The Land of Enchantment

Today finds us in Santa Fe New Mexico. We left Colorado Springs KOA a little later than I had planned on Friday, but still made it to Santa Fe about 5 pm. It was an uneventful trip over the Raton Pass and on the Santa Fe Trail.

We had some fuse problems upon doing light checks before pulling out and that took a few minutes to troubleshoot and fix. We had about 6 inches of rain in couple of days that we were there, reminding me of Monsoon Season once again. We are perched high upon a hill just outside of Santa Fe.

The view is gorgeous, and people are friendly, mostly our age group doing some fall traveling.

Saturday we went into the city and drove right downtown to the Santa Fe Plaza. Very busy narrow streets and no parking available directed us to the State Capitol Parking lot. We spent a few minutes having a bite of lunch and listened to a group of people protesting against the State's Employee Policies.
It just goes to show that there's lots of people everywhere that are very dissatisfied with the Government today. To just happen upon a demonstration on a Saturday is not usually a common thing. We left there before everyone else. Stopped and poked around in a gift shop and didn't find any bargains, but found quite a few items made in Pakistan and China that really turned me off. I was disappointed in not finding any more genuine Native American baskets and crafts. I'm hoping to go into the Navajo Nation and find some home made items later this week. We spent most of Sunday driving in the hills and the National Forest north of here.

The fires earlier this summer from Arizona played havoc with the forests and many roads and areas are closed.

There were lots of signs warning of Elk and Deer, but we only saw one deer cross the road in front of us all day.

We crossed the Rio Grande River and looked across the Rio Grande Valley not far from Las Alamos. We stopped at an information center at Jemez Springs, an Indian Community. They had a model of a Summer adobe home and dome oven.
Upon completing the circle of travel, we found ourselves back to Interstate 25 not far from Albuquerque. Pointed the nose back east for the drive home. About 30 miles we stopped at a rest/info center and I picked up some brochures on Grants and Gallup, which will be our next stop. When we got back up to speed, a large pickup loaded with hay grass bales came along side of us.

I said something about that not being tied down and not very safe, well, no more than getting that out...they pulled on ahead, a big bale flew out and landed in fron ouf us. A bunch of the hay flew up across our windshield and we skidded to a stop along the shoulder. NOT FUN....VERY SCARY! DH did a heck of a job keeping us from wrecking.I remember while skidding, all I said was "o.k,o.k.o.k!" and then we were stopped. So scared. I was shaking soo bad. KayCee got thrown around a little, but she was fine. Being the nice person he is, he got out and ran across and got the bale off the passing lane so that some poor other person wouldn't hit it. The pick up had stopped quite a ways ahead.....I being not so nice....and really shook up, got in the drivers seat, let DH get in.....roared forward, and chewed his ASS! Royally. He acted like he didn't even know what the problem was,probably just worried about losing one bale, and luckily we escaped any damage to the vehicle or ourselves. I did call the State Patrol and report it, but without damage they weren't going to pursue it. I feel sorry for the next person that's behind him one day and not so lucky! Be very aware folks...there's all kinds of idiots out there that do very dumb inconsiderate things....that could have been the end of us! I am very thankful to be here today to carry on our journey and write yet another long and boring post! Have a great Monday...we'll see ya down the road.

Colorful Colorado Once Again

Colorado has always been one of my favorite places. It is a great coincidence that I have a son that lives in Colorado Springs. He moved here in 2002 when he elected to join the Active Duty Army shortly after the horrible events of 9/11/2001. No amount of convincing that he would be involved in a war and sent over seas would deter him from doing what he thought was his part in defending our great country.

Although he is now out of the Military, still a retired Disabled member of the 4th Infantry Division located here, having met his wife here and now their family lives on the front range outside of the city. We went to a Sports Bar, The Fox and Hound that has hosts the group Coloradans for Nebraska and watched the Cornhuskers win their Football game. With all the big screen tvs it was almost as good as being at the game! We had great seats!

