March Madness

Greetings, Family and Friends:

Been missing us?

Second week of March means it's time for us to go to Las Vegas for the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament.  So, Tuesday, 3/8, we loaded up Tuzigoot and headed for Sin City - with pure intentions.  First time out in Tuzi since our August Canada trip.  Only one problem to deal with - had to replace relief valve on water heater.  Because of weather concerns and our softened driveway (due to winter snows), we parked Tuzi at KOA in Albq and loaded up there for our departure.

Spent the night at RV park in Williams, AZ, got to LV early Wednesday afternoon.  The previous Sunday I'd invited friend Dick Reinert to fly out and join us, then followed up with e-mail en route.  He decided to fly out on Wed.  I picked him up that evening and we went to arena in time to catch the Lobo women's team's game late in the first half.  They beat/upset third-seed Wyoming to advance to Friday's semifinals.  Good start for a hoops weekend.

Next morning Dick and I went out to the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge.  We both have been following this project for several years.  I was there in December soon after the Bridge opened and posted a report and pictures on 1/9/11, which you can see by scrolling down to the posting previous to this one.

Thursday afternoon we (Susie, Dick, and I) saw the Lobo men beat Colorado State and thus advance to the semifinals where they would play BYU.  Good, close game.  When we left the arena we planned to buy semifinal tix, not being confident enough to buy them before the Lobos actually qualified.  Ticket window signs said SOLD OUT.  There were a few scalpers in the crowd milling around outside, but they were asking ridiculous prices.  We went back to Tuzigoot, got online, and bought some tickets that met our criteria for reasonableness.  Dick said, Well, we're here for (Lobo) basketball aren't we?

Friday was hoops-saturation for Dick and me.  Four games: men's and women's semifinals.  Susie and daughter Heidi went shopping and did wedding planning - for Heidi, in June. 

Lobo women got blown out by TCU, so that was disappointing.  Men's game was a classic thriller - especially the first half.  We beat BYU twice in the regular season.  They had lost only one other game all year.  You may have heard about this Friday game.  Jimmer Freddette, BYU's likely national player of the year, scored 33 points in the first half -- hitting shots from everywhere.  (Had text message from Jeff suggesting I throw something at Jimmer.  He also said Malia was watching hoping to see us in the crowd.  We were at an altitude where cameras don't roam, though.  Also out of range of Jimmer.)  But, Lobos kept answering, tailing off a little at the end for a halftime score of 47-42, BYU.  Dick and I were exhausted.

Right at start of second half, our senior, leader, and tenacious point guard (guarding Jimmer most of the time) went down with a knee injury and played no more.  We faded a bit, but put up a valiant effort.  Jimmer ended up with 52 points.  We ended up with no Lobo team in the Saturday finals.  Silver lining: Didn't have to buy a ticket for the finals.  We did stay for the other semifinal game, another thriller, as San Diego State U beat UNLV.  SDSU has lost only twice this year - to BYU both times.

Saturday Dick and I drove out to the Grand Canyon Skywalk.  I had been there two years ago -- report here -- but was ready to go back.  Fantastic structure and spectacular views.  Susie and Heidi shopped and planned some more.

Here's this year's picture of the Skywalk:

As you can see, the adjacent cliff-edge is unprotected.  Here, Dick takes a peek, 4000 ft. down.

Please rotate your head or your computer 90 degrees.  Easier than me trying to get blogger to get the right orientation.

Next picture: Oops!

Where'd he go?

Basketball was also part of this trip.  On the way down we listened to UTEP play Memphis for the championship of the Conference USA.  Dick's son Scott and family live in El Paso and are big UTEP fans and they were at the game, played in EP.  As the game wound down we started to lose reception so we pulled off and parked to listen to the last minutes.  Another heartbreaker - UTEP lost by one point on two late free throws. 

We speculated, maybe UTEP and UNM will both be in the NIT and play each other.  And, lo, it came to pass.  It was announced Sunday that they would play Tuesday night.  So, we moved our departure up a day in order to get home for this game.

Meanwhile, as we drove back to Vegas we listened as SDSU soundly beat BYU.  We figured UNM had pretty well exhausted BYU the day before so we, UNM, could take partial credit for sending BYU out of the conference with a defeat.

Dick flew home on Sunday.  While reading the Sunday paper I noticed that The Dodgers and Cubs were playing an exhibition baseball game in Las Vegas that afternoon.  I went, Susie and Heidi did wedding planning.  Dodgers lost in 10 innings, but it was a pleasant afternoon.  We had dinner at Heidi and Joey's, along with Joey's sister and her husband.  The news about the NIT pairing was out, so we packed up and headed home Monday morning.  Got to Gallup for the night, from where this Tuzigoot posting comes.

