While we were in Las Cruses, we visited the adorable nearby town, Mesilla, New Mexico.
We spent some time in the area they call Old Mesilla. It has history back to the early 1800s and is filled with gorgeous old adobe buildings that feature shops and our favorite, local restaurants. Don’t get me wrong, I love the shops too, we just don’t have the room for my old shopping habit while on the road. When we buy one thing to put in the RV something else has to get taken out and Tim is tired of me throwing out his stuff.
One evening we had dinner at La Posta de Mesilla. We had outstanding margaritas and Mexican food that felt like someone’s Abuela was in the back cooking for us. La Posta is known for having the largest tequila selection in the Southwest. It is good that I didn’t discover that until after we had left. I might have had to try a few in addition to the margaritas!
Doesn’t this look amazing?The restaurant is so cute too!
Another evening we enjoyed a meal at the Double Eagle Restaurant. Double Eagle is in an old haunted house. The story goes that the teenage son of the first owners, Armando Maes, fell in love with the beautiful Inez who served as one of his mother’s servants. The two young lovers hid their romance from his mother, but the whole town knew. When Armando’s mother caught them in his room, she fell into a rage and killed first Inez and then accidentally Armando with a pair of her sewing shears. It is said that the forbidden couple haunts the home until this day.
We had a delicious meal including a Caesar salad made table side. We were too full from the salad and our wonderful steaks to try the table side Bananas Foster, but we watched it being made from across the room. Fun!
Yum!Ghosts? Seems right. There is a second restaurant in the building. Peppers serves Tapas. Is that a ghost in the mirror?
Another amazing find in Mesilla is the Old Mesilla Kennel. I normally cringe at any pet boarding/spa place that calls itself a kennel, but I do see it used more in the west.
Reba desperately needed a more thorough bath than we can give her in the RV and Old Mesilla Kennel was highly recommended by people we met at the RV park. And they were so right! The groomer (I believe the owner) was incredible with Reba and she looked so beautiful when we picked her up!
These pictures do not come close to showing you the majesty of Carlsbad Caverns.
When you go, and you NEED to go, make sure to make a reservation on the recreation.gov website. Tim and I were too late to take the ranger led King’s Palace Tour.
We were able to get tickets for the self guided tour which gave us about a 2 1/2 mile adventure into the caverns. We will definitely come back some day to take the King’s Palace Tour as well. The Kings Palace Tour goes to the deepest levels of the cavern and does require you to exit through an eight story climb.
Timmy – ready to head in!
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is in the Chihuahuan Desert of the Guadalupe Mountains near Carlsbad, New Mexico.
The mouth of the cave.
We decided on the natural entrance route, a 1 1/4 steep and moderately strenuous hike to the Big Room route. The view above is from the start of the trail and below are several pics as we descended. The natural entrance goes down 750 feet and is said to be the traditional explorers’ route.
Many, many levels down to the entrance.
The ranger let about 20 of us go down at a time, to help keep us spaced.
Looking back at the entrance. No going back now!
I’d recommend hiking boots or very sturdy tennis shoes for the hike. It was not wet when we were there, but the trail can be slippery. There are handrails throughout the path and we were glad to have them. I think they are partially there to help steady guests, but also to keep people from “exploring” areas that might be dangerous.
Each of these beautiful formations took millions of years to develop.
The natural entrance leads to the Big Room route. This is an additional 1 1/4 mile self guided tour. The Big Room is 8.2 acres that is beautifully lit and pretty level. If you can’t manage the much more strenuous natural entrance, you can take an elevator to the Big Room. We saw several people with canes and other assistance here.
Timmy found a few “perches” one the way.
The cavern is usually about 56 degrees, so even if it is scorching hot outside, bring a sweatshirt or jacket. We were glad to have them.
When you pick up your tickets, grab a map and guide that gives you incredible information about how this wonder came to be. Here are a few highlights. Carlsbad Caverns began developing about 265 million years ago as a mile long reef through what would become New Mexico and west Texas. The sponges and algae compressed into limestone. Millions of years, tectonic shifts, cracks, and rainwater created holes that filled with salts. Then 15-20 million years ago faults, air, hydrogen sulfide gas, sulfur and gypsum created the huge chambers of today.
The “decorations” of stalactites, stalagmites and other formations were created over the past 500,000 years.
These pictures simply can’t show the majesty.
