Mall of America in Minnesota

Thursday, July 5th: Today we drove on across from Jamestown, ND into Minnesota and dropped southward toward the Minneapolis area. The campground that we stopped at was rated pretty good in TL, but they were so crowded that they were even using the dog walk area for tents and even a Class C or two.
Friday, July 6th: Drove over to the Mall of America and walked around. It was impressive with four floors and a carnival in the center, complete with water slides, ferris wheel, a carousel, and a small childs area in the middle. We did get a digital picture frame that will rotate through 500 pictures, at in the Rainforest Cafe, and bought a pack of Cinnebons.
Saturday July 7th: They were supposed to have a hugh mass wedding for 7/07/07 in the mall today at (of course) 11:00 a.m. so we decided to drive on down the road instead of leaving on Sunday as we had initially planned.
Monday July 9th: Happy Birthday Carolyn
We are in Richmond, Indiana tonight at a nice little campground called "Grandpa's Farm". In celebration of her 39th Birthday we celebrated at the Red Lobster and had Margaritas.
Tomorrow it will be eastern Ohio then probably on to Williamsport on Wednesday and home on Thursday. It has been a memorable trip and we have enjoyed every moment. I hope to invite you all along the next time, this time in person and we can all enjoy it.

I will close this out for this year. Hugs to each of you and I look forward to boring you with our pictures.

Clark and Carolyn

North Dakota

Monday July 2nd: We pulled out of the Rafter J Bar Ranch, and drove on up to North Dakota via I-90 W to US-85 north up to I-94. US-85 is a good road through the Dakota, straight up through the rolling hills. Our altitude dropped from the 6000 feet (plus and minus) of the Hill City/ Custer/ Keystone area until we topped out at the highest point in North Dakota at 3506 feet and down to the 2000 foot range. We stayed Monday night at "On the Heart" Campground in Dickenson, ND. The campground was on the Heart River which meanders through the area.
Tuesday July 3rd: On across North Dakota and crossed the Missouri river which came in from Montana and had merged with the Yellowstone River there. We also passed about 100 miles south of the Geographic Center of North America in Rugby ND and pulled in for the night at Jamestown. We will stay here for the 4th of July and get back on the road Thursday morning toward Minneapolis, MN. Happy Fourth of July to everyone.

Bear Country Drive Through Zoo South Dakota

Sunday July 1st: Today we drove up toward Rapid City, SD to go to a drive through Zoo called Bear Country off of Hwy 16. The animals were in the open and the people restricted to their vehicles. On the way through we saw Elk, one had 26 points - a hugh set, Mountain Goats, Big Horned Sheep, Cougers, Woves, Black Bears, Fox, Bison, and many more just walking around. The only ones actually in cages were the Grizzly Bears and the Cougers.

South Dakota Mount Rushmore

Wednesday June 27th: Today we drove the few miles from the Rafter J Bar Ranch campground to Mount Rushmore. This is very impressive and well worth the stop. The scene here was taken looking down the Gallery of Flags with the faces in the background. They have a flag for each state plus each U.S. Territory, fifty six in all. The ampitheater is just beyond the flags and the start of a walking path up under the heads and back to the ampitheater again. Three men were working on top of Roosevelt the day that we were there. You would not have caught me hanging off of his hairline.

Thursday we drove down to the Custer State park and around it. Many more Bison here than we saw at Yellowstone and an altogether nice park. They had a forest fire in the park early in the week and we drove through the burned areas on part of the circuit. There was still a lot of smoldering and smoke and we passed quite a few firemen and equipment keeping an eye on things. We stopped for a picnic lunch and relaxed for while on the way out of the park.

Friday we drove over to Keystone, SD and walked through the old town section, the Holy Terror mine, and the old stores.

Saturday was a trip up to Deadwood, SD, where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane died. They had written about their reconstructed old town but it was just a major street with old buildings housing casinos. I guess that they were trying to hold on to their gambling reputation, but that didn't interest us much. The drive through the Black Hills was very pretty however.

