RV Trip 2007 Journal

Monday – April 16, 2007
There were 34,447 miles on the RV odometer when we left home. We stopped for lunch at a rest stop in St. Augustine. It is a cool sunny day but windy so we ate grilled cheese sandwiches in the RV. It is windy and makes driving a little tricky. We are staying at the Three Rivers State Park. This is a pretty campground next to a lake with a pier. We are having beautiful weather. Charlie fixed chicken and corn on the cob for dinner.

Tuesday – April 17, 2007
We left camp at 10:15am. We had yogurt and peanut butter toast for breakfast. Charlie asked me to note that mile marker 161 on I-10 has an overnight rest area. It is another windy day. We had turkey sandwiches and chips for lunch, and then we shopped for food. We are staying at the Big Lagoon State Park in Pensacola where we took a long walk on a boardwalk and looked for a tower, but we did not find it. There is a nice beach and a sandy park along a long pond. Dogs are not allowed on the beach though. We are having the same beautiful weather and put up the RV awning for the first time. Charlie fixed chili chicken and green beans.

Wednesday – April 18, 2007
Departed Big Lagoon just as it began to rain. Last night Charlie’s bed sunk in and he was miserable. We need to fix that before tonight. The sofa opens to a queen size bed after the slide out opens. We went to the Gulf Islands National Sea Shore and drove by the beautiful white sandy beaches in the rain. Then we got our Golden Eagle Pass. Next we visited Fort Morgan in Alabama and learned about the Battle of Mobile. It turns out that no one knows who said ‘Damn the torpedoes’…it could have been either Craven or Farragut. There are some steps from the ground to the top of the wall inside the fort; the steps are concrete so they were not part of the fort originally. They are extremely steep and look dangerous; too steep for me. We sat on a concrete pier and watched dolphins out in the bay. Toby barked at a bird. We will catch the ferry to Dauphin Island at 1:15pm. $33 for the RV driver plus one person. Toby goes for free. Next we visited the Estuarium on Dauphin Island, a small aquarium with a Sea Lab; the entrance fee is $10 but because we are Senior Citizens (50 plus!), and with our AAA discount, we paid $5 each. It was interesting but a very small place. School buses arrived with children bearing a class assignment to fill out, busy busy. Afterwards we took a short walk out to the water. We stopped for the night at Shepard’s State Park in Mississippi. There was no attendant at the gate but there was a camp host who said it was okay to put our money in the slot at the gate. Hope we don’t get kicked out! This wooded park is okay but it seems like kind of a rough area. Also, it is warmer tonight so we are staying inside with the a/c running. Toby seems happy except when I put him in his harness. He is not eating much. Charlie fixed chicken lasagna for dinner. We stayed inside and watched a movie because it was buggy and damp outside, but the TV reception was very poor. We doubled over the memory foam for Charlie’s bed and he will sleep well tonight, I hope.

Thursday – April 19, 2007
Toby and I got out at 8am. We took a long walk mostly in circles around the campsites. There is a lake or a pond but we can’t get close to it from the campsites. About one-half of the sites are closed or empty. It seems like a bunch of people live here in campers and tents. They don’t look like travelers, but more like permanent campers. It is after 9 and Charlie is still sleeping. A good sign he is getting his rest. He wants to get to Beaumont Texas today. We dumped the black and gray water and left at 11:15am. We had lunch at the Louisiana Welcome rest stop. It is a bright day and not too hot or windy. We took I-10 to I-12 West and back to I-10.

Friday – April 20, 2007
We stayed at the Wal-Mart in Beaumont Texas last night. Ran the a/c and so it was quiet for sleeping even though this is a busy place. We did a little shopping and got a camp table and bungee cords and other stuff. Toby seems to be feeling better – still not eating except for his breakfast chicken strips. We ate at Papa’s Bar-B-Q last night. The Bar-B-Q sauce was different but good. Charlie liked the candied yams. We left Beaumont at 10am and went through the town of Winnie 17 miles west of Beaumont. We had lunch at a rest stop. At 6pm we arrived at South Llano River State Park after the GPS sent us the wrong way down a rough dirt road back in the hills with Keep Out signs on all the driveways. Once we finally found the park it turned out to be all filled up for the night. They recommended the Morgan Shady RV and Camping Resort also on the Llano River. We got a site there right on the river. It is a private RV park and very small. There was no where to walk but up and down the river a little ways but that may be just as well since we are supposed to look out for rattlesnakes. Charlie is trying to get a wifi hookup. There is no TV. Oh No! I hope he gets connected. He does all the driving, all the navigating, picks the places to stop, sets up the RV at the camp and cooks the meals. All I do is fuss over Toby. We need to talk about my doing some of this stuff.

Saturday – April 21, 2007
We talked. He wants to keep doing what he does cause this is my vacation and what he is doing is not that hard. I do the dishes and keep stuff put away but it does not seem like much. Oh well. We took a couple of walks and there is a small beach. It was calm and pretty and interesting. Left Morgan Shady RV a little after 10am.

Sunday – April 22, 2007
It was a very windy drive from the time we left the Fort Stockton area. It is all wide open spaces and no traffic. When we crossed into New Mexico the pavement was different. That was the only difference. Charlie kept saying---‘Chris was right’…There is very little traffic and no houses or industry for miles and miles. We spent the night at an RV park in Carlsbad. They have everything here…indoor heated pool, game room, laundry, breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, petting zoo, nature trail. I did laundry and ate French toast and bacon for breakfast. Charlie ate breakfast in the RV instead. At breakfast, I met Sherry Mario, a retired KSC software engineer from Melbourne. She and her husband have a Road Tec. They are on an extended trip and are very nice. She told me that as a woman she was a pioneer in her profession. She is a little person. Toby and I took some walks, but there is also a fenced dog yard we spent some time in. We moved to another camp site this morning that is closer to the Carlsbad Caverns. Poor little Toby had to be in a kennel while we toured the caverns. Dogs are not allowed to stay in vehicles alone in their parking lot. The caverns were amazing. We could have taken an elevator down into the caverns but I am glad that we did not. One of the more spectacular sights was the spiral walkway that disappeared down into the cavern. It was deeper than I could ever have imagined. No pictures could do it justice; you just have to go there and see it. We have been in caverns before but nothing so large and with such gigantic formations. Even though we were down there for hours I was almost constantly amazed. I sometimes get bored in caves, but not this one. Charlie said that the air was so pure that he could smell everyone around him. Shampoo and soap and people’s breath. Yuck! I am glad that I could not, but he has a much more sensitive nose. He was also fascinated by the restrooms at the bottom of the caverns. Instead of fully tiled and finished walls, there were places that were cavern wall. If not for that, you might think you were in a restroom anywhere. Sounds carry much farther then normal and we were asked to keep our voices to a whisper. Not everyone did, and there were park rangers there to remind us. I had a bottle of water in my coat pocket and it fell out. When it hit the floor it went BLAM! I dropped it not once, but twice…I was mortified. Luckily no one actually saw me do it, but everyone in the cave had to have heard it. We walked for miles and now we are tired. After being rescued from the kennel, Toby ran for the RV and is content to be in here, for the first time I think. Usually, except for at night, he is just waiting to get out. We are still sitting in the cavern parking lot just resting. It was a pretty drive here, there were lots of hills. Now we are checked in at the RV Park. Last night we paid $28, tonight we are paying $20. The potties don’t work here and the electricity is iffy they say. A whole bunch of big rigs are here and they are a group that is ready to party. A single, older, nearly handicapped lady is next to us, she is with the group and she has her bus all to herself.

We planned our trip through New Mexico and through May 7. Our plan is:
Monday 4/23 – Brantley State Park and hike to Sitting Bull Falls
Tuesday 4/24 – Oliver Lee Memorial State Park
Wednesday 4/25 – White Sands National Monument and then go to Albuquerque and Elephant Butte
Friday 4/27 – Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway
Sunday 4/29 – Santa Fe
Tuesday 5/1 – Bandelier National Monument (50 miles NW of Santa Fe)
Thursday 5/3 – Choctaw Culture National Historical Park
Saturday 5/5 – Aztec Ruins National Monument (100 miles N of Choctaw)
Monday 5/7 – Colorado
(WE WENT OFF OUR PLAN AFTER 3 DAYS AND DIDN’T GO TO ANY OF THE PLACES NAMED AFTER WHITE SANDS).

We had a nice dinner and walked Toby a little bit. The night sky was beautiful. We went to bed early (when the sun went down).