The brochure says that these draperies hang where water ran down a slanted ceiling and deposited layers of calcite.
Above our heads – many stories tall
Some of these incredible “decorations” started with a single grain of sand that became cave pearls, lily pads, popcorn and helictites.
So much beautyWe ducked and climbed and peeked everywhere we couldI can never remember if stalactite or stalagmite is the one from the ceiling.
Another activity we missed this time was the flight of the bats. Each evening from spring through October, thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats fly from the cave to eat insects. We will defiantly make sure our next visit is timed right to experience that!
We try not to travel more than four hours a day, so we made three stops while traveling through Texas on our way to the western national parks.
In early March, not much is blooming and the chance of winds and storms is pretty good in this gigantic state, so we planned short stays at each location. We learned that there is not much to do in smaller towns in Texas and apparently AT&T hates Texas. We were lucky to have two bars through the entire state.
Our first stop was Lakeshore RV Resort in Garland, Texas. Garland is just outside of Dallas and I should have expected a very urban park, but the name and the website had me fooled.
Reba leading the pack at Lakeshore RV Park
The park is nestled underneath monster highway interchanges, across a large road from Lake Ray Hubbard. Getting to the lakefront was a bit challenging and it was not a place I was comfortable walking Reba by myself. For an urban RV park though, it was very nice. The clubhouse and other amenities were beautiful. The laundry area was clean and spacious and inexpensive. They had three dog parks that were well maintained. And the staff was wonderful. They helped us out with an issue we had getting a part for our RV sent to us.
And guess what?!? In Texas I learned how to install an auto level relay board! Pretty proud of that accomplishment.
This is the busted one – The new one is installed and working great!
Our second stop was Abilene. The KOA Journey was simple, but nice. Reba was a fan of the dog park. It was large enough for a game of ball and there were some dog pals to play with.
We went to the Abilene State Park for a hike around Lake Abilene. It was about a three mile hike and while the lake was very low, the surrounding area was pretty. About half way through our hike the wind kicked up and that was the start of what we will affectionately call the last windstorm we will spend in Texas – ever! 🙂
After leaving the hike we happened upon an adorable little town called Buffalo Gap, Texas. We stopped in the Country Market. They sell meats from the famous Perini Ranch Steakhouse, which is just down the road and has been honored as an America’s Classic by the James Beard Foundation. We did not know about this amazing restaurant before we came, so we were not able to get a reservation while we were in the area. Next time! We did buy four ribeyes from the Country Market. They are in the freezer – will let you know how they turn out!
The Country Market is adorable. The English Grandma showed me around. I’d have bought one of anything if I had any room in the rig!Yes, a metal armadillo in the parking lot of the restaurant! We drove in to see if perhaps they were serving lunch – nope!
We stopped by Buffalo Gap Historic Village on the way back to the campground. It is a compilation of historic buildings from the area.
I drove from Abilene to Odessa and the wind was blowing. We went all the way without a stop, which turned out to be a good thing because the storm kicked up a ton once we got there.
It was a full out sand storm. The rig and the truck need a bath for sure!
Not much in Odessa to write home about. On to New Mexico and Carlsbad Caverns next!!
In two days we will be celebrating a full year on the road in our 2022 Alliance 310. We thought we’d share with you some of the highlights and lowlights in a series of very short blog posts titled “How do you Measure a Year – of Travel?”
We have started a list of things to cover, such as how many miles we have driven, how many stops we have made, what lessons we have learned.
If you have any questions about our time on the road, drop them in the comments!
Here is our first one.
How many miles have we driven the rig so far?
Which way?Welcome to Louisiana!Don’t you know it’s dangerous to ride with your leg up?Timmy at the wheel!Timmy at sunset!This ass hat pulled in front of us…Rainbows!Rainbows all around!Smoky Mountain rig selfieIt’s warm!
We started out when we picked up our rig in Elkhorn, WI on March 14th, 2022. We have driven the rig just under 9,000 miles. While we tried our best to stay on interstate highways, there were occasional trips through small towns and through hills and valleys. There was even one turn around in a shopping center parking lot.
Tim drove the vast majority of these miles, but I have convinced him that I should be able to drive in case of an emergency, so I have done one leg from mid Florida to the panhandle and I’ll be taking the wheel from Abilene to Odessa, Texas next!
At the wheel with the rig in tow!