GO LOBOS!


Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge

For the last several years we've been monitoring the construction of the new Hoover Dam Bypass bridge over the Colorado River gorge, just below Hoover Dam.  The bridge was completed and opened in October, so I've been eager to see it and walk across it.  That chance came the week before Christmas.  The UNM Lobos were playing in a tournament in Vegas on the 22nd and 23rd and I flew out for that.  (Susie stayed home because daughter Heidi and her fiance, Joey, who live in Vegas, were driving to Albuquerque on the 23rd for Christmas weekend.)

I flew out on the 22nd.  Joey and I went to the tourney that night: Lobos beat Colorado.  Next morning H&J departed for Albuquerque (in a car they rented that could accommodate their two Boxers, Katie and Zoie); I drove Joey's car to Hoover Dam.

Here are a couple of shots of the completed bridge (taken by cell phone since I forgot to bring my camera).

The bridge is 1900 ft. long and 900 ft. above the river. Its cost was budgeted at $240M  and was completed within budget.  The bridge has been named the “Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge” for Mike O’Callaghan, former Governor of Nevada, and Pat Tillman, who played professional football for the Arizona Cardinals, quit to join the Army, and who was killed in Afghanistan in 2004.

There is a pedestrian lane, seen here, on the dam side of the bridge (pardon my French) that you reach from the old road that crosses the dam. The lady in this picture had a real fear of heights.  If she met someone coming from the other direction, she would put her hand on top of the wall at her left and crouch down so nobody could get between her and the wall.

That wall is tall enough that when you drive across the bridge you can't look out or down - it's not a place you'd want to have a distracted driver.  Can't wait to drive Tuzigoot across, though, and see what view that vantage point provides.  Signs instruct drivers of high profile vehicles to keep to the center lanes, because of wind, I think.

A neighbor who drives to Vegas frequently, en route to Reno, tells me that the bypass bridge saves close to an hour in driving time and a significant amount of gas, too.  For the last several years, large vehicles have had to get to Vegas by way of Bullhead City and that requires a long descent and climb at the river crossing there.  We won't miss that.

Here are a couple of shots from the bridge:

 

Next time you're in the area, check it out.

Here's a parting shot of Lake Mead.

 I spend the rest of the 23rd with friends and former Albuquerqueans, Budd and Carolyn Bornhoft.  Budd and I went to the ballgame, UNM lost to Northern Iowa, and I flew home early Christmas Eve morning.  We enjoyed a very nice Christmas and Susie's birthday weekend with Mandi, Heidi, Joey, Katie, and Zoie.  Hoie, hoie, ho.

Happy New Year!



Susie and Rob

Here's a theme picture.

Christmas 2010

A Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Susie and Rob Easterling

Other than the fact that Rob won a Noble Prize in statistics and Susie was named Most Congenial Co-Pilot in the Allegro Bus category, it’s been a pretty routine year in the Easterling/Hinkle clan.

We did a couple of extended Tuzigoot trips this year: spring trip to Kentucky, summer trip to Vancouver, with lots of interesting and scenic stops going and coming.  If you missed any of our exciting reports, or would just like to read them again, you can backtrack through our Tuzigoot blog.

Our biggest trip of the year was going to China in September with Jeff, Valerie, and Malia Easterling as they adopted another granddaughter for us, 1-yr. old Macy.  They seem rather busy now, successfully juggling jobs and child-raising and -nurturing.

Heidi Hinkle has a new job: national account manager for Pernod Ricard Spirits.  She’s handling the transition from supervising 500 employees as the Beverage Director at the Aria Resort to working out of her Las Vegas home-office quite well, thank you.  The big story is that she and sweetheart, Joseph Vargas, will be married in June here in NM.   

Jeff and Valerie Hinkle are now settled in their semi-rural home in Sioux City, IA, where Jeff manages the Shopko store and Valerie works as rehabilitation therapist. The highlight of Jeff’s year (other than Black Friday when he opens the store at 3am) was when he and Valerie and his siblings and other family members all came to Cedar Crest in September to celebrate his 50^th birthday. 

Mike, Karen, and Jason Easterling continue their active lives in Cary, NC, doing their biomathematics, statistical analysis, and fifth grade work.  We went to NC for some of Jason’s spring and fall soccer games, thank you Southwest Airlines.

