Last day in Roswell, a full plate of touring

Once again we awoke to frigid temperatures which made the walk to the showers in my pajama bottoms and sweatshirt pretty brisk.

Bitter cold at Bitter Lake Wildlife Refuge

With Joan and I cleaned and polished for another day we headed out a little after 9 a.m. to visit Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Roswell. Joan loves her birds and this refuge has a large number of local and migrating birds.

Once at the Refuge we stopped at the visitor center and watched two films, one of the refuge and how it was created in 1937 and then a very interesting film on dragonflies, which are also a staple of the refuge.

Nothing like watching dragonflies mating to get a man’s heart started in the morning.

Following the films and absorbing the displays in the visitor’s center we headed out for a self-guided car tour of the refuge.

Because of the cold temperature we did most of our bird watching from the comfort of the Tahoe. We tried to find a pair of nesting Bitterns, but were not able to find them. We did log thousands of Snow Geese, four Harriers (a hawk like bird), ducks of every size and variety and probably the rarest bird in the sanctuary we spotted was Greater Yellowlegs, which is a shore bird with a very distinctive beak.

Not quite burnt out on birds we headed over to the J. Kenneth Smith Bird Sanctuary, but about ten minutes into our walk we decided that there were too few birds and way too much cold wind to spend any more time there.

The birds were smart enough to stay out of the cold

With the outdoor touring over we headed to Roswell International Airport to see the Walker Aviation Museum and Research Center we found on the Internet. The two room museum celebrates the history of the airfield, which was once a World War II Army Air Corps airfield and an ICBM base during the Cold War.

The base closed in 1965 (they don’t like LBJ very much here for that reason) and it was turned into a civilian airfield. The field is also home to a lot of stored commercial aircraft, which is affectionately called an airplane boneyard. One of the prize planes in storage was a plane once owned by Elvis Presley, we were told.

There was a very nice collection of model military airplanes and a cabinet full of World War II love letters. Certainly worth the price of admission – free. In fact many of the places we visited in Roswell are free. They do accept donations and we did make a donation at each place.

It wouldn’t be a city tour without a wine tasting so we headed to Pecos Flavors Winery to shop for Joan and our annual auction donation – a gift basket of wine we pick up during our travels and donate to the Family Literacy Center.

One of the displays at the Walker Aviation Museum

While Joan did her wine tasting, this non-drinker went to a nearby store to buy a couple more postcards so we could get a few Roswell, New Mexico post marks for some of our friends and family who collect such things.

Joan purchased a bottle of “Alien” wine and a six-pack of “Alien Ale” for the auction and then we headed to the post office to mail our postcards.

When we arrived at the post office we were No. 22 in line for the two clerks working the counter. But everyone was friendly and the time passed quickly. With the post cards purchased we headed for our last tour stop of the day – The Roswell Museum & Art Center.

What a surprise this place was. First, it was free. Second it was great. They had a section on rocket pioneer Robert Goddard that included his workshop and many of his rocket parts. It was a fascinating look at a man who was ridiculed in America for his ideas about rockets and space travel.


Joan trying some "Alien" wine

There was a video that included an interesting section where German scientist Wernher von Braun credited Goddard with inspiring him and other scientists to pursue his work overseas even when it wasn’t appreciated in his own country.

A reporter once asked Von Braun how he came to invent the V-2 Rocket. “Don’t you know about your own rocket pioneer? Robert Goddard was ahead of us all.”

After touring the Goddard and space section, which included some interesting displays about Harrison Schmitt, the last man to walk on the moon who is a New Mexico native we headed into the art gallery.

There were many great displays, but the one I enjoyed the most was the ceramic art and mixed media art of Eddie Dominguez.

Once again we underestimated a small town and what they have to offer. We were very glad we didn’t miss the RMAC.

As a considerate and early rising RVer we always try to hook up the night before we are going to leave to minimize the noise (car idling, backing, hitch hooking noise, etc.) for our neighbors in the morning. After arriving home for our sightseeing today I hooked us up for a quick departure tomorrow.