Monday, April 23, 2007
Got up early and took a little walk with Toby. I took a shower, it worked fine but the bathroom was not especially clean. I used a Wal-Mart bag to refill the toilet reservoir so that I could flush it. It worked but not very well. We went to the hotel where we had rented the campsite. Charlie used the wifi by sitting in the lobby for about an hour. I stayed in the RV and wrote post cards and then mailed them at the post office. We went from there (White City) to Carlsbad to Wal-Mart and I took a nap in the RV while Charlie shopped. We ate there in the Subway and then headed to Brantley Lake State Park. We got here about 1pm and we had our pick of the RV sites. We are overlooking the lake, and we even have a tree. There is a picnic table with a roof over it and a stone wall on one end. It was hot hot hot, so we sat in the shade of the picnic area until dinner. I made tuna with celery and we ate inside with the a/c running because it was still hot and the wind had picked up. As the sun was going down we took a long hike on a trail that goes down by the lake. We watched out for rattlesnakes. Now we are sitting in our campsite enjoying the cool down and the breeze. Charlie is getting pictures of the New Mexico sunset over the lake. I think that Toby drank (almost) his weight in water today. It is a very different landscape here. Tomorrow we will be heading to a higher elevation and north, so I hope it will not be so hot during the day. The nights are almost cold and it is good sleeping weather. We hear doves or maybe quail in the early morning and evening.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007
We left Brantley at 9:30am. Toby and I had walked one-half mile to the boat ramp and back. It was a nice cool morning. Charlie did lots of chores – ran the vacuum, tightened up the door lock…Toby lays out in the campsite until it is time to go. This morning he did not want to go. Poor baby. We are not traveling such long distances as we were, so it should not be too bad for him. We are in Artesia now. We are driving through the Lincoln National Forest through Cloudcroft and the Sacramento Mountains; we went up and down and out, then back to the desert in Alamogordo. We went into the White Sands National Monument. Once we were well into it Charlie said it was ‘…like a snow storm in hell.” It kept getting windier and windier and the sky looked like it might rain, so we decided to come back tomorrow morning. We left the park to go to the Oliver Lee State Park to spend the night. New Mexico has a nice system for its state parks. Sites with water and electric are $14 and without are $10. There is a pay envelope and drop at the entrance to the park so you check yourself in. Oliver Lee is the best park so far. We had privacy and it was very quiet. We had a beautiful view of the high desert and mountains in the distance. Right behind us was a small mountain with trails. Most of the trails were washed out so we could not get far, but it was nice to take a little hike up high.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Toby and I, as usual, walked all the way around the park this morning. After our walk I got back in bed. It was so cool, it was good to sleep some more. It is so dry here that my lotion absorbed into my skin immediately and I still feel dry. We left Oliver Lee at about 10 and headed back to White Sands. We drove out to the end of the park and then stopped at the ‘Nature Center’ in the heart of White Sands. A New Englander was minding the store and Charlie told him all about his Grandfather who was a Cape Codder. Charlie filmed children from two school buses playing on the dunes. They had plastic saucers for sliding down the dunes. We watched the children for awhile and Toby barked at them. Then Charlie and I climbed a dune. Charlie got to the top first and filmed me climbing (crawling) up…oh joy! Then he went down the easy way with his cameras and filmed me sliding down. The sand is pure white gypsum. I was barefoot and just below the surface the sand was cold! Charlie kept his shoes on and brought some of white sands back to the RV in his shoes. We took Toby on a boardwalk intended for nature study, not play (the sign said). Toby spent his energy looking for and trying to squeeze into what little shade there was. In my enthusiasm to take him everywhere I have to remember his limitations and comfort. Charlie reins me in. Toby has to squint a lot because of the sun and the wind. We left White Sands and drove across more deserts and through Los Cruces. Charlie had gotten a New Mexico camping book at the Visitors Center in White Sands and he picked out a state park to visit called City of Rocks. When we got there we couldn’t get electric and water hook up because they were all taken, so Charlie was pretty disappointed at first. But the hookup campsites are in a regular parking lot while the primitive sites are amongst huge rock formations. So we are happier here. We have a shade tree and a picnic table and a view of the Florida(!) Mountains. The sun is hot, so again we are waiting until later to explore the park—except Charlie looked around a little bit. It is windy here too—so I don’t think we will miss the a/c tonight since it will probably cool down a lot. We have this camping area to ourselves, so it is very nice and quiet. Charlie invented an anchor for Toby’s leash. He put an empty Ozarka water bottle in the loop of the leash that he had threaded through the open grid of the picnic table. Our campsite name is Ophiuchus. We took a nice long walk in the cool of the evening through the rock formations and took lots of pictures. Toby tried to go his own way by jumping to different rocks, it seemed like he had a good time. I know we did. We watched the sunset over the desert and then we went to bed, we didn’t miss the electricity hookup at all.

Thursday, April 26, 2007
We took another long walk at sunrise. The rocks are huge and are described by some as a melted down Stonehenge. I wish I could find some magnets or postcards for this place. I will look in Silver City. We left at about 8am and for the second day in a row Toby did not want to get in the RV. We only went 20 miles to Silver City. We stopped at a Wal-Mart and got more water and food and eye wash and visine for my eyes. My right eye is really red and watering and they both burn all the time. We are now at the Silver City RV Resort. And guess what they have? Wifi! We will be relaxing today and I will get a shower in a few minutes. I will also write some postcards and do laundry. We will probably eat out tonight. We tried to walk to the historical area of Silver City from the RV Park, but it was not a pleasant walk so we came back and got the RV. Our walk was hot and on a busy road and it is not the best neighborhood. By the time we drove back and found the main road it was late. We went to the only restaurant we saw…Nancy’s Home Cooking Café. It specialized in Mexican food and most of those dishes had green or red chili. The waitress said the green chili was not as hot. She did not say it was mild. She brought us a taste of each with chips. The green was too hot for me. I ordered two Chili Rellenos because they did not have red or green chili added. They were excellent. I got re-fried beans and rice and a tortilla too. Charlie got the super combo and gave it a B minus. We are back at the RV Park and Toby and I are outside while Charlie is on the computer. This is a small place in the middle of town so there is no place to walk. The dog walk area is a vacant lot with trash and glass outside the fence of the park. So I don’t go out there unless I think Toby is really going to do something. I don’t think Toby misses walking this evening. There is plenty of activity from the other RVs to keep him interested. There is a little dog here that looks a lot like Toby. The owner brought her over and of course Toby was not friendly. The dog owner has a very old medium sized RV and they are full time RVers. She asked Charlie if he was familiar with computers but he did not offer to help her out with the problem she described. He doesn’t want to touch other people’s stuff and possibly leave them with even bigger problems. I missed Grey’s Anatomy last week because I got confused about the time change. I should be able to catch it tonight. I put visine in eyes and they were better, but now the burning is starting up again. I got all the laundry done. Clean sheets and towels tonight!

Friday, April 27, 2007
Happy Birthday Joyce! It supposedly got down in the 40s last night and it felt like it. We kept all our windows closed and we didn’t need the heater. Toby and I got up early and we found a bridge over a creek behind the vacant lot. At first Toby did not want to cross the bridge because it has an open grid that is probably scary and maybe uncomfortable on his feet. But with very little encouragement he went across with me. The bridge led to a not very prosperous neighborhood. A few of the houses are boarded up, and there wasn’t anyone around and almost no traffic. So we walked up and down the street a little bit and then headed back to the RV. I drove the RV about 500 feet so Charlie could listen to a noise he has been hearing on the front passenger side. I don’t really notice it, but he is afraid it might be a bearing problem. He didn’t hear it when I was driving on the gravel at the park. We left at about 9 and came to the Gila Cliff dwellings. It was a wild ride through the mountains and Gila National Forest. We had to stop for a cow in the road. Toby had to stay in the RV while we hiked up to the Gila dwellings. It was a steep but mostly shady climb up the mountain. We caught up with a tour group and we heard what historians believe was the purpose of each of the rooms of the dwellings. It was cool inside and I could imagine people living up there. We went back down the same way we went up. The ranger who had been the tour guide walked with the two of us and told about the creek and he pointed out a big lizard named Fred. It is still early in the day, about 2:30, but we picked a spot to spend the night in the park and have set up the awning and we are waiting for evening to take a walk. We are camped at the Upper Fork. The Lower Fork is for tent camping on the river. We will walk down later. When we first got here there were two dogs running loose and so we had to wait until they left before we could let Toby out. We asked the owner to put her dogs on a leash but she did not know where they were. Finally they left but not before Charlie had me get out the mace. We had never tried the little canister of mace, so Charlie did. The spray spread all over and got us (a little bit)! So now we know that it works! The people with the dogs are down at the lower fork. I hope they leave or else we won’t be able to take Toby down there. We did walk down to the creek on the other side away from the tent campsites. There is a place to ford the creek with your vehicle. Then we sat out by the RV until the sun went down and it got a little too cool. We went to bed and I read for a little while using my book light.

Saturday, April 28, 2007
It got very cold during the night. This morning we didn’t want to get out of bed. Finally Toby insisted and I took him around the campground. There was only one other camper at the Upper Fork and he was far from us. After our walk I felt deeply chilled and got back in bed. Charlie piled his blankets on me and fed me granola bars. We broke camp at about 9 and went back to the Gila Cliff Dwellings. This time we did not have to rush up the mountain to catch a tour. We took our time and took lots of pictures. We saw the rainbow man (petrograph), and we saw Fred again and got his picture. We went down the way the trail leads rather than doubling back the way we came (like we did yesterday). This end of the trail was a lot more strenuous, plus it is always harder on my knees to step down, and there was almost no shade. Luckily it was a cool cloudy day today and so we didn’t get too hot. My knees hurt but they didn’t feel weak like they did at Carlsbad. When we got back we went to the nature center and Charlie checked out another trail while I rested. Then we went to the visitor’s center and bought some stuff. We are parked at a spot called Lower Scorpion where we hiked a nice little trail where we saw more petrography. Toby was allowed to go on this trail. It has been thundering in the distance with lightening—but no rain yet. Charlie figured out that we need to poke a hole with a steak knife in the top of the puffed up yogurt containers so that when we open them they will not explode. We are staying in the Gila National Forest at the Mesa campground. We took a walk this evening but a pit bull was running loose. So we were not able to walk to the lake. Charlie was sorry he didn’t have the mace and now he says he won’t walk anywhere again without it. On the way back to the RV Charlie we met a couple with a La Cita. They let us look inside and it does have plenty of room in the bathroom but zero storage space or standing room. Then the rains came and we watched Stranger than Fiction.

