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After leaving our friends' place, we drove down the road to nearby White Sands National Monument. (Yay - another score for our annual national park pass!) The White Sands dunefield is made up of white gypsum sand, and it covers about 270 square miles! And now I know this interesting fact about how many box cars it would fill, lol. The first five miles of Dunes Drive are paved. The last three miles are a hard-packed gypsum sand road. These panoramas still don't do justice to the vastness of the dunes. Flat Deedra came along, of course. View of a parking area from the top of a small dune. We picked another area to get out and explore - the "West Filming Area" - we figured it had to be pretty good with a name like that. It was a short walk to the dunes. White Sands is a truly impressive sight to behold! We loved our visit and would recommend it to anyone! I also hiked the Dune Life Nature Trail. I learned a little something about some of the animals pictured here. I saw a different view of the dunes. I spotted interesting animal tracks. What kind of animal track do you think it is? After touring White Sands we drove over to Las Cruces, New Mexico. It has a charming downtown area. It has nice views of the mountains in the distance. It has several of these sweet solar powered USB charging stations near benches. It even has an arcade bar where we ate dinner and played pinball! Flat Deedra likes the "City of the Crosses", and so do we!

We had originally planned to go to Albuquerque, New Mexico and spend some time, but it was going to be too cold for us, so we pivoted and went to Tucson, Arizona instead. We arrived Friday afternoon and found a place to park in the lovely Menlo Park area just west of downtown. I went looking for a place to eat lunch and found this cool container park nearby that had restaurants, bars, shops, and even a concert stage. In the container park I found a vegan restaurant called Beaut Burgers, and I had one of the best veggie burgers I have ever had - score! We walked to the downtown area and explored it. That's when we learned that there would be a free 3-day folk festival there and we decided to stay for the weekend. We found pinball at Cobra Arcade Bar and went there several times during our stay. We found a nice bar/restaurant called The Neighborhood that had good happy hour food and drink specials, so we went there a couple of times. The first night of the Tucson Folk Festival was a songwriters competition, and we listened to that. It was a really nice music festival with six different stages, and lots of different types of music. At one point during the music festival, it rained and the singer called everyone's attention to the rainbow that could be seen behind us. One stage was inside the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson Museum. There were also vendors and food trucks to check out. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole music festival, and we really loved the cool hippie vibe in Tucson. The heart of the music festival was across the street from the beautiful Pima County Historic Courthouse. Note the 3-story tall saguaro cactus. We spied this cute little bird living inside this giant saguaro cactus outside the building. Inside the building is a visitors center, and that's where I discovered that the saguaro cactus outside must be at least 200 years old! I had no idea how old these cactus got - very cool! We found the public art interesting. Flat Deedra liked the Garden of Gethsemane, where there was a statue recreation of The Last Supper, as well as other biblical statues. I fell in love with the amazing giant murals throughout town. One beautiful, sunny day we biked the Julian Wash Greenway starting in Santa Cruz River Park. There was just a little bit of water in the Santa Cruz River. Pretty public art along the trail. I guess people like riding their horses in the dry riverbeds here in the southwest. Here is the Relive video for our 22.06-mile bike ride that day (with many additional photos): A funny story from that day... We had locked up our bikes in the courtyard of the historic courthouse building while we were at the folk music festival, but it closed before the concerts ended that day. So, when we went back for our bikes we found them locked in the courtyard, but there was a note with a number to call for whomever had left their bikes there. So, we called the number and the super nice security guard came and unlocked the gate so we could get them. That made us love Tucson all the more!

