Mystic Lake and then some

Here is where we've been

June 20 Buffalo Campground – Targhee National Forest, Island Park, ID – beautiful setting

June 21 – Buffalo Crossing RV Park, West Yellowstone, Montana- right next to the park

June 22 – Bakers Hole Campground, Gallatin National Forest, West Yellowstone – beautiful setting on the Madison River

June 23-24 – Itch-Kep-Pe City Park Campground, Columbus, MT – No hookup but big sites and on the Yellowstone River

June 25-July 2 – Mountain Range RV Park, Columbus, MT -

July 3 -  Riverside Campground and RV Park – Belle Fouche, SD – Ugh. Dog poo. Crowded

July 4 – Happy Holiday RV Resort, Rapid City, SD – very crowded

July 5-8 – Fort Pierre Motel, Fort Pierre, SD – practical for fishing

When we leave Columbus today, I will take out a new color highlighter to trace our journey. July 1 is the anniversary of our journey. Two years ago we finished wrapping up our affairs in Illinois and headed north to begin putting together our life on the road.

On July 1, ten of us hiked back out of the mountains…. 3 miles around Mystic Lake then some steep switchbacks up the mountain and a long hike down-hill through rocks and switchbacks for another 3 miles till we were all safely back to the trail head. I measure success by the safe return of all the hikers and once more we all made it. Not that I’ve ever been on the trip when anyone was injured but in my imagination it could so easily happen. From the time that we begin planning a trip… in this case it was in September last year until everyone is safely down the mountain, I have some anxiety that increases in the weeks before the trip and doesn’t go away until we are all safely home. Now I can sleep soundly again.

Of course it is worth it. Mystic Lake never fails. We spent five days amidst indescribable beauty. I will let the pictures tell of that. We ate delicious trout cooked on an open fire. We took a day hike over to Silver Lake. We set up the cribbage board on a makeshift table under the tarp shelter that we built when it was raining. It didn’t rain too much so there wasn’t much cribbage played. Don found a couple of trout holes and they brought in 2 meals of delicious trout. These were bigger trout than we have ever caught up there. Nephew Andrew fed us with large pots of soup, cheese and salami in addition to the trout.

Here is what I wrote about the hike up the mountain the day after….

“Everything

        in the

     universe

     has

       rhythm.

Everything

            dances”

    Maya Angelou

That is the title of this journal. Today, 6/28/16 I am sitting on a log just down from our camp on Island Lake in Montana. On Sunday, 6/26 we made the hike up the mountain and around Mystic Lake and across the log jam to where we are now – Don, Ludwig, Greg, Kelly, Ken, Lori, Paige, Andrew, Stasha and myself. We are here till Friday, 7/1 when we will make the return trip – a trip of a lifetime. Eleven years ago when we came up last, I thought that I would never come back. I said to Greg that in 11 years, Edie will be Paige’s age and you can bring her here. I doubt I will make that trip. But we are here now.

There were doubts along the trail but today I think everyone is glad they came. If we can all return with no serious injury the trip will be an awesome success. That is my only criteria. So here I am at Island lake but I will address Mystic Lake which is always the name of this trip.

Mystic Lake,

We always brag on you when we extol this trip and you never fail. When we know our pack is too heavy, our shoulders and hips ache, our legs are so weak we don’t think we can take another switchback, we come around the corner and there you are below us, nestled down in the mountain, blue as blue. We can hear the whisper of the dam. Far below, we can see people sitting on your beach beckoning us down…blessed down. The switchbacks on this side are steep and rocky. We have to be careful with our tired legs but now we have gravity working for us. We go down to you with renewed vigor. We lay those cursed packs in a pile and go to our people for rest and the refreshment of your cold clear water. Now the dam is a roar and you welcome us. This is our reward for now.

And then comes the hard part. Our leader is not content to be here because on your other side beyond the log jam that separates you from Island Lake are beautiful level camp sites among the Fir and Lodgepole pines. Our hike is not over. So we trudge on somewhat renewed and hopeful because we got a drink of your fresh cold water. We can’t tarry too long as the day is getting late and we have to move along. Now we are getting discouraged again especially as the trail takes us up hill again for a while. We get another break at Huckleberry Bridge to give us one more boost before the last leg. We load up our packs and set our again – quiet and determined, most of us trying a little stoicism. Then we come to the log jam. Even for those of us who have done this before, we think, “This is STUPID!” But our leader, with the stoutest of our group has already found a way across and taken our youngest member. We have no other choice. Let me describe the log jam. That’s just what it is. Old dead trees have fallen in the lake and drifted to clog up the narrow river that runs from Island Lake into Mystic Lake. There is a small soggy island in the middle and on the other side of the island another log jam only longer. Many of the logs are solidly wedged together, some are floating and some are rotten. It is slow going but even the most novice of hikers who have made it this far can make it across.. if they take their time and have some guidance from the braver and more well balanced… and especially if one of them helps carry their pack, even though their legs are shaky from exhaustion. The sun is getting low and thank God the cook has found the firepit and has started a fire when the last of us finally straggle across. We can set up our tents, air up our sleeping pads and lay out our sleeping bags…. Heaven.

