Travels with Charlie

May 26, 2010

2010-05-26T09:09:00.002-04:00

Well, we got home Saturday evening. After three long days of driving we were very glad to get here. Joey ran all around the house and we can tell he is enjoying his freedom in all this (house sized) space. We traveled 6,466 miles in 41 days. We saw everything we set out to see and more, though we don't have many goals at the beginning of these trips. This trip was shorter than we had hoped, but the Aliner was very small, and I was not optimistic that it was going to work out. I really thought we would not get very far, for very long, before giving it up and coming right back home. But it was a cozy little camper, and Charlie really really enjoyed having his mini-van as the tow vehicle. Eventually it did get old having to eat out all the time, and I really really didn't like the porta-potty with no privacy. Well, we learned something, and still had a good time. Charlie is probably going to get some kind of truck to use as a tow vehicle next time. If he does that, we may not stick with this camper, though we both really like it. Almost any truck would have a lot more towing capacity and we could get a larger camper. We will have to see, it is something to figure out and look forward to. I am still limping around, and I have a doctor's appointment today. I hope to get back to walking the shelter dogs soon, but now I am resting as much as I can. I am walking Joey, but not far. He runs around on the end of the retractable leash in the front yard, while I stand in one spot. I have taken him down to the road a couple of times but I have to drive down, and then I can't even walk as far as the cul-de-sac without developing a lot of pain. Hopefully, he is not missing our long walks too much. The house, the pool, and the yard were in great shape when we got home thanks to Becky and Rick. We really appreciate everything they do. They make it possible for us to take our trips, and have been good friends to us over the years.

Here is where we camped and our camping expenses, we belong to Good Sam and Passport America so we got some good discounts:

4/12/10 Jo & Floyd Lecanto, FL
4/13/10 Jo & Floyd Lecanto, FL
4/14/10 Sunset Isle RV Park & Motel Cedar Key, FL $ 30.52
4/15/10 Manatee Springs State Park Chiefland, FL $ 21.80
4/16/10 Ann & David & Becky Tallahassee, FL
4/17/10 Ann & David & Becky Tallahassee, FL
4/18/10 Rustic Sands RV Park Mexico Beach, FL $ 18.87
4/19/10 Big Lagoon State Park Pensacola, FL $ 22.30
4/20/10 Maxey Care RV Park Morganza, LA $ 13.50
4/21/10 Jeanne Karnes City, TX
4/22/10 Jeanne Karnes City, TX
4/23/10 Jeanne Karnes City, TX
4/24/10 Governor's Landing Lake Amistad, TX $ 8.00
4/25/10 Sonora Caverns & RV Park Sonora, TX $ 15.00
4/26/10 Marathon Motel & RV Park Marathon, TX $ 12.50
4/27/10 Rio Grande Camp Big Bend Natl Park $ 30.00
4/28/10 Big Bend Resort & RV Park Big Bend, TX $ 22.00
4/29/10 Big Bend Resort & RV Park Big Bend, TX $ 22.00
4/30/10 Big Bend Resort & RV Park Big Bend, TX $ 22.00
5/01/10 Davis Mountains State Park Fort Davis, TX $ 23.00
5/02/10 Davis Mountains State Park Fort Davis, TX $ 23.00
5/03/10 Balmorhea State Park Balmorhea, TX $ 31.00
5/04/10 Sante Fe KOA Sante Fe, NM $ 35.93
5/05/10 Sante Fe KOA Sante Fe, NM $ 35.93
5/06/10 Sand Dunes Swim Pool RV Park Hooper, CO $ 25.00
5/07/10 Sand Dunes Swim Pool RV Park Hooper, CO $ 25.00
5/08/10 Four Seasons RV Resort Salida, CO $ 28.74
5/09/10 Four Seasons RV Resort Salida, CO $ 28.74
5/10/10 Four Seasons RV Resort Salida, CO $ 28.74
5/11/10 4J+1+1 Ouray, CO $ 29.05
5/12/10 Pagosa Riverside Campground Pagosa Springs, CO $ 32.67
5/13/10 Blanca RV Park Blanca, CO $ 10.88
5/14/10 Sand Dunes Swim Pool RV Park Hooper, CO $ 10.85
5/15/10 Sand Dunes Swim Pool RV Park Hooper, CO $ 27.00
5/16/10 Lathrop State Park Lathrop, CO $ 20.00
5/17/10 Oasis RV Resort Amarillo, TX $ 20.00
5/18/10 Oasis RV Resort Amarillo, TX $ 20.00
5/19/10 Terra Starr RV Park Checotah, OK $ 12.00
5/20/10 Days Inn Brinkley RV Park Brinkley, AR $ 19.01
5/21/10 Pensacola RV Park Pensacola, FL $ 32.11

Total $757.14

Our gas expenses:

4/12/10 $2.759 08.17 Gallons Sanford, FL $ 22.53
4/16/10 $2.939 17.63 Gallons Perry, FL $ 51.80
4/19/10 $2.749 12.45 Gallons Callaway, FL $ 34.24
4/20/10 $2.769 13.78 Gallons Loxley, AL $ 38.16
4/20/10 $2.759 12.62 Gallons Port Allen, LA $ 34.83
4/21/10 $2.699 13.33 Gallons Bridge City, TX $ 36.03
4/21/10 $2.789 05.00 Gallons Nixon, TX $ 14.13
4/23/10 $2.799 15.14 Gallons Karnes City, TX $ 41.77
4/24/10 $2.629 09.53 Gallons Uvalde, TX $ 25.06
4/25/10 $2.629 07.42 Gallons Del Rio, TX $ 19.50
4/26/10 $2.989 10.00 Gallons Comstock, TX $ 29.90
4/26/10 $3.299 16.26 Gallons Marathon, TX $ 53.65
4/27/10 $2.949 01.97 Gallons Alpine, TX $ 5.82
4/29/10 $3.209 09.33 Gallons Terlingua, TX $ 31.84
5/01/10 $3.059 14.49 Gallons Alpine, TX $ 44.32
5/04/10 $2.979 16.66 Gallons Carlsbad, NM $ 49.54
5/07/10 $2.959 10.10 Gallons Vaughn, NM $ 30.00
5/07/10 $2.769 11.57 Gallons Sante Fe, NM $ 32.03
5/08/10 $2.829 10.41 Gallons Alamosa, CO $ 29.46
5/11/10 $2.769 09.90 Gallons Salida, CO $ 27.41
5/11/10 $2.749 10.18 Gallons Montrose, CO $ 27.97
5/12/10 $2.799 13.58 Gallons Pagosa Springs, CO $ 38.01
5/14/10 $2.769 07.79 Gallons Alamosa, CO $ 21.56
5/15/10 $2.767 06.85 Gallons Alamosa, CO $ 18.98
5/16/10 $2.799 01.81 Gallons Alamosa, CO $ 5.05
5/17/10 $2.979 11.50 Gallons Raton, NM $ 34.20
5/17/10 $2.759 16.81 Gallons Bushland, TX $ 46.37
5/19/10 $2.749 05.08 Gallons Amarillo, TX $ 13.95
5/19/10 $2.779 09.12 Gallons Erick, OK $ 25.35
5/19/10 $2.699 09.40 Gallons Hinton, OK $ 25.43
5/20/10 $2.759 16.00 Gallons Checotah, OK $ 44.00
5/20/10 $2.759 09.49 Gallons Van Buren, AR $ 26.18
5/20/10 $2.699 14.47 Gallons Lonoke, AR $ 39.05
5/20/10 $2.639 16.63 Gallons Forrest City, AR $ 17.50
5/21/10 $2.739 15.51 Gallons Belzoni, MS $ 42.48
5/21/10 $2.579 06.76 Gallons Richland, MS $ 17.42
5/21/10 $2.699 09.33 Gallons New Augusta, MS $ 25.17
5/21/10 $2.839 12.49 Gallons Pine Forest, FL $ 35.47
5/21/10 $2.689 12.95 Gallons Marianna, FL $ 24.82
5/22/10 $2.839 13.40 Gallons Live Oak, FL $ 38.05
5/22/10 $2.849 14.45 Gallons Palm Coast, FL $ 41.17

Average $2.744
Total 459.34 Gallons $1,260.20

Not so bad for over a month of travel! That is the end of the story for this trip, I will be back to this blog next trip! BOOM! The Shuttle is home! This is possibly the last flight for Atlantis after 25 years, 32 flights, and millions of miles. p.s. Happy Birthday Mom, we love you!

May 19 to May 21, 2010

2010-05-21T23:44:00.002-04:00

Wednesday, May 19, 2010
We headed out this morning east on I-40. Near the campground there is a spot along the road where we noticed that people are parking and walking out to something in the field. We couldn't tell what it was, so Charlie looked it up on Wikipedia, and it is the 'Cadillac Ranch'. There are about 10 cars sticking up, on end, out of the ground. Art. We didn't walk out there, and I forgot my binoculars this trip, so we didn't get a close look. Oh well.... We drove on I-40 all day and into Oklahoma, and there was a steady parade of storm chaser vehicles with all kinds of scientific equipment. It was a very loose convoy from different institutions and universities, including Florida and Texas. There must have been at least a hundred vehicles that passed us. The best part was looking ahead we could see storms and clouds building up in the distance. The biggest cross in the western hemisphere is at exit 112 on I-40 in Oklahoma. I took pictures as we drove by. Charlie took pictures of an old Conoco station as we went through an intersection. People were posing in front of it, so we took a picture too! We will post the pictures soon. We drove about 380 miles today, and ended up in an RV Park by Lake Eufaula, south of Checotah, Oklahoma. When we got near here it started raining, and that was the first significant rain we have encountered on this trip. The rain stopped long enough for us to get set up and settled in the camper, and then it thundered, poured, blew, and lightning hit all around us all night. It was the biggest and longest storm I can ever remember. I was in the pop out so it was very exciting. I love a good storm, but wow! This was really something, and it seemed to keep circling back. There is a long underground storm shelter less than a hundred feet from our camper, and a lady told me that if we hear horns honking in the night we should run to the shelter immediately. Someone told Charlie that the campers had to run for the shelter just a week ago. Luckily we made it through the night in the camper. P.S. Palo Dura Canyon is in Texas, NOT new Mexico (see May 18 notes)!

Thursday, May 20, 2010
We drove all day and covered about 310 miles. We stayed at an RV Park behind the Days Inn in Brinkley, Arkansas. We had absolutely no fun at all! We do enjoy the comfort of our camper, but, Charlie is not liking the amount of wear and tear on the van. Even though the trailer is only 17 feet long and weighs less than 3,000 pounds, it has as much wind resistance as a 30 foot trailer that sits as high as ours does. He has asked quite a few people with full size trucks with big engines and pulling 25 foot or longer trailers what kind of gas mileage they get. Just about everyone has said 9 to 10 miles per gallon, which is pretty close to what we are getting. Charlie thinks it is more wind resistance than the camper's weight that affects the mileage, and the van is just working too hard. It is not made for towing. So he is not satisfied with this combination, and he does not like what it is doing to the van. So, we are heading home. Plus, although my hip does not hurt as much, I still can't walk very far without some pain. So I need to get it looked at, again.

Friday, May 21, 2010
We started out in Brinkley Arkansas this morning and headed south and east over the Mississippi River at a bridge near Clarksdale Mississippi. It rained some, and we stayed off the interstates most of the way. We took route 1 at Forrest City, Arkansas, and then 242 east and route 49 at Helena – West Helena. We took 61 south at Clarksdale and jumped back to 49 by going east on 12 at Hollendale. South of Hattisburg we took 98 towards Mobile and then got on I-10. We stopped for gas five times today, and got pretty low one time. The mileage is averaging about 11 and the van is probably going to need a lot of maintenance when we get back. The air conditioner does not seem to be keeping up now that we are in warmer weather. Plus the Maintenance Required light has been on for almost two weeks, and it won't reset. We drove about 450 miles today and we are in a nice RV park just west of Pensacola tonight. We hope to make it home tomorrow, but it will take about 10 hours.

May 16 to May 18, 2010

2010-05-18T20:31:00.000-04:00

Sunday, May 16, 2010
We were just going to swim a little bit this morning during the adult lap swim time, and then move on to our next adventure, but we stayed for most of the day. It was a gorgeous clear day and not much wind. We stayed until early afternoon when the crowds started showing up. Up until then there were very few people. We had a good time, and maybe a little bit too much sun again. Unfortunately, keeping Joey confined to the stroller is history. While we were swimming this morning, he worked his nose through a corner of the screen and was almost out by the time Charlie jumped out of the pool and caught him! Oh well, I am sure we can repair it when we get home. He loves to ride in the stroller, especially when I pile a bunch of towels and bags into it and put him on top without closing him in. When we were leaving the pool yesterday a child said “Look at him, he looks like His Majesty!” And he did too. After the stroller's screen was broken, we pushed a lounge chair back from the pool and tied him to it. It was no problem at all. He just laid there in the sun watching us and everyone else. Good as gold. We got some good pictures at the pool today, I think. Oh yeah, I want to mention that I flew a kite for the first time in my life yesterday. A child's ladybug kite was sliding across the campground and I picked up the string. The kite immediately took off! I have never before been able to get a kite airborne. I admit I never tried that hard, but still. After noon we packed up and headed East on Rt 160, and drove about 100 miles. We are staying in Lathrop State Park, the first state park in Colorado near Walsenburg, about 50 miles from New Mexico. The campsite is way back in the park and it is very quiet and pretty here. The campsites are big and the very few campers are spread out. We have a beautiful view of the Spanish Peaks Mountain to the south. It is a classic mountain, like Mount Fuji or Kilimanjaro. My hip is so bad tonight that Charlie had to help me walk back to the camper from the facilities. I think I may be in trouble here, I just hope it is only from too much swimming for a couple of days in a row. Luckily I have my hiking stick, now I guess it is my cane.

Monday, May 17, 2010
We looked around the park a little bit this morning. Charlie wrote to David: “The park has two recreational lakes, and I think I got some great shots with reflections of the mountain, and of two different families of geese. I climbed up a solid rock cliff to the right of the lake beach and saw some people fishing from tiny rafts. They were sitting in the rafts with their legs in the water, and they were using fins on their feet to propel themselves around. The sides of the raft had pockets to hold all their gear for fishing. It looked like a fun way to fish in calm and deep water, but I wouldn't try it in Florida, I might get more gator bites than fish. Later, on the way to the RV park, we went by the Capulin Volcano National Monument. I unhitched the trailer and left it at the Visitor Center, and I drove the mini-van to the parking area near the top of the crater. We could see down into the ancient crater from there. I hiked the trail that went up and around the top of the crater. The trail is a mile around and rises another 350 feet. It was great exercise and the views were exhilarating. We drove back down the mountain to the visitor center, and I got hitched back up with no problem. The hitch is a lot more work than with the Aliner, but I did it the right way this time, and it was a lot easier. We continued on heading towards Amarillo, and Diane, we did pass the Boys Ranch which must be about 25 miles or so west of Amarillo. The gas gauge was heading down, but I was counting on getting about 12 mpg, the lowest mpg so far. We went through two towns that didn't have a gas station on the main route we were taking. Then went about 45 more miles without going through anymore towns, or seeing any gas stations. We ran out of gas about five and a half miles from the RV park, and about 2 miles from the nearest gas station. We were stuck for about an hour and a half waiting for the AAA guy. I had a hard time getting through to AAA because we were right on the edge of cell phone reception, the phone number was to the Florida office, and I got disconnected twice. I finally got the Texas number and help. I also started to get a lot better cell phone reception, and I could see on my phone that the provider would switch back and forth from T Mobile and roaming. The AAA sent a nice guy, he got us going, and we followed him to the closest gas station and filled up. I discovered my tank holds no more than 19 gallons although it is supposed to hold 20. I will now get gas every time I am near a station, and can add more than 5 gallons. As we head further east I am sure the towns and stations will be much closer together. When we were heading to Big Bend, and had to take a big detour, I am sure we would have run out of gas had we been pulling this trailer, and we would have been stuck in a much more remote area. The worst mpg I got with the Aliner was 14, this trailer is down to 10, and I wasn't running the air conditioner. Last year, with the motor home, the gas mileage went way up in New Mexico and Colorado. Now I think New Mexico has changed their gas by adding ethanol and that brings the mileage down. With this trailer, I have driven around Colorado for over 800 miles, up and down steep mountains, and I thought I knew the fuel range limitations. Obviously I didn't. We were heading down hill a lot and with little to no head wind. I hope I get at least 9 mpg now that we are in warm to hot areas and I will have to run the air conditioner. That was the first time I have ever run out of gas. I may have come closer than I thought several times before. Without pulling the trailer, I usually go about 300 miles and a fill up is about 14 gallons. I guess I was used to these greater ranges. Our two motor homes held 35 and 55 gallons, and they averaged 12 and 8 mpg. It was always a shock to fill up a low tank, especially the 55 gallon tank. Sometimes I had to go to two stations to fill up because there would be a 75 dollar limit on gas purchases. Anyway, the experience of running out of gas was very stressful for me. I was very tired already, and ready for dinner and a good nights sleep. We made it to the Oasis RV park west of Amarillo Tx about 830 pm.” Me again: We drove 280 miles today, south on I 25, then south on 64/87, then 87/385, finally got on route 1061 just past the Boys Ranch. Today we saw pronghorn antelope (not really antelope), cows, horses, mules, deer, a boxer, and three fat little min pins. Every min pin we have ever met, except for Joey, is fat. So we need to watch out for him. I also saw a guy on a motorbike rounding up some quarter horses. When we finally reached the RV Park, we had a quick dinner and went to bed. Charlie was really done in. He did not mention that we came extremely close to hitting a deer just as we were running out of gas. When we were limping down a hill, a deer stepped into the road right in front of us. It didn't know which way to go, and kind of moved back and forth ahead of us. We were already going so slow, and Charlie did not want to put on the brakes, but he finally he had to. We missed that deer's butt by inches. I guess it would not have hurt him much at the rate we were going. Another funny thing was that Charlie did not tell me he was low on gas until he had to. I was dozing and watching the clock because I knew what time we were supposed to get to the RV park. I was hot and the sun was on my side. I just kept getting hotter and hotter. Finally I woke up enough to say: “Is there any reason in particular why the A/C is not on?” Well, after that I stayed awake, still hot, but very much awake!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010
So, here we are in Amarillo, Texas. Did laundry this morning with Charlie's help. My hip is better, but I cannot walk far before it hurts. Charlie did not rest well last night, so we decided to stay at this 'Oasis' one more night. We left the camper, set the GPS for Palo Duro Canyon, and trusted it would lead us there. There have been a few times on this trip when the Garmin steered us wrong, but what the heck, we are not doing anything else today. Palo Duro Canyon is reputed to be the little Grand Canyon of New Mexico. It was nice. Charlie usually will hike the trails, and I will if I can, but neither of us were up to it today. We enjoyed it, took a few pictures, and I got my magnet. We ate at a Mexican restaurant on the way back to the campground. Charlie wanted a nap, but decided to set up the pop out so that I could sleep in it tonight. I am in it now, and it is a lot more comfortable than the foldout sofa. However, the wind is blowing hard and the canvas (vinyl) is flapping like crazy. I really don't think that will bother me, because, well, not much does bother me (except Charlie, of course). We will see. My only worry is that there are a couple of open places where the vinyl is torn. Joey could scoot right out of here. I don't think he will because he prefers his bed on the sofa, and I don't think he likes the noise the vinyl is making. Our plan is to ask a friend (you know who you are) to put some grommets in the vinyl when we get home, so that we can tie it down securely during our next trip. Charlie is napping, and I am waiting for him to wake up so I can get our latest pictures off his camera and get them posted tonight. While I am waiting, I am going to add a few more pictures from the last couple of weeks. I am looking outside at a camper across from us, it is named SEAULAYTER. I just got it. Ha!

