Back Before Thanksgiving

     We met a lot of people on the road the last few days who were going south and could not understand why we were driving in the other direction.  I just can't imaging missing the holidays with my family.  We planned the trip to get back home in time for Bennett's birthday and for Thanksgiving.  I find it amazing that the warm Minnesota fall means that the grass is still green and I still have flowers blooming.   I really expected to find some snow on the ground when I was looking at the calendar.
    Our last 250 miles were uneventful except for the three deer who decided to cross the highway just in front of us.  I would have been seriously crabby if we had to spend a couple days in Iowa messing with a deer mashed on our bumper.  However, Bambi and his friends made it across the road safely.  We got home by mid afternoon and had the whole camper unloaded before dinner time.  We have this down pat now.
     We were gone 4.5 weeks, traveled over 4000 miles in the RV and around a thousand more in the car we tow.  We spent more time in big cities - Lincoln, NE, San Antonio, TX, Galveston, TX, Houston, TX and New Orleans, LA - than our usual trips.  We were in the plains, the desert, the seashore, bayous, rivers, forests, farms and miles of city sidewalks.  It was a trip of contrasts from the wide, open expanses of Big Bend to the crowded, urban streets of the French Quarter.  We were healthy and happy the whole time (not counting the irritating bites I had on one foot).  We had no problems with the RV or the car aside from the minor bathroom flooding which  required a mop up.         My house is a disaster.  We closed the cabin just ten days before leaving on our trip so I still have laundry, canned goods, and other junk from the cabin sitting around.  Now I have all the camper stuff too.  I am relieved that Thanksgiving is at my brother's house this year.  It may take a while to get this place back in shape.  But first I have to hug my grandchildren, I miss them more every time we leave home.
    Our next trip is to Maui.  I look forward to traveling with you all again.
 
   

Lazy Acres RV Park

    We have been searching the Internet for the campground closest to home that is still open.  The warm fall worked in our favor in that this really nice park just north of Cedar Rapids which usually closes October 31,  is open until Thanksgiving this year.  It's going to be below freezing tonight so we drained our water hose and are using water just from the tank.  Tomorrow we will dump for one last time and head for home.
     If Minnesota weather had been cold and snowy by this time we would have had the camper winterized in Iowa before driving our last leg.  But, wow, it is supposed to be almost 60 on Sunday so Rick can doing the winterizing in our driveway and we get home two days earlier than originally planned.
   Our drive today was mostly on a four-lane divided highway along the river - U.S. 61 - The Great River Road.  This highway starts in New Orleans and goes 1400 miles to Wyoming, Minnesota.  Until 1991, when I35 replaced a section, the highway extended north on what is now MN 61through Duluth to the border at Grand Portage.  We have driven the Minnesota sections of this highway many times and drove it in New Orleans and Memphis as well where it is called "The Blues Highway."  We were happy to discover that there was very little truck traffic on the Missouri/Iowa segment.  The wind was still fairly strong today, but more steady with fewer huge gusts, so we managed to stay on the road.  Tomorrow, the winds should be fairly calm, thank goodness.
    When packing for this trip we prepared for much colder weather.  Only today did we finally wear our warmer jackets.  My long underwear, stocking cap and gloves remain packed.  We run a little space heater besides our RV heater to keep us warm.  I'm keeping the bathroom door open tonight to keep the heat moving in there as well.  Tomorrow, we will pack up for the last time in our camper this year and THEN WE WILL HEAD HOME, YEAH!

Still not in Iowa

     The bad news is that we only got 100 miles closer to home today.  We did not have big winds over night and the morning was really calm, so we thought we had lucked out of the storm.  But by the time we got going the wind was brutal.  I had a couple of potential campgrounds chosen - one close by and one further north.  After driving 30 miles and working hard to stay on the road, we knew we should cut our driving day short.
    We drove to St. Charles, Missouri - the good news.  This is a small town just north of St. Louis, right on the Missouri River.  It was founded in 1769 as Les Petites Cotes ("The Little Hills") by French Canadian fur trader Louis Blanchette.  It was a busy river town and the main street became a place of shops and services.  Today a ten block section is a registered National Historic District and still has many pretty shops and restaurants in the restored old buildings.
   We stopped for lunch at a Soda Shop and sat at the counter and sipped milkshakes.  It has been a really long time since I had lunch at a "lunch counter."  It reminded me of the many milkshakes that I had downtown St. Paul with my friend, Beth Jorgens, on our way to our synchronized swimming club at the YWCA.  Rick and I had to walk up and down the ten blocks to work off some of the lunch. We enjoyed seeing all the beautiful old stone and brick buildings.
   Another claim to fame for St. Charles is that it was the jumping off spot for Lewis and Clark.  We have been to many other places along their route including Fort Clapsop in Oregon where they finally reached the Pacific Ocean.  A small museum along the river in St. Charles holds replicas of the boats they used to go upstream on the Missouri River.  The boats were huge, heavy, and wooden.  I can't imagine the effort it must have taken to move those boats against the current.   A National Geographic movie at the museum helped us recall the facts about this amazing trip.
    So it turned out to be a pretty good day, but we are still two days drive from Apple Valley and I would rather be home.  Sigh.

Jellystone Park, Perryville, Missouri

     We were in four states today - Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri.  We were trying to put some miles behind us before the predicted storm hit.  It was an uneventful drive except for the ruts in the road created by all the truck traffic.  When we bounce around we often hear things banging around in the back of the camper.  I do my best to put everything on the floor or stowed in a cupboard, but we still get surprised.  One of the design flaws to this Itaska camper is the device which gets levered in between the wall and the slide out.  It is supposed to prevent the slide out from sliding out while we are traveling.  Instead, anytime we hit a bump, no matter how tight I screw it in, it falls to the floor and scares us to death because we think we have blown a tire or some other dire problem.  Fortunately, I can see the stupid pole

World War II Museum

on the floor and I know what the noise is.
     This late in the year many of the campgrounds in Missouri and points north have closed for the season.  We are juggling the mileage, weather, and list of open campgrounds as we plan the last few days of the trip.  Today really severe weather was predicted for the afternoon so we got on the road quickly and had a place we could stop early if necessary.  We lucked out and the weather held off until we got to this spot 80 miles south of St. Louis.  We got the camper hooked up and managed a nice walk before the rain started.
    The weather man said on the evening news that most of the really severe weather went north of us and is pretty much past us.  It is a relief not to be worrying about it over night.  Tomorrow we may find lots of wind - or not.  We have a plan for a long drive, but also a short drive if it is too windy.  This has been a trip that has been constantly redefined because of weather, but luckily we have not had any serious problems.

Frog Hollow Campground, Grenada, Mississippi

     Yup, you never heard of this place.  It is conveniently located 300 miles from where we started this morning, so this is where we are spending the night.  Our campsite is a stone’s throw off the Interstate, but a line of trees keeps the headlights from shining in our window.  As we were checking in another RV from Minnesota pulled in.  They were amazed that we were heading NORTH.  They spend the winter on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast.

     I forgot how pretty Mississippi is.  We saw a lot of it when we drove the Natchez Trace.  I am happy to see big pines along the road instead of water or swamp.  I have more confidence that I will survive a blown tire when there is a dirt shoulder instead of a tiny guardrail separating me from the swamp.  The area has some rolling hills, too, and no more hurricane emergency route signs now that we are finally above sea level.

     I learned something new in New Orleans, however, about hurricane flooding.  John, the mule driver, told us that the reason that the French Quarter didn’t flood is because it is so close to the river.  Over thousands of years the Mississippi has flooded and left mud behind on its banks.  Thus the land closest to the river has been become higher than the land further away from the river – sort of a reverse valley.  In the Katrina flooding of New Orleans, it was not the river that caused flooding; it was the broken dike which allowed water from Lake Pontchartrain to cover the city that was the problem.  Neighborhoods near the lake were flooded, those that were on the other side of town by the river, were not.