Then we can join the others around the camp fire and enjoy the fajitas made from steak and fresh vegetables thanks to Andrew and Stasha Switzer.

Now, Mystic Lake, you can continue your magic promise to restore us so that some day we will actually come back.

                                                                                        Love from the hikers

Our Billing's hosts, Bill and Carol Ruff

Fishing lessons

The log jam

A beautiful picture

Camp

Ken's fish

The after picture

Today, a week has passed since we came down from the Mountain and I am sitting in my camper in Pierre (pronounced peer), South Dakota. We’ve met up with some of our friends that we made in Texas, Ray and Cyndi who live in Omaha and their friends Harvey and Doreen who live in Belle Fouche, SD. 

We are at the Fort Pierre Motel where our friends are staying. We have full hook-ups here in the parking lot.  The reason we are here is because of the Walleye fishing which is good. The guys caught some walleye yesterday and we took them to a restaurant where they cooked our fish and served it to us along with a salad and potato. They are fishing again today and tomorrow so hopefully we will have some walleye in our freezer when we get home. While the guys are fishing, I’m doing some sightseeing and shopping with Doreen and Cyndi. I’m also checking out the Little Spa on the Prairie for a massage. We are here for 4 days then we will stop by our “home” in Madison, SD, pick up our mail, renew my library card and take care of our vehicle registration before we finally get to go home to Minnesota and Edie.  

Pierre is the second smallest state capital next to Montpelier, VT. The population is 13,600. Around here they have the Missouri River dammed up creating lakes in which they have a lot of fish. State government and walleye fishing are the only reasons for this town to be here. Tomorrow, we will tour the capital building and I will learn more about my state’s government. It seems like the right thing to do. I have seen no evidence that the legislature is in session so I expect not much to be going on. The town seems to be thriving with small businesses and shops downtown. I guess that goes with politicians, lobbyists and walleye fishermen. Their spouses and partners need something to do out here in the prairie. It’s actually nice to be back in the Midwest with big thunderstorms and a little moisture in the air.

Before all this happened, we spent some time at Yellowstone Park and enjoyed some waterfalls in Idaho on my birthday. Here are some pictures.

The view from the river walk in Idaho Falls, Idaho

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

SLC ----- Idaho

May 23-29 – KOA Salt Lake City, Utah

May 30-31 – Wasatch View Estates and RV Park, Ogden, Utah

June 1 – Chubbuck Wal-Mart Supercenter Parking Lot, Chubbock, Idaho

June 2-8 – Bannock County Fairgrounds, Pocatello, Idaho

June 9-13- Jefferson County Lake Campgrounds in Rigby, Idaho.

June 14-19 – Juniper Campground in Ririe, Idaho

June 3

So that is where we’ve been since I last posted. Today it is only June 3 and we plan to be here at the fairgrounds until next Wednesday. That’s our plan anyway. Today we have to fold up the camper and take it in to get the front end alignment done as one of our front tires is wearing unevenly. We are hopeful that this will make it safe for us to continue to Billings, MT where we will likely get all of our tires replaced as they are getting kind of old. This will cost as much as many of the cars that we have purchased in our life.

Since I last wrote, we’ve had some wonderful times. We stayed for a week at the KOA in Salt Lake City which is where Kelly and Jason came to see us. They flew in from Philadelphia on Friday, 5/27 and stayed until Monday. So we got to meet Jason and are pretty pleased that he seems to be a good guy and he really likes Kelly.

When we were traveling through southern Utah we moved frequently never staying in any one place for longer than 3 days. When we got to Salt Lake we stayed for a whole week at the KOA there and that was really nice. We’ve had quite a bit of time to fill since we came into Idaho so we stayed a week in Pocatello. There is not a lot going on there and we were ready to leave when we did. As we get closer to Yellowstone Park though it is harder to find places to stay. Many RV Parks are full. We found a county Park just north of Idaho Falls where we can stay for only 5 consecutive days. Since we don’t have sewer that’s about as long as we can stay in one spot anyway.