May 13 to May 15, 2010

2010-05-16T10:00:00.000-04:00

Thursday, May 13, 2010
There was sleet last night, it was nice this morning for awhile, then we got snow and rain and sunshine mixed together. Finally, it brightened up long enough for Joey and I to take another walk around the pond. The pond is fed by the San Juan River which was rushing along right next to it. Charlie took a couple of pictures and posted them. We left Pagosa Springs without visiting the big resort that has hot spring pools at several different temperatures. They say Oprah Winfrey likes to go there. Maybe next time. We drove north on Rt 160 through the San Juan National Forest. We stopped on Treasure Mountain at about 8,100 feet, and hiked up to Treasure Falls, a climb of about 200 feet (seemed like a lot more!) and about one-quarter mile one way. My hip was giving me a fit, but I just have to push through it. I don't want to do all our sightseeing from the car! I took my walking stick that I bought on our trip last year, and I was feeling better on the way back down. The falls were worth the climb. We stood on a bridge and looked up at the falls which made a straight 70 foot drop and then continued down another 20 feet over huge rocks, went under us, and on down to the road in a stream. It snowed on the way up to the falls, but by the time we were half way back to the van, the sun was out. Joey had gotten a little wet and muddy, but he was dry and dirty by the time we got back. Never mind, he really enjoyed it, except when we got to the falls and onto the bridge he shivered from either cold or fear and I had to pick him up. I cannot help but continue to compare Joey to Toby on this trip. It seemed like Toby really settled into our RV routine and I got the feeling he was thinking: 'Okay, this is how we are going to be living from now on, and it is fine with me'. He was shocked when we stopped at the Harrell's on the way home and David poked his head in the motor home. It was so funny! But Joey is anxious whenever I am out of his sight, and he definitely does not want to be left alone in the camper. He jumps out whenever possible, and kind of hunkers down and scrambles around as if he does not want to run away but does not want to be caught and put back inside either. We are keeping him on his routine of feeding and walks, and he has his bed (though it gets moved around a lot), but he is just way more attached to me than he was. Still, he is calm and friendly with everyone we meet (unlike Toby ever was!). We continued on Route 160 and climbed long steep mountains up to about 11,000 feet. There was snow on the trees and they were beautiful, but the road was narrow and dropped off at the edge with no railings. There were waterfalls above the road and tunnels with tight curves. One time we were on a 6 percent grade going down, and we were glad we had our new brakes on the van. The road followed a creek and went through canyons and up and down mountains. All in all it was very beautiful and exciting. Charlie of course got to deal with the road, and did not see as much of the scenery as I did. Still, he prefers to do the driving, so what can I do? We finally got down to 8,000 feet and it seemed to be flat most of the way through cattle country. We saw buffalo and could have gotten some buffalo jerky, but you know what Charlie thought of that! Oh well, I had buffalo once on a trip to Denver for NASA. We were making for Hooper, Colorado to spend a day or two back at the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool, but since it is closed on Thursday we decided to stay at a Passport America campground on the way. It is the Blanca RV Park in Blanca, CO. Not much to speak of, but only $10 for PA members. We traveled 90 miles today, so that was good enough.

Friday, May 14, 2010
We went back on Rt 160 about 4 miles, and then got on the road to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. We visited the park last year and hiked partway out to the dunes. This year we just looked around a little bit and got back on the road. We went west to a road that took us back to Rt 17 to the pool. We only traveled 45 miles today. The pool's RV park is all filled up, but we can dry camp here tonight. We parked in the lot near the pool all day instead of way out in the camping area. We left Joey in the camper, much to his disappointment, because it was too cold to have him outdoors for a long time. We had a good time swimming and sitting in the sun though I was bundled up because of the sun and the cold. Whenever we have been here during the week at least two bus loads of school children have been brought in during the day. Today there were very young ones, and then young teens. I enjoyed watching them play, but they did take over the pool, so we took a break. The clouds rolled in and it rained and thundered and the buses left. I took a nap in the camper and Charlie took his computer into the pool area so he could plug it in and get on the internet for awhile. The weather cleared up, and I brought Joey in after a couple of hours to see what he was up too. Joey got a lot of attention, not many people realize that you can bring dogs there. One young man came over to pet Joey and to show me a picture of his dog that he is missing. Several adults, children, and even a toddler just had to pet him. He licked them all. Charlie bought some fresh tomatoes at their little store and mixed them up with some chicken and pasta on the gas stove. We don't have the microwave tonight since we don't have electricity, except from our house battery. The pool is open until 10pm but we had had enough, plus the older teens took over in the evening! We watched a movie on the computer from Netflix called 'Outsourced'. It is unusual, and I really enjoyed it. Charlie had seen it and it is a favorite of his. I recommend watching it with the subtitles turned on, or it could just be the sound on my computer. Whatever, I need to watch/hear it again.

Saturday, May 15, 2010
The pool opened at 9am just for adults to swim laps for an hour. It was so quiet and peaceful. The morning temperature was probably down in the 40's, but in the sun it felt like the upper 50's. Steam was rising from the pool and it felt wonderful. I swam the whole hour and Charlie swam most of it. We decided to stay tonight when Charlie learned that a campsite with full hook up is available. The day warmed up enough that I got Joey in his stroller and sat with him by the pool for a couple of hours, and I went back in swimming too. I had to stay in Joey's sight while I was in the pool, or the stroller would start rockin' and rollin', and he would start barkin'! At lunchtime I went back to the camper which Charlie had moved to our spot and gotten hooked up. He had been on the phone with David almost the whole time. Our cell phones don't work here so Charlie reactivated his Skype account and he uses it through his computer. Not a good connection, but better than nothing. We had lunch and headed back to the pool until about 3pm when we had all had enough. Joey is sleeping the rest of the day away. So, our nephew David is in China and he says he has been drinking sewage water all day to build up his immune system. Ummmm....we thought we were having an adventure and living dangerously....

May 10 to May 12, 2010

2010-05-13T12:59:00.000-04:00

Monday, May 10, 2010
Charlie left the campground early this morning to get the new brakes for the van. Joey and I hung out and did laundry, dishes in the campground's rec room, and then I did a mean thing. I took Joey next door and had his nails trimmed. He gets so upset that he has to be muzzled. The lady didn't want to muzzle him, but he was beside himself. She had this big thing that covered his whole face and he kept shaking it off. It was a real scene, and I had to give her a good tip. Afterward, we went back to the camper and relaxed a bit, and I got on the computer. Then Charlie got back and he was hungry....I am glad he came and got me because all I have been eating all day is yogurt and cookies. We went and got a nice lunch and then went by the RV place to see how our new camper is coming along. The dealership had the camper as a consignment, but they are supposed to check it out thoroughly and add the equalizer thing. Cody was happy to see us and asked us to come back at 4 o'clock and the camper would be ready! That was good news, but it only gave us two hours to get the Aliner ready. Incredibly we got almost everything out of it, and into the van. We left our bikes, some crates, and the porta potty at the campsite. We made it to the dealership in time but we did not get away from there with our new camper until after 6pm. So then we had to go back and load up the new camper and get it organized enough so that we could go to bed. The funny thing about this camper is that the front end pops out into a bed like a pop up camper. The way the dealer had it put together, the mattress in the pop out was intruding on the sofa and dinette (when it was closed) which are the only other two places to sleep. I was sure that could not be right, but I couldn't figure it out. So we had to open the pop out to sleep in. It was after 10:30 before we were able to settle down. Charlie slept in the pop out, the temperature outside kept dropping, and the vinyl pop out was not much protection. The heater was on, but it just made the rest of the camper hot. During the night I got up off the foldout sofa and it slid away from the wall and was kind of crooked. That was the end of sleep for the night. Charlie got up and fixed the sofa, and I figured out how the pop out mattress snaps in so that it does not intrude on the rest of the camper. Now we can keep the pop out closed and have a solid wall, and we can sleep on the dinette and the sofa when it is too cold or too hot outside. Charlie also had to deal with the water which was not ready to go since it had been winterized and the dealership did not finish undoing that. Hopefully we have the kinks worked out now. This camper is so comfortable as far as having a place for everything, and I am so glad we have it in spite of the rough start.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010
We were up half the night and really tired, but continued to get organized and figure things out. Finally, Charlie decided he wanted to get on the road to see how we do. The new hitch that is meant to help balance the weight between the tow vehicle and camper is huge. It is so big and complicated that Charlie is getting frustrated and I am not strong enough to help. I hope he will find it easier as he gets used to it. We got back on Route 50 and headed west. We went through beautiful mountains and along rivers and streams. It is the prettiest drive we have made in a long time. The sky was overcast most of the way though, and it was very cold so we didn't stop anywhere except for the ski lifts on Monarch Mountain, and at the Monarch Crest which is at the Continental Divide at 11,312 feet. It was so windy that we didn't even try to get Joey out of the car. It rained toward the end of the day, and the rain was brown! All day the horizon had been hazy and brown, and now we know why. It was a dust storm with rain. I never heard of such a thing. We had trouble seeing through the muddy rain, and the van and camper have brown streaks all over now. We took Rt 550 to Ouray, CO where we pulled into an RV park that is right in town. The office was closed and a boy told us that the restrooms are not open yet. We traveled about 160 miles today and we were tired, so we settled in anyway. As soon as we did, it started to snow. When I walked Joey later in the snow my jacket got brown spots, and I noticed that the hood of the van is turning brown. Yuck! Joey saw four deer before I did, and got them on the run. Our campsite is next to a rocky mountain that goes almost straight up. It has been snowing all evening and we are happy to be snug and warm in our new camper with a 'camper' cooked hot meal.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010
It is clear this morning and when I got out to walk Joey I noticed that there is a very fast moving creek about 100 feet from the camper...duh! I heard it before I saw it, and wondered how I could of missed it! I guess I was so interested in the mountain on the other side? Oh well. The dust storm yesterday continued during the night and the van is covered with brown mud. Charlie was able to borrow a hose from the owner to clean the van & camper, not usually allowed in RV parks. We then drove south on Rt 550, the Million Dollar Highway, for about 24 miles to Silverton. It was a beautiful drive, along Bear Creek and we saw many waterfalls, and two mountain goats. We drove through ice and snow on the road and there were lots steep switchbacks going up and down the mountains. We stopped at the old Idarado Mine which was founded in 1939, and closed in 1978. The overlook road was covered with ice and snow so Charlie walked up it and took pictures. We arrived in Silverton which is at about 9,300 feet. We parked on a side street and left Joey in the camper while we did lots of shopping and had lunch at the Brown Bear Cafe. As we finished lunch snow really started coming down. Oh no, this is exactly what happened when we were here three years ago. That time it snowed for two days. By the next afternoon there was at least a foot of snow on the ground and lots more was predicted so we took a chance and left. We had a harrowing ride through the mountains in the snow, and I was mad because we didn't get to stop in Ouray. This trip Charlie was determined that we would do that. Anyway, today it was about 2pm and snowing, so we were going to go ahead and stay at the same RV park in town, but they did not have showers there. We both really want and need showers, and we are not ready to try to take them in the camper. Too tight and we have to worry about how much water we are using. So we left Silverton and continued south on Route 550 through the mountains up to 11,000 feet in the snow. We then had to mount another summit, more switchbacks with shear drops on wet and icy roads. For once I stayed awake. We went through Ouray but almost all of the stores are closed, I guess the season has not started yet. So, we need to keep Ouray on our list of places to visit. Ouray has swimming in Hot Springs too. I never knew there were so many hot springs in Colorado. About 50 miles after Silverton we got on Route 160 east. So now we are heading in the direction of home. We went another 60 miles to Pagosa Springs. We stopped at two RV parks but didn't stay. One had no showers, and one Charlie just didn't like. Finally we found a very nice place, still in Pagosa Springs called the Riverside Campground Pond & River. When we were back in Silverton and left Joey in the camper, I had set out a bowl of water for him on the counter next to the sofa. I forgot about it until we were on the road again, and the whole way I am thinking we are going to have a wet sofa (my bed). Incredibly, the bowl was still sitting on the counter when we stopped for the day. This camper must have a very smooth ride. We are camped beside a pretty little pond that we walked all the way around. There is a tiny dock with paddle boats tied to it. Joey was very curious all along the bank of the pond and then he went out on the dock. Several times his leg slipped through the slats in the dock and he fell through up to his chest. I have never seen a dog do that. He does not seem to be as sure footed as other dogs I know. If we had a TV we could be watching it now. Since we got a camper that is big enough to have a TV we miss having one all of a sudden. We have not really seen TV for weeks and only have a vague notion of what is going on in the world. Perhaps that is just as well.

May 6 to May 9, 2010

2010-05-09T21:57:00.001-04:00

Thursday, May 6, 2010
We left the Sante Fe KOA at check out time and took I-25 south to get back on Rt 285 north, which took us back through Sante Fe and all the way to Colorado, about 170 miles. It was a pretty drive a lot of the way up here. We went through the Rio Grande National Forrest and it was over 8,500 feet. There were patches of snow on the mountain sides not too far away. It was very open all around and it seemed like we were surrounded by mountains everywhere in the far distance. When we got to Alamosa, CO we stopped for gas. It was so windy that Charlie could hardly get the van door open at the Walmart gas pumps, and then one of those outside ground signs flew by and almost hit him. We got on Rt 17 there, and started watching for motels on the way to Hooper because we were afraid we might need one. There is a sticker on the outside of our camper that says "WARNING DO NOT OPEN IN HIGH WINDS". We arrived at the campground at the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool, and after angling the camper just right, and a little struggle, we got it open. The camper next to us blocked the wind somewhat. Charlie left the camper hitched to the van since the chock blocks might not be enough during the night. Sometimes the wind gusts are so strong and steady, it sounds and feels like someone is driving off with us in the camper, and we are heading down the road at 60 miles an hour. Last year we came to Hooper for swimming for the first time, it was windy then too, but not quite as cold. It is in the low forties at night and in the low sixties during the day. It is a fascinating place and we just had to come back. I am re-posting my description from last year's journal: Hooper is in the San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado. There are sand dunes, naturally hot water, gators, a speedway, and UFO enthusiasts. We skipped the speedway, UFO watchtower, and gators this trip. But I was curious about the gators. It turns out the facility started as a fish farm of Tilapia and African perch. The location was picked because of the warm geothermal water resources in the valley. They purchased 100 baby alligators to dispose of dead fish and the remains of filleted fish. What do you know, the gators grew! So they opened to the public in 1990 as Colorado Gators. Soon people with unwanted gators and other reptiles such as pythons, tortoises, iguanas, and more, started dropping them off, so they have quite a few reptiles now. We camped at the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool and RV Park. We had great views of the mountains from the RV and from the pool. The swimming pool is advertised as a Natural Hot Artesian Oasis. That is just what it is too. Well water enters the pool at 118 degrees. The pool is kept at 98 to 100 degrees. To regulate the temperature, hot and cold water pour into the pool as needed. I love standing under the hot water as it really pounds into the pool. I am not the only one, sometimes I have to wait my turn. What a great massage. Charlie does not care for it though. There is also a therapy pool kept between 105 to 107 degrees, it has jets, and it is big enough for 25 people. Charlie doesn't like that either. I did, but can't stay in for long. A baby pool with a creepy looking fountain named Puffenstuff (a dragon with water flowing from it's nose into the pool) is out of the sun. The elevation is about 7,500 feet so it is cool during the day and cold at night. It is windy almost all the time. The pool is warmer than the air so we get in the water and stay in up to our necks. It is just great. There is no chlorine or any other chemicals; instead, the pools are emptied and refilled every Thursday. Also, water appears to be constantly flowing in and out of the pool. The water flowing out of the pool goes into a pipe and then comes out at the top of a slide below the pool, making a play area for children. The slide empties into a little pond that is also open for swimming. Back to today: We arrived here this afternoon knowing the pool is closed for the Thursday cleaning. Charlie peeked in and sure enough, all of the pools are empty. It seems impossible that the pools will be filled and ready for swimming by tomorrow morning. We stayed in our little camper tonight and watched a movie on the computer, and tried to stay warm. We are pretty much stocked up on supplies but we may head into Alamosa for a meal or two. The snack bar here has a lot of fresh items that are grown in the green houses heated by the artesian well water. We are looking forward to seeing what is on the menu tomorrow and to swimming all day.

Friday, May 7, 2010
We woke up to a cold, but sunny, windy day. It took awhile but we finally got ourselves, and Joey, together and headed over to the pool. Dogs are allowed in the pool area! Possibly in the pool as well, but we were not interested in that. He would be a chili dog when he came out. We took the stroller and used it to keep him out of the wind and sun part of the time. What would we do without the stroller? We have not been able to get into Wal-Marts lately though. Maybe Wal-Mart is onto us and sent out an e-mail across the country??? Oh well, the weather has been such that he can stay in the van without a problem. Still, this is another instance where I wish we had a regular camper he could easily stay in when we need to leave him. One time we did set up the camper on the side of the road because it was just to hot for him to be in the van. Charlie is more than willing to do that, but it is a nuisance. The pool is in such a unusual setting with snow capped mountains all around. It was crowded today with lots of young people. They were playing volleyball in a large grassy area, and basketball in the pool. I stood under the hot waterfall as long as I could stand it, and I wished I could have gotten my hip under it, but the water is up to my shoulders. Charlie took lots of pictures. Not posted yet, but there are pics on this blog from last year. We had a good lunch and too much sun. Joey was the only dog there today and he got lots of attention. It was a good day. We are getting really really tired of not having running water in the camper. Not too mention no fridge when we are on the move. Charlie is looking on the internet again for a camper, any camper, that will meet our needs, and still be small enough to pull with the mini-van. He may have found one nearby to look at tomorrow.....we will see. We tried to pretend we can do this, bought plastic utensils, but eating out all the time and struggling just to brush our teeth everyday is getting to be too much! If we can't make a change, we really need to head home.

Saturday, May 8, 2010
We got up early intending to go back to the pool before leaving here, but then decided not to. Charlie really did get too much sun. He was already tan, but now he has a burn on top of it, his hair and beard seem to be getting whiter, and he needs a haircut and beard trim. Frankly, he looks kind of wild! I like wild. It is a warmer day today, but still windy, and a couple of people are flying kites. We, I should say Charlie, spent the morning talking to our camping neighbors. He always talks to everybody, I have just never had that much to say. I like to write though, you might have noticed, if you are still with me.... Anyway, everywhere we go people are interested in our camper and we don't mind showing it off, but we are not really good promoters since we are not happy with it. We got back on Rt 285 and drove about 70 miles north to Poncha Springs. We bought a camper from a guy named Cody at a dealership. It is a 2007 Bantam 17 (foot), Rocky Mountain edition. It is a real camper with all the storage space we could ever need and we are very happy, and hoping we did the right thing. We got a good price for the Aliner, so we will be leaving it behind, so sad. Our new camper is supposed to be ready on Tuesday so we are hanging out here in the 4 Seasons RV Resort in Salida for a few days. It is right on Route 50, the same Route 50 that goes east all the way to Ocean City Maryland. We had thought it would be fun to head east on there for awhile as we head home, but now I don't know where we are going. Certainly we are hoping to stay out for another month. The van will be worked on tomorrow to add extra brakes or something, and the camper needs to have an equalizer or something so that we can safely tow it. If all goes well we will be back on the road on Tuesday.