Mandi Venable, our favorite Southwest Airlines employee, and her husband, Paul, are now both in Denver working for our favorite airline.  They’ve rented and furnished a charming apartment in the Lowry section of Denver.  Paul wrote a Christmas song last year and recently posted a great youtube video.

Matt and Suzy Hinkle live in nearby Rio Rancho, NM and continue their management jobs (Supply One packaging company and a first grade classroom) in Albuquerque.  Tony is now in Iraq; he’s an Army Cavalry Scout.  We’re all nervous and very proud of him.  Kaci will be completing her degree in music theatre at Baldwin-Wallace College this spring.  We attended her senior recital in early December. Wow!  Andrew, a senior in HS, has continued his soccer exploits and is now pursuing collegiate opportunities.  Can Matt and Suzy say Empty Nest?

All of our wonderful children and grandchildren surprised us with an early Christmas gift of a paving block outside the renovated UNM basketball arena, known as the Pit.  Here's a picture (Rob overshadowing Susie for the first time ever).

 On a serious note, Rob’s Mom, Bonnie, died in October after enduring a long decline with Alzheimer’s disease.  We’ve had some wonderful family reunions centered on her birthday the last couple of decades and hope to continue those reunions in her memory.

                       THE REASON FOR THE SEASON

MERRY CHRISTMAS,

SUSIE AND ROB

Las Cruces Weekend-2

On both Saturday and Sunday we spent some time in Old Mesilla, the historic village on the SW edge of Las Cruces.  Here are some scenes.

Back in the late 1800s, I learned from the history of the Methodist Church in NM written by Rev. Thomas Harwood, when a Methodist preacher tried to preach from this plaza some locals threw rocks and ran him out of town.  No plaques to commemorate that, though, but I haven't gotten over it.

Old Mesilla is known for its restaurants and we sampled three of them.  When we checked into the Inn on Friday I asked if there was any place to get fish tacos (continuing my fish taco quest in places far and near).  The Lundeen's daughter, who was working the desk, suggested Andele's.  Good choice.  Different from fish tacos I've found.  The fish was fried whitefish, broken up into bitesize pieces.  This came on a plate along with a corn and black bean mix and cole slaw. Various salsas were available at a salsa bar.  Tortillas were served separately, so you built your own fish tacos from the plate of fixins.  Some of the best I've had.

Saturday night, anniversary night, we ate at an Italian restaurant, Lorenzo's.  Again, very good with a NM touch - red chile alfredo sauce on penne and Italian sausage, for me.  Also on the menu, the house specialty: green chile lasagna.  Susie had some very good spaghetti and meatballs, no chile-flavor.  Meatballs, though, had currants in them that added a sweet taste.  Had a lively and personable NM State U waitress who added to the fun: Waitress!  There's something in my meatball.

Sunday evening it was La Posta for classic Mexican food.

I should mention that Sunday morning we attended church at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, just a couple of blocks from the Inn.  The preacher there is James Large, who has preached at our church in Albq a few times when he was in the District office there.  I believe St. Paul's now has a larger membership or average attendance than our church, St. John's, but the church's large and beautiful sanctuary didn't have very many people in it for the 10:45 service.  (Note the repeated use of the word, 'large.')  Maybe because it was the day for people to turn in their 2011 pledge cards and there was a guest speaker -- the District Superintendent.  But, of course, we weren't there to count the house or critique the music program and preacher.  No, that would be wrong.

Monday morning we left for home, taking a more easterly route through Alamogordo, Carizoso, and Corona, where Susie's brother, Charlie, and his wife live.  Along the way, though, we made a discovery of the sort that makes travel so interesting.  First, though, here's a shot of the east side of the Organ Mountains. 

Very strong, cold wind blowing through the pass from which this picture was taken.  The weather's changing.

Between Carizoso and Corona there's a turn-off to the ghost town of White Oaks, a place I've read about and wanted to see, but never have taken the time to do so.  Today was the day.  There's a lot of information and pictures at the White Oaks website.  I took a couple of pictures.  This is the schoolhouse, now a museum, not open when we were there, though.

This is the restored Gumm House.  It played a minor role in the Billy the Kid saga.

More pictures and info at the website.

We noticed several signs in town for White Oaks Pottery, located three miles further out of town, so decided to check it out.  We found our way there and pulled up to a building with a sign pointing up an outside stairway leading to the gallery.  There wasn't anybody around and no vehicles in sight.  I went up the stairs and found the gallery open.  Inside was a sign saying we use the honor system here, come on in and shop.  Susie came up and in a couple of minutes the owner/operator, Ivy Heymann joined us.  She's a real dynamo and has quite a story.  About 35 years ago she came out west and found some land in the wilds of NM that she could buy for $500/acre.  With help from locals, she built a small home, studio, and gallery and has been creating pottery ever since.  The White Oaks website has a nice slide show of her pottery and you can see other examples at her White Oaks Pottery site itself.

