September 29, 2014 Tullahassee, AR to Memphis, TN

We had a MUCH quieter night last night! We did hear the cows mooing off and on through the night, but it was a much more pleasant sound than a diesel truck!

We were up and on the road by 9 this morning and on to our first stop, Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Miss Laura’s Visitor Center was the home to the infamous “queen” of the first bordello to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Of the seven houses on “The Row” in 1900, Miss Laura’s is the only survivor and has served as Fort Smith’s official Visitor Center since 1992. The visitor’s center has a free tour of the house which was built in 1896. Several of the pieces in the house are original, while others are from the time period that have been donated. It was quite interesting and worth the stop!

http://www.nps.gov/fosm/photosmultimedia/g_vt_08.htm

We followed the Riverwalk from the visitor’s center to the Fort Smith Historic Site. Along the walk are several information signs telling the history of the Trail of Tears and the two frontier forts. The rock foundations of the original fort are visible before crossing the railroad tracks to the current fort location which houses the historic jail and federal courthouse of Judge Isaac C. Parker.

We watched the 14 minute movie about the history of the fort, as well as information about Judge Parker.

Between 1873 and 1896, 86 men were hanged in 39 separate executions. The legend is that the gallows could hang 12 at a time, but the most actually executed at one time was six.


We had originally planned to stay near Fort Smith, but it was early – just after lunch, so we decided to continue east. Rather than taking the interstate highway the entire way, we followed State Highway 64 for a couple hours. It was really pretty and wound its way through several small towns and the Arkansas wine country. There was also very little traffic!

Eventually we got back on I-40 and ended up going all the way to Memphis! We are camping at the Graceland RV Park. Tobey was a little bummed … we didn’t pack his blue suede shoes! Oh well, we will tour Graceland and the Gibson Guitar Factory tomorrow.

September 28, 2014 Dodge City, KS to Core of Engineers Campground at Tullahasse, OK

What we thought would be a quiet spot to camp last night was anything but that! It turned out that every trucker heading to Dodge City must know about this place and several pulled in and out throughout the night. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but many of them were “refer” trucks who kept their large generators running to keep the refrigeration running. Oh, and did I mention there was a train track less than a mile south of the park … and the trains blast their horn before they come to the road??? When the alarm went off at 7 this morning, neither of us felt very rested. We were treated to a beautiful sunrise, however, so that helped ease the short night.
We stopped for breakfast near Mullinville, Kansas where a local metal works artist has made several political statements with his art. They line the highway for at least 1/2 mile!


In Wichita, KS we stopped at Exploration Point, which is located on the Arkansas River. There is a great river walk and a great opportunity for Penny to swim! The water below the spillway was actually too shallow in most spots for her to swim, but she had a great time splashing across the water to chase after sticks.

We continued our walk and crossed the river to see the Veteran’s Memorial Park. It was interesting to see the flags flown over the US, memorials to all branches of the service, and the brick sidewalk commemorating veteran’s from Wichita. Each brick was engraved with their names and dates of service.
Near another bridge is a sculpture of “The Keeper of the Plains,” created by Kiowa-Comanche artist Blackbear Bosin.

After a nice walk, we were back on the road. We passed several oil derricks and fields being plowed.

We also drove on several toll roads across Kansas and Oklahoma. I’m not sure if the funds keep the roads in better shape or not, but we contributed on small amount of money to the cause.

The camping area at Tullahassee is really quite nice. It is located on a lake with pretty level sites – and it is FREE!

We visited with the host and then Penny got to chase the tennis ball. When she decided she was too hot, she took off for the lake. Unfortunately, where she went in, the lake did not have a good in-out area and she couldn’t get back on the shore. Tobey and I had to make a mad dash through the brambles and stickers to help haul her out! We finally got her out and back on the leash and headed to the boat ramp for easier access. She chased her tennis ball a few times out and swam back before we hosed her off! She immediately rolled in the grass and we had to repeat the process!

We loaded back up in the RV and drove back to Hwy. 69 to Baker’s Fish House for dinner. We shared a fried catfish dinner and order of their famous onion rings. It was pretty good, but we have both had our share of fried foods for a while!

