Moving northward but still in Colorado

We are on our way towards Loveland/Ft. Collins and since we are just going 120 miles up I-25, I will have internet access the whole way I am sure. Sky is blue, mountains are in the distance on our left and there are currently a few white fluffy clouds in the sky.We spent the last 4 nights in Colorado Springs at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado's newest park. Yes- it is on the side of the fabled Cheyenne Mountain,in fact one of the roads through the campground is restricted and for emergency exit only. We could see one of the secondary entrances at night because the lights at the access points made it more visible, the main one (I just know there are big concrete doors up there some where) was around the bend so we did not have a clear view. The road itself is restricted to peons like us- so we had to just use our imagination. Those places just fascinate me- just full of conspiracy theories and secret enclaves. Anyway- the state park overlooks Colorado Springs because the whole park is actually on the side of the mountain. The entrance is directly across from the Ft. Carson Gate #1 entrance (another place we were not welcome) off 115. The entrance takes you up to the visitors center at about 6900 ft and the day use areas, camping store, and various campgrounds are higher. We stayed at the top campground- Raptor Glen. I would say we were just short of 8000 ft., at least that is what my lack of comfortable breathing told me. My camera does not do justice to the views- especially with so much the same color - green & brown.

Weather has been wonderful as far as not using the air conditioners since Raton. The last few days here have been pretty overcast and reining so we have resorted to wearing long pants. Early mornings we wake up to about 48 and start the electric heater for a couple of hours to take the chill off. The cats climb down to lie next to it, so even they have been feeling the chill. There is nothing like drinking your coffee in the chilled air- overlooking the beautiful mountains, especially when your wonderful husband has done the dirty work- started the coffee, fed Hazel & Wolfy and taken Hazel for her early morning walk. I did do all of that once this week- but Hazel seems to prefer his walking style to mine so once was apparently enough.

Pike's Peak was a No Go this trip - we couldn't make ourselves go up with wind chills of 21 and the whole mountain socked in with weather. Instead we did go to the Garden of The Gods. The rock formations there are absolutely wonderful and I was very jealous of the homes overlooking those magnificent views, what a way to start your day! The weather was overcast and cool and my camera seems to be taking in less & less light, so the pictures are rather dreary but I kept trying, and trying, and trying. The one thing that never seems to change is that we get somewhere and the area gets some much needed rain and unseasonably cool temperatures. Guess it is inevitable that we bring the rains. (Does it remind you of any other trip Jeremy? Every time I check the Yellowstone weather I see they are having snow- we are just fated I guess, but this time we have a built in heater. After the trip through Garden of the Gods we ate in Jorje's in Old Colorado City (Of course that wasn't until we had purchased fresh bread and pastries aat the french pastry shop La Baguette). Jorje's has great Mexican food and Bruce acquired another of their T-shirts. His first one, bought last year when we were here in January, says "You can?t drink all day if you don?t start early". This one says "Shut up and drink your Margarita?" I am pretty sure it is directed towards me.

Other than a drive down to Canon City to check on our property- we just took it easy since we had been in this area of Colorado several times . We found that the little storage shed we built 4-5 years ago is still standing as built and the stained walls are holding up very well. Only the paint on the trim seems to be suffering in the Colorado weather. The shed is filled with things we left behind if we ever want to just come out and stay any time (which probably will never happen). except of course for the animal droppings left by all the little critters that used it to get out of the cold. Those will just have to wait until we have masks to get cleaned up. Hazel completely refused to come up the stairs to even see the inside, she was smarter than either of us. Seriously, I am sure it is because the stairway is made of safety treads , raised metal steps and they hurt her little feet. Everything was greener than we had ever seen this time, at the ranch, in Colorado Springs, at the Garden of the Gods - everywhere, so I guess it pays to come in what is still considered Spring. Later in June when we usually arrive everything is desert colored except for the Aspen.

Well - time for bed, more about our new camp site tomorrow. Adios.

Trinidad and Cokedale

  We went to Trinidad but I didn't get to update the blog with that information, so this will suffice. Trinidad was great fun. If you go- first stop at the visitors Center- get any info you might need for all of Colorado- but then take the FREE 1 hour city tour on the trolley. The man who drove us around (and there were only 5 of us) was full of interesting tidbits about the city. Apparently Trinidad was the stopping off point for many different ethnic groups moving west during the days of wagon trains. It makes perfect sense- many people probably had to stop, get jobs for short periods of time to fund the cost of food, etc. so they could complete their journeys westward. Retirement and RVs were not in anyone’s vision in those days. We are very fortunate to be able to visit the historical works of our ancestors- everyone should take whatever opportunity afforded and get out there and see this country. Anyway- the Italians and the Germans were some of the people who provided the excellent architecture, stone work and interior woodwork for this city. All of the brick used in Trinidad was made there- until the mid-1950s and most of the stone used in the buildings was mined in the vicinity. Apparently the Italians are responsible for the excellent stonework in the buildings. The workmanship is so good that none of the buildings have needed restoration and the city's plicy is to never touch any of the historical architecture unless it is falling down and there is a safety issue.
The tallest city building completed was the First National Bank- made of stone and even better, a year after it was completed the Italians returned and carved the existing stone into fanciful shapes, gargoyles, etc. There is speculation that this may be the only building in the country made of stone that has the actual stone carved into shapes rather than having them added after completion.

 One of the really unique items to see is a graphic portrayal of Raton's history depicted in a ceramic mural. It was designed and completed by Sister Augusta Zimmer, SC and hangs in the Mount San Rafael Hospital entrance. It weighs about 3000 pounds, hangs on a reinforced interior wall and is 38ft W x 12ft H. According to the tour guide, there are 5000 pieces in the mosaic and Sister Zimmer was 80 years old when she finally completed the mural She did all of the work and spent 16 hour days on the scaffolding putting it up . I don;t know if all of what he said is true, but it is still quite a piece of art and my pictures do not do it justice. In any case, if you are interested, there are more pictures and explanations of what the different images portray in the web album.


After touring Trinidad and a fast lunch, we drove out the highway of Legends a few miles to another another interesting place - Cokedale, Co. It is a significant intact example of a coal miner's camp. The first thing you see as you come to Cokedale are black hills - they turned out to be slag heaps. There were 2 mines in Cokedale and one 9 miles north in Bon Carbo in the early 1900s. The mined coal was washed to remove impurities (mainly sulfur and phosphorus) in the Washer and then cooked in ovens to remove the moisture and the final product, coking coal, shipped off in rail cars. Coking coal was a necessary ingredient in the smelting and refining of iron since it burns with intense heat. The slag heaps we first encountered were where the remaining impurities were deposited.



The first picture is what is left of the coal washery and the next are of some of the 350 coke ovens that were at Cokedale, These ovens ran non-stop during the heyday of this town supporting the 3 mines in the vicinity.

There is quite a bit if history in Trinidad and the surrounding area. Come and see it for yourself!!

Raton, NM

This will probably be a long blog and the only one for Raton as we are incommunicado in the canyon where we are camped - no cell, no anything so any postings have to be done in the city and that is a pain to accomplish.

We are in Raton, NM - right outside the Raton Pass , you know the pass on the Santa Fe Trail that the wagons had to use to cross into NM from Colorado. Today's I-25 pass is not in the location of the original, it is somewhat east. We did see the real one though ? you know us, we need to have authenticity in all of our history (ha!). It is just a little NW of the actual downtown. We drove up to Goat Hill, the highest point in Raton city and then looked up and said- yeah - there it is. It was up past Goat Hill, much higher, but the road was unpaved, gravel, very steep and narrow & included several switchbacks - maybe next time. I must say though, I would hate to have been in a wagon using that pass at any time - riding or walking.

Interestingly enough, there were 2 Santa Fe trail routes. The trail divided in SW Kansas and the two trails were the Mountain Santa Fe Trail, arcing through Colorado and entering NM over the steep Raton Pass, and the Cimarron Santa Fe Trail that edged through SE Colorado & NW Texas and entered NM around Clayton (between Raton & Amarillo, TX). . The mountain trail was supposed to have been more arduous and longer but safer, at least until travelers hit the steep Raton Pass and New Mexico. In 1865 a toll road was built to make the Raton Pass crossing easier. The Cimarron route cuts across US 87 today and apparently wagon ruts are still visible on much of its route. It is amazing how being out here and learning more of the actual history, seeing the trails and the towns now makes all those Westerns I grew up watching so much more meaningful.