Sunday, April 29, 2007
It rained a lot and the slide out leaked but Charlie stopped it with a towel. This morning we left the campsite at about 9 and went to Wal-Mart – again. It was another wild ride from the Gila National Forest back to Silver City. As soon as we left the city we were in the land of no-where again. We went through some mountains to the White Water Canyon Catwalk which is also in the Gila National Forest. Toby went with us on the catwalk. Most of the catwalk has open grates and it winds through canyons and over water. Then we drove for two hours to the Lymon State Park at Lake Lymon in Arizona. It is a very pretty spot. The ground is red, the grass is yellow, and the rocks are all colors. Lake Lymon is beautiful, calm and flat.

Monday, April 30, 2007
We went to the Petrified Forest and to the Painted Desert. Toby walked through the Crystal forest with us, though it was really too hot for him. This is not Charlie’s favorite site so far. I like the Painted Desert best. At the visitors center we took a little tour with a volunteer ranger who is into archeology. He showed us how to find bone fossils. I found three pieces. We were not allowed to take them with us though. We drove all through the Painted Desert and had lunch in the RV at a lookout point. We went to the Painted Desert visitor center and ate some chocolate ice cream. Then we went on to the Homolovi Ruins State Park in Winslow Arizona. We are tired from the sun and wind and bright light of the desert. We finally found a place to mail some postcards. Mailboxes are hard to find. We both decided that we are not interested in the ruins, at least not today. We are in the middle of the desert here. We rested and Charlie took his first shower not in the RV. I have yet to take a shower in the RV.

Tuesday – May 1, 2007
On our way to Canyon De Chelly, we stopped at the canyon overlooks. Toby went on the overlook too, and he growled at a bird. The views are spectacular. We saw the White House ruin mentioned in Navajo songs. De Chelly is one long canyon with overlooks along the north rim road. The south rim road is a regular thoroughfare with side roads to the overlooks, the side road drives are real long, but the overlooks are worth it. The canyon is not all rock but has green areas and trees and trails. Navajo used to live down in the canyon and had battles with the English. Charlie considered spending the night in the free campground but decided not to because there were too many people around (???) mostly tourists and Native Americans. It did not seem crowded to me but I was not driving. We met a German couple who had brought their RV with them into the port of Baltimore. They don’t have a/c, and they say they don’t need it! I also met a lady who said her husband works at Goddard. He did not stop to talk though. Then we drove a long way to Mesa Verde Colorado. It was threatening rain the whole way but did not actually rain much. The roads were rough and all six tires left the road on a dip. It was very windy too. Charlie had had it by the time we got here. The national park campground is closed until May 10, so we are in a private RV park. It cost $35 including extra for Toby, oh my!

Wednesday – May 2, 2007
It rained all night long but it was cozy in the RV. Charlie parked so that the slide out was tilted down hoping it would not leak, and it didn’t. We had decent TV reception and Charlie had wifi. This park has a pool and laundry and miniature golf—but none were operating. I guess it is too early in the season. They have horses and miniature horses here and a donkey. Toby and I walked over and said hello. The donkey and mini horses objected when we left. We are at Mesa Verde now. I have seen wild horses and a deer. We went to the visitor’s center but we are not going to take any of the tours because they are very long hikes. We are both tired and we have seen cliff dwellings up close already. We are driving to the overlooks and have seen the Cliff Palace house of many windows and pit houses and pueblos. One whole section of the forest burned some time ago. It is a cloudy cool day. We are not sure what we want to do next. We have seen some impressive canyons the last few days. We may be ready for a change of scenery. At the museum at the end of Mesa Verde there was a nice trail down to the Spruce Tree House next to the museum. We learned that there have been three big fires: 1999, 2000, and 2004. Charlie had a long talk with a couple who are into photography at one of the overlooks. Toby and I hung out and I tried to get him to notice the large black birds that were soaring among the trees below us. No luck. There is construction on the road and we had to wait a long time to get up here and now we are waiting to go down. On the way up a truck came head on at the pilot car. We were the second vehicle behind the pilot. Ha Ha the guy went by us laughing. The windy roads with sheer drop offs are making Charlie nervous enough without that. As always I have every confidence in Charlie and am not nervous at all.

Thursday – May 3, 2007
We stayed at the UTE Sleeping RV Resort next to the UTE Casino and restaurant. We had dinner there. It is a nice RV park with a view of the mountains and lots of room to walk Toby. They have a pool, sauna, wifi, and cable and Charlie saw the Sopranos! Yeah! I took the best shower yet in a secure room, and I did laundry this morning. Charlie cleaned up the RV again and we took off at 5 minutes to 11 – checkout time! I don’t know the name of the town we are in but we went through this busy place and now we are going back, to go to Wal-Mart and Radio Shack to get a cable for the TV. We had to borrow a cable last night. Charlie also found the remote for the TV; it was in the cubby behind the TV. The sun is strong today and so is the wind. We got gas right next to the RV Resort. The town is Cortez. Toby got up on my bed with me yesterday evening for a pet. It was the first time since our first night when he tried to sleep with me but then gave up. He is a real mess now, especially his legs and belly. I need to groom him and soon. We spent a few hours at Wal-Mart while Charlie fiddled with the TV and his new pink(!) DVD player. Toby and I waited under some trees for a while. We had lunch at Subway at Wal-Mart. We drove about twenty miles to Mancos State Park but we were not impressed. No hook-up was available but they wanted $19. We drove on to Transfer Campground. Still no hook-up but it is $13. Here there are trails along the rim of a canyon with a view of the San Juan snow capped Mountains. It looks like VERY early spring here. There are lots of bare trees with white trunks. To get here we took a dirt road for more than five miles. I had seen those kinds of trees before with very light green leaves. Charlie said those trees must have been at a lower elevation. We are in the San Juan National Forest. We are surrounded by these white trees. It is very quiet here too. The campground opened the first of May. The camp host has a dog running loose so we have to keep a close watch out for him. It is going to be cold tonight because it is already very cool here. Since we are in the woods we are protected from the wind – we hope. Charlie walked Toby while I did the dishes. Charlie heard coyotes; Toby didn’t say whether he heard them. We are settled in for the night. I will read my book and Charlie will study maps and tour and campground books. There are some things that we haven’t used and probably will not. There are some things like my bed and the TV that we wish were better or different. It would be nice if we could go home and make some adjustments. But overall we are doing great with what we have. We are camping tonight at 8500 feet. We saw a mule deer at dusk from the RV window. He was looking back at us. The trees are called quaking aspen. I hope we got some good pictures.

Friday – May 4, 2007
Toby and I walked around the campground and it was snowing a little bit. Then we all walked on the ‘Big Al Trail’. Big Al Lorensten was a firefighter and he lost the use of his legs when a tree fell on him during the Yellowstone fires in 1988. The Big Al Trail is handicapped accessible and is one-third mile out to an overlook of the San Juan Mountains. There were lots of deer prints on the trail and other prints too. We drove through Durango and then fifty miles to Silverton. It was a very high drive up to almost 11,000 feet. Coal Banks pass was 10,848 feet. It snowed most of the way too. We are staying at the Silverton RV Park, and the park owners just got here yesterday. The water hookups have insulation bags over them. They asked that we not hook up the water overnight. It is cold and still snowing. Charlie hooked up the electric only. We are going to eat out so he will do the slide out after dinner. We watched a Johnny Carson DVD. Then we buttoned up and walked into town for dinner at the Brown Bear Café. I had a roast beef dinner and Charlie had chicken fried chicken. When we came out from dinner it was snowing again. We watched Little Miss Sunshine and went to sleep.

Saturday – May 5, 2007
We woke up to five inches of snow and it is still coming down. Charlie was able to get on the internet and the weather report predicts up to 24 inches and says that travel may be impossible until 6am Sunday. We thought we might have a chance to get out of here but we have to go up to about 11,000 feet through a pass, so that is out. Charlie said ‘Oops’. So we are probably stuck for a couple of days. Charlie has the internet, I have my books, and we have a pile of DVDs. Toby just needs to decide that he can go in the snow. We took a walk into town with Toby before 9am and everything was closed. Because of the weather prediction we didn’t know if the stores would open. Back at the RV I tried to help Toby get the snowballs off his fur. He was a mess and it was not clean snow either. We tracked in a lot of wet dirt and Charlie is very unhappy about that. I read and napped for a couple of hours and Charlie was on the internet all morning. The snow keeps coming down, sometimes sideways, but the roads are not frozen. We walked back to town (without Toby) and had lunch at the Cow Palace. A lot of people were around. The Durango-Silverton train arrived and Charlie videoed it. We decided to risk the drive to Ouray by going through the high pass. More snow is expected and if we stay we will end up having to stay even longer. The roads were dry but it was scary – even for me. The road goes incredibly high with no barriers or ground beyond the edge of the road. There was one place that was a short tunnel where there was ice on the road. It was a close call. We slid toward the edge but Charlie saved us. We drove on to Montrose and stopped at a Carl’s Jr. It was weird there. The place was empty. They could not get our order right, or our change. We are staying at Grand Junction West RV Park tonight. The sign on the door said ‘no vacancy’ so we pulled out of the park and sat on the side of the road to discuss what to do. A guy came after us in a golf cart to say that they have a vacancy for a rig of our size. It has nice facilities and wifi. We got help getting into the space too.

