Its early 2015… and we’re off traveling the West again. After having spent the 2014 Christmas Holidays with our family back in Michigan, and celebrating our Granddaughter’s 1st Birthday, we left Michigan and drove our ‘toad‘ (tow car) south to Texarkana, Texas where we had left our Motorhome parked a few weeks earlier. Our Winter travel plans for the year? After enjoying a good visit with Alice’s Family in Texarkana, we would drive slowly across Texas… across Southern New Mexico… and eventually find ourselves parked in sunny 😎 Yuma, Arizona.!
But first, before leaving for Yuma… a little more about Texarkana, an important old home place to Alice and I. Texarkana is located directly on the Texas-Arkansas State Line, creating the twin cities of Texarkana, Texas… and Texarkana, Arkansas. This is also right in the middle of a very unique geographical area, known as the ‘Ark-La-Tex’ Region. For our family, we consider the Ark-La-Tex as part of our southern heritage… an ‘old family home’ area, full of cherished memories, people, and places. The blue shade in the map below shows the general geography of the Ark-La-Tex Region:
[mqMap key=”TMF0″ width=”600″ height=”400″ src=”http://www.mapquest.com/embed?icid=mqdist_mb_wp&c=TMF0&maptype=map&zm=7&cr=33.568170868593114,-93.81414103516622&projection=sm&showScale=true”]My New Map[/mqMap]Alice & I first met ‘officially’ in Texarkana in 1971. I was just out of the Marines, driving back home to Michigan via Texarkana , and stopped there briefly to visit my Grandmother, ‘Mamaw’ Morgan… While there I met Alice…and we married 18 months later. Interestingly, both Alice & I were raised in Texarkana as kids in the 1950’s, living just a few miles apart. While we never knew each other, we certainly must have ‘crossed paths’ many times. My family left for Michigan when I was 9 years old… but in the early 60’s I came back several times to spend Summers with ‘Mamaw’ Morgan. And I think for sure… in 1962… Alice threw popcorn at me at the Paramount (Perot) Theater during the Summer kids program of “Thursday morning movies – Kids get in Free for 6 RC bottle Caps”. And she missed! 😉
When our children came along in the 1980’s, we continued the Tradition, going back to Texarkana (from Michigan) several times a year to keep them well acquainted with their Southern Heritage in the Ark-La-Tex… and with grandparents Mamaw & Papaw Ragsdell.
Texarkana has an unusual background for a Southern town. It was established in 1873 as a Railroad Town, when the Texas & Pacific railroad, and the Cairo & Fulton railroad, joined together at the Texas-Arkansas State Line. Prior to that, the area was part of the Great Southwest Trail, used by Indians & early Explorers when traversing the Mississippi Valley to Southwest regions… also known to Spanish Explorer Hernando de Soto who in 1542 camped at Texarkana’s Spring Lake Park, taking advantage of the natural springs there.
Texarkana’s iconic image, the U.S. Post Office & Federal Building, is shown below. It straddles the Texas-Arkansas State Line, and serves both side’s cities & States.
Texarkana’s U.S. Post Office and Federal Building. Note the ‘Texas side‘… and the ‘Arkansas side‘. This is the site of a famous Postcard from back in the 1930’s… “Man in Arkansas and his Ass is in Texas“,
The picture below-right is of the building at a distance… and taken from about 25′ inside Texas. Note the Civil War ‘Confederate Mothers Monument‘, placed here in 1918 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Most interesting is the wording of the inscription on the Base. Note the use of apocalyptic words… ‘tribute pay‘… ‘hero-sons‘… ‘darkest hour‘… ‘broken swords and guns!‘… showing the emotion & pain still felt even 50+ years after the Civil War had ended. Amazing.
Picture of the U.S. Post Office Building from State Line Avenue, taken about 25′ from inside Texas. Note the Civil War Statue of a Confederate Soldier, and a Confederate Mother in the middle… As a small boy I remember my Father placing me on the middle ledge of this statue in order to watch “Decoration Day” parades Dad was the local DAV Post Commander, and I spent time with him in this Building, visiting with then Congressman Wright Patman about Veteran’s issues.
Base Inscription
“O Great Confederate Mothers, we would print your names on monuments, that men may read them as the years go by and tribute pay to you who bore and nurtured hero-sons and gave them solace on that darkest hour, when they came home with broken swords and guns!“
After several days visiting with Family, it came time to load up the motorhome, hitch up the Honda ‘toad‘, and leave Texarkana, heading for Yuma. First day, we made it to the Thousand Trails – Lake Tawakoni RV park east of Dallas, where we encountered heavy rain… After waiting a couple days for dry weather, we drove on to Gatesville, Texas just beyond Waco, where we boondocked next to the river in their very quiet & peaceful City Park as shown below.
Fauntleroy City Park, Gatesville, Texas. We are parked next to a ‘River Branch’ with lots of wildlife & birds.
We left Gatesville and drove Texas backcountry highways… South & West… past San Angelo… to Ozana, Tx, on I-10, where we spent the night parked in the parking lot of the local Chamber of Commerce. With a nice motorhome… generator… Satellite TV… internet hotspot… We were as snug as a bug in a Texas rug. Next overnight stop was further West on I-10… little wide spot just off the interstate, within sight of Mexico and close to Tornillo, Texas. We are using the Escapee’s “Days End” directory to plan ahead for free overnight boondocking spots.