Sunday, May 9, 2010
I relaxed this morning and talked awhile with Mom. When I got off the phone Charlie gave me the good news that he finally figured out what that unpleasant odor is in the mini-van. Ever since before we visited Jeanne we have noticed this smell but could not locate it. Kinda musty ya know? There is so much stuff in the van, but we couldn't find anything that would cause any kind of smell. Well, this morning he lifted the third seat out of the well and discovered that one of the coolers has been leaking all this time. The leather seat was saturated and the carpet soaked under about two inches of water. Our 2004 Honda has been in pristine condition all these years. Garage kept, not much mileage. Not after this trip! Anyway we are glad to be taking care of this problem before he takes it to the dealer for the brake system tomorrow. After Charlie got most of the water out, we went to a car wash and used the vac to suck up as much of the water out of the carpet as we could. We had a nice dinner and took a walk in the campground tonight. This area is big on fly fishing and rafting and the camp is right on the river, so it is pretty here.

May 3 to May 5, 2010

2010-05-06T11:51:00.001-04:00

Monday, May 3, 2010
It has been over three weeks since we left home, and we have seen a lot. Weather and scenery wise the Davis Mountains in Texas are as nice as anywhere we have been before, and without the real high altitudes. These mountains are from 3,000 to 7,000 feet, mostly below 5,000 feet. The night sky has been spectacular the last two nights. We are really enjoying the cool weather but I do get a little too cold at night sometimes. It is dry, but not extremely so. We saw Javelinas in the campground this morning, and the mule deer again. This afternoon we traveled 35 miles north on Route 17 to the Balmorhea State Park. There is a giant pool fed by artesian springs with temperatures between 74 and 78 degrees. People come here to swim, scuba dive and snorkel. It is 58 degrees here, so we will not be going in the water. Along the deck it looks like a normal pool, only huge. It is rectangular except for a uniform curve on one end. But it is filled with spring water with fish so it looks like a pond or a lake with a rough bottom. Along the inside edge the pool is about 2 feet deep, and in the middle it is up to 25 feet deep, and you cannot see the bottom. The pool was built by the CCC in the thirties and so it also has that old time look. I so wanted to get in, but it is just too cold today. After taking pictures all around the pool we met a young family who were just leaving. They have three very talkative children and they enjoyed petting Joey. They are on a long trip in a big van and pulling a utility trailer. Their stove does not work and a few other things, and they dry camp quite a bit. Apparently they are missionaries and are home schooling. We thought we were roughing it, but now I feel like I should not be complaining about our camper. We have decided that we are limited to staying in cool places because when it gets over 90 degrees, and the camper is out in the open, it is just too hot. Of course we don't want to go where it is too cold either....oh well...Charlie is surfing the net for interesting places to go, and he is looking for dealers that might have ultra light campers that will work better for us. We had a really nice authentic Mexican dinner at La Cueva De Oso (The Bear Den). Afterward we took a walk in our campground and found a kind of stream called San Solomon Cienega that is full of turtles, snakes, and large fish. We watched a snake catch and eat a fish. It was very shallow and clear and Joey was watching them all intently. I held on tight to our little dog.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010
It is about 10:40pm EST, and we just got set up and are settling in at a KOA in Santa Fe. We drove about 390 miles today straight up Rt 285. We stopped in Carlsbad and looked at the R pod campers. They are very nice and are very tightly packed with all the things we want. The camper we were most interested in was brand new for $12,000. The dealership is really more of a service center for RVs, and we couldn't get much help, so we moved on. We considered hanging around until we could fully check it out, but we felt that we didn't really want to waste a few days buying and setting up in a new camper. Plus, they would not take our camper as a trade, but only on consignment. Not a complication we want to deal with. Though we would have liked to learn more, we think that once loaded, the camper would have topped out at 2,900 pounds, which is probably too much for the mini-van on long trips. Since we didn't spend a bunch of money on a new camper, now we feel like we are rich, and will stop fighting our camper's limitations. We are going to continue to eat out a lot, and not worry about it. We only brought two folding chairs on this trip, like always wants to sit in a chair too. So Charlie bought him his own chair today....it is a lot fancier than ours.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010
We went into Santa Fe today and I went through the Georgia Okeefe museum. Charlie waited outside with Joey in a nice courtyard there. We took turns going into the Monitou Gallery, a place I really enjoyed last year. This year they have some of the same artists I remember but different works. Also, some new ones, all in the style of the southwest. I especially like the sculptures. While I was waiting with Joey out front next to a big cat statue, the owner came out and said that dogs are welcome in the gallery, that this is Santa Fe! Maybe we should move here. We walked around a bit more, and I did some shopping pushing Joey in the stroller while Charlie waited in the plaza. Later we drove to the capitol, which we missed last year. Last year we were limited to seeing what was on the bus line since we bused in from our campground. We took a lot of pictures of the plaza and of the churches last year which are still on this blog if you want to go back to see them. It is a really nice capitol with a nice setting. But I had enough of walking so Charlie went inside by himself. Inside is like an art gallery with a nice rotunda in the center. All the government offices are on other floors. We had a nice dinner on the way back to the camper. The restaurant is in front of the one and only mall in the area and behind the mall are rows and rows of small adobe houses that looks like a massive and old Pueblo village. Charlie posted a picture of it. He started a new album when we left Texas, so there are a few new pictures in album 4, and album 5 is started. Don't know where we are going next because it is a little cold in Hooper, Colorado which is supposed to be our next destination....

May 1 to May 2, 2010

2010-05-02T21:51:00.001-04:00

Saturday, May 1, 2010
Last night in Terlingua the wind was blowing and pounding so hard bringing in a cold front, that I thought the camper might turn over, but Charlie says that even in a 70 plus mph wind, only a wall might be pushed in. That would be bad enough for me, especially if it were the wall over my head with all my books and other stuff on the shelves! I think tonight I will sleep with my head at the other end, at least there is nothing hanging on that wall. There is a sticker on the outside of the camper that says not to erect or take it down in high winds. We were glad when the winds let up this morning so we could pack up. It has really cooled down in this part of Texas. We went shopping in Alpine and the temperature was 46 degrees there. We drove about 150 miles north from Big Bend on Rt 118 to the Davis Mountains State Park. Here we have views all around, and a very nice campsite with a big tree. Now that we have shade, I want sun! It is very cool here. Right after we setup, there were three mule deer grazing on the bushes about 30 feet from the camper, so we sat inside and watched. It is much greener here than it was just a few miles to the south. We drove up to the top of a nearby mountain within the park. It was cold and windy there, but there were beautiful views. Joey is so funny. He is different from our dog Toby in so many ways. When we traveled with Toby we had to practically drag him into the camper every night. He wanted to lay outside and wallow and dig in the dirt. Joey is all about “Where is my cushion? Where is my blanket?” “Isn't it time to go inside yet?” The last few days he actually laid down on the ground in the sun a couple of times. He does enjoy the heat. So I thought he might be adapting to the camping life. But now that we are in cooler climes....forget it! Now it is “Carry me!” For dinner we ate inside the camper since the temperature was dropping and it was raining a little bit. We had a couple of more crates inside because of the rain, so it was hard to move around, but we managed. The clouds all cleared out and it was a beautiful evening so we drove about 14 miles up to the McDonald Observatory for a Star Gazer Party. The observatory is at 6,500 feet, and is part of the University of Texas at Austin. They have public viewings three times a week, so our timing was good. The 'party' started at 9:30 and we didn't get back to camp until about 11:30. Late night for me! It was really cold up there. In fact they said they had lots of snow this morning. All the outside lights are low to the ground and they are red. We walked a good way through the observation area to a big circular outdoor theater for lessons on the constellations. There were no lights around for miles and the night sky was stunning. The presenter had a kind of lazer pointer that seemed to go all the way to the star he was pointing at. That was really cool. He told us all about the constellations, reminding us of what we learned years ago but had mostly forgotten. After that, we went back to the observation area to look through the telescopes. There were about six telescopes set up, three were inside round buildings open to the sky. We saw Saturn, and a bunch of numbered clusters, and I really don't know what all. It was fun though. There was a video that we could have watched but we both probably would have slept through it. Besides, Joey was waiting for us in the car. We were not far from him, he was warm in his fleece sweater, and out of the wind. We had a fun ride down the mountain in the dark, but it was well marked with reflectors.

Sunday, May 2, 2010
Last night was so cold. We didn't have the heater ready to use. So, without heat we slept in our clothes and used lots of blankets. Joey cuddled up to me and he was under three blankets. I don't know if he was warm enough or not. Charlie got the heater working this morning, so we are hoping it will do the job. We went back to the McDonald Observatory and had lunch there and went to a presentation about the Sun. It included a look at the Sun through a remote telescope. Then we were taken up the highest road in Texas to the Hobby and Eberty telescope. The University of Texas at Austin and some Pennsylvania Astronomers built the telescope with a single 107 inch mirror in the 60s with help from NASA Then we went to the much larger and newer Harlan J. Smith telescope, made with many mirrors and measuring over 300 inches. It didn't really look like a telescope but a huge mirror in a frame. It was all very interesting and if you like to know all the technical details, you will get them if you visit here. Charlie liked it alot. Afterward we drove up to the mountain in the park again, and then went to dinner in the town of Fort Davis. We went to a good BBQ place, and we talked a little bit about how this trip is working out. We are having a good time but the camper is giving us a struggle. We are eating out too much because water and the fridge are hard to deal with. Now we have found that keeping the camper cool or warm in very hot or cold weather may not be possible. Plus my hip has been hurting more all the time, quite a lot today. Don't know how much longer we will stick it out. It is so pretty out here, we don't want to give up. Charlie fell behind posting pictures so he gave them to me and I will try to get caught up. We have wifi here so I am going to get to work.

April 30, 2010

2010-04-30T22:26:00.001-04:00

Friday – April 30, 2010
Today we got a late start on the road because it was such a pretty morning at the campsite. We just hung out until the heat of the day started at about 11am. Then we headed south and west on Farm Road 170 (not FM as I had thought) through Big Bend Ranch State Park. Access to the state park is only on Rt 170 along the Rio Grande with overlooks and places for camping and trails. It was a very windy road with a 15 percent grade in a few places. We were glad we left our trailer at the campground. The scenery was spectacular, and we stopped at an old movie set that looks more like a ghost town then the one in Terlingua. Most of the buildings are thrown together with minimal structure, strand board for walls, and a thin layer of plaster instead of stucco. They look like real, ruined, once usable dwellings from a distance. Also, there are 2 or 3 buildings that are fairly solid but there was no way to tell if those were built for the movie(s). Quite a few movies were filmed there, but none we remember. One we will rent is The Streets of Laredo. I read the book, but I don't remember the movie. The fake village is right on the banks of the Rio Grande. I put my finger in the river there, Charlie had put his toe in yesterday, and Joey might have tasted it today. Tomorrow we will head to Alpine for supplies and maybe spend the night at an RV park there. Or we may make it a little further north to Fort Davis State Park. Charlie took a lot of pictures today, so look for them in Album 4. It is very windy tonight so we are staying inside our cozy little camper.

April 29, 2010

2010-04-30T09:35:00.003-04:00

Thursday – Aprl 29, 2010
Charlie took some nice pictures today and added them to Album 4. We will keep putting pics in that album til it is full, so keep checking that one. I was going to mostly let the pictures speak for themselves today, but Charlie wrote an e-mail to his sisters describing today's adventures. So here it is, edited slightly for content. Charlie wrote: Today I drove ninety miles without towing the trailer for the first time. The Big Bend Resort and RV Park in Terlingua where we are staying is a very nice location right outside the west side of the park. I hiked while Leigh sat under a big shady tree with Joey. She still got hot but not like I did. It was probably a little over 100 degrees down by the river, very dry with a steady breeze blowing through the canyon. There was practically no shade during my two hour hike. I had a big lunch and drank as much as I could hold and set off. Dogs are never allowed on any back trails in national parks, but Joey would have had to be carried most of the way. I will copy in a description of the trail at the end of this email. I took a lot of pictures and I posted some of them on Picasa which you can see on Leigh's blog in album 4. We stopped at some overlooks on our way back to the trailer. As we climbed back up into the mountain area the temperature dropped by over 30 degrees. But at the low altitude where we are camping it hit a hundred degrees yesterday and today. When we got back to camp today, I turned on the air and we went to a funky bar and eatery called La Kiva where they actually had a kiva. That's a holy place for native Americans. They are using it for storage though. Check this out, it is an interesting site: http://lakiva.net/. Be sure to have your sound on, and listen to the Tequila ad. Also, look at some of the pictures Leigh took. It seems we stumbled into a famous place. There wasn't any action when we got there which is just as well for me. I think off season for Terlingua must be at least 8 months of the year. Maybe. They made us sit on the patio where we could have Joey with us. The server says the owner really doesn't want to serve food and we had to get our iced tea at the bar separately. Leigh and I both had barbecue on mesquite wood. I had half a chicken and Leigh had pork spare ribs. The meat was great, the cole slaw tasted as weird as the place looked, and the beans had a good flavor but were tough. Bikers are welcome, or more likely preferred. I thought I might fit in since I badly need a haircut, beard trim, and a shower, but alas no. If you show up in a mini-van with your wife and a little dog, that's it. You're the freak. Anyway the meat was good and the flies were bad. There aren't many choices for dinner in Terlingua. Tomorrow we will go to the Big Bend state park south of here and stay another night at the same campsite. Then we will probably stock up in Alpine again and head north to Fort Davis state park.
Here is a description of where I hiked today: Guidebook: Santa Elena Canyon Trail, 1.7 miles roundtrip, This trail begins at the end of the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. Although a short trail, it is one of the grandest spectacles in the park. After crossing Terlingua Creek, the trail climbs several short switchbacks and then gradually descends along the banks of the Rio Grande. Hikers are surrounded by lush riparian vegetation and 1,500-foot towering vertical cliffs of solid limestone. The trail ends where canyon walls meet the river. Take a lunch and enjoy the scene.
Leigh again: Once the sun went down we sat outside and enjoyed the cool down and watched the stars come out. It was the first time on this trip we have done that, something we always enjoy when there aren't any bugs around. More later....

April 27 to April 28, 2010

2010-04-29T09:40:00.000-04:00

Oops! I lost the link to the pics for a couple of days. I created a link for each of our albums so you don't have to work so hard to see the pics. Charlie wrote some of the captions and I wrote some....

Tuesday – April 27, 2010, continued
We drove from our campsite in Marathon back 30 miles to Alpine to get groceries. Charlie really liked their small store and bought himself a souvenir, a cloth bag with Porter's Thriftway logo on it. We headed back to Marathon and then south on 385. We drove about 70 miles into Big Bend and took a quick look at the Visitors Center. We were told that there is only one campground in the National Park with hookups, and only seven spots left. So we drove on for twenty miles hoping we would get a space at the Rio Grande camp. We got lucky, but maybe not so lucky. Charlie is unhappy in the extreme. It isn't what we would consider a campground. It is a parking lot with numbered spaces and hookups. There is green space behind each site, but today it happens to be flooded. The picnic tables and grills are in a big swampy puddle. Mostly there are big rigs here and they are managing just fine. But we have all these crates and coolers and really need some outdoor space. So we have to stay on the pavement between the camper and the van, which is also the only shady spot. We ate there and then washed dishes out of a spigot behind the camper, while all the rich people stared at us during their evening walk. At least that is what it seemed like. We don't have a view from where we are, and there are no facilities nearby. We have never paid so much for so little, $30 for the night. We didn't realize how it would be until we had paid and we had come too far too late to do anything else. It is just so unexpected for a national park with such wide open space to have such poor RV campsites. We do have wifi though! We had hoped to leave the trailer here and to drive around tomorrow, but we are going to have to find another place.

Wednesday – April 28, 2010
We headed back to the Visitor's Center this morning and I got a couple of magnets and some other stuff. I cannot seem to only buy one magnet at each place anymore. They are so small and don't cost much.... We went west on FM 170. I have been waiting to travel on an FM road again. Charlie asked, and Jeanne told us, that FM means it is a Farm to Market road. Charlie wanted to know: “What if we wanted to go to market but ended up at the farm instead?” Jeanne supposed you would be back home. I guess you had to be there.....We stopped at a couple of overlooks including Boquillas, and we got pictures of the Rio Grande as we headed west out of the park. It was very shallow, less than 2 feet deep and we saw someone on horseback cross the river from Mexico. It could have been an illegal maneuver. We ate lunch at the Rio Bravo, a tiny restaurant with a big porch. We ate on the porch while Joey laid on his blanket next to us. It was a good meal, mexican, but a little different than we have had before. We drove a little ways west to a ghost town called Terlingua. It isn't llke the stereotypical ghost town you see on tv. It seemed like over half the dwellings that still stood were occupied and should be condemned. Not exactly a ghost town but interesting. There is a nice gift store. We had to take turns going inside because Joey was not allowed and it was very hot. We both bought stuff. I would like to go back when it is not so hot and I can take my time looking around. Now we are camped at the Big Bend Motel and RV Park which is between the national and state Big Bend parks, about 45 miles from where we were yesterday. What a difference. We are in the pop-up section of the park, and we are the only ones here. So we have over an acre of space to ourselves including facilities. But, it costs $2 for 5 minutes in the shower. I take a lot longer than 5 minutes, but that is okay, I have lots of quarters. There is a laundry here too, so I may do that if we stay a day or two. It was very hot when we got here and so we took a siesta. Our little A/C could not really keep up and we could feel the heat radiating through the walls and ceiling. It must have been over 100 degrees here today. Joey seemed perfectly comfortable, so that was good. There is a gas at $3.209 which is better than in the park by 20 cents or so. The gas at Walmart in Del Rio was $2.649, and after that every place was higher. We paid $3.299 in Marathon and the next day in Alpine one station was $2.949. It would have taken 2 more gallons to make it. Charlie feels our safe range is 250 miles pulling the trailer and it has been over 70 miles between stations sometimes. Gasbuddy.com doesn't list the stations in this part of the world, but on their color coded map, it shows the average gas price in the $2.75 range. We are going to leave the trailer here for the day tomorrow while we tour the park.

April 26 to April 27, 2010

2010-04-27T11:51:00.000-04:00

Monday – April 26, 2010
I had a relaxing morning and it was nice and cool in the shade. We were the only campers in the tent section so we had a quiet night. Sonora Caverns is in the middle of a working ranch so we saw and heard sheep on the hillside this morning. Earlier Joey spotted some deer. Charlie took the cave tour and he really enjoyed it. The cave is warm unlike others we have visited, 71 degrees and 92 percent humidity! It was a two mile trip with 250 some steps and lots of formations. He took a bunch of pics that he has already posted on Picasa. He was the only guest doing the tour; there was a guide and two new employees. So it was all for him and he liked that! After reading and walking most of the time he was in the cave, I got a head start on packing up the camper so we were ready to go when Charlie got back. I had eaten a yogurt and Charlie had some cereal earlier. Even though it was getting close to lunch time we headed out thinking we would go to a Subway. Big mistake. We headed south, but very soon the road took a turn slightly west and then north. Worse, the road is not on the map. On the Garmin the road was being created as we went along, so we didn't know where we were going and there were no roads to turn onto. About this time I am having fun, and Charlie is thinking about how much gas we have and all sorts of practical matters. We crossed cattle guards, met burros in the road, went into many dips with flood gauges next to them measuring up to 6 feet. All was dry though fortunately. We thought we must be on someone's ranch but then we passed gates to different ranches that were secured. We even passed the 'Happy Trails Ranch'. Perhaps Roy Rogers old place? Eventually, to my disappointment, and to Charlie's relief we went under I-10 and then on-ramped and headed west again. We quickly got to Rt 163 heading south and travelled about 80 miles back to Rt 90. Still all open country. We arrived in Comstock thinking something would be there. And there was: The Seminole Inn Cafe looking dusty and dirty. The Quick Stop (Beer – Ice 24-7 fuel) where we got gas and ice. A big Border Patrol facility. But we were back on Rt 90 at last. So the wreck on the bridge on Rt 90 that closed the road near Del Rio, the closed road to the west due to high water, and the road not on the map going north, all caused us to drive an additional 200 miles on our way to Langtry. But we didn't give up, and we enjoyed our visit to Sonora. Next we crossed the Pecos River over a canyon. When we got to Langtry there was still nowhere to eat, for Charlie at least. They only had hamburgers and BBQ down the street. Plus it was about 90 degrees there and Joey was not allowed inside the visitors center which we had to go through to get to the exhibits. So we opened up the camper on the side of the road and ate some string cheese and fruit cups. It was amazing how much better we felt after that. We put Joey in the camper with the windows and roof vents open and he was very comfortable. We saw Judge Roy Bean's courthouse and saloon. It is the original building in the original location. There is a billiard room attached to it, which is where he died. He also had built a home for himself that he named the Opera house. It is thought that he hoped to entice the famous actress, Lily Langtry, to come there to see the Opera house and the town named after her. She finally did come, but not until after he died. I know the story from the Paul Newman movie, but I should read about it one of these days. Thanks to Glenda for recommending we visit the cactus garden there. We probably would have missed it. Glenda was right, most of the cactus are in bloom now. There were many varieties and all were beautiful. Charlie took lots of pics. He posted a few but I am going to go back and post more of the garden and other things, and add captions, when I get a chance. The visitor center there is part ot the Texas Pecos Trail, as is Rt 90, and they provide lots of local information. As Jeanne suggested, we got the big Texas guidebook. All the info and the exhibits were free. There is a store across the street where I got my magnet and a few other things. Our long detour to get here was well worth the trip. From there we continued on Rt 90 to Marathon to spend the night. It was about a 2 hour drive through more open country. We are staying at the Marathon Motel and RV Park, right next to the railroad track! The track is even closer, but the trains are not so loud for some reason. Getting used to them? We got a few things at the 'French Grocery'. Only store in town, and everything cost three times as much as we are used to. We settled for lunch meat and bread and chips, and ate some other stuff we already had. We have wifi so Charlie got on the computer and stayed on it most of the night I think. I was tired out so went to bed early after watching a beautiful sunset over the hills. The temperature was dropping all evening so we kept the camper buttoned up all night.