Sunday – May 6, 2007
TV reception is very good, nothing to watch though. Charlie does like the Sunday morning shows. Toby and I took a long walk and he checked out the fenced pet area. Charlie cleaned again. We took our time going through the Colorado Monument National Park. We stopped at most of the overlooks. I got another magnet at the visitor’s center. We went back to Grand Junction and are staying at the KOA tonight. I got a chance to do laundry again and to watch Desperate Housewives. Charlie stayed up late on the internet.

Monday – May 7, 2007
Charlie checked around town to try to get service on the RV but no luck. The slide out is not working right and he is still hearing the noise on the front passenger side. Finally he made an appointment in Moab for Thursday with a Ford dealer. Charlie also joined KOA. I gave Toby a good combing. The sun came out and it is warming up a lot, maybe up to 60 degrees today. We drove to Moab and went halfway into Arches National Park. We didn’t see any arches until we got to Delicate Arch, the one on the Utah license plate. The arch was one mile away so we started hiking up to it. It was a long trail. I didn’t have sun block on and we didn’t have water. It was cool and dry though the sun was strong. Finally we quit when we realized we could not reach the arch from that trail. My right knee always gives me pain when I go down steps. Today it was bad. It turns out we were on one of the more difficult trails. We went to the visitor’s center and watched a film and I got another magnet. I wonder what I am going to do with them all? We stopped at Wal-Mart earlier and stocked up and got some grease for the slide out. We checked in at a KOA outside of Moab. Charlie worked on the slide out and got it to open without our pushing on it; but when he tried to close it, it made a terrible noise. Eventually it worked okay but he is not comfortable with it. We have cable and nice shower facilities here.

Tuesday – May 8, 2007
Toby and I took our morning walk. This campground has a very nice area designated as the pet walk. It is a trail that is below the campground and runs parallel to it. On one side of the campground are nearby high cliffs. We look up to the jagged rocks from our campsite. On the other side are snow covered mountains in the distance. We may stay here through Friday because the RV needs to be worked on and the appointment is Thursday at 1pm. The Arches National Park should keep us busy until then. It is a large park and we will have to hike to most of the arches it seems, we will see. Moab is a nice town that is worth shopping in if I get a chance. This morning I am sitting at the picnic table doing postcards and these notes while Toby keeps tabs on the neighbors. Charlie went up to the park office to try and get a better internet connection. It is a beautiful day. We left the campground at 1pm. We left Toby in the RV for a few hours while we hiked. We left all the shades pulled except the bathroom where we left the window open. We left the vent in the bathroom open and the fan on. I gave him a treat and off we went. He was sleepy when we got back and the RV was very comfortable. The outside temperature was 82 degrees. We hiked to the north window and the south window arches. We also hiked to the turret arch. My only problem was my knees and by the end I was very tired. The loop trail was only one mile, but it was not flat and it got to me. It was worth it though. When we got back to our campsite there were people camped next to us and the lady was sitting at our picnic table. I didn’t want to say anything but Charlie said that if someone pulls in on the other side of us then we won’t have a picnic table, or a place to sit outside. Since I still would not do it, Charlie was decided to say something to the lady. He was very polite, but she was miffed and didn’t speak to us after that. We had dinner here and I took a walk with Toby and sat outside and read for awhile. Toby is digging a nice little hole for himself under the picnic table. When it got dark we went inside and watched Dancing with the Stars and some more TV.

Wednesday – May 9, 2007
Toby and I wandered all over the property beyond the campground. I am not sure how much is pet area and how much is just a vacant lot. The sand is red. There are trails and dry creek beds every which way and the ground is uneven and full of rocks and bushes. Toby and I saw a tumbling tumbleweed. We left camp at about 10am and we went to a truck self-wash and Charlie cleaned the RV up a little bit. He did not really have it figured out till he was done so I think he will go back again on Friday before we leave here. Then we went back to the Arches National Park. This time we went all the way to the end of the park road and got on the trail to Landscape Arch. This is the arch that I wanted to see. It is a 1.6 mile trail plus side trails to Tunnel and Pine Tree arches. Charlie went beyond Landscape arch to the Wall arch but I was too tired and found a rare shady spot to wait for him. He tried to get me to go up there after he came back, but I didn’t do it. Amazingly, my knees did not bother me today; instead it was my feet and toes. Going downhill is always more of a strain on me, and this time I felt like my toes were jamming into the toes of my shoes. Plus, my toes were hot, burning really. I don’t think I will wear those shoes again on a hike. We stopped at the hardware store so Charlie could get the right kind of grease for the slide out. Toby was happy to get back to the same campsite so that he could lie in his hole. Those unpleasant people are not here tonight. Charlie fixed eggplant Parmesan and corn on the cob and we ate at the picnic table. Toby ate outside too. It is so nice here. After dinner we walked up to the camp store and got some Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Charlie got us a pint a piece. It was my idea but he did not take any persuading once I said it! Charlie talked with Diane until dark and we had to go inside. No TV tonight. I was tired and went to sleep. Charlie took his computer up near the office and got on-line.

Thursday – May 10, 2007
This morning we hung out at the campsite until 12:30. We have a 1:00pm appointment at the Ford dealer. After we got there we had to wait until 2:30. When we pulled into their parking lot from the street we hit bottom on the rear end and broke off a bracket so we had to have that repaired. We also had the oil changed. The noise that we were concerned about turned out to be nothing and so the RV seems to be in good shape, including the brakes. We sat out in front of the dealership in our chairs in the shade while they worked on the RV. Then we went to the Stagecoach Restaurant for dinner. We always get hungry by 4 or 5 o’clock because of the time change that we have not really tried to adapt to. I had a steak the waitress called a cool-lot. It was a flank steak, and I had onion rings. It was a good meal. We talked to the waitress about our trip and she said she had been east only one time. She did not like it because she felt so closed in with all the trees and everything, she could not see for miles and miles like she is used to here in Utah. We went on back to camp and Toby was happy to get outside again. It is very nice in the shade but HOT in the sun. It seems to be getting hotter everyday that we are here. I am doing laundry once again and tonight I will eat the rest of my ice cream and watch Grey’s Anatomy. Yeah! One advantage to having so few things and living in the same small space all the time is that nothing gets lost or left behind. I am liking that. Also, I have decided that my favorite thing about this trip is being outside most of the time. Our vacations before we moved to Florida usually involved spending the days outdoors or underwater. I have been reminded of how great that was with this trip. It makes me wish I didn’t have to go back to work. We can’t be two places at once or live more than one way at a time. It would be nice not to have the house an job, and the expense of the house, except when we want it.

Friday – May 11, 2007
We left the campsite fairly early and went to Canyonlands. At first it didn’t seem like we were going to get to see much because it was so HOT and everything seemed to be accessible only by rather long trails except for two overlooks. But the Grand View Overlook was of a canyon within a canyon and there was a one mile trail along the rim. So we did that. I should have brought along water but it was still a very good hike. The whole way we could see the canyon and then we got to the end and we could see the canyon on the other side too. I left a rock on the last trail marker and Charlie threw a rock into the canyon. We went to Archview campgrounds for two nights where we had reservations.

Saturday – May 12, 2007
We got up early and left the RV Park, never to return. We forfeited the price to stay tonight. That place was a hot noisy dirty parking lot, and there weren’t even any picnic tables. We drove all day, about 275 miles. We stopped at a Wal-Mart in Price and stocked up and went to their Subway. While we were at Wal-Mart, we made a couple of trips back and forth to the RV. On one trip I left two packages of little dingo bones on the bed. When I came back Toby had opened one pack of bones and had eaten one and was working on a second bone. He was up on my bed having a good old time. Today our drive was one of constantly changing landscapes. We were in the Ashley National Forest most of the way. We went through mountains and past huge rocks and petrified sand dunes. We saw the most beautiful spot where the Green River is damned—Flaming Gorge. We can see a little bit of it from our campsite outside of Manila at a KOA. I bought a walking stick and a moose magnet. We have a real nice campsite in the shade. We moved from where they put us at first. The first spot was not in the shade and there was a lot of poop there. I told the owner and she checked it out after we moved. She told Charlie that it is not dog poop but elk poop. She said that since they have just opened for the season that no one had used that site yet. It looks like dog poop, so now Charlie wants to rename Toby. If his name is ‘Elk’ then we won’t have to pick up after him, so goes his logic. Toby is enjoying lying in the grass and on the concrete underneath the picnic table. Charlie is enjoying the internet and I am just enjoying being outside in the nice weather. It got chilly as it got dark and we went inside. I wish every night could be like this. We are not always so lucky with campsites and weather.

