Sunday morning we packed up and headed South on I-25 thru Denver,
Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Trinidad, CO and then on to Raton, NEW MEXICO where we picked up Rt. 87 that took us across the corner of NE New Mexico toward the panhandle of TEXAS. We stayed Sunday night at CAPULIN, NM, near the CAPULIN VOLCANO
at a small family operated RV park.
Monday morning we were off for TEXAS and drove about 300 miles that day to CHILDRESS, TX where we found an RV spot at the Best Western…that stop included a complimentary breakfast the next morning just as if we had been staying at the motel. It had been fun and very interesting traveling through the different states watching the terrain change.
I believe in Loveland I heard them refer to their area as the “Front Range” and as we drove thru NM and the TX panhandle, they referred to the area as the “High Plains”! New Mexico seemed to be mostly huge beef cattle ranches, but as we got into the panhandle of Texas we began seeing more crops…huge fields of corn and what we believed to be peanuts and/or cotton. 
There were hundreds of grain storage facilities dotted everywhere along the way…smaller ones at each ranch and then huge ones near towns and railroads. In the panhandle near Childress we saw Texas peaches, apples and pecans advertised and began seeing fruit and vegetable stands along the highway. This part of our return trip was dedicated to visiting family…if we missed you, I am very sorry…we just could not fit everyone in this time! We were also getting anxious to get home after being away nearly five months.TUESDAY, we were off from Childress about 8 AM as we had a lunch date with Dennis’ cousins Peg & Jim in Chico, TX (about 180 miles to our south). We arrived in Chico and found Peg & Jim and had a wonderful visit and lunch. We had never met Jim and had not seen Peg since the 1960’s. What a wonderful visit we had…just like we had all seen each other just a few days ago and were catching up on the latest news! From Peg’s we headed to Mount Vernon to see Peg’s Mom…Aunt Florence and sisters Rose & Kathy.
Aunt Florence is Dennis’ Mother’s only remaining sister and she is in her early 90’s! Aunt Florence was amazing…she does not get around well, but her mind and spirit were active!
She shared her collection of paintings that she had done and we had a great time sharing memories of when we had all been together in New York State as well as when her and Uncle Jim had visited us in their motor home in Zephyrhills, Florida. Aunt Florence had wonderful memories of picking fresh grapefruit and oranges from our trees and of how delicious they had been! We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the RV park we had found and stayed at the night before bordered the cemetery where Uncle Jim and Rosie’s husband Earl were buried. 
We found their stones right over the fence. After a wonderful visit we were…”On the Road Again” heading toward Tyler where we visited Stan & Dotty…other cousins that we had not seen in a couple years. We arrived mid afternoon and were greeted with a big TEXAS WELCOME. We had dinner together and we shared some of our photos from the summer and our travels with them and gabbed until nearly 10 PM!!!
They insisted on cooking breakfast for us the next morning and then we were on our way to visit my brother, Sonny and his family at Iola, TX…about 150 miles to the southwest of Tyler.Arrived at Iola, TX mid afternoon and enjoyed visiting with Sonny & Willie Faye. Our family calls him "SONNY" but in Texas, where he has lived since the 1950's he is known by his given name: Ira. He married Willie Faye, a native Iola, TX girl in the 1960's and they raised their family right there in Iola...he is a TEXAN now!
Kyleigh (Sonny’s Granddaughter & Great-grandson) and Ethan stopped by for a few minutes.
It was decided to go to Bryan for a Mexican dinner at Papa Perez's. Sonny & Willie Faye knew the owner…he brought out a complimentary condiment of cheese dip in addition to the usual tortilla chips & salsa…YUM! We stopped on the way home for a quick visit with Sonny’s daughter and family, Mary and Dave and children Trey and McKenzie. Next day we had lunch at the Iola Café…it was catfish day! Sonny & Willie Faye had owned and operated the café up until about two years ago! Lunch was good and Sonny’s daughters Deanna and Mary & husband Dave joined us. After lunch we were watching the Weather Channel and could see that the rain was going to continue and possibly intensify…so we decided to head on east to try and stay ahead of it! There was terrible flooding to the north of I-10, but we only had a few sprinkles here and there. After spending three nights on the road we arrived home safe and sound on Monday, September 21, 2009…being away from home nearly 5 months…another great memory!!!! It was great to hug and see our families again! We do not know at this time what our next adventure will be, BUT CHECK BACK OFTEN as I am sure we will come up with something!
No comments:
Post a Comment