After we got back to our campsite, we took a walk around the loop. Tobey spotted a Sand Hill Crane on the shore. It was really cool to watch when it took off and flew across the lake!


The sunset was less dramatic tonight, but still quite beautiful.

We are back in the RV settling in for the night. Tobey spotted some fireflies outside the window which is something we don’t see in Colorado. The crickets and frogs are chirping and the cows from the neighboring farm are mooing. We are hoping for a much more restful night!

September 27, 2014 Fort Collins - Dodge City, Kansas

After our return from Santa Fe and Grand Junction a few weeks ago, we had some repairs to take care of on the RV. A couple calls to the local RV repair shops were disappointing – the earliest openings were at the end of October! Well, that wasn’t going to work, so Tobey tried Tim, the mobile RV repair guy, and he came out a few days later. We think he found the source of our leak – one of the front running lights was cracked so he replaced that and recaulked around it, as well as recaulking another seam on the cab. Let’s hope that does it! He also made a couple adjustments to the slide control in the refrigerator, took the top vent off and cleaned out a wasp nest, then resealed that. Tobey and Tyler took the microwave completely out and put in a new screw/attachment system so it shouldn’t jiggle loose again. We are waiting for some parts for the water pump, but it works okay, it’s just noisy.

So with most major repairs finished, we are on the road again! We are heading to Camp Cheerio near Sparta, North Carolina, where I am going to a quilting retreat. We got started about 8:30 this morning.

It is amazing how diverse the Colorado landscape is! East of I-25 the area certainly earns its name “Eastern Plains!” It is flat with little vegetation other than some tall grasses. This summer’s rain and hail storms look like they took a toll on the corn crops, also. Most of the fields were only abut knee-high!

Driving through Kansas we passed several cattle feed lots – oh the smell of money! In today’s newspaper there was an article saying to expect meat prices to continue rising. Maybe we should stop and see if we could pickup some beef here!
There are also large wind farms from Ingalls, Kansas extending beyond Dodge City. We have been fighting the wind all day and the turbines were all turning, generating lots of electricity. We had passed a truck hauling one of the tower sections – they are huge!

Just west of Dodge City we stopped at one of the historical markers for the Santa Fe Trail Tracks. Through the years, rain and wind have eroded many of the ruts, so we had to guess where the trail actually went. We enjoyed reading the interpretative signs while imagining how difficult it was for the freight wagons carrying goods over the 900 mile trail. It took anywhere from six to ten weeks, traveling between 18-21 miles per day! And to think that Tobey and I drove 420 miles in about 8 hours today.

We made a brief stop in Dodge City, but arrived too late to visit Front Street, a recreated street from the 1870s. During the summer they have characters dressed in costumes and stage gun fights for the tourists. We walked around a bit and saw Dodge City’s “walk of fame” with stars in the sidewalk for all the TV stars of “Gunsmoke”.

We are camped just outside of Dodge City at a roadside park that allows overnight camping. There is a trucker here, as well, and Penny barked her head off at his Daschund puppy! The trucker was friendly and we visited a while.

We were treated to a beautiful Kansas sunset while Tobey grilled our dinner.

We’ll settle in for the night and get a fairly early start in the morning.

September 9, 2014 Rifle Falls to Fort Collins

It rained off and on all night, but it had stopped when we got up this morning. We took Penny for a walk on the Squirrel Trail which starts off through the tent camping area. It was very pretty – a bit muddy – but pretty. When we got back to the RV the rain started up again while we were having breakfast and showers, so luck was with us.

We had to stop at the Rifle Gap campground since there was no dump station at Rifle Falls campground. Once again, the rain almost stopped while we were dumping and started up as we finished. All to prove Tobey’s saying “you’ve gotta get lucky once in a while”.

We took the county road past Harvey Gap State Park and back into New Castle and onto I-70 eastbound for Denver. It was a beautiful drive, even through the road was quite narrow and winding. The clouds hung in the valleys and, of course, it rained.
Back on I-70, we were able to increase our speed from 25mph so we could make pretty good time. We stopped near Vail Pass Summit for lunch.

