Review, Page 5

It's me again. This next part of the trip covered Arizona and New Mexico. When I got to David/Suzanne's place in Phoenix, the daytime temperatures were into the 110's. We spent a lot of time in the pool for the next week or so, and specialized in outdoor showers. Que bueno! David and I went down to Tucson for a day to get a blanket checked out at the University. I still haven't found out if it was worth a lot or not. After a good meal, it was off to the Saguaro National Park for a day, then back to the pool. I always get a kick out of being around these two for a few days. It's never long enough, but I think everyone agrees there needs to be a limit before the sniping starts, which would be inevitable. After about a week, I hit the road again for some time in northern Arizona, and New Mexico. The Grand Canyon is as magnificent as ever, but I wasted a day trying to get to the skyway I'd heard about. 28 miles of washboard gravel is a bit too much to pay to get to the overlook. Ah, well. On to Santa Fe for some time before heading to Carlsbad Caverns. The time in Santa Fe was more about food than anything, as it turned out. They serve some hot stuff. M'mm good. The Caverns were great to go through, but pictures didn't come out at all, either with the flash on or off. Still, that is one neat hole in the ground.
From there it was back to Texas with a few days in Alpine, my favorite town in west Texas. I took that long ride from Alpine, to Marfa, to Presidio, to Terlingua for the sights alone. That is one beautiful ride, including the Rio Grande, and the mountains. The Mcdonald Observatory in Fort Davis, and Balmorhea Springs make for a variety of things to do in this neck of the woods. The next big stop along the tour was Arkadelphia, Ark. to see the babies. They don't come any cuter or lovable than Camper and Carly Mac. I'll make it back over there before they get too big. After this, it was on to New Albany, Miss. to see my mother for a week or so. We had a great time in Memphis for a day, including eating at Corky's, in Tupelo for a day to check out Elvis's birthplace, in Blue Mountain, where Mom went to college, and we broke into our own little gospel service. There was also Oxford for a tour of Faulkner's home, and a meal on the square. I love my mother, and this was as grand a time as I have ever had with her.
I continued my trek through the South with my next stop being in Atlanta to see my sister, and her young 'uns. We had a big ol' barbeque plate with pork ribs, m'mm, the first night there. Pork ribs, long may they wave. There is an area in north Georgia that has a kangaroo sanctuary, and a small town that has made itself into a Bavarian community for the tourist dollar where we spent the day getting lost, then finding ourselves, then getting lost again. It made for a nice day of traveling the hills of Georgia. Betty and I ate at Ted Turner's restaurant one night. It was the first, but won't be the last time for a good ole buffalo steak. We had a fun time at the Atlanta Aquarium for a day getting to elbow in for touches of rays, sharks, anemonaes, and other such ocean critters. In all it was very good to see my darling sister, Betty, and spend this time together.
The last leg of the trip was swinging down to Hattiesburg, Miss. for some time with my brother, Curtis, and his wife Deborah. I've got to start this off with saying that Deborah makes the best gumbo in the Hattiesburg area. Curtis and I went down to the coast for a day to check out what had been re-constructed as far as highways, and bridges from Katrina. There is progress being made, but at a snail's pace compared to how long it takes to re-build a casino. We spent some time at the army base, Camp Shelby, checking out the military museum there along with the displays of armaments from previous wars. One day, Curtis and I went to see the movie "Superbad". It was just us two in the theater, so the cackling and snorting that is normally kept under control for the respect of the other patrons was turned loose. I thought Curtis was going to lock something up inside himself. That was funny.
This is the end of the overall review from my trip, and I hope y'all might have had as much fun keeping up as I did experiencing it. This was one of those once in a lifetime dreams of mine, and I thank all my lucky stars it came through without too much of a hitch. I'm going to keep this blog going for any tales from trips in the future, so check every now and then. My next big plan is for a trip to Mexico, so until then, I'll say tata with oodles and oodles of toodles.