Sunday – May 13, 2007
Mother’s Day. I called Mom at about 10:30 EST, but missed her. I hope I can reach her tonight. Tonight we may be staying in a campground higher at a primitive site. We left camp at 11am—check out time, and headed up to an overlook that is my favorite view so far on this trip. The Green River with red rock on one side and green hills on the other is a truly gorgeous flaming gorge. The river winds through the canyon and for some reason it is very beautiful to me. Maybe because we have not seen such pretty water in so long. We went on to the dam and it was quite a drive through the forest and some rocky mountains. We got there in time to take the tour. No cameras, bags, or much of anything was allowed and we had to go through a metal detector. Charlie commented that it seemed paranoid, but the ranger said that the dam had been targeted and that guys are in jail. We went inside the dam and down to the river on the other side where we could see fish, mostly trout. Charlie was fascinated by our fellow tourists. They were a raggedy weird bunch. I called Mom before we left the area and talked for about an hour. By then it was 4pm and we needed to find a campsite. We were at a higher elevation and close to several trails that we want to hike so Charlie was hoping to camp around there. But as we made our way back the way we had come we found that the campgrounds had not opened for the season. It was such a beautiful day, it doesn’t seem right that the season has not started. Finally, when we were almost back to the KOA we found a campground by the road that was not closed. No one was there either. Charlie remembered that it was well populated this morning, but now it is Sunday evening. We found a nice campsite by a creek. The creek is big and loud too. We ate dinner outside and sat out until the sun went down. The temperature really dropped. A couple of vehicles cruised through the campground without stopping making Charlie nervous. After dark someone pulled into a site and slept in his car. Charlie was hoping more campers would come. Since they didn’t he kept watch out the window and talked late into the night. He had the mace beside him in bed!

Monday, May 14, 2007
It is cold this morning and our campsite is in the shade. I moved my chair and our camp table close to the creek in the sun. It is a beautiful morning and I am enjoying sitting here writing my notes. There is a rock wall beyond the creek and up the creek there are some rock formations. The sun is on the rocks. We are waiting for Charlie to get up so we can start the day. Next, we headed back toward the dam after going to the post office and getting gas. We took the Sheep Creek Canyon Geological Area Loop in Ashley Canyon and it was very impressive. We were at the bottom of the canyon and it closed in right up to the edge of the road. We came to a dead end after traveling about 12 miles on some rough road. The last two or three miles of the loop were closed so we had to turn around and go all the way back to get out of there. We turned off the loop onto a dirt road to the Ute Fire Lookout Tower. That road was okay but then we took a left onto another dirt road that was narrow and full of ruts. We had no idea how far the tower was. This road also climbed and climbed for about two miles. Just when Charlie decided he absolutely would turn around, we arrived at the tower. The tower was closed. By then it had started to rain and it was mixed with snow. As soon as we got to the tower, the rain stopped and became a soft teeny snowball kind of snow, the size of chocolate chips. Charlie said: ‘We have got to get out of here’. Even though there was a lot of stress on Charlie because of not knowing how long these roads were or how good they were, it was a pretty drive. The aspen have light colored leaves that really brighten up the landscape. I was looking for wildlife, but no luck. We drove on to Red Canyon after checking in with Becky. It seems that Rick is going to try fishing in the pond. It would be nice if something is in there. The Red Canyon visitor center does not open until May 24 and the restaurant does not open until 5pm (if at all). Too bad, they both looked interesting. We are just too early. It is still cloudy but has stopped raining. We ate lunch in the visitor’s center parking lot and I took a nap while Charlie looked at maps. Then the sun came out so we all took a short hike along the Red Canyon rim. We could really see the green in the Green River. I really really like the Green River and gorgeous George’s gorgeous Gorge. We are camping at Mustang Ridge. There are not many campers here. There is no water available because it has not been tested for drinking since it was turned off for the winter. Our campsite is on the Green River or really above the river as you cannot get down to it from the campsite. We could also see the dam on the other side of the river. The sites are nice and big and private and we have a beautiful view (of course, it is the Green River). So we enjoyed the view until it got dark and we went to bed.

Tuesday – May 15, 2007
It got cold last night and Charlie turned the heater on at about 3:30am. I slept until about 7:30 which is unusual for me. Charlie walked Toby. We both took a walk later and tried to find access to the river, but we didn’t. A hummingbird was hanging around the back of the RV, and we saw ducks and a baby rabbit hiding in a hole in some rocks. We heard that two coyotes were seen in the campground this morning and we saw their tracks. We headed back to Rock Springs Wyoming and stopped at Wal-Mart. We ate at their subway and got some stuff and went to the KOA. This KOA is a big gravel parking lot with tiny trees and no picnic tables. But it has nice bathrooms with showers; two huge fenced in dog walks, cable, internet, and of course full hookups. So we are here to get clean, play with the computer and watch TV. I might even do a load of laundry. Didn’t do laundry but took a shower. Toby and I watched some prairie dogs for awhile beyond the smaller dog yard. They were tiny. Maybe they were babies??

Wednesday – May 16, 2007
Up early and off to Walmart. I bought a blanket since the one I have does not keep me warm unless I put something on top of it. I am sleeping on the dinette bed and the cushions do not cover the whole top of the table so there is a big hole in my bed. I stuff pillows in it but it does not work for long. Today I rearranged the cushions so that the hole is not on the inside next to the wall. I think it will be more comfortable. We have about 180 miles to go today to South of the Grand Tetons. We have reservations for two nights. We got there early and set up camp. This KOA is small and they are digging for a broken water pipe right in the middle of the park. I am thinking that the next time Charlie makes reservations he should ask if there is anything he should know. We are right next to the Snake River. We took a walk and came to a point where another river flows into the Snake River. Charlie heard about a guy that swam across the river and the current was so strong that it scared him and he was afraid to swim back so he walked way downstream and crossed a bridge to get back. Charlie got on the internet and Toby and I went back to the point. There are tent campsites there so I sat at a picnic table and read for about one and one-half hours. Then we had dinner outside and Charlie talked to our neighbor who is a Habitat for Humanity team leader and he is here working on a house. He has a range rover and a really weird two wheel trailer with a tent on top and storage and a stove on the bottom. He climbs a ladder to get up to the tent. We slept with the windows open after watching Slingshot on the computer, a terrible movie that I did not enjoy. During the night, morning really, it got very cold and the heat came on by itself. I closed the windows and turned the heat up some more. I was comfortable under all my blankets. Our neighbor should have been much colder in his tent than we were, but he said he uses an electric blanket.

Thursday – May 17, 2007
We took more walks along the river today and we watched a woman on the other side with her dogs. They were on a very steep hill and at least one of the dogs jumped in the river for a stick. I shopped in Jackson Hole. As usual I didn’t buy anything except postcards. We went to Grand Teton and I mailed postcards and birthday cards from Moose, Wyoming. We walked the trail around Jenny Lake for over an hour. We could not go all the way around because it was too far and too late in the day. Charlie used his monopod with his new camera and I used my new walking stick. Toby was not allowed on the trail so he slept in the RV. It was a cloudy day and seemed like it would rain, but it did not. We also drove through the Elk Refuge but we didn’t see any elk or any other wildlife. I talked to Ed at about 8pm his time, he sounded pleased to hear from me. I did laundry at the campground.

Friday – May 18, 2007
We dumped this morning in the nick of time. Actually it was too late because the grey water was coming up in the tub. In Jackson Hole we filled the propane and got gas. We went back to Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons and rode the boat ‘Paint Brush’ to the other side of the lake. The lake is 250 feet at its deepest and it freezes up to five feet thick in winter. The last of the ice melted on May 2nd, when we were in Colorado. Then we hiked one mile round trip up to Hidden Falls. The hike was well worth it. We got encouragement to continue from everyone making the return trip. We had lunch and drove on to Madison in Yellowstone. We plan to be here through Wednesday.

Saturday – May 19, 2007
This is a very nice campground. There are no hookups but the roads and campsites are paved for vehicles. Our site backs up to the woods since we are on the outer loop. Toby and I can do a little exploring here. We can get fresh water, so the only thing Charlie thinks might be a problem is the battery. We shall see. Today we visited all of the Norris Geyser area. This was a long trek we had not done before and I liked it the best, there were many geysers and they were very active so there was a lot of steam. Three black crows were swooping all around us and fighting. Then a fourth crow joined in the fighting. They are large birds that I have never seen before. Finally we saw that they were fighting over a dead deer. Charlie took a picture…ugh! We went to Canyon Village but only one store was open and the visitor center was closed. The other stores are supposed to open tomorrow. It is amazing that these stores are closed because there are so many people here. I bought two magnets and some postcards. Then we went to the part of Norris Geysers that we visited last time we were here. These geysers are much smaller and are much more in the open. The geysers are small and bubbly and very colorful. There are green, orange, blue, white, and black geysers. The blue geyser is like a swimming pool. Charlie liked this section the best. After that we looked at Yellowstone Grand Canyon and we took a one and one-half mile hike to a waterfall on the north rim trail. Charlie wanted to do one more hike that was only one-eighth of a mile to the tip of the upper falls but I was too hot and my hip and knee felt weak and were giving me some pain. So we headed back to camp. At the geysers I talked to an old man who had a very friendly dog named Navajo Joe. The dog had been adopted from a litter of puppies owned by the Navajo. He allowed some young people to walk off with his dog and I heard him say: “Let’s see how far he will go with you.” Well the dog went along until the people were out of sight. I said: “Say goodbye to Navajo Joe!” He just laughed but then he started after them. Later I saw him with his dog so I guess it was not a dog napping. We have been having near perfect weather this week. We did not have to turn on the heat last night but it was cold. This morning it was cool for our first walk and cloudy, but after lunch when we took the second walk at Norris Geysers I changed from a sweater to a blouse. We saw lightening when we were driving around. I saw elk in the woods and in a meadow. Charlie got some pictures of bison. I sure would like to see a moose. I remember I wanted to see a moose last time too, but I never did. At 9pm we went to see the moon through a telescope. We were invited by Gil from Daytona Beach who is an astronomer. He built his telescope and it was as tall as I am and almost as big around. We saw the craters of the moon and we saw Venus and I saw Saturn with its rings. It was amazing. This is National Astronomy week. Gil belongs to the KSC Astronomy Club, and he says they go somewhere (not Haulover Canal he said) but he could not remember the name of the place.