Yellowstone NP Day Three

Danny and Cymy swimming in the Yellowstone River

Sunday June 24th: Today we decided to talk a drive around the South Loop road. As we entered the park we enjoyed the Bison herds and passed the Madison River Elk herd again in their usual haunts. Driving on south past Old Faithful we wound through the forest and up over the National Divide, 8800 feet at this point, and down the eastern side toward West Thumb. We turned left there and drove back northward along the Yellowstone Lake, which was beautiful to view the Rocky Mountains over its blue waters. We continued along the lake shore drive to the end and turned to travel westward again along the Yellowstone River. Saw a Coyote trotting along the road toward us so we slowed to a stop to let it go on by. Another Elk herd was grazing in a meadow, the buck here had large antlers, the largest that we had yet seen. We finally stopped for a picnic lunch along the river. While Carolyn set up the sandwiches I took Danny and Cymy for a swim. The water was so cold that they were shivering after twenty minutes so we toweled them dry and had a picnic. A hawk circled the river and screeched at the world and a group of Trumpeter Swans were a short distance down river on a small island. We looked them up in the Park guide to make sure what they were. After lunch we drove on around the north side of the South loop and back to the campground. A really enjoyable day.

Yellowstone NP Second Day

Bison herd crossing the main road with Paintpot steaming in the background

Saturday June 23rd: Today the plan was to drive back to the Old Faithful basin and walk the paths throughout the area. The NPS has laid out many miles of hard asphalt or boards to connect the geysers throughout this basin and we walked our share of them. On the way in we had the treat of being in the midst of a bison migration across the road. The herd was quite large, but luckily only about 50 of them broke away and moved to new grazing land on the other side of the roadway. Of course traffic slowed to a crawl. Some people in a hurry would wind their way among individual animals in a quite dangerous fashion. Carolyn got several nice pictures as we waited.
Once we got to Old Faithful we parked and got onto the trails leading to the outer geysers. We were able to see a number of them erupting - Daisy, Castle, Riverside, and even Old Faithful again from the vantage point of the Daisy Geyser. After the walk we had a late lunch picnic in the woods and stared down several big Ravens that looked like they wanted to share our sandwiches.

Yellowstone NP Day One

Friday June 22nd: We arrived at West Yellowstone yesterday at the Lionshead Campground outside of town. Drove on into the Yellowstone NP this morning for our first day. A few miles inside we stopped, along with everyone else, at the area set aside for a pair of Bald Eagles and their nest. Old Baldie was sitting on a fallen tree on the other side of the Madison river. Carolyn hopped out with the camera and was able to get a shot of him, although the distance was a little far for our small camera. Moving on into the park we soon came across the Madison river Elk Herd grazing along the river. Of course we all stopped again and walked out to get a clear shot of them. There appeared to be about six in the small herd and they pretty much ignored the dumb humans looking at them and chattering. We drove on and stopped at the Fountain Paint Pot Geyser area and walked the boardwalk around, enjoying the various pools, steamers, and bubbling mud "geysers". On to Old Faithful, where they have the Old Faithful Inn, stores, Visitors Center, and eveything else imaginable. We were able to see Old Faithful blow twice while there and got pictures and movies from two different areas and ate a late lunch while there. Especially after having been to the "Craters of the Moon", a predecessor of Yellowstone, we were more appreciative of being inside a volcanic caldera and the heat and force surging just beneath our feet.

Idaho Potato Museum and Exposition

Here is a picture of Carolyn standing in the heart of Idaho Potato country.

Wednesday June 20th: We drove to just up the road about five miles to see a replica of Fort Hall. This fort was established by the Hudson Bay Trading Company to be a focal point for the fur traders and local tribes, the Shoshoni and Bannock, to bring their furs and pick up supplies. We also visited the Bannock County Museum while there and walked through a replica of the town of Pocatello as it was first laid out, about 10 buildings all told. The county zoo was also on the premises and had some Bison and Elk. The Elk had tremendous antlers.

Then we drove up the road to the actual location where Fort Hall had stood, it is now on the Shoshoni/Bannock Reservation, and toured through the Reservation Museum. We had an interesting talk with the lady in charge and found out that, like the Hopi, the Shoshoni roots have been traced back to Aztec origins in Central America. She explained their religious story of the Beginning, which was very similar to that of the Hopis.

By that time we were ready for lunch so we went over to the local restaurant on the Reservation and had some Bison Stew and Frybread. It was delicious, but too much to eat at one sitting.

We then drove on up to the town of Blackfoot to see the Idaho Potato Museum and Exposition. Idaho produces about 1/3 of the potato's in the U.S. The potato was apparently originated in Peru and carried back to Europe by the Spanish and spread throughout the world from there.

Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho

This was a good picture of LIFE continuing from the barreness of a flow of lava.

