Saturday 19 November 2011

Escape from Roswell

18 November 2011 - A  very long straight drive today from Roswell to Pueblo. We were aiming for Colorado Springs but it gets dark at 4.30 pm so after pushing on in the dark for a while we decided to stay in Pueblo. Did the shopping centre car park thing but I didn't get much sleep - this black car kept driving past - getting closer each time. Finally I drove to another park but only dozed.

Miles # 434.4 (700 kms)     Bugs# 1113      OLD $13.00
Long Straight roads through New Mexico
No Bugs! If you take the wrong turn you'll  miss Pismo Beach

19 November 2011 - Drove 30 miles to Colorado Springs. It's very cold and there are snow capped mountains and also the occasional pile of snow by the roadside. The air is so clean and the sky beautiful. I love this place. Unfortunately neither of us are really feeling great today - possibly altitude sickness as we both had the same thing when we went to Yellowstone which is also at 6000-ish  feet. Not very high but obviously high enough. Just  generally feel "off".  Tomorrow we will have a big day out investigating the sights.   Just went out to get something from the car and it is freeeeeezing! Brrrr!!!    Just checked - it's 6.30 at night and the temperature is 2 degrees Centigrade (35 F)  - going to -5 overnight (23 F)                          
Miles # 30 (48 kms)   Bugs# 1122       OLD $13

Thursday 17 November 2011

Time out

17 November 2011 - The insurance company - Allianz - sent me an email yesterday saying they were settling my claim for my chest pain incident in Chicago for $900. The actual cost was over $7000 and they have given no reason for the shortfall. Have emailed them back for urgent contact but 24 hours later have still heard nothing. Maybe I should have phoned them from ER to check it was OK for me to undergo treatment before I saw the doctor. The policy cost me over $1000 and was for unlimited medical and hospital. How can they do this?

As a result we have taken a day off today. I feel totally pissed off and after the two thefts and this I am not feeling kindly disposed towards my fellow human beings.....except my blog followers lol.    Have vegged today and hopefully we will soon get more information.

Still in Roswell - not a lot to do but nice room - big TV - free breakfast and using the $100 free voucher we got from Best Western in New Orleans for taking 4 nights payment out of credit card instead of 1. Life is a joy but am trying to be philisophical.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Roswell -The Truth is Out There

16 November 2011 - Long straight drive today through New Mexico from Truth and Consequences (hehehehe) to Roswell. Magnificent weather. I wanted some wide open spaces but this is ridiculous - worrisome distance between petrol stations and high prices when you find one. A lot of the countryside is very reminiscent of outback South Australia. Having said that - there are some magnificent mountains in the background that look like they have just been painted on the sky. We are now in Roswell New Mexico - and have so far avoided abduction and all encounters of the third kind.

Miles # 254.3 (409 kms)     Bugs#1104   OLD# $13
Roswell UFO Museum

Roswell Lamp Posts

Tuesday 15 November 2011

Van Horn to El Paso to ....Truth and Consequences and Elephant Butts....say what

16 November 2011 - got a late start cos we stayed up till 3 am catching up on blogs and watching Family Man on TV. Good thing though is we crossed a time zone and got an hour back. Got to El Paso in time to see a big car bingle....big mess....and catch lunch at Denny's.   Had a drive around and checked out the USA/Mexico border. Lots of Border Guard cars around.  Beautiful sunny day.
Mexican Border
 Spotted the Rio Grande but unfortunately it was a little dry :( - John Wayne would not be happy.
Rio Grande river New Mexico
Dry (almost) Rio Grande
I love the names of the towns around here...seeing is believing.

Now at Motel 6 in a town called Truth and Consequences - below is a copy & paste from my Facebook Status

Truth IS stranger than fiction. Picture this...I am in New Mexico...in a town called...wait for it....Truth and Consequences..(YES). Went to Macca's and asked for a Happy Meal. The guy had to ask what that was..and...there's more...his name is...Jesus. Two other people who worked there were yelling at each other. All the orders got mixed up....my Happy Meal & parfait turned into 8 burgers, 4 coffees and a Happy Meal. After 18 minutes I got my meal but realised when I got to my hotel I never got a drink. All the other people waiting were laughing and that made one of the yellers really mad. It was like a Maccas version of Fawlty Towers. OH! And my meal was cold but the entertainment was good.