We spent a couple of relaxing days visiting another friend from Belize who now lives in El Paso, Texas. He also happens to live right by the Rio Grande, where there just happens to be a trail (the Rio Grande River Trail) that we could bike. There were dust storms in the area at that time, so we were happy to find a nice little weather window to fit in the bike ride. We left in the morning and rode the rocky levee behind our friend's house down to the bridge, crossed the "river" on that bridge, then picked up the trail on the other side. The Rio Grande doesn't look very mighty without any water in it. Our friend said water had been released from the dam, so it was due any day. Getting on the trail proper. The south end of the Rio Grande River Trail. Beware of snakes - oh, my, that's a new one! We didn't see any, though. Our picnic lunch spot. Horses, dogs and people IN the dry riverbed, lol. An interesting array of concrete walls at a bend in the river, which are to buffer the water and protect the curve, should it flood. Looks like it hasn't done that in quite some time. The north end of the trail. The darkening skies foretold of the impending dust storm, so we headed back. Of course, on the way back I had two roadrunner sightings, so I had to pause for those! :) Beep! Beep! Lol Here is the Relive video for our 26.31-mile ride that day, including additional photos: The dust storm didn't get too bad that evening, as had been predicted. So, we went with our friend down to Rosa's Cantina, you know, the one made famous in that song... "Out in the West Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl. Nighttime would find me in Rosa's Cantina, music would play and Felina would whirl!" The next day we left our friend's place and headed to downtown El Paso to check it out. In San Jacinto Plaza here they used to have real alligators in this fountain area - crazy. We had originally planned to stay the night downtown. However, after walking around and seeing the vast majority of businesses shuttered (many with broken windows), plus tons and tons of homeless people everywhere, we decided to move on. The best of what we saw in downtown El Paso follows... El Paso Street was full of shops that reminded us of Belize because they have a little bit of everything. The other end of El Paso Street, which is where people pass thru from Mexico. Thus, the sign here says "Bienvenidos" ("welcome" in Spanish). We did stop at the historic stash house that Pancho Villa used during the Mexican Revolution. LOVE the doors! After leaving El Paso we headed up to Las Cruces because it was fairly close and we knew we like that town. We found dinner and played some pinball. :) Much better! Sorry, El Paso.

Friends from Belize now live in Alamogordo, New Mexico (elevation 4,334') - it's been too long since we saw them last, so we knew we had to pay them a visit. Jon and Shelly, now have a sweet baby named Julian, and we spent a wonderful weekend with them catching up, playing with the baby, watching him start to walk, playing games, cooking dinner at home, and going out for lunch a couple of times. Shelly brought their kitty cat, Bow, all the way from Belize, and I made friends with him again. He seems quite comfortable, and Jon and Shelly said he isn't like this with many people. Do you think he remembers me from Belize? On a beautiful Sunday afternoon we decided to drive up to Cloudcroft for a hike and to see the cute mountain town (elevation 8,676'). Jon had to prepare for work, so he stayed behind, but Julian came with us! We hiked the Osha Trail, a 2.5-mile loop in Lincoln National Forest. The trail offered some incredible views. It was a nice trail through a beautiful area - very enjoyable! Julian seemed to feel the same way. He never got fussy and was quite content to just look around at everything along the hike. Happy Hikers! :) After the hike we drove over to Cloudcroft Brewing Company, where we enjoyed craft beer and cider, tasty pizza, and nice live music. After lunch Julian immediately fell asleep, so we just did a drive-by of the town of Cloudcroft, which was fine by us. The town seemed nice enough, but we had already had a fabulous experience in Cloudcroft, so we didn't need to see any more. Here is the Relive video of our 2.5-mile hike, then the drive into Cloudcroft:

Ever since getting an America The Beautiful (National Park) Pass for our Everglades bike trip we decided to make sure we get our money's worth out of it. So, we are on a mission to visit as many National Parks and National Monuments as we feasibly can this year. We had never been to Carlsbad Caverns before, and it was along our general route, so we had to go! Flat Deedra came along, too, of course. The visitor center there is nice, and this 3D illustration of the cave system is particularly cool. You can take an elevator down directly into the cave, or you can walk about a mile and a quarter to the natural entrance. We chose the natural entrance route, of course. During the summer months bats come flooding out of the cave near sunset, and you can watch from this amphitheater. Now you just walk through it to the natural entrance. Down, down, down we go! It's a descent of 750 feet - about 75 stories! (Our calves hurt for days after this, lol.) The cave is truly enormous! It took us about three hours to tour the whole thing. (The path for the cave tour is about 1.25 miles long.) So many cool formations!!! Wish I could remember what kind they all are. "Whale's Mouth" Notice the path to the far right to get some scale and appreciate the enormity of the cave. "Silent Bell" Coming from Indiana (where there are lots of caves), and having spent many years in Belize (where there are lots of caves), we have seen our share. Still, we never get tired of caves because they're all so beautiful and different. After the cave tour we got new kicks (tires) for our van, Pearl, then drove on to Alamogordo, New Mexico. These high desert views are starkly spectacular. On the drive we saw a bunch of dust devils off in the distance. Having never seen them before, it took us a moment to figure out what they were. At seeing the first one there was a passing thought of it being a tornado, lol.