Tuesday June 19th: We decided to take a drive over to the Craters of the Moon National Monument today. The drive was about 100 miles each way, but really worth the time. The drive itself gave us a better idea about Idaho, or at least this area of the state. The road was arrow straight and flat as we were in the Snake river basin. Vocanic cones sprout up from the level ground and a mountain range gets closer as we drive westward. We curve around to the south by Arco, ID and go another 25 miles to the NM entrance. This was apparently one area, out of many that was home to the hot spot shallow area in the earths surface. They traced the origion of the hotspot from the Oregon/Idaho border up to its current location at Yellowstone. None of the areas are completely dead though many erupt again over the next several thousand years. We walked several of the trails that were throughout the park and had lunch at a really nice area under a house sized hunk of lava and shaded by a tree. A good sized chipmonk kept us company and posed for several pictures. He was rewarded with a couple of pieces of bread that he seemed to really appreciate. I hiked up a volcano to the top and took a number of panoramic pictures from there. Boy, I felt each of my 64 years and each of the 6000 feet altitude before reaching the top. A short while later we walked up a "splatter hole" volcano and went down inside the cone for a view. They apparently get about three to five feet of snow here each year so a lot is closed from October through April.

Eastward Ho - Starting back to the Right Coast

Monday June 18th: We packed up and left Seattle Saturday morning, the 16th and drove up to I-90 and points east. The trip up and over the Snoqualamie Pass was beautiful, then down the other side toward Yakima. Coming down we began to see the land dry up until we were again in sand and sagebrush. We left I-90 and moved onto I-84 toward Pendleton, Oregon for our first night out. Pendleton needed more time as it looked to be a city to spend a couple of days enjoying, but we were only here overnight. Sunday we got back in the saddle and drove on down I-84E to Boise, Idaho. Up and over another mountain pass, this one around 3600 ft (Snoqualamie topped out at right at 3000 ft). The land was in continual transition looking more like some of New Mexico that we had seen on the way west. Today we traveled on up to Pocatello, Idaho and will stay here for a couple of days. We passed flat topped mesas and cattle country with miles of sagebrush. Then hugh tracts of land supported by long moveable water systems supported fields of corn and wheat. Further north we began running alongside the Snake river and the irrigation became more serious. Large, large tracts of potatoes began to appear in the valley areas between the mesas, all irrigated of course. Spectacular mountains always in the far or near distance. I could not have said what my idea of Idaho had been prior to the trip, but it did not include the variety that we have encountered. Tomorrow we will drive up to the Craters of the Moon National Monument then see the Idaho Potatoe Exposition in Blackfoot, ID.

Mount Rainier Viewing

Friday June 15th: This evening was unusual for the time that we have been here in the Seattle area - it was clear and sunny. As we walked the dogs over toward the Nature Center next to the campground we were greeted by a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier highlighted by the setting sun. We had only seen it once and we were on the road and couldn't get a picture. Here is what hangs over Seattle every day, but is only rarely glimpsed even by those who live here. It is a breathtaking sight that the camera cannot show properly.

Leavenworth WA

Thursday June 14th: We drove over the Mountains over WA-2 to a small ex-logging town, Leavenworth, which decided to remake itself into a Bavarian hamlet rather than die as the logging moved on from their area. They have very strict rules that each building WILL look like a Bavarian building. This is complete with murals/paintings on the walls, flower boxes on balconies, mode of dress of the store owners and employees, food, and nutcrackers. We strolled around town and looked in the windows or walked through the door. Of course we also did some wine tasting and had lunch at "King Ludwig's" - Jaegersnitzel and Weinersnitzel each, completewith Spaetzle. It was a very pleasant day all in all. Drove up to snow line on the trip over there and small snow spritzes several times. Coming back we dropped south toward I-90 and were surprised to top through one pass and find ourselves back in a desert with sage brush and prairie grass and sand. The rain must all get sucked out by the mountains and leaves eastern Washington looking like New Mexico.

Seattle Washington

Wednesday June 13th: Today we drove into Seattle to see the city, the bay, and the Space Needle of course. Our first surprise was to discover that Seattle was built down the side of a pretty steep hillside, one that could rival some of San Francisco's best in my opinion. We got off of I-5 at Seneca St and pointed the nose of the truck down, down, and still more down hill until we finally got to Alaska Way along the harbor. This road is directly under WA-99, an elevated highway. Once there we drove through the parking area for about five blocks until a young homeless man, directing cars into parking spaces that were right in front of them, pointed us into an empty space. I gave him a couple of dollars - "for the shelter tonight". Stopped for lunch at the harbor and ate the house Northwest Fish Chowder and Fish and Chips. The table overlooked the harbor and we watched a fireboat tied up and a large ferry dock and unload. We then walked down Alaska Way until we came to the right street to go uphill toward the scenic downtown shopping area. Walked on over to the Space Needle and went on up to the 580 foot level where the view was awsome. Here is one shot that we took overlooking the Seattle city center and with the Mountains and Mt. Ranier off in the background.