Miles#266.1 (428.2 kms)                      Bugs#    1099                   OLD$13

Monday 14 November 2011

Deep in the Heart of Texas!!!!

Saturday 12 November 2011 - Left New Orleans feeling very low and we drove - uneventfully - to Lake Charles. Spent the night at Walmart and had a BIG sleep to catch up on the previous nights debacle.                         Miles #212.9    ( 342.6 kms ) Bugs # 1080   OLD $13

Sunday 13 November 2011 - Texas!!!
I never knew Galveston was on an island.  The Gulf Coast was pretty amazing with all the houses on stilts and quite a breeze blowing off the Gulf of Mexico. Galveston was quite beautiful and the day was very warm and muggy. we caught a large car ferry to get onto the Island and left via a bridge.

Car Ferry to Galveston
Galveston
Galveston
Galveston
We then went on to Austin Texas and arrived just in time to meet the dusk deadline for all the bats to fly out from under the Congress Avenue bridge.  Unfortunately it was too dark for photos but there were 85 million small bats whizzing around the bridge pylons - quite remarkable. The night was beautiful and very mild and Austin is a very clean beautiful place.
Houston Texas
Spaghetti roads
We went to another Walmart as it was quite late but were moved on - some Walmarts don't allow campers and there were no signs to say this was one so we settled in for the night but then were told we couldn't stay. So - at 1 am we were on the road again. Everything in Austin seemed to be closed - couldn't even find a 24 hour Starbucks or Macca's so we drove for 50 miles until we came to a small town called Blanco. I really wanted to stop because if we got a flat tyre we would have been stranded and it was VERY VERY dark. We saw a caravan in a car park still attached to its car and figured they had pulled over to sleep so we parked next to them. Woke up the next morning to find we were parked in the Town Hall car park lol. Turned out it was quite a cute little town.  Miles # 356.8 (574 kms)    Bugs #  1092   OLD $13.00

14 November 2011 - a long uneventful drive through Texas heading towards El Paso - should get there tomorrow. The roads are good - very wide and very straight - too straight - had to pull in to a rest stop for an afternoon nap. After our moonlight flit the night before I was still a little tired - nothing a couple of hours snooze didn't fix. The Satellite Navigator sent us on a wild goose chase to the Cactus motel which didn't exist.  It turned us into a very dubious little road - out in the middle of nowhere - lots of falling down shacks with lots of  broken down cars in their yards. Then a dirt road........ petrol was low ...... it was getting dark.......seemed like the beginning of a horror movie so we beat a hasty retreat. Bought petrol at top dollar and took off into the sunset  glad that the speed limit was 80 miles an hour. Now in bed at a Motel 6 in Van Horn Texas instead of being leading lady in the Texas Chain Saw Massacre number 46.   Miles # 479.6 (771.8 kms ) Bugs# 1095  OLD $13

New Orleans - Good stuff...Bad Stuff!!



11 November 2011 - Arrived in New Orleans. Beautiful place and good roads and non aggressive drivers - what more could I ask. Went to Bourbon Street and checked it all out - beautiful houses and lots of colour  and excitement. Bourbon Street has everything - girly bars - night clubs - restaurants. Heard some amazing singers and Lee tried her luck on a mechanical bull. She did a great job but walked like a cowboy for a day or two after. Unfortunately  - in spite of being extra vigilant after the theft of my purse in Times Square - I was pick pocketed again. A couple of hundred dollars and credit cards - no passports this time thank God. To make things worse our hotel charged us four times for our room which we only found out when we rang to report the cards stolen. Still trying to retrieve that money :)   Someone actually tried to use one card but the transaction failed - luckily. Feeling very low and depressed about these thefts. We spent most of the night until the wee small hours trying to sort out hotel bills and credit cards - absolutely worn out Miles # 59.5 (96 kms)
Bugs # 1080    OLD $13
Bourbon Street
Bourbon Street