     I have a correction to yesterday’s post.  Brad Pitt and not Tom Cruise has the house in New Orleans with Angelina.  Just checking to see if you are really reading this.  Ha ha.  Cheap thrills when we are in the middle of nowhere.

     The weather is beautiful, but tomorrow is supposed to bring a storm.  We will see how far we get before the rain comes.  I am ready to soak in my tub and hug my grandchildren.

The French Quarter, New Orleans

     I can remember being in grade school and each student was supposed to create a big poster for a city.  My city was New Orleans; so I drew a balcony with fancy ironwork, lots of flowers, and a door with colorful shutters.  I always wanted to see the real thing; today I did.  The French Quarter is both amazing and awful.
    It was a good day to visit because the weather was cool and this is not a busy time for New Orleans tourism.  We found a spot for our car near Jackson Park and walked the narrow sidewalks.  Around the park we saw dozens of art vendors and street musicians.  We walked down Royal Street which has lots of nice shops and restaurants.  The shops all had apartments above which had nice balconies, lots of flowers and doors with shutters.  I loved it.
    We found a casual seafood cafe for lunch.  Rick had some great shrimp.  I have shellfish allergies so I had blackened chicken and stole most of Rick's hush puppies.  We left lunch and walked down the incredibly tacky row of bars and junky shops that is Bourbon Street.  We are probably too old to appreciate it.
    We wanted more history about the area so we took a carriage ride with John and his mule, Moon.  We left the busier parts of the French Quarter and drove through the more residential areas.  We saw blocks of wonderful, historic homes.  The carriage took us past Tom Cruise and Angelina Jole's home which is for sale, and Nicolas Cage's haunted, 11,000 sq. ft. home.  We peeked down the alleys between the buildings to see some beautiful courtyards with fountains and gardens.
     We topped off our New Orleans experience with
cafe' au lait and some fresh beignets.  This is usually a breakfast treat, but we were lucky to find an outdoor cafe that was still serving the wonderful, flaky, sweet pastries.  The sun had finally come out so we sat on top of the levee and said goodbye to "The Big Easy."  Tomorrow we start our long drive home.

Mardi Gras World

     On this chilly and gray day we considered our options for sightseeing.  The Saints had a home game today which means lots of traffic and extra party goers in the downtown bars.  We looked at the map and saw - Mardi Gras World.  A bright and happy place that is along the river.  We took a long way around drive to get there and our bonus was that we saw lots of beautiful old mansions along St. Charles Avenue.
     Blaine Kern Studios has been building parade floats for Mardi Gras since 1947.  The company makes paper mache' characters and other decorative items for parades and displays all over the world.  Many of them start with a styrofoam base that is covered with paper mache'.  The building is over a block long and filled with huge characters.  Mardi Gras is now ten days long and includes over 55 parades.  Each year a theme is chosen and the various Krewes decide on a design for their float.  Some of the floats carry up to 35 members of the Krewe.  The parades may go on for over six hours so the floats include a bathroom as well.  It was a fun back stage view of the preparations for this wild celebration.
   We had lunch at Mulates, a Cajun restaurant, and listened to some Louisiana Creole Cajun zydeco music while we ate gumbo and red beans and rice.  The gumbo and red beans came either in a cup or a bowl.  We chose a bowl and now have another whole meal to eat.  Wow! these were big portions, but just delicious.
    Feeling full, we drove to the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge to take a hike on the boardwalk that goes into the bayou.  I hoped for alligators, but apparently the large ones go into hibernation as the weather gets cooler.  We DID see a large flock of beautiful great white herons, a few great blue herons and some funny looking cattle egrets.  Fortunately no snakes or other poisonous creatures, although I have some seriously itchy bites on one foot from something that got to me yesterday.  Thank goodness for Benadryl.
   

National World War II Museum and Lafayette Cemetery

    The top place to visit in New Orleans according to TripAdvisor is the National World War II Museum.  Since Rick and I are both Baby Boomers we have a connection to World War II and this museum looked like it would be interesting if we had rain.  Today it rained, again.  But that's okay because the museum was terrific.
    I wondered why this museum is located in New Orleans and that question was answered by a display of a landing craft, vehicle, personnel (LCVP) or Higgins boat.  This boat was a landing craft used in amphibious landings in World War II.  The boat was designed by Andrew Higgens, a boat manufacturer, based on boats used in New Orleans swamps and marshes.  Every film of the landings at Normandy Beach shows men walking off these boats.
     The museum consists of five large buildings including a massive theater which shows a movie introduced and produced by Tom Hanks.  The movie was on a huge screen and had many special effects to produce a sense of being part of a war zone.  The movie was attended by 40 young Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.  I wondered what they thought of pictures of hangings, shootings, concentration camp victims, thousands of bodies on Normandy beach and the aftermath of two atomic bombs in Japan.  The ultimate  message was one of hope and victory, but also one which stressed the huge cost to the whole world.  I would have a very hard time explaining it all to my grandchildren if they had seen it.
    Another building of the museum is sponsored by Boeing and displays many planes, tanks, jeeps and other vehicles used in the war.  This was a big hit with the scouts (and Rick).
    We left the museum with sore feet so we did some driving to the Garden District to see some of the grand old homes in New Orleans.  The streets are really narrow, it was raining, and there were dozens of walking tours, but we enjoyed seeing the grand old mansions.  I am also fascinated by the many one-room-wide homes called "shotgun" houses.  After Katrina when many houses were rebuilt and new versions of the old designs were made to fit homes on the very narrow lots.
      We also stopped to walk around one of New Orleans old cemeteries.   New Orleans is built on a swamp so all the graves are above ground.  All these varied tombs give the cemeteries the nickname "Cities of the Dead."  They are really interesting places and we saw many walking tours.
    We got back to the camper in time for the rain to really start pounding.  I may have to rethink my assumption that the river won't breach the levee.

Destrehan Plantation and the Mississippi

   I seriously do not understand why anyone built a city on all this water.  What were they thinking of?  We drove on Interstate 10 from Lafayette to Kenner (just outside New Orleans).  Large portions of the Interstate were built on piers over swamp, bayou, or river.  One section was 16 miles long with nothing under us but alligators, snakes, and mud.  We also crossed bridges that had to go really high up so that the big ships could pass under them.  I really don't like these tall bridges, but the view was spectacular.
    We got into our campground at lunch time so we chatted with the manager about nearby places to visit.  Our campground is right on the river road which follows the Mississippi, and just down the road is one of the dozens of old plantations.  Destrahan was built in 1787, and is the oldest documented plantation home in the Lower Mississippi Valley.  Indigo was initially the primary plantation crop, but ultimately sugar cane made the plantation very successful.
    The story of the plantation was also the story of slavery in this part of the country.  Our guide told us that slaves owned by the French in Louisiana fared better than those who were owned by English.  He also made it clear that it was not a good life for the slaves, just better.  Interesting perspective, I think.
    As we drove beside the levee along the river, we talked about the Katrina flooding.  I said that I wished we could see more of the river.  Rick told me that the campground was probably at a lower level than the river, so without the levee we would be swimming.  Freaked me out a little.  We stopped in Kenner which is an historic river town, The riverfront park had a lookout at the top of the levee.  We stopped to climb up and look out at the river which, fortunately, was NOT higher than our campground.  It will have to go up about 25 feet before we have to worry and I think by the time it gets that high we could be halfway home.
   So we sat on top of the levee and watched some huge ships go up and down the river.  The sun was setting and there was a nice breeze.  A perfect evening on the river.