Victoria BC

Friday June 8th: We moved yesterday, this time up to the Olympic NP penninsula to Diamond Point K/M Resort just south of Sequim, WA. Today we took the ferry from Port Angeles, WA over to Victoria BC. Victoria is a very pretty town, the capitol of British Columbia Province, and gets a lot of income from Cruise ships that pull in there. We walked down town along Warf St and through China Town over to Government St. and back to the harbor area. Had a good lunch about 3 pm. This picture was of the "Government Buldings" and a large standing carved/painted totum pole. We spent a very pleasant day all in all and watched a seal play in the water beside the ferry as we waited to pull out.

Mt. Ranier NP Entrance

June 6th: Drove over to the Mt Ranier National Park today. It was a very nice drive and the park area was beautiful. This is a picture of the Park Entrance.

Toutle River Valley toward Mt. St. Helens

As we left the Visitors Center we drove on toward Mt. St Helens and finally stopped at an overlook and restaurant by the Toutle River Valley. This picture was shot down the valley looking East. Georgeous view.

Mt. St. Helens and Mt Ranier WA

Wednesday June 5 and Thursday June 6th: We had moved up to the Thousand Trails Preserve near Chehalis, WA on Tuesday and settled in. As we moved into Washington the weather became rainey and cooler as a front moved in to the area. It had been in the 80's up here last week while we were in the 50's on the Oregon coast. Now as we come to Washington the temperature has dropped into the 50's for us. I surely didn't expect to be wearing coats this far into the summer.

Wednesday we traveled down I-5 to the Mt. St. Helens Visitor Center. The had a good movie about the eruption in 1980 and a model of the volcano that you could walk down into to see the various layers and magma chambers. They also had a very nice nature walk out through the marshy land, about a mile around that we enjoyed.

The picture above shows the overcast very well. If you count the third peak to the left of the big center peak, that will be Mt. St. Helens.

Pacific City Thousand Trails Preserve

Friday June 1st. Arrived at the Pacific City Thousand Trails today. The beach is just across the road and down through the woods. Very pretty walk. We have been taking the dogs and walking the beach each day. One day we drove up to Tillamook, OR to visit the Tillamook Cheese factory and have lunch. Just a beautiful relaxing weekend. We will leave Monday for Chahalis, Washington. Here is a picture of a bit of the Oregon coast.

South Jetty/Florence Oregon

Still Thursday, 31st of May: From old town Florence we drove out to a park where we could walk on the beach and on out a stone jetty the helps herd the river as it meets the Pacific Ocean. Walking out the jetty into the ocean was beautiful, but cold and windy. We didn't stay on the jetty long, but went back toward the campground and then out "South Jetty" road into the NP area in the dunes. Some four wheelers were having a go at one of the dunes and we got a picture of it.

South Jetty Preserve Near Florence, OR

Thursday, May 31: This area is the northern part of the Oregon Dunes National Monument, an series of sand dunes along the beach stretching some 50 miles long with some of the dunes reaching 500 feet high. We drove about eleven miles north to Sea Lion Cave, a large cave with access to view the sea lions in nature, in the morning then down into Florence for Lunch at Moe's and a little store hiking in the old town harbor area. This is a picture of the old draw bridge crossing the river in Florence.

Traveling up the Coast

Wednesday May 30th: Moving on up toward Florence, Oregon to the Thousand Trails Preserve at "South Jetty". As lunch time came we pulled off at a viewing area on the beach and took the dogs and us for a walk on the beach. Strangely the sand here was rather black. Carolyn took a picture of Danny, Cymy, and I with a piece of driftwood.

North on the Redwood Scenic Highway

Tuesday May 30th: We left the beautiul Russian River area and began driving north on US-101, also called the Redwood Scenic Highway toward Oregon. We plan to drive on up to an RPI campground, Redwood Trails Resort, to spend the night. As we travel north we slowly began seeing the roadside grass and the grass in the fields turn from solid dry brown to a sprinkling of green to solid green the further we travel. The drought conditions in Southern and Central California are really severe and they need a nice long turn to rain for several years to recover.