June 15

We moved about 15 miles to one of the nicest campgrounds we’ve stayed in. Juniper Campground is about 10 miles northeast of Idaho Falls on the Ririe Reservoir. The RV App, AllStays identifies the campground as being private but the sign up front identifies it as a Department of Interior land. The land is surrounding a good size reservoir. It has the amenities of a well run private RV park – large pull-throughs with full hook-ups, level paved pads, trees trimmed back. The huge amount of space between sites, the price ($18 per night) and the location away from major highways is more like we find in national forest campgrounds. We sit well above the lake which is bordered by a steep canyon with Juniper trees and sage brush framing the top in somewhat arid land. The campground is well irrigated with thick mowed lawns. In this part of Idaho it is easy to forget that this really is a pretty arid climate. There are acres and acres of fields in unending green vistas. Potatoes, wheat and hay with irrigation systems constantly pumping out water with any kind of sprinkler you can imagine. Water spraying into the air shooting out over the fields without regard for loss to evaporation there is so much of it. Eat your heart out California. The abundance of water from the Snake River and the aquifer beneath it make this land the farmer’s dream. To the east and the west, the snow topped mountains with rain clouds above them most afternoons are the lifeblood of this valley. A person could really live here. From where I’m sitting I can see across to the hilltop on the other side of the lake which has windmills lined up across the wheat fields. If you look at Google maps of where I am by Ririe, ID you can see huge green circles which are the fields where they use a sprinkler system which is stationary on one end with a pipe extending out about 2000 feet or so with water jets spraying along the pipe and ending with water shooting out the end another 50 feet (or so). This entire apparatus rotates around the stationary end creating perfect circles of green.

Choir Practice 

This post is likely to end up kind of disjointed since it has been so long since I last wrote. It seems like a long time ago that we spend a good week in Salt Lake City. We were able to get some shopping done and check out the city so that when Kelly and Jason arrived we had some suggestions as to what we should spend our time seeing. The KOA where we stayed is conveniently located by the Utah Transit Authority Green Line for an easy train ride to Temple Square.

We used that when we went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsal on Thursday night and again on Saturday when we toured Temple Square with Kelly and Jason.

The Temple we could not enter

Kelly and me in the Great Salt Lake

We spend some hours getting to know the Church of the Latter Day Saints and touring their beautiful Temple grounds and then checking out their State Capitol and on Sunday we went to Antelope Island State Park in the Great Salt Lake to see that strange environment.

Some of the best time was hanging out at the KOA preparing and eating good food at the picnic table. We were able to get a cabin for Kelly and Jason for their first night but we set up our tent for the next 2 nights. Jason’s first camping experience, probably the softest and easiest camping in the world.. an 8-person tent with 2 twin size Coleman air mattresses assembled into a king sized bed on the soft level grass of a KOA campsite. 

We don’t stay in KOAs very often. We think they are expensive and from our previous experience we found their sites small. They tend to be very well maintained. This was one of the best places we’ve stayed. They have lots of mature trees with good shade. When we needed them to trim some branches for us they sent a cherry picker over and trimmed the trees right away. It is a huge RV park with a lot of staff working the grounds and taking care of things. Definitely not cheap but the location and for what we needed it was ideal. I’m not sure why I think I need to review RV parks. Maybe it’s for the benefit of our fellow RVers who might visit some of the places we’ve been.

After Kelly and Jason left, we moved up to Ogden for a couple of days to get our laundry done and begin getting things ready for our upcoming mountain trip. We found a smaller tent and picked up some lighter air mattresses at a camping outlet store. Then we came to Idaho and have spent the last couple of weeks in the Snake River Plain and I’ve talked about that. We took a day to check out Craters of the Moon National Monument. On our way there we drove by the Atomic Museum at the site of EBR-1 (Experimental Breeder Reactor-1).

Modern communications technology - 1951

It was here 12/5/1951 scientists first generated electricity using atomic energy. They hooked up some light bulbs and were thrilled when they started the reaction and the lights came on. Out here in the middle of nowhere who would have thought we would find such a landmark. But where else would they put a nuclear reactor besides the middle of nowhere. It was really interesting and a nice young intern gave us a guided tour and told the stories of the famous scientists who worked there. It is at Idaho National Laboratory which is part of the U.S. Dept of Energy’s national laboratories that include Argonne back in Illinois.  Who knew?

The Middle of Nowhere

Craters of the Moon National Monument is where the astronauts who went to the moon came to practice their moon landing.

Flowers getting a foothold after the volcano

Volcanos erupted only about 10,000 years ago and the landscape is shaped by the craters and lava flows. Some flowers and plant life are starting to make inroads on the landscape but it still looks like a recent volcanic eruption. 

After we came up to the Idaho Falls area, we took a drive over Teton Pass and had lunch in Jackson, WY. Not far from where we are staying you can begin to see the Tetons in the distance. They don’t look a lot different from this side than they do from the other side.

The Tetons from the back....

While we were in Jackson, we went to check out the Elk Refuge Inn where we stayed back in 1982. It’s still there and hasn’t changed much.  We came out west with some friends with our very small children. When I hear tragic stories about children getting away from their parents I remember keeping an eye on my 3-year-old overlooking canyons at Yellowstone Park. We are all just a second away from being the next Gorilla Pit Mom or Alligator Dad and becoming an internet sensation engendering criticism for our failure as parents. I guess if we can blame the parents we can believe that something like that couldn’t happen to us. Those of us who manage to get our children to adulthood are just lucky.