Those are just the miles of moving the rig while attached to our Ford F350. We got the truck a couple of months before we picked up the Alliance and it is our get around vehicle after we drop off the rig at an RV Park. It has taken us to many beautiful sites and on all of our errands! The truck has just over 30,000 miles on it so far!
Todays leadership lesson: Deliver bad news from the top.
Deliver it clearly, early and with empathy and compassion for those affected. Then do everything in your power to minimize the damage.
This is important in every aspect of your business. But it is MOST important when the bad news affects your customers.
Which way to customer service?
In this day and age, customers are rarely loyal to the point of allowing a company to not deliver the products or service they were promised in an honest, respectful way. There are simply too many alternatives and too many ways for customers to share their displeasure with the world.
I do see small businesses breaking this rule, but more regularly it’s large corporations with many, many layers of management that forget how important it is to deliver bad news properly.
Bad news happens. Equipment fails. Parts or inventory is on back order. Staff make mistakes. It happens. It’s what you do about it that will affect your reputation forever.
Why the leadership lesson in the midst of a 20 month RV trip?
Maybe it’s easier to see incredible lapses in leadership when you are not in the thick of a day to day leadership role yourself. Maybe I just have more time to observe. Or maybe I’m getting cranky in my old age.
Tim and I have visited over 50 RV parks so far and by the time we are back in Florida in November we will have visited nearly 100. I’ve seen the best of the best (check out Bay Bayou in Biloxi) where the ownership works every day to make sure their customers want to come back. And we have seen some places that COULD be incredible, but the corporate leadership have made decisions that are short thinking at best and reputation destroying at worst.
Looks good from here!
The soon to be Margaritaville Breaux Bridge near Henderson, LA is likely going to be a pretty cool place in a few months. However, when we booked our week’s stay, it was still under the previous ownership and called Cajun Palms.
We expected what we booked, a nice, slightly older resort park with decent sized sites, pools, hot tub, a dog park, a camp store and and laundry. We expected some sort of evening/night staff to insure that quiet hours were respected and that campers felt safe.
What we got was an E mail notice about the park selling to new ownership and rebranding Margaritaville. We were kind of excited about it. We had not stayed at a Margaritaville park yet. All of their correspondence to us talked about the rebranding, but said nothing at all about the condition of the park.
Hardly anyone here – I wonder why?
When we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised that the park was not very full. Sadly, that should have been our first warning. It was not full because they have all their pools and water features and their clubhouse under construction. No hot tub. No dog park. A majority of the laundry facilities are not in working order.
The camp store is fine, but when questioned about the lack of promised infrastructure, the staff has been instructed to tell visitors that notification about the construction was “in the fine print” of the E Mails we received.
Then Friday night came. This park does have their bar open on Friday and Saturday night and the weekend campers did show up. The park was about 40% full for the weekend. It was kind of nice to have some neighbors.
Sadly not all the neighbors were nice. The park had booked a huge group in the apartment style facilities near us. This group started partying in the early evening and the pounding music, screaming and obscenities continued until nearly 3am. There was little to no security on site and more than one camper said they did not feel safe at all. We just hunkered down in our rig and put in earplugs.
When I went to the office/store in the morning to discuss the issue, I was told “it was just a family reunion, no big deal.” I tucked the Karen inside me back down and quietly told them that this “family reunion” was more like a rager and shared some of activities I saw which included in addition to the excessive drinking, screaming and obscenities, golf carts filled with kids just dropping wrappers and juice boxes throughout the park. The guy next to me at the counter shook his head in agreement. He’s the kind of customer who won’t say anything unless someone else does. He will just never come back.
The supervisor was supposed to be in at 9am so I left my number and asked for a call back that, of course, never came.
Enough campers complained, so they did get security out to the group before Saturday night fell and things were much more reserved the second night. I asked a security guard about the situation and he shook his head as he mentioned that security staff hours had recently been cut back so that’s why it got out of hand the first night.
One other very nice staff member who had been working at the park over the years just sighed when I asked about the new management. “It’s different,” they said.
I have to guess that their employees were also not told the bad news clearly, early and with empathy and compassion. I hope for them that all the good team members will not leave before they get their act together.
On a good note, it looks like the constructions is in full swing and the park should be better in a couple of months. But you had better believe that if we ever stay at a Margaritaville again, I will double and triple check that what they promised us when we registered, will in fact be in place when we arrive. Their reputation is not safe with me.