The Redwood Trails campground was small, but beautifully situated. An old origional red schoolhouse and an old caboose are out front with a large horse corral behind us. A wood carver had set up business next to the campground and had his works throughout the campground and store. Wonderfully done works, but we had nowhere to carry them. As we were setting down to dinner we looked out the window and five big Elk were drifting their way across the campground. Tried to get a picture of them, but it didn't turn out too well, but will put it on here anyway. If you look hard you can see two of them in the center of the picture. One faceing us and the other facing away. The old caboose is just to the left of the Elk and the old schoolhouse is further left, but out of the picture. We saw more Wednesday morning and a gentleman camped near us said that a herd of about forty wandered the area. Shortly after leaving Wednesday morning we saw a large number of them laying in a field a short way from the road.

Napa Valley

Saturday May 26th: Transferred up the the Thousand Trails "Russian River" preserve, just a few miles from the KOA and got set up. After hooking up water and electric we drove over to Napa Valley to view the scenery and taste some wines there. This picture was taken at the Beringer Winery facility, of the "Leaning Tree". Beringer names some of its wines after the tree. The grounds were beautiful and the wines good. We particularly liked their White Zin and bought several bottles. Afterward we drove on down CA128 furthing into the Napa Valley and stopped at the "Sutter Home" winery. They had some sweeter wines, also cheaper. Because of the holiday weekend the traffic was getting really heavy so we drove on back north on CA128 and crossed the mountain range and down into the Sonoma Valley again. Sunday will be a make and mend day for cleaning and relaxing.

Sonoma Valley Wineries

Wednesday May 23rd: We took the day to wander the Dry Gulch Road wineries here in the Sonoma Valley area. Most of the wines are very dry in the French style and we tend to like ours a little more into the semi-sweet area. I made Carolyn do most of the tasting as I was driving so she is becoming an expert on Sonoma wines. We stopped for lunch at the Rosso Bianco winery and discovered that it is owned by the Director/Producer Francis Ford Coppola. He bought the Souvereign winery a year ago and renamed it Rosso Bianco. It it absolutely georgeous. This picture is in a display of Oscar statues that he won for the "Godfather" movies. The picture above the Oscars is of the "Godfather" movie. The food was very Italian and very good as we sat outside at tables under umbrellas and overlooking the vineyards and the mountains in the background.

Golden Gate Bridge

Tuesday May 22nd: We hooked up this morning and drove out to Rt 1 to cross over to US-101 and head north once again. Traffic on US-101 wasn't too bad this morning as we drove up through San Jose and Sunnyvale toward San Francisco. We just stayed with US-101 to the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge as we wanted to cross it. Downtown SF was a little hairy as the road is multi lane, but the lanes are quite narrow. Stayed with it and passed the trolleys, through the park and under the tunnel then came out and entered onto the Golden Gate. I hadn't realized the the "Golden" Gate is painted red. Pretty view from the top with a LOT of people walking or riding bikes across the bridge. It was cold and windy and some of them looked pretty miserable. Drove on up to Cloverdale, CA KOA to see some of the Sonoma Valley wineries. The campground was kind of rough, but we enjoyed watching a little fawn wander out of the woods and stand next to the trailer one morning before wandering off. The next morning a wild turkey wandered into the same place and looked around for awhile.

Santa Cruz

Tuesday May 22nd: Drove on over to Santa Cruz on Sunday the 20th to visit my Aunt for a couple of days. We stayed at a KOA (again) south of Santa Cruz and it was (again) a really good campground. We have had a nice visit to get to know each other after fifteen years. She took us to the Bargetto Winery here, and of course we bought several bottles. Karl, we got you a really good Ruby Port that I think that you will like. I know I liked it and got myself a bottle also, but it may not make it back to the East Coast. Then we went down to the Santa Cruz harbor on Monterey Bay for a wonderful meal overlooking the bay and lighthouse and boats sailing through. It was really good seeing her again and I hope that it won't be another fifteen years.
Wednesday we will go on up into Napa Valley and the Sonoma Valley area and will spend several days driving from winery to winery. The AAA lists over 150 wineries there so we plan to have a good time.

Sequoia National Forest - Grant's Grove

Friday May 18th: After finally getting to the Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park entrance we drove through to a picnic area for lunch and to let the dogs run on the leash for a few minutes. We had just finished eating when three tour buses filled with folks from France pulled up for their noon meal and potty break. Thank God our timing was good and we had finished so we piled back in the truck and drove on down to Grant's Grove where the "General Grant" Sequoia was located. It is reported to be the third largest Sequoia in the world, the first largest being the "General Sherman" at the other end of the NP. This picture is of Carolyn standing at the base of just a normal sized pair of Sequoia trees. I raised the camera and took a picture of the top so that we could get a perspective on the sheer size of these trees. The area was gorgeous.

We drove back by another route (CA180 to CA63) which was a scenic route through the fields of fruit trees. This is another "must see" NP.

Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park

Friday May 18th:
We settled into the Visalia KOA yesterday afternoon. Very nice campground and the people running it are really friendly. The noticed the "Acadia National Park" logo on my hat and told us how they had worked at the Mount Desert Island KOA for a year and how much they liked the area.
Today we plotted a route up to see the Sequoias. The South Entrance specified that the park road in one section at the beginning did not allow vehicles over 22 feet long. Our truck measures out at 18 feet so we just fit under the restriction, but that section was also under construction on weekdays and traffic was only allowed through once each hour so we decided to drive up to the Kings Canyon entrance north of us. I let the Garmin GPS pick the route and it took us across CA-245 which looked like a good diagonal route and the most direct. Very pretty road that wandered through the valley Orange, Tangerine, and Almond groves and had very little traffic, so was a great drive. As we neared the mountains the road went up and up and up and got smaller and smaller and the turns became sharper and more frequent. The last quarter of the drive was done at 15-20 mph just turning through switchback constantly. Very few houses or roads and it looked like the few people that lived on the road stayed away from civilization for long periods. With the curves and speed it took us longer to go the direct route than it would have to gone around, but we saw country that only three other people have seen this decade I think.
We finally arrived at the NP entrance and drove in to a beautiful area.

Onward Again

Thursday May 17th:
Well, we packed up the trailer again and headed the truck north toward Visalia, CA. Visalia is a few miles south of Fresno on CA-99 and have named themselves as the Gateway to the Sequoia National Park. We basically connected up with I-5 along the coast and into the maze of roads the comprises the greater Los Angeles area, which seems to stretch from San Clemente up to San Fernando/Simi Valley. Even though we were traveling on a Thursday mid-day while schools were still in session, the traffic was VERY heavy. Carolyn wondered why all of these people were not at work somewhere instead of driving. I have already mentioned the driving habits here so I won't go into our trip in this section. Carolyn did get the hiccups again though. North of LA we started up the Tehachapi Mountains on I-5. Long long uphill road, then over the top and down what they call the Grapevine, which is the downhill side. Truck speed was limited to 35 mph because of the grade, and there were a LOT of trucks. They basically took the two right lanes. I generally stayed in the third lane and held 55-60 mph. The engine brake that Chevrolet has really comes in handy out here. It held our speed, even with the trailer with not too much help from wheel brakes. We had experienced the same thing coming down out of Flagstaff, AZ at 6000 ft to Phoenix so I had confidence in it already.
Coming into the Central Valley we began seeing the California agriculture, of course it was also accompanied by a lot of signs "Food Grows Where Water Flows" along the canals and irrigation pipes. Finally arrived at the KOA in Visalia and relaxed for the evening.

Leaving the Country

May 15th: Well, here we are no longer in the USA. We gathered our new passports and drove down to San Ysidro, CA which is just on the US side of the border. Parked the truck and caught the "Mexicoach" bus into Tijuana. Crossing into Mexico was a cinch - the bus parked at the Mexican border and the driver got off to let the guards know that we were coming through and how many were on the bus. The guard came aboard and walked down the isle counting noses then we went on our way. I was really glad that we had decided not to drive the pickup down there because it was like a bumper car contest and I was quite happy to be in the biggest bus on the street, especially with someone else paying the insurance. Somehow we came through unscathed, I have no idea how, but my respect for the driver is unbounded. Walking down the Ave Revelucion, kind of the tourist main street in Tijuana, we were accosted at each door,all of which had some little shop selling something. It was still morning so they did look sleepy, but each one ran out to the sidewalk and invited us into their cubbyhole shops. "Come, Come, beautiful real silver necklace, weighs 10 ounces, just $1.00" was the frequent call. They pleaded, begged, cajoled, and demanded that we buy their wares. Best price in town. We went down into a small restaurant for lunch and ordered a beer and enchalada for Carolyn and I had two tacos anda beer. The waiter brought out two beers each, said that they were two for one today only then brought out a couple of tequila shots (double for me) "on the house". Believe me, that old saying "one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, four tequila, FLOOR" is true. I could really feel the effects of ONE beer and that double shot. Meal was good though and reasonable enough. We found Tijuana interesting, but were glad to get back on the bus. This time we had to leave the bus at the border and walk into the US Customs building the show our ID one at a time. Back to the campground.

Polar Bear at San Diego Zoo

While walking through the zoo and enjoying the animals, birds, etc we came upon their "Polar Bear Plunge" exhibit. This was one of the bears laying on a pile of "snow" and just having a ball. Literally as he (I guess)had a red ball on the ice with him and was just pushing it around, bouncing it and having a great time.

Monday May 14th:

We had taken the weekend off to relay and to avoid the expected heavy crowds at the places that we had wanted to see so put the off until today and Tuesday. Today we drove up to Balboa Park in San Diego and stopped in to tour the world famous zoo. It lived up to all of its billing. There were animals there from all over the world. I didn't know which to show here, but settled on the Giant Panda from China. This was a good shot of one walking toward us. We spent all day there and were thoroughly tired when we came back, but still had to go walk the dogs for their exercise period. If anyone gets out here I do recommend the zoo. There is a Wild Animal Park that you drive through about 35 miles north, but we'll probably miss that.

San Juan Capistrano

After driving from John and Patti's house we went over to San Juan Capistrano and parked near the historic mission. I know that I had already described our visit there, but just wanted to fit in a picture of the historic mission also. Carolyn went through the mission while I stayed outside of the walls with the two dogs. I enjoyed walking around the perimeter and sitting in the shade trees while waiting. Danny, Cymy, and I got mixed up with a bus load of school children and had to back out as they were overwhelming the two dogs. Children all love dogs its seems.

Wednesday May 9th:

Took a drive up to see San Diego Old Town. We enjoyed the stroll around the town area, stopping in small stores and museums, and the lunch which was great. We will be coming back into town on another day to visit Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo.

Even this early, I must mention that the world wide reputation of "California drivers" has a very real basis in fact. They seem to my inexperienced eye to be rather impulsive in their habits. Sudden lane changes, three or four lanes simultaneously, is almost normal as it thier ability, which I envy, to shoot between two cars with only inches to spare at 75 mph, then realize that their exit ramp in right there and shoot over four lanes, barely missing bumpers, in three seconds and make their scheduled turn. Everyone else seems to take all of this "bumper car" mentality as quite unremarkable, but Carolyn and I both have a bad case of nervous hiccups when we finally turn the engine off at the campground. Sigh.

Thursday May 10th:
Drove up to "Valley Center", CA to visit with John and Patti Marlatt at their home. We immediately came downwith home envy as they have a big beautiful home on a hill overlooking the 18th hole of a golf course. John is in love with it as he loves to golf and thinks that he has gone to heaven. We stayed the night and really appreciate their hospitality as they cooked steaks on the grill and made home made potato salad for dinner. Wonderful, warm friends.

Thoughts Back on Twentynine Palms

Saturday May 12th:
Just a moment to step back and mention a couple of things that we observed in the Twentynine Palms/Joshua Tree NP area. This area is, of course a desert region, comprising the Mojave desert and the Colorado Desert areas. As we drove around we noticed that the older houses, usually only 3-4 rooms in size had a rather large water tank braced and mounted on top of the pitch of the roofs. I first thought that it was to catch rainwater, but one of the park rangers explained that the houses had shallow wells and that the water was pumped, sometimes by hand, from the well up to the tank on the roof to provide a reserve as well as provide running water inside the house. Also even the modern day houses had a LARGE air conditioning unit mounted up on the roof of the house. We almost never saw one down on the ground like at home. I guess that this got the A/C up so that the sand/dirt would not block the vents. All of the yards were surrounded by either a low wall or a mesh fence to keep out rolling brush or trash. The yards themselves were invariably only sand with Joshua trees or more usually, cactus planted for decoration. No grass that we could see exept on the Golf Courses.

On to San Diego Area

Tuesday May 8th:
We drove on down from Twentynine Palms, CA to the Thousand Trails Resort south of San Diego and arrived about 1:30 p.m. Pretty area here near Otay Lakes and only 10-15 miles from Mexico. The first thing that we saw was a U.S. Border Patrol jeep just leaving the resort after doing its rounds. Cell Phone reception here is virtually non-existant as we are surrounded by hills. The area is VERY dry and in drought conditions, but this is an area in the "Coastal Desert" region. We will be here through May 16th then move on up to Sequoya NP in central California.

Rock Climbing

Saturday May 5th:

Took the dogs and drove back into the NP for a picnic lunch at one of the several campground areas there. The first two were full with weekend campers who were there to hike the trails and climb the hugh rock formations. We got lucky at the third and stopped for a lunch and enjoy the scenery.

