Snow and Aliens

Thursday evening, Friday and Saturday I learned tons at the Time Out for Writers conference in Mesa, AZ. It would take a whole blog page to discuss how much I learned, and what wonderful friends I met. I was so busy learning I forgot to take any pictures. Boo Hoo.

Last day in Mesa, Monday the 27^th, we went miniature golfing. Sadly, Dan won.

Tuesday, we went to Snowflake. The temple was lovely, but we learned where the town got its name. It wasn’t too bad, and we didn’t need chains. I wish we had more time to stay and see the sights, but we were trying to beat the wind in New Mexico. (It didn’t work.) Not enough snow to have fun in, but enough to look beautiful.

Sights along the road to our next stop

Albuquerque, New Mexico is a place we want to visit again. The only thing we got to see was the temple and remains of an ancient volcano in Petroglyph National Monument. We had planned another day, but it was going to be windy, and a high of 38 F. on Friday, not exactly weather to ride on the longest tram in the US, or to camp out in an RV. On the way in, we stopped by Camping World because we didn’t have any water except the drinking water we carry with us. (Broken water hose due to poor instillation by whoever had this RV before.)

On to the aliens—we went to Roswell, NM where something crashed July 4, 1947. Was it aliens, or a secret military project? You decide. The museum was interesting, but I enjoyed the historic museum about a mile up the street just as much. It included Dr. Goddard’s rocket workshop. As usual the experts and government were skeptical of his work and not supportive at all. At the end of WW II, our country captured German rocket scientists and started questioning them and they responded that they should ask our own Dr. Goddard they had stolen information from his work.

Yesterday we arrived in Lubbock, Texas. We visited the temple here. I’ve decided to start a new page and post pictures of temples when I figure out how. I’ll keep about 10.  

We're on Our Way

And off we go!

We have our first week under our belts! My book, Hidden Heritage, is safely at Cedar Fort. I’m thankful for cell phones, so they can still call me when they accept my manuscript.

The road between home and Yuma, our first stop, was different than the boring road to Utah. I guess it’s mostly boring because we’ve seen it so many times over the years.

 

The next place we visited was Safford, AZ, where we went to the temple. There are a lot more people in that area than it looks like.The only way I could tell was because cars filled parking lots. It’s the first time I’ve seen a camp ground in the middle of a business district. It was a comfortable facility. Too bad we didn’t have very much time to look around more; however, I’ll be going to Time Out for Writers here in Mesa starting tonight. (Okay, I'm late posting this, but I wrote it Thursday the 18th.)

We pulled out the extra thick and warm comforter for the first time Tuesday night. It was only 34 F. We turned on the heat when we got up. I love sleeping when my face is cold as long as I have snuggly covers to keep the rest of me warm.

On the way back down, I took Dan’s picture by Gonzales Pass. We think we saw our friends Jeff and Ruth who are riding a tandem bike from the Pacific to the Atlantic this summer. They were waiting for road construction going toward Safford while we were coming from there and going toward Mesa. They had left Glob that morning, and made it to Safford. It must have been them. Too bad we didn’t have time to take a picture. (I don't know where these double spaces came from when I copy/pasted this from Word. )

Today we’re sitting in Camping World because the electrical system is not working whether on the generator the auxiliary or plugged in at a camp ground. At least the lights, stove and refrigerator work off of our auxiliary battery. (We now know whoever put in the sound system didn’t provide a ground for the wires they added.)

Last Minute Preparations

We're getting there. Only 2 1/2 weeks until we take off. We've fixed our heater so our daughter and her family that will be living in our house will be safe. It had a not-so-small gas leak. It took 2 weeks to fix. Naturally it was in a cold snap (yes, we have those here in S. CA). The day after it was fixed, it was almost 80. That's the way life is sometimes.

Dan is off at Camping World getting the RV generator fixed. We've had our share of difficulties, but much better to have them here rather than in the middle of nowhere while on the road. The generator should be the last item to repair.