Sunday was a day for reflection of the horrible events 10 years ago, and we flew our flag and watched the specials from New York City. We were awakened yesterday by the sounds of Bugles and Revoli...and then the sounds of gunfire across the Interstate on the gun range at Fort Carson. The result of those days 10 years ago, makes this country an entirely different place. I felt pretty safe going to Safeway...not because of the name, but the amount of 4th ID soldiers in the store at the same time! I have to get used to the large presence of soldiers every time we're here. It's wonderful to see all the dedication and sacrifice that they are making. We went to friends house for dinner Sunday evening and sat on the patio. It was wonderful to do that without it being 100 degrees, and sweat running down your back. They live in a very nice neighborhood by the Olympic Center and Broadmoor hotel and Olympic Ice Skating Museum. We felt pretty safe there too, in spite of the stories Ken was telling us about the large black bear that broke into his storage shed the other night, climbing through a window and trashed it. The fact that him and his wife were sitting on the very same patio and a large black bear waltzed up onto the front step and sat watching them have dinner...so he promptly threw a perrier water bottle at him and hit him square in the nose! The bear blustered at him and ran off! I would have been so gone! After all, Ken was mad that he trashed the little building! They always have bears and big cats in the trees in the back yard and in their trash.. the dogs always go crazy and let them know when they have company, so when the Molly the yellow lab that was snoozing at my feet suddenly got up and took off growling and barking, we promptly took leave to the car!

It was a great evening though, just not a fan of being there after dark! The weather is very pleasant and cool, it has clouded over and rained for two afternoons now and that is forcast for the remainder of the week. Not for sure when we will be leaving, but our next stop will be Santa Fe New Mexico. Just taking this adventure one day at a time and stirring the Jello frequently! Not much exciting but a great relief to be out of the heat.

Shock! I'm Back!!!!

When you spend a good deal amount of time in one place, especially your old home base, it becomes difficult to keep writing a routine blog and make it interesting. We were originally going to be in this area for about 2 weeks while we visited family, met a new Grandbaby Boy, Tig Elliot Dossett and we added a new Son In Law, Dan Follmer in Kearney Nebraska, where our Eldest Daughter became his wife.

The weather dictated that we get here a little sooner than expected, and after getting all the events out of the way, we ended up a lot longer than we planned. That's the great thing about our lifestyle, all plans are written in Jello and can be stirred, changed, set or erased with the flick of the wrist!

Our new Son In Law is a member of the Kearney Nebraska Fire Department and the wedding took place outdoors at their Training Center. It is nice to welcome another Fireman into the family!

It was a beautiful day and the wedding and reception were great fun! Our Oldest Granddaughter is a member of the Kearney Fire Deptartments Junior Cadet Program also...so the tradition will continue.

Lots of hugs for 10 Grandchildren, and aweful hard to get them to be still in one place for pictures! Photographers definitely need our respect when they tackle a group like ours!

D.H has a new toy, he's been shopping at Cabelas since we have points saved up from our Cabelas Card, it's like Christmas when we get here. With the upcoming hunting season in mind,he spotted a pair of Sunglasses with a video camera built in.

They are used for recording hunting events, and having free hands. They would also work for other events too, such as a wedding. I thought it would be inferior quality, and I was mistaken! The video and audio quality is excellent and he wore them and taped the before, the ceremony and afterwards at the reception! We had DVDs made of the recording and that is a keepsake they will have forever. The only bad thing is DH is not in any of those pictures, his voice was very strong and he was the one that walked her down the aisle. We get his prospective, sometimes shoes and dizzy views as he visits with people and shakes his head, but it is a learning process. I'm now a fan of those glasses. Great recording of things and free hands. He has taped KayCee Marie retreiving, it is awesome to watch. As long as the files aren't too big, I can make CDs of the footage. Now onto the subject of Hitch Itch. We had thought that DH was going to Colorado to help our oldest son Harvest some Hay for a couple of weeks, a real camping trip...the job fell through at the last minute and I had already paid rent here for another month, not wanting to pay high tourist prices in Colorado. So we stayed, and have really enjoyed our time, but it's time to go.

Hitch itch is attacking me now. Everything I had wanted to do or see this summer has either been blown away or flooded with storms, or the heat in the middle of the country literally chased us out!

We helped out a friend in Texas, got our coach painted and made a stop at the gates of Fort Benning GA. where my son took basic training.Played on beaches from Texas to Florida and back to Georgia.
One stop was outside of Nashville, Tennessee, where we visited the 2nd Cracker Barrel restaurant opened (the first one burnt down) and we traveled by car down by Memphis to visit the National Hunting Dog Museum. We've met and made many new friends and I wouldn't change this time for anything.

