Our autumn return to Middle California was hastened by increasingly cold sub-freezing weather and the continuing COVID-19 super-surge. After cautiously re-stocking at the Walmart in Livingston (maybe 70% wore masks!), we took two days driving across the Lone Star State, many memories of our 13 years as Texans returning, Proust-like ("all them memories come floodin' back"), many of them good, some not, then entered New Mexico, briefly, and on into Arizona. We'd arranged to visit Montana friends Fred and Lynda for lunch at their home near Tucson, and eventually did, after spending a few days in the national forest hills above Patagonia, very near our Glorious Leader's Big Beautiful Wall, Border Patrol and private security force trucks whizzing by our campsite frequently. Anyhow, after a brief and socially-distanced but wonderful stop in Tucson, we got word of another looming lock-down in California, the Bay area actually jumping the starter gun, and so we made the jump to hyper-speed, arriving in Menlo Park Sunday afternoon. Here began our 2020 fun-filled family Christmas holidays.
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Excellent signage at the Escapees' Rainbow's End, near Livingston, TX
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| Among the more interesting rigs... |
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Our travels since September took us through both the upper and lower
tiers of Trumpistan, a representation of which, now diminished since the
election and its long aftermath, I offer for our readers' edification |
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Somewhere west, or possibly east, of the Pecos, Le Sport turned 100k
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Interesting rocks along the way, reminding us we'd pass by Joshua
Tree NP along the way |
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| Remains of Harshaw, AZ, hyper-ghost town |
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| We were camped but a few hundred feet down the road |
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With Fred Skinner, a former board chair I served in Montana; I swear
we were six feet apart until the photog said move closer together; we
were there, among other reasons, to help celebrate Indiana U Press'
accepting his Beethoven book for publication |
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Unfortunate snake impaled on a cactus in Fred and
Lynda's yard |
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| Excellent signage at an AZ rest area; rest at your own risk |
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Christmas decor in our RV, done by Vicki and grand-
daughter Penelope |
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Still my favorite Xmas decor, our Montana nativity scene, on loan
to Rebecca |