Lafayette, Louisiana

    Whew, summer type weather hit the Gulf overnight and the humidity was so thick the air could support a small child.  Combine that with the salt air we had a swamp in the camper this morning.  The windows were dripping with salty water and my bedding was sticky.  Yuck.  We closed up and turned on the air conditioning to dry things out.
    Our drive towards New Orleans took us on a highway that wandered between the bayous and rivers along the Gulf.  The area near Galveston was all oil industry and shipping.  We could see oil derricks out in the Gulf serviced by lots of helicopters.  Huge ships carried oil and containers.  A long line of trucks carrying containers headed for the port.  It was a really busy place.
   Then we went over a very high, very long bridge and got into an area of harbors full of fancy boats and beautiful, huge homes set up high on piers.  Everywhere the water was high from the rains last week and we went through two areas that had been hit by tornadoes.  I am so thankful that our only problem with all this bad weather has been having to stay in an ugly, muddy campground.
    We crossed the state line into Louisiana and went to the Visitor Center which had no RV parking. Before stopping there we looked for a Interstate Rest Area but there is only one on I10 in all of Louisiana.  At the little Visitor Center we found an area for viewing alligators.  We were also warned of several poisonous snakes and insects.  I have never been so cautious about where I put my feet (or any other part of my body) when I am outdoors.
    We have now officially filled in three more states on our travel map - Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana.  We have also found the folks who speak another language - Southern.  The Texas accent was pretty mild, but Louisiana southern drawl is thick, really thick. We will see if we understand anyone at all when we hit New Orleans or should I say, "Nawlins"

Galveston Port

     We left the quiet of our state park to explore more of the island and the sea port.  We followed Google’s directions and found ourselves in a snarl of closed roads along the wharf where a huge entertainment area was being set up for the Lone Star Motorcycle Rally that starts tomorrow.  Google was a little wrong about where we were going, but we couldn’t get there anyway, so we gave up.  Instead we took a free ferry across the Galveston ship channel to the Bolivar Peninsula. 

     I love to get out on the ocean – even on a big ferry.  We hopped out of our car and stood at the rail where we saw dolphins right away.  It was a fun ride to nowhere.  The Bolivar Peninsula has very little to offer, just a park built around some old bunkers left from the days when the area was Fort Travis during both world wars.  It was a good point to watch some more big ships come and go.  Then we lined up to get back on the ferry where we had to go through a “security” search.  I can’t imagine what they were looking for, but we didn’t have any of it.  Once again we hopped out of our car to look for dolphins, but, SURPRISE – we were heading into the waves and got just soaked.  The folks on the motorcycle at the front of the line also got really wet.

     We stopped at a local seafood cafe for lunch.  Cajun fried fish with hush puppies.  Yum.  I love to eat at little local places rather than the same old chain restaurants.  Not the fanciest place or fastest service, but good food.

     Our campground has filled up quite a bit with folks attending the rally.  The weather report is not favorable for a good time for them as it is supposed to rain again.  The ground here is soaked, and there is standing water everywhere.  We had a nice smoky fire for a while to chase the mosquitoes away, but eventually got chased into our camper.

  I am hoping the rain holds off until we finish our 250 mile drive towards New Orleans tomorrow.  It is much easier to drive on dry roads. 

Galveston Island State Park

     

We are camped about 20 yards from a beautiful beach on the Gulf of Mexico.  AHHH.  We got here before lunch since it is only a short drive from Houston, so we spent the afternoon walking the deserted beach searching for shells and bird watching.  The water was still warm and felt great as we went wading.  What a perfect day, there was no competition for finding good shells.

     This is a small park with 30 campsites set just behind the beach dunes.  There is another set of campsites on a bay across the highway.  Mid-week in November is a quiet time here so we share the space with about four other campers and a lot of sea birds.  I logged five new birds in my journal.

    Camping this late in the year is different than summer camping.  The days are short, and sundown comes really early.  We walked the beach at sunset, and then, to top off our lovely, quiet day we built a campfire and roasted some hotdogs for dinner.  This is an island with almost no trees, but it still came as a surprise when the firewood was 2 for $3.  That is two chunks of wood – NOT two bundles of wood.  Ha ha!  We are not in the north woods now. 

     We are hoping that the rain that is moving in waits for a day so that we can enjoy one more day at this beautiful beach. Wish you were here!

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

      Rick and I grew up during the early days and excitement of the space program.  I remember the intense competition between Russia and the U.S. - especially in the realm of space exploration.  When Russia put a man into space in 1961, I clearly remember President John F. Kennedy declaring that the U.S. would have a man on the moon before the end of the decade.  Schools put new emphasis on math and science and the U.S increased their space budget by 500%.
    It was an exciting and challenging time.  Each launch was broadcast on TV and the whole school watched.  I remember sitting with my Norwegian relatives in Oslo and watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.  I remember the shock of watching the Challenger explode taking the lives of seven astronauts.  We relived the excitement and shock as we watched some of the same footage today at Space Center Houston.  
    Most of the exhibits were at the Visitor Center (Space Center Houston) adjacent to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center which is the NASA center for human spaceflight training, research, and ultimately, flight control.  A tram tour took us from the Visitor Center to the huge campus of the Space Center.  Our first stop was the Space Vehicle Mock-up facility used to train the astronauts.  Then we went to the Mission Control center where the communication with the astronauts and control of their space vehicles is managed.  They are currently actively working with the International Space Station and planning ahead for the Mars mission in the 2030's.  It was eerily familiar after just seeing the same Mission Control in the movie, "The Martian."
   The final stop was Rocket Park where we could see the amazing progression in size from the small earliest rocket to a huge Saturn V which is 363 feet tall.  A mock up of the Space Shuttle Independence mounted on top of the Space Carrier Aircraft is in the process of being setup to be toured.  It is just immense.
    While there is a lot of information about the history of the space program, there was also a strong sense of excitement about the future
as the U.S. partners with other countries and with businesses. We had a great day remembering the past and celebrating the future.

Just Another Rainy Sunday

     We have found when we travel for a long time we need to take days off from sightseeing.  We get tired.  So we slept in this Sunday morning, had a real breakfast, and did chores.  But everyday errand running in a new town is interesting.  We needed a new smoke detector so we decided to go to Walmart which has a bunch of RV items.  Good old Google Maps helped me find the nearest Walmart SuperCenter and we headed out into the rain to buy groceries and RV stuff.
    We got back, did laundry, and cleaned the RV.  The upside of having less than 200 square feet is that it doesn't take long to clean.  As a reward for our hard work Google found us a movie theater so we could see an early show.  Our campground is in an industrial area, so there is nothing close by. We followed Google's directions across town to the theater.  Our drive took us through some really nice neighborhoods with huge houses.  It seems like the homes are really close together, though.  I don't understand why they are on such small lots.  I really like the older homes built in a Texas Cottage style with a front porch and a metal roof.  We saw a lot of these in New Braunfels, but they are crowded in between the McMansions as well.
   I also thought about traveling around a town without any idea of whether we are in a "safe" neighborhood or one that is a high crime area.  As it turned out we certainly were in a nice neighborhood and the theater was a two story, 24 screen monster.  We saw "The Martian" which had a bunch of scenes at the NASA Space Center in Houston - our planned sightseeing spot for tomorrow!
   We set off on foot in the nearby neighborhood for dinner and found a great Mediterranean Cafe for dinner.  When we left the cafe we could see stars!  A clear night sky!  I have high hopes for tomorrow.

Big City RVing in Houston, Texas

     Did you know that Houston has bayous?  I think of Louisiana when I hear about bayous, but here we are in Houston and the bayous are overflowing.  Yup, more closed roads.  It rained again last night - 14 more inches in parts of Houston, as well as some tornadoes.  I heard it raining on our roof for several hours, but it was sunny when we got up.  Yeah!
    Houston wasn't on my original itinerary so I did some quick research and found a highly rated RV park.  I got directions from the park office and then looked at the GPS which routed us somewhat differently.  I went with the GPS and found when we got to town that a crucial road was closed due to flooding.  Enough already!
   We got to the campground with only one or two wrong turns and were pleased to find such a nice place to stay.  Once again we are between several highways and train tracks, but Lake View RV Resort is a beautiful, clean, well maintained park with a pool. We pulled out our new lawn chairs and celebrated with some wine.

