21Feb11 -- Tempe, AZ
Ken: 0120 Flight to SEA, then on to PHX arriving 1130. Son Josh had worked his trucking routing to be there for a few days and met us at the airport. Drove to the Eloy area, where the van & TrailManor have been stored at Desert Rose Baha'i Institute. Got the camper set up, hooked up and began systematically checking it all over. It all looked pretty good, considering it had been unused since December 2009! Supper in Eloy, then back to Tempe to drop off bikes at a shop for thorough cleaning and tune up. Spent the night at Bev & Dave's in Tempe.
Nikki: I haven't contributed to the blog since 2008. My priorities were a bit on the 'fast track' and driving the 6,000 + miles we did on the New England trip. I think my ex-husband, Douglas O'Brien, was right when he said "If there is a hard way to do something, Nikki will find a harder way to do it." I'm viewing the recent heart attack as excuse to learn to move slowly and do the things I like best. Good thing the Fairbanks /Phoenix flight was first. I couldn't have done Fairbanks to Ireland yet.
22Feb11 -- Tempe
Ken: Van into the Import Auto shop for a good going over. Did some shopping, laundry, etc. Picked up van, some more shopping, errands, picked up bikes. Another night at Bev & Dave's.
Nikki: It was painful to not lift anything more than 5 pounds yesterday, especially when it came to working with my baby, the TrailManor. Josh was more militant than Ken regarding what I could and couldn't do! Smile! It is kind of nice becoming the 'older generation.'
I posted on Facebook and told lots of friends to track my progress of doing 5 paintings a week on this blog. I still plan to do paintings. Lots of them! But, I think the 5 a week is a bit of a punishing pace. On the other hand, I woke with fun, playful images in the forefront of my mind. Can't wait to play with paint and water.
23Feb11 -- Desert Rose Baha'i Institute, AZ
Ken: Everyone packed up. Breakfast, then dropped Josh off at his truck and we headed for Eloy to continue getting TrailManor back in service. One trip to get propane tanks filled. Another to find dinner and grocery shop (long time shopping). Groceries stored, trailer organized, and it's starting to feel like home again.
Nikki: I love camping and exploring and seeing the weather and vistas in new areas. The weather is perfect. I really mean PERFECT! Desert Rose Baha'i is a beautiful location, with lovely eco friendly
landscape. I saw many things through the day I would have loved to catch in paint - but photos will have to do. The rose colored buildings designed in the adobe style change texture and allure with the sun's progression through the day.
I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I thought it was the day the 5 pound limit was lifted. There were many times I had to stop what I was doing because a sharp chest pain reminded me I shouldn't be trying it. I did start a painting of a musk ox. Musk ox while in the Southwest doesn't make sense on a logical level. We will see if it gets any more work on it while traveling.
24Feb11 -- Desert Rose
Ken: Lazy morning breakfast and starting the blog.
Nikki: Another perfect day started by making fresh squeezed lemonade from my dear friend, Bev VanAmburg's tree. It is lovely to be 56 and doing something for the first time. Life is good!
Our MonaVie order arrived, so it is time to head down the road tomorrow morning. One last thing to get checked out on the trailer, and Ken is going to connect with a trailer service company shortly.
Quin O'Brien, our LA Film Industry son, is going to join us in Big Bend. Yippee! He is looking forward to the 2,200 miles of road time with his music and thoughts. Like mother - like son! I'm so jazzed at getting to the camp site and set up a Cadillac of a tent for him, and wake him with a latte! Today I got on the bike, and went to the Desert Rose Graveyard to say prayers for my dear friend's husband.
We also took in Casa Grande National Monument that is near by. This owl was in the framework of the huge roof over the ruins of a three story building from the 12th century.
Ken: We finished packing and preparing the TrailManor, and made reservations for Las Cruces and Big Bend Rio Grande Village RV park. I guess we're as ready as we can be to head out on the road again.