We are staying at Sugarite (pronounced sugar-eet) Canyon State Park. Sugarite was a coal camp in 1910 and supplied heating coal to homes as far away as Kansas & Oklahoma. Its main building, the post office, is now the Visitors Center here at the park. At its peak over 1000 people lived in this canyon and the camp included a 2 story school house, a company store, a doctor's office and a club house that was used by the miners and their families for social activities. The camp was shut down in 1941 as butane became the eating fuel of choice. The major geological feature in this canyon is an extended cliff of basaltic rock. 12 million years ago broad sheets of molten lava erupted from a nearby volcano forming layers of basalt rock 10 to 100 feet thick. Apparently these cliffs are appreciated by technical rock climbers - we just appreciate them for their grandeur. There is a small (Lake Alice) near the campground and further up the canyon a much larger 120 acre lake (Lake Maloya). It's north shoreline is part of one of the Colorado Wilderness areas. Elevation in the park is from 6900ft to 8300ft. The Limestone campground, where we are staying is probably at about 7200ft. It is on the side of the hill at the bottom of the canyon. There is a primitive campground higher in elevation and further up the canyon road, Soda Pocket- and includes several group sites, a horse corral site and multiple tent and trailer sites. The road to the campground is not paved but it wanders through some wonderful scenery for several miles. Nights have been very cool, low 40s and the day time temperatures have remained in the 70s at the campground and probably the mid 80s in town. We could not have picked a better time to be here. We lucked out when we arrived and the 2nd camp host spot was empty so we changed to that area, giving us a clear view of the campground and the resulting activities- which can be viewed through the camper's "big screen" (the very large front windows). Since we have added the sun shades to the windows- you can not see into the camper during the day when walking or driving by, so the big screen provides quite an in obtrusive viewing area, although when things get really good- we have to go out and observe. Today it took one poor man at least 45 minutes and 35 different in and out tries to get his camper into the spot. I watched from inside, Bruce couldn't stand it and had to view the whole process from a better area so he and the camp host high around across from the site and watched. Ah - the things that entertain us.

The only real challenge we have had with the motorhome occurred here though. We thought we had a propane leak. We could smell gas the after we arrived the first night and just knew we had broken something lose but could not determine what it was. It seemed to center around the refrigerator. It had been running on propane all day but automatically witched to electric when we plugged in to shore power. Bruce looked everywhere but couldn't find anything. The smell got worse as the night got later and what made it worse was that the LP alarm on the floor was green but never went off. We were very worried. The next day Bruce searched all the bins and took the 2 small propane tanks out he used for the grill and noticed one seemed very light and smelled quite a bit of leaking gas. He still thought that we had a problem elsewhere, since the bin itself seemed to smell of gas, but after testing all of the visible joints, the pop-off cap, etc. and talking with the mechanics we found who doubted the motorhome tank was at fault, he determined that all of it was caused by the small tank?s valve leaking into the closed compartment. That compartment is sealed and carpeted and also vents to the refrigerator base and the gas was escaping upward through that avenue. We can only assume there were not enough particles of gas per whatever to set the alarm off on the floor and we were getting mostly the smell, made worse by the drop in pressure the first night when it rained and the less dense air at this altitude. We had the tank valve fixed today and all seems well now - no smells last night (tank stayed outside rather than in the bin and the bin was aired out and squirted with odo-ban) and nothing since. Whew- We are very glad that the issue was not a busted tank some place in the back of the underside of The Beast. We expect we will have some problems on this trip but we really didn't want to start off with a major repair.

Yesterday, after airing out the bin and trying to find an RV repair place, we drove to Capulin (pronounced cah-poo-LEEN) Volcano National Monument. We have driven by the road to the volcano for years, every time we have come out of Amarillo on US 64/87 on our way to CO over Raton. Each time we have said, wish we had time to stop, so this time we intentionally put it on our schedule. So we drove out from Raton SW on US 64/87 about 30 miles until we reached the road to the volcano. Along the way we saw small herds of what I think were antelope just standing around watching us pass. The volcano is conical in form and rises 1300 feet above the plain. It is now covered in vegetation and straddles 2 habitats, the grasslands of the plains and the forests of the mountains. It is named after the Spanish word for the chokeberry. Capulin is an extinct volcano and is an excellent example of a cinder cone which typically have only one period of activity. It erupted 56,000 - 62,000 years ago and is part of the Raton - Clayton volcanic field. When it erupted it produced two different products, cinders and lava. The focused eruption sent cinders into the air and they piled up around the vent and produced the Capulin cone. During the eruption process there were 4 different lava flows that ended up covering 15.7 square miles. The conical shape of the volcano was preserved because the first lava flow came early in the eruption from the base of the cinder cone facing east but the remaining 3 were from several vents on the west side of the cone now called the boca or mouth. That helped to preserve Capulin?s symmetry. There are 5 trails in the park, 2 that can be accessed from the top of the volcano. We drove to the top and viewed all of the surrounding vistas from the large parking area since we could not take Hazel on any of the trails and it was too hot to leave her in the car. Also , 8000+ ft high gets to be a bit of a breathing problem for both of us, even on the paved 1 mile Rim Trail that "skirts the rim in a series of moderate to steep ascents (340 ft elevation changes) to the peak's highest point at 8,182ft with a steep descent to the parking lot" - right. There is also a steep Crater Vent trail (we did not take it either) that descends 105 ft to the crater vent but a young couple from Nebraska climbing back up while we were there said you can see the same rocks from the parking area that you see from the bottom- and that not taking the trail was the better choice. They were pretty winded themselves, as Nebraska is not at 8000ft either. The trip is worth it though and the drive up twists around the volcano for several miles, with wonderful views and no guard rails.

The Raton-Clayton volcanic field covers 8000 square miles and stretches from Trinidad, CO to Clayton, NM and has been active during the last 9 million years, but is currently not classified as active since there had been no activity for the last 30,000 - 40,000 years. The eruption of Capulin about 60,000 years ago is one of the more recent activities. Because it is not considered active does not mean that there will be no more eruptions from this field in the future, but scientists don?t think it will happen within a human time span. This collection of volcanoes is the eastern most Cenozoic volcanic field in the US. Volcanic fields are clusters of volcanoes that al tap a common magma source. Driving around this area you can see can see hills, peaks and other formations all around the area that are part of this volcanic field, including the largest single mountain in the US, Sierra Grande. It is an extinct volcano rising 2200 feet above the surrounding plain 10 miles SE of Capulin.

We returned to Sugarite via NM 72 over Johnson Mesa. This drive took about twice the time but was worth every minute. The mesa is 8609 ft in the air and is beautiful, although we did hit a short in duration hail storm. Once we descended a bit the hail turned slushy so there was no damage to the car. You reach the mesa it by climbing through Folsom and the surrounding mountains that run along the NM/Colorado border (remember- there is a reason the wagon trains had to cross at Raton). The climb up is gentle but the road down is steep. Along the drive you can catch views of Colorado to the north- but well below the 8000 foot mesa cliffs. As far as I could tell from the NM side- there would have been no other way to get to the top for wagons, although I do know there is now another road that will take us to Colorado not to far west of the canyon. We would have to go back across the mesa and further west. I tried to get Bruce to take me to Trinidad today (Saturday) via that route, but he said we were taking the easy road over the pass - 20 minutes versus 1-2 hours was his reasoning I guess. We will have to save that road for a different trip.

Carlsbad Caverns

Yesterday we spent a wonderful afternoon at Carlsbad Caverns. The caverns are not in Carlsbad itself but rather 20 miles south in the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The Visitor Center is reached by a 7 mile meandering road through the Chihuahuan Desert. I wish I could say that I had all these fabulous photos to share (and I did) but someone, who shall remain nameless and that writes this blog, was fooling around with the digital camera and mistakenly formatted it before removing any of the existing pictures. (Note to self – never say yes to anything when you don’t know exactly what will happen.) Anyway- you can find all sorts of wonderful photos on the NPS site : http://www.nps.gov/cave/photosmultimedia/index.htm.