We bought a couple of coffee cups and a pie plate and she showed us around the place - her large kiln and her studio.  Here's a picture of Ivy and Susie (TWO dynamos; when we checked out of the Inn, the host said to me, Come back any time and bring that wild woman with you.) in front of White Oaks Pottery.

The White Oaks website says, Ivy Heymann's White Oaks Pottery. An experience worth the adventure.  
We agree, so if you're ever in the neighborhood, ... .


The road beyond White Oaks, which is dirt, eventually loops back to US 54, so we followed that and on to Corona.  Had a nice visit with Charlie and Sue and got home in plenty of time for Dancing With The Stars.


So, a special, memorable anniversary weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving from Cedar Crest - first snow this morning.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Las Cruces Weekend-1

Last year Hawaii.  This year Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Celebrating our anniversary.  Both special.

We thought about a Tuzigoot trip to the Gulf Coast to mark our 11th anniversary and give their economy a shot in the arm, but just didn't have the time to do it justice. Decided instead on a weekend in Las Cruces after some web-surfing found an intriguing B and B there.  It's been a mild November in Cedar Crest, but Las Cruces runs 10-15 degrees warmer this time of year, so that was another attraction.

Trip almost ended in Socorro, though.  We stopped there to check out a couple of gift shop/galleries on the plaza and take a picture of the NM Tech campus, where Mike went to school.  Heidi also lived in Socorro a couple of years.

Leaving town, as we approached the on-ramp to I-25, I saw a car waiting at an intersection.  Then, just as we drew even, he accelerated on a path that would broadside us.  I swerved and accelerated, and braced for him to hit us on the right rear, but he must have seen us just in time to avoid a collision.  Whew!  Soon after that we stopped at the Owl Bar and Cafe for the traditional greenchilecheeseburger lunch to settle our nerves.

Next stop on the way to Las Cruces (Susie said we're going to have a relaxing weekend, not a go-go agenda) was the El Camino Real Heritage Center. The Camino Real was the royal road from Mexico City to Santa Fe back when Spain was colonizing what is now New Mexico.  A portion of the camino in central NM was called the Jornada del Muerto - journey of death. This was a stretch of about 100 waterless miles.  The Heritage Center is at the north end of the Jornada.  Socorro was named for the "succor" it provided northbound travelers after they made it across the journey of death.

Here's a shot of the observation deck at the Heritage Center.

 Here's one view from the Center - I don't think that track in the foreground is an actual piece of the Camino Real.

The Center, which is fairly new, has some nice exhibits and photos and is well worth a visit. Just one more reason to go to the Owl Cafe.  (I should note that the Buckhorn Cafe, located in San Antonio, NM, as is the Owl, has been written up as having an outstanding greenchilecheeseburger as well.  We've never tried it.  You could stop in one on the way down to the El Camino Real Center from Albq, the other on the way back and make your own assessment.)

A few miles further along, we got off I-25 and drove through the cotton, chile, and hay fields, then pecan orchards along the Rio Grande valley.  Nice, actually brilliant in the late afternoon sun, late fall colors along the way.  Found our way to the Lundeen Inn of the Arts near downtown Las Cruces.

The Inn is a restored 100-yr. old Mexican territorial inn, now a combination inn and art gallery.  The Lundeens added living quarters on top of the old inn.  Here are some interior shots.

This comfy little den was where I spent my pre-breakfast time.  A coffee table book there that I read was a Paul Horgan (famous writer of the SW) biography of famous artist, Peter Hurd, published in 1971 and interspersed with a lot of Hurd's art (a bunch of it from Horgan's private collection).  They were classmates at the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell and continued their friendship as they both became celebrated in their fields.  One interesting story.  They were the only two enrolled in a writing class.  Their teacher said their semester assignment was to write a book.  They would alternate weeks: one would write, the other would illustrate. What an enlightened instructor!  What an opportunity to develop life skills!


Here's one of the gallery rooms and the great/dining room.

The host, Jerry Lundeen, who is an architect, told us that there are generally around 300 paintings adorning the Inn's walls.  (Wife Linda is an art dealer and was away for the weekend.)  Makes it a really interesting place to stay, especially when, like us, you take the time to bask a bit.

