Travels by CAML

Leaving Arizona On Saturday, April 8th, following a week of parties, car checkups, packing, and goodbyes, we set out on a roundabout path to New Orleans with Casita in tow. The first night we stayed in a New Mexico state park outside of Almagordo and the following day drove north across the lovely rolling plains of eastern New Mexico to Amarillo (TX) on two lane roads with little traffic. Amarillo was much as we remembered it, busy, growing, with lots of traffic; we were glad to carry on to Norman (TX) where we overnighted with Diane and Lenny, friends of Melanie's from many years ago, and friends of mine for the last forty years or so. That eveningI enjoyed a few mathematical moments with Lenny. He presented me with some of Einstein's thoughts on relativity via a man in a moving train who drops a ball from shoulder height which he sees fall straight down to the floor of the train car while a man, standing outside the train, sees the ball follow a parabolic path. Fun and games ...

Some time ago ,,,, Welcome to 2022.  Thank you all. I got feedback about my EOY post which suggested that photos may be of interest even if the text is not. As a result, I'll try to include a few more pictures. Also, I wanted to let you know that somehow I haven't felt quite as inspired to write about daily activities here in AZ as I did in NS, maybe because we don't have many daily activities yet.  Soooo, we shall see how this blog progresses throughout the winter here in GVAZ (Green Valley, AZ). 12/31/2021 We started the new year with this omen (the rainbow) New Year's Eve on our way to Michael and Patty's for a festive gathering of the usual suspects. Folks brought wines and appies; we had a festive evening with three dogs in attendance - it was definitely a three dog night. 2/5/22  And now it's February. Today I began to read The Beauty of What Remains  by Steve Leder, a lovely book recommended by a dear friend from Washington, DC. For the first time in seve...

Reaching the end of 2021 we realize ' What a Long Strange Trip it's Been ' this past year.  Rather than review the past year in prose, which this blog has done fairly regularly, we decided to post photos taken during the year.  Enjoy, and best wishes for a healthy happy 2022. Charlie & Melanie _______________________________________________________________________ Yes, it does snow in Green Valley                                   where we had a rather small 'garden.'                                        We got vaccination #2 in February,                                        a fter lunch in Tucson....                 ...

Sunday morning we left Mitchell and Rhonda's (Round Top, TX) about 7:00 a.m., planning to put in our longest day on the way to Green Valley. About 10:30 in the morning we pulled into a vacant parking lot which was under construction to have breakfast. Mitchell had prepared locks and bagels with cream cheese imported from Zabars in New York. Delicious. We carried on and spent the night in Fort Stockton Texas, camped in a rather rough looking park on KOA Road - it was definitely not a KOA Park. Monday a much shorter ride was booked. We got under way around 9:00 and drove West on I-10 through El Paso, Las Cruces, and on to Deming in New Mexico. We are still listening to Where the Crawdads Sing but are saving the last disc for tomorrow's run to Green Valley. We gassed up for Tuesday's drive and stayed in an in an Escapees Dreamcatcher Park where we have overnighted several times in the past. After a walk around the Park we went 'home.' I finished listening to The Tatto...

  Not an especially noteworthy photo but the picture of where we live when we're in New Orleans; I borrowed it from Google Maps. Sunday I spent most of the day on QuickBooks and have finally caught up with our bookkeeping after being many months behind.  Sunday evening Melanie laid on a fine dinner for six (Julian & Julie, John & Lois), preceded by Champagne, provided by Julian to celebrate John & Lois' October wedding, and concluded with a grapefruit pie (by Lois) and a split of Sauterne (Julian). In between we had another of Melanie's fine dinners - curried chicken, rice, spinach, three chutneys, etc, etc. And no, I am not a foodie but since today I am in colonoscopy prep mode, no food, I need to survive on the memory of last night's dinner. Monday was a 'no food' day for me - pre-procedure. We did drive around to several stores in the afternoon, searching for presents, found none, but rounded out our selection of seasonings and Cajun dishes - the ...

We started repacking the truck Sunday morning, no need to keep all the stuff in the house when it will be going to Arizona with us. Of course we have everything we brought with us from Canada plus several pieces of furniture we stored here after selling our place in Florida last summer.  In the evening we went out to dinner at Melanie's cousin John's (Lois) home - interesting dishes included a brown-butter orzo with butternut squash, latkes with sour cream and Melanie's homemade applesauce, roasted beets and for dessert, homemade orange ice cream. You may recall that John and Lois got married in October and we were there - via a Zoom broadcast from the temple. For the record, they have also added a flame point Siamese kitten to their household - she is deaf but definitely not dumb. When we got home I fed my sourdough starter, holding some back to dry on parchment paper. Apparently, dried sourdough starter lasts indefinitely stored in a sealed jar or Ziploc bag. I'll hav...

A sunday morning walk in Dundee, around Lake Menzie, and then back to the Park to edit and post last week's blog. Sunday was a day of rest though in the afternoon we did have a happy hour with Russ and Connie, then came home and grilled pork chops plus some smoked chops that Don and Joan had brought from Canada with them. We also had a few sips of a very nice Mondavi Cabernet which makes me think that having good wine and drinking less of it is definitely the way to go. Monday was our longest day's drive with the Casita - covering 570 miles in eleven hours. Thanks to a very nice app, RV Parky , recommended to us by Don & Joan, we camped overnight at the Shepard State Park in Mississippi. Tuesday morning we got away fairly early, stopped at a large Rouse's market in Slidell to shop before arriving in New Orleans around 11:00 a.m. Spent the afternoon unpacking the truck and trailer and got to bed early before undertaking errands Wednesday. Melanie had an exer...