Our living room, dining room and office.

    Then it starting raining again.  Not hard, but again!  TV news tells us that the city has many areas that are flooded from rivers and overflowing bayous.  The rain is supposed to stop tomorrow morning.  We hope so, we are sick of worrying about floating away.
   We have been living for over two weeks in less than 200 square feet.  Could you do that for weeks on end?  We brought clothes for temperatures from the 90's to the 30's.  Food for a week at a time.  Maps and travel information.  Entertainment for bad weather - books, laptop, games, and movies.  Rain gear, extra blankets, tools and repair manuals, cameras and binoculars, and patio chairs, table and barbecue.  We try to keep everything in its place or we couldn't turn around in here.  The rain has kept us inside lately and things have gotten a little messy. Tomorrow we will do our mid-trip cleaning and, hopefully, dry out.

Water Water Everywhere In New Braunfels, Texas

     

    Some traveling days test our adaptability, good humor, and map reading.  Today was one of the top ten difficult travel days.  Ugh.  But we are snug in our camper now.

    Last night it rained.  A lot.  A whole lot.  Our campground in San Antonio was along a creek.  We were about three campsites, a gravel camp road, and a walkway from the water.  By the time we got up we could see that little creek was flowing two feet higher and really fast – up over the walkway.  By the time we were packed up it was another foot higher.  We didn’t wait around to see if it covered our campsite.

     Our plan today was to go to Camping World just north of San Antonio and then head further north to Johnson City.  We went to Camping World to replace our ten year old lawn chairs which had suddenly died and to get some parts for our sewer system (don’t ask about that!)  We got new chairs and talked them into putting our old ones in their trash.  We had about 25 miles to go and decided to check our route and the weather.  Well, every road to Johnson City was closed due to water over the road.  So we looked for an alternate campground.  Nope – they are all situated next to rivers.  Finally we found one that said they had an “upper high area” which was not flooded, but only had a couple sites as the “lower area” was under water.  We drove over and claimed a site – sort of.  This campground has a summer “tubing on the river” business and we are camped in the parking lot where they store their buses which take folks up river to start their excursion.  It isn’t the worst place we have camped, but it comes close.

   We made the most of our stop here in New Braunfels – a little German village in Texas – and found a good bakery and a quilt store.  We tried to drive to the historic part of town, but got stopped by water over the road near the river.  So we gave up and went back to our campsite for a nap.  Finally, thanks to Trip Advisor, we had a really great dinner at a tiny German restaurant.  Good end to a frustrating day. 

    We were going to Johnson City (not on my original itinerary) instead of South Padre Island because of  coastal flooding.  Hmmm.  So now we are planning to drive to Houston tomorrow – but more rain is expected tonight.  Sigh.  We have new chairs, a working sewer line, and bellies full of schnitzel.  

The Briscoe of Western Art Museum and King William Historic District

     The weather has cooled off before the rains that are coming this weekend.  The Texans are bundled in their jackets and jeans.  We are still in shorts and sandals.  Today we visited two sites that I found on Trip Advisor.  The first is a museum which has art and artifacts from the American West.   There were saddles and spurs, guns and knives, a Wells Fargo wagon and a chuck wagon, a tipi, a windmill, sculptures, oils, water colors and photographs.  At many of the displays a tablet which played a video gave more information about the item.  At the chuck wagon a modern day chuck wagon cook talked about his passion for providing hearty meals for cowboys.   Another area had comfortable chairs with tablets and headphones playing contemporary music of the West.

     One of the displays talked about cowboy towns.  It pointed out that although TV westerns portray towns that have all-white citizens; in actuality the town’s populace consisted of Indians, Mexicans, Afro-Americans, Irish, and Germans.  After we left the museum we had lunch downtown and watched the world go by.  It was clear that San Antonio population is still a rich mix of colors of skin, languages, and cultures.  

     After lunch we drove a short distance south from downtown to the King William Historic District.  In the mid 1800’s the area was known as “Sauerkraut Bend” as many Germans moved into Texas and settled in the cities.  They built large, impressive houses in many architectural styles.  They also built several large breweries.  We drove around the neighborhood listening to descriptions of the homes on a cell phone audio tour.  Many of the houses have been beautifully refurbished as well as many of the old gardens.  It was a great tour.

     Tomorrow we pack up to leave San Antonio.  It has been great to stay in one place for a few days, but now it is time to move on.

La Villita and the San Antonio River Walk

     Our first stop on this beautiful day in Texas was La Villita Historic Arts Village.  It is just a few blocks from the Alamo.  The area was one of San Antonio’s first neighborhoods in the 1800's.  Many of the buildings were restored in the 1930s with help from the WPA.  There are artist studios, shops and cafes in the restored old homes and buildings which are clustered around four courtyards.  This morning the area was very shady and quiet.  It was a perfect place to wander and check out the creations of local artists.  It is an oasis in the midst of a hot and busy city.

    La Villita is on the edge of the San Antonio River which means it is on the Riverwalk.  As I planned our trip the one thing I knew about San Antonio besides the Alamo is the River Walk.  This is a greenway that runs along the San Antonio River one story below sidewalk level.  In the 1920's, after a big flood from the San Antonio River, city planners worked on a project to both divert and control river water through the city, as well as to make the most of the river area. Today the river bends and loops through downtown with bridges, tunnels, and walkways.  Lots of hotels and restaurants have terraces and sidewalk seating at the Riverwalk level.  There is lots of nice landscaping, benches, waterfalls, and art works.  We spent a couple hours walking in the cool shade and stopping for lunch at an Irish Pub.  

    By early afternoon we were pooped and headed back to the campground for a swim and a nap.  It is in the mid 80's here in the afternoon.  The air is extremely dry so the temperature drops quickly along with the sun so we have wonderfully cool evenings.  Just perfect camping weather for me!

Remembering the Alamo

     The Alamo is a small church built with thick adobe walls.  Another thick adobe wall encircles the church and the other mission buildings which amounts to about a football field size area.  On February 23, 1836, after a grueling winter march, General Antonio López de Santa Anna and his army arrived at San Antonio to put down a frontier rebellion. About 200 San Antonio residents retreated to the Alamo to defend themselves against Santa Anna.  They were doctors, lawyers, farmers, young boys, and David Crocket and James Bowie.  The women and children retreated to the inner rooms of the church while the men sought to defend them against the 2500 trained soldiers in Santa Anna's army.  They fought to the death and only a few women and children were spared.  It wasn't until ten years later after the U.S. / Mexican War that Texas finally was free of Mexico and able to join the Union.

    The Alamo is designated as a shrine to the men who died trying to gain freedom for Texas. Texans seem to be very passionate about the history surrounding this battle, as well as the battle several months later between General Sam Houston and Santa Anna in which Houston surprised the larger Mexican force. Texan forces defeated the Mexican troops and captured Santa Anna to the cries of “Remember the Alamo!”
    The focus of the displays at the Alamo relate to the battle and do a great job of describing the role the Alamo played in the history of Texas.  But the mission has lost its role as a community church.  The site is very central in San Antonio and has become a major sightseeing attraction.  We enjoyed learning the history and seeing the restored buildings, but we liked the quiet of the churches on the Mission Trail that we visited yesterday much more.
     To learn more about the history of the whole city we took a double decker bus tour which left from Alamo Square.  One of the tour stops was a large, open air market - El Mercado.  We hopped off the bus and had lunch outdoors at a Southwest / Mexican restaurant and then did a little shopping at the many souvenir vendors.  The day was warm and sunny - just perfect for all of our outdoor adventures.
   

