Running the Roads-July 29th addenda

Trouble adding photos. Two are "blue"  Can't tell you why.  Off to Seattle area tomorrow.

Great Example Victorian

Crescent Lake along the 101

Pacific Ocean

Lighthouse Sign

Sea Wall and Curt

Sea Critters-Very few things there are rocks

On, not in, the exhibit.

Running the Roads-July 29

A great sightseeing day.  West of the mountains it is foggy till noon, but we saw it lift just at noon.  You could almost set your watch by it. We enjoyed Port Townsend and Fort Worden State Park.  The port town is a good example of Victorian style building and it is an arts community.  The State Park started out in 1902 as a military fort which was later decomissioned and turned into a residence for troubled youth. After that group left, it became a State Park.  Many of the old buildings are still intact and open as museums.  The Lighthouse sits at a point(where else)to aid ships coming around the point. There also was a great marine science center. The natural history exhibits were geared to kids(right up our alley) and in the aquatic section it was a "hands on" site. Really neat.  We enjoyed ourselves. Tomorrow we will pick up our souviner of the "Peninsula" (as the locals call this area): a new tire.  One of the tires on the trailer is showing some serious signs of wear.  It is one of the originals and with so many mountains yet to cross, Curt thinks now is a good time to change it.

Running the Roads July 26-28

Travel day Monday but too hot(triple numbers) to sightsee the fruit and wheat country.  It's interesting how "they" are recovering the high dessert land, irrigating it and turning it into productive acreage. It is possible your bread originated here. We napped and went out for pizza at a local eatery.  There was a single patron over watching a baseball game and one other couple.  We were shown to a table next to the couple and he struck up a conversation.  Turns out they are from St. Albans, WV.  Small world.  They(he)is in the military and they were on their way to a new posting near Seattle. Small world.  Don't often find folks from WV when we travel.  Tuesday saw us on the highway headed toward the mountain we'd seen off and on during Monday's travel.  It kept getting bigger and we finally established that it was Mt. Ranier.  We traveled up I-5(also the roadbed of US 12 at this point) and onto US 12 as it veered west over the mountain at the base of the mountain.  Glimpses of the glacier topped mt. peeped thru the trees several times.  A "scenic overlook" pulled us off the road and the picture says it all.  WEll, maybe not all, because the pix does not do it justice.  As we came down the west side of the range it began to cool.  Tonight I will plug in the electric blanket, "just in case.   Now is is Wed.  Didn't have a strong enough signal to upload last night.  Didn't need the electric blanket, but as the Boy Scouts say: Be Prepared.  The 101(US 101) circles the Olympic National Park so we took it about halfway.  I can understand why Washing ton is called the Evergreen State.  Lots of evergreens covering the mountainsides.  Lots of logging.  This is "spotted owl" country and the logging outfits are posting signs showing they are replanting what they take and when they anticipate harvesting again.  It took us longer to do the trip than planned as WDOT is doing lots of roadwork and on 2 lane roads have to shut down one side for a while.  There were 3 such "inconveniences" today so I imagine we "lost" an hour.  Big deal.  Landed here and did laundry(isn't that exciting?)  Tomorrow we have sightseeing planned and a trip to a tire place to get a new tire for the RV(not one replaced when we had the axle work done last year). Have the electric blanket plugged in again.  It is getting a little cool already and it isn't 8PM here yet(Pacific Time).  Off to fold laundry now. Goodnight.

Running the Roads-Amending July 24-25

Wall of fossils-note the palm fronds

The "rock" hill on the left was underwater a very long time ago

That is millions of years ago

Another phase of Appalacian formation-150 million years earlier

Bear Lake from halfway up the mt.

Can you see the wakes of the powerboats?

I manipulated the photos from the 24th and since I have a GREAT signal tonight, I will post these photos.  The first couple are from the Fossil Butte NMon. and the last bunch were from Bear Lake that our travels took us past before the road climbed Bear Mountain.  We lunched atop the mountain at the rest stop.  See if you can find the power boats on the lake.  At Fossil Butte, the pix above the entrance sign shows a mountain in the background.  That was once underwater and is a source of fossils.  Notice something new?  I learned how to caption a pix.  Next step, figuring out how to stagger them for visual interest and how to get them to load in order.