We had never been to Carlsbad, New Mexico before, and it was the right distance to drive for the day, so we got there in time to bike around and check it out. We found and biked the Pecos Riverwalk path around Lake Carlsbad. The lower portion of the lake didn't have much water. The portion above the dam was full and beautiful. There were floating bridges across the lake, picnic areas, and a swimming area. There is even a water park by the lake. Unfortunately, I got a flat tire near the end of the ride. Fortunately, we were close to the car when it happened, so there wasn't far to go. (We later learned it was because of a nasty, sharp thorn called a "goat head" that is common in these parts.) Anyway, we put up the bikes, walked around downtown, and had dinner at a nearby restaurant. Flat Deedra came along for the ride. Here is the Relive video for our 7.11-mile ride/walk that day, including additional photos:

We've been to San Antonio, Texas a few times before, and we always enjoy ourselves there, so we just had to swing by and walk the Riverwalk again. It was just a quick, one-night visit, but nice and relaxing. Here is the Relive video of our 6.26-mile walk in downtown San Antonio, including many more photos:

We lived two winters in Austin, Texas (2012 and 2013) - we loved it then, and we wanted to see it again. So, we spent a beautiful week there reconnecting with friends and the city, and we had a fabulous time! Following are some highlights from our stay there. Check out the Relive videos for additional photos. We enjoyed a nice place to stay near the happening SoCo (South Congress Ave) area. South Congress has more chain stores and less food trucks than before, but it's still full of fabulous restaurants, bars featuring great live music, and cute shops. Still a great area! 3/19/2025, Wednesday - Biked the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail We enjoyed the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail (aka Town Lake Trail or Lady Bird Lake Trail) trail when we were here before, and we knew it had improved a lot since then. Now a complete loop around Lady Bird Lake, we biked the entire thing. It's a truly fantastic trail! We found a nice park along the trail for a picnic lunch. We took a short detour to Rainey Street, which used to be home to a food truck court and many cute bungalows converted to a variety of restaurants. Oh, how things have changed! (We knew they inevitably would.) Just a handful of these old venues still exist, but now they're surrounded by huge high-rises. We tried to eat at a place we liked before and ended up bailing out (that's a whole story) - the vibe just isn't there anymore for us. Turtles on the lake! :) We revisited the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue where, many winters ago, we blared some live recordings of a couple of his concerts. Several runners and bikers on the trail stopped to appreciate a song or few that night. :) We saw countless Waymo self-driving taxis (available via Uber) driving around Austin, and we watched one successfully navigate itself out of a blocked alley it had expected to go through. We biked to The Brewtorium in north Austin for the monthly BASHH (Big Ass Social Happy Hour) networking event. In 2013 they were much larger (and downtown), but it was still a fun event, and the food/drinks were good. After the networking event we biked a little further north to Turnstile Coffee Beer Cocktails and Burgers. There we met and caught up with Pete, a friend we made back in 2012 or 2013 at a BASHH event. We then biked home, arriving a bit before 2am - whew! Here is the Relive video for our 40.29-mile ride that day, with more pictures: 3/20/2025, Thursday - Explored the New and Old 6th Street After sleeping in and charging the bikes, we rode to downtown and over to East 6th Street, then walked it down to Congress Ave and back. Then we parked our bikes and walked from the east end of 6th Street to the west end. We enjoyed happy hour drinks and snacks at a rooftop bar/restaurant on East 6th Street. With this ride, we passed 1,000 miles on our bicycles since getting them in mid-October 2024 - woohoo!!! Here is the Relive video for our 12.4-mile ride/walk that day, including additional photos: 3/22/2025, Saturday - Biked the Shoal Creek Trail We moved to a lovely neighborhood north of downtown. From there we biked the Shoal Creek Trail south to the lake. It's a beautiful trail along a creek. It runs through the heart of the city, but you'd hardly know it. We watched the undulating wave of bats emerge from the Bat Bridge (the Congress Ave bridge over Lady Bird Lake). We were on the wrong side of the river for best viewing, so it wasn't spectacular, but still interesting. 3/24/2025, Monday - Biked a Loop of Austin We did a big loop bike ride around Austin this day, and we enjoyed a late lunch at Easy Tiger on the north side. We remember it from it's days at a totally unique venue down on 6th Street. Very different here, but still a nice vibe. Our path took us on the Shoal Creek Trail, through neighborhoods, onto the Walnut Creek Trail, down to the lake and downtown. Here is the Relive video of our 31.08-mile ride that day, with many more photos:

On Sunday we drove to Slidell, Louisiana in so we could cycle on the Tammany Trace trail, which is another Hall of Fame Rail Trail. The trail is north of Lake Ponchartrain, which is just north of New Orleans (a city we love), and it connects Slidell, Mandeville, Abita Springs, and Covington. We have been here before and visited these lovely towns, but we never knew about this bike trail. The trail is 28.2 miles long, and we got a late start (that's a whole other story, lol), so we knew we wouldn't be able to bike the entire thing, but we hoped to make it to Abita Springs and maybe visit Abita Brewing Company. The bridge over Bayou Lacombe - we saw the sign that said the bridge hours were 7am to 6:30pm, and we wondered all day long whether the bridge really closed at 6:30 (note the foreshadowing). Bayou Lacombe Mandeville Trailhead - we remember going to a farmers market at this location about 12 years ago! No horses in tunnel? Okay, that's a new one. Our shady, trailside rest stop under the I-12 interstate bridges. A park in Mandeville - we liked the giant pavilion with loads of solar panels on the roof. Abita Mystery House! We visited this cooky "museum" when we were here about 12 years ago. It's definitely worth a stop if you find yourself in Abita Springs. I liked this mural at the Abita Springs Trailhead. Abita Springs Trailhead. We had hoped to stop in this town to do a tasting at Abita Brewing Company and maybe have dinner. However, we thought about the possible bridge closing and decided we needed to turn back. We tried to hightail it back to the Bayou Lacombe bridge before 6:30pm in case it did actually close. We talked about the bridge hours with another couple of bikers we encountered, and apparently we talked a little too long... We arrived at 6:33pm to find the bridge going up. The worker there was super apologetic, but he said the hours were strict and he just couldn't lower it again. Whomp, whomp! (If only we hadn't stopped to talk, lol.) Our trusty phones (via Google Maps) showed us how to get around another way, which took us briefly on a busy road, then through neighborhoods like this. It looked to me like my bike bag was also happy for the nice bike ride, and successfully making it back to our vehicle, even with a little detour. Plus, we're soon to hit 1,000 miles on these bikes! Despite the hiccups in our ride this day, we thoroughly enjoyed the Tammany Trace trail, and we can see why it made it into the Rail Trail Hall of Fame. Here is the Relive video of our 50.07-mile bike ride this day, with many additional photos: Back in Slidell, we found a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner. This photo doesn't even begin to illustrate the enormity of my margarita! (I had no idea it would be so huge.) My Spinach Enchiladas were full of nice, fresh spinach - yum! Eric also liked his meaty, mushroomy meal (I don't remember what it was called, lol).

