Settled down?
Las Cruces, New Mexico. Forty miles north of El Paso, Texas, where my sister lives. Home of New Mexico State where both of my brothers attended school. It has been publicized as one of the 10 best cities in which to retire. I will be here until the first of March.
And what I’ve Observed:
w The town of over 100,000 has only one library.
w Neither the library nor the bus system operates on Sundays.
w It is only three miles from the RV park where I am to the hub of shopping on the other side of town. I have not found a safe route to get there by bike and using the bus takes about an hour each way.
w I could probably eat Mexican food in a different restaurant 3 times a week and still not try all of them!
w I barely, if at all, remember all those years of Spanish classes.
w In the three weeks I have been parked here, I keep wanting to hit the road. Maybe my summer 2015, experience was more to my liking—moving on each day or two.
w RV parks are far from fun experiences for me—do I really want to do this for two more years?
w I am fascinated with and love desert flora! I surely did not pay much attention to it growing up—beyond knowing which plants cut, stabbed and hurt if you got to near to them.
And a funny, yet disturbing, note: A friend’s recent perusal of the want ads found one that stated: “Honest and reliable a plus.”
A trip to Bosque del Apache with my sister Joy and brother-in-law Eliot was sunny, beautiful and lots of fun! The early morning temperatures were in the high teens-low twenties, but despite being unused to the cold, the trip was definitely worthwhile. We also saw bald eagles, roadrunners, a shrike, Northern Harriers, deer and lots and lots of waterfowl. There were over 20,000 ducks, 17,000 geese, several thousand cranes–and almost no people!
Joy Feinberg/Eliot Shapleigh
Joy Feinberg/Eliot Shapleigh
Joy Feinberg/Eliot Shapleigh
Joy Feinberg/Eliot Shapleigh
Joy Feinberg/Eliot Shapleigh
Joy Feinberg/Eliot Shapleigh
Hi, Lousie — thanks for posting the photos. Very different in Western Oregon: frogs in full voice & Delphinium sprouting near a robust late winter/early spring creek.
That is about what we thought of RV Parks too. Not our tribe of people. Our favorite thing to do was what we called neighboring, parking outside of someone’s house. Boulder is a very cool place and we would love for you to neighbor with us. Just remember, you can go ahead and leave today. That is the beauty of your process, if it doesn’t feel right, move on to what does. It is a rare opportunity that we get to move to our impulses.
Happy to hear you are enjoy your trip so far….thanks for keeping us updated on your where a bouts! Dave and I have settled into Cincinnati and I will be closing on a house here on Friday…For now we are living in the house that I bought right before moving full time to JH. It is a bit too small since I now have a half of house, furnishings that we brought back and put in storage. I will figure out what I need and don’t need once I am in one place…If you ever want to take a break, fly to CVG airport and come for a visit. We will be there to pick you up anytime!
Stay warm and happy!
Hugs, Debbie
Hola Louise,
The pictures are lovely – Thanks for sharing !
When I call you next week I’m going to want to know why you don’t like staying more than a day or two at RV parks in all these new places that you are now visiting. Maybe you should think of making Colville, Kettle Falls or Republic WA a regular, friendly area in which to enjoy going (as I will be there to welcome your presence each and every time) during your search for your ‘happy place’.
Sweet dreams,
Gail
Hi Louise,
Debbie and I have moved back to Cincinnati since we last saw you in Glacier. Among the reasons for moving back was the continual stress of the realization that so many people (and groups) had no respect for the wildlife and natural beauty in the Jackson Hole area. Like you, we were very involved in trying to keep Jackson wild and beautiful, but the stress was taking it toll. We decided to take more of a long distance approach so the problems were not constantly on our minds.
We hope your travels are revealing all of the good features in life and allowing you to determine at what point you may want to end your odyssey!