Sunday – May 20, 2007
Toby and I watched the marmots all morning. We also watched a girl with a dog on leash try to sneak up on the marmots…but no luck. We drove the Firehole Canyon Drive. It was pretty, but Charlie didn’t see much because he didn’t stop. Then we went to the Paint Pots on the way to Old Faithful. The Fountain Geyser was erupting and I could have stayed there all day. I hope we get it on video before we leave. At the Lower Geyser Basin the park signs say to stay on the trail and boardwalks because of the thin crust. Charlie says: “mmmmm, thin crust! Makes me hungry!” We saw lots of Bison in the meadows and on the road on the way to Old Faithful. We ate lunch at the Old Faithful Cafeteria. My ribs were very good but Charlie’s chicken was not so good. We called David and Joyce and they saw us on the Old Faithful Webcam. I shopped a little bit after the geyser erupted and then we walked a short trail and saw a bunch of other geysers. Charlie filmed Old Faithful again from the trail. I talked to Mom and then we headed back to Madison at about 4:30. No cars were coming toward us and we thought maybe everybody had gone home. But then we saw bison with a loooonnnnng line of cars behind them. They were followed by a park police car. We stopped while the bison moved past us on both sides of the RV. Charlie took pictures and his camera beeped. One of the bison growled or grunted at him when he took a picture. She had a baby. There were lots of babies. A woman in a car following said: “Three hours!” She seemed cheerful about it so I thought she may have been kidding. But there was an amazing line of cars behind her. When we got back to Madison Charlie stopped at the dump station and Toby and I walked back to the campsite from there. Toby was very excited about that, he barked at everything and everyone. It thundered and started raining so we had to run a little bit. What a good idea that was! Now we are settled in for another night without power. This is the first time we have gone three nights in a row.

Monday – May 21, 2007
It rained all night but it is bright and cold this morning. We saw a herd of bison right across from our campground along a creek. We drove to West Thumb and saw lots of bison and crazy tourists on the way. It is snowing and we are eating lunch in the RV. Now we have been in the RV for two hours waiting for a break in the weather. The drive here was mostly through forest up to the road, but here there is a lake that is huge and there are snow-capped mountains beyond the lake. Now the sun is out but it can’t decide if it is going to stay out. When the sun came out we walked around the geysers at the edge of the lake. There were a couple of cones under water. We like those the best. Then we headed back to camp and Charlie kept saying that he hoped we would not get in another buffalo parade. We didn’t. We did see several elk and Charlie stopped and got pictures of two of them. We drove to Grant but nothing was open there and the campground was closed too. We saw lots more bison. Back at camp after dinner we walked over to the meadow and creek to see if the bison were still there. They had moved on down and we found them and some ducks and geese. Charlie took loads of video and pictures of them. He said it was the most enjoyment he has had here at Yellowstone. He likes seeing and filming the bison in a natural setting. It is going to be cold tonight. We are going to rig up an area for Toby to sleep in so that he does not get stepped on tonight. Without hookup we have no night light and it is risky even with a flashlight.

Tuesday – May 22, 2007
It was cold last night! Charlie said his face was frozen He must get colder since he is sleeping in the slide out. He even had his coat on. I didn’t get cold even though I only used my new blanket. We walked down through the campground this morning to see if the bison were still there in the meadow but they were gone. So we went up to midway basin and looked at some more geysers. Then we went to biscuit basin. We walked the boardwalk and saw even more geysers. Bus loads of school children were coming off the walk as we arrived and they were lively and cute. We got lunch at the Old Faithful Lodge Cafeteria again and watched Old Faithful erupt from inside. It is snowing and sometimes snow showers. Then we went to Black Sand Geysers and we saw elk in the distance. After that even more school children showed up and the snow is coming down harder. It is supposed to snow all night. We saw some very pretty blue birds at the Biscuit Basin, they looked like big blue buntings. When we got back to camp Charlie tried to get a temporary electric hookup so he can charge the house battery, but could not. The battery is not charging off the engine like it should, and he is worried it might not last through the night. We are not going to open the slide out tonight, and we hope the battery will power the fan for the heater. We opened the bed as far as it would go without opening the slide out and took a nap. It was like lying in a giant chair. It was cold and snowing all day. When the bed was out Toby went under it to get from the front to the back of the RV. He looked so funny tunneling through. When Charlie powered the bed back into place it went very slowly and the battery indicator went down. Plus we were already running the heater at 4pm. So we abandoned our campsite and drove to West Yellowstone in Montana and checked into the Grizzly RV Park. Then we went to dinner at a café. Charlie got a good meal that filled him up finally. I had an excellent hamburger. Back at camp Toby and I took a walk outside of the park. There was a wooded area and meadow with lots of animal tracks and scat. I took a cold shower – ugh! We watched Dancing with the Stars and Charlie got on the internet and we had heat and the battery was recharged. No worries.

Wednesday – May 23, 2007
Charlie got a hot shower because he took it in the main building instead of the small building where I took my shower. We had to hang around at the park until 8am in order to pay; but when we left we found out that the West entrance to Yellowstone did not open until 8 anyway. There was a lot of snow all through the park on our way to the east exit and Cody, Wyoming. There was ice in some places too. We saw a few bison and two bald eagles. We almost made it out of the park but had to stop for construction for 25 minutes. Charlie got something to eat while we waited; one of the conveniences of RVing! After we left Yellowstone we were in the Shoshone National Forest. There were a lot of Milk Chocolate rock formations. We passed Bill Cody’s Resort where Mom and Aunt Mary stayed. We headed for the Buffalo Bill Dam. It was built in 1910 and it took three contractors five years to complete it. The video about the construction gave details about the contracts and all the problems. It seemed like it could be a case study for my work. We got a ride to and from the parking lot in an electric cart. When we left the dam we went through three tunnels. One tunnel was very long and it was also built when the dam was built. We went to Wal-Mart and I bought two pair of blue jeans and two pair of black jeans and we got a subway sub. We went to the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum and we really enjoyed it. We can go back tomorrow too. We met an RVer from Gainesville Florida with three little dogs. He is going to Yellowstone tomorrow and Charlie told him all about our experiences there. We went to Bubba Bar-B-Q for dinner and I had half a rack of baby back ribs. Charlie had his usual one-half chicken. We are staying at the Buffalo Bill State Park. It is a beautiful spot on the Buffalo Bill Reservoir with snowcapped mountains beyond it. There are a couple of other RVs here but not in this section. It is cold. Toby and I walked (climbed) down to the rocky shore and back. Now I am sitting outside all bundled up so that Toby and I can be outside for awhile. Charlie is on the phone with Diane.

Thursday – May 24, 2007
Happy Birthday Jaime! We took a long hike along the reservoir and then we got an early start. We went back to the Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Museum and stayed until about 2pm. It is a huge place with lots of different things to see. There was a separate section for Bill Cody, for Indian history, Nature, Firearms and an Art Gallery. We looked at it all. I especially enjoyed the art gallery. They had works by all the famous old west artists and some modern artists too. We drove fifty some miles to Greybull Wyoming to a KOA owned by a dutch couple. They have a little restaurant with two entrees each night. My dinner was prime rib tips in a dignon sauce. It was my best meal of the trip so far. Charlie’s tuna was a little dry but he got plenty to eat with added mixed vegetables. The restaurant is called Dutchies.

Friday – May 25, 2007
We left camp at 11am – check out time. It was cold and raining. We are driving through Bighorn National Forest to Sheridan. The pass is at 9,300 feet and we started at about 4,000 feet. The mountains are dusted with snow and the higher up we go the more snow there is. We did slide around some. We stopped at the Big Horn National Forest visitor center and I got two Tee-Shirts, a magnet, and a free magnet! Then we got into a little bit more snow and we saw a moose. It was having lunch near the road and Charlie got some pictures. On the other side of the mountain the snow all but disappeared and there was green grass everywhere. It is very pretty and Charlie liked this forest especially. We stopped at several overlooks and took lots of pictures. The road all through the mountains and into Sheridan is red because of the rock around here. We got on the interstate and the RV vibrated worse than ever. We stopped at the Peerless Tire Center to get the tires balanced. Charlie was going to go there first thing in the morning but because of our experience on the interstate, he decided to try to get it done now, and we got lucky and got service as soon as we pulled in. Toby and I stayed in the RV while they removed all of the tires and ended up replacing two of them. Toby never made a peep even though we were bouncing around and there were a number of guys working and making a racket all around us. He is a funny dog. It was lucky that we stopped when we did because we nearly had a blow out on two tires, left front and the inside left rear. Whew! We had dinner at Burger King and spent the night at Wal-Mart.