After getting Eric's flat tire fixed we parked near Depot Park and hopped on our bikes to explore the 17-mile Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail. This lovely trail passes through and by nice wild areas, like this Sweetwater Preserve. OK, I guess NOW we're on the official Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail, lol. (Apparently we started on the Depot Trail that connects this trail to downtown Gainesville.) "George, George, George of the Jungle, watch out for that treeeeeeee!" Hahaha, a couple cute references there. IYKYK (which means, if you know, you know) Prairie Creek is hauntingly beautiful! Our nice break spot at Phifer Flatwoods Preserve. Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park has wild horses and bison! We didn't have time to check that out, but we had hoped to at least take the trail to the lake overlook in the park. Alas, bikes are not allowed on that trail. Next time! Hawthorne Trailhead - we made it to the end, woohoo! Back we go, hoping to reach before sunset, which we did. After returning to Gainesville we walked around downtown and found this cool Man in the Moon that I love. Here is the Relive video of our 34-mile ride, including many additional photos:

We read that the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway has a land bridge and we wanted to see one in person, so we decided to bike it. There are plans for the trail to extend all the way across Florida. Currently only 15.6 miles of it are completed from the Santos Trailhead to CR 200. We started at the Santos Trailhead. At the Santos Trailhead there are also lots of mountain bike trails. The start of the trail at Santos. We passed Florida Horse Park, which is HUGE. The trail is lovely and makes for a very relaxing ride. A little history about the trail. More info about the land bridge over the interstate which allows people and animals to cross safely. This is the land bridge itself. There is some land on either side of this path, although it's not quite as much as I had pictured. There are a couple of places on the land bridge to get a view of the interstate over which the trail passes. Thank goodness for the land bridge - wouldn't want to try to cross all that on a bicycle. Our nice rest stop. The end of the completed section of paved trail. After a brief rest we headed back the way we came. Just before reaching the land bridge again, Eric got a flat tire. Thankfully, just after the land bridge is another trail access point, so Eric walked his bike there while I rode back to our van then drove to pick him up. So, in the end Cara rode 32.1 miles, and Eric rode 25.07 miles. Aside from Eric having to walk his bike a couple of miles, we both enjoyed the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. Here is the Relive vide of Eric's ride, which includes many more photos:

Fellow cyclists on the Shark Valley Trail said that the Withlacoochee State Trail was their favorite bike trail in Florida, so we had to check it out. It's just under 46 miles long, so we figured it would be 2 days of biking to explore it all. We decided to start in Inverness, a city at a rough mid-point in the trail that also had a cute downtown to explore. On Tuesday we rode the Withlacoochee State Trail from Inverness to the north end near Citrus Springs, then returned. We got a late start for biking, so we figured we would do the shorter section this afternoon/evening. A nice outdoor event venue in downtown Inverness. On Tuesday we picked up the Withlacoochee State Trail in Inverness and rode north toward Citrus Springs. We just love the moss on the trees and think it's beautiful. Rest stop. Flat Deedra made it with us to the north end of the trail at Citrus Springs! The Gulf Junction Trailhead at the north end of the trail. After returning to downtown Inverness we ate dinner at Salty Dogs Steamer & Bar, then had drinks nearby at Coach's Pub & Eatery. Here is our Relive video for Tuesday's 34.66-mile ride, including many additional photos: On Wednesday we started at Wallace Brooks Park in Inverness and biked south, which is a longer section of trail. It was a beautiful day, perfect for cycling! Caution - gator territory! (We didn't see any that day.) The trail is super nice - wide and paved, and very relaxing to ride on! We turned back here at the Ridge Manor Trailhead after about 25 miles, because we knew we didn't have enough battery juice to go all the way to the end. Flat Deedra made it to the Ridge Manor Trailhead, too! Eric rode just past the trailhead to the bridge over a highway then returned. These trail bridges over busy roads are superb! On the ride back to Inverness we saw a couple of deer on the trail. I tried to stop before scaring them and get a really zoomed in picture. You can kind of tell they're deer, lol. We saw two more after this but didn't try for photos. Here is our Relive video for Wednesday's 50.6-mile ride, with loads more photos: Back in Inverness we treated ourselves to sushi dinner at Kawa Sushi House. We had a Peanut Avocado Roll, a Philadelphia Roll, and a Sweet Potato Tempura Roll - yum!