History
From cacti to fruit trees…
WINDING DOWN. We’re winding down our Great American Adventure. Our journey has been about the places we’ve seen, the people we’ve met and the surprising, quirky, and serendipitous things that have happened. As we depart Laughlin, we’ve set our sights on Oregon, but first we must cross the Mojave Desert. It’s the driest in North … Continue reading
Hidden Valley Ranch RV Resort…
WAS THIS A GOOD IDEA? As we drove the seven mile road to Hidden Valley Ranch outside the little town of Deming, New Mexico, we wondered if we’d made a mistake. The spot is a working cattle and horse ranch located far, far off the beaten path. The dirt road leading to the ranch is so … Continue reading
A Drive to Remember…
WHAT IF I TOLD YOU. What if I told you we took our Jeep on a drive over the mountains shown in the first picture of the series? Would you believe me? What if I told you that we found about 30 big horn sheep climbing precariously on the cliffs at the side of the … Continue reading
Santa Fe, New Mexico…
OUR VISIT TO “THE CITY.” We’ve been in the Santa Fe area for a couple of weeks, but where we’re staying is at Cochiti Lake, a CoE park located about twenty miles south of Santa Fe and surrounded by vast Indian reservation lands. For those of you who missed my description a couple of weeks ago … Continue reading
Cochiti Lake, New Mexico…
SOMETIMES WE WANT TO BE TOURISTS. Since we left home more than four years ago to begin our Great American Adventure exploring America, we’ve more often that not wanted to be tourists…to see all the places in this great country that we’d never had a chance to see until now. But having been on the road … Continue reading
Las Vegas, New Mexico…
BREEZING THROUGH LAS VEGAS. Today is our second short stop in the little historic town of Las Vegas, New Mexico. We were here briefly in October of 2014, when we were in the area to explore Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands National Park and all the UFO sites in Roswell, New Mexico. This time we’ll just be here … Continue reading
Driving through Colorado into New Mexico…
KANSAS IS BEHIND US. Kansas is behind us and as we enter Colorado we find ourselves in a vast and sparsely populated area called the Comanche National Grassland. In the distance we see the snow covered mountains around Denver and we’re glad that we made the decision to change our route and avoid the severe weather … Continue reading
America’s Heartland, Part II
WE’RE MOVING ALONG. A few days ago we put Missouri in our rear-view mirror and traveled west to Kansas, in search of Dorothy and Toto. We didn’t find them, but we did find more interesting spots in mid-America. The seasons are changing. There’s a chill in the air. Leaves fall from the trees and a red … Continue reading
America’s Heartland…
MANSFIELD, MISSOURI. As we trek across America from East to West, we find ourselves today in Mansfield, Missouri. Only about three hundred families live here. We’re still in the Ozarks. Highway signs blare: “Abortion is murder!” Streets have names like Hickory Hollow and Cemetery Road. A gunmetal water tower announces the town’s name. “Rick’s Quality Used … Continue reading
Welcome to the Ozarks…
WELCOME TO THE OZARKS. We’ve arrived in southern Missouri’s Ozark Mountain Country, also referred to as “the Ozarks.” It’s a highland geologic region of the country’s central states of Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, extending in Missouri all the way northeast to the suburbs of St. Louis. Although sometimes referred to as the Ozark Mountains, the … Continue reading
The Solar Eclipse…
SOLAR ECLIPSE ON AUGUST 21, 2017. Not since 1979 and not again until 2024 will there be a solar eclipse like this one. What a big deal! I don’t know where you were during the eclipse, but in this part of the country seeing it was supposed to be a real “happening.” We’re staying at Wappapelo … Continue reading
Kentucky’s Land Between the Lakes…
LAND BETWEEN THE LAKES. We’re in Kentucky now, staying for a few days in an area known as Land Between the Lakes. It is an inland peninsula formed when the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers were impounded, creating Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley–one of the world’s largest man-made bodies of water. The Army Corps of Engineers began … Continue reading
Defeated Creek Campground…
WE’VE BEEN LUCKY. Since departing Florida last month, we’ve been very lucky selecting wonderful parks where we can stay along our cross-country trek. It’s not always easy to determine in advance how a place really looks…websites employ very crafty photographers to make the most of what a park has to offer. But often when we … Continue reading
The Beauty of Cades Cove…
OUR LAST DAY AT THE PARK. Today was our last day in Gatlinburg so we had to choose between many places in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to visit. We chose Cades Cove, on the advice of several locals whom we met at breakfast the other day. There are so many things to see … Continue reading
The Mountains are Calling…
GATLINBURG, TENNESSEE. You’re going to like it here! This small mountain town is home to less than 4,000 folks but it attracts more than 11 million visitors a year and can grow to a population of 40,000 on any given night. It’s nestled at the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited … Continue reading
Raccoon Mountain Caverns and Campground…
CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE. Here we are in Tennessee at the Raccoon Mountain Caverns and Campground in Chattanooga. The city is located in the southeastern part of the state, along the Tennessee River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. It is one of the top destinations in the South. It’s trolley-like Incline Railway scales steep Lookout Mountain … Continue reading
An eye-opener for me…
VISITING MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA. Visiting downtown Montgomery was an eye-opener for me! The blacks and the whites don’t sit around singing Kumbaya together. All is not well, despite all the progress made during the Civil Rights era of the 1950’s and 1960’s. I’ll tell you a little about the progress made during the Civil Rights era, … Continue reading