Market Screener says that the property is owned in a joint venture between Northgate Resorts and EPR Properties. My guess is the group has many layers of management with someone stuck firmly in the middle deciding to hide the bad news in the fine print and to train the staff to just shrug when customers are not happy.
I sure wish someone on their board of directors or in their C Suite had been camping near us on Friday night. And that they planned to take their pup to the dog park while they did laundry. If were, I’ll bet they would make changes quickly.
We spent two beautiful weeks at Biloxi Bay RV Resort at the end of February. If you are traveling with your pup, we highly recommend this dog-friendly resort. If you don’t have a pup in your life, you will still have a great time!
We happened to be here over Mardi Gras. I wish I could say I planned it that way, but I had no idea when we booked the site. The weekend of Mardi Gras (it’s a whole week in Mississippi – the kids are off school) the resort was pretty full. It didn’t get rowdy, just pleasantly crowded. Everyone was respectful and kind.
Most sites are paved with a concrete patio and are easy to access, with robust hookups. There are a few sites in the back that are still gravel and those are well kept and clean.
Biloxi Bay has a huge pavilion/bar area that is right next to the walk in pool and hot tub and right along the private beach. They have a food truck that is open on the weekends and while we did not eat there, we hear the food is good.
The pavilion is open 24 hours a day and is DOG FRIENDLY! They staff and open the bar on the weekends at this time of the year.
Even the beach is DOG FRIENDLY!
Timmy and the pavilionPool from the beachPool overlooking beach
We went to the parade in nearby D’Iberville. The resort had a float in the parade and several of the campers were on hand to throw beads to the crowd. It was a fun, family friendly event.
Flowers and beadsIt was family friendly no flashing!Simple fun floats
And the dog park is large enough for the pups to run their little hearts out. We met the nicest people in the dog park.
Reba and Bear – Bear’s pawrents are Alliance owners too!Newfoundland – (I think Bailey) Reba and Fergus were besties.This is where Reba got her new hair color – Mississippi Red
Biloxi Bay has built a lazy river and is in the process of building a small water park/pad that should be open in the next few months. Pickle ball courts are coming too.
The Lazy River was closed (cold) so this is a view from outside the fence.
The laundry is small and FREE, so it was hard to get into, but there is a huge laundromat just down the road. (Check out Cheeta Laundromat for the fastest washers and dryers I have ever used).
On Sundays they have a pot luck. The resort provides the simple main course and everyone brings a side dish or dessert. We were lucky enough to be able to try a Jack Daniels fudge that was incredible!
Tim met two guys who had sites near us and was able to join them for a fishing charter with Captain Mike and they brought back some delicious Sheepshead. We had one meal with the group and have plenty left in the freezer for a meal or two as well.
Made some friends, caught some fish!
On Sundays, Marty, one of the owners of the resort, runs a short devotional in the pavilion and they serve donuts to anyone who stops. in. It is a nice, peaceful addition to their resort.
The resort is just outside of Ocean Springs, Mississippi where you can get a spectacular meal (see the post about Vestige) and do some shopping in their quaint downtown. And just across the water from many, many Biloxi casinos.
Tim and I spent some time (and money) at Beau Rivage. The buffet there was just OK, but the casino is fun and the drinks are free, so we will definitely be back to try to win some of our cash back!
If you are in the area, you really should spend some time at Biloxi Bay RV Resort. If you do, let us know what you think!
I have an important piece of advice for anyone who is going to their first ever Mardi Gras parade. But first, here are a few pictures from the parades we enjoyed in D’lberville and Biloxi, Mississippi.
Getting started in Biloxi! Simple but colorful floatsFamily friendly paradeBeads, flowers and more!
The two parades we went to were very family friendly affairs. Marching bands, simple and colorful floats filled with smiling faces from all generations.
There were littles and grandmas waving, young men showing off their throwing skills, and women decked in purple green and gold tossed beads and trinkets to the crowd.
Beautiful floatMy favorite horsesBands and floats
So what is the advice for first time Mardi Gras parade goers? Don’t put ALL the beads on your neck! Grab a bag (they will throw bags to you) and put most of them in there. Those beads are HEAVY! And when you have just thrown them over your head like I did, they get tangled when you try to take them off. It was a hard 20 pounds to lose! LOL!
Did I add more beads? You bet I did!