Saturday – May 26, 2007
Happy Birthday Mom! This morning I lost my keys behind the bulkhead cushion above my bed in the front. Charlie got them out. It was quite an ordeal. So now I need to keep my keys elsewhere. An old RV with stickers all over it, mostly NASCAR and car stickers and some rude ones was at Wal-Mart too. It was kind of creepy. We ate breakfast at Burger King. Toby got to roam the RV again last night. We have given up on trying to confine him to the front when we don’t have a night light; he finds a way through the barrier and under the bed no matter what we do. I called Mom on the way out of Sheridan but lost the connection. Now there are snow covered mountains behind us and we are seeing green rolling hills with cows and antelope.

Sunday – May 27, 2007
We traveled on ten miles of a dirt narrow road that seemed like a driveway and then one turn put us on US14, which is also a dirt road but now we know it is not a driveway. There are lots of rolling green hills, trees, cattle ranches pronghorns and mule deer. We went to Devils Tower and hiked around it. There were quite a few climbers on it. Climbers are not allowed during the month of June because of Native American religious ceremonies. Offerings, mostly fabrics, were in the trees all around the tower. The natives would prefer that no one ever climb the tower and they call it Bear Lodge. They don’t like the negative name ‘devils tower’. It pains them to think that climbers are poking holes in it. The tower is eroding little by little and the climbers are making it erode faster. A Park Ranger told us about John Duran who parachuted to the top of the tower in 1937, and was stranded there for six days until a climber came 1,600 miles to rescue him. Seventy-seven food and supply drops were made to him. Most of them missed. The Duran trail is named for him and it is the easiest access to the top of the tower. There is an old permanent ladder that goes part way up the tower. It is so old it is not used anymore. I had a hamburger at the KOA and Charlie got on the internet there. KOA is right outside the park gate. We also saw the Prairie dog village. We crossed Sand Creek. We are staying at Chris’ RV Park and it seems nice with lots of space to walk Toby. Shower tonight! We watched our Dreamgirls DVD and stayed up late with the TV and the internet. There is a heated pool, and lots of children are using it. There are people, including children, driving ATVs back and forth on the lanes in the park which is driving Toby crazy! I am amazed that we are seeing small children out on their own in these RV parks riding bikes and playing. I am not used to seeing unsupervised little ones.

Monday – May 28, 2007
It is a warm sunny morning. We stopped at Wal-Mart and Charlie bought a camera. We drove through Deadwood and it seems to be all saloons and casinos. Outside of town we stopped at the Broken Boot Gold Mine. It was started in the 1800s and closed in 1904. We went through it and saw the different kinds of rocks and minerals. One ounce of gold for every ten tons of rock was mined there. Fools gold was also mined to make sulfuric acid, but when their only buyer of acid closed, the mine closed too. In 1954 a daughter who inherited the mine reopened it for tours. They named the mine Broken Boot because they found a broken boot inside the mine along with some old tools. Then we went back to Deadwood and caught the last tour bus of the day. On the tour we learned all about Deadwood’s history and saw where Hickok was shot and where he and Calamity Jane are buried. It was raining when we got up to the cemetery but it stopped long enough for us to visit the graves. On the way back to the bus stop Charlie and I jumped off and ran back to the RV. The rain and hail really started coming down then. We saw the Boise Hotshots and I wonder who they are. Charlie guessed they are firefighters from Boise, which seems like a good guess. We waited until the rain stopped and then went and got a nice dinner. We sat at a window table and watched the people and traffic. Charlie played a five cent slot machine and lost. Near our parking spot that is set aside for RVs we passed a wide and deep fast moving creek with individual bridges to the front of houses on the other side. It appeared that these bridges were the only access to the houses. Some of the bridges were wide enough for vehicles and had vehicles parked on them but most were just walkways. It would be like living on an island, or maybe it was an island. We are staying at the Days of 76 Rodeo RV Park and they have a free museum too. Charlie went to check in and I thought he got rained in at the office but he didn’t even realize it because he was talking to the lady there till the rained slowed down.

Tuesday – May 29, 2007
It poured down raining all night long. This morning we took a guided tour of the free museum. The pieces were all collected by one man who has since passed away. He had all sorts of wagons and carriages and Indian clothes and artifacts, pictures and weapons and clothes from the Cody show. I wish I could have spent more time there. Toby and I took as good a walk as we could manage in the rain and the mud. We walked outside of the park and saw the corral for the Days of 76 Rodeo. It is a yearly event that attracts lots of old timers including Indians. We left in the rain and by the time we got to Mt. Rushmore it had stopped raining. We looked at the exhibits there and a film and took the one-half mile Presidents Trail. We saw mountain goats and took lots of pictures from the trail and the Grand View area. I got my magnet and postcards and we headed out. We went to the Fort Welkit Family Campground near Custer. It poured and there was more hail too. After dinner it only rained a little so I got the laundry done and took a shower. There were individual bathrooms so Charlie liked taking a shower here too.

Wednesday – May 30, 2007
Happy Birthday Larry! Toby and I walked a bit. It is a hilly, muddy place. There are tepees and wagons in some of the campsites. Yesterday evening I talked to a guy with a Volkswagen and a hammock. He was trying to set up the hammock, and he said he had a canopy too. I wished him luck and hoped it would not rain, which I don’t think it did. At least not a significant amount. We drove back into Custer and ate breakfast at a Subway. The first thing we did today was to go to Jewel Caves which is in the Black Hills National Forest. We have been in the Black Hills National Forest since we arrived in Deadwood. The caves were not as good as others we have seen but the tour guide was excellent and we got plenty of exercise. The most interesting formation was called a drapery that is twenty feet long and looks like a slice of bacon. Then we went into the Custer National Park and stopped at the visitors center. I got Mom’s bird feeder there. Charlie went back to the RV in time to beat the rain and he picked me up at the door. We started to drive 16A, the Iron Mountain Highway, from Custer Park to Mt. Rushmore, about thirty miles, but since it was raining we headed for Rapid City and Wal-Mart. We had a good lunch/dinner at Golden Corral. Charlie asked me what I did with his hat. I told him I didn’t touch his hat. He said he had seen me touch his hat and that I am not going to get away with that! Ummmmm….what? After dinner we headed back into Custer Park to spend the night. We are staying at Gause?? Lodge Campground. It is next to a creek and is all paved and gated to keep the buffalo out. In spite of the clouds it was a nice evening for a walk but the trail followed the road and it is paved. We did not walk far because we did not like walking next to the busy road. We watched the second half of Laurence of Arabia.

Thursday – May 31, 2007
We all took a long walk around the campground and left a little bit early. It is a cloudy morning and may rain later. We drove the Iron Mountain Highway (16A) to Mount Rushmore. It is a strange winding road with three one lane tunnels only twelve feet 7 inches high, but we made it through. We watched a film at the visitors center and looked for the mountain goats but they were not there this morning. We drove the Needles Highway and barely fit through the tunnels, we had to fold in our mirrors. There were cars and people everywhere at eye of the needle. We drove the Wildlife Loop and saw buffalo. Charlie wore out his shins driving all three of these winding roads in one morning. We left the Black Hills and drove across prairie through the Buffalo Gap Grasslands and in and out of the Badlands National Forest and through more prairie to the White River KOA in the Badlands. Charlie fixed clam chowder and the camp owners served fry bread for dessert (mine was ala mode) with cinnamon and sugar. It rained most of the night. I read and Charlie got on the internet.

Friday – June 1, 2007
It started raining hard before I could get Toby out this morning so I put him on the retractable leash and sent him out by himself for a few minutes. This park is big and there is a whole empty section on a loop we did not get to explore because of the rain. When we first got here yesterday we spent some time in the fenced dog yard. There was agility equipment there. A seesaw, tube, jump, and wickets. I put Toby through the wickets on leash. I looked at him through the tube to try to get him to come through, but he ran around it to get to me when he saw me. So he didn’t really get it. We left in the rain and drove to Nebraska mostly in the rain. We stopped first at the Badlands visitor center and watched a film. We both really like South Dakota, but it rained the whole time we were there so we didn’t see and do as much as we would have liked. I would like to go back, but not in May or June which is the rainy season. We snapped pictures as we drove down the road, some of the sights are spectacular and you can tell that from the pictures even though they were so hastily taken in such bad light. All the way into Nebraska it was hilly and there were green wide open spaces with cows and horses. We may have seen a fox cross the road. We had lunch in Valentine Nebraska. In North Platte Nebraska Charlie did not like the looks of the Wal-Mart so we didn’t park or go in. We went to the Holiday RV Park right next to the Interstate 83 but it is quiet here.

