Texas, New Mexico and Arizona

Texas, New Mexico
Nov. 12 to 29th

We are camped in Hickory Creek Corps Park in Hickory Creek Texas which is located on Lake Dallas and north of Dallas, Fort Worth area.  Our site sits along the lake.

 Next stop is Willis TX where we are close enough to Louisiana to go there and geocache in the Lake Charles area.

 We visit New Braunfels, northeast of San Antonio, and spend three days visiting our friends Bill and Jean.  They take us to the Gruene Historic District where Gruene Hall is the oldest dance hall in Texas and George Strait and Lyle Lovett got their start.  They have live bands and singers every night.  We checked out some of the shops in the area and ended up at a BBQ place for dinner. 

We spend Thanksgiving at Median Lake, just west of San Antonio.  Ate Thanksgiving dinner at the Community Center.  Dick has always wanted to go to Lockhart Texas which is famous for their BBQ restaurants so we drive the Jeep there for the day.  We had lunch at Black's where we met one of the owners.  He took us to the back to see the pit.  It smelled so good with all the smoked meat.  The food was so good we ended up buying some to go.  We also bought brisket at Smity's BBQ to take home.
Fort Stockton was our next stop in Texas.  This area is booming with new oil wells being drilled everywhere.  Most campgrounds are filled with oil workers.  The speed limit on highway 90 going across Texas was 80 mph.

Oil well drilling

We spent 2 night in Las Cruces New Mexico.  Traffic was terrible going through El Paso and surprised at how large a town El Paso and right across the border, Juarez Mexico is.
While driving around we were able to watch the pecans being harvested.  They shake the pecans from the trees with a machine that grabs the limbs and then they blow the pecans and leaves in rows where they are picked up by another machine.  It was a dirty process and dust was flying everywhere.

Shaking the pecan tree

Rows of pecans and leaves

Machine that picked-up pecans

Arizona
Nov. 30

We spent 3 night in Tucson Arizona and enjoy the beautiful desert around Tucson by doing some geocaching.  Visited Saguaro National Park see lots of Saguaro and other kinds of cactus.

Saguaro National Park

Yuma Arizona

Arrive in Yuma on Dec. 3rd and decide to stay for 4 months.  Have traveled over 6000 miles so far on this trip.  We like it here in Yuma and there is lots to do to keep us busy.  We know lots of people here and they include us in their activities.  We go to Algodones Mexico once a week to party.  We spent Christmas Eve at Charlene and George's house for dinner with the Mexico group and a Christmas party at Ed and Karen's house.  New Year's Eve we went to a party at Pearl and Arlan's house.  We get together with our friends Laura and Wilbur often to play cards and go out to dinner.  Also trips out into the desert with Bob and Joyce and Don and Jane with their ATV Razors and our Jeep.  Dick and I do a lot of geocaching on days there is no other activities. 

Music at the Paraiso in Algodones Mexico

Partying in Mexico before Christmas

Out in the desert for the afternoon

Jan. 6 to 13th we took the motor home to Palm Desert and Indio California to a Family Motor Coach Rally.  While there we drove to Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountain National Monument.  From the top of the mountain you can see the towns in the valley below.  We joined the Northwest Bus Nuts even though we have a Monaco Motor Home.  We had fun at the rally and made some new friends.

 On the trip back to Yuma, Dick did not put the Jeep in Neutral to tow it and when we got back to Yuma the Transmission and Transfer Case were toast.  Had to call a tow truck to take it to the Jeep dealer in Yuma.  On Monday we found out it was going to cost $5,000 to put in a transmission and transfer case so we decided to buy a new Jeep.  Got a 2013 four door Deep Cherry Red with Black Top Jeep Wrangler.  Love to drive the new Jeep and it has so much more room. 

