Wandering Wahls

Before I get to the sledding part, I need to write that we spent three nights in Guadalupe National Park on the border of northwest Texas and southeast New Mexico, about 30 miles south of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Guadalupe National Park was phenomenal! The high desert is diverse, and the hiking is wonderful. Our kids put it in the Top 5 of our National Parks list.

From there, and after Carlsbad Caverns, we ended up at White Sands National Monument, N.M. (staying at Holliman AFB Famcamp). The “sands” are pieces of stark white gypsum — an amazing and fascinating sight. It is interesting to see how the animal life has adapted by becoming white — white ladybugs, crickets, lizards, etcetera. The flora has adapted by growing through the dunes. When we looked at a five-foot-high Cottonwood tree atop a dune, it actually was about 30 feet high with the bottom 25 feet covered by the sand.

As we drove between the dunes, which are blown to the sides of the roads, we all thought we were driving up the Alps to ski in Switzerland; the dunes looked like snow banks on the roadside. This, of course, leads us to the title of the blog. We used to sled down the ski runs in Europe; well, here, we got to sled down the dunes of White Sands. The gift shop sells plastic snow saucers ($14 new, $10 used — and $5 upon return of the saucers) to use on the dunes that are void of vegetation. These dunes are about 150 feet high with steep ascents. Half the battle was climbing up the dunes, because the sand kept giving way under our feet. But, for the thrill of a ride down the dunes, the kids didn’t mind the climbs up, the high winds, or the sand blown in their faces (you’ll note that I’m referring only to the “kids”). The sand was so fine and being blown so much that I think we ended up with a quarter of the White Sands in the kids’ pants pockets, socks, and hair — which, of course, meant we ended up with it in the RV.

In any event, White Sands is well worth a visit, but it’s better in less windy months though.

As we’ve mentioned — and you military families know — my wife’s service has allowed us to make many friends who now happen to live across the States. That is a great benefit of the military life. So then, in following one of our trip’s agenda items, we met up with good friends we knew from Germany, Ben and Susan Paganelli, who now are stationed at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. As luck would have it, they were coming to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, N.M., at the same time we were. We met at Brantley Lake State Park to camp together (they in a tent and we in our Allstar) and see the Caverns. This was to be the fourth country where our families had spent a holiday together.

Here is where the fun began (and repeated itself from our earlier adventure at Padre Island National Seashore). At first, the Pags put up their tent next to our site. The wind had calmed, we barbequed, the kids played outside — it was great fun. At bedtime, they took one of our kids and went sleep in the tent, while we comfortably went to sleep in our 41-foot mobile tent. This was enjoyable for us because we had left 70 mph winds that rocked our RV nightly while we were at Guadalupe National Park.

However, at about 1 a.m., as with Padre Island, the RV started swaying and the wind was howling. Next up was a knock at the door — the tent group wanted in because their tent was leveled. We pulled out all bedding alternatives and put an air mattress from the tent on our RV floor (that was a joy to carry in the wind).

Here we were, four parents and six kids (ages 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13), happily strewn together in the RV for a good night’s sleep. We had a new record for the RV sleeping arrangements with the addition of Captain, their (well-trained) German Sheppard. Our next bit of excitement, though, was when we awoke to snow covering the ground. What’s up with that? We were in southern New Mexico! Where is Al Gore and global warming? We’d really like some global warmth on our trip at this point.

We’re heading into Colorado to look at areas we might want to settle. Does anyone have a suggestion of where to look? Any nice, smaller towns?

We have finally returned to an area of cell phone coverage; southwest Texas is sparse as far as Verizon coverage goes (does someone out there work for Verizon, I have a complaint or two). Anyway, two thoughts occurred to me as I was driving through west Texas toward Guadalupe National Park I thought I’d share as reflections upon returning to the U.S.

First, it appears that America has lost its ability to create original items. I thought this back in July when gas was $4 a gallon, and I realized U.S. car companies had great pickups and Hummers, while the Japanese had great pickups AND great hybrid cars. I was reminded again as I heard on the radio that Hollywood is remaking a Three Stooges movie (to star Sean Penn and Jim Carrey) and Flashdance — that stellar dance flick from the ’80s. What happened to the Hollywood that made great original films like West Side Story and Hud (I’m thinking of Hud as I drive through west Texas)?