Because of the continuing cold temperatures we have not dewinterized the trailer which limits cooking and clean up options. For dinner last night we had cheese and crackers (Joan’s favorite quick meal) and tonight we had ham and cheese sandwiches (my favorite quick dinner) and leftover chicken.

As we close out our visit to Roswell, New Mexico it caused me to reflect on our travel adventures so far.

Rocket pioneer Robert Goddard's last rocket

When Joan and I dreamed of the retirement years and how we wanted to spend them, it first involved family and then it involved travel. In many cases it involves both. Our travels often take us to family and sometimes our travel brings family to us.

From our first trip in the spring of 2009 to Kentucky to our current trek back to Arizona we have discovered big and little treasures in a variety of places. We are constantly amused and amazed at the wonderful things that await us in the most unexpected places.

A little historical museum in an out of the way Kentucky village to a huge natural science museum in Houston have left us with a sense of wonder and satisfaction of having followed our dream.

We have met dozens of wonderful people that we would not otherwise have met. There have been a few dubs, but too few to mention. Setting up the trailer has become very organized with Joan knowing her part and me sometimes remembering all of mine. It is amazing how your confidence and skill increases with practice.

I was looking back over my statistics, which I have faithfully kept since our very first trip and here is what I know so far: RV parks visited (some more than once, one more than twice) 32; Trailer miles pulled 16,298; On our two Tahoes we have logged well over 20,000 miles both with and without the trailer during our travels. 

We have lived in our trailer for the equivalent of nine months during all of our travels.

But it’s not about the miles, it’s about the milestones and we are still racking those up. Our prayer is that whatever your dream is for your future that it will come true for you.

Special are those times when we have met friends and fellow travelers from Michigan in faraway places like two ships passing on similar, but different journeys. Like the night we met my former editor Roger and his wife in Carrabelle, Florida and our church friends Ken and Nancy in Arcadia, Florida for dinner.

One of the beautiful ceramic art pieces by Eddie Dominguez

Interestingly, both those dinners involved picking a place halfway between where we were and they were and both times the restaurants we picked to meet at were closed.  Thank goodness for cellphones as we had to quickly punt for a new place to meet.

Elin and a friend from Boston visited us twice during separate trips to Florida and Diane, Joan’s sister, and her husband, Denny, our brother-in-law, have joined us in Indiana and Texas. We are excited that they will join us again, along with Joan’s youngest sister, Patty, in Tucson.

There have been moments of exhilaration as well as moments of complete anxiety and frustration. For example there was the day we took a boat ride out into the Gulf of Mexico to see a few of the remain rare Whooping Cranes that left us awe struck and then those days when high winds and speeding semi-trucks seemed to conspire to kill us.

Or my very first gas stop on our first trip in 2009 where I sort of forgot how long the trailer was and drove into a regular gas station effectively blocking an entire lane of traffic with the trailer sticking out the driveway in Ohio. I made a lot of people angry that day.

Denny and I will probably never forget, although we’d like to, the time we were lifting the trailer off the hitch in Indiana (remember now this is a 7,000-pound, 33-foot behemoth) and it started to roll backwards only stopping when the emergency brakes activated and locked up the trailer wheels.

Our two wives were inside the trailer, but could not hear us screaming for help.

Despite the few glitches the ride, and I’ll say again so far, has been terrific, everything we thought it would be and more. We are honored that so many of you have been interested enough to join us along the way via Grandma’s Recess.

Before Joan’s father died he encouraged us to explore and travel as much as we could, as soon as we could. His experience was that health problems could sidetrack quickly any ambitious retirement plans. What we are doing is largely in response to that advice.

“There will always be time to sit in your house,” Red told us.

For now the sitting in the house part will have to wait. It’s on to Tucson, Arizona in the morning.

If you scroll down you will see more photos from today's touring.