinese buffet and asked if I could have some of there waste veggie oil, the young girl looked at me kinda strange, but then said Gee I guess so, but what are you going to do with it?, I said burn it in my car, another strange look from her and I said thank you and proceeded out back to top off my tank, WOOPIE, left Del Rio smiling and headed west about 40 miles to Seminole state park, just before the park was a border patrol check point, I stopped and the two young border patrol cops had there dog check out my vehicle and camper, when he looks in the back and see's the veggy oil tank he says what's the tank for moonshine, I laughed and said no its veggy oil, then he laughed and said your kidding, you burn that stuff, I 've herd of people doing it but never seen one, that's cool, well we talked awhile until more cars pulled up in back of me and off I went waving goodbye to my new friend, about 10 more miles and I pull into the state park, its now 4PM and I can use the break, its a great park, very clean but no shade trees, just low brush, but that's OK cause the sun is still not out and there is a good breeze blowing. In the park there's the remnits of a old rail road bed and a sign saying east west R/R from 1869 to 1892, that is so cool, just think of all the old steam trains that must have pasted rite thru here so long ago. Its early yet so I go for a walk to strech my legs, when I get back its off to the showers and it feels so good, the rest rooms are spotless and I feel rite at home, thank you Texas. Well the sun is going down and I think I'm going to do the same thing, I'm tired and its 8:00 pm so nite all, sleep tight.

A trip to the gulf coast

Yesterday my friend Woodie and I went out for a seafood dinner and afterwards a ride to the gulf to check out Rockport, Texas, a quaint little seaport town, lots of seafood restaurant's there and Woodie said they were all very good but we already had our fill, the one she took me to was great, large portions, small price, my kinda place. From Rockport we went to Goose Island state park to see what she told me was the big tree and big it was, holy cow, the sign said its over a thousand years old, that's an old tree!! Lots of very nice RV parks there, so if you visiting with your RV you have plenty of places to choose from.

         Tomorrow sadly, I'm leaving Woodie's and Refugio to start my next adventure out west.

Trip to mexico

While here in Texas and so close to the Mexican border I decided to get some work done on my teeth, woodie says her dentist in Mexico is great and its about a third of the cost here in the states, so its off to Mexico for the day and see the sites and get some needed fillings and a cleaning, this what I call multi tasking, its about a 3 hour ride but it goes fast, we arrive at a small border town called Progreso and park the car on the US side and walk across the international bridge to Mexico, the town is bustling with street vendors and every other building is a dentist or pharmacy, a very colorful town, people are very friendly, but you can see how poor they are, kids and old folks trying to sell pieces of gum or small hand made ornaments, to us its very sad, but they seem to be happy. Well I get my teeth cleaned and fixed, which takes about 1 1/2 hours and the young lady dentist does a great job, I'm extremely happy and it only costs $100 US dollars, WOOPIE!!

The start, Sept,8,2010

Well I started my adventure at my home in Mary Esther Fl. Me, my 98 Isuzu turbo diesel, which I burn a mix of used vegetable oil and diesel, to help off set the cost of fuel, without doing this the whole trip would not be possable and my 1975 Cygnet 13' pull behind camper. I have my little camper setup so I can stop just about anywhere and not have to worry about hooking up to water or electricity, as it is completely self contained.
        The above two vehicles I owe to my daughter, Roxanne, who without her help I would not have, thanks Rox. She also has a blog called life in the slow lane, about her adventures on the road with her son Ben and Toyota motor home.

         Well its off to my first stop, Texas, to visit with a very old friend who's husband I was stationed in the navy with at Chase Field, Beeville, Texas, I'm sorry to say that Bob passed away 10 years ago and I missed my chance to see him again after 50 years but I will get to see Woodie his wife whom I new from all those years ago, thanks Facebook for reconnecting us again, with full tanks of my veggy oil I should make the 700 mile trip to Refugio, Texas with fuel to spare. First nights stay over is in Houston, at a Homedepot lot, not very exciting but all I want is to get a safe place to sleep for the nite and they have nite security at this one so I feel safe here, I let the guard know that I intend to do and he says its OK. Next morning I'm up early to get thru the Houston traffic and its on to Refugio about two hours away, I arrive at Woodies around ten that morning and there is alot of hugging and kissing. She is a great lady and has the most wonderful family, I'm going to stay a week or so and just hash over old times and see the sites I haven't seen in 50 years since I was stationed here.