Our next stop will be Colorado Springs right after Labor Day. I'm looking forward to the Mountains and Pikes Peak. We will stay for a short visit and then move on South down I25 to Sante Fe New Mexico. I am excited to be visiting that area of the country on the way back to Arizona. We also will be stopping at other towns in New Mexico and then to Williams AZ for a couple days and take another look at the Grand Canyon. I'm needing a scenery fix. Lots of fun in store, and really looking forward to some cooler weather!

A Devil of a Time

I considered headings for this post and couldn't come up with anything very pleasing! Now I know the Devil doesn't live here...but I think he sure could right now! It is once again 110 degrees today. We are maintaining day by day...completely out in the sun with no shade trees! DH actually went with the neighbors this morning and played golf on a golf course near here. I have not been feeling too good. Actually went to a walk in clinic yesterday afternoon and that alone was a pleasant suprise, finding an open clinic on Sunday! No lines and no waiting and once my meds kick in now, I'll hopefully feel much better, but for now, I just will stay in and stay down. No need to be outside anyway. I really do like it here, and we will definitely make another trip down here at another time.
This past week we have gone into Oklahoma City and toured the site of the OKC Bombing and Memorial Gardens.






It was eerily quiet and a somber site, but structurally interesting and amazing at the memorials still left on the fence by people that visit. We must never forget those that lost their life by the hands of a deranged individual, mad at our government.
We ventured from there down along Brick Street and had lunch at Tobey Keith's Bar and Restaurant.... I love this Bar!

Another day, we went West to Kingfisher, which is the Birthplace of Sam Walton.

We toured the Chisolm Trail Museum, which was boasted to be the greatest cow trail in the world.






It served to get Texas cattle north to the Kansas Railheads from which they were shipped to other parts of the country.

Jesse Chisolm was a mixed-blood Cherokee guide and trader. Born in 1805 and died from food poisoning in 1868 from tainted meat. Guess they didn't refrigerate much back then. I think that I like my washer and dryer much better than these that I found outside of the Dalton Gang's Cabin!




We went back east yesterday about 5 miles from Edmond...to a fun location. After a 5 mile drive on the old Route 66 we stopped at a real Landmark, a futuristic building holding over 500 glass bottles of Soda.

The corner is marked by a 66 ft. tall LED Pop Bottle, complete with straw!Surely it would be much cooler lit up at night! It is named aptly, Pops museum!

It is also a convenience store and restaurant. We got there about 12:30 and the place was rockin...absolutely packed and over an hour's wait for a party of 5.
We, being a couple and willing to sit at the counter, got right in. It was a very fun atmosphere.
We had Buffalo Burger Specials and got some pop to go!










I think that is the end of the touring for this year. I have begun to trace my family tree and with Cherokee lineage, I want to do some research here, but will come back at another time for that. We are headed north and hopefully away from some of the heat on Wednesday. Will get a good early head start!

Enduring the Heat

I can't believe it is staying this hot, this long! Day in and day out the temps go up over 100 degrees. Tuesday we left Arkansas and drove almost 300 miles west and a little north to Guthrie Oklahoma. Our first stop in Oklahoma was to a Welcome Center where I was very happy to see it was clean and modern and had lots of information about the state.

The travel aides answered all our questions and volunteered extra information and literature with things to do and places to see. I had a couple of things in mind and we are staying in the midst of four golf courses, so I thought I would have the activities covered.

It's too hot to play golf! These four courses were designed and built by a pro golfer, Duffy Martin, who owned a great part of the countryside where this RV Park and Courses are located.

DH has enjoyed visiting with him and Duffy has told DH a lot about the area in just a couple of morning visits. This morning he honked (horn sound like a cow and he has a roo bar on the front of his Lincoln TownCar)and waved and told us he was going into OKC to a singles dance! Only 95 years young!

The first night we were here, we happened upon Roma's Italian Restaurant. It is an authentic Italian Eatery, family owned and operated,very reasonable. We have taken a couple of trips into Guthrie and browsed in the downtown gift and antique shops, had lunch at the Stables restaurant, which was excellent, and looked at beautiful art, pottery and other items made in Oklahoma by local crafts people and artists. Many of the buildings are of beautiful old restored Victorian Architecture.
I am totally impressed with this place and it will warrant another trip down here in the future, hopefully when it's not so hot and DH can get a few golf rounds under his belt. Guthrie was the first state capital of Oklahoma until they took a vote and moved it to Oklahoma City.