Speaking of west Texas, we’re cruising along U.S. Highway 80, a great byway of pre-interstate years. This leads me to my other thought: I used to like Ike, but not anymore. I am coming to despise the interstate system he developed. It’s crowded and ugly, has 18-wheelers doing 85 mph in the left lane, and stops full of the same restaurants. On the byways, travel is less crowded, less stressful, and faster. Oh, and full of great original food. We just had fabulous mesquite smoked brisket sandwiches at a little gas station at the entrance to Langtry, Texas. What a find!

Enough of my soapbox. I better concentrate on my driving instead of my typing.

The military lifestyle paid off again — this time in double. On our way to Texas, we stopped in Little Rock, Ark., for a rest and to see friends we knew from our Catholic parish at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. Mike and Theresa Huber settled in Little Rock, so our trip worked out well to be able to see them — and have Anna play with a girl her own age (the Huber’s daughter, Sarah).

From Little Rock, we made it to Dallas to see Mary Claire’s cousin and her family. We had a great stay and the kids learned a little about John F. Kennedy from the tour at the book depository. The tour is well done in that they have an audio tour guide that tells the listener where to look, when to turn, etcetera. They also have a version for younger children. It is hard enough teaching children history, so their audio guides were very helpful.

Then, continuing with our See Military Related Friends Tour, we rolled into San Antonio to see another family from Landstuhl from our old church: Dan, Mary, Dana, Michael, and Andrew Dirnberger. Dan PCSed from Landstuhl to Wilford Hall in San Antonio almost three years ago, and we’ve been looking forward to showing them the RV lifestyle for a while. I wonder if civilians have friends form work spread around the country?

To show the Dirnbergers the RV way of life, we all took a camping trip to Padre Island National Seashore. We knew 10 people would be a bit much for an RV, so we brought a tent for the kids to sleep in. Unfortunately, Texas weather didn’t cooperate, and we had heavy rain and winds the first night, which resulted in a tent that was parallel to the ground. At 1 a.m., Dan, Mary, and I rescued the kids and somehow all fit into rather comfy sleeping arrangements. This lasted all three nights, but we occupied the bunks, the dinette sleeper, the sofa sleeper, and the master bedroom (the youngest ones slept with the parents) in comfortable arrangements — and got in a few games of Hearts. Even a 41-foot RV can be cozy and manageable. The best part though was that I had no dumping accidents for them to remember.

Off to Langtry, Texas – home of Judge Roy Bean’s saloon and courthouse!

I was going to write about my son spending a day in a Catholic school with his friend. Instead, I thought I’d let Joe tell you:

In the RV, I naturally am homeschooled, but yesterday I went to my friend Kyle’s Catholic school in Huntsville, Ala. It was a very interesting experience, because I have gone to German and Japanese schools — but never an American school.

One thing that was different between American and German/Japanese schools was the cafeteria. In the foreign schools, we never ate lunch in school. In Germany, our school started at 8 a.m. and ended at 1 p.m. so we could eat lunch at home (Germans eat a big breakfast and lunch instead of dinner).

Another thing I noticed was Kyle’s school hours were from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. with no recess. We had two recesses at the German school. I really don’t remember very much from my Japanese school, because I was 3 to 5 years old when I went there. So I can’t tell you many differences besides the fact that we had to brush our teeth during school hours.

I also noticed that in my friend’s school we walked to different classrooms for different subjects. In the German schools we always had the same classroom and teacher for all the subjects (which included German, English, French, art, music, physical education, math, and science).

A funny thing happened to me as a result of miscommunication. Kyle had told everyone that my family was Air Force, which is true, but then someone asked me “how can you be in the Air Force at the age of 12?” I then answered that my mom was in the Air Force. Also, during school hours, being a guest, I had to where a sticker on my shirt that said my age, name, and date. So while I was walking around, everyone would look down at my chest to read my name.

I enjoyed my American school experience a lot.

Cheers,

Joe

After experiencing Memphis crime close up and personal, it was interesting to hear the replies from locals who we talked to about our window-shattering experience. In general, their reaction was a “that’s downtown for you” type of response. For instance, at the window repair shop, both receptionists said that we don’t want to choose Memphis as a place to live — it was too dangerous. Thanks for the tip! They also said GPS units were a popular item to steal and they’re found for sale quite often at flea markets. We didn’t have time to wait for one, so we’ll have to go to Best Buy instead.

