Star Party in New Mexico

We arrived at Leasburg Dam State Park in SW New Mexico today.  We were headed west on I-40 and the cross winds were high so we just headed south on I-25.  When you do not have real plans you can change quickly.  Last night we stayed at a Walmart and tonight we are in a nice desert state park on the Rio Grande, which is a very small river here.  It is dammed just above us.  Tonight we arrived in time for an early dinner I cooked and some live music provided by the park.  Then after dark, a local astronomy club brought equipment and I saw Jupiter with 4 of its moons, Andromada and the cheese 1/4 moon through telescopes.  There was free food and drinks also.  Tomorrow we will hike the park trails in the desert and go into Las Cruces by car.  What a lucky find again.

Texas Snow

Note the left tumble weed arm and right grass arm

Melting snow and our new friend

I built a snowman between our friend's and our site.  We had about 3 inches of wet snow, perfect for a snowman or snowball fight.  Since John can aim better than I, I decided a snowman was a better snow experience.  Today almost all the snow has melted but the sad snowman remains.

Palo Duro State Park, TX



Our site at Mesquite
Campground



Sunrise from our rock next to the site

Autumn comes to the canyon

Our two rigs

A CCC cabin used as a rental cabin in the park

Unexpected snow on 10/27/11

We have spent the last week in and around the state park on the Texas panhandle.  It is a beautiful canyon where history was made over 100 years ago.  Today we visited a museum, PPHM, that visualized the history of the area.  We also have spent 5 days with long time friends who make their home on wheels.  Thursday we experienced a wet snow storm on the last day in the canyon.  Note above the entrance station to the state park as we exited.  Our friends have a 5th wheel which was next of our rig.  What a beautiful place with sunsets and sunrises. McKenzie stole over 1,000 horses and winter stores of the Camanches making the last of the holdouts surrender and go to a reservation.  The first huge ranch in the area was established in the canyon by Charles Goodnight.  Lots of history here.

On the road again

     We left on Wednesday and today are in Oklahoma.  Every day heading south we found interesting things to stop and explore.  The rig is traveling well.
    In South Dakota we walked to Spirit Mound north of the Missouri on the tall grass prairie.  It is where Lewis and Clark walked to get a better view.  You get the feel of the 6 foot high grass prairie walking there.  You cannot see a distance over the grasses.
    We stayed away from interstates and traveled well kept roads with crop after crop being harvested.  Corn in king in the midwest and milo is second.  In Kansas we learned that they have skyscrapers in every town (silos and grain elevators are called Kansas skyscrapers) and they have Kansas mushrooms in the central hills - bolders shaped like giant mushrooms left from the glacial age.  They also have fence posts made out of sandstone.  Wood was scarce but rocks were not in the glacial region.
     We visited a Pawnee Museum and learned that the Pawnee had permanent earthen lodge villages they used spring and fall for crops.  They were nomadic the other two seasons.  We stopped along the old Santa Fe trail to visit Ft Larned.  It was not restored from ruins for the fort was sold after 17 years to ranchers who through the years kept the stone buildings and used officers row as housing for themselves.  In 1961 the buildings were still in decent shape.  It was the best of the forts of the many we have visited so we spent 3 hours there having the rangers to ourselves to answer questions.  What great travel adventures!  I have bought a new camera so pictures are coming.  Sure wish I had a camera the last few days.

The Pioneers

     We took in a little Lake County history today.  We visited a museum with turn of the century stuff including sleighs with bells and buffalo robes at Dakota State College and then we visited a closed Prairie Museum (a group of building from all around the county placed as a village at the turn of the century).  It was closed but we could walk around and peer in the buildings.  It was very windy and cold (30 but much colder with the wind).  I can kind of visualize how harsh the winters were and are here. 
     We leave tomorrow morning going south.  That direction looks good right now for we are huddled in the RV with both the heater and electric cube heater on, listening to a whistle the RV is making now and then.  I made crock pot beef stew for dinner and early bed is looking good!!!!!!!!!!  In this state park there is a very small log cabin from the homesteading days on this peninsula which is Herman State Park.  White caps are on the water.  I bet the homesteaders must have hated the winter on the plains!
     John and I have our licenses now so we are now official South Dakota residences.  We also looked into medicare insurance and will have to change before January 1st our other coverage will not apply.  I will buy another camera so I can take pictures as we head south!!

Pipestone National Monument, MN

We did laundry today and visited a national monument 44 miles away in Minnesota.  Pipestone National Monument is an old quarry used for thousands of years by native peoples.  Peace pipes were made from the red stone.  There was a demo by a Native American fashioning a pipe, a small museum, a film about the quarry history and on our walk we found another person in one of the quarries banging away at the hard layer of quartzite trying to get to the pipestone.  People have to get permits to dig here.  It was interesting and a very nice walk on the tall grass praire.  We went back to the RV in time for the crock pot dinner of pulled pork.  A walk around the campground and a few games of Rummy Cube ended our evening....just another day in South Dakota!

Madison, SC

We are at Lake Herman State Park in Madison, SD until Monday.  Tonight there are 8 sites taken and very quiet.  Autumn in SouDak on 10/13 is glistening gold hues, sunny skies, and very windy.  Our site is right on a pond and we can see the lake. We are right across from the bathrooms at a host workcamper site.  The workcamper hosts have left for the season.

From the pond in Woodstock

                                                                      to autumn in PA

                                                              to Ohio sunsets

              to Iowa wind farms we traveled on to South Dakota.

We are finally traveling!!!!!!!!!!

On Saturday 10/8 at 1pm we left Woodstock traveling to the Welcome Center in PA where we stayed for the night. (No trucks allowed from 7pm-7am) We went I-80 through PA mountains and saw autumn landscapes.  I saw an adult flying Bald Eagle and a road kill bear in PA....2 firsts!!!!!  We traveled flawlessly through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois with the only shock being expensive tolls - $55.25 - the quickest is not the cheapest!!  On the toll road I-90 in Ohio there are RV pads with electricity for $20.00 at some rest stops (away from everything and fairly quiet.)  We put the slide out and unhooked the car. We stopped at Elkhart, Indiana to see May West's travel coach and many other antique RV's at the RV Hall of Fame. We have stayed at three rest stops and and one Walmart (last night) and just keep traveling along.  Crossing the Mississippi River into Iowa I am posting from the Welcome Center viewing the great river.  We will be traveling west through plains farm country and then up to catch the I-90 in Minnesota and into South Dakota.  I will post pictures next stop.

Scion Blip

It was a fender bender!!!!  Saturday September 24th John was rear ended so with estimates, insurance adjusters, parts, and fixing the bumper, it is now October 6th and we are still in Woodstock.  The good news is we have our car back today and lift-off is Saturday. These next few days are scrambing to make sure every duck is in a row.  Our house is empty of all freezables and cabinets look very empty.  Mice proofing has been done and the refrigerator/freezer has been cleaned and transferred.  All we need to do is drain and put pink stuff in the water pipes/heating pipes.  It is like winterizing a very large RV! I will miss my big bathtub and the washer/dryer but...the leaves are turning color so it will be a pretty drive~~~~South Dakota, here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!