Take a look at the Natural Entrance photos, (I had several that were at least as good as this one, even some with both of us proving we were there ) that is the route Bruce & I walked down – 750’ down in 1.25 miles, in the mostly twilight/dark – steep and dim are exactly the words that comes to mind. Even with the paved surface and rails- your back and knees take a lickin, although 4 Ibuprofen once we returned home and an adult beverage or so made things much more bearable. There is an elevator that takes you down to the Big Room for wimps- but we decided to be the “explorers we know we are in our hearts”. OK – I have to tell the truth – weight (what weight?) does impact your speed and comfort, as does age and knee health, so keep that in mind for all you future visitors- although if I can do it, most anyone should be able to walk this route, especially if you have drugs for recovery. If you are a first time visitor, you should do this at least once- it is well worth the 45 minutes (definitely not us) – 1 ½ hours (more likely our time although we did not have watches or cell phones with us). It wasn’t just the steepness of the walk – I of course had to stop multiple times to take all those fabulous photos we would post on the blog after I edited them and added my terrific comments – like stalactite 1, stalagmite 2, etc.– NOT! Maybe our memories will be better anyway - since my little Samsung D53 camera does not perform in dim light with the finesse of an expensive Nikon and we would most likely not even recognize most of what I shot.

Did you know that the Caverns were once a horseshoe shaped reef formed from sponges, algae & seashells. As the reef rose, cracks developed. Once the surrounding sea dried up, the reef was buried under deposits of salts and gypsum. During the uplift forming the Guadalupe Mountains (nearby and also part of the Chihuahuan Desert ) formed, rainwater seeped into the cracks and faults in the buried reef’s limestone while simultaneously the sulfide-rich water from the oil & gas fields to the east migrated upward. When these 2 waters mixed, sulfuric acid was formed and that is what dissolved the limestone and opened up the faults and fractures into large chambers. After more movement, the mountains were pushed up and the caverns fell.

The NPS is doing a great job of protecting this World Heritage Site (designated in 1995) from the devastating impact of people. Did you know that now one of the greatest impacts (now that they have stopped walking off the paths, eating & drinking except sugarless water, touching anything, throwing coins into pools, smoking, etc. ) to the Caverns is LINT -– you know, that stuff under our couches that we usually ignore until those dust bunnies grow into full size monsters. Every time a person or animal comes into the caves they slough off skin and hair – and this lint fosters the growth of bacteria that can create acids that etch the rock/formations and cover them with what looks like grey dirt. Several times a year there are volunteers that come in to clean lint from the “decorations.” Decorations are what the formations in the caverns are called – and decorations are exactly what many of these look like – delicate soda straws, draperies, cave pearls, popcorn, flowstone and of course stalactites and stalagmites inv varying sizes that become columns when they meet. The caverns had the lighting done by a Broadway expert- to show off the most dramatic and to still ensure the cave looked exactly lie a cave. Very calming and definitely worth the time to enjoy.

The general entrance fee to the Caverns covers the 2 general tours- the Natural Entrance walk in and the Big Room, the largest of the 11 out of known 113 caves that are open. It is a one-mile stroll around and through the perimeter and takes 1.5 hours or more depending again on how often you (or your companion) stop for pictures you don’t use, whether you pay the minimal $3 for the audio tour and stop to listen at the appropriate numbers, or if you just stroll through as a teenager. There is one additional “generic” but Ranger-led tour through King’s Palace. We will take that next time- if able, since it is another 800+ feet down AND back up in that one. At least with the Natural Entrance walk – it is only down you must take the elevators back to the surface. If you are really adventurous there are several other ranger-led tours that require crawling, climbing ladders in the dark, head lamps, lanterns, and much better physical condition/health and claustrophobia control than we have or are probably likely to ever have.

Ok – you have the high lights so now go visit the NPS site, look at the pictures and plan your own visit. That is the only way to really experience the beauty and grandeur of one of what is the world’s natural wonders. There may be larger and deeper caves- but most of the visitors from all over have declared Carlsbad as the most beautiful

We are off now to see the bat flight tonight at dusk and who knows, may get some “proof” pictures at the natural entrance as well as some of the closer formations in the Big Room. It is time for a late lunch-early dinner so will post again tonight or tomorrow after we get to Sugarite Canyon (pronounced sugar-eete) State Park at Raton, NM. Later…..

In Search of aliens? ? Don?t expect much??..

We took a side trip today to Roswell- glad it wasn?t any further away or I would have been seriously disappointed with how we ended up spending our time. My fault- I did not do enough research and I erroneously thought that Roswell and Area 51 and that whole conspiracy cover-up thing were here but I found out Area 51 is in Nevada, not New Mexico. (Guess the crash supposedly occurred in Roswell and the aliens were transported & hidden at Area 51?). The only real "alien" things here of note are the International UFO museum & Research Center (nothing to sneeze at), the alleged site of the 1947 crash (on private land and inaccessible for most people) and of course, over 4th of July the Annual UFO Convention, which would be great to attend if you were in the area. There are other things to see in Roswell, several Museums that did not open until 1:00 PM (it was 11:00 AM when we showed up) and a Planetarium that was also owned privately and was not open except for special presentations. So for the most part, we were out of luck. They do have an extensive architecturally historic housing area and we viewed some of the homes before leaving, but all in all I would call that visit a bust. So ? nothing significant to report for today. Instead- we will have a little history of Brantley Lake State Park.

Brantley Lake State Park is a desert ? type campground on Brantley Lake. It is New Mexico?s newest state park and opened offically in the fall of 1989, It is located 12 mi north of Carlsbad (the city not the Caverns). The park offers camping, picnicking, boating, fishing, water skiing, swimming, and hiking. The park has two boat ramps, restrooms, a playground, a visitor center, and a nature trail. It has 32 developed picnicking sites, 49 camping sites, including RV sites with electric hookups. Primitive camping is also allowed along the shores of the lake. Hiking trails connect the campgrounds, the shorelines and the Visitor?s center.

Brantley Lake is the lake that resulted when Brantley Dam was built on the Pecos River. Brantley is designed to hold 348,540 acre-ft of water. The headwaters of the Pecos River are in the Sangre De Cristo mountains and this is one of the southern-most reservoirs on the Pecos River. Although the primary functions of the lake are flood control and water storage for irrigation and water commitments to Texas and Mexico, the lake is best known for its water recreation and fishing.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began construction on Brantley Dam in 1984 and it was completed in 1988. The dam was designed to replace the existing McMillan Dam. McMillan Dam was originally constructed for irrigation in 1893 as a 57'high 2114 long earthfill dam. The type of rock it was built on was easily eroded, so by the 1980s, even after 2 previous rehabilitations to prevent water from leaking into sinkholes and reducing capacity, McMillan had filled up with so much silt and sediment that water storage was down to 1/3 of its original capacity. Its replacement, Brantley Dam, has a maximum height of 143.5? and is made up of a concrete section that is 730 ft long and an earthen embayment that is 3.9 mi long. It is an example of how local geology was used in determining the site of a modern dam. The dam was specifically built where the body of rock was less permeable and would not as easily dissolve. Once Brantley Dam was completed, McMillan Dam was breached and allowed to drain into Lake Brantley. The area once covered by Lake McMillan is being reclaimed and revegetated for use as a wildlife refuge called the Brantley Wildlife Management Area. This is the first large lakebed in the western US to be rehabilitated.

Hopefully I understood much of what I read and have restated it to you here correctly. Aren?t you all better informed now? We are off to Carlsbad Caverns tomorrow so should have more exciting info and pictures I ope. I really need a new camera that takes clearer and more composed pictures because I know that you would never suggest that any lack of perfection in my pictures could be a result of operator error.
You wait- I know a new camera will make all the difference.

Moving further West

We spent our last day at Hord’s Creek doing exactly what we wanted. We had a late, relatively large breakfast, went in to Coleman to pirate some Wi-Fi (last blog update ws published then) but ended up at the library just using their Wi-Fi. I always forget they usually have that available. We then finished our Coleman visit with chocolate Dairy Queen shakes and a quick stop at the grocery store for eggs. We sped back to camp and spent the remaining part of Friday just lazing around doing what each of us wanted. Bruce read a book and indulged in adult beverages and I completed work on my tracking spreadsheet to use to document the expenses on this trip – always nice to know how much and what you spent your money for- (yeah – I know you can take the girl out of the technology work environment but you can’t take the computer from the girl). Then I read a book and we both watched all of the Friday camper arrivals – backing into trees, hitting their 5th wheel tongues, etc. – always quite a show. We finished the evening with this wonderful sunset. As we were leaving early the next morning- we had already cleaned up the camp site. All we had to do Saturday morning, if all went to plan, was make the coffee, unhook the water & electric, run in the slides, go and dump the tanks and get on the way. We were hoping to beat the heat and the ever increasing wind you experience as you move west.