Following the Mission Trail in San Antonio

     The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park was created in 1978 in a cooperative agreement with Archdiocese of San Antonio.  In July (2015) the five missions along a 10 mile stretch of the San Antonio River became a UNESCO World Heritage site.  We visited four of these missions today.  The Mission San Antonio de Valero which is also called "The Alamo" is in downtown San Antonio - we will visit there tomorrow.
    The missions were built between 1690 and 1731 by mission Indians directed by Spanish artisans.  The walled communities had gardens and livestock, homes for the missionaries and the Indians, a church, granary, workshops and soldiers barracks.  The Spanish were trying to extend north from their settlements in Mexico in search of riches and the desire to spread the Catholic faith.  The movie at the Visitor Center did a great job of presenting the history and describing the impact of the Spanish on the lives of the Indians.  Bottom line is that almost 70% of the Indians living within the mission walls died and more Indians had to be recruited to continue the farming and cattle raising.
    Speaking of cattle - I thought that we would see endless plains of grazing land when we drove through this part of Texas, but it was mostly cactus and scrub bush.  During the times of the Spaniards the plains were rich grasslands.  It was a time of the cowboy - vaquero - with huge herds of cattle, but the area became hugely overgrazed and has since changed to cactus and scrub.  However, the tradition of the Texas cowboy is still going strong.
   The missions are in various states of ruin, but each one has a church that still serves the surrounding community congregation and offers Mass in Spanish.  The San Jose Mission, which has the Visitor Center, has had a lot of restoration so it is easy to imagine a large Indian and Spanish community living within the walls.  The other missions are in various states of ruin/restoration.  Money is being raised to continue working on these sites.  San Antonio has developed a green space along the river which follows the original Mission trail.  Many folks bike or walk this trail to view each mission.  We drove, and are still tired from walking around these big areas.  It was a wonderful view of life in early San Antonio.

Driving the San Antonio - El Paso Road

     As we drove from Fort Stockton to San Antonio we followed the footsteps (so to speak) of thousands of men, women and children in the 1840's to the 1880's. The San Antonio-El Paso Road also known as the Lower Emigrant Road or Military Road was a trade route between San Antonio and El Paso between 1849 and 1882. The road carried mail, freight and passengers by horse and wagon across the Edwards Plateau.  It was a dangerous area so a series of forts were built

to protect people and supplies along the way.
     As always a long drive gets me into a singing mode.  Today I recalled that Davy Crockett was one of the many men who died defending the Alamo.  I am a true child of 50's TV and can remember the Walt Disney mini-series about Davy Crockett and could sing most of the theme song.  So I did even though most of it was about his time in Tennessee rather than his fight at the Alamo.  I am looking forward to learning more about the historical issues that led to that conflict.
    The drive took us away from the Chihuahuan desert area into Texas "hill country."  I was happy to see some green grass, trees, and shade.  I was also happy to see that there were some puddles and a little water in the creeks, but the huge rain that came through the area was no longer a problem on the roads.  There was quite a wind, however, and we were blown around on the freeway a fair amount.
    I would like to claim that my great trip planning had us driving around San Antonio on a quiet Sunday afternoon rather than a weekday, but it was simply by chance.  My travel guide says that San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the U.S.  Wow!  I'm not sure how that was calculated, but it is big and there are huge, complicated freeway interchanges.  Rick's calm driving and my navigating got us to our campground near the west edge of town.   We are camped under some big shade trees, ready to explore tomorrow.

Fort Stockton, Texas

     The beautiful sunset last night had some dramatic cloud formations.  At dawn the cloud formation became windy, stormy, rainy weather.  We put on our rain gear and disconnected the camper from water and power and reconnected our car to the hitch.   I am wishing I had some good hooks in my shower on which to hang wet rain coats because we were soaked by the time we were ready to go.  I checked the forecast for Marathon and Fort Stockton and saw that the rain was supposed to quit by lunch.  The water was collecting very quickly and pooling on the road.  This was no day for driving on the dirt roads in the park - the washes were running with rain.  The Ocotillo in the picture looks like bare sticks until there is rain.  Then it bursts into little leaves all along the branches.  My favorite desert plant!
    By the time we got to Marathon, Texas, the rain had stopped and the marathon race was almost over.  We parked at a small wayside and watched the last few runners valiantly finish the last mile of the race.  They were probably happy that the weather was in the 60's rather than the 90's we had all week.
     We drove on to Fort Stockton and were very surprised to find an almost full campground.  It is just off I-10 on the route between El Paso and San Antonio.  Not many other nice campgrounds on this stretch so we all ended up here!  I guess this was true in the early days as well.  Fort Stockton grew up around Comanche Springs which was one of the largest sources of spring water in Texas.  It was a favorite rest stop on the Great Comanche Trail, the  Chihuahua San Antonio - El Paso Road and the Butterfield Overland Mail route.  It is now a small, dusty city with an impressive history.
 With access to TV we watched the weather report which shows that we seem to be following a couple days behind the heaviest rain brought on by Hurricane Patricia. Thank goodness!  I guess we also missed a bunch of campaign stuff for which I am also grateful. We head for San Antonio tomorrow - a town I have always wanted to visit.  I am happy to be out of the very hot weather which really drained our energy, but we totally enjoyed our visit to the remote and beautiful Big Bend!

Big Weather but not in Big Bend

     We have a weak WiFi link at the little store near our campground and a bit of cell phone coverage about 15 miles up the road from us.  I brought my laptop which has an amazing capacity to pickup WiFi so, although slow, we do have a small window on the world.  There is no TV or radio coverage in the park.  So we have been catching little bits about the huge hurricane moving through Mexico and Texas.  The weather here has been much hotter than we expected, but clear and dry.  Tomorrow we leave and drive first to Fort Stockton and then on to San Antonio the next day.  Weather in both places looks a little rainy for a day or two and then sunny again.  We have lucked out of this watery mess so far and tomorrow night will have access to regular weather reports.
    While checking on the weather for the next couple days Rick discovered that the little town of Marathon, that we drive through just outside the park, is having a marathon tomorrow.  Supposedly the road will still be open as it is about the only way to get north of the park fairly directly.  Our drive tomorrow is about 160 miles.  If we have to sit along the road and watch the runners for a while, so be it!
    On our last day in Big Bend we took a couple short hikes in search of birds.  It is so hot and dry they were just not around - maybe if we went out at dawn?  We also drove to Boquillas Canyon on the east side of the park.  At one point along the Rio Grande there is a Point of Entry into Mexico.  Tourists can pay about $4 for a trip in a rowboat across the river to visit the little town of Boquillas, Mexico.  Once in the town tourists have to hire a guide to take them into the town.  We drove to the border crossing to watch folks cross the river only to discover that we would FIRST have to go through the Port of Entry.  Nah!  Not worth the trouble to get to a tiny, tiny town.
   So we drove on to the Boquillas Canyon which is the easternmost of the three main narrows sections along the Rio Grande within Big Bend National Park.  The canyon area is about 20 miles long, starting just east of Rio Grande Village where we are camping.  At this point the Rio Grande gains the designation of "wild and scenic" river.  The canyon walls are towering and the river sort of disappears between them.  In the Nevada Barr book about Big Bend, Anna, the park ranger gets stranded in one of these canyons while rafting the river when the river gets very high after a rainstorm.  I can see how this could easily happen.
   We didn't go rafting.  We did get very hot and dehydrated and decided to cool down in the camper.  Since we were taking the afternoon off I decided to take advantage of the campground laundry while Rick cleaned some of the gravel out of the camper.  After watching a beautiful sunset of the Chisos Mountains we are ready to leave this beautiful park tomorrow.

Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, Big Bend National Park

     It rained last night - a big event in mostly desert country.  The temps at the lower elevations where we are camping have been in the low 90's.  It didn't seem to be getting cooler last night so we left the RV closed up and the air conditioning on.  When I heard the rain at 2 am I was happy I didn't have to get up and close windows.  By morning the rain had passed and we woke to another hot, dry day.  Other parts of Texas are just drowning in water, but we just have a few puddles and some wet lawn chairs.  We talked about what we did yesterday as we had coffee. As we were talking about the hot springs it became clear to me that when Rick walked out on a sandbar in "the river" to take a picture of the shelter across the river he did not understand that "the river" he was looking at was the Rio Grande and that the shelter was in Mexico.  Rick almost always knows exactly where he is so it makes me laugh to realize he did not know he was standing on the border!
    We decided to take the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.  Then, as we drove from our campground to the beginning of the scenic drive, a little bit of serendipity happened!  I saw a dirt road called Dugout Wells with some trees and a windmill, so we decided to drive in and take a look.  In this park there are dozens of old farm sites with still functioning windmills or springs.  We stopped to take a picture and I wandered down a trail under some huge cottonwood trees.  A woman sitting in the shade at a picnic table asked me if I saw the butterflies. She pointed to the trees and bushes in this shaded oasis which were covered with resting monarchs.  They fluttered in and out of the shadows.  It was a magical place found purely by accident - serendipity!
    The scenic drive was - scenic.  Lots of great overlooks.  The road took us to Castolon - the ruins of a farming village and store. We had lunch at the Cottonwood Campground under huge shade trees along the Rio Grande.  I identified several new birds for my birding list as we enjoyed the quiet.  The park is pretty empty this time of year - it is much busier in the cooler winter months.
    Our final adventure for the day was to drive the Old Maverick Road. This is a 14 mile "improved dirt road" which runs from the Santa Elena Canyon to Maverick Junction.  It runs along the Terlingua Creek badlands on the west side of the park.  Last night's rain was evident in some wet areas and parts of the road were very washboardy.  However, it was a flat road with no steep edges, some traffic, and we carried plenty of water.  If we got stuck or blew a tire it would have been a boring and hot wait for help, but not an emergency.  It was fun to get out into the hinterland of the park.

Chisos Mountains, Big Bend National Park

     The day began with a beautiful view of the night sky after the moon had set and before the sun began to rise.  There are almost no lights for hundreds of miles so the stars are amazingly, brilliantly, awesomely bright.  It was like seeing the stars and planets from outer space.  I tried to go back to sleep again, but instead I went outside to watch the sun rise.  What a perfect beginning to my day!
     Big Bend has three big ecosystems - the Chihuahuan desert, the Chisos Mountain range, and the Rio Grande river flood plain.  We set off to explore the Chisos mountains today.  Our first stop was at the Panther Junction Visitor Center to watch a movie which introduced us to the features of the park.       Then we drove from our campsite at 1850' elevation to the Chisos Mountains Lodge at 5400' elevation.     We prepared for fairly cool weather at the higher elevation, but it was in the upper 70's.  The Chisos Mountains is the only mountain range completely within the boundaries of a National Park.  They were created by a volcanic disturbance which pushed rock and lava into impressive towers.  This area of the park has the only lodging in the park and the only food service.  After taking a short nature hike we shopped at the small general store and then had lunch at the lodge.  It was not the huge, old impressive lodge like those found at Glacier Park or Yosemite, but lunch was good and the view out over the mountains was spectacular.
     The park has good paved roads in many places, as well as many gravel roads which lead to some of the lesser sites.  We saw warnings on the map and in the park literature about the need for four wheel drive and high clearance vehicles to travel some of the roads.  One of these "Primitive" dirt roads leads to a hot spring at the site of the ruins of an old resort. In the early 1900's J. O. Langford built an adobe house, a stone bathhouse, and brushwood bathing shelters, a store and a motor court, consisting of seven attached cabins. The ruins along with the original cement pool which gathers water from the springs can be found at the end of a 1.5 mile "primitive" dirt road.  We have driven a lot of rough roads so we drove ahead.  There were some big dips where the road had washed out and a very narrow, very steep section.  But we ended up at the old resort site, right on the Rio Grande.
    Some folks were bathing in the river, others at the hot springs.  We could see a shelter on the Mexican side of the river where a couple folks were sitting.  Some carved walking sticks and other items were in a display on the ground at the parking lot.  There are many warnings about not buying anything from Mexican vendors who walk across the river to make sales.  The border patrol cruises through the park regularly.  It is an interesting area.
    To top off our very nice day a javelina - a creature that looks like a pig but isn't - walked into the campground for a visit.  Not a charming visitor, but interesting.  I like much more the dozens of perky road runners who dash across the roads looking for insects.  Hoping for a cooler day tomorrow.

Rio Grande RV Park, Big Bend National Park

     We had a beautiful drive today with views of mountains and ranches.  Some of the ranches are so big they show up as entities on the Texas map.  I enjoyed seeing many varieties of wild flowers and added a roadrunner and a golden eagle to my list of birds that I have seen.  I am looking for a book on plants and flowers of Texas so I can identify some of the cactus.
    Anyway, here were are in a campground in Big Bend National Park.  We are a looooooong way from Minnesota.  Just a short walk to the Rio Grande River which creates the U.S. / Mexico border.  The park covers over 800,000 acres, and we will see as much as we can in the three days that we are here. The campground has full hook-ups for 25 campers - there are about ten here tonight.  It is really quiet except for the fans running in the camper.  The weather was in the mid-80's today.  Mosquitoes have chased us in from our lawn chairs.
    The park is so big that fifty miles of our drive was within park borders at 45 MPH, but the views of the Chisos Mountains were spectacular.  It was less windy today which made the drive much easier.  It is a thrill to arrive at our furthest point from home and set up camp for a few days.  Day after day of driving is really tiring.
     Late fall and winter are the busy times in this park.  Two of the Visitor Centers and many of the campsites will not open until November 1.  As the weather cools in the northern states the park becomes more temperate and folks come to enjoy the fine south Texas weather.
     Park literature has a lot of information about border crossings.  As we approached the park we went past a border patrol checkpoint equipped with dozens of scanners and cameras.  They were not interested in us as we headed towards the border.  I'm sure our RV will be fully checked out when we return.
   I am amazed the the WiFi in the little camp store reaches my laptop enough to post this blog.  I am not tempting fate by including photos.  I will post pictures when we get back to civilization.  Instead I will go back out and look at the billions of stars in the sky over Texas tonight.
   

West Texas Oil Fields

    On our second day of driving through Texas we found the oil fields.  We also saw RV parks full of oil field workers and hundreds of businesses supporting the oil industry.  We saw a bunch of cotton fields (I didn't know that Texas was a big cotton grower) and a lot of cactus.  Lots of dust, trucks, and tumbleweed.  It is my second least favorite place we have traveled.  Nevada is still number one.
    While I am whining may I also add that it was windy today and we went through a tank of gas in record time.  Not as big a problem as it might be because gas in under $2.  Such a deal as we fill up our 55 gallon tank.  However, getting gas is always a challenge.  We are 46 feet long with our car in tow and over 11 feet tall.  Manuvering into a gas station is a challenge, expecially since we can't back up with our car in tow.  Today it went ok both times we got gas.

     Texas interstate roads are odd.  Frontage roads run along them almost the whole way and there are short little exit and entrance roads all along the way.  Hardly the "limited access" road that an interstate is supposed to be.  Getting on and off the interstate with a 45' vehicle that is almost as long as the exit ramp is exciting in a bad way.  The traffic was heavy, the roads were bad and bumpy, and just wore us completely out.  My GPS directions and my phone directions did not agree in helping us find our campground.  We ended up driving through Odessa for 30 minutes during rush hour, sigh.  
    But here we are at our gravel campground mostly full of oil workers right next to an oil pump.  There is a little pond nearby with a fountain which has colored lights on the spray.  There is a big playground for the kids and a pretty nice workout room and rec room.  The folks are nice and we are not right on the Interstate as were most campgrounds we passed today.
     Tomorrow we drive to Big Bend - a park bigger than some states.  No cell phone service, no TV, almost no radio.  There is Internet at the campground store but it is likely the blog will not get posted for a few days.  Just think of us under the big skies of Big Bend.

