Easin' Along

El Centro, California, is a six-hour (plus) drive from our previous stay at Kartchner Caverns State Park in Benson, Arizona. I drove, Helen played word games, and Mortimer slept through the entire drive. We arrived mid-afternoon and were assigned a lonely campsite on the edge of the campground on the El Centro Naval Air Facility–winter home of the Blue Angels.

We have camped here before, usually in late winter or early spring. I noticed that most of the campsites were empty for this visit. There was a reason for that: temperatures hovered near 100°. Most of the snowbirds had departed long ago. Thankfully, our air conditioning was in good working order.

One thing seemed wrong, however. My leveling system kept sending me a “low voltage” reading during set-up, so I took both batteries to AutoZone for testing. Both tested at full strength. When I reinstalled the batteries in our trailer, I made a foolish mistake and crossed the battery wires. Huge sparks flew all over the storage cabin, and the wires got so hot I welded the cable nut to the battery post. Thinking that I may have destroyed the battery, I tried to remove the nut for another test, but it wouldn’t budge. I considered cutting the cable but feared I couldn’t repair it, and my only option was to call a mobile repair service.

Two men from D&R RV repair arrived the following afternoon, bringing tools and a fresh battery. They could only pull the post out of the battery and, using brute strength, remove the nut from the cable. The new battery solved my dilemma, but the mistake cost me where it hurts. I hope to learn from this one.

During our downtime, we drove to nearby Westmoreland, CA, the Date Capital of the U.S., so that Helen could buy a “Date Shake.” We also shopped through the impressive display inside the store and picked up a few bags to take home. We drove back to El Centro through a portion of the Imperial Valley where millions of acres are devoted to agriculture and fed by the lower section of the Colorado River.

A sunset that evening capped off a memorable visit (some were better than others).

We only had a two-hour drive to Fiddler’s Cove RV Park in Coronado, CA, so we took it slow. If Fiddler’s Cove isn’t our favorite military campground, it’s in the top three. If we get to park along the water, it’s our favorite. It drops a point or two if we must camp a row back. We got waterfront for this six-day stay where daytime temperatures in the upper sixties greeted us–quite a difference compared to El Centro.

From our campsite, we had a fabulous view of Coronado Bay and the city of Coronado beyond. The famous Hotel Del Coronado was visible in the distance. The activity in the Marina in front of us provided plenty of entertainment, including sailboat races that began in front of our trailer.

Thanks to suggestions from fellow campers and campground staff, Helen and I had good food experiences in the area. Early during our stay, our neighbors suggested we try Don Pancho’s Mexican in Imperial Beach, five miles south of the campground. Don Pancho’s is a walk-up diner, and there was a line in front when we arrived–always a good sign. Helen ordered a Tortilla Plate of some variety, and I ordered a Burrito that was the size of a cinder block. I finished it in three installments.

We also visited Coronado Brewing Company, a choice from previous years at Fiddler’s Cove. The restaurant was bustling, but we lucked up with seats at the bar (always my preference), where the charming bartender immediately handed us menus. In front of the bar stood a menu board loaded with Craft Beer selections. Helen paired her “Taco Something or Other” with a Blonde Ale, and I went with a Mexican Lager for my Pub Burger and Fries. Everything was very tasty.

Later in the week, Helen located some salmon we brought from home in our freezer, and we spent the morning trying to come up with a new way to prepare it besides grilling or baking it in the oven. I researched the Blackstone Grill website and found a recipe for “Lime, Coconut, Curry Salmon.” We decided to give it a go and scurried to the commissary for the ingredients.

The recipe required several steps for preparing the sauce and cooking the salmon on the griddle. I watched the video twice and then scribbled down the steps to carry it to the griddle for reference while cooking. Ultimately, the meal was magnificent, and the sauce was the best part. Let me know if anyone wants the recipe, and I’ll send you the link. You don’t need a griddle; a large skillet will work fine.

Besides the above, we used our time at Fiddler’s Cove to relax. We had spent three weeks driving to the West Coast and enjoyed the journey, but now was the time to unwind—something we do well. Helen puzzled, I read, and Mortimer slept.

I experimented some more with my camera and captured another night shot using the lights of Coronado as a backdrop. I took the daytime picture around 4 p.m. and waited until around nine to take the nighttime image, an exposure of thirty seconds.

After six days, we moved up the coast to Del Mar, CA. Please join us there. We’re Easin’ Along and livin’ a blessed experience!