Running the Roads July 24-25

Running the Roads is a good title…we left Fort Bridger Saturday morn and traveled as far as far as Enid, Idaho staying at a good “overnighter” campground.  Along the way we toured Fossil Butte National Monument on US 30.  What a neat place!  Most of WY was part of an inland sea at one time and then the sediment trapped the living material, plant and animal.  The federal government may not do much that pleases any of us, but one thing they do well is manage that land which they have set aside for posterity.  The fossils of Fossil Lake are remarkable for their variety. The number of fossils displayed at the Visitor’s Center kept us busy for an hour or so.  On the walkway around the building was a time line showing what scientists have decided is the timeframe of our world.  I learned that the Appalachian Chain was formed in three different phases….and they are much older than the Rockies. The weather of the area was tropical based on the plant and animal findings.  Crocs just don’t normally come to mind when thinking of WY critters!(photos to follow in another blog)  Sunday was another travel day.  We listened to Kathy and Brenda’s CD until it started skipping so Curt will clean it tonight.  Then there was a sermonette on the radio.  Ask me about the carrot, the egg and the handful of coffee beans.  It was something to ponder for a while after it was over.  We spent time on I-84 which follows the roadbed of US 30 and much of the Oregon Trail(why reinvent the wheel??).  At Baker City, OR there is a Bureau of Land Management(another federal department)and a Visitor’s Center about the Oregon Trail.  It is a 500 acre facility of both indoor and outdoor exhibits and remnants.  One could go see some of the actual ruts, but it was too hot for the mile or so hike (100 degrees).  They have a wagon at the place that can be seen from the exhibit hall and I hope it comes out. The pix that has a wagon in the center(microscopic) shows a couple of "pathways"; they are pathways made by wagons 100+ years ago!! The life sized exhibits which include “taxidermied” oxen, donkeys and sheep, used real wagons and equipment for it.  Diaries were kept by many of the women travelers.  How they had time to make notes is a tribute to women’s diary keeping.  From them, and other oral histories the feds have put together this exhibit complete with paintings and short videos. One person out of 10 starting out at either Independence or St. Joseph, MO did not make it to the end of the trail. I KNOW I would not have had enough gumption to make the trip, but the information given was that most of the women did not desire to make the trip, but went where their husbands went.  I look at our 32’ RV with its three slides and my every 2 or 3 days at WalMart(or reasonable facsimile)and then look at an example of covered wagon, knowing they ended up getting rid of lots of their possessions along the way to lighten up the wagons for the long pulls, I wonder how they managed.  Of course, they didn’t know that 150 or so years later there would be 4 lane paved roads and air conditioned RVs. They couldn’t miss what they never knew of.   I was suitable humbled after visiting this museum.  We went to a local eatery since I felt it was too hot to cook!

Running the Roads-July22-23

Laramie is the home of the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historical Site.  We toured the prison that had been rehab'd with $$ from the History Channel within the last couple of years.  Over its 30 or so years of operation it served 1000 men and 12 women as "temporary residence".  This place was a place before its time with shop work for the inmates. They had a broom factory, woodworking shop, candle making and such. They wanted to rehabilitate the prisoners.  It is the only jail facility that was able to hold Butch Cassidy.  The Frontier town that is on the grounds is full of buildings purchased from around WY and moved so as not to lose them.  Trees are at a premium and the settlers recycled everything.  Old leaky Union Pacific boxcars were turned into shops and storage, much like the trailers of 18 wheelers are today.  Several were turned into dwellings.  The one on the grounds had been used by the University of Wyoming's extention farm as the shepherder's residence with a couple of small additons made in 1907.  On Friday we moved on over I-80 across Wyoming to Fort Bridger.  I-80 follows, pretty well, the tracks of the Union Pacific RR and earlier trails, the Morman's used some of these trails on their way to Utah.  Actually, Fort Bridger was part of the Utah Territory until Wyoming was made a state in 1890.  We have a group of LDS young people camped just down from us.  They are traveling over the trail as part of a summer study.  I-80 climbs through the Snowy Range of the Medicine Bow Mountains and we saw extensive snow fencing.  The road is closed periodically and the WY road map shows many state, county and other local roads that are closed all winter.  It is strange to see crossing arms like we see at rr crossings sitting along the highways.  "Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope play."  Saw no buffalo, but several herds of antelope(and or prong horn deer). " Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day."  The reason one seldomly hears discouraging words is THERE ARE NO PEOPLE HERE TO SPEAK THEM!  WY population is the lowest in the nation.  Fort Bridger boasts 150 (except during the Mountain Man Encampment when it becomes the 3rd largest population site for 4 days) folks and we passed several "towns" that are smaller than Rock Camp or Wikel.  One town had only an "adult entertainment" building.  Nothing else in sight....360 degrees.  Can't believe where patrons could come from.   We hit Fort Bridger and soaked up that history after we set up the RV for the night.  Only ruins remain of the original fort, which wasn't much of a fort to begin with.  However, the site has been home to a LDS community and then a US military post after they pushed the Mormans out. The military moved out around the turn of the last century as the "frontier was disappearing.".  Now it is a tourist draw.  It was enjoyable to spend some time in the museum, and yes, I read(or at least skimmed) all the labels here, too.

Running the Roads July 20-22

Bright and early (OK, it was closer to 9:30AM) we left Dodge City  on Tuesday and headed west with the idea of getting to Limon, CO by nightfall (OK, 3:30PM, but we are retired, we don’t have to travel all day!).  Rolled through some really pretty countryside and got a photo of the grain silos.  They co-op the grain out here rather than have individual silos on individual farms.  Kansas is not flat as a pancake.  That is a myth. “The western two-thirds of the state, lying in the great central plain of the United States, has a generally flat or undulating surface, while the eastern third has many hills and forests. The land gradually rises from east to west; its altitude ranges from 684 ft (208 m) along the Verdigris River at Coffeyville in Montgomery County, to 4,039 ft (1,231 m) at Mount Sunflower, one half mile from the Colorado border, in Wallace County. It is a popular belief that Kansas is the flattest state in the nation.” That little bit is from Wikipedia.  My brother-in-law sent it to me when I mentioned that I had thought of KS as a flat state.  Anyway, as we rolled west we saw the terrain change.  It’s nothing like WV but still is striking.  It was greener than the last time we were through the area.  Guess they’ve had more rain, or maybe we are further south than our last trip through KS.  We did arrive at Limon at a KOA…no RR, but close to the Interstate.  Caught up on laundry and got a good night’s sleep. Off again and heading northwest.  I can only imagine the “Aha!” moment early settlers felt coming over the rise east of Denver on what is now I-70 and glimpsing the Rocky Mountain Range.  Air pollution and haze makes that moment a matter of history.  Counted several incoming and outgoing from the Denver Airport.  We got on a toll road that links I-70 and I-25 that had no toll booths.  They will, they are in the progress of being built.  I imagine that we will get a bill in the mail because there were cameras at intervals along the way.  My brother-in-law in Texas got a bill for $3.00(if I remember correctly)after he had been on a toll road last winter that had no booth to collect.  The traffic sure moved well without the stops, but I wonder about collections.  We shall see.  By Ft.Collins the air was clear enough to see the mountains.  They remind me of the paint-by-number kits that my parents used to do…buts of color splotches designed to create depth, but failed.  The nonvegetated areas look pinkish or skin-tone, but the horizon lacked depth.  Arrived at Laramie, WY mid afternoon Wednesday and drove downtown to get a feel of the area…and to get milk and bread.  Cool tonight….only in the low 70s.  Needed to toss another blanket on the bed.  Sightseeing tomorrow, so maybe a few pix.

Running the Roads-July 18-19

Sunday was a travel day as we headed west from Eldorado to Dodge City.  Dodge City, of Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson fame.  Of course, Hugh O'Brien and Gene Barry were cast for their looks. The real guys didn't resemble them at all. We started at the Visitor Center with a Trolley Ride that lasted a good 45 minutes and traveled around the historic scenic spots of Dodge City.  Dodge reigned as Queen of the Cattletowns right after the Civil War.  Cattle were grown locally and brought in from other areas including Texas(the longhorns)and railroaded east. This lasted until the late 1970s when there was a quarrantine for Texas cattle due to a little bug that they carried. However, even today, cattle is the major industry of the area, making up about 60% of its economy.  The balance is agribusiness. I need to get a pix of the silos of grain.  The German immigrants brought a drought resistant wheat with them from the Old Country and it propered here.  One of the pix I plan to add to the blog today is of a feed lot.  The cattle come in at a moderate weight and are fattened up and then processed.  There is an aroma in the air that is foreign to city folk...need I say more?  Fort Dodge is about 5 miles east of the city and was abandoned by the gov't and sold to Kansas to use as "an old soldier's home".  It is still in use and has been the home of vets from the Civil War on.  A couple of the old buildings still stand, but most have been replaced over the last 150 years.  You know the forts from TV...the ones with wooden fencing around them?  Fort Dodge had no such protection as wood had to be freighted in first by wagon and then by RR.  Most of the early wooden buildings are gone, too because of wood and open flames for lighting and cooking. Dodge City actually wanted to forget its wild and wooly roots until 1939 and the film Dodge City which Hollywood premiered here.  Then came TV.  Matt Dillon is a composit of all the good traits of the lawmen and upstanding citizens who had settled here in the "West".  Yes, Kansas was the "West".   After our trolley tour we went to the Boot Hill Museum.  It is a replica of Front Street complete with shoot outs on a regular timetable.  The "shops" all house artifacts of early west Kansas. Buffalo, cattle, ranching, barb wire, brands; all these made the west what it was.  So did booze, gambling and soiled doves.  All that had, however, to happen south of the tracks.  North of the tracks lived the solid. proper citizens who turned the "end of tracks town" into the city it resembles today.  In the 1870s the Rev. Ormond Wright began preaching in saloons and dance halls. By 1876 he had his own churh: The First Union Church.  The congregation was composed of 13 citizens (in a town of 1,000 according to the census).  It was a great museum tour that included the Plains People's contribution.  Chief Seattle(I don't know what tribe)wrote some pretty Christian-like sayings that were posted within the exhibit.  That's my next search....to find out more about him.  An ice cream completed our day and tomorrow we are on the road again. 

Running the Roads-Sat., July 17th

Who knew that Kansas has a rich history in oil, or that it had hills?  I surely did not.  There is a great museum here at the Butler County History Center that is all but devoted to the industry and the towns that grew up around them. The Flint Hills are full of oil and gas.  This 10 acre museum has accumulated many early buildings and “company” houses that were similar to the company houses of the coal industry in WV.  How they raised their families in them is still beyond me.  One of the exhibits talked about the early settlers and the sod houses they built.  I was very impressed with the “history lesson” this morning and Curt enjoyed himself, too, since there was a ton of machinery to look at.  A trip to Walmart(seems we are there every other day, but we are putting away gallons of fluids in this heat)to replenish some supplies and an afternoon in the AC of the RV. You've got to tip your head sideways to see the derek cuz I haven't learned how to rotate the photos yet in the new program.  They've been harnessing wind here for generations with the traditional windmills but in recent years the big ones have taken hold.  Oil is necessary for so much of our daily lives in ways we don't really think of.  Next time you use your cell phone, thank the oil industry.  The photo is an older display, but o ur way of life is no less dependent on oil now as it was a couple of years ago when the display was put together.  What else can you think of that depends on oil? 

Running the Roads-July 15-16

We left Branson this morning and are in El Dorado, KS along US 54 just east of Witchita.  The campground was full except for this last site....there is a pipeline being built for moving oil from one place to another and the park is full of seasonal workers.  In fact, the gal at the office suggested I get on and off by 5PM because of all the workers doing their e-mails, etc. after that. Not a problem.  Yesterday was high 90s so we laid low in the AC of the RV and local WalMart Mall.  We took in Mickey Gilley's show last night.  He had to do the show from a chair.  Seems he was moving some furniture last summer and took a misstep that ended up with him paralyzed from the neck down.  He had to cancel the balance of the 2009 season but vowed he would recover and be on stage when the spring 2010 season began.  He did, altho he can't walk without assistance and his left side is not working.  He can't play the piano, but he still put on a good show from an office type chair on a wheeled base.  He is still in therapy and hopes to recover more.  There aren't any pix today, but if I had my camera with me I would have taken one inside the ladies room(not at all tacky, trust me!)at the rest top.  There were no sinks for washing hands, but this little niche where one puts one's hands.  Soap is dispenced, then a couple of seconds later comes water.  After a sufficient time to rinse, there is air to dry.  How neat!  There is no mess of soap dripping from a dispenser, no splashed water and no paper mess.  What WILL they think of next?  I am reminded of either Meet Me In St. Louis or Oklahoma where one character gets back from the "big" city and comments that:  "we've gone as far as we can go."  Have we?  I sure can't figure what else can be invented.  By the way, I learned that the "flip" phone inventor was inspired by the Star Trek communicators. I thought that was interesting.  We are going to explore around here tomorrow during the cool(80s) of the morning and then later in the day if the temp drops.  It is only 95 as I type this.  Hope the grass is still green at home.....Until tomorrow

Running the Roads-July 13-14

Tuesday saw us pouring over the brochures and leaflets of the different activities and shows here in Branson.  We scouted out the upcoming Christmas season.  Any Williams declares “the Season” and it is a local joke that almost all the entertainers who do a Christmas program refer to when plugging the Season.  We are seriously thinking of coming back sometime during the Christmas season for a last week of “camping”.  Laundry follows us wherever we go so spent a half day getting that done and followed up with updates in the grocery line as well.  Went to a show tonight….The first half was a group of talented young performers, none of which are “big” names.  They did a very energetic program with lots of strobe lights that really bothered the eyes, but the music was quite good.  The second half of the show was the 3 Redneck Tenors.  I missed them on America’s Got Talent, but they made it to the final 10 acts, which means they got some good TV exposure if one is a fan of that show.  They were funny.  If you get a chance to see them, do it, you will laugh and enjoy good operatic singing brought down to redneck level. Picture the theme to Green Acres as opera.....To top things off, we got in for almost half price because this time of year is very slow for shows with so many shows shut down for mid summer and there was a deep discount. I guess most of the folks who come in mid July do it for the abundant recreation, not the shows. Today, Wednesday the 14^th, saw us going to take in a Cajun fiddler and his band.  Wade Benson Landry isn’t a household word outside of southwest Louisiana or Branson, but for toe tapping fiddle music there is none better.  We bought a CD to replace the one we wore out and were crowned the King and Queen of Mardi Gras.  How did that happen, you ask?  The purchase of the CD had nothing to do with it. We had aisle seats down near the front and Wade grabbed Curt and dragged him into the spotlight.  They crowned us and gave us lots of beads, a jar of hot sauce and a jar of picante sauce(one of the sponsors of the show).  It was fun, embarrassing, but fun.  After we have supper we are going to a family show. We are going out since at 5PM it is still a hair above 95 degrees. Four generations of performers who have been here from the beginning of the entertainment world that is now Branson.  I am sure that they’ll be good or they wouldn’t have lasted for 40 some years.  Change of subject: Have you ever seen a STOP sign that is electrified?  There is one here and at night it really shows up.  Since it is powered by the sun, I guess you can call it "green".  We should get one for our county!  It is adorable. Curt is examining the routes out of here, asked at the desk about MO 248 going west and they suggested we NOT take it as it was described in terms of US 219 north of L'burg, and we have already done that kind of a road on this trip.  More planning and on the road Friday morning.  Until then.....keep smiling and make folks wonder what you are up to. 

Running the Roads-Sunday 11th & Monday 12th

Sunday is a day of rest so we rested, slept in and soaked up the atmosphere.  After lunch we decided to find one of the promised springs.  There are scads there, some "dressed up" like the picture and some not so much.  All of the springs are now contaminated and no longer used for water but as lures for tourists.  Downtown is full of old buildings, all of which were built in the 20th century because the town had previously been destroyed by fire-twice.  This time they built more with stone and brick.  At one time there were more stonemasons than any other profession living in the area.  I captured the Courthouse, an old hotel and a "shot" of the downtown which is mainly giftshops and eateries now. Curt fell in love with the name of this one place and had to have a pix. Monday saw us back on the road.  Most of Branson is like hairdressers, off on Mondays so we ate out(what a treat) and will catch an early night.  Sightseeing comes tomorrow and we'll catch some show....to be determined as our tastes are not in sync right now. 

Running the Roads-July 10th

Settled in for some sightseeing today.  Clear and hot, upper 80s and low 90s, so moved at a moderate pace.  First stop: Quigley's Castle.  Mrs. Quigley would be called eccentric by some, crazy by others but what she created is something else.  In 1943 while her husband was at work, she and her 5 kids dismantled the three room shack they called home.  Her husband had been promising to build her a proper home, but the Depression and then WWII got in the way.  Now he had no choice because home was now the chicken coop.  Mama knew what she wanted.  4 feet of earth was left between the outer walls of the house and the living space and the whole house became a greenhouse, literally.  She planted and some of those trees and vines are now two stories tall inside.  She loved  nature and collecked rock that she turned into garden art and the "stucco" that covers the two story house.  She also collected butterflies and moths, goldfish and freshwater muscle shells, turning these all into art or part of the house.  Later we went into downtown Eureka Springs.  It reminds one of McDowell Co. where the  sun doesn't shine anywhere until noon and is gone by 1PM.  The dwellings are built into the hillsides and are terraced up the rock hills.  We stopped at the local museum where I proceeded to read just about everything in print.  Like Monroe Co, the waters were touted for healings and they bottled the LOW mineral waters for export. Very informative.  In the afternoon we visited the grounds of The Greatest Passion Play and saw the statue of Christ that is the largest in North America.  It is needing some repair and the cost is prohibitive so will only be patched as monies become available.  Just a little while ago one finger needed some repair and it ran $6,000.  We also visited the Bible Exhibit. Hundreds of Bibles(prayer books and hymnals)in scads of languages.  We saw some facimilies of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the earthenware jars they were stored in and an original Bible printed before verses were introduced in the late 1500s.  Awesome is not too glib a word to use about the exhibit. Since it was "date night" we went out to supper, although without the usual trips to Lowe's or Walmark.  Actually, haven't seen either for miles and miles.(Now wait, on our way out of town we will probably see one around the next bend!) Went to a musical/comedy theater and enjoyed a Hoe-Down with some really talented muscians.

Running the Roads-July 9th

Today was a short day, only 192 miles and much of it was not on the Interstate.  You know that road in San Franciso, can't think of the name of it, but it is really crooked?  Well, Arkansas State Rd. 23 is even worse! It makes US 219 north of Lewisburg look level and straight!  They even post signs that it is VERY crooked and steep for several miles at a time.  It climbs the Ozarks and is considered a "scenic byway".  Since it was raining off and on I didn't genjoy its beauty all that much but we made it here to Eureka Springs in good shape.  After a nap, we set out for a little sightseeing.  Tomorrow we'll do some in earnest.  The area is filled with springs(hence the name).  Photos tomorrow.

Running the Roads-July 8th

Thursday was another travel day. TDOT is alive and well(tax dollars?)and doing a lot of work here and there on I-40 but we weren"t slowed down by the work as they kept lanes open.  The only thing that COULD have held us up happened in a rest stop(so we couldn't stop so I am glad we had our "facilities" with us). The driver must have taken the curve too fast.  We are in North Little Rock at the KOA(no railroads for those who know our feelings about KOAs)and not in Memphis.  I was mixing up Plan A and Plan B when I said Memphis was our destination yesterday.  About yesterday's blog.  What I posted on Wed. evening should not have been there.  The site told me it hadn't been successfully posted.  So, this morning I posted again and checked it after the "successful posting" screen greeted me and I found both.  Trial and error will get us through this.  Temps have been in the upper 90s today, 92 at 8PM.  We are due some rain tonite and into tomorrow so it should only be mid 80s.  It is a "sleep in" tomorrow as Eureka Springs is only 180+/- miles.