It is Saturday afternoon, we have already eaten lunch and are sitting in our site at Brantley Lake State Park in Carlsbad, NM and I have internet access again. Yes, it comes and goes, but it does connect- not like in the boondocks of Texas. This update is as fresh as it gets- as are the accompanying pictures I already have. All went as planned- but speaking of wind- we must have been through the windiest part of Texas- there were electric wind generation windmills for miles and miles just south of Sweetwater. Didn’t get the picture I wanted as the camera was in the car- being towed behind us and I didn’t want to suggest to Bruce that he pull over, let me find my keys and then let me find the camera and take 1-2 pictures that we probably wouldn’t recognize when we saw them later - although he did offer to stop and let me go and find everything if I really wanted those pictures. Not! I have learned something in 32 years. After seeing the miles & miles of windmills, most not moving at the time made me very glad that we had been on the road by 6:50am. I can’t imagine driving the big brick on wheels (The Beast) if all of those babies had been truning at full speed, we would have been all over the road. The biggest event of the morning was trying to get diesel fuel in a less than RV accommodating station in Big Springs. We did accomplish the feat- and it wasn’t as costly as it could have been- and got back on US 87 to Lamesa where we hit US190 and stayed on it until we hit Carlsbad. The drive itself was uneventful and was much better on the back roads than on the interstate- more to see- if you could call acres of wheat, cotton and desert more to see (visions of 1987 driving through Kansas Jeremy- if you remember).

Looks like we might be in the path for a little weather so will get this posted and my computer shut down just in case. See you all later!

For all of you that get an email notification of my updates- if you don’t want it- please let me know so I can add someone else. The # I can notify that way is limited- so if you don’t want the update (either because you already check regularly, you get too much email and don’t want more or you just don’t care to follow along) please let me know and I will remove your notification.

VERIZONless in West Texas at least for the computer??

The trip to Hord?s Creek Lake went smoothly and we arrived approximately 4 hours after leaving- although we did go to the wrong park entrance originally. Apparently the park has several entrances, but in the summer months they shut the connection between the Lakeside Park and the park across the Dam ? Flat Rocks. Not knowing this, we entered at the first Hord?s Creek Lake COE entrance we came to and had to U-turn and drive another mile west for the Lake Side entrance. This is obviously a common issue since we have seen a few other campers doing the same thing- even today when we visited Flat Rocks. The Lake Side park is nicer in our opinion ? sites are larger and completely paved parking where Flat rock still ahs some gravel parking sites- more for smaller campers and tenters I think. Also, the rest room facilities and showers are not as up to date- although we did discover that there are sites at both parks with full hook-ups ? news to us. Since the cats are traveling in our shower- we prefer to use the campground facilities when available. The park is a COE park like most others- although I am at a loss at to why there is one in this area. I have not been able to get online here yet (we are in a hole surrounded by hills and ranch country) so haven?t done all the requisite research to provide any real historical info on this park. Maybe it is like Optima Lake in OK ? there was a flood once, someone put the creek on the list for control and the Corp had money and built a dam. Not the first time things like that have happened- the bureaucratic train is hard to stop once it has started, even if something may no longer be really necessary- but who knows until I can look it up.

Speaking of facilities here -this is the first set of showers I have experienced that have motion detector technology running the shower water. You had better be standing in front of that little gizmo or you have no water. I realized very quickly that by using the handicap stall with the bars all around and propping the shampoo bottle on the bar in front of the sensor I could pretty much circumvent that system. Bruce on the other had did not have a large enough bottle so he had to make do with staying in the sensor?s path. The little things we have to deal with.

We spent today touring the area and then the park across the small lake. I found a nice Quilt Shop called the Quilting Patch in Santa Ana and Bruce found a wonderful military surplus junk yard. I can already tell something new will be coming to our house in the next year. He will just have to decide which something and when to come and get it I guess. He told me that I just needed to shop at 3-4 more Quilt stores and he could get a new to him jeep ? I think he is dreaming. I haven?t spent that much money.

I am pretty sure this is an area where there are plenty of Winter Texans each year - that translates to snowbirds for us Floridians ? based on the size of this CORP park, the new pull-through and 50 amp service sites they have added and my real observation , there are too many antique malls for a small place like Coleman, TX to support. I guess the hunters could be avid antiquers- but I really can?t see them spending a whole lot of their hunting season in these places. Prices were pretty high too, so the locals wouldn?t have been their support either and the area does not seem to be unique and/or picturesque enough (German towns, rafters, hill country, etc.) for the yuppie crowd. Unlike Canyon Lake, the CORP owns the whole thing and all of the surrounding land- so there are no waterfront homes, and no thriving downstream river (Hord?s Creek) community that we could identify. The area seems to be mostly farming and/or ranching (Show goats, cattle, horses). Guess us oldies (traveling retirees) are the ones buying their wares- but obviously oldies with more money than Bruce and I.

Bruce is currently observing the activities on the opposite shore- it is always fun to watch new people arrive, set up and get themselves situated. The weather is wonderful tonight, about 78 and clear. Yesterday it was a scorcher for May- in the 90s when we arrived around 2 but the breeze made it bearable. Later that evening we had an awful thunderstorm ? I thought I might need to watch for Tornados since most of it was lightening, thunder and wind. The rain that fell was not enough to materially raise the level of the Lake. I am sure the Texas drought is affecting this area also. We woke to clear skies and 65 degrees with a breeze that required a sweatshirt be donned for morning coffee. It was so beautiful that we moved all of our various cooking utensils outside and hope to keep them there for the duration of this stay. We are really roughing it- we had the electric frying pan and the electric griddle out for breakfast and used the Air Baker convection oven to cook a wonderful Tex-Mex casserole for dinner. We used one of the bags of pulled pork we cooked Sunday (last of the defrosted pork). Mix cooked pork, green chili sauce, tomatoes, cheese and flour tortillas together in any dish and it tastes wonderful. Jeremy- I will have to send you this recipe I made up - it is fast, easy and tastes great. Bruce doesn?t think I can duplicate this and that it was just dump and mix but I am going to show him, the recipe will be in an email to you tomorrow (or whenever I get service) The same outside area (picnic table) is our library and office too- as long as the weather holds.

Tomorrow is laundry day- so I will take this with me and hopefully finish posting and adding some of my pictures. Then we are off to Brownwood for some junking, camping world if available for some various needed items and lunch out. Will be adding more later.

Addendum: No Verizon connection in Brownwood and have not called them to see if there is a problem. When this posts it will be because I went to the public library in Coleman on Friday. Pictures will come later.

Potter's Creek Park, Canyon Lake, TX

It has been a few days since I wrote the last entry- and we have almost reached the end of our time here at Potter’s Creek. We leave tomorrow for Hords Creek near Coleman, TX. It is truly a good thing that I reserved this site when I did- this park was sold out for Memorial Day weekend and I am pretty sure that most of the tent sites has over the limit. We were awash with tents, boats, campers, trailers, jet skis and tubers. Apparently it is very popular to tube the Guadalupe River and the proximity of this river to Austin, San Antonio and San Marcos makes it a mecca for college kids and families who want to get out to the country on the river. There is not much water in the river, but apparently that did not stop anyone. Besides the tubing, the Hill County is beautiful just to ride through- and the motorcyclists were out in the beautiful weather. Even rain did not deter anyone- the sites were filled to capacity every where Bruce & I went- and this picture is just an example of what the 20 miles of the Guadalupe River looked like on River Road (between Sattler and New Braunfels) when we drove it early Sunday morning. If someone had a piece of land along that 20 mile stretch, they had turned it into camp grounds and tubing entry/exit areas. Seems these areas are really big on the holiday weekends and all through the summer.

We have explored all around the lake- although we never made it to the Museum of the Texas Hill County to see the dinosaur tracks. We just ran out of time- and to get anywhere you have to go around the Lake. We did visit the Canyon Dam, walked over and back with Hazel (1.6 mi) and the on the nature trail downstream. The deer are prolific here, and there are fawns everywhere. We tried to take a picture of one up at the top of the dam, hidden by its mother in the tall grass, but that did not work very well. See if you can find the hidden fawn – this is much like our moose pictures when we went to Yellowstone in 87 – lots of vegetation but no real discernible animals in the pictures.