Saturday morning we went to the downtown Farmers and Crafts Market.  Some scenes:

 There was a street street artist.

Susie's in the picture, but she's not the one crouched next to the artist.  Your professional photographer can also be seen.

There was old-folk music.

And, best of all, mariachi music.

We had street food for lunch and topped it off with fresh kettle corn.

Incidentally, you can get your kettle corn with either red or green chile seasoning.  Which reminds me: When Mike's in-laws visited us a few years ago, his father-in-law commented, What's with this place?  No matter what you order they want to add red or green chile!  Yes, Bob -- even popcorn.

We also did a little shopping.  Susie found the perfect ring.  I found a nice Nativity scene produced by a local craftsman to add to our collection.

I like finding nativity sets produced by local folks who just like to do this sort of work, not out to make a buck, not mass-produced.  The mountains in the background, I suspect, look a lot more like the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces than anything around Bethlehem.

Saturday afternoon we just drove around a couple of the historic districts in town with one stop at the old RR station, now a RR museum.  Exhibits included a model train layout.

Across the street was this transportation mural.  We'll let that bus represent Tuzigoot. 

Well, Blogger keeps locking up, maybe telling me that this posting is long enough.  To be continued.  Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Macy Update and Jason Soccer

We want to update you on Macy's status.  If you read our postings on our September trip to China in which Jeff, Valerie, and Malia adopted Macy into their family, you know she was born with a bilateral cleft lip.  Basically, a goodly portion of her upper lip was missing, or misplaced.  Here's a China picture from Jeff and Valerie's Macy blog  (http://youbelong.net/pages/htmlos/31246.1.226374598418707688/easterling).

She had her first operation on Nov. 9 and we drove (Ford Explorer, not Tuzigoot) to Denver to be with Malia and to help out a bit when Macy came home.  She was in surgery for seven hours, six for the cleft lip, one for a hernia fix. She was able, though, to come home late afternoon the next day.  Pretty amazing.  

We had a great time with Malia during those two days (Jeff was able to come home for the night, which was good).  One highlight was making cookies with Nei-Nei.

(I don't know what it is about Blogger.  Sometimes it orients correctly, sometimes it doesn't.  Think of it as a neck exercise as you sit in front of your computer.)  In case you're wondering, those cookies are autumn leaves, not brown Christmas trees.  With the butter, cinnamon, and sugar toppings it didn't matter.

We were amazed at how good Macy's lip looked when she came home.  There were still stitches and glue holding things in place, but they would dissolve over a couple of weeks.  We could see the basic outline, though.  (Pictures below.)  She wore arm restraints to keep her from touching her face.  When she went walking, someone had to be there to prevent her from falling face first.  Biggest problem, though was sleeping.  She needed to be on her back, while she was used to sleeping face down.  Sleeping strapped in a car seat (in her crib, not in the garage) didn't go over well, so the remedy was sleeping, fitfully, or not, between Mom and Dad - bonding in more than one way.

Valerie's sister, Adrienne, who lives in Los Alamos, came up for the weekend to help out.  That gave us a chance to fly to Raleigh and join Mike, Karen, and Jason for a soccer tournament in Martinsville, VA -- about a two-hour drive from their place.  We had not made it to a league game during the fall season and this tournament would be the last outdoor soccer of the fall. 

It was chilly in the morning; Jason had 8am games both Sat and Sun.  Here are a couple of shots of the frosty fields.  The sun warmed things up nicely, though.

And here are some action shots:

Jason on defense.  Stop that guy!

Jason, no. 17, on offense.  He has just taken a powerful free kick, bending it like Beckham.  The ball hit the crossbar and bounced off the goalie and in.  GO-O-O-O-AL!!

Now, do you see that teammate, in the white shirt, standing behind the defenders?  Could have been called offside.  The other team complained to the referee.  He said that, in his judgment, that player wasn't influencing the play, so it's not an offside according to the rules.  Hmm.  We saw several unusual calls in the tournament, but, as they say in the World Cup, that's soccer for ya.  

Jason's team, Barcelona FC (I didn't know that Cary translates into Barcelona), finished the tournament with two wins, one loss, and just missed getting into the title game.

After our soccer weekend, we jet-setted back to Denver on Monday, spent the night at Mandi's, went to Outback to celebrate Paul's birthday, then drove home on Tuesday.  Stopped by to see Jeff and the girls on the way out of town.  Here's a fuzzy, cellphone picture of Macy one week after surgery.  Lookin' good!

Here's a picture a few days later that Jeff took.

There will be more surgery to come, but she's off to a great start.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob