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.