Have met some very nice people here and hope we can keep in touch as we continue to roam the country. The couple next door to us were an ex-farmer/welder and a nurse. He had recently been diagnosed with MS and was finding out what was still possible and she is still working as a case discharge nurse for one of the big insurance companies. We learned quite a bit about the Texas area, farming and their home town of Hutto (just NE of Austin). Very nice folks and full of good information. Who knows, we may meet them again when we come this way next time = and we will come again. This is a wonderful area, although getting here was over smaller Texas roads that caused The Beast to twist and turn a bit. As a result- we no longer have a working ice-maker. Seems the water supply tube has finally disintegrated. Once we discovered that we had water leaking into the bins, Bruce took the access panel off and discovered that the tube was broken. We have found what we thought were viable replacements – but once he cut into the insulation covering the tube- he realized we would be unable to fix this problem- the age and heat had taken their toll and the brittle tube just comes apart in his hands. Guess we will do without until we find someone who can run a new line- or just do without until we get back home. Ice trays work fine.

The defrosted food has all been taken care of- either cooked or we found it a place in the freezer.. I made pulled pork with the various pork cuts and beef stew with whatever beef was defrosted. Those can go in the frig as we seem to have room there and they will get eaten pretty quickly. We cooked the Italian sausages to eat later with onions and peppers fair-style and we grilled the nice London broil to slice for sandwiches. I shouldn’t have to cook for the next week – except of course for breakfast. Yea!!! – vacation coming up.

The animals are doing fine- Wolfy has gotten used to coming outside when all is quiet for awhile and Samantha is even getting up during the day to lie in the passenger chair and look out the windows. I think they are starting to adapt. Hazel of course has her own routine and that means so do we. Trying to keep her from gaining weight may be the best thing for us- although I still need to get to a Wal-Mart to pick up a set of scales. You can’t be too careful.

Check out the album associated with this blog for more pictures. Have to stop and help Bruce get The Beast ready for it’s trip tomorrow- with time for us to relax under the awning with some wine or a drink. More will follow.

Long drive to Texas

Thursday we spent over 12 hours from wake up getting to our new campsite - Potter' Creek Park at Canyon Lake, TX. The drive was pretty uneventful- except that we didn't quite avoid the Baton Rouge suburbia traffic. Why is it that 2 roads merging causes so many people to be so stupid? We sat in traffic coming into Baton Rouge- better yet, just for 10 miles where there are 2 merges onto I-12 at Denham Springs. We sat in that 10 miles of traffic a good 45 minutes and nothing was wrong- then we get past Denham Springs and sail through the rest of the morning traffic.

We arrived safely, got The Beast set up, the window shades on, the awning out and chairs set up- then we were ready to bring out our drinks and sit in the shade. What a night. Although this is another COE park, we are not on the water. Instead we are at a camp site across from the lake sites but have a nice view of it along with spying rights on the lake-front camp sites in front of us. Currently no one is at either of the sites in front of us, so our view is completely unrestricted, but since this is Memorial Day weekend and the park is sold out, I am sure that will change late tonight or tomorrow at the latest. The park is on a point on the northwest side of the lake and what appear to be expensive houses surround the rest, although we can't really see the whole lake. There is a beach but the water is down about 12 feet, so what would have been a camp site about 50 ft from the lake is now about 100 ft from the lake. Pictures and more info coming soon.

Fontainebleau State Park

What a find - this park is great. There are 2 campgrounds, a beach, fishing pier, lakefront cabins (fully furnished for $90/night and sleep 8) a small visitors center & museum along with the ruins of a sugar mill and for the very adventurous - tepees.


We have had a great time here, weather has been wonderful. Daytime temps have been in the 70s, evenings cool and waking up to 57 degrees is no problem for me. With Hazel, walking is definitely part of the program and I will bet I have done at least 10 miles over the last few days and Bruce even more.

We did not do New Orleans after all - decided instead to maybe go in early December and stay in the city. It will make walking tours (our preference) easier and we will not have the dog or cats to worry about in the motorhome. We did travel the 29 mile Causeway from the north shore over and back on Monday- and drove along River Road south of the Mississippi for awhile - but again have preferred the campground to most everything else.

Last night we did a wonderful steak dinner on the grill (continued eating of the defrosting foods) and tonight was supposed to be something grilled also, but when it defrosted I found it was beef again. Conveniently we had to try a local establishment - Louie & The Redhead Lady. It has been written up in several publications and its reputation is deserved. Very local, small, nothing fancy but the food was great. All these years I thought that I hated Lima beans, but that changed tonight as I had the best fried shrimp and limas I have ever eaten (no, not together as a dish, separately served - fried shrimp with the limas on the side) - what a change to past recipes I have tried. Bruce had the blackened grouper with sweet potato fries and the salad served is homemade slaw with garlic biscuits. We shared a piece of very delicious hummingbird cake for desert. neither of us left hungry. Bruce is disappointed we didn't try them as soon as we got here so we could have eaten there more than once. I am sure we will be making this park a regular stop on any of our westward trips with The Beast so will definitely be back to try them again. Another place we will try is La Provence - much more money, but it is a John Besh restaurant and some of the locals we spoke to say it is the the best French food in LA, Something to look forward to - and to bring clothes for also. We are not "fine dining clothes horses" and would definitely have been under-dressed if we had attempted it tonight.

We are leaving early tomorrow morning to hopefully get through Baton Rouge before rush hour gets in full swing, so have to quit to get everything in its place for travel. We are off to Potter's Creek Park in Canyon Lake, TX. See you there.

New Orleans - or at least we are pretty close....

We stayed last night in Robertsdale, AL. - a small campground called Hilltop. It was not the easiest place to get The Beast out of- but Bruce (the driver that he is) seemed to be able to make anything work. We left late for us (9:30AM CDT) and drove the short 4 hours to Fontainebleau State Park in Mandeville, LA. We are 5 miles from the causeway that zips directly over Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans. The campground is OK, not a COE park by any means, but still nice. The sites are pretty secluded if you get one of the pull-throughs, but the water and electricity access must have been designed by a blind man, at least in site 4. To use the site as laid out you would need a 50 foot electric cord as well as water line. We are parked half on the pavement and half on the grass- seems that has happened many times based on the condition of this site. Bruce was touring the sites on a walk with Hazel (Wonderdog for short) and one of the other campers indicated they were just going home to get a long extension cord. Guess they really weren't that familiar with the loss of power you get with a longer cord. We need all of our 30 amps to run the camping necessities I can't do without (air conditioning, microwave/convection oven, fan, electric water heater, and last but not least- my computer) so we opted to move The Beast closer.

Once parked, leveled, electrified and watered, we immediately broke out the grill and decided to have standard camping fare (hamburgers) for lunch. We haven't had much success in the past few weeks with real camping type activities and again, because we are wimps and it too hot to eat outside, we ate our gourmet meal in the AC. After the inevitable afternoon rain Bruce finished setting up the site- chairs, rug, awning, and of course- the innovative outside thermometer stand.

We are now sitting outside (yes it is much cooler since the front is going over) sipping mango slushes made with the defrosting mango fruit (remember cleaning out the freezer?) and our ever ready SoCo and ginger ale. Stick blenders come in very handy. I am blogging and Bruce is reading- Wonderdog of course, is napping on her blanket. That dog is way too spoiled. The only real impediment to staying outside right now are the 2 yellow flies (one now dead) that decided we all need (including bothering Hazel) to experience all of the "pleasures" of camping in a swamp. Let's all remember, Louisiana is America"s Wetlands. Tomorrow should bring nicer weather and we are off to our first visit to The Big Easy!

Goodbye Cruel World (OK - Goodbye Jacksonville)

We are on the road again- traveling I-10 west towards new Orleans. It seems that it took us all morning to get out of town- especially after spending 30 minutes trying to get fat cat Samantha out from under our king size bed to put her in The Beast. We were all stressed by the end of that ordeal. And as before- we are overpacked- but this time in the freezer area. We shut off the big freezer in the house- and of course had to bring everything we could stuff into The Beast with us- unfortunately much of it is in a small electric cooler defrosting as we speak. We will be eating or making something with much of this over the next week. I am typing this online- yes I spent the money for Verizon mobile broadband- and we are riding while I am blogging- now I am happy. All that is left is to get the small cooler's connection out of my plug area so I don't have to run this laptop on battery.