On with the Memphis adventure though — we had the window repaired and headed first to the National Civil Rights Museum. The museum is located at the hotel where Martin Luther King was assassinated. The exterior has been retained, as has King’s room. The museum also includes a walk through the building across the street from where James Earl Ray shot King. Guests can walk through the room and also read King and Ray’s timeline. I never realized Ray was caught in London on his way to Brussels. Overall, this is a fantastic museum about civil rights and the events leading up to King’s assassination.

Next up was Graceland — Elvis’ home (or, as my son Joe thought, Elton John’s home). What a sight — green shag carpet on the walls, ashtrays as furniture, and fried banana and peanut butter sandwiches (we skipped these). It is interesting to see what a change Elvis made, both physically and musically, from the early, skinny guy shaking his hips, to the movie star, to the seasoned singer still in black leather, to the sad end. The tour was pretty interesting, even the walk through Elvis’ planes. Civil Rights and Graceland, that’s Memphis in a nutshell.

Check out our photos.

To paraphrase Bob Dylan:
“Oh, Mama, can this really be the end
To be stuck inside an RV
With the Memphis blues again”

Yesterday, we left Nashville, Tenn., after enjoying local country music at Tootsie’s and having fun catching up with a high school friend of Mary Claire’s. Then, we rolled into Memphis to show the kids the “Home of the Blues.” Unfortunately, the city’s title became too appropriate for our visit.

We parked the RV at a naval station outside of Memphis and drove the car downtown. At the Peabody Hotel, we watched the famous ducks walk from the lobby fountain into the elevator for their ride to their home on the roof. Next up, we went to Beale Street to hear some blues and eat some ribs. These two events were well and fine, but, as you can see from the photo, our car window was busted out while we were having dinner. The damage: glass all over the interior and a stolen TomTom GPS.

What a sad and depressing sight as we walked to the car. Sam even started to cry. Glass everywhere and no passenger-side window. We called the police, and I must compliment them — they were prompt, personable, and caring. They even took prints. Then we had a cold drive in the car back to the RV.

Our car problems are getting to be too much. First, our windshield gets cracked and was replaced (under the deductible). Then our other car was totaled in a fire (our deductible applied). Now, this happens. And, as luck would have it, the damage is again below our deductible, so our budget has another hole in it: so much for saving premium dollars by choosing a higher deductible. I’m going to have to query a magazine or two for article submissions so I can offset our budget blues — hey, there might be a song in there.

We made it to Huntsville, Ala., and Redstone Arsenal. The Famcamp was full, so we stayed at the RV park at the Space and Missile Museum. Huntsville is where the U.S. brought German rocket experts after World War II, and it was here they developed the Saturn V to lift the Apollo missions into space. The museum is one of the best we’ve seen (in our opinion, certainly much better than Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., which was a bit disappointing).

Here, the museum has an actual Saturn V — all 36 stories of it — that we could walk under. The museum had great information on the different Apollo flights and a lot of fascinating exhibits from space and rocket programs. Particularly interesting was the historical information on the scientists during and after World War II and how they ended up in Huntsville. One further item of note at the museum was the knowledge of the employees — all had a wealth of information about the exhibits and were able to answer our questions (yes, the next space shuttle astronauts will be drinking their own urine — purified, of course).

My wife had to be away for the week because her sister had knee surgery. However, we managed. I was able to fit in a trip to Ivy Green, the home of Helen Keller. This stop was educational and enjoyable — those two don’t always go together but they did so at Ivy Green. The museum hostess was a wonderful Alabaman (a Daughter of the Confederacy member) and gave us a personal tour of the home. The story of Helen Keller and being able to see her home was a wonderful experience. If you’re in northern Alabama, Ivy Green is worth a visit.

After Huntsville, the kids and I were off to Nashville, Tenn., where Mary Claire was returning. The drive was a bit nerve-racking, because I had to make sure I covered everything Mary Claire normally took care of. But, the kids were helpful, and the RV drove well. No hoses pulled off of their base, waste hatches were left open, or kids left behind — well, I better go count them actually.