There isn’t much to say about Orlando that hasn’t been said. Both Don and I have thought about something to write about human nature and about gun laws but so far haven’t written it. Our thoughts are not a whole lot different than what has been expressed by so many others. Would it make a difference if we added our voices sharing our grief and frustration?

First selfie with Grandma-- my family members
will recognize our mother's mouth in this grandma.

There is much in our family to be joyful about. Niece Aleatha with the help of her Doula Mom and team gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby girl on June 4 shortly after her mother had given up and figured she would be eternally pregnant even though that has never happened in the history of the human race. They named her Marjorie Helen after her maternal grandmothers.  Another DOM

(Daughter of Marjorie). Uncle Don had a large supply of hot water if needed even though we are in Idaho. My baby sister is a grandmother!

We are now assembling our packs and getting ready for Mystic Lake. We will be leaving here on Monday to head up toward Yellowstone. We are meeting with Don’s cousin in West Yellowstone for a couple of days and then on to Columbus, Montana where we will await the arrival of “the kids” and Ludwig. This trip is taking just about as much time to get together as it took Aleatha to make a baby…. Just saying.

Utah Utopia

Today (May 21 afternoon) I need to write a bunch of stuff just because I am so grumpy. I didn’t sleep well at all last night with the camper closed up because of the wind and the wind gusting occasionally rocking the camper a little bit. And I was trapped in the back of the camper. The only way out was to crawl over Don and disturb him which I didn’t want to do. No need for both of us to be awake. I’m whining, homesick…. What are you sick for when the only home you have is the one you drive around in. I’m home here in frigging Utah. There is nothing wrong with Utah. It is an amazingly beautiful state with incredible land to see and we have been to see much of it. It’s just that we have been on the move so much never staying for longer than 4 days in any one place. This is what I said that I didn’t want to do. But the other side of this is that we were parked in Wal Mart last night for the wind storm. And it was very comfortable. We walked over to Applebees for dinner and since we were right by Walgreens we took advantage and got our prescriptions filled.  We found that sitting on our bed to watch television is quite comfortable when the camper is closed up.  

So here’s where we’ve been since my last post.

Up where the snow is.

May 10-11 Beaver Canyon RV Park, Beaver, UT

Took a day to drive around and explore the area – drove over a high mountain top past a ski resort from Beaver to Parowan and across the mountains on Hwy. 123 to Panguitch and back to Beaver. We checked out routes to bring the camper across the mountains. That wasn’t it.

                                                                                                 

Our view in Red Canyon Campground

May 12-15 Red Canyon Campground in Dixie National Forest near Bryce NP.

Moved camper to Red Canyon Campround.

Getting back up out of the canyon

A day at Bryce – Hiked from Sunset point to Sunrise point down into the canyon around the hoodoos.

Hoodoos - the trail to the bottom

A kind hiker offered to take our picture
by this scenic hoodoo.

Driving down the wash in Capital Reef

A drive down Scenic Hwy. 12 to Capitol Reef National Park – drive down a wash into Capitol Gorge until the canyon walls were so close together towering over us we chickened out and turned around. Many times here in Utah we could use a good 4-wheel drive vehicle.

The Grand Staircase Escalante-National Monument and Kodachrome Basin State Park where we hiked up to Panorama point so we could take a panoramic picture.

Panorama - just like the sign said (Thank you google for creating this panorama from my photos.

Don with his favorite hoodoo.

It's called the Ballerina. I see an Orthodox Priest.

May 16-18, Zion Gate RV Park, Hurricane, UT

A day to do 2 weeks worth of laundry (almost had to buy more underwear) and clean the camper.

A day hiking and exploring Zion Canyon – Riverside walk up to the narrows

Zion 

Watchman Trail to overlook

A drive up Kolab Terrace Road for a different view of Zion.








May 19 Wal-Mart – Hurricane, UT

Shopping

May 20 Wal-Mart – Cedar City, UT

Kolob Canyon on the north end of Zion – Short hike up Timber Creek Overlook Trail

May 21-22 – Jones High Country RV Park, Nephi, UT

Sit on the couch and complain – try to wash diesel fuel out of sweatshirt. Make granola.

Normal life in the slow lane 

I had made reservations at Red Ledge RV Park in Kannaraville, UT for last week but when they called and said I couldn’t have a 50 amp site I changed my mind. I needed to get laundry done and wanted to run my own dryer. That was probably better because Kannaraville is a long way to the main entrance to Zion National Park. The thing was that I had our mail forwarded to us at Red Ledge and also had my brother send me my NOOK that I forgot at his house in Minneapolis along with some mail that was sent to him by accident. It’s complicated. Fortunately the lady at Red Ledge held our mail and we drove through there yesterday on our way north and picked it up. We would have spent the night there instead of Wal-Mart if she had any openings. As it turned out with the high winds we were just as well at Wal-Mart because we needed to keep the slides in on the camper and we were in a convenient place to eat out.