Just a short entry to test the mobile broadband service and to update on our start - here are the relevant statistics:
Left home: 9:30AM
Mileage: 53411

See you later....

Home - But Not Quite

We had a great stay at Eufaula, but all good things come to an end. We left early this morning and decided to drive home the back roads- not using the interstate at all. We had an uneventful and pretty stress-free drive- or at least I did, since I can close my eyes any time and Bruce isn’t really sitting close enough to be able to tell whether I am awake or asleep – unless of course I start snoring. I am pretty sure that this time he didn’t hear me at all some times the noise in the motorhome is good for something.

We arrived in Jacksonville around 3 today but didn’t go home – instead we are staying at the Flamingo Resort on the north side at Lem Turner & 295. This is another “resort:” type of place (read I won’t be drinking my coffee outside in my striped PJs overlooking the lake with no one around) – all of the sites close together, although they have done a good job with their landscaping. Our site is on the small lake, but the atmosphere is quite different. So why are we here if this is not our “cup of tea?” We are meeting the couple that did the front motorhome window sun shades for us in Tennessee. We decided we wanted to have them done for the rest of the coach windows since we like to leave the day/night shades up and heat gain is a problem in the summer here, and will definitely occur on our trip out west . They should allow us to keep the coach much cooler during the day. This park is right on their way to Orlando so we met them here, are staying the night and tomorrow they will do the rest of the windows. Then we will go home and get this coach in shape to leave again next Friday or Saturday. Yea!!!!! See you then.

Last Update for This Trip-

Today is Monday, 5/4/09 and it has been several days since my last online update- the campground where we stay has no wireless and there are not any connections in the vicinity to piggyback on either. I have to go into town to pick up a connection – more reason to get a wireless service. We have had a lovely trip so far- although today it is raining and yesterday evening a big storm moved through. We have moved campsites- did that yesterday (Sunday) to be near our friends. The weekends are always reserved, but we had our pick of wonderful close sites Sunday evening. Our new site is also on the water, but on White Oak Creek rather than the Chattahoochee River. On the creek it is more protected and we get fewer breezes, although that usually makes it a much better place to ride out a storm.

We have visited most of our regular places in the last few days - Wal-Mart (yes, they do have different things in different locations), all of the antique stores and we have gone to Dothan for our major thrift store/flea market shot. I actually found a few things this time, some nice Franciscan bowls for the camper, a couch and a wicker chair set for my dolls and my absolute favorite – paperbacks for $.10/each if you bought 10 or more. Between us, Herman and I easily found 10 in the cart that we would read. I have been working on a small crewel piece in the evenings but my vision is getting fuzzier, so may have to put that aside until we get back.

Food intake has been moderate, exercise still mostly just walking and even that is not enough. Camping with our friends makes it much harder to moderate anything, but I am trying. Bruce cooked this morning, some bacon (not a whole pound this time thank goodness) and pancakes with wheat germ so they had at least some slow grain absorption(although apparently not enough as my eyes are closing- indicating a sugar low already – maybe the addition of an egg next time will help). He is currently out in the drizzle cleaning the windshield of bugs, etc. while I get my thoughts down on the computer. I have found that is the eay way to do this, type everything in Word and then cut and paste when I get to upload- the only parts I have to worry with then are the pictures. Once I am done with this, we will run uptown to post (apparently the library will let you come in and use their wireless connection), cruise the Wal-Mart and just bum around with Ann & Herman this morning, Rainy days are really good for a movie or two and getting some nap time in also- so who knows what the rest of today will bring. . Maybe the sun will come out later and we can have a nice long walk and a drink by the water this evening – my kind of winding down.

Update: Tornado Warning while we were at the Eufaula Library- posting this. Had to stop mid-way and go downstairs- fortunately it did not hit the campground- where it originated or Eufaula- just dissipated.

Addendum – Again-
I know that many of my entries show the same date - but that is not when they are written, just when I get them posted. I will try to make the ruminations shorter and the posts more often in the future – again, need that wireless connection. May just have to bite the bullet and buy the service when I get home so the blog entries on upcoming trip west beginning mid-May will be more often and more consistent. Just a teaser- the itinerary goes something like this: Leave Jacksonville, stop Fontainebleau State Park, LA (outside ew Orleans), Potters Creek (outside Austin, TX), Lakeside, near Coleman, TX, Brantley state Park, NM (outside Carlsbad), Sugarite State Park, NM (outside Raton) Cheyenne Mountain State Park, CO (outside Co. Springs), Boyd State Park, CO (Ft. Collins), Wapiti Campground, WY (between Cody and Yellowstone), Fishing Bridge (Yellowstone), Mountain View RV Park ID (Near Arco), Farewell Bend State Park, OR (Farewell Bend), Black Butte RV Park, OR (Camp Sherman- Sisters, OR), Valley of the Rogue State Park, OR (Rogue River), LePage Park, OR( Near Rufus), St. Mary Campground, MT (east side of Glacier National Park), Downstream Park, MT(Ft. Peck, MT Project), Downstream Garrison Lake, ND(Garrison Lake Dam, Riverdale), Nebraska Tailwaters, SD(Gavins Point Project- Nebraska River Tailwaters, Yankton), Whitebreast Campground, IA(Knoxville), Buffalo Point, AR (Yellville), Whitten Park, MS (Fulton) and back to Karick Lake in Crestview, FL by 8/31. The details of each place and why we stopped there, etc. will follow in the blogs. See you then …………

White Oak & Eufaula, AL – Final destination on this trip

Since my last entry we have left Kentucky and are driving to Eufaula, AL. We left at 5:30 AM this morning (Thursday, 4/30) so we would get through Nashville before the rush hour traffic got really bad. We hit a small back-up where I-24 joins I-65 (during rush hours the interstates in Nashville are a real cluster) but otherwise breezed through. We are currently just outside of Birmingham, AL. We stopped twice, once early on after we hit a branch leaving the campground and had to make sure we had not broken the satellite or TV antenna (Bruce had to climb on top of the motorhome for that inspection in the drizzling rain) and then for about 30 minutes at the Alabama welcome area for a quick cereal breakfast and Hazel walk. I-65 south out of Nashville is a new road for us- one not yet driven in all of our travels. We drove through the Tennessee mountains to just outside Huntsville, AL. Since we whizzed by we will have to return some other time to explore the space related area. Once in AL, the ruggedness of the mountains has given way to more rolling hills with beautiful farms, although I know Birmingham is famous for its mountainous views. Then we are on to Montgomery, where we will exit to travel southeast to the AL/GA line to the White Oak Campground just south of Eufaula, AL on the Chattahoochee River. We are about half way into today’s trip and should reach the campground mid-afternoons.

Since I am just sitting here being a perfect passenger, I thought I might being you up to date on our KY activities. Although we had contemplated leaving the Kentucky area early, we decided to stay yesterday and so some auto touring. There are 2 towns that were displaced when Barkley & Kentucky Dams were developed – Kuttawa and Eddyville. We drove though the relocated Kuttawa every day- not much to see, but had not explored Eddyville. The camp hosts told us about a small homemade doughnut place in Eddyville, so we left early in the morning and went in search of Miss Edna’s Doughnuts (yes, we did have to try them). We drove around Eddyville, found a laundromat, went on to Fredonia (on the Trail of Tears) and found another junk yard. Since I was not willing to sit in the car again while he shopped for junk, I did the laundry and listened to the rest of a book on my MP3. Those 2 hours ended up win-win for both of us (if ever doing laundry is a win for anyone). In our post-laundry explorations we stumbled on the Kentucky State Penitentiary – a contract in architectural style. I did not have my camera when we first saw it so had to return later in the afternoon for these pictures. It probably was not waterfront property before Barkley Dam was flooded- but it is now, and sits on some very prime property. We spent the rest of the afternoon just lazing about, reading and dozing. It ended up being a good day to stay at the campsite and get ready for today’s trip.

We got off the interstate just south of Montgomery and took 2 lane roads over to Eufaula. At that time of the day, the traffic wasn’t bad, so the drive was nice. Arrived at White Oak Campground (another picture perfect Corp of engineers park) and pulled into one of the first come sites on the river. I couldn’t ask for anything better. If you have a boat- you might want more of a beach, but because it is still to early to swim, and we don’t pull a boat- one of the sites directly on the Chattahoochee River is our perfect cup of tea. The wind blows to keep you cool, you have this wonder view of the water, and again, your neighbors are not in your back yard.