We were surprised at how many trees at the 10,000 foot elevation were starting to sport their fall golds and reds. It was beautiful.
Near Frisco and the Eisenhower Tunnel we had road construction slowdowns, but Tobey brought us safely through it. We arrived home with a list of repairs to the RV that will need to be attended to …. the microwave jiggling loose, the refrigerator temperature not holding, and the leak to the front of the RV onto the bed reappearing. I guess every journey has a price!

September 6, 7, and 8, 2014 Santa Fe, NM to Cedaredge, Colorado to Rifle Falls State Park

We headed out at 7am today for Cedaredge to see my nephew and his family. After crossing into Colorado, near Conejos, we spotted a sign for the “the oldest church in Colorado,” so we made a quick turn to check it out.

The original church was built in 1863, but destroyed by fire in 1926. This church constructed in 1927, with and addition in 1948, sits on the land of the original church. The sign was misleading, but the stop was interesting.

Back on the road, we booked on down Highway 285 heading north. From Saguach to Gunnison we passed through beautiful winding forest roads and entered into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison area. The Gunnison River is beautiful and opens up into the reservoir.

We met up with my nephew, Jeff, in Delta, CO before going in to Grand Junction to celebrate my great-niece’s 21st birthday and meet her new baby boy who was born on August 14. We had a great time at Liz and Ken’s (Dana’s Mom) and enjoyed a great barbeque dinner and birthday party. We had fun seeing great-niece Elizabeth, meeting her husband, Nick and their new baby, Cashtion. (Isn’t it always confusing trying to keep family sorted out?!!)

After dinner, cupcakes, and birthday presents were opened, Jeff and Dana’s son, Nathan, (my 5 year old great-nephew) rode back to Cedaredge with us in the RV. We had the best time and Nathan chattered the entire trip back!

We were beat and got parked for the night next door to Jeff and Dana. Sunday morning we had a shared breakfast before taking a long walk with Nathan and Penny. Nathan has quickly learned his way around his new town! He showed us where the horses and cows live and how to get to the “Go-Fer” gas station and convenience store! When we got back, we all hopped in their car and we got the complete tour including the lot where they are going to build their house and Nathan’s school. He was really excited to show us the playground equipment and where his kindergarten classroom is located. We headed into Delta and had Chinese food for lunch before returning to Cedaredge and afternoon rest time. Tobey took Nathan and Penny for another long walk before dinner. We barbequed and had fun sitting outside enjoying the beautiful Colorado evening.
Penny loved Nathan and they had fun playing ball in the yard before bedtime. She was the happiest dog getting to take several walks and he had a good time holding the leash. We said our goodnights and goodbyes about 7:30 so he had time for his bath and bedtime since he had school today and they get an early start in the morning.

9-8-2014

Tobey and I were up and on the road around 8:30, and heading north to I-70. We went back west so we could stop in Palisade at a winery then on to Rifle Falls State Park. I have wanted to camp here for a long time so we thought this would be a good opportunity to check it out. The campground is about 10 miles north of I-70 and the town of Rifle It is really pretty! This is our campsite.

We had lunch then took a hike to the falls and up to the falls overlook – about 2/3 mile round trip. The falls spill over a limestone cliff that geologists think may have formed in the waters of a beaver dam.

In 1910, the town of Rifle built the Rifle Hydroelectric Plant at the falls which changed the creek’s natural flow from one wide waterfall into three falls that are there today. We hiked to the overlook then back down.

There are several limestone caves in the cliffs under the falls including a 90-foot room!

The large room looked like they had carved out benches where they might give ranger talks, but we couldn’t see any signs about it. Penny did get a chance to swim a little, but the water was quite swift so it was good she was wearing a harness so we could “reel her in”!

We played cards and relaxed tonight. Maybe a small hike in the morning before we have to hit the road for home.

September 4-5, 2014 - Santa Fe, NM

We slept in today – 8 am! After showers and breakfast of pancakes, we took a small hike from the campground.