Tuesday – April 27, 2010
Happy Birthday little sister! I miss you. We woke up to a cold and windy morning. Didn't turn on the heater, but I got up during the night and put on a sweater and an extra blanket on Joey. I put his fleece sweater on him to take him out. It warmed up later and it is a beautiful clear day. I took a shower and I was so taken with the bathroom I considered taking a picture of it. It is a single bathroom, like in a house. Like a master bath, with mexican tile, brass fixtures, little guest soaps, a heater, and a lock on the door so I had it all to myself. There is nothing like camping for two weeks to make you appreciate the little things in life....like indoor plumbing! Well I am going to post these notes and we will be leaving soon for Big Bend. We will be there at least a couple of days. Since it is mostly state and national parkland, I don't know if we will have wifi or cell phone service again for awhile. Talked to Sarah, and it was good to hear her voice. I miss everyone and the pups and kitties at the SPCA!

April 19 to April 25, 2010

2010-04-26T10:49:00.000-04:00

I am not uploading pics for our RV 2010 trip the same way I did in the past. Instead I linked this blog to Charlie's Picasa account where he is uploading our pics. Please double click on the RV 2010 slideshow. Some pics will come up immediately, then double click on the tab for 'Will's Gallery' in order to get to his albums.

Monday – April 19, 2010
We left Rustic Sands RV Park early and drove along the coast most of the day. Very pretty pure white sandy beaches. We went through the Gulf Islands National Seashore and Fort Pickens in Pensacola Beach. At Fort Pickens Joey was not allowed inside (such as it was), and we didn't go inside either. On a previous RV trip we took Toby all through Fort Morgan in Alabama, and this was the same kind of place...just ruins. Oh well, we climbed on part of the fort outside the gate and got a picture. We went to the Panama City Wal-Mart, and Joey was not allowed! The nerve! This is a bad day for dogs. We picked up some supplies including a dirt devil because we have been sleeping in sandy beds and the floor is a mess. Our wisk broom just wasn't doing the job. The first thing Joey does is jump on a bed when we go inside the camper. I also got a new water bowl for him. The metal one we had was rusting....so you know how damp everything has been. His new bowl is white with black tiger stripes. It is really a bowl for a cat, but he does not know that. We camped at the Big Lagoon State Park in Pensacola, a campground where we had stayed before. Again, Joey was not allowed on the boardwalk. He wanted to get an armadillo that was hanging out on the edge of our campsite, but no luck. The armadillo did not run so the torture went on and on. I thought Joey was going to slip his collar he was so freaked out. So he is going to have to wear his harness more often, though he does not like it. Charlie fixed a pasta dinner and we had to go inside early because it was very buggy. Don't remember all this dampness and bugs from last time. We need to get into some dry weather.

Tuesday – April 20, 2010
This morning we woke up to a small mess in our campsite. We had put all our stuff away, but left the dirt devil box with some trash in it on the bench of the picnic table. There was no food in it, but it was torn apart and there were little footprints all over our tablecloth...eeewww! Still buggy, so we bugged out. We wanted to cross Mobile Bay on the ferry but missed it, and didn't want to wait for the next one so we headed out to the interstate. The bicycles and chairs are secure on the back of the trailer, but they were really bouncing around. We got on I-10 at Loxley, Alabama, and all seemed to get steadier. Today we drove out of Florida and across Alabama and Mississippi and into Louisanna. Even though I sleep good at night I have been sleeping alot during the day while riding in the car. I couldn't keep my eyes open when we were going through Pensacola Beach yesterday, and I really didn't want to sleep then. It is a typical coastline with colorful beach houses in the dunes. Pretty. We stopped at another Passport America RV park called 'Maxey Care' in Morganza, LA. It is a new park and I thought it was nice since there was grass and gravel, not sand and stickers. We checked in using a kind of vending machine. They have nice facilities, and I got a shower behind a locked door. I always like that instead of locker room style. Behind the RV park is a big hill with very vocal cows wandering around. In front of the park is a 24 hour car/truck wash. We got a wash there. Across the street is a train track. At least three trains went through while we were there, and two woke us up. The train blasted it's whistle repeatedly, and it seemed like it was right in the campground. I like trains...but Charlie was not too happy. He drove many miles out of our way to get to this park because of the Passport America discount, and I guess he was disappointed. After a train went by, he said...”I sure can pick 'em'. Oh well....Sometimes we have days like that on these trips. But we did have a great dinner just down the road from the RV Park at “It's not your Mama's Cafe'. It was a rough looking place with a giant, stuffed, gape mouthed snapping turtle by the front door. Rustic and old timey, but we had wonderful fried oysters and onion rings. Joey came in with us too. I am supposed to be losing weight on this trip, but I am sure I must be going the other way. Well maybe we will do better soon, and I can still hope to at least break even. Our main problem with fixing meals is we are having to use a cooler in the back of the van. Our fridge is small and does not work unless we are plugged in, so we can't keep food in there. We just store stuff in it. If we don't get a different RV during this trip, we definitely will before we head out again. Charlie is enjoying having his Segway this trip. So far he has ridden it during our visits, and some of our friends and family have given it a try. He also rode it all over Manatee Springs. What we really need is a toy hauler....maybe not.

Wednesday – April 21, 2010
We drove 490 miles today through wide open country to my cousin's ranch near Karnes City, Texas. On the way we stopped in Nixon, TX for a nice meal at El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant. Joey joined us at the table in his stroller. We arrived at Jeanne's an hour later, and parked in our spot under the hangin tree. It is good to see Jeanne and John again and look forward to a relaxing visit. Our timing is good because they have had a lot of rain here and the dirt roads in and out of here were all bogged down last weekend. All is dry now, and the place looks good with wild flowers everywhere. It is such a nice quiet place out here.

Thursday – April 22, 2010
I caught up on our laundry and we have been visiting most of the day. Charlie and I went to the store and left our boy with Jeanne. While we were gone Joey got out the door and kept on running, giving Jeanne a scare. He stopped at her truck and jumped all around it as if he thought we were in it. That is the only thing that saved him. There are a few big critters in the area that could mean the end of him. I enjoy hearing the coyotes at night, but I don't really want any one of us to meet one. We had steaks on the grill and chicken for Charlie. It was all good. Never even got to the ice cream for dessert, we ate so well. Jeanne told us about her photography project that relates to our own family history.

Friday – April 23, 2010
It is overcast here and a little windy but not too hot. I have been walking Joey a lot and doing my notes today. Charlie has been doing some housekeeping on the RV and van. Jeanne and John had to make an unexpected trip into San Antonio so we are hanging out making ourselves at home. Went to dinner at a local mexican restaurant, one of three in a row in tiny Karnes City. Most of the restaurants we see are mexican, and all the ones we have tried are good. We went to this one last year, and Charlie wanted to go again. He likes to stick with what he knows is good. We took Joey too, and Jeanne got a kick out of that. I was a little worried we would all get kicked out and Jeanne would be banned for life, but we got away with it. We had ice cream when we got back and headed back to our RV and to bed early.

Saturday – April 24, 2010
We took a two and one-half mile walk this morning down Jeanne's practically private road. It is an unpaved county road but hardly anyone travels on it. We did not see a vehicle on our walk to a huge live oak tree and back again. Actually Charlie and I took turns on the Segway, so we cheated a little bit. More than half way through Joey wanted to be carried, so I did that for awhile. Very pretty wildflowers, and I think Charlie got some good pics. We saw a long horn whose horns twisted around and around, and seemed to go on forever. Jeanne says that type of long horn had become rare but they are bringing them back. I had never seen one, but I would love to see more of them. I hope Charlie got a good picture, he didn't come too close to us. We saw hog trails and turkey tracks too. We had to say goodbye to Jeanne, and it was hard to do. We took Rt 37 to San Antonio and then west on 90. We hit some kind of bugs that covered the whole windshield. It was one sudden splat, and we never knew what they were. It was a mess driving the rest of the 220 miles to Del Rio though! After some misguidance from the Garmin looking for Three Rivers Campground, we gave up and stayed instead at Governor's Landing on Amistad Lake. It is part of the National Park Service, Amistad National Recreation Area. It was our first night without electricity, but there was potable water. We are very close to the Mexican border. Our campsite overlooked the lake and there was a jetty of flat rocks, wildflowers, and cactus that we explored. After we set up and had dinner, some of the people in the other campsites left because they were only having a cookout. So we moved to another site to get away from some noisy neighbors. Joey and I rode in the trailer while we moved. That was fun... During the night some guys pulled in and went fishing for a couple of hours and then left making a racket. Joey didn't complain much, Charlie did though. It got very cool and windy during the night so we closed the windows on one side of the camper. Otherwise it was a very comfortable night.

Sunday – April 25, 2010
When we got up this morning we could see police car after police car headed across the bridge and then stopping at the other end to the west where we were planning to go. There was a huge accident involving at least one tractor trailer, and a couple of hours later, the road was still not cleared. So we drove north on Rt 277. We went through an imigration checkpoint and got by the border patrol and their dogs. We intended to take Rt 189 west but it was closed due to high water. So we continued north to I-10. We want to go to Langtry to see Judge Roy Bean's place, but we were worried we were not going to be able to get there from here! Finally, Charlie found a road going south, no route number, but we should be able to get there. The road led us to the Sonora Caverns and RV Park. Very cool. So here we are and it is a very quiet place. We are in the tent section since we are small enough, and it is great because of the shade over here. So we really like our little camper tonight. We have electricity, water, and bugs (oh no, not again). There are peacocks here too. A very nice store with gems and other rocks. I like to look at them, but they are not something I would buy. I caught up with some of my reading tonight and Charlie was able to get on the internet by sitting on the porch of the store. I will try to upload these notes in the morning and do some reading, and Charlie will take the cavern tour. I don't think he has any new pics uploaded yet. Will do as soon as he can. More later....

April 12 to April 18, 2010

2010-04-18T22:47:00.000-04:00

Monday – April 12, 2010
Our plan to leave this morning was delayed a little bit. Charlie discovered that the Honda Mini-Van and my Avalon had tag stickers that expired in July 2009! We have both been driving for nearly a year on expired tags. Two trips to Maryland in the van, and all the rest and we never knew! Oh well, we actually bought the 2010 tags, they just somehow didn't make it onto the vehicles. So this morning I took a little trip to the tag store and got our 2011 stickers. No one will ever know...except everyone who reads this of course. Becky was at the house this morning and we are so glad that she and Rick are there for us. We don't have to worry about the house at all. We got started at 1pm and headed straight over to Lecanto to visit Floyd and Jo, arriving at about 4:30. They have a nice place and plenty of room for all the stuff they are into. They are very busy but they took time out for us and showed us a wonderful time. In the past they owned a large motor home so they even had an RV pad with hookups that we could use. When we arrived we realized that Charlie would need to back in to the parking spot. Not his forte. So he struggled back and forth and side to side and finally got that trailer straight down the driveway. That is when we noticed that Floyd and Jo's mailbox and paperbox were ripped out of the ground and laying on their lawn. So the first thing we had to do was apologize. Fortunately the poles were not broken or even bent, just pushed over. So Floyd got his post hole digger out and stuck them back in the ground. They were very gracious about it. We had a nice dinner and Joey was as good as he could be. We are a little worried about his not being totally housebroken, so he wore a doggie diaper while he was in their house, though I gave him a break a couple of times and held him in my lap instead. We spent our first night ever in our A-liner camper and it was very comfortable. We are having a little trouble figuring out where to put things and then finding them again. We had this problem at first on our other RV trips, Each rig is different so we have to figure it out all over again. It usually takes a few days. We slept good and Joey seemed right at home since he has his own bed. For a week before we left home his bed was in our bed so he could get used to that. There is no room on the floor for his bed in the RV.

Tuesday – April 13, 2010
We were up early and Jo served us homemade coffee cake and fruit and cereal. Then we took a ride (Joey included) over to Rainbow State Park. Well behaved dogs are allowed. They have springs, waterfalls, a beach, and swimming. Also, lots of azaleas and some very tall trees. Floyd especially liked the variety of trees. I got my first magnets of the trip, and we all had a good time just walking around enjoying the very pretty day. We went back to the house, had lunch, and then headed out again in Floyd's big truck. They have a Lot on Crystal River that they will be building on soon. They already keep their Carolina Skiff on a lift there. So we went out onto the river and collected crabs from their crab pots. Did you know that when you are 65 or older in Florida that you can put out as many crab pots as you want for free? We didn't know that. We got lots of crabs and an up close look at three manatees. Joey was nervous when we were moving fast but he was better by the time we got back. Floyd cooked up the crabs as soon as we got back. He has a neat cooker on his porch. The pot is huge and he made it from an old pool filter, and it sits on a burner on top of a wood frame that he also made. Inside the frame is the propane tank. All very efficient. Delicious crabs cooked right, Maryland style! Jo made some crab cakes, also Maryland style, and we just ate and ate. We relaxed in the evening and watched some videos of their vacation and of their grandchildren. It was a good visit and we really had a good time.

Wednesday – April 14, 2010
We left Jo and Floyd's around 9am and drove to Cedar Key. We stopped at the Sunset RV Park as soon as we got here. They let us check in and set up even though it was way before checkin time. The park is on the river and there are a number of docks that are available for use by all the guests. Nice place with nice facilities. We went into Cedar Key and had lunch at Frog's Landing. I had a soft shell crab sandwich and Charlie had grouper. Yum yum! Then we shopped around a little bit and went to the Cedar Key Museum Park. It is closed today but we could still walk around the grounds and we took a path out to the water. After that we went to the park at the beach and people watched for awhile. Then we found the fishing pier and so Charlie and Joey hung out there while I peeked into some more shops. I went into a little place and tried to order a couple of smoothies to take back to the pier. But the young man only knew how to make two kinds, cause he was new. They were not the kinds I wanted. Then, oops he only had ingredients for one of the kinds. So I ordered one smoothie since I was really thirsty, and don't really mind strawberry banana. Then, oops he only managed to get it three quarters full, so he gave it to me half price. Oh well, it was good. I did buy a magnet that Charlie picked out earlier, but I didn't find anything else to buy today. We got back to the campground early and ate sweet potatoes and a few other things we had. Not a real meal and Charlie was not satisfied. Need to get some food tomorrow. Charlie went to bed when the sun went down. The wifi wasn't working. When I finish my notes I will go to bed too. On our other RV trips we often rose and went to bed with the sun. Getting back to our old routine....

Thursday – April 15, 2010
We left Cedar Key and went to Manatee Springs State Park where we camped. We didn't see any manatee but saw quite a few deer. No dogs are allowed on the boardwalk out to the river, so I got out the stroller for Joey. It was a nice long walk through bald cypress and spanish moss. Charlie went out on the floating pier at the end but Joey and I stayed on the dock. There is a large spring for swimming and it was tempting, but we didn't do it. We had dinner at the camp. We went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and I decided to try taking Joey into the store in the stroller. I figured the worst that could happen is they would kick us out. Instead we got very little attention from anyone and the checker even asked about him as if it is perfectly normal to bring a dog into the store in a stroller. Maybe it is...I just never knew that.

Friday – April 16, 2010
We arrived at Ann, David, and Becky's home a couple of hours earlier than expected. Charlie went to the store with David, while Ann and I visited on their back porch. Joey was as friendly as ever. Such a good dog, as long as he is wearing his diaper. This weekend, like our last visit, is the Tallahassee Orchid Show and Becky was working hard at the show including preparing for the judging on Saturday. We had a nice dinner and met Raphael again, a friend of Becky's, he is a grower from Sarasota. Becky almost has her greenhouse completed and they have done a lot of landscaping since we were here last year. They put in a large fish pond with flowers, and quite a few new trees.

Saturday – April 17, 2010
Raphael and Becky left early for the show, and we got an early start too. David took us to the Tallahassee Auto Museum. There were a lot of cool cars including batmobiles and antiques. There were mustangs and cameros and thunderbirds and everything else you can think of, all beautifully restored. There was a giant yellow baby duck too, though we are not sure why. I pushed Joey in the stroller all around the museum, and he never made a peep till we got back to the front door. He barked just once at a man coming in. The lady at the admissions desk was surprised, but she did not object. We went to lunch at a seafood place, and we plopped Joey in the stroller and took him in there too. I really am so glad, but I can't get over it either. We parked him next to the table and that was it. From there we went to the orchid show, including Joey. Raphael had the best display, I think. We really enjoyed his company this weekend. After we looked around awhile Becky was ready to go, so we headed home and rested up til we went out to dinner. Raphael went with us, but this time we left Joey in the camper. We had a great dinner at a restaurant we went to last year and so Charlie wanted to go back. Spent the evening visiting and we were all tired out at the end of the day. It was so nice to visit with them all again. I can hardly believe a whole year has gone by since the last time we were here. They showed us a wonderful time and I hope they will come visit us soon. Hint hint!

Sunday – April 18, 2010
We got on the road fairly early and headed to St George Island. Very white sandy beaches but the campground in the state park was full. Also not dog friendly! So, we went to a Passport America RV park in Mexico Beach. As soon as we parked we were greeted by a couple from Michigan who were happy to see another pop up trailer in the park. We had to tell them that ours is not a pop up but an A-liner. So they watched us, mostly Charlie, set up and invited us to visit them. We went over later and they showed us their popup. Boy! They have more than twice as much room. They have places to put stuff! They have 2 refrigerators and both are bigger than our one fridge. Still it is a lot of work to set up one of those. When they set up they like to stay at least 3 nights. That really is not what we want. Still, Charlie is always looking, even now. We might come home with something different than we started with! We went out to dinner, it is just not as convenient cooking in this rig as it was in the motor homes we had before. We ate at Mango Marley's, and both had a good dinner while Joey watched us from his stroller. Now we are settled in for the night and enjoying finally having wifi. We had access to wifi while we were visiting, but wanted to mostly visit instead. Joey is sleeping already. He is not used to being awake all day like he has been for the last week. We watched the sunset over the gulf this evening but had to do it from the car because dogs are not allowed on the beach, and I did not want to leave him. I am getting used to keeping him with us all the time now! More later....

RV Trip 2009 Camp Sites

2009-06-13T22:16:00.007-04:00

04/17 Ann & David & Becky, Tallahassee FL
04/18 Ann & David & Becky, Tallahassee FL
04/19 Arrowhead RV Park, Marianna FL $28.99
04/20 Falling Waters State Park, Chipley FL $16.50
04/21 Magic River Campgrd/PA, Long Beach MS $16.50
04/22 Gulf Coast RV Resort/PA, Beaumont TX $17.50
04/23 Jeanne, Karnes City TX
04/24 Jeanne, Karnes City TX
04/25 Jeanne, Karnes City TX
04/26 Ancient Oaks RV Park/PA, Rockport TX $16.00
04/27 Colonia Del Rey/PA, Corpus Christi TX $18.50
04/28 Padre Palms/PA, Corpus Christi TX $12.50
04/29 Mustang Island State Pk, Mustang Island TX $24.00
04/30 Circle W RV Park/PA, Rockport TX $21.00
05/01 Mathis Motor Inn & RV Pk/PA, Lake City TX $13.00
05/02 Parkview RV Park/PA, Fort Stockton TX $14.00
05/03 Brantley State Park, New Mexico $14.00
05/04 Carlsbad RV Park/PA, Carlsbad NM $19.89
05/05 Bottomless Lake State Park, Roswell NM $14.00
05/06 Turner Inn & RV Park/PA, Mountainair NM $12.13
05/07 Manzano State Park, Mountainair NM $14.00
05/08 Trailer Ranch RV Resort, Santa Fe NM $31.03
05/09 Trailer Ranch RV Resort, Santa Fe NM $31.03
05/10 Questa Lodge/PA, Questa NM $13.00
05/11 Sand Dunes & Recreation, Hooper CO $36.45
05/12 Sand Dunes & Recreation, Hooper CO $36.45
05/13 Snowy Peaks/PA, Buena Vista CO $17.62
05/14 Diamond RV Pk/PA, Woodland CO $16.33
05/15 Diamond RV Pk/PA, Woodland CO $16.33
05/16 Riverview RV Pk/PA, Loveland CO $20.23
05/17 Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado $20.00
05/18 Riverview RV Pk/PA, Loveland CO $20.23
05/19 KOA, Goodland KS $29.65
05/20 Fossil Creek RV Park/PA, Russell KS $12.00
05/21 Mill Creek Campground, Paxico KS $27.00
05/22 Steve, Leavenworth KS
05/23 Three Springs RV Campground/PA, Rolla MO $10.00
05/24 Cape Camping & RV Pk, Cape Girardeau MO $29.15
05/25 Western Kentucky RV Pk/PA, Central City KY $15.00
05/26 Singing Hills RV Park/PA, Cave City KY $14.00
05/27 Grandma's RV Camping, Shepherdsville KY $24.00
05/28 Alton RV Park, Alton OH $28.00
05/29 Alton RV Park, Alton OH $28.00
05/30 Comfort Inn, Marysville OH $0.00
05/31 Mary Lou and Chuck, Crestline OH
06/01 Mary Lou and Chuck, Crestline OH
06/02 Mary Lou and Chuck, Crestline OH
06/03 Mary Lou and Chuck, Crestline OH
06/04 Joyce & Gary, Sparta NC
06/05 Joyce & Gary, Sparta NC
06/06 Comfort Inn/PA, St George SC $13.38

TOTAL 39 nights and $761.39, Average $19.52 per night
Passport America Membership (PA) usually a 50 percent discount

RV Trip 2009 Gas

2009-06-13T21:35:00.007-04:00

04/17/09 $2.059 / 27.20 Gallons $ 55.99 Baldwin, FL
04/19/09 $2.039 / 20.41 Gallons $ 41.61 Tallahassee, FL
04/20/09 $2.029 / 15.30 Gallons $ 31.05 Marianna, FL
04/20/09 $2.059 / 17.93 Gallons $ 36.92 Marianna, FL
04/21/09 $1.939 / 26.23 Gallons $ 50.85 Loxley, AL
04/22/09 $1.869 / 25.31 Gallons $ 47.31 Hammond, LA
04/23/09 $1.899 / 44.93 Gallons $ 85.32 Houston, TX
04/23/09 $1.839 / 09.35 Gallons $ 17.20 Wharton, TX
04/26/09 $1.829 / 34.58 Gallons $ 63.24 Beeville, TX
04/27/09 $1.859 / 17.47 Gallons $ 32.48 Rockport, TX
05/02/09 $1.899 / 39.50 Gallons $ 75.00 San Antonio, TX
05/02/09 $1.929 / 14.34 Gallons $ 27.67 Kerrville, TX
05/03/09 $2.049 / 34.89 Gallons $ 71.48 Ft Stockton, TX
05/05/09 $2.299 / 32.62 Gallons $ 75.00 Roswell, NM
05/05/09 $2.299 / 05.33 Gallons $ 12.25 Roswell, NM
05/06/09 $2.199 / 16.90 Gallons $ 37.16 Vaughn, NM
05/08/09 $2.099 / 28.20 Gallons $ 58.27 Belen, NM
05/10/09 $2.229 / 13.87 Gallons $ 30.91 Santa Fe, NM
05/11/09 $2.229 / 21.51 Gallons $ 47.94 Alamosa, CO
05/11/09 $2.229 / 02.21 Gallons $ 4.92 Alamosa, CO
05/16/09 $2.149 / 39.24 Gallons $ 84.32 Woodland Pk, CO
05/19/09 $2.239 / 30.51 Gallons $ 68.31 Loveland, CO
05/20/09 $2.349 / 38.16 Gallons $ 89.64 Oberlin, KS
05/21/09 $2.179 / 32.57 Gallons $ 70.96 Abilene, KS
05/23/09 $2.259 / 31.74 Gallons $ 71.71 Higginsville, MO
05/24/09 $2.279 / 28.16 Gallons $ 64.17 Edgar Springs, MO
05/24/09 $2.169 / 10.17 Gallons $ 22.06 Jackson, MO
05/24/09 $2.199 / 14.69 Gallons $ 32.30 Jackson, MO
05/26/09 $2.299 / 32.62 Gallons $ 75.00 Gow, KY
05/28/09 $2.599 / 38.48 Gallons $ 100.00 Jeffersonville, OH
05/29/09 $2.599 / 24.78 Gallons $ 64.41 Marysville, OH
06/04/09 $2.739 / 27.38 Gallons $ 75.00 Williamstown, WV
06/04/09 $2.739 / 13.63 Gallons $ 37.34 Williamstown, WV
06/06/09 $2.559 / 39.08 Gallons $ 100.00 Statesville, NC
06/06/09 $2.559 / 01.96 Gallons $ 5.02 Statesville, NC
06/07/09 $2.399 / 24.80 Gallons $ 59.49 St. George, SC
06/07/09 $2.379 / 22.97 Gallons $ 54.65 Kingsland, GA

TOTAL 898.98 Gallons and $1,976.95, Average $2.199 per Gallon
Traveled 7,129 miles. Miles on RV from 41,343 to 48,472 miles.

May 29 to June 7

2009-06-08T17:17:00.002-04:00

On Thursday we met up with Diane at her motel in Marysville, Ohio. We spent Thursday and Friday nights in Alton, OH at a tiny RV park about 25 miles from Marysville, where the wedding was held. It was the only RV park available and we didn't enjoy driving back there after dark on Friday night. So, on Saturday we registered our names (and vehicle) to Diane's room, and we were able to stay in the RV there. That was a lot more convenient and didn't cost anything! We spent time with Diane Thursday and Friday, and we went to the rehearsal dinner at Der Dutchman on Friday evening. There was lots of good food, and lots of fun when members of both families, including Diane, got up and told stories about the bride and groom, Amey and Scott, and wished them well. Charlie and I were especially happy to spend a little time with his aunts and uncles. Der Dutchman is an Amish restaurant and they had a gift shop too. We bought some potato salad and other goodies, but we could not quite figure out how to fit that rocking chair we liked into the RV. Oh well, maybe next time. On Saturday, we grabbed an early lunch at Subway, and as we finished eating, Aunt Gladys invited us to lunch at the German Village in Columbus. We went along and had dessert (which was fabulous!). More of the family had arrived and met us at the restaurant. German Village is mostly residential and they have some great restaurants and a book store I would like to go back and visit. The village is historical and worth seeing. We didn't have the camera at the rehearsal dinner nor at the lunch, so we don't have pictures. We went to a birthday party for Uncle Joe Saturday afternoon, and we did have our camera there. After the party we all got ready for the wedding that started at 6:30pm. So it was a big day! The wedding was beautiful of course. Their church is a perfect setting for a wedding. The reception was at the church just across the parking lot. The bride and groom danced their first dance, and then the bride's parents joined them. Everyone was impressed with their dancing. Charlie wished everyone had paddles with scores of '10' on them so we could hold them up at the end of the dance. Sunday afternoon the bride and groom opened their gifts at a hall at the church and some of us came and had left overs, including chocolate covered strawberries (yum!). We helped Uncle Tom, the father of the groom, pack up what was left; and Diane, Charlie, and I were the last to leave. On line proofs of the wedding pictures will be posted at www.SquierPhotography.com in about two months. Charlie's Aunt Mary Lou and Uncle Chuck invited us to 'plug in' at their house for a few days while we visited in Crestline. Diane stayed with them too. Charlie was born in Galion, and we went through there on the way. The hospital where he was born is still there! Mary Lou and Chuck were so good to us that we stayed until Thursday. Toby made himself right at home (as usual) and they thought he was a good little dog....ha! They fixed us great meals and invited some of the family and close friends to dinner while we were there. We got to know Jackie and Gerrie(sp?), sisters that grew up with them, and they were a lot of fun. Chuck and Mary Lou took us on a tour of the town. They also took us to their son's house, which was once their parents place (Charlie's Grandparents). We visited more family on our own, and we got to see some of the cousins who were not at the wedding. On Thursday we left Ohio and traveled through West Virginia and Virginia. About the time we got to Virginia and the Jefferson National Forest on Route 77, Charlie realized that we must be close to Sparta, North Carolina. So he called Joyce Ellen and Gary and they instantly invited us to come see them. Hmmmm....we could keep this up couldn't we? Joyce and Gary have a black dog that is lab and chow mix, but looks mostly like a lab. Her name is Gummy Bear...Gummy for short. I let Toby out of the RV off leash, and they had no problem at all. Toby went right on in the house and found Gummy's water bowl, and he was home again. Joyce is her mother's caregiver and I was happy to see her Mom again too. I grew up with Joyce's family and they are still very close to my Mom. Joyce and Gary used to bring my Mom to Florida every year, and I hope they come see us again soon. Mom has been to their home many times since they moved from Maryland to NC, and she has been telling us how nice it is, how Joyce and Gary and the rest of their family take good care of her while she is there, and what a wonderful time they all have. So we were excited to be there and it was fun to see all the places around there that Mom talks about all the time. Also, we spent time with Joyce's sister Sharon and her family, and their family and neighbors George R and Helen. We spent two nights there, and Joyce fed us good too. Gary even gave us lettuce and spinach from his garden to take home. They are in the mountains close to the New River and next to the Virginia state line. They have lots of acreage and there are horses and cattle all around the house. At first Toby didn't notice them. Then he stared at the cattle, and they stared back until they ran away, but he did not chase them. The next time the horses were near the fence and he tried to chase them, but they didn't run away, so he ran back and forth along the fence. I was afraid Toby would go through the wire fence, which he could easily have done, so I kept him away from the livestock after that. He was getting bolder every time he saw them. Joyce has an African Gray Parrot, the second one we have encountered on this trip, and Toby was very interested in her. Charlie's Uncle Joe and Aunt Sandy have one too. Both birds are big talkers. Toby did not see Sandy's bird, but when he saw Joyce's bird he got on his hind legs and they were beak to nose. Charlie and I both thought that this was not a good idea. So poor Milkshake had to be confined to her cage while we were there. She still had a lot to say though. She makes the sound of the phone ringing, says hello, has a conversation, and makes the hang up sound. She has a large vocabulary and will probably be barking like Toby next. We had a good time. We left on Saturday morning and drove all day. We stopped at a bar-b-q restaurant for a late lunch, and it was good. We stopped for the night soon after we got on I-95 at a Comfort Inn in St. George South Carolina that has RV hookups. We got an early start Sunday morning and we got home at about 1:30pm. We ate sandwiches and salads made with Gary's lettuce and spinach on the way home and after we got home. It was so gooood! Thanks again Gary. So we are home....We traveled 7,129 miles. I will post our Gas and RV Park expenses as soon as I get them typed.

May 27 to May 28

2009-05-28T21:32:00.000-04:00

Tuesday evening we had dinner at Cracker Barrel, and I spent the last of my gift card, a retirement gift from the KSC Quad Squad. There were showers all around and we did get a deluge while we were in the restaurant. But the RV park, about 4 miles west, stayed dry all day. On Wednesday morning we went back to the Mammoth Cave. We decided we would both take the Frozen Niagara tour, but we had to wait until noon. So we had breakfast there, they have three restaurants to chose from, and napped a little bit in the RV. I walked Toby too. It was cloudy but I really didn't think it would rain, Charlie was sure that it would. We needed to leave at least one window open because it could get too warm in the RV for Toby. So we left the window over the dinette open and removed the cushion from under the window. It was sprinkling when we came out of the cave, but it must have poured while we were underground because we had a pretty big puddle on the wood frame of the dinette seat. It was probably a thunderstorm, but since this is a big RV, Toby would have been able to get far from the open window. Oh well...Charlie was right, as usual. There were a lot of people at mammoth that day and so our tour group was full. Instead of walking to the cave entrance like we did the day before, we were taken by a bus that was fueled by propane. This entrance to the cave was not natural, but had been blasted out by a former owner of the property. Inside were a lot of formations all the way back to the one they call Frozen Niagara, but once past it there are no more formations. The reason is a sandstone and shale layer over the rest of the cave keeps water from seeping in and creating the formations. The tour was easy walking but tight or slippery in some places. I liked having to duck and twist around, it made it more interesting. We didn't see bats, but we saw lots of crickets. Normally I don't mind crickets, but this was kind of creepy. I thought we were walking through an empty space and then the flashlight showed bugs all over the walls and ceiling. Yuck! We may want to come back to Mammoth Park to do some things above ground. We like to hike and bike. They allow dogs on the trails, and Charlie might like to go fishing. No fishing license is required in the park. Also, the Diamond Caverns just to the south of Mammoth are supposed to have nice formations. They are believed to be connected to the Mammoth cave, and if that is ever proven to be true, the national park service would take them over. Charlie says, if anything, the Diamond cavern owner should claim Mammoth! We drove east and north all the rest of the day and stayed at Grandma's RV Park in Shepherdsville, Kentucky Tuesday night. Grandma was (supposedly) napping when we got there, but we got a space anyway. Grandma has lots of rules, especially about keeping dogs out of her shrubbery, which is everywhere. We walked our little dog across the street (or else!) and met up with a couple of llamas. They kept their eye on Toby, and we got pictures of them. On Wednesday we drove about 230 miles to Galloway, Ohio, the furtherest we have driven in one day in quite a while. We drove around Louisville and Cincinnati. We arrived at about 2pm and I did a little shopping at Kohls. My britches are getting way to big for me. I really needed a couple of pairs of pants. From there we went to dinner and then to the campground. We will try to catch up with Diane and whoever else is in town tomorrow.

May 25 to May 26

2009-05-26T23:12:00.007-04:00

On Monday morning we left the Cape RV Park in Missouri, and attempted to drive straight on to the Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. Unfortunately, Charlie had a little trouble with the GPS once we got into Illinois. He programmed the GPS to take us the quickest way, expecting to be on interstates, or at least on major roads. Instead, we were directed to a secondary road that went on and on, and after a turn or two the road became narrow and bumpy. No fun in this old RV with the refrigerator popping open and canned fruit flying everywhere. We use bungee cords to hold the cabinets closed, but the fridge usually is not a problem. It really got interesting when the road deteriorated into a dirt road. Meanwhile we were seeing old farmhouses, trailers, barns, and all sorts of livestock including goats. No businesses and no traffic. The road finally ended at a huge quarry. Even then the GPS was directing us to 'turn left'. There was a little driveway to the left, but we had had enough. We turned around, not an easy maneuver, and headed back the way we came, but then tried another road off to the right. Almost immediately that road went into a very deep ditch. There was no turning around, so we went in, and when we came out the rear end hit bottom pretty hard. Charlie and I have very different responses to this sort of thing. For me, it is an adventure. I am not the least bit worried. I am saying things like “Oh look, a turtle!”. But I admit when we hit bottom I did get a little worried. Luckily the RV appears to be okay, we just lost a cap to something or other. Charlie on the other hand wasn't interested in my turtle sighting. To be fair, he was the one dealing with all this. But it did seem a little over the top when he got into an argument with the GPS: ”Recalculating” Shut Up ”Recalculating” Shut Up ”Recalculating” SHUT UP! ”Recalculating”. Charlie gave up and the GPS got the last word, which I pointed out. Again, Charlie was not amused. Finally, we got to a decent sized road and with the help of the map, we got back on track. It probably would not have been so bad but we had a similar experience the day before trying to get to the lead mine, even to the point of being on a dirt road. We still have the GPS hanging on the visor, and it is still talking, but Charlie is not necessarily obeying anymore. We had a long drive to the area of the Mammoth Cave and it rained quite a bit too. We stopped early at an RV park that was open but didn't have any facilities available yet. It was okay though, it had wifi, and that counts for a lot. It rained throughout the evening so we got on our respective computers, and Charlie was able to relax and recover from a rough day of driving. I watched the final episode of Desperate Housewives on the web. I am finding that I like watching TV on my computer, there are a lot fewer commercials. Toby was as good as gold as usual. I think the hobo life suits him. He gets fed on time, and he is with us, so he seems to be happy. I have not heard him whine since we left home. Tuesday morning we got going early and headed straight to the Mammoth Cave, about a 90 mile drive. Oh wait, we stopped at Wal-Mart first. I have not been mentioning our almost daily stops at Wal-Mart for obvious reasons. But this one was a little bit interesting because there was an Amish community in the area, and an Amish gentlemen came along and parked his horse and buggy near our RV. Ha! Anyway, I was thinking I might pass on this cave since I don't really like them, but we both did take one of the very short introductory tours. Mammoth National Park is different from almost all the other national parks. It is free to get in, drive around, picnic, hike, bicycle, and more. Fees are charged only for camping and cave tours. All of the tours are escorted. Our guide was a young park ranger and I enjoyed listening to him talk with his accent. He said 'steel' when he meant 'still'. It was fun, and the temperature in the cave was 56 degrees. We saw some very tiny bats, about the size of a thumb. Our guide talked about how the cave was used over the centuries. A doctor thought the cold damp air might help cure TB so he set up some patients down there. It didn't work out. Someone else tried to grow mushrooms, but they didn't grow any faster down there so it wasn't worth it. The only successful enterprise was during the War of 1812 when they used the bat poop in the dirt to make salt peter. They sent the salt peter to Dupont where it was made into gun powder. After the war they didn't need it anymore so they abandoned the things they were using (pipes made of poplar, crates, and tools), and those items are still there today. They say that without the bat poop in the Mammoth Cave we would have lost the war, and we would be driving on the other side of the road today. That is what they say. There were only six of us on the tour. During the past weekend every tour had 40 to 120 people. So we were lucky. Most of the cave does not have formations like other caves we have seen. Mammoth is known for being the most extensive cave system on earth at 365 miles. Geologists think there may be as many as 600 miles of undiscovered passageways. There are seven separate introductory and general tours and a bunch of specialty tours. If you are really into caves you could spend a lot of time there. We may go back tomorrow and take another introductory tour that is called 'Frozen Niagara'. As you probably guessed, that one has formations. I might take that tour by myself while Charlie takes a four and one-half hour tour that is considered to be physically demanding. He is still thinking about it. Tonight we are at Singing Hills RV Park just outside of Mammoth, and it is very nice. There are loads of tourist traps near here, including miniature golf, a wax museum, a wildlife museum, a frontier town, a dinosaur park (exceedingly tacky giant fake dinosaurs), gold mining, go karts, and bumper boats. There is an antique mall, rock shops, and shops for knives, guns, and gifts. I bet it is a lot of fun around here in the summertime.

May 20 to May 24

2009-05-24T22:22:00.005-04:00

It was a nice stay at the KOA in Goodland Kansas on Tuesday night. It was our first KOA of this trip. They offered an all-you-can eat pancake breakfast. The owners are Polish from Chicago, and they were very friendly. We also talked with a couple from Arizona who were parked next to us and were eating breakfast at the same time. After breakfast I got Toby out of the RV, and as he walked ahead of me I saw that my hairbrush was stuck in his fur on his right side. Guess who had been sleeping in my bed? Right after we left the KOA we saw a huge easel on the side of the road with a Van Gogh 'Sunflowers' painting on it. It could be seen for miles. It was an exhibit by the Rotary Club and there was a visitor notebook to sign, which we did. We drove most of the day through flat and rolling prairie. We saw an underground house, and a road runner ran across the road in front of us. We stopped at the Prairie Dog State Park, but it was early in the day and there was not much to see, so we didn't stay. There was a prairie dog village, but only one was out, and he really told us off. I had never heard one talk before. There was also an adobe house that was a landmark, and a lake for boating, fishing, and swimming. Charlie wrote to David about the park...”There were a lot of people that live in the RV section. There were swings, gliders, toys and other outdoor stuff around alot of the RV type trailers. I wouldn't want to stay in them in the winter. Most RVs are very uncomfortable and can have all kinds of problems when the weather gets below freezing for very long. Imagine, you come home from work and all the doors and windows are iced shut. There has to be other inexpensive ways to live this far north”....Charlie wrote about the RV Park we stayed in Wednesday night...”This is one of the funkier RV parks we have stayed in, but its okay. The bathrooms, showers, laundry, pay phone, sitting area, and a big old chest freezer full of the owners old looking odd food, are all crammed into an old mobile home. It has been rebuilt inside to fit in the 3 bathrooms and a large laundry room in the back. When we got here an old guy was sitting on the front porch of the office/house. He was sitting in an old glider supported by springs and a metal frame and covered with bedding. It looked like he sleeps out there all day waiting for RVers. I told him I had a Passport America membership, and he just said that will be 12 dollars. I gave him the money, and he gave me a postcard with rules, camp layout, and cable channels on it. At every other RV park I have had to fill out a motel registry type form or wait for someone to type a bunch of info into a computer. Maybe he forgot. He is pretty much deaf too. I hope he remembers I paid. I know, I'm gonna get old too.”.... Thursday morning we drove on to Abilene Kansas and visited the Dwight D. Eisenhower Center. A Visitor's Center, the Presidential Library, a museum, the Eisenhower homestead, and his burial site are there. The Eisenhower homestead was especially interesting because it remains as it was when his Mother passed away in the 40s. All of the furniture and even the books in the bookcases are the same. We watched a short film about DDE in the Visitors Center, which told about his entire life. Also, Eisenhower was a big baseball fan. There were letters on display in the library that had been sent to him from baseball personalities. A letter from Jackie Robinson dated May 13, 1958 was very impressive. He challenged Eisenhower on his statement in a speech in which he said that they need to be patient. He suggested to Eisenhower that “...you unwittingly crush the spirit of freedom in Negroes by constantly urging forbearance...”. It is a powerful letter. I went to the web and found it, and learned that Jackie Robinson wrote to every President between 1956 and 1972 stating they did not go far enough to advance the cause of civil rights. I was glad we went to the library, though other than the baseball display we didn't see anything else there. On Friday morning we arrived at our friend Steve Weiland's home in Leavenworth, KS. It was good see him again, he looked the same as he did two years ago when we were on our last trip. Steve fed us well at lunch, and then fired up the bar-b-que and fixed corn on the cob, sweet potatoes, and chicken for dinner. Steve is a great cook and added lots of good seasoning to everything. Charlie's shaggy beard was driving Steve crazy, and so he gave him a trim. Charlie couldn't see what was being done to him, but I assured him he was looking good! Charlie decided to trust both of us. Toby made himself at home. Steve has a dachshund that is 16 years old and deaf. Toto was upset at our arrival but she learned to ignore Toby, and she was very sweet. Steve has a nice deck and a big pretty backyard, so Toby and Toto were in and out constantly, just like at our house. After dinner we watched a blue ray movie on a gigantic TV with surround sound. Not what we are used to...Steve had to go to work Saturday so we left in the morning when he left. We drove on into Missouri and Charlie got tired so he took a nap at a rest stop. Then we kept going and stopped early at an RV Park in Missouri just ahead of a big thunderstorm. It was the first rain we have had on this trip, and it really came down for an hour or so. We didn't have wifi or cable so we watched the Blues Brothers DVD. Charlie slept during most of the movie though. On Sunday we went to the Bonne Terre Mine and took the walking and boat tour. This lead mine is a place Charlie has wanted to visit for many years because you can dive there. There are five levels, and the three lower levels are flooded. There is also water in part of the second level which is open for tours and scuba divers. The diving could be a lot of fun, but it would be a long walk up and back with all the gear. They do have tanks and weights at the entry point, but you would still need to have a full wetsuit or drysuit, all the other gear, plus a camera. There are 58 steps, plus a long path on an incline. Pretty daunting after a dive. The cost per diver is $65 with a guide. There couldn't be much to see underwater except rocks, tunnels, and various old mining equipment. Someone did try putting a bunch of bass in there about 8 years ago, but only one survived. They named it Bonnie for Bonne. The fish were brought in from a fairly warm and well lit pond, so it is amazing the one survived. Bonnie hangs out right at the diving entry area where she gets fed regularly. The walking tour began at the mule entrance. Before the mule entrance was created, they took the mules down in an elevator and they stayed down there until they retired. They were well treated because they were valuable, but were usually blind when they came out of the mine. At the end of the walking tour we took a 14 passenger pontoon boat powered by an electric motor. It was a short ride from the diver's entry/exit point and the boat toured around the flooded open areas. We got dripped on a lot. To get it down there, the boat had been lowered down a large shaft. At the end of the boat trip we met up with a couple of divers at the end of their dive. Besides lead and water, there are calcium build ups and there are a few other minerals that add color to the mine. Cobalt was there but it was pink. Mining tools were left behind and they are rusting and adding to the colors in the mine. We were allowed to touch everything, unlike tours in natural caverns. The mine is huge and supported by large pillars left by the miners when they dug it out. I bought a magnet at the shop and a couple of other things. Then we drove for a few more hours and had dinner at The Branding Iron, a place we had been 2 years ago. Then we went to the Cape Camping & RV Park in Cape Girardeau. We also stayed here 2 years ago. We are parked next to an RV very similar to ours. See pics....

May 17 to May 19

2009-05-19T21:25:00.004-04:00

On Sunday we left the Riverview RV Campground and drove through the town of Estes Park to Rocky Mountain National Park. We followed the Big Thompson River most of the way and saw many more fly fisherman. There were a lot of homes and summer cottages on the other side of the river with driveway bridges. We went through the Roosevelt National Forest and the Big Thompson River Canyon. The canyon was spectacular. All we could see was rock wall on both sides of the road (and river). Most of the time we couldn't see the sky because of the overhang on the RV cab. We went to the park's Visitor Center and learned that the roads to the higher elevations are still closed due to snow, and that only one RV campground is open. So, we went to the campground and got our space for the night. We walked all around the campground to find the best spot and got a great view and privacy. We didn't know it then, but it was also a good place to see elk down in the meadow behind our site. We went to Bear Lake where we hiked a short snow covered trail from the parking lot. There were lots of people trying to stay out of one another's way, and one person fell. I wished I had my walking stick, but we managed not to fall down. Bear Lake was surrounded with snow, rocky mountains, and pine trees. The lake is at 9,475 feet, and was mostly covered with ice. It was so big it was impossible to get all of the lake and the mountains in one picture. From there we drove back toward our campground even though it was still early. We were looking forward to spending time relaxing and it was such a pretty spot we wanted to enjoy it. There were a few cars stopped in the road ahead of us and so I got our camera ready. We kept moving through there and I was looking frantically to see what there was to see. At the last second we saw a bear on the side of a hill far back from the road. I did manage to get a picture, and Charlie worked a little magic to make it bigger and closer...see the pics. We decided to stop at the Moraine Visitor's Center next to our campground. We looked at some exhibits and I got a magnet. We told the rangers there we had seen a bear, and showed off our picture. While we were still there, they got a message that there was a bear jam and they needed to send rangers to clear the traffic. Ha! Looky Loos are Charlie's greatest aggravation in National Parks. He won't stop for wildlife unless there is a turnout. So I have to grab the camera and snap away while we are moving down the road. This time we got lucky! When we got back to camp Charlie pulled out the popcorn popper that Lisa gave us for Christmas a couple of years ago. Lisa also gave us a couple of blankets, one of which has come in handy on this trip. The popper worked great and we gobbled that popcorn all up. We spotted some elk below our campsite so Charlie climbed down the hill to get a better look. He immediately came back and got Toby and me. We saw some elk in the meadow but looking further out we could see what could be a couple of hundred elk. Charlie enjoyed climbing around on the hill and taking lots of pictures. The campground was not crowded and at least one of the 'loops' was closed. But it seemed like everyone was on the move and it was not fun walking our little spinning dog. Toby wanted to chase all the cars. Dogs are not allowed on the trails in National Parks, so we took him on the loop road that was closed. That was a lot more pleasant, and we had a good long walk. We went to bed when it got dark because, for the first time this trip, we were dry camping and had no electricity. Our battery was running low even though we weren't burning lights or anything extra. Charlie thinks he should replace the battery before we try dry camping again. Monday morning the elk paid us a visit in the campground. They just strolled on down the road in front of our RV. Toby was inside and didn't see them. I wonder if he would have caused a stampede? We broke camp early and headed back to Estes Park for shopping. They have a lot of neat little shops, and we had noticed that there was a special parking lot set aside for RVs. Charlie wanted to get there early to make sure he got a parking space. So we did, and got a spot backed up to green grass, a picnic table with a shade tree, a pretty little stream, and a big rock wall beyond the stream. If I hadn't been shopping I would have sat by the stream with Toby all morning. Instead, Charlie sat inside the RV and talked to Becky and to Ruthann all the time I was gone. Oh well, he was comfortable. Before I went shopping we walked a little way into town and had a nice breakfast. I shopped for a few hours, and I bought a throw pillow which was something I had been looking for. Also I got some T-shirts for Charlie, and of course another magnet. An elk this time! Charlie asked me to look for shirts for $5 or less. I was surprised to find them. Afterward we headed back through the Big Thompson Canyon and back to the Riverview RV Park. We liked staying there because we could park right next to the river. There is also a large dog yard where Toby and I could hang out. This time we all took a long walk after dinner, and Toby got all muddy, so we had to wash his feet. He is a good dog. He just stood there while we ran cold water on him and scrubbed his little toes and legs. On Tuesday morning we left early and drove 250 miles to a KOA in Goodland Kansas. On the way we were in Nebraska for about a half hour. It was a tough drive for Charlie as it was windy most of the way. I slept some, as the landscape was the same most of the way. It was very green with rolling hills as far as we could see. We passed a number of cattle ranches, with cattle penned up almost as far as we could see. Charlie didn't like that. We crossed the Republican River. Charlie liked that, he said 'Wow'. We saw tumblin tumbleweed, something I like to see. When we stopped for lunch Charlie discovered that the pipe had disconnected from the black water tank. This morning he had filled it all the way with fresh water to flush it real good, and there was a slight drip where he had caulked it. But at lunchtime he discovered that it all had spilled on the pavement. There were chemicals, no odor, and it was rapidly drying, so we didn't really leave a mess in front of Subway! Now we are back to the porta potty. Here in Kansas, it was 92 degrees at 5pm and the humidity is 19 percent. The winds have been gusting up to about 40 mph so the breeze through the RV windows feels good. More later....

May 14 to May 16

2009-05-17T01:56:00.002-04:00

It was a nice quiet night at Snowy Peaks and we got a fairly early start Thursday morning. It wasn't long before we were well on our way on Route 24 towards Colorado Springs. Charlie figured we were going more down than up, and we didn't feel any wind, so it was easy driving at 65 mph or more. We got to a pass that didn't seem very high, and we stopped at a U.S. Forest Service Visitors Center there, but it wasn't open for the season yet. We could see the snow covered mountains way off to the west and north, and the wind was steady and hard, pushing from the west. It was also pretty cold, but there was no snow. Charlie got back in the RV to check the GPS, and found that we had gone up to 9,500 feet. We could see Pikes Peak way off to the east, and it was covered with snow. We drove on and visited the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. It has some petrified redwood tree stumps that are huge. We could see Pikes Peak very clearly from there. Charlie talked to a park ranger in the visitors center who had moved his family from Chicago. He said it took them 3 months to get used to the 8,000 foot altitude here. He also said that his mother couldn't take the altitude so they either visit back in Chicago or she only comes as close as Denver. At times Charlie said he could really feel the lack of oxygen, it mainly happened right after he ate. I felt momentary dizziness when I exerted myself, which was not too often! On Friday, we took the cog rail to the top of Pikes Peak. The total trip was three and a quarter hours. It would have been cheaper to rent a car for the day and we could have taken Toby, but if both of us had been bothered by the altitude (which we were) it could mean trouble. I think the cog rail was more fun anyway. Charlie called the rail company ahead of time and they said they have Security checking the parking lot set aside for RVs. Altogether it cost $63. There is not much I can say about the trip except that it was a thrill. We were both dizzy, but it didn't stop us from taking advantage of the hour we had at the summit. It just slowed us down a little, walking slow made us less dizzy. I was too excited to realize that at first... We had a great time and took loads of pictures. On the way down from the summit we saw a marmot. It is different from the marmots in Yellowstone. Much bigger and has a tail like a beaver. He moved too fast for a picture though. We were on the first trip of the day, so we were back to the RV a little after noon. It seemed to be over with so quick. But the high altitude did wear us out, so we went back to the same campground we had stayed in the night before; the Diamond Campgrounds and RV Park in Woodland Park. It was a big place and wooded, so Toby and I walked all over and had a good time. Today, Saturday, we drove through the Pike National Forest and on for most of the day. Tonight we are staying at the Riverview RV Park and Campground just west of Loveland Colorado and the Rocky Mountain National Park. We got a little side tracked on the way here and drove along Route 67 for about 10 miles until it turned into a dirt road. I loved it because the road followed the South Platte River the whole way and we saw many fly fisherman in the river. There were signs posted indicating that this was where the Wigwam and Scraggy Clubs fish and the rules were posted. They included the limitation of 2 trout with a 16 inch minimum. Many of the fisherman were camping and some had their families and dogs with them. When we got on the correct route (285) we drove through miles of hills with burned pine trees and huge rocks. Then we drove through the outskirts of Denver, a very busy interstate. We encountered one of the few traffic jams of the trip. I thought of my friends at ULA, but we did not go anywhere near Littleton.

May 11 to May 13

2009-05-14T09:25:00.000-04:00

When we left Questa we drove to Hooper in the San Luis Valley. This valley in Southern Colorado is a very interesting place. There are sand dunes, naturally hot water, gators, a speedway, and UFO enthusiasts. We skipped the speedway, UFO watchtower, and gators this trip. But I was curious about the gators. It turns out the facility started as a fish farm of Tilapia and African perch. The location was picked because of the warm geothermal water resources in the valley. They purchased 100 baby alligators to dispose of dead fish and the remains of filleted fish. What do you know, the gators grew! So they opened to the public in 1990 as Colorado Gators. Soon people with unwanted gators and other reptiles such as pythons, tortoises, iguanas, and more, started dropping them off, so they have quite a few reptiles now. We camped at the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool and RV Park. We had great views of the mountains from the RV and from the pool. We were the only RV in the park until another one showed up just as we were leaving. The swimming pool is advertised as a Natural Hot Artesian Oasis. That is just what it is too. Well water enters the pool at 118 degrees. The pool is kept at 98 to 100 degrees. To regulate the temperature, hot and cold water pour into the pool as needed. I loved standing under the hot water as it really pounded into the pool. I was not the only one, sometimes I had to wait my turn. What a great massage. Charlie did not care for it though. There is also a therapy pool kept between 105 to 107 degrees, it has jets, and it is big enough for 25 people. Charlie didn't like that either. I did, but couldn't stay in for long. A baby pool with a creepy looking fountain named Puffenstuff (a dragon with water flowing from it's nose into the pool) is out of the sun. The elevation is about 7,500 feet so it was cool during the day and cold at night. It was windy almost all the time. The pool was warmer than the air so we got in the water and stayed in up to our necks. It was just great. There is no chlorine or any other chemicals, instead the pools are emptied and refilled every Thursday. Also, water appears to be constantly flowing in and out of the pool. The water flowing out of the pool goes into a pipe and then comes out at the top of a slide below the pool. The slide empties into a little pond that is also open for swimming. We stayed two nights and used the pool as often as we could. The hours are 10am to 10pm, but they open early for adults to swim laps, so that is what we did, and then we went back in the late afternoon. During the day bus loads of school children came and took over the facility. They were not the same ones each day and they had reservations. When we weren't swimming, I napped and read and walked Toby. Charlie kept busy working on the RV. He fixed the black water pipe so we are hoping to start using the toilet again. He is getting tired of dealing with the porta potty. The worst part, for me anyway, is we avoid using it so we are always making treks to the restrooms in the parks. Let's hope it works. Other updates on the condition of the RV is that the cruise control started working again, and Charlie is now using a filter on the water hose when we hook up. Plus, the heater works! All good news...It seems like the pool is out in the middle of nowhere, and their sign on the main road is just a painting of pool water. I guess you have to know its there. If you are interested, their website is sanddunespool.com. They have some neat pictures of the steamy pool in the snow. Wednesday morning we left the pool (dang!) and went to the Great Sand Dunes National Park at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. These dunes don't compare to White Sands, but it is a striking landscape with the dunes up to 750 feet high. To get to the dunes we had to cross a melt off stream. Charlie wore sandals and I had water shoes. Toby went barefoot and the water was up to his chest at one point. Once we crossed the stream and started toward the dunes we realized that they were over a mile away. We gave up before we were even halfway to the base of the dunes. Walking in the sand was tiring and the sand was blowing into Toby's eyes. You can see him squinting in the pictures. We drove through the campground to see what it was like. The scenery from the higher vantage point was great, and would be even better at sunset and sunrise, but it was too early to stop and there were no hookups. So we drove on north. We were on the road for most of three hours and the scenery got better and better. It was tough driving though, the wind was strong most of the time and there were a lot of long climbs. It is a little over 8,000 feet here and the temperature is dropping. We are all settled in at the Snowy Peaks RV Park in Buena Vista, Colorado, a nice quiet park.

May 9 to May 10

2009-05-11T09:11:00.002-04:00

We stayed around the campground in Sante Fe on Saturday morning and Toby enjoyed being outside up until we left to go downtown. He was very comfortable in the RV for the 4 or 5 hours that we left him. Toby is not so lucky as the cat across from us. He has a kitty door on the side of his trailer with a screened in porch. It was a cool day and we enjoyed being out in the sun. We caught the bus in front of the RV park and took it all the way into town. You can ride the bus all day for $2 so Charlie was happy with that deal. He was not as happy about the return trip at the end of the day though. We were tired and it seemed like it took forever. Also a man asked Charlie for money. That happens to Charlie all the time, I wonder what it is about him. When we first got downtown we went into a couple of galleries and stores and then we had lunch. It was difficult, for us anyway, to spot the restaurants because signs are not usually visible from the street, but we did see a big Subway sign. I was afraid we were going to have settle for that, but we didn't. We like Subway, we eat there often especially on this trip, but we wanted Mexican food. Finally we found the Blue Corn Cafe, and my lunch was pretty good. Charlie did not get what he expected so he was disappointed. Then we went to the Loretto Chapel. It is a very pretty chapel famous for its 'miraculous' spiral stairway. The stairway is 22 feet high with no center support, and it was assembled with wooden pegs instead of nails. It has 33 steps and makes two complete 360 degree turns. The stairway was built in 1876 by an unknown carpenter. The story goes that the chapel was originally built without stairs to the high choir loft. A carpenter came along and built the stairs and then left without anyone knowing his name. Check out Wikipedia for more information on that, it is interesting. The banister was installed later, in 1887, by Philip August Hesch at the Sisters' request. Though I am sure it is much safer now, the look of the stairway without the banister was truly elegant. I posted a picture of a simulation of how it looked. Next we visited the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, considered to be the heart of Santa Fe. There was some refurbishment going on and there were people praying while the tourists were looking around. Charlie didn't feel comfortable taking pictures while people were worshiping, so he didn't. We noticed that this cathedral, the chapel, and the catholic church we visited in Texas are very similar inside, particularly the ceiling. Maybe it is the southwest style or the time they were built(?) Charlie did take lots of pictures outside of the cathedral and of the statues on the grounds. He stayed there while I went across the street to the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum. It was all modern art, interesting, but not my favorite. One artist I liked at one of the galleries was Ethelinda. Her work was realistic so Charlie liked it too. Her subjects are mostly horses but she also depicts American Indians in native dress. Those paintings and lots of others were stunning. I would love to just have pictures of them. Oh well. After visiting the cathedral, Charlie took a break and I did some shopping. Charlie hung out in the Plaza and listened to some street musicians, and watched a cowboy with two blue heelers pose for pictures. One of the dogs was content to hang on the saddle in a bag. Charlie also struck up a conversation with a retired Air Force officer; so he did okay while I was off spending money. I walked up behind Charlie just as he was calling me on the phone to see if I was ready to go. We were both ready to head back to the bus stop since I had walked myself out, and Charlie had run out of things to do in the Plaza. Sunday morning we got an early start and headed for the Bandelier National Monument. I suppose it is a monument, but it is also a forest with camping. We were too early for camping, but we hiked up to the ruins of cliff dwellings that were occupied by Indians four hundred years ago. The ruins were first occupied about 1250 A.D. The houses might have held between 1,500 and 2,000 people. It is not known why they abandoned the cliffs. It was a fairly long climb with lots of steps to get up to the dwellings. There were some beautiful rock formations near the cliffs too. I took my walking stick along, and Charlie took lots of pictures. Because he takes so many pictures, it is hard for me to pick only one or two to represent the places we have visited. So, instead I pick 15 or 20 pictures! I have started a second slideshow album because the first one has gotten so big. I hope you are enjoying reading our notes and looking at the pictures as much as I am enjoying putting them on the blog. I know it is a lot of stuff but I can't seem to help myself. We kept driving north and went through Los Alamos. We actually drove onto the main facility after being stopped and searched at the gate. The guard said they conduct random searches but that they target RVs! The road we were on took us right through, we did not intend to go there. We then drove on to the town and stopped at the science museum. I watched a couple of short films about the stewardship of America's nuclear weapons and the history of Los Alamos. Charlie slept through one and he didn't show up for the other. There were lots of interactive exhibits, and I think he enjoyed those. We drove and drove through more mountains and went through Taos to a campground in Questa New Mexico. On the way the cruise control quit working. What in the world will happen next? Actually, what happened next was Charlie topped off our water tank at the Questa campground and then saw that there are clumps of dirt in the campground's water. So now we can't drink the water in our tank. We didn't drink it anyway, but now we really can't. About the only good thing we can say about the RV now is that it is comfortable to sleep in. That is important though. The Questa campground is kind of like camping in someone's backyard. In fact that is what we are doing. There are a few other campers here, a couple of them are permanent. We are at 7,461 feet here and we have some nice mountain views. There is some snow on the mountaintops, and it is cold here too. At first we didn't have wifi but they fixed it so now we are both sitting here on the Internet waiting for it to warm up outside.

May 7 to May 8

2009-05-09T11:03:00.002-04:00

Okay so now we have seen a film about the Salinas Pueblo Missions at the Park Service Station, and we have a better understanding of what they are about. In the 1500s the Pueblo Indians were living here and were thriving. They had a rich spiritual life and knew and worked within that which was provided to them in their environment. Then the Spanish conquered New Mexico, and in 1598, Juan de Onate came to New Mexico to start a permanent colony. Salt was considered one of the riches of New Mexico but other riches (mines) failed to materialize, and agriculture was difficult in the harsh climate. Relations with the Pueblo Indians soured when they tried to collect tributes to the Spanish Crown. Since it was not profitable, the Spaniards left, but the Pope charged Spain with Christianizing the natives of the new world. So Spain decided to maintain the colony as a missionary effort. The Pueblo Indians built the missions and paid tribute to the Franciscans. In the end cultural conflict and natural disaster devastated the Salinas Pueblos. Drought, wide spread famine, and recurring epidemics decimated the population. The Salinas Pueblos were abandoned during the 1670s, and the surviving Indians went to live elsewhere. On Thursday we visited the Gran Quivira ruins, took lots of pictures, and then drove back through Mountainair and stopped in the grocery store (no Wal-Marts in sight). We went into an art gallery and saw some beautiful pieces but most would be too fragile to travel with us, so I was not too sorely tempted. I did buy a metal ornament though. Mountainair may be a tiny town with no good restaurant, but it does have a mural on a building similar to the murals in Lake Placid Florida. There were cars parked in front of it so Charlie only got a picture of part it. I posted it here. We left there and went up into the Manzanos Mountains to camp in the state park. There are trees! It was a nice quiet campground and much cooler up there. We hoped Charlie would catch up on some sleep. No Internet, that may have helped. The camp is at 7,307 feet. We took Toby for a short walk but he kept wanting to turn around. I don't know if he was tired from the afternoon in the heat at the Pueblo ruins, or if the altitude was bothering him. Whatever, he ain't a puppy no more. We listened to the wind blow hard all night long. The RV was rocking and we could hear it even with the windows closed. On Friday morning we went to the Abo ruins, the third and last of the Salinas Pueblo monuments. The Abo ruins are red like the first ones we saw (Quarai). It was nice and cool and it was a fairly level walk around a lot of ruins with some nice far away views. We took lots of pictures again. We met up with the same park ranger who was at Quarai. Charlie talked with her a little bit. She was born and raised close to Quarai. At Quarai she was hoeing the dirt to get the weeds and grass cleared out of the area inside the ruins. Charlie said she needed to use Round Up, but she said it is not allowed! The breeze was making the barbed wire sing in a nearby field. I thought it was a pretty sound, Charlie thought it was spooky! Then we went about 30 miles west where there was an RV park on the Passport America list. But since it was so early, and they didn't have trail rides for people without horses, we drove on up to Santa Fe. We drove all over downtown on tiny streets with lots of pedestrians walking in the streets taking pictures or talking on their phones. It was making Charlie crazy! He finally found a place to pull over and tried to find an RV park on the GPS but couldn't. So we drove on and I finally spotted the Trailer Ranch RV Resort, so he pulled in there. This RV park is five miles from the heart of historic downtown Santa Fe, and we can catch a bus that will take us downtown. The bus stop is just a short walk from our RV. It took over an hour to get settled in, then we caught the bus to downtown. We visited two museums that are free on Friday evenings. I enjoy the art, and Charlie does think some of it is very good and interesting. We looked for a restaurant, but they were either too expensive with stuff on the menu we couldn't pronounce, or the wait was for over a hour. So we took the bus back and met another couple heading back to the RV park. They are from Carlsbad California, not Florida! Mostly Charlie talked to him, Jim Wood, about investing and about his financial guru, Clark Howard. Saturday we will head back downtown for most of the day, and then stay here another night. Toby seems to have done fine while we were gone Friday evening. He will probably not miss more traveling on Saturday, even though he will be alone in the RV most of the day. The temperature here is fairly mild so he will be comfortable in the RV with the windows and vents open. The latest on the RV is that the speaker above my bed nearly fell during our ride to Santa Fe. It was hanging on by one screw, and there was crud all over my bed. Charlie has a speaker hanging over his bed too. I hope it does not fall on his head. This RV is an adventure unto itself!

May 5 to May 7

2009-05-07T10:49:00.004-04:00

When we went to Carlsbad Caverns a few days ago we had to kennel Toby while we were there. We had to do the same last time and I really hated it. But if you leave your pet in your vehicle unattended you can get a ticket. So we did it. Toby is usually cooperative about such things, but not this time. While I was putting him in the crate he escaped and just ran. He couldn't get out of the room but he had high hopes. Once I got him in there the second time, he kept pushing against the door as I was trying to latch it. We did not leave him as long this time and he didn't seem to hold a grudge. But I don't want to do that again! Meanwhile out in the parking lot, another RV had its generator and air conditioner running with barking dogs inside. Oh well, at least they were kept cool. We took the elevator down into the cavern instead of walking down. It saved a lot of time, and besides we had done the spiral descent last time. The cavern floor is 750 feet below the ground, and the elevator brings you down to a shopping and restaurant area. Also there are restrooms there. Charlie was fascinated by the mens room because the cave walls pop through the normal walls of the room. This time he took pictures and I posted one here. Returning to the cavern was okay, but I was not fascinated like I was the first time. Carlsbad Caverns are spectacular, it is so big, and the formations are huge and colorful. But I must admit that caves are not really my thing. Charlie liked it though. Charlie has begun checking the elevation of everywhere we go. His Garmin indicated that Carlsbad is at 4,388 feet. We were surprised it is that high. We left the caverns and headed to an RV campground where we stayed before. It has an indoor pool and a couple of dog yards, a petting zoo, turtles on display, and playgrounds and a playroom for kids. There were lots of kids. But, just our luck the pool was closed due to a broken pump. So, we got on the Internet instead, I read, and Toby and I did a lot of walking around the camp. I wanted to see Roswell the next day, and even though he was not interested, Charlie was a good sport and took me there. I am not into all that jazz, but what would such a town be like? We found out that Roswell is a town with a theme, and that is the little alien face. The alien face was represented in every store no matter what they were selling. A furniture store had alien dummies sitting on chairs in the front window. Even Wal-Mart had the alien face and a flying saucer painted on either side of the Wal-Mart sign! We visited the UFO Museum and Research Center in the middle of town. We picked up a little green man, a little blue man, and a magnet, and we were on our way. From there we went to the Bottomless Lakes State Park outside of Roswell. There are seven small lakes bordered by high red bluffs. The park offers hiking, swimming, fishing, and scuba diving. The lakes' greenish-blue color creates the illusion that the lakes are bottomless, but they range in depth from 17 feet to 90 feet. In 1933 the bottomless lakes area was set aside as New Mexico's first state park. Lea Lake is the deepest lake and is the only one where swimming is allowed. It appeared that a couple of the lakes were dry, but we were hoping to swim at Lea Lake. Charlie tried, but it was way to cold for me. There was a nice beach though. Charlie spotted a camper that was similar to one he had seen for sale on Craig's List. This one is a Mercedes truck that was converted into a camper. The owners brought it over from Germany and they are touring the U.S. It does not have air conditioning. See the picture I posted. Charlie was awakened at 3am when a guy came into the campground and set up his tent near us. He had an old caprice running with the headlights on so he could pound in a whole bunch of stakes to setup this big cabin tent. He was up by 7am and dropped the tent so the wind wouldn't tear it up, and then he left. I slept through it all. Charlie may have been wakeful because he was worried about the security of the park. When we arrived, a park ranger was racing from the park office to the campground. When we drove by he and another ranger were checking out a real big fifth wheel. It looked like someone had broken into it because there were 3 windows missing. An older couple are the camp hosts staying near the entrance to the campground and the beach. We don't think they were taking much notice of who comes and goes. Charlie wrote... “The camp host said they got more RVers this year already than they did all season last year. It's funny how people will buy these big rigs that depreciate thousands each year, and yet they won't take them out and spend a few thousand more for fuel when the prices get high. It makes me wonder how tight their budget is and that maybe they are paying $500 a month for an RV, and they don't have anything left for higher priced fuel. It would kill me to see that expensive thing just sitting there. I guess most of them have a 10 year or more loan on the RV and are so upside down they think they are stuck. Maybe my kind of thinking will keep me from getting robbed. I will only have an RV or trailer so old that it looks like I'm just one of the poor folks living in the park; no flat screens or anything else of big value to pilfer. The crooks are right. I think Toby's dog treats are worth almost as much as anything else in this RV. Have you seen the fancy containers they come in?”.....Ha Ha Charlie! We left the park and headed further north. We went through lots of mostly open plains. It was all fenced along the road and we saw some cattle and once a few antelope. We went through the town of Vaughn and got gas, but there was nothing else there, so once we were out of town we pulled off the road and ate lunch. Charlie aimed for another Passport America campground called Turner Inn and RV Park in Mountainair, New Mexico. Charlie said when we get there he might have to turn me in. Turner Inn --- Turn Her In. Ha Ha again Charlie! We got to Mountainair early so we paid for the night and then drove on to one of three Salinas Pueblo Missions. We visited Quarai which was a thriving pueblo when Onate approached it in 1598 to accept its oath of allegiance to Spain. Three of Quarai's Spanish priests were head of the New Mexico inquisition during the 1600's, including Fray Estevan de Perea, Custodian of the Franciscan order in the Salinas Jurisdiction and called by one historian the “Father of the New Mexican Church”. Quarai was abandoned 50 years after it was built. We toured the ruins with Toby and got lots of great pictures, I only posted a few here. Salinas is a tiny old town and we could not spot any restaurants so when we stopped at the Post Office I asked if they could recommend a good restaurant. The ladies just laughed, so I said well how about any restaurant. They mentioned the hotel, but it was not exactly a recommendation, so we headed for our campsite. We are at about 5,900 feet and just about exactly in the middle of the state. Our camp is next to a highway, though it is not well traveled, and beyond that is a train track. Lots of freight trains came through all day and all night. We both stayed up late but then I didn't hear a thing after I went to sleep. Charlie was kept up most of the night I think. So this morning we are taking it easy and planning our next move.

May 1 to May 4

2009-05-04T23:36:00.005-04:00

On Friday we visited the U.S.S. Lexington in Corpus Christi. We entered the ship on the hanger deck, a huge open area where they worked on the planes. There were many exhibits throughout the ship, but on the hanger deck there was a ship's store, a cafe, and a large theater where we watched one of two movies included in the admission price. We explored the flight deck and below decks too. We were told it would take four hours to really see it all, but we did not feel we had that much time since Toby was in the RV under the same bridge where we parked when we went to the aquarium. Charlie was a little disappointed because the whole ship was converted to a museum and there were very few areas that were as they had been when it was an active ship. But the shear size of it was impressive, and we learned some of the history of the Lexington and her crew, about other ships, and about Pearl Harbor. So it was a great experience. We were thinking of visiting San Antonio but the big city was rather daunting when it came to the RV and keeping Toby comfortable. So we went on to Fort Stockton on Saturday. Charlie sent another e-mail to David after we arrived in Fort Stockton, TX, so I am copying from him again.... “The air sure feels and breathes great here. Its warm but it will cool down a lot after dark. Its 9pm now in Florida, but its almost sunny enough to get a tan here. I have to get a gas cap tomorrow, I left it on the pump. I hope I didn't loose too much gas. Now it's up to $2.05. This is mostly a mobile home park with way more space than usual between the homes. A 2 acre corner of the park is for the RVers. Its a good spot for 14 bucks. It was humid all the way past San Antonio for maybe 100 miles and was even drizzling. Then slowly the clouds thinned and the land looked dryer. Our neighbor that pulled in after us is traveling circle ways around the country, they started in Wisconsin back a few months ago, must have been to California already, and are now heading to Florida and then home. They are older and have been doing this for years and have had a bunch of different trailers and SUV's. Now they have a suburban and are pulling a thirty foot Dutchmen trailer that the guy says has given him nothing but trouble since it was new. He says he is almost ready to junk it. He is getting better than 9 mpg with a lot more room than we have though; plus he has something smaller to drive to sightsee. That's the way I may be going but I'm going to do a lot of research and thorough inspections of any trailer. This RV is comfortable to stay in but the seats are very tiring to sit in longer than 4 hours, and its real hard to see from a left side angle when I have to yield.” ...... Then today Charlie wrote.... “We went in the Carlsbad Caverns for almost 2 hours and did the big room loop. That's the best part of the caverns. I got our parks pass there for 80 bucks and that covered the 12 buck entrance fee. Now I have to take advantage of it and I don't have any national park visits planned other than Mammoth Caverns in Kentucky. Our neighbors last night are from Sebastian, Florida. Ron is a retired Florida Highway Patrolman and Cindy works part time. They have a 13 year old male dog named Cisco who is one third wolf and half white shepherd. He has hip displasia and they have a ramp for him to get in the nice sized fifth wheel. They also get around 9 mpg and have a GM truck which I think is a 2 ton four door. Now we are at the Carlsbad RV Park where stayed 2 years ago. Its hot and I hope the amps are high enough for the air conditioner thats running now. It seems slow. This morning I defrosted the fridge because it wasn't chilling in the lower part enough and there was a lot of frost. It defrosted pretty fast, under 3 hours, and now its working good but I smelled something funny after we got hooked up. It smelled like ammonia and I had heard a faint bubbling sound as the fridge was defrosting. Hopefully its nothing. Tomorrow I think we will go to another state park near Roswell called Bottomless Lake State Park. Leigh got the brochure on it, it looks interesting, and we haven't been to Roswell before. We won't have Internet there”...... The fridge and Air conditioner are working okay so far tonight. We are meeting a lot of people from Florida!

April 28 to April 30

2009-04-30T18:31:00.007-04:00

Monday, April 27 we looked around Rockport a little bit and took some pictures at the beach on Aransas Bay. We tried to go to the Texas Maritime Museum and an aquarium but they were both closed Mondays, so instead we found some interesting fountains and sculptures and took pictures. Then we headed south and east through Aransas Pass. It was getting late for lunch so we started looking for a Subway. We drove and drove but no luck, so we looked for a restaurant that could accommodate our big old RV, no luck again. Charlie found a seafood restaurant on the Garmin but when we got there it was a stinky seafood market...the restaurant was gone. We started talking with this old guy who recommended we take the ferry to Mustang Island and go to a place that he couldn't name but he described it's location. We were going that way anyway so we took the ferry (it was free!) and found the restaurant. It was excellent. Charlie had tuna and I had coconut shrimp. We ate outside overlooking a marina. The restaurant is Trout Creek Bar and Grill, if you are ever in the neighborhood I recommend it. Charlie had mentioned to the old guy that we are retired and he asked Charlie how old he is. Charlie said 58, and the old guy said he is 55! Well, maybe the old guy is not so old after all. We continued south to Padre Island and then back west over the intracoastal to Corpus Christi. We stayed at Colonia Del Rey RV Park. They had a pool but it was closed, it was kinda green so I wasn't really interested anyway. Tuesday morning the pool was open, still green, still not interested. It was a nice enough park though and we hung out awhile and then went to the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi. They had dolphin, bird, and otter shows, and we watched a diver feed some fish. There were at least three groups of 7, 8, and 9 year olds so it was a noisy experience! We took a break in the RV for lunch and when we went back in most of the children were gone. It is in the high 80's here, but we were able to park the RV under a bridge so Toby kept cool in the shade. The only cross breeze in the RV was over our beds, so Toby was on Charlie's bed when we came back at lunch and at the end of the day. I have broken two windows the same way so far. The windows slide open and when I pulled the window open, the frame and lock broke completely off. We can still shove them open and shut, but we can't lock them now. Then yesterday when we were riding down the road the windshield wipers suddenly started up, stopped, and started up again. Charlie said “I am not doing it!” If we can make this whole trip without breaking into pieces we will be lucky! Where this RV is concerned, we are taking it one day at a time. Another minor problem Charlie is having is his computer. Before we left home he left the laptop on the floor and it got slightly squashed under Natalie's lift chair. The result was the screen was all black up in the corner but it had mostly cleared up before we left home. Now a big old black jagged line has marched across the screen and it looks like it is going to stay. So we may be computer shopping in the next few days. Oh well. Tonight we are staying in Corpus Christi again and this park has a very nice clean pool. I went swimming but Charlie just kept me company. The sun was not shining and it was a little windy. They said the pool was 80 degrees, and I guess it was but I could only stay in for about 20 minutes. Wednesday morning we headed back to Mustang Island to stay in the state park. Mustang is a mostly undeveloped barrier island habitat. It is a long thin strand of land with the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Corpus Christi Bay on the other. Kind of like Merritt Island. We got a camping spot about 75 yards from the gulf as described on the web. There was a catch though. There are scrub covered dunes between the campsite and the gulf so we had to walk about half a mile back down the road towards the state park office (and the facilities) and then out to the beach. The sun was hot in the afternoon so we left Toby in the RV with the A/C and made the walk. It is a wide white sandy beach with lots of seaweed everywhere. It was very windy and so the gulf looked and sounded like the ocean on a rough day. There were a few people trying to swim but they were not out very far. There were just a handful of people on the beach including a three or four year old who took off for the parking lot with his Mother in pursuit. She wasn't moving too fast but he was, luckily he wasn't headed for the gulf. We found some shade at a picnic table that was more or less covered, and we sat awhile and took a few pictures. When we got back to the RV we were tuckered out. Charlie took a long nap and I read and napped. We went back to the beach with Toby just before the sun went down and had a wonderful long walk on the beach out to a couple of jetties. The sand was hard and easy to walk on and there were a couple of cars on the beach. Toby enjoyed trying to chase all the birds. Charlie is sending David Harrell e-mails and describing things, so I am posting some of what he wrote, he is saving me a lot of writing! Charlie wrote..... “It is 5 am here (Thursday) and I thought I would look at the pictures I took yesterday and I discovered that the state park has free wifi. I remember they have it at the rest areas in Texas. The park is not nearly as nice as Florida parks. The bathrooms are in rough condition but work and there aren't enough of them and they are far from our site. The wind is still real strong and the waves are those kind that start way out shallow and keep coming in, real rough and impossible to swim. The beach is about a half mile not 75 yards. We walked to the beach when we first got here and it was hot and tiring. We went back around 7 and took Toby with us for a long walk and it was nice, lots of seaweed spread all over though. Our neighbor pulled in late in a really big bus like RV towing a little storage trailer. I noticed letters plastered on the front that are in reverse mirror image so you can read them in your rear view mirror, they spell 'You DA Dad'. I thought it was going to be a senior, but no it was a guy with 8 kids. He looks barely 40 and there are some twins. The wife looked a little smaller than average, not like she had a lot of babies, so I looked closely at all the kids. Didn't look like any were adopted. They are from Indiana and have been all over the place. They all went to check the beach out and DA dad said they were disappointed there weren't many shells. They thought they would stay 6 days but would head out in the morning. Texas isn't the place for great beaches. He also commented that they just got back from Hawaii and didn't find many shells there either. I told him to go to Egypt by the Red Sea, I found at least 20 beautiful tiny shells in every handful of sand I picked up. I think if he believed me he's going to go because they have to be wealthy enough and there would be a lot of educational places for the kids. I'm not sure where we will go today, maybe back to Rockport and see the maritime museum that was closed Monday. There is even a little aquarium right near it. The HEB Supermarket was huge in Corpus. They had employees at various stations hawking products like at Sam's. The prices overall were almost as good as Wal-mart and with three times the selection on a lot of things. Their food section is at least twice as big as Wal-mart and is eighty percent of the floor space. I tried their own brand of apricot chunks in pineapple juice in a pop top can, I want a whole bunch more, it was 89 cents.” ..... We did go back to Rockport by way of the ferry, and visited the maritime museum, but the aquarium was still closed. Will post pics of the museum next time. Tonight, Thursday, we are staying at the Circle W RV Ranch 'A gated retirement community'. They have an indoor pool in a quonset hut style building. I enjoyed the pool, and Charlie got in for a few minutes but had to go back to the RV. He had a sticker in his foot. Ever since we have been in Texas Toby has been attracting stickers like a magnet, and they get in the carpet in the RV. It is hard to keep up with and really hurt even when they don't go in the foot. Charlie's sticker was tiny but we got it out, I hope. Don't know where we are headed tomorrow. More later!

April 22 to April 27

2009-04-27T11:43:00.003-04:00

On Thursday morning we left Magic River and drove down to the bay and along US 80 and the white sandy beach toward Bay St. Louis. We had been near Pass Christian, MS, 28 miles from the Louisiana state line. There were many vacant lots for sale and beat up live oaks opposite the bay on US 80. Probably from Katrina, since there were sidewalks and steps on the vacant lots. We drove through Louisiana on high roads across the bayou. The bayou looked like a flooded forest, very pretty. We stayed in Texas at the Gulf Coast RV Resort. I swam in the pool there and we met a masseuse. We established we were both from Florida and then I said Titusville, and she looked at me funny and I said near KSC, and she said she had heard of it, she is from Melbourne! Ha! Friday morning we met her husband, also a masseuse, at the free breakfast. They were nice people. Before we got there we tried another park, and this is what Charlie wrote about it in an e-mail to David. He may have exaggerated a little........”We are in Beaumont TX at the Gulf Coast RV Resort, a really nice place. it has almost everything and a free breakfast. and it's half price at $17.50. Got gas at $1.869 and saw it a few cents cheaper. Still getting 7 plus or minus a few tenths gallons per mile. I just drove all day not counting shopping at Wal-mart. Tomorrow we will be at Leigh's cousin's ranch near Karnes City. I don't know how long we will stay but we may go on from there to the gulf around Corpus Christi. We did try an RV park off the beaten track that was almost 100 miles east of here and it was really bad so I moved on. It was also a Passport America member and was going to cost $13.50. It had nothing extra to offer other than loose rabid dogs and hells angels gangsters. It was worth the push through the traffic to get here and closer to Karnes City.”....... On Friday afternoon we arrived in Karnes City. But even with the GPS we could not find the road to Jeanne's ranch so she came and got us. She looks great and surely does fit in with the lifestyle she has chosen. Jeanne has 16 acres and has been working with her good friend John, who also has a place on her ranch, to clear it of brush. About 2.5 acres are cleared and green and we parked our RV under a huge live oak known as the hangin tree. A lot of wildlife passes through including turkeys, coyotes, a cougar, and javelinas. Javelinas look like boars but are related to the hippo. A whole clan came through two of the evenings we were there. Jeanne feeds everything on her property with corn and sweet feed. She says the squirrels are so fat they can barely climb the trees. Jeanne might exaggerate a little too. We had a good visit and talked about everything under the sun. We went to a local restaurant called Jerry B's and I had chicken-fried steak. I have always wanted to try it and this seemed like the place to do it. It was excellent, and they served a lot of food. Charlie had a chicken-fried chicken salad, and he enjoyed that too. Although John and Jeanne offered us the use of a bedroom at his place, we stuck with the RV like we did at the Morgan's. We plugged in but did not need to run the A/C the first two nights we were there. The weather was mild, and sometimes windy which made for good sleeping. Jeanne and John each have a Chihuahua. Jeanne's Simon was not happy to see us, in fact he is kind of a maniac where company is concerned, and Toby just sent him over the edge. So whenever company is at Jeanne's place Simon stays with John and his little dog Sandy. Sandy didn't like us either but she tolerated my petting her. It seemed she was just backing up Simon. On Friday we went to an old time grocery store named Looney's, a family name. We picked up steaks and ice cream for a bar-b-que. Looney's was the kind of place I had been to in the hills of West Virginia years ago. Charlie was reminded of the little stores in the Caribbean, but this was a big store that had everything. It had a rough floor and lots of personality. We went to the bar-b-que Friday evening at Jeanne's only neighbors on her road. Toby stayed in Jeanne's place whenever we left him rather than in the RV. Glenda is a schoolteacher and Tom is an electrician who was a big help getting Jeanne setup when she moved up there from Corpus Christi. They, the Bakers, are on top of a hill and they have a great view. They are hard workers and are still in the process of getting their place finished. They are temporarily living in a 5th wheel camper and are remodeling their home. They almost have the kitchen, front room, and one bedroom and bath done, and hope to move in this summer. They are very nice 'salt of the earth' folks who made us feel very welcome. They have 5 dogs, three horses, and a bunch of goats, including a new baby goat that Jeanne delivered a few days ago. Jeanne did the job since she has the smallest hands. We really enjoyed being outside amongst the animals watching their antics and eating great food. They fixed chicken for Charlie and the rest of us had steaks and threw the steak bones to the dogs. Five steak bones to five dogs....it worked out perfect. I especially liked a dog named Beans who would lie down with all four feet in the air in front of anyone anytime anywhere hoping for a pet. Beans got my steak bone. John made potato salad and fixed corn on the cob and Jeanne brought salad and other stuff, we contributed a few dollars to the meal. We sat and visited until 10 o'clock. Charlie and I were given a real feel for what living here is all about. Neighbors working together, helping and depending on each other, and being outdoors most of the time. Jeanne has had chickens and goats in the past year or so, but she doesn't have any livestock right now. She has plans to get laying hens one day soon. She also has plans to build two blinds in the brush for photography. Jeanne is a retired Navy Corpsman, her expertise is in the medical field, and she works with an organization that gives medical care in Guatemala every year. She is going there in June to survey the villages. She is also a professional photographer, though she is not in business now. She did sports photography and worked for PBS. We hung out together with Jeanne and John all day Saturday and had a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant. We visited an old court house/school house, post office, and barn in Helena; all are historical landmarks from the 1800's. Finally we visited a beautiful old Catholic Church that was open even though no one was around. We saw a lot of cows, including longhorns, and a huge bull just stared back at us when we stopped to look at him. It seemed like the cattle were always looking at us as we drove by. Beautiful cactus with yellow blooms were along the edge of most of the pastures. We left Jeanne's on Sunday afternoon and headed for Rockport which is south and near Corpus Christi. It was a very windy ride and a bare landscape most of the way. Charlie drove quite a bit below the 70 mph speed limit because of the wind. We weren't, but it seemed like we were on the shoulder of the road the whole way so traffic could get around us. Jeanne told us that is how they drive on two lane roads in Texas. The shoulder is as smooth as the rest of the road, so it is okay to move over, you just have to be careful you don't run completely off the road. We stopped at Wal-Mart (as usual) in Beesville and got gas there. We arrived at the Ancient Oaks RV Resort about 15 minutes after the office closed so we didn't get the code to get on the Wifi and the combo for the bathroom till this morning. We are still using the porta potty because the black water tank still leaks. Oh well, we will probably not get the tank pipe fixed till after we get home. It is not all that bad. We did use the heated pool last night so we got a little exercise. We have cable too. It was windy all night so we had all the windows open and it was good sleeping. Today is Monday and we plan to go to the Maritime Museum, the aquarium, and tour a ship. More later. PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOYCE!

April 17 to April 21

2009-04-21T23:43:00.005-04:00

We finally got going Friday morning at 11 am April 17, 2009. We were delayed getting started because Charlie got the flu at the end of February, the same day Joyce, Larry, and Mom left our house for home. The flu left Charlie with his asthma and it took a long time before he was feeling good again. Then we needed to get the RV repaired. So we left on Friday and drove up to Tallahassee to visit my second cousin Ann Morgan, her husband David, and my third cousin Becky who is our age. They have a beautiful place and an ideal living arrangement. Their single family house is really two separate living quarters including separate kitchens and master bedrooms. Becky also has two additional bedrooms. They have a couple of acres with wonderful live oaks, and they have plans for a greenhouse for Becky's orchids, a vegetable garden, fish pond, and fruit trees. They have been there since July 2008 and they are enjoying their big screened porch that adjoins both sides of the house. Toby made himself right at home. He took advantage of the fenced yard and the doggie door from the porch to the yard. Just like home, only better! It was so great to spend time with Ann, David, and Becky. We haven't seen each other in over 25 years, and they are just as I remembered them. They were so nice to Joyce and me when we were kids spending the summer with Gramma in North Port. I really enjoyed their company back then and it was the same on this visit. Ann has kept in touch with us over the years and I am so glad she was kind enough to do that. Our first evening there, David grilled chicken and shrimp kabob and we had lots of vegetables and a different kind of coleslaw that was all good. We shared a little family tree information; an interest of David's. I was particularly interested to learn about an ancestor on my Great Grandmother's side. Allen Wylie Prather was a Colonel of the 120th Indiana Volunteers in the Civil War. He was born January 15, 1836 and died November 19, 1891. He was wounded in the battle of Franklin, TN on November 30, 1864, by concussion of a shell, leaving him paralyzed on the right side, and leading to dropsy which eventually caused his death. He is buried in grave 82 of the Civil War section of Arlington National Cemetery. Next time we go to Arlington we will visit his grave. Saturday morning we looked at family pictures that Ann has and that I brought along on my computer. I was able to copy the pictures onto a CD for Ann, most of those pictures belonged to Gramma Terry. There are a number of people in the pictures that I don't recognize. Ann helped with some, but most remain unidentified. Oh well. The Morgans had another guest for the weekend. Raphael, a friend of Becky's. Becky raises and shows orchids and there was a show in Tallahassee that weekend. Raphael is from Sarasota and he is in the orchid business. He has a large facility in Sarasota, 15, 000 square feet of orchids. Raphael and his family also have acres of orchids in Venezuela. I would like to see that! Becky and Raphael went to the show at 7:30am and we went later in the day. It is quite something to see so many varieties of orchids at one time. Becky and Ann and David took us to Wakulla Springs, but first we went to lunch at a Greek restaurant. The food was great and I learned that Gyro is pronounced 'hero'. How come I didn't know that? Anyway, that is what I had and we all enjoyed our lunch. The Wakulla Springs were very interesting and there were lots of young people swimming and jumping off a high platform. They must have been northerners, the water was cold! We had a nice boat trip and saw lots of wildlife including birds, gators and turtles. There was a great variety of birds. The Morgans say that the experience is always different especially when the birds are migrating. Becky bought me my first magnet of the trip so I am starting a new collection. Then at Charlie's request they took us into Tallahassee to get a look at the capitul. We took pictures of the capitol building and the dolphin fountain. The fountain was beautiful with the water shining in the sun. Before we headed home we ate out again at a small family Italian restaurant called Mom and Dad's. That was good too. Boy did we eat good that day! When we got back we looked at family pictures again and visited and then Raphael came back and we visited with him too. Becky and I took Toby for a walk and we all had a good time. Sunday morning Raphael made blueberry pancakes and we had bacon too. When I got up I noticed that the fridge in the RV did not seem cold enough, in fact my breakfast drink was not cold at all. Charlie was sound asleep so Toby and I went in the house and left Charlie to discover the problem. Just as we sat down to eat Charlie came in and said we have two problems. The fridge is not working and our black water is leaking! I was mortified. The water is treated and there was not that much on the ground...but oh how embarrassing. The Morgan's were gracious about it though. Another issue during our visit was Toby versus Becky's cats Lucky and Buzz. Becky kept the cats on her side of the house while Toby kept to the other side and the porch. They could see each other from the porch and at first all the staring was cute. But both Toby and Lucky, a beautiful black cat, were determined to get together. Toby managed it twice. The first time they had a little fight, but both were unscathed. The second time, Toby slipped by and got into Becky's house. Becky grabbed Lucky and Toby ran around and around while Charlie and I chased him. Buzz is mostly invisible and luckily Toby didn't see him. Finally I caught Toby and apologized on my way back to Ann and David's house. Although we tried, we were not exactly perfect guests. Anyway Charlie was concerned enough about the RV's problems that he thought we should head home instead of continuing our trip. Everyone was sympathetic to hear that. They even invited us back for when we do head out again. So I guess we weren't too much of a nuisance. We hung around until about 11am and then we headed back East. Becky gave me a sprig of Rosemary to sweeten up this old RV. We got about 80 miles away and stopped at a Wal-Mart for lunch. There, as hoped, we discovered the fridge was working again. Charlie asked if we got a porta potty, at least temporarily, if I would want to keep going instead of going back home. I said absolutely! So that is what we did. We turned around and headed back to the Florida Caverns in Marianna, west of Tallahassee. We got to the cavern park at about 4pm (one hour time change), but because of all the recent flooding there was no camping there. We went to the Arrowhead Campground which is private and sells and services RVs. So we spent the night and got the RV looked at in the morning. A young man said the black water pipe was not broken but had come apart at a seam. He glued it together and said it should hold. We hope so. Just to be safe we are using the porta potty for a few more days. We left there and stopped at a Wal-Mart (we can't seem to pass those up), then we went to the Florida Caverns. The caverns had also been closed due to flooding until the day before, and were only partially open now. They are always closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, so we hit it just right. There was a Korean church group from Macon, GA on our tour of the caverns and Charlie talked with them a little bit. It was not a long tour but the cavern was very pretty. We left the park and pulled to the side of the road, a sort of dead end behind some fast food restaurants and had lunch. We drove to Falling Waters State Park, still in Florida. We got a nice camping space but it was not quite level. The trouble with the fridge was probably due to parking for two days and nights without moving on a spot that was not level while running the fridge. So tonight we put the RV up on levelers (I didn't even know we had levelers), though it is still tipped a little bit. We took a walk with Toby down to the lake. There is a beach and a netted swimming area. We tried to take a short cut back to the camp but the trail got muddy....so we ended up with a longer walk back. This park is on a hill and the path was a climb to get back. This may be Florida but it sure doesn't seem like it. We saw a lot of pretty long leaf pines and other pines as well. Some areas were burned, but signs said it was done on purpose and very controlled in order to keep it a pine forest. Long leaf pines once covered 30 to 80 million acres from Virginia to Texas, but because they are so useful for building they have been reduced to about one million acres, so foresters are trying to cultivate them. They look like a bush when they start to grow, they grow straight up without branches, then finally they branch out. We got our showers today and we are getting used to this RV and getting better organized, even though we are still stuck with the porta potty. It fits in the bathroom for storage, but we can't use it in there. This morning, Tuesday, we got up early and took the trail down to Falling Waters. It is a 73 foot waterfall down into a sinkhole. It is a pretty amazing sight. A boardwalk takes you to the falls for some great views below the falls but high above the sinkhole. We walked another trail and then headed out. Now we are in Long Beach, MS. Haven't seen a beach but we are at a nice campground with a couple of lakes (more like ponds). It is called Magic River Resort, a rather grandiose name for what it is. But it is part of Passport America which we belong to so we got half price and wifi. I am finally posting these notes tonight. At the end of these days I am pretty tired so I don't know how well I can keep up with this. Note to Joyce: Feel better soon!

RV Trip 2007 Journal

2008-12-27T22:16:00.003-05:00

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

2008-12-26T21:14:00.000-05:00

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

2008-12-26T20:50:00.000-05:00

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