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Locomotives in the Arizona desert

 Driving down Interstate 10 in Arizona, there is an odd sight; hundreds of Union Pacific Locomotives lined up on a siding for miles.(not my photo) It looks like an entire train of locomotives, except it’s longer than any train you’ve ever seen.  It’s eerie. We googled it.  Seems we, as a country, are using less coal.  That means less coal trains hauling it across the country.  That and a decline in the sale and transport of a few other commodities results in a whole lot of idle locomotives right now. The Arizona desert is the perfect place to store them.  The military has been using the Arizona desert as a parking lot for unneeded aircraft for years.(not my photo) The conditions outside Tucson are perfect for minimal corrosion, and minimal site preparation to store airplanes on the ground.  There is a separate boneyard for civilian aircraft. So now there is a locomotive “boneyard” out there as well.  
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Ow

 My skin hurts! Judy got sick so we came home.  I got sick too.  We’ve got the same thing; a brutal fast-acting chest cold (acute bronchitis).  In their early stages, these things are viral, so nothing to do but get plenty of rest and fluids and wait it out.  It’ll get better on its own, or morph into something worse, that can be treated.  We’ll see. I figure it’s only fair that I get sick like this from time to time.  It will (almost) keep me humble about hardly ever getting sick.  Otherwise, I would be unbearable.  (Just ask Judy.)  
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My abs at 20

 When I was at my leanest.  (I was juggling rocks.) Lindsay’s abs now. Lindsay wins. 
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Plans change

 The coach is fine, Judy broke down.  The crud she has been fighting off for the last few days hit her with a sledge hammer last night.  She feels so bad we decided to bail on the rest of the trip and just come home. A quick morning walk on the beach for me.     Then one more day of driving, and here we are, safe and sound at Sandpipers. return trip map Ninety-four degrees and not too humid.  Yesterday when we got to Mustang Island, there was more humidity than degrees, 80 degrees, and 90 percent.  That was plenty wet. 
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At first

 We thought this would make a good exhibit about how not to level your RV.Really, it’s not a good idea to hang your wheels in the air. But when we talked to the guy we found out his jacks had gone wild.  He pushed the button to level the trailer and the jacks all went to full extension.  It took him hours to get it back down to the ground.  Thunderstorms last night.  It was still raining this morning.  When the rain let up and we were packed up to leave, we thought to check the weather to the east; the direction we were headed.  The band of thunderstorms that had passed by us had not dissipated.  It was headed east through San Antonio carrying along severe weather and tornado warnings.  We decided to stay where we were for a while; like an airplane on the tarmac waiting for clearance, or maybe a train on a siding, waiting for a turn on the main line.  The tornado warning in San Antonio expired at noon.  We were two hours from San Antonio, so we declared clearance at 10am and headed east. Our calculations worked, because we never caught up with the storm.  By the time we got to San Antonio, the storm was pounding Dallas and threatening Shreveport.  We drove on to Mustang Island State Park. return trip map We’ll park it here for a few days.