It was a loop trail – about 1.3 miles round trip. It was really beautiful, some elevation gain, but Penny had a great time checking things out.

We returned to our beautiful campsite after the hike, got things put away, and headed into town.

We stopped at a McDonalds to use their WIFI, then headed back north to the Buffalo Thunder Resort to wait for Christoph and his friends to arrive.The guys got here around 4pm, and we visited for a while before we all went back into town for dinner. We ate at Tomasita’s Mexican Restaurant, which is widely known in the area. It is definitely a touristy place and was pretty crowded. We had a great time with Christoph, Jonas, and Matt.

After dinner we came back to the hotel. Tobey and the boys went off to the casino, while Penny and I took a walk before settling down for the evening.

September 5, 2014

On Friday morning we met the boys about 10 am and headed into town to see the main Plaza area. The “El Palacio Real” or Govenor’s Palace is located on the north side of the Plaza. The fortress/castle was built by the order of the Spanish crown between 1610-1612. It has been the seat of government under three flags – Spanish, Mexican, and American and has been the residence of over 100 governors and generals between 1610 to 1910. It is supposed to be the oldest public building in the United States. It is quite modest to look at, but I love the architecture! Local artisans were set up on small blankets in the shade along the Palace, selling jewelry and pottery.
Today is also the start of the Fiesta, so several streets were blocked off, food and craft booths set up, and entertainment on the stage.

We had fun looking at the architecture and made a stop at the St. Francis Cathedral which was constructed around 1886. The building was quite beautiful, both inside and out.

Matt and Jonas tried snow cones for the first time, while Christoph had some mango juice, and Tobey and I shared a horchata. It was pretty good and reminded us of the horchata we had in Mexico.
We watched the procession in to the main stage and the beginning of the opening ceremonies, before heading out.

We took the boys back up to the Black Canyon National Forest to hike.

It was the same hike we had done yesterday – except we continued a little further up the trail instead of turning at the loop. It looked like there had been a lightening strike and fire in the upper portion of the hike. There were a few downed, burned trees, but it must have been caught early because there was very little damage in the area.

There were some nice views, but the trail ends, so we turned around and came back, making about a 2 mile hike which was just enough for everyone!
After an afternoon nap and brief rain storm, we went back into town and had dinner at the Santa Fe Bites. We all had burgers and malts, which were pretty yummy. We took another stroll through the Fiesta and back to the hotel. We all visited the casino, and the boys walked away winners.

After a fun two days together, we said our goodbyes. We will head to Grand Junction, CO in the morning to see our nephew and his family and the boys get back on Route 66 toward Gallup, New Mexico.

September 3, 2014 Fort Collins to Santa Fe, NM

One of our German exchange students, Christoph, is back in the U.S. with a couple of his friends driving Route 66 from Chicago to California. Since Santa Fe is only about 7 hours from Fort Collins, we decided to meet up with them for a couple days.

We headed out at 6 this morning and pushed through the Denver rush hour traffic – thank goodness for the HOV lane! We were able to get past some of the most congested areas without too much trouble. After a short stop in Colorado Springs for breakfast and refueling, we were back on the road. We headed west from Walsenburg on Hwy. 160, then turned south so we could go through Taos.
Neither of us have ever been to Taos, so we parked and took Penny for a walk through the historic district.

It is a fun place with lots of artist’s studios, but it would take much more time than we had to really explore. Another trip!

We had several elevation climbs and fought cross and head winds, which made our little RV strain, but we made it! As we got closer to Santa Fe we noticed how cloudy/hazy it was off to the west and decided it must be from a forest fire. We’ll have to check it out when we have internet!

As we headed south on Highway 84 we went past “Camel Rock” – not to be confused with Camelback Mountain in Phoenix! It really did look like a camel taking a break.

We are camped at Black Canyon National Forest tonight. It’s a beautiful campground set in a tall pine forest and it is only $10 a night! Once we got set up, we took Penny for a walk and she tried so hard to catch the chipmunks, with no success. There’s always tomorrow!

Early bedtime for us tonight after a long day. We will see see what adventures tomorrow brings.