New Jeep

We are staying in Yuma rest of the winter before heading home around the first of April. 
Happy Travels, Barb

Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas

Oct. 15 to 18th
Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is a city full of things to do.  On Tuesday we had tickets to the Grand Ole Opry.  There is a large mall where the Opry is located so the parking is free which was really surprising.  We went early to get a good parking place and spent some time in the mall.  Went to dinner before going to the show.  It was a special night because Darius Rucker was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.  We had great seats on the main floor and only 18 rows back from the stage.  Part of the show was being recorded for a TV show and it was being telecast on the radio so they had commercials.  Clint Black, Bill Anderson, Elizabeth Cook, Connie Smith, Martina McBride and Vince Gill and of course Darius Rucker preformed.  It was the highlight of our trip so far to see the Opry live.

Bill Anderson

Clint Black

Martina McBride

Vince Gill and Darius Rucker

 The next day we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame.  They have great video clips, costumes and many instruments from country stars.  Elvis's gold Cadillac was on display.  There is a room of plaques of stars in the Country Music Hall of Fame.  Gold and platinum records cover the walls of the building.  We wanted to see the historic Ryman Auditorium, where the Grand Ole Opry used to be, but it was closed for filming the new TV show Nashville.

Elvis Presley's Solid Gold Cadillac

Wall of Gold and Platinum Records

Hall of Fame Plaques

Historic Ryman Auditorium

Our last day in Nashville we drove to Graceland but didn't go on the tour, too expensive.  We had a good time in Nashville and enjoyed eating at some Triple D restaurants with good southern cooking.

Oct. 19 to 22nd
Natchez Trace, Tennessee

We stayed along the Natchez Trace Parkway which is a 444 mile road through 3 states and 10.000 years of North American history.  It starts in Nashville, goes through Alabama and ends in Natchez Mississippi.  Established in 1938 by the National Park System and officially completed in 2005.
In the early 1800's through the mid-1820's, "Kaintruks" from the Ohio River Valley floated cash crops, livestock and other materials down the Mississippi River on wooden flatboats.  At Natchez or New Orleans, they sold their goods, sold their boats for lumber, and walked or rode horseback toward home via the Old Trace.  There is still traces of the Old Trace along the Parkway.  No commercial trucks are allowed on the Trace so it is a nice drive at a slower pace through some beautiful country.
There were cotton fields along the Trace Parkway and we stopped and watched cotton being harvested.  The round bales weight 4500 lbs. each

Dick looking at cotton field

Cotton Combine dropping a bale of cotton

Each bale weights 4500 lbs

Double Arch Bridge near the parkway's northern terminus

Oct. 23 to 25th
Tupelo Mississippi

We move down the Trace to Tupelo Mississippi for 3 nights.  Tupelo is where Elvis Presley was born and spent his early years.  We visited his birthplace and in town is the hardware store where his first guitar was purchased by his mom for his 10th birthday. 

Elvis birthplace

Kudzu vine growing over trees in Mississippi

Oct. 26 to 29th
Memphis, Tennessee

We move to Memphis Tennessee for 4 nights.  We are actually staying in West Memphis which is just across the Mississippi River in Arkansas.  Our campground is right on the river and we can watch the barges go up and down the river.  The tugs are bigger than the ones we see on the Snake and Columbia Rivers back home and they push around 16 barges at a time.  Dick had so many places he wanted to eat at, I didn't cook dinner all four nights in Memphis.  We found some good BBQ in Memphis, some of the best ribs we have ever had. 

Tug pushing barges on Mississippi River

Oct. 30 to Nov. 3
Mountain Home, Arkansas

Our next stop is Mountain Home Arkansas where we visit our good friend and the best man at our wedding, Jack Jennings.  While there we did some geocaching up in Missouri and in Arkansas.  We are at the top of Arkansas by the Ozark Mountains.  The countryside is rolling tree covered hill and very pretty.  We enjoyed our visit with Jack and seeing the beautiful area. 

Nov. 4 to 6th.
Grove, Oklahoma

We have not spent much time in Oklahoma before so we are staying in the far north east corner for 3 nights.  Our campground is on Grand Lake O' the Cherokees which is an enormous lake very popular for fishing, water sports and many resorts on the lake.  We are close enough to Kansas and Missouri to go geocaching there also.

