A Visit to the Land of Enchantment

One week ago tomorrow Sheila and started my third road trip since retiring.  We wanted to retrace the route we took back in August 2016, but with one major difference:  overnighting for two nights in Silver City NM.  Like the last time, day one was spent driving to Deming, where we stayed at the Comfort Inn & Suites, as we did in 2016.  For the evening meal we walked over to the family-run El Camino Real Mexican restaurant........which was of the New Mexico style, my favorite.

The enchiladas I had were almost nightmare grade, which I mean in a good way.  Beyond zing and almost rocket fuel.  In New Mexico, the custom is to have eggs served on top of your enchiladas, which I did.  The next morning it was off to Silver City, with a stop at City of Rocks State Park, which I recommend.

The next stop was the Bayard Food Basket, a local supermarket, where we got some items and beverages for our stay in Silver City.  After getting back to the truck, I kept thinking about that large package of dried Hatch chilis.  I went back, bought a bag, after we ate a somewhat late lunch at a Mexican/Salvadorean restaurant called La Mexicana.  

Our stay in Silver City was the historic Murray Hotel.  It was our first time in a historic hotel, and we liked it.  The only drawback is you have to hope there is street parking nearby and finding it was a challenge.  We fortunately landed a spot within half a block, but we also knew that we couldn't dare do any side trips or we would lose that spot.  That was OK, we wanted a full day downtown, so we booked two nights.

While there I did some online research about those chili pods.  Now that I have them, what do I do with them?  I found a recipe for chili sauce from scratch, and I thought I had better buy more bags of these.  On our way out we stopped at the Silver City Food Basket, where I picked up three more bags.  It was slow, so the cashier gave me a quick rundown on how she makes chili sauce from them.  I intend to be making a batch in the near future, with near future meaning this week.  I also picked up some hot sauce brands that I don't see here in Tucson, so as you're guessing my home cooked meals are having a Southwestern twist to them.

Saturday we drove to Willcox, where we stayed for the night.  Lunch was at Big Tex BBQ, which I highly recommend.  We spent Sunday morning driving to the Chiricahua National Monument where God's signature is all over the creation that is found there.  The rock formations are unique.......towering cylindrical shapes that reach up to the sky!  That afternoon we were back in Tucson, and I've spent today mostly resting.  

We love road trips, but it's really great to be home.  Our next trip hasn't been planned yet, but I'm guessing we will visit Laughlin NV, Oatman AZ, and if my cousin's available, we'll stop off and see her in Lake Havasu City where she and her husband now spend their winters.  

There's not very much else to report, and that's a good thing.  I have some projects to take care of, and I want to spend some time on the air.  

Retirement is great!  I miss some of my co-workers, but not the corporate crap.  I won't rule out going back next year as a part time consultant.  

11/3/25: A Warm Monday in the Old Pueblo

One great thing about living in Tucson is the mild winters.  Those of you up north or back east probably don't want to hear me tell you that we are in the mid 80s this afternoon.  The sky is clear with a few clouds here and there, and the desert is just as beautiful as it ever was.

There really isn't much in the way of news to pass along, so it's going to be random thoughts this afternoon.

One of my retirement projects has been re-reading an anthology collection of history articles back when I was taking History at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose.  We had a great history teacher, a Mr. Ron Zarcone, who was a gifted lecturer and made it interesting.  I have kept almost all of my college textbooks since, and these two anthology volumes were on the re-read list.  I haven't read these since 1977.  Although all were not assigned reading, all of them are interesting, as I am working my way thru articles of what Christopher Columbus really knew before sailing across the ocean, details about indentured servitude, and the Salem Witch Trials.  It makes me wish I had continued studying history after college, and although I have read some books about history I have only scratched the surface.  That's one favorite activity.

Another is going thru my coin collection, but that's been on pause these past few weeks.  I have had to work on two necessary projects recently, and one was taken care of last week.  The other big one?  Not much left to do on that one except for a phone appointment with a senior manager helping to get my second pension activated.  

And as you might guess, ham radio has kept me busy too.  We had really great band conditions during a major worldwide contest the last weekend of last month, and I picked up two new countries.  The 10 meter band was the best I've ever heard it in a half century of this hobby.  A total of 48 countries were worked, thanks to the sunspots and low geomagnetic activity.

I said half a century.  It isn't lost on me that I have many memories that are half a century old or more.  I was still in high school, taking electives in electronics, and fifty years ago at this time we were preparing to move from Virginia to California.  I did not intend to stay in San Jose for as long as I did, but a lot of the memories there are good too, and two lifetime friends were made there.

Now here I am in Tucson, retired, and still not missing work.  It was a great field to be in and I lived really well because of it.  I don't miss a lot of the corporate crap that I went thru.  It was fun, but there were times when it was brutal.  Now I go back to it if I want to, and this time in an advisory capacity.  The thought of doing that is intriguing, but not until I catch up on some things and do some more fun stuff.

With that, I think it's time to wrap this post up.