25Feb 11 -- Mesilla, NM
Ken: Nikki was still not supposed to lift anything over 5#, and had to just supervise me folding up "her" TrailManor. But it went OK, if a little slower than we had gotten used to when in the full swing of regular travel. On the road to Las Cruces, NM late morning. Uneventful travel day had us arriving mid-afternoon, checking in and setting up the trailer while we waited for an RV service company to arrive to check out lube for the wheel bearings, and a couple of other minor items. Got that done, then biked to the old town of Mesilla to just cruise around looking at the old architecture. Found a nice restaurant for dinner, then biked back to the RV park about dark.
26Feb11 -- Big Bend Rio Grande Village RV, TX
Ken: I was still doing most of the work on the TrailManor, and in the various distractions dropped the keys into the box of bottled water. By the time we found them we'd unpacked the whole van. So departure from Las Cruces was a good hour later than we'd expected. Drive to Big Bend was again uneventful, and we got into the RV park at Rio Grande Village late afternoon. We had time to explore on the bikes a bit. Just in that time we saw a coyote, a road runner, a variety of red birds, and a javelina! There was a high wind warning out for the whole area, with a frontal system passing. We spent the evening in the trailer with the winds rocking and rolling us. Closed the travel shutters on the front & back windows, as they were starting to complain in the wind. Nikki cooked us quiche, and we had a great dinner. Went to sleep to the same.
27 Feb 11 -- Rio Grande Village
Ken: Winds were gone by the morning. We're looking for Nikki's son, Quin, to drive in from LA, so didn't go very far. We did drive to the Chisos Mountain Basin campground to look it over for good sites to move to when Quin arrives. The road in there is posted as not suitable for trailers longer than 20', which is what the TrailManor tows at. Back to the Village to check on Quin. Got some reading done. Quick check on e-mail (no cell coverage for us within 50 miles), lots of reading, just staying out of the intense direct sunlight. Quin rolled in late afternoon, and we promptly drove off to the Boquillas Overlook. It's a nice view of the wadeable Rio Grande and Mexico. Back to the trailer, where we fed him left over quiche from the night before, and a challenging game of Scrabble.
28Feb11 -- Chisos Basin Campground, TX
Ken: Packed up the system and moved it all to the Chisos Basin Campground, at about 5000'. After filling the trailer with water, then setting it up in the site, along with the tent for Quin, we
hiked to the Window. It's a 2.5 mile trail, lots of elevation changes to get to the Window. It's a very sharp V cut in the mountain with a panorama view over parts of the park. Since we didn't start until about 4pm, we didn't dawdle there in order to cover the 2.5 miles back before dark. Drove to the Lodge for dinner. Dropped into bed!
1Mar11
Ken: It got down to about 36F last night and Quin, the LA guy, nearly froze in the tent. We warmed him in the TrailManor while doing breakfast, then packed to explore. Drove about 45 miles to Santa Elenna Canyon. On the way we stopped at an old ranch with windmill still pumping water, and we hiked into a small box canyon. The road ends at the canyon, and it's impressive. I could almost throw a rock from the trail across the Rio Grande to hit the opposite
canyon wall in Mexico. Walls rose about 1500' above us. For scale, in the left photo note the two folks in the canoe heading upriver (lower middle). We had fun playing with the wonderful echoes. In the canyon, out of the direct sun, it was delightful -- almost cool air temps. Back at the TrailManor, it took the three of us near two hours, even with help from the computer, to fill out a NY Times crossword puzzle on Quin's iPad. Quin slept in the trailer and didn't freeze (temps only got down to 54F).
Nikki: It was cold in the trailer along with being cold out side. Notice the steam from the pot, yet Ken is warm while still in bed. Quin wasn't a happy camper until much later in the day.
2Mar11
Ken: Took care of Nikki's blisters between the toes, then drove back to the Rio Grande Village for showers all. Drove to Terlinqua Ghost Town, a bit outside the western boundary of the Park. Hopes of cell coverage didn't materialize. Direct sun VERY hot. Lunch at a tiny Mexican restaurant was good and helped improve attitudes. Ghost town wasn't really a ghost town, but had lots of abandoned stone and adobe houses from decades ago. Back to the TrailManor to nap, discover a slow, but usable wireless connection to be able to pay bills, check e-mail and make brief entries on the blog. Would you believe Nikki beat Quin and me at Scrabble??!!??