A son-in-law will be setting up the sattelite for our TV tomorrow. Then all we'll have left is for one of our children to show us how to use the web cam, and the last minute shopping. How spoiled we are, TV, microwave, computer, cell phones, GPS, and more. When we tented it across the country with 7 of our 8 children, we didn't have any of those. None of them had been invented except TV, and they only had antennas for RVs. It's different when you have a family getting away for a few weeks. We're going to be gone 9 months, including during the Olympics.

Hindu Wedding

New Year's resolution # 1. Keep up with my much neglected blog.

Since this blog is about both my writing and travels, I'll start today with my pseudo trip to India. Actually a 4 event adventure to our neighbor's daugher's Hindu Wedding. The first event was on a Friday evening. This is were they henna paint the bride's hands, arms, and feet. Female guests also have the opportunity to be painted, but I declined since it lasts for a couple of months.

The first thing we learned: Do not arrive on time. They were still setting up tables when we arrived. The room was calm with the quiet chatter that goes with a large family who haven't seen each other for a long time, some not for years. A family came to join us at our table. This courtesy was extended at each celebration.

When the line for the henna painting was gone, and people seemed to be standing around in idle chatter, we were informed the noise level would go up when the groom's family arrived. That it did.

We were curious about a warm drink they were passing out to the guests. When they came to our table, we asked if it was alcoholic, and he leaned closer in a confidential manner and just above a whisper said, "No, isn't it a shame?" We told him on the conrtary, wouldn't have any if it was. It was a delicious milk and pistachio drink. I wish I could have had seconds.

We were in for another surprise. The food wasn't hot. Only a couple of the dishes at all 4 events had any heat whatsoever. Our host explained the area of India they were from didn't use that much chilli. I wish I could tell you how delicious the food was, or even tell you what we had. It was all scrumptious.

The second event was Saturday morning. It started at 7:30, but we couldn't make it until ten. When we came in, they were in the middle of a ceremony with the bride and her family using smoke from a small fire. The priest was kind enough to explain many of the steps in English. I wonder if that was for our benifit.

At 11:00 women, I'm sure they were relatives of the bride carried large pots on their heads down the length of their driveway. I can only imagine how heavy they were.

Once again we had to wait for lunch (they had served breakfast before we came) until the groom's family arrived. They were performing some other type of ceremony. Once again the food was outstanding, and plentious.

Saturday evening was dancing. We were admonished to join in early, and found out why. They only did 3 dances all evening long--about 45 minutes each. The reason for starting early, was because gradually without really noticing it, the music got faster and faster. We dropped out before it got to the end. In fact most people had, only a couple dozen of the younger set stuck it out for the whole dance.

For dinner, they had 2 catering trucks, one with pizza and pasta, and the other one Indian food. We chose the Indian food.

Sunday evening, for the actual wedding we had learned our lesson well  by that time. We left in order to be fifteen minutes late, but forgot our camera, so we were actualy half an hour late. No problem, right? Um, er, no. Evidently they start this event on time. People were still milling about, though. They pointed to two empty chairs in the middle of the room where we could sit. There was a shawl on one of them. Sigh. We couldn't see much because of the crowd, however people were standing in the aisle taking pictures, so I did that too.

The ceremony still took a long time, but the room started emptying, so I could get some better shots. Dan wanted to go see what was going on in the other room. Nothing but people meandering around chatting. However, even before the ceremony was over, people were being ushered into the dinning room. We followed them, and as usual a family soon came to sit with us. I couldn't resist taking a picture of their son.

All in all it was a once in a lifetime experience. I've only written a tiny bit of what went on, because nobody wants to sit and read a blog for an hour or two. I gained three pounds in three days--right before Thanksgiving, but it was worth every bite. The joy and love I felt can't be explained. It was a wonderous experience, and if you ever get an invitation, go, and go to all of the events if at all possible.