No wonder I’m tired of moving around. This is not the right way to do this but I’m not sure what would work better. We had good reasons for all of the moves. But here we are nearing the big city in anticipation of seeing Kelly and Jason on Friday. 

Newspaper Deprivation, Cell Hell and no God TV

Don has been suffering from Newspaper Deprivation for the most part since we came to Utah. We have our routines. One of Don’s is to head out first thing in the morning and buy a local newspaper, bring it home, drink coffee and read the paper. Even today in Nephi which is just down the road from Salt Lake City, the gas station had not received their newspaper at 7:00 AM. At least they are expecting a paper. For the most part there have been no newspapers, no television signal and no cell phone signal where we were staying. Not even God TV which we can almost always get in English and Spanish. When we were way South by St. George which is a sizable city or here near Salt Lake City, we at least get television on our antenna and can normally get a cell phone signal when we are along Interstate 15. Over by Bryce, we were the couple sitting over breakfast, our devices clutched in our hands, intently reading the small screen, getting what information we could from the outside world on the restaurant’s precious wi-fi signal. You know you would be judging us. Many of the small towns have a weekly paper that comes out on Wednesday in which you can find wedding announcements in which an invitation is extended to anyone who might not have been invited formally and down by St. George Don was able to find USA Today.

Shopping

We had been warned by people who know these things to stock up on any alcoholic beverages before we got to Utah and I did that but who ever would think there might be a place where you can’t get Miller Lite. Well here in Utah, you can’t. We did find a liquor store in Panguitch and they had a small selection of beer so Don settled on drinking Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in the green can for a short time. When we moved the camper over by Zion National Park (and that is another story), we had to take the long road which goes south into Arizona for a while and then comes back up into Utah. We notice both on entering and leaving Arizona that they had nice big liquor stores not far from the border. Well, we were driving the camper and it was never convenient to stop. When we got settled over in Hurricane we found a good size city, St. George just a few miles south and right on the Arizona border. We needed to do quite a bit of shopping so we set aside a day to do that. I said, “I bet we can just drive across the border and find a liquor store”. We decided to make that our first stop. It didn’t quite work out that way. Interstate 15 cuts across the northwest corner of Arizona for about 40 miles before entering Nevada. There was nothing out there. We drove long steep grades down through and up the Virgin River Canyon, with long sections of traffic reduced to one lane for construction. We finally stopped in Littlefield, Arizona where we asked someone. He said the nearest place to buy anything was 8 miles farther in Mesquite, Nevada. We had come that far. Eight miles was nothing. We headed down the road and crossed into Nevada. Everything changed. Mesquite is a thriving desert community with palm trees, a beautiful golf course, condominiums, casinos and the biggest most amazing liquor store I’ve ever seen. 

We found some Miller Lite and checked but they did not have Big Sky Summer Honey… I guess I’ll wait till we get to Montana for that. We passed another big liquor store on our way out of town. So we did make it to Nevada on this trip.

Traveling by RV
You would think we would learn…. When we left Red Canyon Campground over by Bryce to move the camper over by Zion, we took US89, a good two lane scenic highway as far as Mt. Carmel, UT. Don had done his research so he knew we needed to check before we went west on State Hwy 9 about the long tunnel in Zion NP where we found the height limit is 13’2” and if you’re that tall you need to pay a $15 fee in order to drive down the middle of the road. We are 13’4”. No way was that going to work. We didn’t try. But that meant that we drove an additional 100 miles down south through Arizona and back up north to Hurricane and then another 20 miles to the park. They have a first come first serve campground at Zion and for some reason we thought if we got there early enough, like before noon, we might be able to get a site. We took the camper up to Zion through the town of Springdale to the entrance. In Springdale, it was pouring down rain and cars were parked on both sides of the street for miles where visitors to the park left their car to take a shuttle. The streets were crowded with people and narrow. Needless to say when we arrived at the gate, the lady gave us a sticker for our camper that said, “No tunnel” and informed us that if we wanted the first come first serve campground we might be able to get in if we showed up at 7:00 AM. She also told us where we might be able to turn around in the park. So we ran the gauntlet through Springdale again and went to  Hurricane where we found Zion’s Gate, in time for our afternoon nap.

Zion

After we toured Zion's river valley we drove through the famous tunnel and that is where we saw the big horn sheep to finish off a really good day.

On every hike we take, there is at least 1 small lizard who crosses our path. We’ve decided this is probably the same lizard who is somehow finding a way to tag along with us, probably in the car somewhere. He is always with us. 

We’ve seen him in Texas at Palo Dura, in New Mexico in the Sandia Mountains, in Arizona at Petrified Forest NP, and of course in every place we’ve been in Utah.