Nikki: After an interesting day exploring the ghost town and eating real Mexican food, we got back to the camp site in time to get some wifi time on the deck of the lodge, while watching the sun set through the Window.
3Mar11
Ken: We packed up Quin and off he went back toward LA. Nikki and I cleaned, packed a bit, then drove back to explore some side roads. One road we started was the 8 miles to a spring. But figuring that the 4-8 mph we were making meant taking much of the day just to get in and out, we turned around after about 2.5 miles. Next stop was a short dirt road to another spring and really nice interpretive desert nature trail. Finally, we drove the 4 mile dirt road to the Hot Springs. 0.4mi hike in to find the concrete foundation of an old "resort" bath house, right on the banks of the Rio Grande. Nikki took off her
shoes/socks and just waded into the hot springs. Then it was over the side into the river for a cooling dip (clothes and all). There were more of the items for sale to support Mexican schools. And across the river we saw at least two guys lounging in the shade with their horses nearby. Crowds of folks arrived in various groups, and soon there were folks all up and down the river for a couple hundred yards, 
as well as filling the hot springs structure. We ate lunch, then took the mile long trail almost straight up the shale covered bluff and back to the parking lot. Drove back to the Basin Lodge to get a cold coke and use their WiFi! We're planning on leaving a day early and head out in the morning. That will give us time to explore more. We expect to find usable cell coverage somewhere along the way so we can check back in with the world. We are not getting responses to e-mail sent out, so am not sure any of this is really working.
4Mar11 -- Fort Davis, TX
Ken: We took our time packing up, dumping sumps, etc. and headed down the road to the west. We chose to drive along the Rio Grande in and out of the Texas Big Bend State Park. Stopped for photos now and then. When we finally turned north at Presidio, we decided to press on to Fort Davis for the night. Got there right at closing time for the National Historic Monument, so found the RV park and set up for the night. Rode bikes back into town to find quarters for the laundry, which I did while Nikki worked on some of her things. Showers felt good. Higher altitude, a bit cooler. Nice night.
5Mar11 -- Silver City, NM
Ken: Packed up the TrailManor and headed back to Ft. Davis National Monument. Really interesting displays in nicely restored buildings. Glad we took the time. Back on the road with the intent to go to Lordsburg, NM for the night. However, a billboard along the way advertised 30 Art Galleries in Silver City, NM, so we reprogrammed the GPS and turned north at Demming. Got in to the RV park well after office closed, found a space and set up. Found the WiFi needed a code, and no one around could help us. Decided to stay two nights so we would have time to explore a whole day.
6Mar11
Ken: Awoke early, to find 30F outside temp. No water. I checked and it was at the faucet, not in our systems. We headed into town, and found a lovely cafe in the historical downtown. After breakfast we got talking with a fellow who had been at the next table. This ended up with us being invited out to see his collection of old electronics equipment. Went by the office of the RV park to register, and complain about the various issues. They were nice enough to give us a 15% discount for our stay. By the time we got back to the trailer, the water was flowing again. Then off to visit our new friend's home. Fascinating organic adobe house that kind of flowed all over the hillside. Equally fascinating collection of electronics. Could have spent more time, but we had decided to go to the Cliff Dwelling National Monument, so made our amends and headed up the road again. Took most of two hours to go the 42 miles of narrow, twisting, mountain road. Stopped at the Visitor Center to see a video, get our National Parks Passport stamped and collect basic information. Then drove to the trailhead, where we were met by more hosts and information. The hike up to the caves is not long, up a very narrow canyon with a
little stream flowing. Couple of good places to see the caves and ruins from the opposite side of the canyon, then we were there. They let you go into the caves, among the ruins. There are a couple of rough ladders that let you look over the walls into some of the rooms where you can't go. And the trail included one ladder between levels. They only asked that you try not to touch any of the structures, and not climb on the ruins themselves. We were so glad we made the change in plans yesterday, and made the effort to drive here today. Came back by a different route, found a great BBQ place along the way, and got "home" about 7pm. It's now 8:30 and Nikki is already sound asleep. She was pretty active today and I'm not surprised she's crashed.