Nov. 7 to 11th.
Lake Texoma and Bridgeport, Texas

Our first stop in Texas is Lake Texoma, for 2 nights,  which is just across the border from OK.  We move south by Dallas for 3 nights and not much sightseeing to do here.  This has been a place to rest and not go so much.  We have spent a couple of day geocaching in Texas.  Yesterday we found a cache at the Center for Animal Research and Education.  It was established to provide a safe haven for abused and abandoned big cats rescued from unsuitable exotic pet owners and a permanent home for retired preforming animals.  There were 42 big cats at the reserve and we got a quick tour and took some pictures of the lions, tigers, white tigers, black panther, leopards and cougars.  It was a very interesting place.  We are geocaching in every state we stay in and in any state we can drive to in the Jeep.  So far on this trip we have geocached in 17 state.

Black Panther

White Tiger

Tiger

Tomorrow we move to Dallas and staying in a Corp park for 3 nights.  Then we are moving down the east side of Texas to Rockport on the Gulf before going to San Antonio area.

Happy travels, Barb

Minnesota, Wisconsin, UP Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky

Sept. 17- 25 Minnesota

International Falls

We are at the very top of Minnesota, the coldest place in the Continental US.  Fort Frances, Canada is just across the border.  We crossed into Canada and geocached our 300th cache.  Voyageurs National Park is close by and we go on a two hour boat ride to Kettle Falls where we have lunch at a restaurant at the hotel there.  The waterways of Voyageurs Nat. Park include one of the most important segments of a 3,000 mile fur trade route of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  The demand for beaver hats by Europeans, and beaver could no longer be found in Europe, the fur trade shifted to North America.  It relied on voyageurs, or French-Canadian canoemen, to get trade goods and furs between Montreal and the Canadian northwest.  On our trip into the park we saw several Bald Eagles and their nests.  The leaves are starting to turn here and the colors are beautiful

Beaver Lodge

Bald Eagle

Duluth area

We move to Duluth area and drive along the North Shore of Lake Superior and see a couple of lighthouses.  We also do some geocaching along the way. 

Drive across the border to Superior Wisconsin and have lunch at a triple D restaurant.  The Anchor Bar definitely looks like a dive but lots of people eating there and we had a good lunch.  Our bill for lunch, 2 hamburgers, home made fries and 2 micro brew beers came to $12.25.  You can't beat that!

Split Rock Lighthouse

 

 

Two Harbors Lighthouse

 

 

Anchor Bar and Grill in Superior Wisconson

 

 

Minneapolis

Needed a couple of things fixed on the motor home so found a Cummins Coach Care in Minneapolis.  We were able to park in their parking lot, with electricity, while they worked on the MH.  We were in Minneapolis for 3 nights and able to explore during the day while MH was being worked on.  The first morning we went the the Mall of America.  It is 4 stories high with an amusement park in the center.  Dick survived 2 hours there.  For lunch we ate at another triple D, Victor's 1959 Cafe which features Cuban food.  It was really good.  For dinner that night we ate at another triple D, Donatelli's Italian. 

The next day we went to Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge and Fort Snelling, a historic fort which was active until after WWII.  The walled fort was closed for the season but we went to the visitor's center and saw a move about the fort.  Ate lunch at another triple D, The Nook. 

Mall of America amusement park

Fort Snelling

Sept. 26, 27 Wisconsin

Ashland, Wisconsin

Our campground is on Lake Superior in the town of Ashland.  We drive up Bayfield Peninsula to the town of Bayfield and have lunch and checked out the stores in town.  Stopped at visitor's center for Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and saw a movie about the islands.  There are 22 islands and many have light stations on them and only accessible by boat.  We geocached along the way.

Dick by a Fresnel lens from a lighthouse

Sept. 28 - Oct. 5 Upper Peninsula Michigan

Baraga, Michigan

Staying in Baraga Michigan so we can drive up the Keweenaw Peninsula to Copper Harbor.  The area is know for Copper mining and is now Keweenaw National Historical Park with several Heritage Sites scattered along the Peninsula, ruminates of the copper mining which began around 1843 with the last mine closing in 1996. 

