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Adventures in the Villa

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2022-11-01 Leaving Marfa, TX, traveling to Deming, NM.

We are ready to leave the Marfa Yacht Club. The sunrise was great…

Here you can see a distant oil well burning off natural gas… These are ubiquitous around these parts of the Permian Basin…

As we left the RV park we passed the Prada store in Marfa…

Well, not really. This is a “sculpture”, a life size piece of art… It’s located out on the highway…

We passed a variety of views…

We did see this UFO…

It appears to be some sort of weather balloon tethered adjacent to a radar station…

We encountered some traffic driving through El Paso, then we arrived in Deming, NM. We chose a budget RV park, but Lynda reports they have the fastest, best, and cheapest laundry machines she has ever encountered…

Happy Hours ensued. An enjoyable time was had by all…

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2022-10-31 Marfa, TX.

We have an entire day to spend in Marfa. After a leisurely morning we drove into town (2 miles) and found The Sentinel. It’s either a newspaper supported by a Cafe, or a Cafe that sends all its profits to a newspaper…

We stopped in for Lunch…

It’s a great space in an old adobe building… Inside we can see the steel structure that supports the adobe walls…

Across the street they are building a structure to house artist studios, galleries, and workshops…

We walked around the neighborhood for about an hour. We saw lots of activities going on to support and improve the town…

After we returned to the Villa I looked at the other structures here at the Marfa Yacht Club…

This appears to be a residence…

This is the pool… Closed for the season…

This is another residence…

We invited the occupants of our two neighboring Airstreams to join us for Happy Hours. We always have lots of fun playing Airstream Bingo, finding common things among our new friends…

The skies were threatening, and we saw many flashes of lightning… Or were they the “Marfa Lights”???

An enjoyable time was had by all…

This being Halloween, you can see bonus photos of our grandchildren…

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2022-10-30 Leaving Abilene, TX, traveling to Marfa, TX.

We left Abilene early. We have a long day today, driving to Marfa, TX.

While I napped Lynda visited the Visitor Center; they had a large exhibit about the area…

Apparently there was a large bomber base built nearby during WWII; it was decommissioned many years ago. However, during its construction several rattlesnake dens were unearthed, arousing thousands of hibernating rattlesnakes…

There is also a large meteor crated in nearby Odessa, as well as a giant failed oil tank that leaked…

We turned south at Pecos, TX, and continued through the Texas wilderness…

We passed through the “town” of Balmorhea…

Apparently, Balmorhea was a thriving farm town 50 years ago… Cotton was thriving and many families had a good life here. However, in the 1970s, as the cost of energy soared, the cost to bring up water from 300′ deep wells made the farms unprofitable, and, as you can see, the town died…

We continued south…

We stopped to see an historical marker… (stopping and walking across the street was not a problem…)

This canyon was an old trail, called Wild Rose Pass, due to the wild roses…

We didn’t see wild roses, but some prankster left a few plastic roses…

We continued through this lovely area…

We finally arrived at the Marfa Yacht Club…

Marfa Yacht Club is an Airstream-only RV park. There are 9 campsites, all covered with a shade structure. In the summer it can get hot here…

We quickly set up, then we headed into town. Marfa was begun in the 1880s; today most of the buildings have been retored and contain viable businesses, galleries, restaurants, etc…

This is the county courthouse…

You may have noticed a lack of people in town. Well, this is Sunday afternoon, and most things are closed from mid-day Sunday until Thursday. On Friday the tourists begin to show up and it can be quite lively…

Here is the rest of the story:

Donald Clarence Judd (June 3, 1928 – February 12, 1994) was an American artist associated with minimalism (a term he nonetheless stridently disavowed).  In his work, Judd sought autonomy and clarity for the constructed object and the space created by it, ultimately achieving a rigorously democratic presentation without compositional hierarchy. He is generally considered the leading international exponent of “minimalism,” and its most important theoretician through such writings as “Specific Objects” (1964).  Judd voiced his unorthodox perception of minimalism in Arts Yearbook 8, where he says, “The new three dimensional work doesn’t constitute a movement, school, or style. The common aspects are too general and too little common to define a movement. The differences are greater than the similarities.”

He was a successful artist and art critic; he moved from painting to sculpture in the 1960s. In the early seventies Judd started making annual trips to Baja California with his family. He was affected by the clean, empty desert and this strong attachment to the land would remain with him for the rest of his life. In 1971 he rented a house in Marfa, Texas, where he would later buy 16 decaying buildings in Marfa, an entire decommissioned Army base, and over 32,000 acres of ranch land, collectively known as Ayala de Chinati.

The result is a town full of art, attracting visitors from all over the world…

Here is a perfect opportunity to turn an art deco former gas station and auto repair shop into, well, anything you want…

We had a great dinner here at the St. George Hotel… The first nice restaurant we’ve been in since October 10 – three weeks!

The food and service was wonderful. We returned to the villa. An enjoyable time was had by all…

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2022-10-29 Leaving Lindale, TX, traveling to Abilene, TX.

