I would like to begin this post with a sincere apology. I have been absent from this blog space for way too long. I honestly am not sure why. I think I may have been a bit burnt out, and once I missed one week, it became easier to miss the second week. Now, it has been quite a few months, and I am attempting to get back into the swing of things. I am working on getting back into a routine with photography and my blog writing. I may post every two weeks instead of once a week, but we will see. There is a lot to catch up on. I suppose I’ll start with November.
Due to the needs of Aaron’s job, we spent most of the month of November outside of Kansas City. We found a really nice Hip Camp called Lake Georgia Sue to park the rolling house. We were surrounded by horse pastures on one side and a crop field on the other. There was plenty of space for Murphy to run, horses to admire, and beautiful sunsets.
The best part of our time in Kansas City was the time spent with our son, Mason. He was also there for work, and we had some great evenings together. Mason has a really cool hobby of astrophotography. He brought all of his equipment, and spent some time showing us how he finds his subjects in space to photograph. He really took some amazing pictures while we were all out there.
Some of Mason’s equipment.
This is the Heart Nebula that he took while we were there.
The following pictures are a few more from his collection. I don’t think he took these when we were together, but I just have to share them anyway. They are too beautiful not to share. (He gave me permission.)
The Jellyfish Nebula
The Orion Nebula
The Seven Sisters Nebula
We enjoyed several evenings around the campfire, sharing good meals together, and simply spending quality time with Mason.
Another good thing about being in Kansas in November was that we could drive about 5 hours and be in Iowa to spend Thanksgiving with my mom, brother, sister-in-law, and my nephew. Mason came out to the campsite, picked up Aaron, Murphy, and myself, and we headed to Iowa for a few days without the camper.
As usual, when with family, I forget to take many pictures. I was able to grab this one of Murphy playing with my brother’s dog, School Bus. Murphy and Bus had a great time together. My mom and Murphy also got along quite well.
We had fantastic food for Thanksgiving. My nephew, Will, and my brother, Chris, smoked a turkey and a brisket. They did an amazing job. Mom and my sis-in-law, Brenda, made all the delicious sides, and we had wonderful deserts. It was great to have this bonus family time with everyone.
After we got back from our Thanksgiving in Iowa, Aaron and Mason went back to work, and Murphy and I hung out at the camper. I looked out of the window and saw a horse on the wrong side of the fence. He had a halter on, and reins dangling from it, and he was just grazing away.
We got in touch with the property owner to let him know one of the horses was loose. He said it wasn’t a problem, and someone would be around to bring him back where he belonged.
He was a very handsome horse, and very sweet. I went and talked to him, and pet him for a while. He wandered into the field behind us, which is not fenced in. So, I went and grabbed his reins and brought him back closer to the pasture and camper. With multiple pastures and lots of horses, I didn’t want to put him in the wrong pasture, so I just hung out with him and made sure he didn’t wander too far. When one of the horse handlers arrived to take him to his pasture, she told me that his name was Murphy, too. She also told me that Murphy threw off his rider and took off. I guess he was not as sweet as I had thought. I enjoyed my time with the two Murphys anyway.
The weather in Kansas was starting to get cold, with snow in the upcoming forecast, and it was time for Aaron and me to hit the road again. We started driving southwest towards Arizona.
Our last stop on our way out of Kansas was in Meade City. It was free camping in the city park, with a cool small town holiday light display. It was a great park that also offered a free dump station and free potable water.
Our next stop was back to Santa Rosa Lake State Park in New Mexico for a quick overnight. We have been here at least twice before, and knew it would be a nice spot to spend the night.
After a quick night at Santa Rosa Lake, we headed southwest to Alamogordo, New Mexico. We stayed at Oliver Lee Memorial State Park. Alamogordo is home to the world’s largest pistachio. It was a beautiful town in the New Mexico desert.
We enjoyed our stay in New Mexico, but had to keep moving on towards Arizona. We had White Sands National Park to visit, a reservation in Apache Junction, Arizona to get to, and it was now December. Next week, I will share the pictures of our time in White Sands National Park and our stay in Apache Junction at the Tortilla Flats campground. I will leave you with a sneak peek of our drive through White Sands.
Wandering Cindi 