Helen, Mortimer, and I escaped Texas’s heat (and mosquitoes) and finally found relief in Las Cruces, New Mexico. We found a home for the next three nights at the KOA Journey, a well-run campground we have previously visited on the road to California.

When I made the reservation, I didn’t realize that we would camp in the “Super Site,” which sits on a bluff with a view of the Las Cruces Valley and a grand view of the Organ Mountains in the distance. The site also has a covered patio, a fireplace, and a nice propane grill with a full tank of propane to boot- a super setup for sure!

After setting up, Helen pulled some thick pork chops out of the freezer. We should take advantage of that large propane grill while we have it. We spent a relaxing evening on the patio and enjoyed the fresh, cool air (Las Cruces elevation is 4000 ft above sea level). Dinner was superb!

We spent the third day in Las Cruces doing some light Walmart shopping, but I was also ready and eager to pull out one of the new lenses for my camera and practice on the lovely view of the scenery beyond our bluff. I mounted my Canon 6D Mark II on a tripod with an attached ES 70-200mm f2.8 lens and photographed the scenery across the Valley. The photograph is below.

After dark, I paired a remote control to the camera and photographed the town and street lighting using the same lens. The significant difference between the two images is that I shot the daylight image in 1/4000 sec, while the night shot required 30 seconds to capture. The learning never stops, but the exercise was fun. I also captured a lovely cloud image while waiting to take the night shot (above). We left for Arizona the following day.

With few exceptions, Helen and I follow the same route to California, primarily to take advantage of the affordable and secure Military campgrounds along the way. Nevertheless, an interesting or out-of-the-way campground will pop up on my trip planner during the planning process and catch my eye. This year, the campground at Kartchner Caverns State Park in Benson, Arizona, was that place. I love caves.

The story of Kartchner Caverns is as interesting as the cave itself. In 1974, two avid cave explorers, Ron and Gary, looking for new caves in the Whetstone Mountains of Arizona, crawled through a tiny opening in a sinkhole on the side of the mountain. What they discovered was exponentially more extraordinary than they had hoped for. Once through the opening, with only carbide lights to guide them, Ron and Gary crawled on their bellies through deep mud and over large rocks to another tiny hole. They chipped away at the hole until they created an opening large enough to crawl through. What awaited them was an enormous cavern with formations found in only the most ancient caverns on earth. According to Park guides, once inside the cavern, Ron and Gary turned off their lamps and giggled in the darkness-they knew what they had found. Once they discovered the cave in 1974, they worked in strict secrecy until the State of Arizona could purchase the land in 1988. The Park opened in 1999.

Helen and I spent our first full day in the State Park hiking around the Park and touring the Museum to learn about the Caverns. The Museum was small but very informative about the cave’s history and the discoveries made by scientists, biologists, and geologists permitted to perform research. A seven-foot sloth and a Mammoth-like creature once used the cavern as a home. Most researchers believe that another entrance to the cave existed in pre-historic times. We made tour reservations and looked forward to doing something fun and different.

At 11:00 the following day, we met Carolyn, our tour guide, for a brief presentation on what we would see and could not take inside. To preserve the pristine condition of the ancient cavern, we were not allowed to take anything but our car keys on the tour. If anyone had visited another cave wearing the shoes they had on, they had to have them sanitized before the tour. We boarded a shuttle bus with about twelve other tourists and rode the short distance to the cavern entrance. As we walked through the vault door into the cavern trail, a light mist covered us to remove contaminants from our clothing.

The tour was fascinating, and Carolyn gave an informative and delightful presentation of the cave’s features, gigantic formations, and the details of Randy and Gary’s initial discovery. Cameras were not allowed inside, but I “borrowed” a few from Google Images to share. I also recorded a video of about 45 seconds taken from one of Ron and Gary’s initial trips into the cave. Apparently, this was during the “easier” portion of their belly crawl.  

We loved our time at Kartchner Caverns State Park and recommend it highly to anyone looking for an interesting and informative place to visit.

Our thanks to Ron and Gary…because they discovered a cave, we found a campground. We’re Easin’ Along.

Our route to California took us through Texas—and there’s a lot of Texas in front of us. Galveston Island State Park was next up, about a four-hour drive from Blue Heron RV Park near Lake Charles, LA. Helen and I camped in the State Park on our first RV trip in a Cruise America RV we nicknamed Sherman. This visit would be Mortimer’s first. 