7Mar11 -- Desert Rose Baha'i Institute
Ken: Driving from Silver City back to I-10, we went through Lordsburg. I'm sure there are interesting sites there, but our impression was that we were really happy to have gone to Silver City instead. Very strong winds from the west for most of the drive. Stopping at a rest station, I was actually leaning into the wind to walk to the toilets! I kept the speed down to 55-60 so as not to stress the van's transmission too much. Pulling into Desert Rose Baha'i Institute, we were informed that they wanted us parked at one of the hookups. So we went back out to fill the gas tank on the van before leaving it, attached to the trailer. Got everything set up, had a nice dinner at Eva's near Eloy, then went into Casa Grande to find a movie. Slept in the TrailManor, our last night for a few months at least.
8Mar11 -- Tempe
Ken: We spent the morning doing a very careful cleaning out and closing up the TrailManor and Van. Dropped off the keys at the office and drove Bev's Buick away from Desert Rose toward Tempe. Some sorting and packing a Bev & Dave's, to the PO to mail a box of things home, and off to lunch. Another movie! Some dinner, back to get a good night's sleep.
9Mar11 -- In flight
Ken: Traveling on frequent flier miles has its issues. We were routed Phoenix, Chicago, London, Cork. Left Phoenix about 0920...
10Mar11 -- Ballyclough, Ireland
Ken: ...arriving Cork 1120. Given the time difference, it was only about 19 hours of travel. I slept a great deal of the flights, but Nikki didn't sleep much. Angie and Emma Jane met us at the airport, giving us our first look at the real (vs. virtual) granddaughter! Here are the new parents and Emma Jane herself.
Drive from Cork, through Mallow to their home near Ballyclough, and our first look at the new house they've been building for the last two years. Bev and Dave are still here, so we had an afternoon of just relaxing, chatting, eating.
11Mar11
Ken: I slept late, but Nikki had to get up to run off with Bev and Angie. Dave and I did some computer work and some leftovers for lunch, waiting for Angie to return. Nikki and Bev had taken the train from Mallow to Cork to do some shopping. Angie, Dave and I drove to Cork and met them at the English Market -- a wonderful indoor nest of shopping vendors stalls where you can buy almost any
kind of fresh produce & meat you might want. Supper at a gourmet burger shop, then off to some Baha'i friends for dessert and a long evening of story telling chatter. With two cars available we all rode home in them -- no one had to take the train home.
12Mar11
Ken: Today is Emma Jane's Christening, and there are lots of preparations going on. Ceremony at the church in Ballyclough is short and standard Catholic. Several groups of friends and relatives
attended, then we all returned to home for a reception, catered lunch, and lots and lots of conversations going on simultaneously around the house. Last guest left late afternoon. The six of us just kind of wound down the rest of the evening.
13Mar11
Ken: I was up before noon, but not much. I think my time shifting is going well... Some folks out for a walk to pick up trash along the road. Others kind of relaxing. Just having a quiet Sunday in Ireland. Nikki is learning to knit. Emma is getting lots of attention from all six of us when she's awake and interacting. Clare, Nikki's daughter who lives in Limerick, will join us today for most of the rest of the week.
14Mar11
Ken: Drove to Shannon today to drop Bev & Dave at an airport hotel. Then Nikki & I, and Angie & Emma got a motel room for the night.
15Mar11
Ken: We drove to Clare's and had tea with her landlord, Anne.
Then we all drove to the Cliffs of Moher! Spectacular coastal setting on sheer cliffs into the sea. The four of us hiked (Emma rode) around the area for quite a while, taking photos. Lunch at the visitor center, before driving back to Ballyclough.
23Mar11
Ken: The last week has included lots of playing with Emma,
chatting, getting out for walks in the rural Irish countryside, etc. etc. etc. We fly to London tonight and overnight there. Tomorrow we fly to Dallas-Ft. Worth and overnight there. Friday we have flights to Seattle, Anchorage and home (finally).