Every park in Utah has it’s own unique land forms that define it’s character. In Arches it is of course the arches. In Bryce the road travels at the top of the canyon and you walk down to enjoy the thousands of hoodoos, these strange rock formations that jut up out of the landscape. In Zion, the road travels along the river valley with the canyon walls towering above you. My favorite trail was the one that continues where the road ends and follows the Virgin River up into the canyon until it reaches the narrows, the place where the canyon walls come together and encompass the river on both sides. In the high places, it is warm and dry. This is the desert. But down below on the canyon walls, it is cool and damp with little sunlight. Water seeps and runs out of the sides of the wall and plants that like that kind of environment have made this their home creating the hanging gardens of Zion...beautiful. At the bottom of the canyon, where it is always damp and cool, swamps have formed here in the desert. At the end of the easy trail where the narrows form is a more difficult trail that continues to follow the river with warnings about flash floods which have been known to suddenly raise the water by 12 feet and sweep away anybody in its path. Even though the danger was low that day, we weren’t ready to walk through cold water.

We've decided we prefer staying in lower elevations this time of year. It's cold up here. 

Lubbock to Utah by way of Minneapolis

 I last wrote at San Angelo…. A long time ago. I need to make a list of dates and where we have been in order to get myself oriented here.

We left San Angelo on 4/13

4/13-14 Lubbock  at Mesa Verde RV Park

   We went to some museum at Texas Tech

4/15 Lubbock at Lubbock RV Park

   Windmill Museum- no pics forgot camera

4/16-18 Canyon, TX at Palo Duro RV Park

    Palo Duro Canyon

4/19-27 Amarillo, TX at AOK Campground

 Left Camper in Amarillo 4/20-4/26 for road trip to Minnesota staying at Deed and Eileens on 4/20, Ludwigs 4/21-24, in Des Moines 4/25 and Perry, OK on 4/26

   Aleatha’s Wedding

   Visit Edie

   OK State Capital

   OK City National Memorial & Museum

4/28-29 Albuquerque, NM at Sandia Casino

   Shop

    Dinner with Rod & Judy

    Hike Sandia Mountains

4/29-30 Albuquerque at Enchanted Trails RV Park

   Laundry and granola

5/1 -3  Sun Valley, AZ Sun Valley RV Resort

  Petrified Forest National Park

5/4-7 Blanding, UT at Devils Canyon National Forest Service Campground

  Arches National Park – Hike to see Delicate Arch

  Natural Bridges National Monument and trip through Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

  Glen Canyon National Recreation area

  Canyonlands National Park

5/8-9 Moab Rim RV Resort

The first thing I had to do was to reconstruct when and where we have been places. To do that I have a variety of resources on hand including my paper calendar, various brochures and RV Park maps and receipts but probably the most useful is Google which has been tracking my every move including the places we’ve stayed, visited and shopped. Rather than to try to recount all of that, I just layed it out above. Not for your benefit but for my own. It helps me to be a little grounded if I can review where I’ve been and what all I have done. So I will just write about those experiences we have had that might be of interest. 

One thing we talked about when we were in the middle of Texas was the kind of roads that Don prefers to drive the RV on. Texas has Interstates, US Highways, Texas State Highways, FM (Farm to Market) Highways, Ranch Roads and County Roads. The first 3 you can count on to have shoulders, be plenty wide and are acceptable. FM and Ranch can sometimes be acceptable. County roads avoid if at all possible. He is the driver and I am the navigator so my job is to do my best to avoid getting 

on bad roads. I have road maps and of course my Google to help me in this endeavor. But Don made clear what he wants and I agreed to make sure that we don’t get into a bad situation. So our next trip was to Lubbock, Texas. I selected Mesa Verde RV Park using my RV Parky App on my cell phone which has a link to Google Maps to get directions. The problem with Mesa Verde was that it was on the other major highway that comes into Lubbock. We were arriving directly from the south on US Hwy. 87 while Mesa Verde was on US Hwy 82 coming in from the southwest. Ursula, the name we have given to the voice on Google Maps, gave me directions to cut across the triangle south of Lubbock and it appeared to be the shortest way get to the Park. I studied my map and looked at Ursula’s directions and made the decision to take the long way and then at the last minute changed my mind to take the short cut. As soon as Don made the left turn, I knew it was a mistake. We were on a narrow, shoulder-less county road. There was no way to turn around. At least it was paved. I assured Don that it wouldn’t be too long. It didn’t let up. Don had both hands on the wheel and carefully moved as far as he could to the right slowing down to meet oncoming cars. Fortunately there weren’t too many. He didn’t say much but kept driving. There was nothing else to do. Even if we unhooked the car, turning the bus around was not an option and the farther we went the more I apologized. Don didn’t say much, just kept driving following Ursula’s directions. The roads we were no were not on the Texas State map and I couldn’t figure out where Ursula was taking us but continued to follow her directions until she directed us to turn down a muddy dirt road. Then I called the RV Park lady and asked her for directions. She asked me where we were. I said, “I don’t know where the hell we are!” and as we approached a corner with County Road numbers I gave them to her. She said she didn’t know where that was. She suggested that I should know better than to use GPS it just isn’t reliable. At that point, and I’m not proud of it, I shifted the blame for the whole debacle onto her. What could we do but keep driving until we came to a road that was on the map. Eventually we did and I was able to call the lady to get directions to the RV park. We had driven within a block. When we arrived, I suggested that she might tell people not to use GPS like some other parks we have gone to. She got defensive and who can blame her. We got into our site in the back of the park and that night on the other side of the fence the highway department was doing some construction using those blazing lights shining right at our camper and heavy duty machinery. I did sleep some that night using ear plugs. We stayed there another night in spite of it all because we were too tired to move though we moved to another park in Lubbock that was on the road out of town for our last night there. We toured the Windmill Museum and have no pictures because we forgot our cameras. It was one of the most interesting stops we have made along the way. I will try to include a link to their website here. American Wind Power Center at www.windmill.com

