4/8/16 Eastward Bound! Texas and Zoe in Boise

Mountain Range after Mountain Range, West Texas

John retired 4 years ago this month and we took possession of our RV, which we have had on the road for 2 of these 4 years.  Whew.....time flies when you're having fun.

  We start heading East today, planning to hang around San Antonio, hoping the past weeks of severe rain, floods, hail and tornadoes along the Gulf subsides to we can navigate safely. so good to be back on the road again as we put the Texas state sticker on our map.  We stay at Fort Bliss RV Park in El Paso, tour the Museum of Archaeology during the Poppy Festival and spend a most delightful evening with Virginia friends Elizabeth Mac., Greg and 3 year old George who has added to our daily lexicon "mistakes happen sometimes".  We just missed Hannah and Patrick who were visiting grandma :( 

Japanese Tea Garden, San Antonio

Alamo Chapel

After a very long day driving to San Antonio, we arrive at Lackland AFB FamCamp to the intoxicating smell of cut grass.  Having spent much of the Fall and Winter in the West where drought and desert climate colors everything some shade of brown, the lush green grass and forests in mid Texas make us homesick for the East.  We are happy to meet up again with RV neighbors from Tucson, Tim and Cecelia, also staying at Lackland and with a family from John's days at Camp Smith in Hawaii, Joe and Lisa D.  

 Love, love, love the hop-on hop-off double decker bus tour which gave us a great overview of this beautiful city.  In the middle of the city is the Alamo, infamous for the 1836 battle where all the Texian fighters were killed by the Mexican Army including Jim Bowie and

Lunch on San Antonio River Walk 

Davy Crockett.  It has

been tastefully preserved and presented.  So many really great things about this city...the river walk and boat ride, the very cool Scottish Rite Cathedral (Masonic Temple) with it's awesome 1920 theater, the Briscoe Museum, and the tranquil Japanese Tea Garden to name a few.   

Half of our trip to the East coast is crossing the massive state of Texas.  In Houston, rules at the fancy Advanced RV Park (not usually our style) say if the RV is dirty, you have two days to get it washed or you will be asked to leave. Get over yourself!  We kayaked in Clear Water River (maybe clear back in the day) off Galveston Bay and spent a day at the Houston Space Center.  
John loves space stuff and would have chosen Naval Aviation astronaut training had the program not been cut after we landed

Space Shuttle atop a Plane

Apollo 13's Mission Control Center

on the moon.  Although much smaller than Cape Canaveral, the movie "Our Real Journey To Mars" and touring the space shuttle and it's carrier plane were well worth the visit.  Reminded us of watching the final flight of Endeavor on it's carrier plane as it flew around the DC area in 2012.  The movie described an inflatable living area and today SpaceX launched a rocket which delivered an inflatable room experiment to the Space Station.  Also a first, this rocket returned to earth, landing on a floating platform! Sure wish SpaceX stock was public so we could buy some.

Rocket Platform Landing

P.S. Lord help us as the motley crew racing for the Presidency continue to shock and embarrass our country.  If Trump wins I am moving to Canada!


On a happier note, Zoe takes a trip to Boise, Idaho to meet with fellow team member, Carter Niemeyer. Carter, a retired federal wolf and livestock depredation expert and author "Wolfer" and "Wolf Land", has been a tremendous resource for the Washington State University's wolf project.  He works with Zoe to try and fill in lots of gaps in the statistical data sets she is analyzing for her PhD dissertation.

Zoe and Carter