Our friends Herman & Ann had already been camping at one of the reserveable spots on the creek (they have a very nice pontoon boat and fish quite a bit so beach front is a necessity). We had a lovely dinner with them after setting up camp. We intend to stay about 8 nights. I have included a picture of our campsite and also the view from the front door of the camper (and the window by the chair I like to frequent) . White Oak is a very large campground- with plenty of up and down hill walking, so we took Hazel around the park several times today. That was the bulk of my exercise since it was a drive day although I am watching what and how much I eat also.

Wet Weather and Dodge Shopping

I am sitting in the car just north of Mayfield, KY (which is just south of Paducah for you quilters) writing this blog while Bruce tries to contact the Dodge guy for Town Wagon parts. It is about 9AM CDT and the weather is less than optimum for parts gathering. It is raining and we are parked in front of what could pass as a home I guess with what can only be termed a junk yard (not the type you pay to go in, but the type that has junk in the yard) surrounding it. Apparently this guy Pete started collecting vehicles when he was about 17 and never stopped. His mother finally had enough of it and one day told everyone that either the junk was leaving or she was - so she (and father I guess) moved out and Pete now has the family home and surrounding junk yard. Much of this place is overgrown and the cars are hidden by the plants and who knows what else. Bruce said Pete had cleaned up quite a bit since the last time he was here in February. (Note to self – If this is cleaned up - I am definitely going to have to intervene more at home to make sure this is not the direction we head!!) So we are here, in the rain, to get door parts, emblems, etc. – for “my” town wagon (it is always something for me- isn’t Bruce just so sweet?) because the pieces are still available, are in pretty good shape and are inexpensive compared to things we have seen on the Internet. Oh- here comes Pete now- good luck Bruce- I am staying in the car!

So while I wait (I am not getting out in the rain or even just to walk around, who knows what will get me), I will ruminate on one of my favorite topics – exercise. I don’t want to see any eyebrows raised or hear exhaling under your breath either by those readers who actually know me. Exercise is one of the hardest things to fit into my day and I am sure that is because I am not inclined to like it even a little bit. I can always find something better to do, even if it is sleeping. Joe and Tony , I am sorry to tell you that I have yet to really start up a program on the road. You both spent hours (and my dollars) trying to guide me, giving me suggestions for the road, and trying to help me enjoy exercise to some extent. I want you to both know that your guidance and perseverance had worked enough before we left Jacksonville that I actually felt better AFTER I came home- but not enough that I felt guilty about NOT GOING in the first place (or making excuses when I really didn’t want to get out of bed). Either way, now that we have left Jacksonville, the most I do is walk the dog. And walking Hazel is not all that it is cracked up to be. Hazel is a real warm weather wimp (OK, so am I at this weight and inactivity level), so in many cases walking her is not the activity it could be – she will just lie own when she is hot or has had enough, so of course we (I) have to find a place to rest too. See how easy it is for me to find an alternative to actually moving around – not good.

So, since I have now ignored my exercise for all practical purposes for the last 2 (ops, probably more like 3) weeks- I have begun to feel somewhat guilty and more sluggish. What? – is that a result of no exercise – I can’t believe it!) As a result I have decided to begin to hold myself accountable, both for calories in and calories out. (Notice I say begin to hold myself accountable – I can’t jump into anything with both feet, what if something important comes up and I have to backslide a bit?) I am going to try to do this accountability thing publicly - so you all can chide me, encourage me and help me walk this road to better health . And let’s not forget about Bruce either. Just because I am blogging doesn’t mean he is not participating – what is good for the goose is even better for the gander. Bruce & I can easily become motorhome couch potatoes- riding all day (motorhome or touring in the auto), sitting all night (except of course to walk Hazel) and eating in between. I can’t let that happen- in fact- I won’t let that happen. So – beginning tomorrow (not today- I have already backslid at Cracker Barrel) I will summarize the activities and eating on this path to better health. Additionally, Joe, I will commit to writing everything down that enters my mouth, just not on this blog. Just imagine - 2 eggs, toast with no butter, black coffee, etc., etc. …. How boring would that be ? Same goes for the actual exercise- unless of course it is something spectacular (I hiked the Appalachian Trail, the whole thing ! ) or something just as exciting. Of course- if I do have a big back step I will tell you all about it so you can help me refocus. I also promise not to make the focal point of this blog about exercise and food either (just today’s writings). I will only add summary statements within the writing to enable those interested to follow my progress. May even need to buy a set of scales to keep in the motorhome- what a drag, daily weigh-ins, but necessary I am afraid.

Back to the present- Bruce is busy bringing all sorts of small items to the car. Guess the day is turning out to be successful for him. Uh oh – he just got the drill out of the car (again) and picked up a piece of wet cardboard (to lie on I am sure) – wonder what he is getting now? Based on past experience, cardboard does not usually come into play for small items. Good, he is back and it is not too bad, trim pieces for the sides. At least we are not hauling more fenders.

Speaking of hauling- we hauled all of this wood with us for camp fires and have only had one in the 10 days this trip has covered. We had to haul the wood, in the back of my car of course, because you apparently can never depend that there will be down and dead wood in the forests, especially when the areas in question have had ice storms and killed so much of the timber. OR, the reason might be that you may have forgotten your chain saw (gas) or the chain saw (electric) would require much more than the 100 foot extension cord you have packed in the motorhome and an ax is too much work!! Good thing we travel with fire starter logs too. Either way, besides giving this wood a 1000 mile trip so far, one of the things we have discovered is that many of the campgrounds (state and federal) are now forbidding campers from bringing wood with them to burn, especially if that wood has come from other areas or states. This campground is not letting you bring wood in from some of the more northern states, but I have seen info on many of the online sites I have visited that say any wood from any other state is forbidden. Apparently the wood has been spreading different bugs and diseases, even when dead (there better not be any bugs or diseases in my car right now), and those things are ravaging the indigenous timber. Same thing goes for many other things we are transporting without knowing it- the zebra mussel on boats for example. Many of the areas tell boaters to let their equipment dry so long, etc. after taking it out of the water before putting it into another body of water to prevent the spread of these mussels. The things that we, the US, have transported or imported either intentionally or unintentionally, from area to area, thinking the item is pretty or would help control some other plant , animal, fish or insect in nature is too numerous to list. We need to just leave things alone instead of always trying to “help” nature along. Ok – I am off my soap box for today. Seems Bruce is finally ready to pay the man although first he has to wade through the yard to wash his hands in a bucket of water- I am sure that is healthy.

Since it is still early, and we are without the dog for once, I think I will suggest a stop at the Kentucky Dam Visitors Center on our way back to the campsite, but after lunch of course. I have to get in this “eating out” stuff while I can.

Addendum: - We did eat on the way home- but because Bruce was dirty from the ground operations with the truck stuff, it was drive- through at Wendy’s. Tried their grilled chicken sandwich for the first time and it is OK- not as good as the spicy fried breast sandwich, but in a pinch it will do. We drove on to the campground, walked Hazel (my turn down to the boat dock and back) and then went to visit both Kentucky & Barkley Dams on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers respectively. They are on both sides of what is now Land Between The Lakes national Recreation area. Kentucky Dam is one of the TVA dams on the Tennessee River where electricity is generated and was built in 1938-1944. Barkley, on the other hand, is a late comer and was not built until 1964. We will have a lesson on electricity on a subsequent post- since I am now full of all sorts of tidbits about these dams and the waterways they manage. Right now the road across the Tennessee River on 62 crosses the actual dam (very unusual in today’s climate), taking you right next to the generating station and over the 600’ lock, but they are busy building a new bridge up river along with a nice new road to the Visitors’ Center and a new 1200’lock. Since 9/11 – many of the US dams have limited their interaction with the public because of security concerns, so it is nice to find two so close and this large where you can still stop and visit. If you are ever in the area, stop for awhile and learn about our waterways.

Hurrah for Corp Parks and getting settled!!

It has been awhile since I updated the blog- but we have been without an internet connection. I am testing my Verizon phone service where we go and may have to get a wireless phone connection to stay in touch. I miss my computer when we are without service and yes, I am probably addicted to this thing- but there could be worse things I guess. Anyway- Sunday we drove to Kentucky. The trip was uneventful- taking about 5 hours on the Interstate. Our biggest upset was me telling Bruce the wrong interstate road merges and separations through Nashville. Thank goodness for road signs and that we didn’t really have to rely on my memory (I just didn’t want to get that map out again). Spring is definitely in the air, very noticeable with that new leaf green color on the trees and the wild dogwoods in bloom everywhere you look. In addition, the lilacs or wisteria (don’t know which it is and can’t do the research right now) are also out.