Stopping at Wichita Falls, Texas

      "OOOOk-lahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain, And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet, When the wind comes right behind the rain.  OOOOk-lahoma, Ev'ry night my honey lamb and I, Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk makin' lazy circles in the sky."  Yup, I hummed this all day as we drove north to south through the whole state.

     It was a much prettier drive than I thought it would be.  Somehow I had in mind that the state was just flat and dry.  As we drove through the center of the state we saw lots of trees and a rolling hills.  I thought about how difficult it must have been to get wagons through this landscape - across dozens of creeks with high banks.  I looked up stage coach trails in Oklahoma and thought about how happy I was to be sitting on a well cushioned seat in a vehicle with shock absorbers and rubber tires.  Considering the amount of dust in the air, I was also very grateful to be in an enclosed, well ventilated truck.  

    All of this thinking about travel in the early days of the state led us both to wonder this:  How do kids these days learn about the Old West?  Saturday morning westerns and, later, adult westerns, had stories about cattle drives, cow towns, stage coach rides and robberies, round-ups, rodeos, stores with false fronts, hitching posts and boardwalks, homesteaders, water wars, cattle rustling, Texas Rangers, Wells Fargo shipments, and wagon trains.  The shows certainly glorified the West and presented one-sided views of interactions with the Native Americans.  However, they also showed us a life with which  kids growing up in Minnesota had no contact.  If you are over 50 you probably can rattle off a dozen shows with Western themes -- Roy Rogers, Annie Oakley, Lone Ranger, Gene Autrey, Red Rider, Maverick, Gunsmoke, Cimarron ... I can't remember all the ones that we thought of.  Can you add to my list?

     The picture that goes with this post is of my dad, Max, in 1942, here in Wichita Falls at Shepherd Field.  This is where he spent most of World War II as he worked in an Army finance unit.  Just before the war he was doing much the same job in Washington D.C. so I guess it made sense for him to continue after he was drafted.  My mother, who was 22 at the time, moved to Texas and they lived in married quarters.  These were very quickly built, tiny, wooden duplexes.  Forever after my mother would talk about how incredibly hot the summers were.  So in honor of my folks, here we are in Wichita Falls.  The weather is perfect, though.  Sunny and 78.  It was great to sit outside on our lawn chairs and enjoy the sun.

Pioneers and Cowboys in Kansas

     Before the sun was up this morning I was mopping up a pool of water on the floor of the RV.  Rick got up to use the bathroom just after 6 and hurried back into the bedroom to put on his jeans and shoes.  He said that there was water all over the floor.  I got up and started mopping up water while Rick turned off the water at the pump.  With the lights and our glasses on we determined that the valve in the bottom of the toilet was stuck slightly open which kept water seeping into the toilet, but it wasn't open enough for the water to flow down the drain.  There probably wasn't more than a gallon of water and we were able to fix the problem quickly.  Rick went back to bed for a while.
    We packed up our wet rugs and drove south into Kansas.  The landscape is beautiful, rolling waves of grasses and wildflowers.  I wish that I could paint and capture the harmony of colors of autumn on the prairie.  Maybe I will try a quilt!
     Kansas is crisscrossed with trails.  First the pioneers and settlers came through on the Sante Fe, Oregon and California trails.  As we rolled along at 65 MPH I thought of the thousands of travelers who walked alongside their wagons day after day in search of good land on which to build a dream.  I channeled my inner pioneer woman and imagined myself in a sunbonnet, a calico dress and apron, and bare feet.  After a long day of driving we gathered our wagon around the campground and I cooked our dinner.  I am quite happy on this chilly night that my campfire was a propane stove and that we have a cosy, warm bed to climb into.
    We are spending the night outside Wellington, Kansas near one of the end points of the Chisholm Trail.  During the Civil War Texas cattle were prevents from being shipped north. When the war was over there was an abundance of  Texas cattle, as well as a pent-up demand for beef in the northern states.  Cattle were worth only $3 to $4 a head in Texas, but ranchers could get ten times that in the East. Immediately following the war, cattle were driven north from Texas along trails - particularly the Chisholm Trail - to the Kansas trains.  Cowtowns began to spring up along the railheads.   I remember all the TV westerns portraying these cattle drives and the rowdy cowtowns at the end of the trail.  In our rowdy cowtown tonight we had a beer and a snickerdoodle cupcake.  Our mighty steed will carry us into Oklahoma tomorrow and Rick will have to listen to me sing songs from the musical.  Yippe ki-yo ki-yay!

Quilts and German/Russian Immigrants in Lincoln, Nebraska

      When we travel we often look for train stuff for Rick and quilt stuff for me.  Today we did my "quilt thing" and visited the International Quilt Study Center and Museum on the campus of the University of Nebraska. The quilts were displayed in a beautiful new building called "The Quilt House."   There are more than 4,500 quilts from 50 countries created over four centuries.  Only a hundred or so quilts are on display at a time.  We learned that after a quilt has been displayed for a total of nine months it has to go into storage for ten years.  This process is meant to keep the fabric from deteriorating too quickly.  I was happy to see that so many of the quilts that were on display were historic and were actually what I define as a "quilt."  Lately many displays include many items that I call "textile art" rather than a quilt.  These art pieces could never be used for warmth, but are only made to be diplayed on a wall.

    We planned our visit to arrive for what turned out to be a great tour.  One of the first quilts was a series of blocks from drawings made by school children in each state.  When the quilt was finished the senators from each state were invited to spend a night under the quilt and then sign the block.  Dave Durenberger and Rudy Boschwitz signed the Minnesota block!  The oldest quilt on display was over 200 years old, made of a beautiful chintz fabric printed with birds and was still vibrant with color.  My favorite was a crazy quilt  called "The Everybody Quilt" created in 1985 by Nora Ezel.  It came Robert and Helen Cargo collection of African-American collection.  It wasn't a quilt of perfect seams and stitches, but it was bursting with color and I could feel the passion of the quilter who made the quilt.  Loved it!
    We spent the afternoon at the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia.  A short film chronicalled the history of the Germans - mostly from southern Germany - who emigrated to Russia after an invitation from Catherine II who was a German herself.   Between 1763 and 1820 thousands of Germans moved to Russia to settle in small villages and farm.  They became very prosperous.  They were promised that they could keep their own language and culture and did not have to do service in the Russian military.  However, that all changed one hundred years later when the Russian army began conscripting Germans.  Several hundred thousand Germans left Russia
and came to the United States and Canada.  My paternal grandmother, Amalia, left Russia with her family and settled in Regina, Saskachewan. A map at the museum showed that one of the major emmigration paths was from Dresden, Germany to Kherson, Ukraine.  I have always wondered why my father told me that my grandmother was German but her whole family came from Ukraine.  Now I know!
   It was an amazing day of art and history. 

