Where were the bodies?

Here's a shot of Curley investigating the roadside during a pit stop about 35 miles East of Flagstaff. Maybe you can just barely make out the San Franciso Peaks in the background. The highest one has snow on it.

One of the the things I found striking during our trip across the country was the lack of road kill. I might have seen three dead deer on my 16 mile commute to work back home. In 2200 miles, I saw one dead deer and no live ones. There were maybe three dead coyotes and several armadillos, but that was it. Driving in the East we'd see all manner of wildlife, dead and alive. I did finally see a small herd of pronghorn antelope just after we pulled out from the location above but I expected to see much more.

Where we are parked is a little different. In the morning there many Gambel's quail foraging around the area. Every day so far, I've heard coyotes a couple of hundred yards down the hill. We have to keep the pets inside at night or they'll be coyote fodder. We have mockingbirds back home but this place is loaded with them but I have yet to see a roadrunner, which are supposed to be common. I'm hoping to see elk and more pronghorn. My cousin brought home pictures of a golden eagle that she saw yesterday. It was just sitting on a fence post along the road.

The weather has been just perfect so far. Days reach the mid to upper 70's and the nights cool off to the low to mid 40's. It's calm in the morning but by afternoon the wind starts to pick up. I've had my awning out to shield from the effects of the morning sun. This morning I came out to find that it had started to tear away from its mounting on the side of the motorhome. I don't think there's any fixing it so it looks like it's time to replace it with new fabric. That's a two or three person job but I think we can handle it.

We've been catching up on chores and I still have a bunch of cleaning to do. But we're about ready to do day trips in the car to see some of the local sights. We're about an hour from Jerome, an old mining town and about the same from Sedona, home of the red rocks. It'll be fun to start seeing what we came for.

Eagles, Moths and Trains

Ever since I heard the Eagles sing about "standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona", I've wondered just what that looked like. This is the welcome sign at the entrance to town. Winslow is a small town in northern Arizona that was one of the stops on fabled Route 66. Today it's still a small town but it seems to be doing OK. I40 whizzes by. If you turn and do a 180 from the pic above, this is what you see.

That's Route 66 heading East. Although I didn't see any "flat bed Fords", there were several good looking diners and various businesses. The town didn't have the forlorn look that Grants, NM did. It was not unduly decorated with fast food franchises and seemed to have profited from being included in the song. I think I read somewhere that the composer of the song had never actually been in Winslow and just liked the sound of the phrase. Here's a look at dead center of Winslow, featuring the lone stoplight in town.

This was shot at about 10:00 on a Saturday morning. You can see the level of activity. All in all, a decent little town. Not as charismatic as some of the other Route 66 stops but nice nonetheless.

After we left Oklahoma a few days ago, we crossed over into the Texas panhandle. The day was hot and the motorhome was getting hot as well, so I stopped at a very nice county run rest area to cool off. I went to go inside to see what they had and as I approached the front door, I saw hundreds of moths flying about and crawling on the front of the building. It was impossible to open the door without admitting a dozen into the building. When I got inside, of course there were dozens and dozens of them flying around. I spent a few minutes at the neat exhibits and read about the life of a trail cook and his chuckwagon. When I went back out, the moths were flying around the motorhome, so of course, some got inside. Well, there have been moths flying around at every rest stop since. They are about an inch long with gray-brown wings. I don't know what kind they are, I just want them gone. I don't see them now that we are in Arizona but I have a resident population to deal with. I got three of  them last night and one more this morning. They hide pretty well in the daytime and then come out at night to dive bomb us. War is declared!

Another one of the striking sights along the way has been the trains. I've seen trains all my life. I hear the horn, the gate comes down and around the bend comes the train. I sit at the crossing and count the cars, a habit I picked up long ago. Well, along the way West, there has been one main route followed by the Indians and the settlers and the railroad and the road builders. So all along the highway, the train runs parallel.

I tried to grab a quick shot of the tracks once when we passed over them. Not good but you get the idea. It's usually two sets of rails, sometimes just one and sometimes several, especially near the towns like Gallop. NM, which has a service facility. The line is the BNSF, now an internationally owned mix of many of the old lines like the Burlington Northern and the Santa Fe and others. What's striking is the number of trains we see as we drive along. They have three or four engines pulling them and look to be a mile long. Once I saw one much longer than that with three engines in front pulling and two in back pushing. These trains are on the same track and separated by time. We saw one about once every half hour. Sometimes they were stopped, waiting for some switching action down the line, but most were moving. And due to the nature of the land, most of the time you could see the whole train at once moving through the desert. The engines have three headlights so you can see this triangle of light, one on top, two on the bottom, coming from way off. The numbers of trains was very impressive. I suppose more freight moves by truck but the trains are holding up their end, too.

We arrived in Prescott yesterday about 1:00 and followed our hosts to the local rodeo arena where they were finishing up a 4H stock show and sale. We spent the afternoon watching the stock auction and then met a group for a family dinner before things broke up. Now we're settled in at my cousin's and looking forward to some rest. And then some shopping and some sight seeing. I'll keep you posted.

Old Trees and Almost There

We had an uneventful, if slow, crossing through Albuquerque. Sure enough, the scenery reverted to desert rimmed with mesas. Temps were in the sixties so travel was comfortable and not as much trouble as earlier days.

Just after we had gotten settled in our campground the previous day, the wind took out the power to the campground. We were tired so we just went to bed. No worse than staying at Wall-Mart, right? Well, that cold front had some teeth to it. I woke up cold about 1:00am. Good thing the power had been restored by then because I got out our little electric heaters and ran them both for the rest of the night.

We decided to stop in Grants, NM for some shopping and lunch as we had spotted a Wall-Mart. The main street through town is the historic Route 66 and we wanted to find a local diner for lunch. There were all of the standard fast food places at the exit so we cruised the length of town looking for something different. The town was a striking collection of boarded up shops and vacant buildings typical of what happens when a town gets bypassed by the interstate. There were business, a tattoo parlor and a custom bike shop. A few others, but it looked like we were going to have to settle for McD's when right next door we spotted the First Street Diner. Saved! It even had a parking lot I could maneuver the coach in. The inside was pleasantly decorated and the people were friendly. The food was fabulous. They had four kinds of quiche and ten kinds of home made pie! This was easily the best place to eat we've found so far on this trip.

Then it was back on the road, past Gallop and the state line and on into Arizona. After 45 miles, we stopped at Petrified Forest National Park. Let me tell you, you haven't seen nowhere until you've made it here. There is just nothing but barren desert for miles and miles in any direction. No cell towers, nothing but I40. And then this. It's the kind of place that you really need to stop at if you're going by but hard to justify a special trip. That's not to put it down. It's very unique and well done and interesting with a great movie at the visitor's center. The petrified wood itself grew 225 million years ago and then got buried in a swamp and covered with minerals and ash deposits. Over time the ash and the minerals replaced the cells in the wood with crystal growth so now these logs are composed of semi-precious gemstone material of colors. Just incredible to see when a slice is cut and polished. But the place is strictly look but don't touch. Helping yourself to a stray pebble is a federal offense and the rangers are really on guard. Since petrified wood is found in other locations around the world, the gift shop has plenty to sell you, all shined up and ready to go. Every souvenir shop for miles afterward has it as well. Our campground has a fenced in collection of it they sell by the pound.

So tonight we're at Root 66 RV campground (their spelling, not mine) for our last overnite on the road. We're about 200 miles from our Arizona destination and we'll meet up with my cousin tomorrow afternoon and settle in there for a while. But, stay tuned, as more adventures will be forthcoming.

Haven for the Night

We are in Tijeras, New Mexico, on the edge of the Cilbola National Forest after a 275 mile run from Amarillo. Another day of long, flat, get-me-through-this, but the temps were in the 80's so it was a little better. When we crossed the New Mexico border, we entered the Rocky Mountain Time Zone. After Tucumcari, where we stopped for lunch at a Denny's attached to a Flying J truck stop, the wind came on with a fierceness that was quite an experience. I haven't tried to drive in wind that strong in a long, long time. Certainly never in a motorhome 11' high. As we approached our stopping point for the night, the dust filled the air like a fog. It was so thick that we couldn't connect to a cell tower yet this morning we have a good connection from the same spot. A cold front blew through overnite and this morning the temps are in the low 40's with a high forecast for the mid 70's.

The topography changed at Tucumcari as well, as we started seeing mesas and buttes, albeit small ones, so the view got more interesting. As we gained in elevation (here we are at 6400 feet), we started seeing much more in the way of vegetation. Actual stands of trees. Right now we're surrounded by quite a bit of forest but that will fade as we get by Albuquerque. We're right on the Eastern rim of the valley and we'll tackle the long hills into and out of Albuquerque as soon as we get going this morning.

The highlight of today's travel will be a stop at Petrified Forest National Park and we'll stop for the night in Sun Valley, Arizona.

Change of Pace

From Toad Suck, we've traveled 343 miles to Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge to see a change of country and some wildlife. Also to take some time off. Our first day we went from our overnite spot at a Wally World in Chickasah,  Arkansas about 80 miles to the refuge. The next day we didn't travel at all. This is a really neat area of oak thickets, lots of open grassland and big piles of rock. And lots of wildlife.

 They have lots of Bison.

And they are easy to see. I didn't have to get out of the coach to get these shots. Good thing! The whole area is free range. That means the animals can go where they want when they want and they have the right of way.

They also have a large herd of longhorn cattle, again, free range. So you just hope they don't want to lay down in the road.

There's also a whole town of prairie dogs.

This deer was one of three that walked through our site Monday night.

This tom turkey stood gobbling like mad outside our bedroom window Tuesday morning.



One thing that the refuge does not have is cell phone coverage, at least at our campground. I'm sure some of the higher ground has a signal but we had nothing, so, no phone, no internet.

The refuge is hilly, with higher hills of jumbled rocks. It also has several man made lakes that offer fishing and boating but no swimming. The trees are almost a monoculture of a type of oak with a few cedars thrown in. Most trees are no more than 15 or 20 feet tall.

We left the refuge on Wednesday morning to make our way to Amarillo. While we did make it, it was a long, hot, difficult day. The area surrounding the refuge and then on west is very flat and almost featureless. At times, it was like looking out at the ocean with not a tree or bush in sight. The day turned hot and the road temperature was 104. Unfortunately, the motor home could not cope with that level of heat and we were forced to stop several times to let it cool down. We finally limped into Amarillo about 6:30 and stayed at the Amarillo Ranch RV Park, a very nice place that also honors our Passport America membership discount. We wound up driving 226 miles yesterday and today will be that or a little longer. We're heading for just outside Albuquerque and a rise in elevation of another 3000' and cooler temps.

Greetings From Toad Suck

I've wanted to be able to say that ever since I read about this place in Nick Russel's Gypsy Journal travel blog. As we travel we often come across strange place names and wonder how in the world they got their names. Yesterday we passed through Bucksnort and Mousetail Landing in Tennessee.

This place is the site of a traditional crossing point for the Arkansas river. In 1823, a primitive ferry was set up to convey a horse and his rider over the shallow water. Downstream, the water was deeper, and allowed a ferry boat to travel up river to a landing below the fording spot. A wood yard was established at the furthest point north that the ferry boats could navigate so that they could pick up fuel for the return trip down river. A tavern was built some time between 1830 and 1850 and served as a gathering point for the rivermen. The crews enjoyed the tavern so much that a local remarked "Them fellers suck at a bottle and swell up like toads". The name became applied to the tavern and the crossing and remains to this day. In May, the area celebrates a Toad Suck festival.

Today, as you can see, there is a bridge and dam spanning the river. On the far side from us is a lock to permit passage of river traffic. We are staying at the Toad Suck Ferry COE campground. Our Senior Pass from the National Park Service gets us a site on the river with water and 50 amp power for $10 a night. Can't beat it with a stick! Like all of the COE campgrounds we've stayed at, this one is well kept, friendly and beautiful. Oh, under the lip of the bridge are lines of nests of chimney swifts that come out at dusk to feed on the insects over the river.

We kind of stretched things out to get here yesterday, traveling 360 miles after awakening to 41 degrees and rain in Nashville. We left at about 9:00 local time and drove to Jacksonville, TN, where I filled up for $3.88 a gallon, the best price I saw between there and here. Fuel in Arkansas is a little higher at $3.99.We drove out of the rain after about 50 miles but really didn't see much of the sun until we crossed the Mississippi river. If the land approach Memphis seemed flat, the land after the crossing was much more so. I guess it was made more evident by the size of the farm fields. I'm sure there were continuous plots of 1000 acres or more. Dramatically, as soon as we reached Little Rock, the land became hilly again. The campground is about 30 miles northwest of Little Rock, another place name I wonder about.

With views like this we could stay here a week but today we push on to Oklahoma.