We are staying at Eureka Campground in Kentucky on Barkley Lake. It is situated near Land Between the Lakes- in sight of Barkley Dam, between Kattawa and Grand Rivers, KY. Eureka is a normal Corp of Engineers Park with most sites directly on the water, each fairly isolated, private and with a wonderful view (which is such a relief after “resort” camping at Sevierville for the Rally – read close, wall to wall campers and definitely group activity oriented) We have electricity and water and although there are no sewer hook-ups (again a normal occurrence at Corp parks), there is a dump station and the bathhouse is clean, close and the showers are very useable. No laundry facilities are available, so will be doing some hand wash this week (boo), but when we get to Eufaula I can finish laundry (not a chore I relish in any situation, but specially not with one washer & dryer). I know that you are remembering that in my initial blog I said I always over pack so you are probably wondering why I need to even consider doing laundry. I am sure some of you gentle readers understand; I just never seem to have the clothes I want to wear when I want to wear them.

Sunday night we ate at a local restaurant right off the Interstate – one Maggi and I had visited several years ago, called Southwest Oasis. I ordered a full slab(yes, I know that is way too much) of what turned out to be wonderful fall off the bone baby back ribs while Bruce had the filet. Both were excellent so we ended up splitting the filet, sampling the ribs and bringing home at least half a slab. Bruce had them for lunch today (I am writing this offline and will post as soon as possible) and pronounced them as good as last night. We rode around this morning on the back roads to Paducah, KY looking for a replacement part for the motorhome- nice drive, pretty scenery and surprise, surprise; I was not even tempted to stop at Hancock’s of Paducah for a material fix. I guess I have so much right now and am looking forward to Sisters and shopping on that trip out that I am not even inclined to shop at this point.

Hazel much prefers this park as we can let her off the leash to smell, explore, etc. when we walk and even when we are at the campsite. We can only do that because she comes when called and stays close to Bruce when out. Wolfy thought he should be allowed out too, so in the spirit of equality, we took him out for his campsite “drag” yesterday evening (we put him on his halter and tried to get him to walk outside). I think he now has decided that staying in might be in his best interest. Samantha just looks outside and gets back under the couch. She comes out a night to eat and use the cat box, and maybe shows up for a brushing now and then, but other than those occasions, spends her time out of sight. Hazel spends most of the night either on the couch or in her crate, but does jump up in the cool early morning for a snuggle. Wolfy is still trying to decide what he should be dong at night. Last week he would stand on me all night, waking me up with his need for attention. That behavior seems to have mellowed since we slept with the windows last night and I had made them a bed in front of one . He seemed to much prefer the bed last night to standing on me although he was still active. There is nothing like waking to energetic scratching sounds and wondering if the cat is in his box or has found some unknown place to leave you a present. I was pleased to see he was just fighting with the mirror cat. Bruce has decided to try to keep him up today and maybe he will sleep tonight but I doubt that will work as he had fresh cat crack early today when I recharged the catnip in the scratcher and toys. He was exceedingly active for awhile but before we left for our ride, he had passed out under the couch and was still there when we returned several hours later: so much for keeping him up during the day. We are all still getting used to living in a box on wheels, but all in all, as traveling companions, they are not too bad.

Dinner tonight was grilling excellence- we used some recipes that our son Jeremy has used successfully for quite awhile. We cooked Chili Pork Tenderloin with a great honey/chili marinade and our side was Sweet Potato Hash- but don’t think of this as your normal hash. Sweet potatoes, fresh corn and chilies are grilled, and then mixed with shredded cheddar cheese, lime juice and chives for an exceptional side dish. The recipe calls for a both poblano chili but we also add a jalapeño for spice. Mix all of the items once grilled with the cheese, etc. and you have a wonderful “hash”. If anyone wants this recipe and does not take Cuisine at Home or get their cookbooks (both are in the Grilling cookbook)- let me know and I will put it online.

Well – enough for today- hope to upload tomorrow and will try to follow with additional info. Although it may rain tomorrow- we have plans to see the “Dodge guy” to get some parts for our old Town Wagons. Will let you know how all of that turns out later.

Park Experience and More…

Thursday we spent the day at the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We tried to get to Clingman's Dome- but it was closed for some type of special proclamation ceremony with the Tennessee Governor. May have had something to do with the 75 year anniversary for the park, but never saw anything in the limited news we have seen. Instead of getting to climb to the dome, we had a very, very pleasant picnic lunch at the Chimneys by the rushing water. Even Hazel had a great time- she was out of the motorhome, with us and able to be off the leash at least some of the time.

Weather was perfect- clouds were gone by early morning and temperatures were still bearable so all in all, it was a great day, although there is always a film of smog over the park caused by pollution. Now days the viewing has been reduced by 40% in the winter months and 80% in the summer because of pollution- this park may not make it based on all the development, etc. in the surrounding areas. What a shame.

Well- need to go now and will post more later.

Mid-Rally Thoughts

It is late Tuesday evening and the rally is in full force. We have listened to talks, eaten well and even shopped some of the vendors. The weather has been rainy and cold but the people are warm and sociable. Wait, I am ahead of myself, First, let me get us here.

Sunday was a long, long haul. I erroneously told Bruce it was a mere 8 hour drive to Sevierville from home. Boy, was I wrong. I didn't think about the fact that we don't drive the speed limit in The Beast (although I have been reminded several times since), so using the speed limit to estimate the time was apparently a very big oversight. Also we had to stop to walk the dog, to fuel The Beast (for you readers never pumping 50 gallons of fuel at a time, that is not a 10 minute operation), to walk ourselves and last, but certainly not the least, have both breakfast and lunch on the road. On top of all of this extra time, our GPS (read me) got us lost at the end. So- it took us 11 hours to get to the RV park and set up. It was in between showers when we finally pulled in so set up was quick and fairly painless, although we listed a bit the first night. Since I was in the dog house that night I did not press the issue, but it was remedied on Monday, because even Bruce could tell something was a little out of kilter.

Monday we had the day to ourselves (the rally officially began that evening) so in addition to re-leveling The Beast - we drove over to Newport to make sure there were no uninvited residents on our piece of turf in that area. The road access to this very valuable piece of property is over a roller coaster of red clay. Bruce, thinking he was driving a 4 wheel drive jeep plowed down one side, throwing mud everywhere and got us most of the way up the other side- before we slid back to the bottom, with all brakes locked up. The reality was that we were not in a 4 wheel drive jeep- we were in my little HHR- you know, 6 inches of ground clearance. So, once again at the bottom of the coaster dip, with that reality still muddy in his mind, he applied much more acceleration and we rocketed over all the ruts, bounced over the mid puddles and reached the top with me in shock. The poor car was covered in wet Tennessee clay, very, very wet red clay. Finding nothing amiss on the land, we immediately negotiated that roller coaster in reverse (adding even more mud) and went to find a car wash. Once we were somewhat clean, we calmly set off for a relaxing return drive. On the way back, we passed a turn off that led to one of the TVA projects, Douglas Dam and taking it, discovered a wonderful new park that we hope to come back to in the next year. I ramble- to sum up Monday, we were welcomed, fed a very nice BBQ dinner and we both passed out early. Speaking of passed out- do you realize that we are in a dry county- so everything is BYOB?.

Today (Tuesday) began early with the Bush Brothers (Bush Beans) tour. It was nice to see a private company still family owned and apparently with family and community values. The bus trip over was an experience though, either the bus had problems or we had a new driver since it seemed the first few gears were always problems for him. We came back to shop the vendors (probably will spend some money here) toured two new 2008 Discovery RVs (will definitely not be spending money on them) and then were fed another big dinner with evening entertainment. Thanks goodness they don't feed us again until Friday, I don't know if I can survive this much attention. The entertainment was good and we spent the evening laughing and enjoying the company of others. We have met several other new participants who are here evaluating the rally environment too, so obviously we are not the only ones who are looking for different things in their lives. We have not decided if this is for us yet. Maybe we will have to consider the local chapter- the Rolling Gators, before we can really make a decision if participating in large group activities will work for us. Either way, it was a good time but now it is good night.