On our arrival, heavy rain greeted us. Thankfully, the rain was all we had. Nearby Houston experienced vicious storms and tornadoes, and thousands of residents lost power. Lives were also lost, and the cleanup began while we were there.

As always, please click on any image to enlarge

The second day of our visit began with bright, sunny skies. The beach was calling, and Mortimer needed to walk, so we gathered some gear, started down the steps from the trailer…and were attacked. Swarms of mosquitos descended on all three of us. Poor Mortimer was covered with them and did not react well. We hustled back in and treated the bloody bites on his wrinkled face. 

We battled mosquitoes throughout all three days of our stay. The park’s grounds are very flat, offering little drainage for rainwater and an excellent breeding ground for pesky bugs. Mortimer was so spooked that we had to drag him out for potty breaks and watch him run to the trailer. Helen and I learned that if we walked on the road, far from the grassy areas, we could minimize the attacks and make the short walk to a lovely beach. 

Mosquitoes notwithstanding, Galveston Island Park offers much to its guests. The sites have level concrete pads and covered patios, the restrooms and showers are clean, and the staff is friendly and helpful. I would return if not for the bugs. 

From Galveston, we drove about five hours along I-10 to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. The drive took us through hundreds of miles of ranchland and almost no gas stations. We finally drifted into a Pilot/Flying J on fumes and filled up, but it was a close call. We arrived with a very dirty fifth wheel.

We have camped at Fort Sam Houston several times and left with some notable memories. A few years back, we spent Saint Patrick’s Day in San Antonio and had a fantastic day cruising the Riverwalk with some Guinness-soaked tourists. It was great fun!

Two years ago, Helen received a call that she needed to have an ultrasound due to some questionable results of a very recent mammogram. A friend in San Antonio gave her some suggestions, and we made an appointment on a Friday afternoon. The staff and doctors at the clinic made Helen feel very comfortable and guided her through coordinating the details with our doctors at home and the myriad of insurance requirements. Helen accomplished a lot that day, and that memory will remain forever. The eventual outcome was good. 

For this visit, we wanted to meet Ed and Mary Jo, a couple who lived across the hall from us in our apartment house in Wurzburg, Germany. That was over forty years ago, but we have remained in contact over the years, and it was an opportunity to catch up. Mary Jo helped Helen find a clinic in the area, and we needed to thank her. 

We met at Good Time Charlie’s, near Ft. Sam Houston, famous for its chicken fried steak. After seeing the meal on the menu, Helen and I decided to go for it, then skip dinner that evening (and maybe breakfast the following day). The chicken fried steak was terrific; we had enough leftovers at the campground for a second meal. Mortimer passed and watched his favorite television show instead.

We had a delightful time that afternoon and dug out a lot of jewels from the memory bag. We didn’t mention when we rode the train back from Octoberfest and almost slept through our stop in Wurzburg, but we only remember a little about that trip anyway. The time passed quickly, and we departed with the promise to stay in touch. 

It is a long way across Texas, and I can’t do it in one or even two stops. We divide Texas into three stops and try to keep each leg within a five-hour time range. Even that can be challenging. Our next stop after San Antonio was Ft. Stockton, a small town on the state’s western side. I wanted to arrive within five hours, but it took almost six with breaks for gas and potty breaks for Mort. 

Hilltop RV Park was our home for one night. It is high above I-10, and Ft. Stockton is to the east. We have camped here before, primarily because of the shortage of campgrounds in West Texas. There are some, but Hilltop RV Park has the best reviews of the campgrounds close to I-10. Every time we camp here, we notice that the ownership continues to make improvements and upgrades. We also camp here because there is a Walmart close by. 

I went to Walmart for gas and drove by the huge Roadrunner statue, which always amuses me. Helen stayed with Mortimer and took pictures of the setting sun. We took a picture of the cowboy statues across the highway as we left. 

Goodbye, Texas. We enjoyed our visit, but it’s time to be Easin’ Along. California is calling, and we have more stops along the way. 

Note: For several years, I occasionally read the blog posts written by Barb Bomberger on her blog “Making It in Retirement,” but I have not seen a post in quite some time. I tried to reach out but had no luck. Readers from her blog visit Easin’ Along, so if any of you know anything about what’s going on with Barb, please fill me in. I loved reading her posts, and I hope that maybe she just changed her web address. Thanks!