After a nice breakfast with our friends we bid a fond farewell and headed west. Destination today is Abilene, TX. It rained all the way…

We passed through Putnam, TX…

Otherwise it was an uneventful drive…

Finally the KOA appeared…

We had quiet Happy Hours. An enjoyable time was had by all…

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2022-10-28 Leaving Texarkana, TX, traveling to Lindale, TX.

We have never been to a Waffle House before. So we had to try it. Best reason is that its the only restaurant that we could walk to without crossing the 8 lane highway…

You would think that they would serve their signature meal with real butter… But this is the South…

After breakfast we caught up with the blog, read a little, and watched old sitcoms on TV.

At noon we headed towards Lindale, TX…

It rained most of the way…

We left the interstate and drove through back roads and some small towns… This is Gladewater, TX. Still raining…

Even though these are small two-lane roads with cross streets and driveways the speed limit is still 70 mph…

We soon arrived at our friend’s house in Lindale, TX…

Still raining. Hard…

We backed the Villa as far as possible into their barn/shed to get out of the inevitable hail storm…

We enjoyed an evening of food and wine and friendship…

An enjoyable time was had by all…

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2022-10-27 Leaving Mountain View, MO. Traveling through Arkansas, and into Texarkana, TX.

We pulled out of the campground at 6:30 AM. Best time of the day to be driving… Dark, but hints of light in the east, no traffic, and it always feels good to get an early start to the day.

After it got light we enjoyed the last of the Missouri autumn colors…

We crossed the boarder into Arkansas. We drove through Salem, AR, enjoying the old stone buildings. However, there wasn’t much else here…

We did stop in Evening Shade, AR. Wasn’t there once a TV sitcom set in Evening Shade? All the locals met in a diner? Well, there are no diners today in Evening Shade. We stopped at a gas station to buy some coffee…

Fall colors in Arkansas are not as dramatic as in Missouri…

We bypassed Little Rock. We spent a few days in Little Rock in 2019, so we did not stop today…

We pulled into a rest stop in Arkadelphia, AR. Yes, that really is a city. I think the city name expresses its love for large primitive boats full of pairs of animals…

And we soon were in Texarkana, TX.

We pulled into the local KOA, did minimal set-up, and happy hours ensued.

We considered going out to dinner, but the only decent restaurant was a BBQ place across an 8 lane highway with no crosswalks in sight… So we stayed in and made a light supper – pizza!

And an enjoyable time was had by all…

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2021-07-26 – Heading to Missouri for the Oregon Trail caravan… Day 4 – Tucumcari, NM to Liberal, KS

The RV park in Tucumcari (a KOA) is mostly for overnight stays – it’s not exactly a vacation resort. By the time we poked our heads out of the Villa at about 9:00 am all the other RVs were gone… It’s a strange feeling, and an odd sight to see…

So we headed out at about 9:15 and we pointed the truck roughly Northeast. Today we will drive though portions of four states!

We soon left New Mexico and entered the Texas Panhandle. Lynda almost shot a photo of the Welcome to Texas sign…

Around 10:30 am we arrived the cute little town of Dalhart, TX, population 8,400. We have driven through many small towns on our various trips, and most of them are decrepit and derelict. Not Dalhart! It is a thriving town with many nice residential neighborhoods

It also has train tracks right through the center of town…

So we stopped and waited. And waited… Finally we pulled off the road and parked. There was a very nice Family Dollar store here, so we went in a bought a few trinket’s

Finally the train moved on. (It had been moving slowly, back and forth – adding or subtracting cars somewhere along the line…)

We continued on, and soon entered the panhandle of Oklahoma. We spent about 100 miles in Texas and about 50 miles in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma looks a lot like Texas around here…

And it looks a lot like this, too…

Yhe GPS on the dash was pretty accurate…

We see signs of civilization now and then…

We see these everywhere… Anyone know what the small yellow pipes are doing connecting with the yellow tower in the background?

We finally arrived in Kansas – our fourth State of the day… We turned off onto the old highway…

We found our RV park for the night…

This is on the outskirts of Liberal, Kansas, in the far southwest corner of the State. The park is Very primitive, but they have good 50 amp power hookups. We were set for the night. Did we mention it is HOT here? We quickly turned on both ACs and enjoyable time was had by all…

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2021-07-23 – Leaving Home, heading to Missouri for the Oregon Trail caravan… Day 1 – Redlands, CA to Camp Verde, AZ

We’re off again! This time we are going to retrace the path of the Oregon Trail, from Missouri to Oregon. To do this we must, again, drive through the California desert, drive through the Arizona desert, through the New Mexico desert, and on through a corner of the Texas desert, through a corner of the Oklahoma desert, then on into Kansas, and finally into Missouri. We will be retracing some of the same roads and places that we have been through before…

But first, here is an update of our grandchildren…

Roisin got to ride the big school bus to go off to beach and surf camp…

Ian visited The La Brea Tar Pits and stuck his finger into the tar…

George got a little dirty when he had a minor fall during a family hike…

Evelyn has found her calling as “Super Woman”…

They have enjoyed their summer, doing the many things that have been off limits over the past 15 months…

