2017 11 10-19 From Missouri to Pennsylvania

Phillipsburg, MO 11/9 - Bonne Terre, MO 11/10-11/14 - Terre Haute, IN 11/14 - Springfield, OH 11/15 - Delaware, OH 11/16-11/19, Washington, PA 11/19

This is our skip across 5 states on our way to Thanksgiving with family. There's not much to say about the camps where we only stayed for a night. St. Francois State Park was our first extended stay without full hook-ups. The site had electric but no water or sewer. So before we left Happy Trails in Phillipsburg, we filled our fresh water tank. Some camps with no water or sewer at the sites will have access to those facilities near the office but this State Park did not. We knew we were in trouble when the water pump started sounding like it was struggling to send water out of the tank. We started conserving and relied on Bob's cousin, Loretta, for laundry services and replenishing our filtered water for drinking.  

Deer at St. Francois State Park. These two are in the "safe zone" since there is no hunting allowed in this State Park. Gun season had just opened and we heard several shots. We saw this pair a couple times. Smart mom. 

Mike and Julie visited 11/11 and stayed for dinner. Our first guests. 

Jim and Jan also came down to see our new house on 11/13. We decided to go out for lunch in Farmington. 

Jump                                                   Land                                         Spring up

Sorry but I got nothing for the above photos. Bob said he was just playing with the timer on the camera. Seems to have worked out. As I always say, "Timing is everything."

Our next stop was back home to Ohio. On Thursday, 11/16, we visited our former neighbors, Tony and Ann. All of us went to the local pizza place, Enrico's, which is right around the corner from our neighborhood. Bob and I jumped at the chance for another Enrico's pizza since we had tried many different shops in Sioux Falls and all had failed to provide a good pie. We like a thin, crispy crust and seasoned sauce. Over three months without our Friday pizza except for Bob's homemade pizza. And his is good. But sometimes we just want to go out for one. 

While most readers here would say our travels have been something to envy, there is a dark side. Family left far away and no way of quickly being available if needed. Friday, 11/17, was suppose to be our restocking shopping day. Our day started a little earlier than we expected when my sister called at 6:30am. My mother has been in a skilled nursing facility for awhile called Barkley Friends. We were horrified to hear that the Assisted Living and Memory Care units had burned to the ground. Many of you may have seen the news reports of the facility in West Chester, PA. All the residents have been transferred to other local facilities. So while my mother is safe, she is confused about where she is and why she had to leave her Barkley room. The stress and concern for her safety fell to my sister and her husband who live near West Chester. And while the staff at the new facility have been wonderful, there are concerns. All of mom's clothes and personal items were left. She had one pair of pajamas and one pair of shoes. 

The feeling of helplessness made focusing on our tasks difficult. Getting and forwarding updates to family members was time consuming. I felt it was very unfair for my sister and her husband to have to shoulder this emergency along with the regular issues that have to be handled for mom's best interests. We are so grateful to have mom is such good hands. 

Breakfast at Scrambler Marie's with another neighbor, Eddie 11/18. We were neighbors for over 20 years. I was telling her that as we were driving into the neighborhood my automatic instinct was to remember to pick up our mail. After 27 years in our Ohio home, it's an odd feeling to not be getting our mail out of the box. We also visited with our son-in-law's parents, Fred and Karen.

One of the nicest things about our travels out west was the totally different weather than Ohio. Sunshine and bright blue skies are the norm while in Ohio the gray, cloud covered days are depressing. Saturday...we got 4.5 inches of rain. By the time we got back home (to the RV), many of the bow hunters were packing it in. The Delaware State Park does allow hunting within the park. Fortunately for us, only bow hunting season was open.

Now we are on our way to Pennsylvania for a week.

2017 11 06-09 From New Mexico to Missouri

Monday through Thursday, November 6-9, 2017.

Four days of driving from New Mexico to Texas through Oklahoma and into Missouri. One more day to stay the long weekend at St. Francois State Park and visit Bob's cousin and two brothers. 

11/6 One for the road... from Carlsbad Caverns, NM. Bob always takes me to the most romantic places. In the booth, in the back, in the corner, in the dark. 

11/7 Lubbock Texas. I thought the slogan in Texas was that everything was bigger in Texas. Guess they did not get that memo. 

11/7 Grain Co-op. Now this is more like it. 

11/8 Elk Creek RV Park, Elk City, OK was so small and cramped we took no pictures. It was dark when we got there, the street was so narrow we couldn't make the turn to pull-through our slot. We had to circle the entire park and pull through another site to our slot. We were so close to the neighbor that our ladder was within a foot of their sewer connection. Lovely.

11/9 Mingo RV Park, Tulsa, OK. Now this was a nice park. Fairly wide slot for big rigs and even had fences between each one. They offered coffee and doughnuts every morning in the office. Yes! 

11/9 Happy Trails RV Park, Phillipsburg, MO. It has definitely become fall with the dropping leaves and crisp evenings. 

Our site facing the pond but we will have to have the furnace on since the temperature tonight will be down to 24 degrees tonight. 

When the trees start looking like they are winking at you, it is time to get off the road and take the night off. 

2017 11 03-05 Brantley Lake State Park and Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

Brantley Lake State Park, Friday, November 3, 2017

Lake Brantley with dam.

Walking with the dogs was a challenge. The thorny brush kept getting caught in Tori's tail. All the new smells and sounds kept both of them excited to wander off trail so a short leash was needed. The background shows what the ground is like everywhere, even for tent camping sites. Ouch!

Saturday, November 4, 2017. Looked out the window this morning and saw movement. Finally got a good look at this road runner. Beep, Beep. Sure looks more robust than I remember from my childhood when our family drove through Arizona. 

Carlsbad Caverns, Sunday, November 5, 2017.

Doing the 1930's the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed many paths into the caves and adobe houses for the crews. 

Cavern Entrance uses switchbacks to descend underground. 

The pathways make a very long hike much easier. 

Those two guys are just barely into the darkening entrance. 

The Whales Mouth does look like the baleen of a whale. Throughout the caverns the play of light and shadow does allow the mind to see things that disappear in flash photography.  

Formations of stalagmites. Bob saw a troll in the back one. I think the front one looks like a wall of ocean waves. 

Still growing.

Differing colors are caused by minerals leaching down through the limestone. 

Who would have expected to find a sandwich store and gift shop at 800 feet below ground. This is the level where the elevators stop so once we descended and walked about 2.5 miles we could ascend more easily. 

I think some of the stalactites look like coral growing upside down. They call it "popcorn" formation. 

There were volunteers working to cover the large cables which have been laid out for lighting and the emergency phones. 

Bob says he really should have put a filter on the camera. The formation to his left is called the "Lion's tail".

I think the front one is called "the Pillar". Very thought provoking. 

The "Totem Pole". I was thinking Space Needle but I guess in the 1930's that would have been too futuristic. 

Curtain stalactites. 

We both thought this formation looked very similar to how the dunes look on top after the sands have been blown across. 

This is one of the original ladders made of wood and wire. It drops 90 feet down a shaft. 

The "Crystal Spring Dome" is still growing

This one is called "Chinese Theater". The one on the right does look oriental.

On the drive home from Carlsbad Caverns we found the "Check Engine" light had come on. Since it was Sunday we had no option than to wait until the following morning. We also got an email from Ram saying there was a need to have the engine serviced. This was not looking good. We have less than 5000 miles on the truck. Bob took the truck to the local dealer before 8 am so they could run a diagnostic and interpret the cryptic email. Calling every hour for an update, we ended up waiting four hours. Bob was finally told the code was for a computer software update to adjust the fuel mixture so it burns cleaner and exhausts less pollutants. With that good news and a happy, updated engine we left Carlsbad RV with minutes to spare before getting charged for another day and drove to Lubbock, Texas. Another dark and chilly set-up.  

2017 11 01 White Sands National Monument

White Sands National Monument, Alamogordo, New Mexico, Nov 1, 2017

The good news is there was no missile testing today. We had some fly overs from Holloman Air Force Base.  

We were happy to be able to take the dogs with us today. The new sights and smells were very entertaining for them. We took 5 bottles of water and had to buy one by the end of the day. 

Even though it was mostly sunny, the temperature was in the low 70s. We were quite comfortable in long pants and long sleeve shirts. 

The dunes were a mix of hard packed alkali, granulated gypsum and super soft, almost dust. 

It's true. Sledding down the dunes really is a thing out here. We forgot to buy a disk at Walmart yesterday. These kids weren't very adventurous. The dune they sled down was fairly small.  

Bob was disappointed he could not sled the dunes so he decided to run down a dune. I was hoping he would not fall and roll the rest of the way. 

This afternoon sun makes for interesting contrasts of bright white and shadows. 

During this hike, we kept getting hit by high winds which drove the sand across the dunes. Not too much of a problem for Bob and I but the dogs are down closer to dune tops and they were having some problems with it getting in their eyes and ears. 

Tori and I are waiting for Bob and Dakota. I guess you are wondering why the dogs are not having issued with hot sand under their paws. That is because the water table is just 2-3 feet below the surface so the sand is quite cool. I checked several times in different locations. 

This did not come out like we were seeing it. It's the slip side of a dune with footprints making little mounds on the downward side. It should look like waves. 

The wind from the Northwest blows the sand into these wave like patterns. The dunes continue to grow until they reach about 80 feet then the weight causes an avalanche.  

This is our fourth trail - the Backpacking Trail Loop. A 2 mile round trip loop where camping is allowed. I think it would be amazing during a full moon the dunes would glisten like snow and when there is no moon the stars are awesome. 

Puppies had to work very hard today. 

After drinking an entire bowl of water, Tori gave up and slept. 

While we were waiting at the Visitor's Center for the Sunset Stroll, this little rattlesnake started to slowly make its way across the parking lot. It wasn't much longer than about 2 feet. And minding it own business. Then some doofus got a metal stick out of his truck and was poking it . The snake immediately curled and started shaking its rattles. It looked about to strike but the doofus just wouldn't let it alone. I went into the Visitor's Center and told them so someone would come out and tell the guy to back away. Seems rattlesnakes can strike from a long distance.  They wanted to collect it and transport it away from there. So how many people does it take to remove a rattlesnake from a parking lot? About 10, most of whom just stood around. This little guy had quite an attitude and showed it whenever someone cast a shadow on him. It was finally scooped up by a professional and put in a transport bucket. 

On our Sunset Stroll we crested a dune and startled this jackrabbit. Look at the size of its ears. We were shocked at how fast it got over the dunes. 

Another example of the light and shadow contrast. 

The volunteer explaining how the yucca survives in the desert. As the sand buries the plant, it will continue to send out roots along its trunk so it can keep growing above the sand level. So if you see a 2 foot plant above the sand on top of a 30 foot dune the actual height of the plant is more than 32 feet.

Ansel Adams-esque. Moon over Sacramento Mountains to the east.

Sunset behind the San Andres Mountains.