Saturday – June 2, 2007
We left the park at noon and stopped at a Pony Express station and then a sod house with a buffalo made from four and one-half miles of barbed wire, and an Indian on a horse made from barbed wire. The sod house was built by a man who copied his grandmothers house exactly so that his children could see how they lived on the prairie. Then we drove on to Pioneer Village in Minten Nebraska. The village includes a museum, restaurant, motel and RV park. We got a two day pass and visited the museum for an hour before it closed. We saw vintage cars and a stockade house that was home to nine people including the first two white babies born in Nebraska (as far as they know). We had dinner at the restaurant and stayed in the RV Park.

Sunday – June 3, 2007
We went back to the museum. There are buildings that seem to go on forever. Each building has a theme. There is furniture and jewelry and collectibles. Some like items are together, but some are set up within rooms that represent homes of certain decades. It was weird to see rooms from the 50s that looked like our own past, we saw things in this museum that we grew up with! We drove the rest of the day. We camped at a KOA in Salina Kansas. They had a flood here so we feel like we are in a mud hole. We watched Andy Griffith and MASH and Comedy Central. Charlie hung out in the recreation room to try to find out what happened on the Sopranos but apparently it was not the last episode.

Monday – June 4, 2007
We arrived at Steve’s. He fixed us a nice dinner of marinated chicken on the grill and a fancy salad and grilled (baked) potatoes. Steve has two dogs but we could not get the three of them together. Toby was nervous at first but he enjoyed the big fenced yard and he spent most of his time there. I slept in the RV with Toby. It is a very quiet neighborhood.

Tuesday – June 5, 2007
Steve fixed eggs and English muffins for breakfast. I did laundry and took a shower. We watched TV and I kept company with Toby outside and in the RV. Steve and Charlie enjoyed their visit. We watched “Find Me Guilty” a very good movie. We went to dinner at the Metropolitan. I had a Kansas steak and sweet potato fries. I went to bed early in the RV and watched ‘Restaurant’ on the DVD.

Wednesday – June 6, 2007
Left Steve’s at about 9:30 after a pancake breakfast. Recipe for pancakes: 2 cups bisquick, 2 cups milk, 2 eggs, 1 cup oatmeal, walnuts. Said goodbye to Steve, GB, and Toto. Drove all day. We had a nice Bar-B-Q dinner and got gas at Wal-Mart in Jackson Missouri. At the exit to I-55 we stopped at the Cape RV & Camping Park. No Cape in sight. The RV park had a path around a pond and there were Canada Geese with babies.

Thursday – June 7, 2007
Left the campsite early, about 6:30am and got on I-55 South. We passed the Hunter Dawson Historic Home. I returned Ginny’s phone call about my annual performance evaluation. Ginny is going on vacation next week and will be back on July 2nd. We saw camels. We stayed at Rickwood Caverns State Park. There were very few spots for RVs. They have a very busy pool.

Friday – June 8, 2007
We did not stay to see the caves. It rained some last night and we ran the A/C. We drove all day. Stayed at the Travelers RV Park. The camp sites are short roads with hookups alongside and grass medians with picnic tables. They have goats and peacocks and a mule and a bunch of parrots. Took my last shower of the trip.

Saturday – June 9, 2007
Stopped by Ruth Ann’s. Toby was in my seat when David opened the passenger door. Toby was very surprised!

Home at 1:30 pm
There were 42,270 miles on the RV odometer when we arrived home. We traveled 7,823 miles.

RV Trip 2007 Gas

04/16/07 $2.84 22 $62.46 Florida
04/16/07 $2.86 29 $82.91 Sneads Florida
04/17/07 $2.73 18 $49.12 Pensacola Florida
04/19/07 $2.68 22 $58.94 Hammand Louisana
04/20/07 $2.63 66 $173.51 Beaumont Texas
04/20/07 $2.80 28 $78.37 Texas
04/21/07 $2.78 26 $72.25 Ft Stockton Texas
04/24/07 $2.80 14 $39.47 Alamogordo New Mexico
04/26/07 $3.03 25 $76.63 Silver City New Mexico
04/28/07 $3.03 14 $44.22 Silver City New Mexico
04/29/07 $2.99 15 $46.94 St John Arizona
05/01/07 $3.18 22 $69.96 Canyon DeChelly Arizona
05/03/07 $3.05 25 $76.25 Cortez Colorado
05/06/07 $3.06 24 $74.24 Fruita Colorado
05/08/07 $3.10 17 $52.68 Moab Utah
05/12/07 $3.16 27 $85.29 Price Utah
05/14/07 $3.35 23 $77.39 Manila Utah
05/18/07 $3.08 24 $73.90 Jackson Hole Wyoming
05/20/07 $3.29 15 $49.35 Yellowstone Wyoming
05/23/07 $3.18 27 $86.15 Cody Wyoming
05/29/07 $3.32 19 $63.06 Deadwood South Dakota
06/01/07 $3.39 12 $40.68 Thedford Nebraska
06/02/07 $3.29 26 $86.20 Kearney Nebraska
06/04/07 $3.05 24 $75.00 Topeka Kansas
06/06/07 $2.99 11 $34.68 Levenworth Kansas
06/06/07 $2.99 16 $46.35 I-70 Missouri
06/06/07 $2.79 20 $55.24 Jackson Missouri
06/07/07 $2.99 19 $55.61 Tennessee
06/08/07 $2.95 24 $70.80 Montgomery Alabama
06/09/07 $2.92 17 $49.64 Longwood Florida
681 gallons $2,027.43

RV Trip 2007 Camp Sites

04/16/07 $13.88 Three Rivers State Park Florida
04/17/07 $18.00 Big Lagoon State Park Pensacola Florida
04/18/07 $16.00 Shepards State Park Mississippi
04/19/07 $0.00 Walmart Beaumont Tx
04/20/07 $20.00 Morgan Shady RV & Camp Resort So. Llano River Tx
04/21/07 $28.00 Family RV Park??? Carlsbad New Mexico
04/22/07 $20.00 Carlsbad White City New Mexico
04/23/07 $14.00 Brantley Lake State Park New Mexico
04/24/07 $14.00 Oliver Lee State Park White Sands New Mexico
04/25/07 $10.00 City of Rocks Silver City New Mexico
04/26/07 $21.75 Silver City RV Resort Silver City New Mexico
04/27/07 $0.00 Upper Fork Gila National Forest New Mexico
04/28/07 $3.00 Mesa Gila National Forest New Mexico
04/29/07 $19.00 Lymon State Park Lake Lymon Arizona
04/30/07 $19.00 Homolovi State Park Winslow Arizona
05/01/07 $35.00 Mesa Verde National Park Colorado
05/02/07 $19.00 UTE Sleeping RV Resort De Chelly Colorado
05/03/07 $13.00 Transfer Campground San Juan Forst Colorado
05/04/07 $25.00 Silverton RV Park Silverton Colorado
05/05/07 $32.00 Grand Junction RV Park Grand Junction Colorado
05/06/07 $28.00 KOA Grand Junction Grand Junction Colorado
05/07/07 $18.00 KOA Moab Utah
05/08/07 $18.00 KOA Moab Utah
05/09/07 $18.00 KOA Moab Utah
05/10/07 $18.00 KOA Moab Utah
05/11/07 $52.00 Canyonlands RV Pkpd 4/2 nights Moab Utah
05/12/07 $28.00 KOA Manila Utah
05/13/07 $9.00 Federal Lands Park Manila Utah
05/14/07 $17.00 Mustang Ridge Flaming Gorge Utah
05/15/07 $28.00 KOA Rock Springs Wyoming
05/16/07 $35.00 KOA Snake River Wyoming
05/17/07 $35.00 KOA Snake River Wyoming
05/18/07 $18.00 Madison Yellowstone Wyoming
05/19/07 $18.00 Madison Yellowstone Wyoming
05/20/07 $18.00 Madison Yellowstone Wyoming
05/21/07 $36.00 Madison - pd 4 2 nights Yellowstone Wyoming
05/22/07 $38.00 Grizzly RV Park W. Yellowstone Montana
05/23/07 $12.00 Buffalo Bill State Park Cody Wyoming
05/24/07 $29.00 KOA Greybull Wyoming
05/25/07 $0.00 Walmart Sheridan Wyoming
05/26/07 $12.00 Keyhole State Park Gillette Wyoming
05/27/07 $26.00 Chris RV Park Spearfish South Dakota
05/28/07 $25.00 Days of 76 Rodeo RV Park Deadwood South Dakota
05/29/07 $28.00 Fort Welkit Family Campground South Dakota
05/30/07 $16.00 Gause? Lodge Campground Black Hills South Dakota
05/31/07 $25.00 White River KOA Badlands South Dakota
06/01/07 $24.00 Holiday RV Park North Platte Nebraska
06/02/07 $24.00 Pioneer Village Minten Nebraska
06/03/07 $27.00 KOA Salina Kansas
06/04/07 $0.00 Steve Ft Levenworth Kansas
06/05/07 $0.00 Steve Ft Levenworth Kansas
06/06/07 $32.00 Cape RV & Camping Park Cape Giradeau Missouri
06/07/07 $16.80 Rickwood Caverns State Park Alabama
06/08/07 $29.50 Travelers RV Park Alachua Florida
$1,098.93