Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Bicycles

We have been debating about buying bicycles for awhile.  There were 2 main questions; could Diana's knees handle biking, and where would we put them while we are on the move from campground to campground?  To address the first question we decided to rent bikes while we were in Mesa.  Sounds simple enough!  As we checked into it it was going to cost $100 a week to rent each bike.  So then we thought we could buy 2 cheap bikes at Walmart or Target.  But then we looked on Craig's list.  We each found a bike we liked and together they were less than renting.  Naturally we have upgraded a few things so the bikes have now become money pits!  Who would have thought that?!

We have been on a few rides and the knee issue seems to be OK.  Of course we are in Mesa, AZ and it is pretty flat here.  We'll continue to ride regularly and build up some leg strength.

The bikes do fit in the back of the Jeep so that is where they will be as we travel.  We are hoping that as we get to state and national parks we can ride

Monday, February 17, 2014

Abandon the plan

After we left Llano State Park we moved on to Balmorhea State Park, also in Texas.  We were going to be there for one night then move on to Carlsbad, NM then to Roswell, Albuquerque, then toward the Mesa, AZ area.  We had planned to be in Mesa for 5 weeks to see spring training baseball but we had 2 more weeks before we got to Mesa.

It had been cold for several days and it was cold when we got in to Balmorhea.  Because of the cold and wind we just stayed in.  The next morning we woke up and the outside temperature was 15.  We looked at the forecast for Carlsbad and points along out route and the 10 day forecast remained cold, windy with a good chance of snow for the entire time.  We were tired of cold!  We also had been checking weather in Mesa and saw warm temps and sun.  So we called the campground in Mesa and asked if we could come in 2 weeks early.  Sure, they had space, come on in.  We called and cancelled our other stops and made tracks to Mesa.  It took two longer days and we saw some beautiful scenery.  We also had some difficult stretches thru mountain passes.  But when we got here it was 75!  NICE!!

While checking in we were invited to the weekly happy hour in the club house.  Very nice.

So far temps have been in the upper 70s or low 80s with full sun.  It is a wonderful gift to be able to just abandon a plan and make a complete change.

Isolated

While in Llano State Park in Texas we were in one of those places where you get no internet, no cell phone service and no TV.  It was very cool.  We did see a herd of about 20 deer walk by our site while we were sitting outside.  We saw an armadillo wonder by.  And we both realized how quickly we reach for our smart phones to check weather, Facebook, what armadillos eat and all sorts of things that don't really matter that much.