The beautiful colored leaves in the UP of Michigan

Munising, Michigan

Move further east on the UP to Munising.  Took a 3 hour boat trip to see the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior which are sandstone cliffs which tower 50 to 200 feet above the water.  The cliffs are mineral stained by dripping water which contain iron, manganese, limonite, copper and other minerals that leave behind a colorful stain.  The water was a turquoise color and the cliffs were beautifully colored.  The next day we went by car to Seney National Wildlife Refuge and took a 7 mile scenic road through the refuge.  We saw lots of swans and a Bald Eagle.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Our campground in on the Saint Marys River and can watch the big freighters go by on their way to the Soo Locks between Lake Superior and Lake Huron.  There is a 21 foot difference between the two.  We drive the Jeep along the shore of Lake Huron to De Tour Village.  We have now seen all 5 of the Great Lakes.  The next day we drive across the border to Sault Ste. Marie, Canada and did a few geocaches and ate lunch. 

Large ship going by campground on way to locks

Soo locks from the bridge over to Canada

Williamsburg, Michigan

We move down to the main part of Michigan to visit Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  Took a 7 mile loop road with views of Lake Michigan and some of the sand dunes.  Our last stop in Michigan is Grand Rapids for one night. 

Sleeping Bear Dunes

Oct. 6-9 Indiana

New Carlisle, Indiana

We are camped just over the border into Indiana and drive the Jeep to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.  The waves were rolling on Lake Michigan and it looked like the ocean.  We have visited all 4 National Lakeshores.  We go to a potluck in the campground for dinner and afterward we joined our neighbors for a campfire. The next day we drive into Illinois to do some geocaching and have lunch at Palermo's in Chicago.  Had delicious deep dish Chicago Pizza and went to Rainbow Ice Cream for their 5 flavor layered ice cream.

Indiana Dunes

Indianapolis, Indiana

Our goal on this trip is to geocache in as many states as we can.  If we are near a state, but not staying in that state we will drive there to do a few geocaches.  We are near Ohio so we drive across the border and get 5 caches.

The next day we go to the Indy Speedway and look at the display of race cars, the first race was in 1911.  They have many of the early cars on display.  We took the bus ride around the track.  For lunch we go to a triple D reataurant, The Tamale Place.  We each had 2 tamales and they were good.  For dinner we went to Carmel to another triple D, Bub's Burgers. 

1911 winner and 2011 winner

Oct. 10-14 Kentucky

Park City, Kentucky

Kentucky is a beautiful state, there is green grass everywhere.  We are camped near Mammoth National Park.  We do some geocaching around our campground and now have 406 caches.

We decide to drive up towards Louisville to visit Maker's Mark Distillery.  Took the back roads and saw the beautiful countryside.  Saw lots of tobacco hanging in drying sheds.  The tour of the distillery was good and ended with a taste of 3 bourbons.  In the nearby town of Loretto were several large storage buildings, about 6 stories high, where the barrels of bourbon are aged for about 7 years.  On the way back we stopped at Knob Creek and saw a reconstructed cabin of Abe Lincoln's boyhood home.  We drove a little further to Hodgenville to Sinking Spring Farm to visit Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park.  A cabin similar to the one Lincoln was born in is inside a Memorial Building built to resemble the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. 

Tabacco hanging in drying shed

Bottling at Maker's Mark Distillery

Dipping the bottles in the red wax to seal

Sinking Spring Farm cabin marking Lincoln's birthplace

Memorial Building with cabin inside.

Reconstructed Knob Creek boyhood home where Abe Lincoln lived from age 2 to 8.

We are leaving Kentucky on Monday and going to Nashville Tennessee for 4 nights.  Have tickets on Turesday to go to the Grand Old Opry to see Martina  McBride, Vince Gill, Clint Black, Jimmy Dickens and other performers.  Happy Travels, Barb