Scrub Jay - looking for crumbs

 Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo, Texas was a surprise treat for us. Here we began our training for the Mystic Lake trip we have planned in June in the Montana Mountains. We hiked about 7 miles to see the Lighthouse which is a rock formation that resembles (you guessed it) a light house. The

brochure we had suggested that each person carry a gallon of water for the hike. We figured that it wasn’t too hot out and we didn’t want to carry so much weight so we threw 3 bottles of water along with some almonds into our pack and headed up the trail. We did okay though a couple more bottles of water would have been good in addition to a snack with more salt. I forgot my hat so my face got a little more color to it though not sunburned. It was a beautiful sunny warm day and we met some interesting people along the way and saw a roadrunner in some low branches in a tree. At the end of the trail we sat at a picnic table and rationed our water and shared our almonds with our newfound friends and they shared their cheese sticks. They had emigrated from England about 20 years ago and live in Houston. A Scrub Jay hopped around in a near-by tree waiting for us to leave some crumbs behind for him.

One of the great treats we have enjoyed in our travels is the opportunity to reconnect to friends we’ve made along the way who moved away. Back in 1994-95, my friend Judy Groves did her internship at Catholic Charities while she completed her Masters degree. Even though we only worked together for 6 months or so we formed a friendship and have exchanged Christmas cards every year. She and her husband Rod retired and moved to Albuquerque at about the same time that we moved to our house on Vigal Road. So several months ago I emailed her and gave her an approximate time that we would be in Albuquerque and Judy invited us to dinner at their house on April 29. We spent a wonderful evening with them over very good food and wine talking about our travels and their travels and staying connected with grandchildren over long distances. We were blessed with an amazing rainbow

framing the city of Albuquerque from the front of their house. Even though I worked with Judy a short time, I was reminded why I’ve kept in touch with her for over 20 years. Don had been concerned because he never really knew Judy or Rod that he was just have to sit through a social event. Turns out he enjoyed the visit as much as I did.

Resting on a rock in the Sandia Mountains

Don with his favorite cac

Our next opportunity for mountain hiking training was on the Sandia Mountains. Before we left the Sandia Casino parking lot, we headed up to the mountains for a 6 mile hike on some pretty steep terrain. We did manage to get lost and ended up walking through a residential area where we found someone to give us directions back to our car in the Tramway parking lot. It was a cool cloudy morning, unusual for Albuquerque. 

Aleatha and Kyle

We left the camper in Amarillo and took a road trip to Minnesota. It was time to see Edie again and we had the excuse that Niece Aleatha wanted us to be honorary grandparents for her at her wedding out on her husband’s family farm near Milaca, Minnesota. So on a beautiful April day, we had the privilege of being part of her small intimate wedding in a field with the wind blowing and the sun shining sitting on bales of straw as they said their vows with her new step-daughter 2-year-old Mia walking around her family. The family dogs watched over the proceedings. We then convened at the house to visit and enjoy a feast prepared by family members. Outdoor April weddings in Minnesota are always dicey. We’ve attended some very cold weddings up there and some that have been moved indoors because of the weather. None as nice as this one. I think that is a good omen for this marriage.

Edie - breakfast at Mpls. best
Victor's 1959 Cafe

The day before yesterday, we had our 3^rd opportunity for mountain hiking training at Arches National Park. We decided to take the hike to see the Delicate Arch about a 6 mile round trip with 480 feet elevation change. It was a very warm day with bright sunshine. The trails offer almost no places to find shade. The brochure recommend 1 qt. of water per person. This time we took 4 bottles of water and some granola bars with us and both of us wore our hats. Even with that we were challenged. Could have used more water. We know this because Don didn’t pee for several hours. It was a beautiful hike though and we walked over what they call open slick rock. It wasn’t really slippery but was smooth, and very steep in intense sunshine. We stopped many times to catch our breath and enjoy some breathtaking views. Good training and breaking in the hiking shoes.