There's a lot of history here,there's also tornado damage from a storm that came through here about a month ago and wreaked real havoc on the east side of the golf course next door to us, and through north part of town.

I don't think anyone was exempt from destruction this spring. Glad we missed it.

Ozark National Forest

Happy Independence Day! We aren't celebrating much...it's too hot! We got outside when it was barely daylight, rinsed and wiped the bottom third and the ends of the coach to get rid of the dust.
Yesterday before heading up into the hills and forest the car got an automatic scrub so that I could see out of the windshield to drive!

We took off headed North on SR 7 into the Ozark National Forest, stopping at a few highlighted scenic view sites and enjoyed the trees and winding drive for a few hours.

We drove deep into a wooded campground to see the falls that were listed on the map as a view.

Heavy smoke from several camp fires hung in the trees and as I got out, found it difficult to breathe!

Gone are the days when that sort of thing didn't bother me! The trees there were so dense that very little sunlight peeked through but the heat and humidity still intense.

While enjoying this stop over and a pretty little park, the dog has been spooked with the sounds of fireworks going off in town for the past two nights. We found a nice Steak house in town and that was our weekend treat.

Now we're celebrating this holiday with hot dogs potato salad and ice cream here at home! Tomorrow will be a long driving day with our destination being Guthrie Oklahoma. Clean Rig, Clean Car, rested people and hopefully low traffic. It's gonna be another scorcher so I think we'll get up early and go some miles before it really heats up.

Bird Dogs, BBQ and Battlefields

On Friday before leaving the state of Tennessee we took the day to tour some things that we like.

We left our park early in the morning and drove about 75 miles down towards Memphis to Grand Junction Tennessee, the location of the National Bird Dog Museum.

This location of three combined buildings, a combination of The National Bird Dog Museum, The Field Trial Hall of Fame and the Wildlife Heritage Center.
This is a wonderful tribute to some of the great Hunting Dogs and their owners/handlers. The displays capture 40 different breeds of Retreivers, Flushing dogs and pointers.



A meeting facility and library for teaching and understanding the different elements of Sporting Dog Events and Functions.

We took our own Pointer in to visit the Museum and she was very well behaved. We visited the German Shorthair Display on the walls and strolled through the facility viewing all of the wonderful paintings, prints and donated items.

Many works of notable Sporting Dog Artists. The Director talked with us and took pictures of us with our dog in front of the museum. This place is entirely privately funded and dedicated to preserving the past and protecting the future of the Sporting Dog and anyone who would want to experience the world of Bird Dogs. After a very interesting morning we decided to stop at a small roadside BBQ and experience some local flavors.

We gauged the place a success by all the trucks and traffic stopped all around. Waiting or eating and it was turning out to be a hot day.

We were parked at a camp in the location of a Civil War Battlefield and on the return trip from Grand Junction, stopped through Shiloh at the National Battlefield site and Shiloh National Cemetary.

These locations were very vital in the Civil War, and it's hard to imagine over 9000 Confederate Soldiers lined up and in the trees at these battlefields alone and many more Union Soldiers invading and fighting from the north.

Too much history for such a short time! Saturday July 2 we got up and got on the road early, committing two very big no-nos and I'll not be doing it again! After getting fuel in the town of Parker's Crossing, we got on I 40 and headed West.

After all, I thought it was a straight shot not leaving the Interstate. We traveled 316 miles....too far......and traveled not only on a Saturday, but a Holiday Weekend Saturday! Oh MY!!! Too many idiots in a hurry and we had more close calls in one day than in 6-8 months.... We'll not be doing that again!The whole 300+ miles we only saw ONE Patrol car. Interesting, on a Holiday weekend no less!

Thankfully we arrived all safe and sound in Russellville Arkansas, after crossing the Mississippi River at Memphis, taking pictures of where some of the flood waters stood and making our way over half way through Arkansas, about 75 miles past Little Rock.
We will be here for three nights until Tuesday when hopefully the Holiday travelers will be back at work and we will move on!The heat is oppressive and got to 104 today. I hesitate to even venture out and about...for fear that the vehicle will overheat or malfunction, we did explore some today though.

Stay tuned tomorrow for an account of our travels today into the back woods and Ozark National Forest.