Lincoln, Nebraska

     We had a shorter drive today - 167 miles - so we didn't have to rush to get going.  A  slow morning is definitely preferred by my night owl husband.  Blue skies and pleasant temperatures greeted us as we opened the camper door.  We set off to find gas.  I figured that the savings from the major price reduction in gas will outweigh any Social Security increase I could have gotten next year.  It is a good time for us to be traveling in our RV.
   We drove past many wind farms.  Southern Iowa and Nebraska are maximizing the energy of the strong breezes which flow across the rolling hills.  I think that the long rows of wind turbines are interesting - almost beautiful.  Wind, however, is not our RV's friend.  Luckily, even though it was breezier today than yesterday, the drive was fairly short and the road was dry.
    We are staying at Camp-A-Way, a campground near downtown Lincoln, situated between two freeways.  The traffic noise is constant, but not overwhelming.  Huge elms, oaks and maples shade the campsites.  The ground is covered with fallen leaves and I can hear Rick coming back from his walk, shuffling through the leaves, from a long ways away.  We are close to the University of Nebraska where the historic quilt collection is housed.  The campground is a gathering spot on the weekends of home games for Cornhusker fans, but we are in luck because Nebraska plays in

Minnesota this weekend.
     Lincoln is the capital of Nebraska.  After a world wide depression, in 1900 the population of Lincoln had dwindled to 37,000.  Then a huge influx of immigrants from Russia came and revitalized the economy.  These immigrants were Volga Germans from Russia.  As we checked into the campground I found a brochure on the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia.  My paternal grandmother was a German-Russian immigrant who lived in Canada.  We will be visiting the museum and research library tomorrow.  Fascinating to this genealogist.
   We enjoyed sitting on our lawn chairs in the late afternoon sunshine.  A cool breeze is bringing in a cold front.  It will be chilly here tomorrow as we visit downtown Lincoln, but the weather channel says that it is still in the mid-80's in Big Bend.

Back to Adel, Iowa

     It is always a relief to finally get on the road for a long trip.  There has been so much work as we are packing for hot and cold weather, getting the RV and the towed car ready for a long trip, cleaning out the frig at home, and checking all our lists several times.  We are planners and preparers.  There are plenty of grocery stores and auto shops in Texas, so we really don't have to spend so much time getting ready, but this is how we do it.
    The first day is also very exciting.  Every trip is different. We left Apple Valley in perfect fall weather - sunny, cool and not much breeze.  I am so happy that the big winds we had early in the week have calmed.  Our RV has a tall profile and a stiff side wind really pushes us around on the road.
   Our first real RV trip was in 2005 to Glacier Park.  These years of travel experience mean that many things are easier.   We have developed good routines, so we don't have to think hard about everything we do.  But we are definitely older and we get tired more quickly.  However, after ten wonderful years on the road, we look at each new year of  RV travels as a gift.  The day will come when we can't do this anymore, but not this year!  Today we are on the road again.  Yes!
    We have often driven south on I35 and, as a matter of fact, have stayed in this same campground just outside of Des Moines several times before.  It is a nice first days' drive as we head south or west.  But each day on the road is a new trip.  Today we enjoyed the fall colors and could see lots of farmers in their fields getting them ready for winter.  The rich stink of manure was in the air along with flocks of geese flying south.
    As we entered Iowa we saw a sign for the Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area.  I love to be able to turn on the smartphone and Google it. The website says, "National Heritage Areas (NHAs) are designated by Congress as places where natural, cultural, and historic resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally important landscape."  The Silos and Smokestack area is focused on telling the history of Iowa agriculture.  It includes a series of scenic drives, small historic sites, farms and wineries, museums and art galleries, as well as a calender of events across Iowa which focus on the role of agriculture in the community.  Go to the website if you are interested in planning a short getaway to Minnesota's southern neighbor.
   Darkness comes early in October and the campground is pretty empty.  The sky is bright with stars and we have a grand new mattress on our bed.  A perfect first day on the road has come to an end.

Planning for a visit to the Lone Star State

     Last year at this time I was recovering from cancer surgery.  Our planned trip to Texas had to be postponed.  I am so happy that this year Rick and I are both healthy and strong, and ready for another long RV trip.  We took many short RV trips with our family and a long car trip to Florida in the spring, but it has been more than two years since our last long RV trip to visit the many narrow gauge trains in Colorado.
     Like many RV'ers we have a map on our camper door which has stickers for each of the many states to which we have traveled.  It would be nice to get them all filled in - I can't remember just how many we still have to visit - although Hawaii will probably never get an official RV sticker even though we have been there often by plane.  So looking at the map I saw that a trip which would fill in Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana needed to be planned.
    I have talked about the author Nevada Barr who writes mysteries featuring a female National Park Ranger.  The books are set in parks all over the U.S.  Two of the recent books have settings that we will visit on this trip:  Big Bend National Park in Texas and New Orleans Jazz Historical National Park in Louisiana.  One stop along the way will be to the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.  We will be driving along the Gulf coast and hoping that both the hot weather and any fall hurricanes have passed.  The trip should give us another month of summery weather, though, and then we will be home in time for Bennett's birthday and Thanksgiving - we just can't miss family gatherings!
     It is hard to say goodbye to our grandchildren but we will be talking to them on FaceTime as often as we get good Internet connection.  Bennett's class has a story about a lost Gingerbread Man who is wandering around.  We will be sending postcards from many states to the classroom from the Gingerbread Man.  A fun project!   I look forward to traveling with all of you again.  Our first stop will be in Iowa.

     

Home

  I don't usually buy many souveniers.  This blog is really my way of remembering my trip.  I printed the first five years of it a while ago so that it can't disappear into cyber space.   This is the first time I have written it completely on my IPad.  I appreciate your tolerance of the typos.  I have a much harder time with the tiny keyboard.  I love to go back and read about our trips long after we are home.  I regret that I didn't journal some epic earlier ones.  Thanks again to Arik for telling me how to star a blog and encouraging me to keep with it.  Thanks to all of you for making this a conversation with your many comments.

   I learn so much when we travel.  This trip I saw and identified eleven new birds.  I learned that Spanish Moss is neither Spanish nor moss, but it makes the huge live oaks look even more majestic.    We learned a bunch about the Key West and the Cuban Missile Crisis.  We learned about fishing in the shallow water off Coral Gables.  We tasted alligator - didn't we Kellen?!    Kellen found put that he likes  to ride a bike and on Sunday, at home, he took off on a solo ride.  Stella discovered that a swimming pool is much more fun than a bathtub.  Carter learned about sea shells and that many of them have creature still living in them.  Bennett found out that he likes to swim in the ocean and that he is quite a good fisherman.  Rick had the experience of steering a 105' sail boat!

     I missed my camper.  I am tired of hauling my luggage in and out of motels and sleeping in a different bed every night.  I like my own clean bathroom, my lawn chair outside after a long day in the car, and I like not worrying that I have left something behind.  But, driving 2000 miles home would have taken more than four days towing our car, so it all balances.

     I started planning this trip more than a year ago.  I thought of it often during my surgery and recovery.  I am so grateful that it all came together.  We had fun at various times with sixteen members of our family, had no injuries or illnesses, no fender benders or tickets, no time lost to bad weather, just fun.  But I'm happy to be home.  For now....

Redbud Roadway

    The good thing about going backwards through the season is that we are driving through the coming of spring again and can enjoy the hillsides covered with redbuds all across Tennessee and Kentucky.  Beautiful.  The rest of the day was just tiring.  We spent an hour going about four miles due to an accident where a truck had gone off the road and partway into a river.  Dozens of wreckers and rescue equipment working for hours to try to pull the truck back up the bank.  While we crawled by.

     We probably won't drive all the way to Key West again, but I would really like to come back to this area.  Maybe a tour of Tennessee whiskey distilleries or some camping in "The Land Between the Lakes."

     It has been an epic trip.  So much time with family.  I just love it.  It was a great way to get out of Minnesota during the endless transition from winter to spring.  I saw on a web cam that a lot of ice is off Lake Mille Lacs so soon it will be cabin time. I'm thinking of all the fun in store for us this summer. 

     For now though, we're tired.  We have completed 1500 of a 2000 mile drive home.  Rick has been snoring since eight although he hangs on to his IPad as though he is reading.  I look like I've been "rode hard and put away wet."  I need a haircut, a night's sleep in my own bed, and some different clothes.  I'm sick of the same set - worn, washed, worn again.  I want to sleep late, take a walk, sew.  I want to be home and tomorrow we will be.  Yeah.  See you soon.