Greetings from Casa Grande, AZ

Ta dah! Here I am again in Casa Grande. I'll be in California in a few days for a few days. New Mexico was quite nice. Nice weather, beautiful open spaces and nice people. From Albuquerque I headed south and then took hwy 10 west. There weren't too many border patrol vehicles, like I thought there would be, but there were a lot of billboards highlighting border issues. In Casa Grande, there are a lot of border patrol cars and SUVS. At least they can't give speeding tickets.
Here are some pictures of the latest leg of my USA tour.

Hatch, New Mexico. Chile harvest is on and the whole town smells like chilies. They ae even dried on the roofs. 

This is the most unusual rest stop I encountered on my trip. the picnic tables are inside of the little structures on the boardwalk. Much blowing and shifting sand. 

Sunglyph, Albuquerque New Mexico. There were many pretty flowers that day. 

Petroglyphs just outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Angel and I took a nice walk here before we started out for Arizona. 

Indianapolis! 

Tara...oh wait, it's Barrington Hall, built in 1839. Teddy Roosvelt's mother's best friend lived here and he visited her for tea when he was campaigning. 

Barrington Hall, I tried to get a shot showing the hardware of the shutters. The house has its original hardware, floors, and some of the furniture, including a cabinet that Union troops tried to take with them but it got stuck on the staircase and was there when the owners returned a year after the end of the war. 

old well and oak tree, Barrington Hall, Roswell, GA 

with our apples, Sophia, Alex, Olivia and Denise. I still have some apples, I think I'll make a pie for snoop. 

Olivia at the apple stand with her new friend. 

in the kitchen, Laurie, Alex, Dallas and Sophia 

family dinner, I'm not sure who took this picture. 

goal making shoes 

at the soccer game (my daddy-o and sis Tracey). 

Dallas in action. We went to his soccer game Saturday morning. He made 3 goals!!! 

mega church in Arkansas...I saw 3 of these, amazing. I think this was a presbyterian church. 

cotton 

old Route 66, Tucumcari NM 

Heading west

Albuquerque, Monday, 9:26 pm, 70 degrees, Greenbay 21, NC 32
It keeps getting earlier and earlier as I head west. Since my last entry, I've visited Indianapolis and enjoyed a nice visit in Roswell, Georgia (photos will be posted eventually, having technical difficulties with the pix).
In Indianapolis I got to meet mom's friend, Sandy and her husband Ron. Sandy definitely has a dog friendly house. Angel was spoiled and ate quite well, as did I. We drove through an impressive thunder, lightning and rain storm to get there. Did 30 miles/hour next to splashing semi trucks with the windshield wipers going furiously. I felt like I was entering a tornado and expected to see trucks and cows flying through the air. Thankfully, we made it to the other side of the storm without any accidents. It was nice to be spoiled and have a little apertif before dinner after our midwest driving adventure.
From Indianapolis, we drove to Knoxville TN...didn't really like it there. Lots of road construction, lots of trucks, and a smoky motel room. We left there as soon as possible for the peach state, Georgia. I'm even reading Gone With The Wind now after visiting Barrington Hall in Roswell. The weather was nice and warm, but not too warm, and not too muggy. Denise and I took her girls to Gilejay(?) and picked apples at an orchard. They just finished having their apple festival which lasted two weeks. It is north of Roswell and Cumming, which are both north of Atlanta. The country there is very pretty. If you look into the woods you can imagine the scariness of civil war battles taking place there.
We had a family dinner with Tracey and her boys, Craig and Laurie, and Denise and her girls the night before I left. Daddy got me working in the kitchen and I made tortillas, guacamole and sangria. Ruth Ann made salsa, grandma pasta and albondigas yummm....a Mexican party in the old South. Went to the carniceria for the chorizo, and I was embarrassed that I was tooo shy to speak Spanish with the butcher. Daddy handled the transaction. While I was there we ate very well. Salmon cakes, pork roast, Ruth Ann's hash browns, oh yeah and collard greens. I wasn't hungry for more than 5 minutes at a time.
Now I've been driving for three days to get to the BIG Slow Food event in Sonoma County on October 9th in FORESTVILLE. I drove to Memphis the first day, Oklahoma City last night and I arrived in Albuquerque this evening. I managed to avoid most of Texas, but the part I did drive through was pretty flat and windy with many bugs. I saw the biggest spider I've ever seen in my life outside of my room in Oklahoma.
The most I've paid for gas this trip has been $3.09 in Colorado. It cost the least in Georgia, $2.53/gallon until Rita, then it went up to $2.69, then $2.99 which it has been until I got to Oklahoma. It's been around $2.70. I think it's a little higher here in New Mexico, I'll find out tomorrow when I gas up and head to Arizona. I'm going to take Hwy 25 south to Las Cruces and then go west to Tuscon, then I'll go north to Casa Grande, land of little water.
While in California I'm going to the Bioneers conference in San Rafael (!yay!). I actually have a date reserved on Michael Dimock's calendar while I'm there. Can you believe it? We'll see what happens. Going back to AZ Oct 21stish.
Angel is snoring happily on the floor. She tried to get away with sleeping on the bed while I was out to dinner. I boarded her while we were in Georgia and she came back smelling kind of funny, even after they gave her a bath and trimmed her nails. She's doing okay, smells normal again and is back on vacation after her prison stay. We go on little walks in the morning and I throw the ball for her. If we find a good rest stop, I throw the ball for her at lunchtime. Speaking of lunch...I've been staying alive on leftovers from Dad's house. Ruth Ann packed me up with enough food to last until lunch today. I still have some of Denise's lovely apple carmel cake...thank you : ) I saved wrapper from my many road snacks. Always trying to eat regional, ha ha, even if it's regional junk food-- Moonpie in Tennessee, buffalo jerky in Oklahoma, coca cola in Georgia, etc. No boiled peanuts though. I still haven't tried those.
I'm off to do battle with the techno gods to get my pictures on the blog.

Sweet Dreams.