That bag on my arm is now sitting outside the rig with about 30 pounds of beads in it. Anyone want some?? Got any good craft ideas?
In Pensacola we mentioned to a young waitress that we were headed towards Biloxi. She said that we absolutely had to try a restaurant in nearby Ocean Springs called Vestige.
Thank you, thank you for your recommendation!
As soon as we got to Biloxi Bay RV Resort, Tim booked a reservation for one of nine tables in the dining room.
Vestige offers a multi course tasting menu by Chef Alex Perry. Chef Perry was a semi finalist in the Best Chef, South Category James Beard Awards.
Vestige’s website says their food is inspired by techniques and flavors of Japan. Chef Perry’s wife Kumi Omori grew up there and she creates all of their breads and desserts.
Their menu changes monthly according to our waitress, although it can change as often as daily as they use only what is fresh and available.
So, what did we have?
We started off with a glass of Mumm champagne since it’s still my birthday month and why not?
The wait team got us started right away with an appetizer of chutoro tuna sashimi, foie gras, freshly grated wasabi purple sweet potato jam and marinated rose petals.
Look at the pretty edible flowers and the foie gras…OMG
Our second course was a pork belly, carrot kimchi, shaved black truffles, uni & carrot kosher hot sauce, and a black truffle veil. Pork belly is one of my favorite foods and this was the best of the best.
The truffle veil was so delicate – and delicious!
The room was small and for the most part quiet with the exception of the gal in the red shirt you see in the background. She decided at one point to regale us with a water glass/silverware concert. Thankfully someone else at her table told her this was probably not the time and place to share her talents.
Course three was an ora king salmon, with poached rhubarb, bel fiore radicchio, kaluga caviar and white miso-whey butter.
Beautiful presentation – look at the caviar “flowers”
Then came the bread and butter! I love that this came in the middle of the meal. The winter carrot multigrain/gougeres miso & sorghum syrup was delicious and each of the three different breads was amazing. I particularly loved the little “popover.”
This felt like a popover to me – not sure what it is actually called!
The robata charcoal grilled wagyu beef with black trumpet mushroom purée, fermented cabbage, roasted scarlet turnips and lovage was the next course. The beef was perfectly prepared and the sauce was dense and incredibly fragrant. Google tells me robata is short for robatayakin which means fireside cooking.
Of course the meal ended with a fabulous dessert. We had a local a honey Bavarian with strawberries, grapefruit lemon curd, matcha buttercream, shaved almonds and a dusting of chocolate.
Look how pretty the plate is!
We had an amazing experience and unbelievably, this meal was just $92 per person plus tax, tips and the champagne and cocktails we also ordered.
If you are anywhere near Biloxi make a reservation. We will be back many times.
Reba here. I have decided to start a new product line. It’s hair color for dogs.
I created this particular shade by mixing a special grit of dog park dirt with the finest Mississippi mud I could find.
Mom says the application process was probably critical to this hair color’s longevity. I started with a base of golden retriever slobber, I added a layer of puddle water and then I rolled each strand over and over and over in the coloring agents.
I think I did a particularly good job on my front paws.
Mom and Dad happened upon a very special neighborhood while staying at Pensacola Beach RV Resort.
We found this private beach!
From our RV park mom and dad could load me in the truck and we can be there in just ten or fifteen minutes and they have not one, but TWO DOG PARKS!
The first one we tried out is actually a dog beach with a few hundred feet of shoreline. The water is pretty clear and mom can chuck the ball out for me over and over and over and over and over and….well you get the idea.
The first time we were there I did a great job swimming out, grabbing the ball and bringing it back to mom. The next time, there were so many dogs that I got distracted between getting the ball and the bringing it back part, but it was still tons of fun!
As we were leaving the first day, mom saw that there was a second large dog park in the middle of the park (no beach) but filled with so many dogs! I ran and ran and ran and ran and because the park is tiered I got a chance to show off my jumping skills too!
Look at me “hup!” (you humans call this jumping)
Then the next day mom and dad found and other part of this cool neighborhood, the Bay Bluffs park. We walked (I pulled) down the boardwalk and steps to a very quiet beach and we were able to walk and swim a little there too.
Mom was gushing about how cute the houses were in the neighborhood and she said that they were priced pretty good too. Too bad none of our family lives nearby or I think she would have started house shopping and I could live my life at these parks!