Boondocking in the City

Many RVrs don't think about Cracker Barrel as a place to overnite, but we've stayed there often. This one is at exit 210 just west of Nashville, TN. There is also a pretty good WallMart to overnite at nearby but we wanted supper and this site looked friendlier. Almost all of the Cracker Barrel locations have RV parking and they encourage staying overnite. The only exceptions are in the high tourist areas like Pigeon Forge. The picture is lit with the rear floodlight from the building which was on until daylight, but that didn't bother us at all and adds to the security. One thing about Cracker Barrel, the RV parking is always out back right near the dumpster. And they pick up and dump the dumpster every night. So you can count on hearing a big crash bang sound in the middle of the night. The sights are usually sloped, as well, although this one wasn't, but we can usually get around that. And I40 is about 100' in back of that big pine so there's some traffic noise but, again, this doesn't bother us so staying here is a good option for us.

We left Creekwood RV Park about 10:00am yesterday and enjoyed a pretty good day of travel. Temps were in the high 60's to low 70's and there were a lot of clouds so I didn't have to drive right into the sun too much. We stopped for a bite to eat at a Waffle House about 80 miles east of Nashville and after we left there, I was pushing against a headwind the rest of the way. We crossed into the Central Time Zone along the way and made into Nashville about 3:00 local time.

We had visited Nashville three years ago and really enjoyed it. We went to the Grand Ole Opry and took a dinner cruise on the General Sherman. Both of these attractions are located adjacent to the Opry Mills Mall, so, of course, we did that too! After our visit that year, the next spring the Cumberland river rose to flood stage and completely flooded out the Opry and the Mall. so this time around we were curious to see how the area had recovered. Well, everything is completely refurbished but the mall still has a few vacancies. Some stores have left and some new ones are there and some are relocated in the mall but the mall is going great guns.

There's Diane doing what she does best. We certainly didn't come away empty handed. The mall is similar to the Concord Mills Mall near home, being a circular layout with Bass Pro Shops on one end and movie theaters on the other. And it's a long circle. I wound up pushing that wheelchair around it twice! The exercise was good for me but my back was hurting by the time we were done.

After that, it was head out here for the night. A front has moved through overnite and it's raining now but nothing major at all. We'll drive away from it today and tonight should see us in Arkansas.

It's been interesting watching the fuel prices. We had $4.05 for diesel in Burlington, then $4.18 in western NC. On the way through eastern TN, I saw it as low as $3.88 and around here it's $3.99. I'll get fuel later today closer to Memphis where I should find $3.95 or a little better.

On the road again - Finally!

Well, after a delay of a couple of weeks to resolve some health issues, we finally hit the road West this afternoon. We managed to get out of the house in typical fashion, at about 1:10. Fours hours and fifteen minutes and 219 miles later finds us here at Creekwood RV Park for the night. Very nice park on a creek (duh!) with 125 sites all with full hookups. Our Passport America membership gets us a nice level pull through site at half price for $18, WiFi and cable included.

After we got situated, that is to say, the power plugged in, the water hooked up, the dog walked and Diane crashed on the bed, I tried to start this blog from my iPad, only to find that I can't post pictures from the iPad. Bummer. So, fire up the laptop, run out with the camera for more pics and here I am. A bottle of Highland Brewing Black Mocha Stout is on the windowsill for company.

The first leg of the trip was pretty uneventful after Diane got used to the fact that, no, I wasn't going to stop in Greensboro for some last minute shopping. I tried using the cruise control again and it seems to cooperate just fine after it adds some speed to the setting. I was doing 58 when I set it and it wanted to cruise at 64. But at least it stayed there instead of gaining speed as it had before I replaced the speedometer. I'll play with it some more tomorrow.

I was a little anxious about going up the grade at Old Fort (the Eastern Continental Divide) but it went just fine. Of course, that means 37 mph in third gear, but that's OK. For some reason, the engine is losing a little bit of coolant as I drive. Every morning before I start out I top off the radiator and put in somewhere between a pint and a quart of antifreeze. I can see the depletion as I drive because after a while, the temperature starts to rise on the hills. I'm learning to cope with this but I wonder if it will stop me in the mountains out West.

I thought I might feel more anxiety at this point. I've just left the house for the summer in the care of friends and family and we're looking at maybe four months or more on the road with no real plans other than getting to Arizona. But I'm good, Maybe it's the stout. Or not. I've done everything I can think of to make this trip a success. I've brought everything and more that I think I'll need. But most important, I've brought a mindset that says each day will take care of itself. Bad things will happen, but we'll get through them. Good things will happen and we'll enjoy them. Altogether, it will be a life-changing experience.