Boondocking site close to Tornillo, Texas. Mountains in Mexico are in the background. We overnighted here last year, and recalled it as a easy off/on parking area.
After overnighting in Tornillo, Texas, we continued west, navigating the ‘loop’ around the North end of El Paso, which is subject to very heavy I-10 thru traffic. After passing El Paso, and a couple more pleasant hours driving west on I-10 (seeing some recent snow in the process), we came to Deming, New Mexico where we planned on spending a couple nights hooked up in the Escapees “Dream Catcher” RV Park there. This fits our preferred pattern of travel… drive 3 – 4 days, then rest a day.
Looking out the back of our parked Motorhome… this mountain to the South of Deming, NM, is close to New Mexico’s Rockhound State Park, a well known park area among rock hounds.
During our ‘Rest Day’ at Deming, Alice and I chose to drive up to Silver City, 50 miles North of Deming. This is a very Arts & Crafts oriented town with a visible smalltown College presence provided by Western New Mexico University. Note the next picture… ‘Old Downtown Silver City’…and the colorful look of the buildings…
The colorful look of ‘Old Downtown Silver city’ shows it Arts & Crafts side. A very pleasant town to visit, all in all. Click Here for a map showing location of Silver City in New Mexico.
About 6 miles to the North of Silver City is the small town of Pinos Altos (Spanish for ‘Tall Pines‘), an old silver & gold mining town founded in 1860 and located along the Continental Divide (7,067 ft). Many of the old original adobe buildings are still standing… along with the homes of more ‘recent’ arrivals. The two pictures below are of the Norton Store, built around 1890 on the site of an older hotel. There is much history in this mountain town of Pinos Altos, and Alice and I will return someday to spend a full day exploring.
Norton Store – Click to enlarge.
Norton Store… Adobe brick, built 1890.
Norton Store… and Ice Cream Parlor.
Post Office… and now an Ice Cream Parlor.
After resting a day in Deming… we pushed further west on I-10, to a planned boondock stop in Vail, Arizona. Again, we have stayed here before… as it is a very comfortable & large parking area behind Vail Steakhouse (known for its great food!) We met some good friends here, Mo and Judy Jones, and enjoyed a pleasant evening meal and get together. Vail, AZ is located in between Benson, AZ, and Tucson, AZ, with an easy on/off to I-10.
Parking for the night… at the back parking lot for Vail Steakhouse, Vail, AZ. A great meal, and a good night’s rest!
The next day, we made it to our intended destination… Pioneer RV Park, located in Wellton, AZ. We chose to stay here on the East side of the mountains from Yuma (20 miles away), as it is reputed that the wind is generally less breezy and it is easier to sit out under RV awnings. (This did turn out to be correct, in our estimation). This is a nice RV Park, with large well constructed lots, and very nice amenities such as a swimming pool, trails, exercise room, etc. We have also met a LOT of Canadian snow birds, great folks who spend the Winter here. They are a jovial group, and have a ‘happy hour’ every day starting around 4:00 PM… gathering lawn chairs at someone’s Rig… right after the daily round of golf gets completed, of course!
Made it! Jim sitting out at Pioneer RV Park, 20 miles East of Yuma… enjoying the sun and warm temperatures… and getting ready for a camp fire – first one of the year!
We hope you enjoyed our post on this trip. We made essentially the same trip the last two years in a row… with the destinations being other parts of Arizona than Yuma. But it is funny… how a slightly different time of year, or perhaps just a ‘new trip’… seems to introduce new sights, scenes, and experiences. Such was the case again this year.
Please feel free to leave comments, or ask questions.Thank You!
Jim & Alice LaPeer
Jim, Alice: We have enjoyed your blog tremendously over the last few years. I have just now retired from Steelcase-this being my first day off, and will wait for Denise to do the same. Hopefully we can travel this great land and see in person what you have so graciously shown us. When you are in town we need to get together over dinner and talk.
Love Ken & Denise Marsh
Thanks, Ken, for the nice comments.
And Ken – Congratulations on the Retirement! you and Denise are going to love it. We will be back in town this Fall sometime… and for the Holidays for sure. We would be glad to have dinner or coffee and talk ‘traveling’.
Take care
Jim & Alice
What a great blog post and I really enjoyed learning about yours and Alice’s common history. All that sunshine is making me very jealous as I sit here in snow country just waiting for slring to arrive!
Hi Kim. Glad you enjoyed the post. Hehe, yes, Alice and I really do have a ‘meant to be’ background… 44 years later, we marvel about that a lot. And the sunshine down here in the Yuma area is absolutely awesome. Next Winter, we will be coming back for sure… then Sedona for the Spring months. Hope to run into you guys down the road sometime. Lets stay in touch.
Love the “journey” with you both. It was wonderful seeing you in January and look forward to more visits with my family. Be safe in your adventures and enjoy every moment under that great big sky! Love to you both…Jan
Thanks sooo much for this great up to the minute details of your lovely trip to AZ. WISH we had chosen AZ instead of Rio Grande Valley in TX. It is colder here this year than last year, and hardly see the sun shine. I’ve had the crud three times, starting Christmas. Prating for warmer weather.
Harold has taken up golf and enjoys it alot.
Blessings to you, The Hintze’s