But back to out trip…

We had an uneventful day driving across California and Arizona…

Not the first time we have been in Arizona, but it is always fun to take a photo of the sign…

Arizona looks like this along this route…

We had a little rain, but nothing that delayed our trip. We headed north at Phoenix, and continuing to Camp Verde, located about one hour south of Sedona. Camp Verde is a sleepy little town that has the best restaurant in this part of Arizona. People drive the hour from Sedona because it is better than anything there…

Camp Verde looks like this… We are at about 3,200′ elevation…

We found the RV park. We are in, connected, and paid for…

So, after checking in to the RV park, we freshened up and headed to Moscato Italian Restaurant. We had a fabulous meal, with courses that were way too large – we brought home over half the food. (We drank all the wine…)

Next to our table was a group of six men, about our age, who were celebrating a birthday. They were having a great time, and on occasion we could hear someone mention their Airstream. Several times. We were not sure which man it was, so as we were leaving we stopped at their table and asked, “Which one owns an Airstream?” It turns out that four of them own Airstreams! They were all from Sedona, and, like I said, they drive the hour to Camp Verde to eat at Moscato. We had a fine discussion about Airstreams, diesel trucks, and the finer things of life, and we then left them to continue their celebrations.

We returned to The Villa. An enjoyable time was had by all…

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2019-06-06 thru 2019-06-11 – Traveling West – Liberal, KS and then Home…

This morning we pulled out of the RV park in Liberal, KS, and pointed the Villa southwest.  In about three minutes we were in the far western part of the Oklahoma panhandle; about 90 minutes later we were in the far western part of the Texas panhandle; by noon we were in New Mexico…

These parts of Oklahoma and Texas look remarkably like Kansas…

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At one rest stop there were these nice little picnic shelters… Mid Century Modern!… Nice, but a little beat up…

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All day yesterday and all day today, until we entered New Mexico, we followed the railroad tracks.  About every ten miles we came to a small town dominated by these giant grain elevators or silos…

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The further we drove west the smaller and more distressed the towns were… Not being farming folk, we could not tell exactly what these facilities do, but we assume it is related to grain storage, food processing, feed production, or something like that…

By mid day we were at our campground in Tucumcari, NM.

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And, for the record, New Mexico does not look anything like Texas, Oklahoma, or Kansas:

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Happy Hours and a light supper ensued in the Villa; tomorrow we head towards Gallup, NM.

Friday morning dawned nice and cool, but the heat will be arriving soon.  We pointed the Villa west, towards Albuquerque and beyond…

The drive was uneventful, as expected…

New Mexico looks like this…

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At one rest stop we found this Scenic Historic Marker:

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We weren’t sure what it meant… east and west looked pretty much the same to us.  Yes, western New Mexico does has more hills.  We rose to almost 7,000′ elevation before dropping down to 5280′ elevation in Albuquerque…

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Then we went uphill again to 7,275′ elevation at the Continental Divide…

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We eventually arrived in Gallup, NM, at about 6,500′ elevation…

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The sky was beautiful, the sun was hot, but the winds made the 89 degree temperature bearable.  By early evening we were able to turn off the AC, and by sunrise tomorrow it is supposed to be 48 degrees…

Happy Hours and a light supper ensued in the Villa; tomorrow we head towards Kingman, AZ.

Saturday morning dawned nice and cool, but the heat will be arriving soon.  We pointed the Villa west, towards Winslow, Flagstaff, Williams, and Kingman…

The drive was uneventful, as expected…

Arizona looks like this…

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We drove for about six hours, taking time for rest stops, fuel, and lunch… We finally pulled into Kingman, AZ by mid-afternoon…

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Interesting note is that we stayed here almost exactly two years ago as our first stop after leaving Irvine on our 4 1/2 month trip, the day after Lynda retired…

Happy Hours and a light supper ensued in the Villa; tomorrow we head towards Palm Desert, CA.

Sunday morning dawned nice and cool, but the heat will be arriving soon.  We pointed the Villa west, towards the California border…

The drive was uneventful, as expected…

We crossed over the Colorado River…

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And we entered California!

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We were met by some attentive uniformed people who asked us where we’d been, and if we were bringing in any firewood…

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The California Desert looks like this…

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For those of you who insist on calling places like eastern Oregon a “desert”, please stop!  Rivers, grass with cattle grazing, and green leafy trees do not make a desert!  See photo above for what a desert looks like!

We moved on to Palm Desert, where they have succeeded in making the desert green:

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We spent the afternoon and evening with like-minded friends, sharing happy hours and dinner.  Early Monday morning we drove the final hour…

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We arrived home in Redlands; an enjoyable time was had by all…

Tally:

Miles driven: 8,379

Days traveling and camping on our own:  40 days

Days on the Cajun Country Caravan:  16 days

Days on the Springtime in Kentucky Caravan:  22 days

Total days living in the Villa: 78 days

Total number of Airstreams seen along the road:  211

Number of nights in the Villa over the past 24 months:  375 days  (51%)

And one last photo of our girls…

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