October 20, 2014 Monday  Phoenix to Las Cruces, New Mexico

We decided to head for Las Cruces, New Mexico.  It was about 400 miles from Phoenix and Cream Puff and Fiona could handle that easily.  We also wanted to see Tucson again and the southern deserts of Arizona.

When we were living out here we often took visitors to Tucson or to Mexico.  In those days there was a real small fishing village at Rocky Pointe, Mexico aka Puerto Penasco.  The students at ASU would go to Rocky Point for quick trips to the beaches of the Gulf of California.  It has one of the largest tide ranges in the world.  At low tide, you would have a mile or so of beach and then, when the tide was up you would have little beach.  It was pretty amazing.  Paul Solomon took his girlfriend down there one weekend and was smooching in the car on the beach only to realize, later on, that the tides were coming up and the tires were under water.  Fortunately, they made it out.  I don't know why they didn't see the water coming up.  Must've been in a deep conversation.  In any event, we used to travel this way from time to time and we wanted to see the area again.

We passed by Casa Grande where the San Francisco Giants had spring training.  Lib's teaching buddy and good friend in Arizona, Diane Downer, ended up eloping with Chris Arnold, a Giant.  We were in the wedding.  As no one else knew they were getting married, I served as ring bearer, best man, and wedding photographer.  They are still married, have two beautiful daughters and live in Colorado.

Onward through the desert and the Saguaro cacti!  Just before you get to Tucson the failed science experiment, the Biosphere is off to the left.  It was an experiment to see if man could live in a totally artificial environment.  I suppose they are thinking we will need to inhabit the moon one day. Anyway, it failed as microbes emerged that "ate" the oxygen faster than it could be generated.  Lib, Michelle and I took the tour 10 years.  Also, this is the area where they filmed a lot of those early westerns that us baby boomers grew up watching on TV.  You know, the black and white films where the bad guys are always running on black horses and the good guys are chasing them on the white horses.  The Tom Mix Memorial is off to our left.  We didn't stop.

We pass by Tucson which is a pretty town.  It is a much quieter and easy-going place compared to the hustle and bustle of Phoenix.  It is also the home of the University of Arizona.  UofA is to ASU as Auburn is to Alabama.  They are big rivals.  Unfortunately, it looks like the UofA has a good football coach.

Soon we are in the plains of New Mexico.  Mountains abound amid open spaces of miles and miles. We pull into the Las Cruces KOA about 4pm.  I start figuring out how to get in touch with one of my first Ph.D. students whom I had not seen in decades.

I go Google and try to find Eric Pratt. Eric had been a Tulane student and decided to go to Ole Miss to get his PhD in business when I arrived there in 1973.  Eric was the first student on whose dissertation committee I served.  He survived my tutelage and went on to have a long career at New Mexico State University. Aha! A hit! I find an entry that Eric Pratt, PhD, University of Mississippi is on LinkedIn.  Ok, now I have to admit that I opened a LinkedIn account years ago just to learn about it.  But, when you try to get out, you can't.  You can read about it on Google.  Its like gum on your shoe.  So, instead of reawakening a LinkedIn account that I hadn't used in 5 years I called my buddy Joe Hair in Atlanta.  Joe was on the faculty at Ole Miss and knew Eric.  Surely Joe had a LinkedIn account.  Well, Joe did but, like me he hadn't used his in a while and he told me it would not let him open Eric's account to get a telephone number or email.  But, not to be foiled, Joe kept looking and found an email address and sent Eric a message to call me.

October 21, 2014 Tuesday  Las Cruces, New Mexico

In the morning, having not heard from Eric, I try the university without luck.  Eric was one of those lucky rascals who was offered an early retirement about 10 years ago that he could not turn down.  So, the current staff at NMSU didn't know how to get him.  So, what to do?  Play golf, of course.

Lib and I played the Red Hawk golf course in Las Cruces on a beautiful day. The photos give you an idea of what the surroundings are like. We also met a couple of young men on the practice tee who are on the Web.com tour and were practicing for an upcoming tournament in Reno.  They were good!

Good posture!  You can see how well manicured the course is and picturesque scenery.

Too much weight on the back side..must get weight to the left foot on follow through!

On the back nine the phone rings.  Its Eric!  He had received Joe's email and called.  We scheduled dinner together.  We were also going to see Eric's wife, Bonnie.  I remembered Bonnie as a redhead and a nurse.  

Back to the RV park, get cleaned up, walk Maggie and we are off to dinner.  We had a great visit. They took us to a nice Las Cruces restaurant.  Warning: these New Mexico-ites can eat HOT chili! But, we didn't let the smoke coming out of our ears spoil the get together.  Eric and Bonnie are doing great!  I remembered Bonnie correctly.  Still a redhead and yes, she was a nurse but had gone back to school, earned an MBA and ended up with a company that took over hospitals that were in trouble and turned them around.  Bonnie was apparently good at this and did this for several years, often having to live separated from Eric.  But, no more.  They are both retired and travel frequently back to the south to see Bonnie's Mom in Louisiana and to go to Ole Miss games.

Eric and Bonnie have one son, Geoffrey.  He is the "apple of their eye" and I can understand why. He graduated in engineering from Ole Miss and was the Outstanding Engineering Major winning the Taylor Award.  He is happily married and works for a sound engineering firm.  

It was great seeing Eric and Bonnie again and we hope to maintain the relationship.  We have already emailed.  They are major league Ole Miss fans and they play Auburn this week at Ole Miss.

Bonnie and Eric Pratt

  

October 22, 2014 Wednesday Off to Somewhere in Texas!

Maggie has been great on the trip.  Let's just say she is mature enough to enjoy all the driving.  In fact, she loves to get in her bed in the backseat.  The bed is raised up so she can see out from time to time but she mostly snoozes.  In fact, we try to get her out in the mornings and play with her around the little yards but she often just heads straight to Fiona and begs to get in!

Maggie waiting for one of us to put her in her seat in Fiona.  

We have changed quite a bit from the beginning of our journey.  We had reservations, sometimes months in advance for RV parks all the way to Montana.  After Glacier National Park we started making reservations days in advance.  Then that dwindled down to just a day in advance.  Now, we felt comfortable just taking off and finding someplace on the road.  Lib would read the Good Sam guidebook and go over the ratings.  When we found something within reasonable distance with a decent rating, we would call ahead.  Never had any problem doing this but we were not exactly staying in well-known places.  Ft. Stockton, Texas was our first stop.

The West Texas countryside was even greener than we remembered it from the past.

At Ft. Stockton we stayed at a nice RV Park.  The very friendly lady manager, with extremely long finger nails, went over the menu with me carefully as I checked in.  She pointed to the adjoining room which was their restaurant.  Menu items were: Fried chicken, Pan fried steak with gravy, Prime Rib, etc.  This was not exactly what two vegetarians were interested in.  I politely told her "we will see."  I learned that phrase from my Mother.  I also knew what it meant: not doing that on your life! 

Tomorrow we are going to try and make it past San Antonio.

Signing off!