At Natural Bridges

At Natural Bridges National Monument, we took a short hike (about .6 mile with an elevation drop of 500 feet) to see Sipapu Bridge with steep stairs cut out of the rock and at one point even a ladder. Probably the most spectacular road we’ve ever driven on was a car trip we took through Glen Canyon on Hwy 95.The drive coming down into the canyon and crossing the Colorado River was amazing. We took that drive to check it out and see if we want to go that way with the camper. While making the drive with the camper would be quite doable, we decided not to go that way but when we leave her later today, we’ll go north and stay at Moab a couple of days.

Just your average Utah road hazard

From the RGV to The Hill Country up to the Panhandle

I’m writing this from the KOA in San Angelo, Texas. We stopped here because of the cable television. We’ve been in Texas long enough now for Don to become a San Antonio Spurs fan. That’s NBA basketball in case you didn’t know. Then we stayed another day because it was too much effort to move. But today we will close the place up and move on up to Lubbock, Texas.

San Angelo is in the southern part of Texas Panhandle country. The land is getting flatter, with fewer trees and more arid than farther south. According to our neighbor who has lived many years here, this place has an ideal climate. It is far enough south to avoid the dust storms, tornados and blizzards that happen farther north in the panhandle. Days can get very warm but evenings cool off and the sun normally shines. Certainly while we’ve been here the weather has been great. But today we will go to Lubbock where the forecast is for much cooler weather today… only in the 60s but then it will warm up.

We left Palmdale, as planned, on March 29 and spent the night in Mission, Texas at the Wal-Mart during record heat for the area. This particular Wal-Mart is very popular among truck drivers so we were parked amongst them and we all ran our diesel generators in order to keep cool enough to sleep. Not a very pleasant experience. The next day, temperatures were right around 100 degrees. We dropped off the camper to be worked on at Border Engine and went back to McAllen to stock up on Costco purchases and Sprouts Farmers Market for granola ingredients. We went to Border Engine because they are an official Spartan chassis service center and we had some recall work to get done. They got it done by about 3:30 so we headed north in 100 degree weather, none too soon to leave the RGV (Rio Grande Valley).

Can't stay out of trouble even in storage!

We stayed at Country Side RV Park of South Texas in Falfurious TX, about 80 miles north. We were timing ourselves to meet up with brothers Ludwig and Dick in San Antonio.  We stayed there for 3 nights and I took a day to make granola. There was no cable except in the club house so we sat in their big comfortable furniture to watch the NCAA Final Four.  The most notable about this place was that the owners who took care of the place along with some of the winter residents really wanted us to make this our winter destination instead of Palmdale. We were not tempted. They are too far from the gulf of Mexico even though they are right next to a golf course.  I don’t think Sparky would do well there either. We left Sparky in Ray and Cyndi’s shed where he will stay until next December. We’ve had reports of some bad behavior. His mischief never ends even when he is in storage. Hopefully it will stop now that Ray and Cyndi have left Palmdale.

Winetasting in the Hill Country

On the River in San Antonio

We moved up to San Antonio on Sunday, 4/3 and stayed at Travelers World RV Resort which is the same place we stayed last year on our way south. We had just pulled into our site when I looked up and my two favorite bewhiskered brothers came walking down the street just in time to help us set up. Last time we were in San Antonio it was cold and rainy. This time we had perfect sunny weather and were able to cook and eat outside every night. Ludwig brought some wild rice picked from Rice Lake in Minnesota and we provided Red Snapper wild caught in the Gulf of Mexico and together we cooked up an amazing meal and ate at the picnic table. On Monday we toured the Alamo and took the obligatory boat tour of San Antonio’s famous River Walk.

Yes, the Blue Bonnets are as
beautiful as the Texans brag.

The State Capital

 It was nice enough after dinner to watch the Championship game on our outside TV. We made plans to spend another night in San Antonio but when I went to the park office, they told me that someone else had reserved our site.  Rather than move to another site, we decided to move. I found a place about 100 miles to the north near Buchanan Dam at Beachcombers RV Resort about 50 miles to the west of Austin so we moved up there. Texas Hill Country has a chain of about 5 lakes running from Buchanan Lake down to Lake Travis right outside of Austin. Needless to say, these lakes provide a lot of recreational opportunities for Austin residents. On Wednesday, we enjoyed wine tasting at 3 different wineries in the area and came home for steak dinner which we enjoyed with one of the bottles we purchased that day. Ludwig and Dick decided to leave on Thursday but before they left we all went to Austin to tour the capital building with them and learn a bit more about Texas history. We left them to find their way out of Austin at about 4:00 PM in Austin’s notoriously bad traffic up the I-35. They were needed back in Minnesota so Dick could get back to cooking for his daughter Colleen and her family who were reportedly getting hungry.

Beachcomber RV Resort - office & sty

We stayed a couple of more days at Beachcombers and found a good place to hike at a state park on the next lake down the chain and I got my laundry done. Then we came on up to San Angelo on Sunday.  It looks like today it will be warmer in Minnesota than it is in north Texas. Hang on to that weather for us because we will be there in a week or so.