A Garden of Cacti

Saturday May 5th:

We took a drive around the outskirts of the Joshua Tree NP today, along a scenic route that truly was, then up into the park from the south to the north as we hadn't gone that way previously. Again the scenery was varied as we come up through the Pinto Basin, which was an old old bed for a slow moving river that an ancient people had lived alongside. The river has long dried up and the people moved on, but the basin remains. Along the way there was a "Cholla" (pronounced "CHOI-YA") "garden". The cactus had taken hold over an extended area and was the most prevelant plant there. See the picture on the right.

Joshua Tree National Park

Wednesday, May 2nd:

We took a drive up into the Joshua Tree NP today. This odd lookinng thing is a Joshua tree. It is not a tree, but a member of the Lilly and Yucca families. Notice the white flowers and green buds on top of the branches. They are primarily a the higher altitudes in the park and we didn't see them until we passed about 3000 feet and the higher we went the more prolific they were.

On to California

Tuesday May 1st:
On the road again leaving the Verde Valley near Sedona, AZ and on down I-17 toward Phoenix. It was down hill most of the way and as we came down we began seeing the Arizona State plant, the Saguarro Cactus. You know the one that we always see in the old cowboy movies. It is tall with two or more arms reaching up to the sky and at this time of the year they were crowned with a beautiful big flower on to of the main trunk. Bypassed Phoenix and caught I-10 west across the desert. This section of I-10 isn't the broken up type that you experience across Florida and Louisiana so the driving was easy. More desert, this time laced with large water canals to feed the towns and cities. Crossing into California we encountered a hugh dry lake bed that has true whiteish sand and very little vegitation. This lasted until we came to the mountains that include the Joshua Tree National Park. Went past Palm Springs, CA and north up US-62 to Twentynine Palms. Stopped at the Twentynine Palms RV&Golf Resort to set up for the next week.

Grand Canyon

Friday April 27th:

You have all either been here or seen so many pictures of the Grand Canyon taken in perfect lighting (sunset or sunrise) that I will only include one here. One problem with the train travel was that our time was limited to about 3 1/2 hours at the canyon rim before reboarding for the trip back. We caught the shuttle bus on the rim route and stopped at each point out to "Mojave Point" then came back to the train station. All in all it was a long day as we were camped about 75 miles south of Williams and had to drive to the train and back. We slept well that night.

Grand Canyon Trip

Friday, April 27th:

We boarded the Grand Canyon Railroad at Williams, AZ for a train ride up to the Grand Canyon. The train traveled from the mountains west of Flagstaff, down through the desert and back up to the Grand Canyon rim (about 7000 ft). We booked first class tickets on the ANASAZI car for the trip, which was about 60 miles each way. Very pleasant trip and well worth booking if you are in the area.

Grand Canyon Trip

Friday, April 27th:

We boarded the Grand Canyon Railroad at Williams, AZ for a train ride up to the Grand Canyon. The train traveled from the mountains west of Flagstaff, down through the desert and back up to the Grand Canyon rim (about 7000 ft). We booked first class tickets on the ANASAZI car for the trip, which was about 60 miles each way. Very pleasant trip and well worth booking if you are in the area.

On to the Painted Desert NP

Wednesday April 25th continued:

As we drove on through the park we crossed I-40 and came into the Painted Desert NP portion. The camera does not do justice to what the eye can see. We can take in some many more shadings and shadows and depth than a mere camera, so the view is more wonderous than I can show you here.

More from the Petrified Forest NP

Wednesday April 25th.

The views along the drive up the park were absolutly breathtaking, but too many to try to post them all here. Along one old (former) river bank a clan of people had stopped and settled and began to farm the land. They may have been part of the Hopi tribe because of the farming. They built homes from adobe to house about thirteen families and stayed in the area for many years then moved on, apparently when the drought came and the river dried up. This is a picture of one of their house frames.

Holbrook Area Petrified Forest NP and Painted Desert

Wednesday April 25th:

Drove over to the Petrified Forest NP and Painted Desert NP today. Both parks are absolutely wonderful and I would love for those of you who haven't been here to come on down. All of this area was a large swampy area with forests of hugh trees and many river tributaries all connecting to a hugh river which riveled the Mississippi or Amazon rivers (according to park history). Trees would fall over into the river and be carried down and deposited in the mud. The mud would cut off oxygen allowing the trees to fossilize rather than decay. Here is a picture Carolyn took of one hugh stone tree laying on the ground.

Driving to Holbrook, Arizona

Monday April 23rd:

Today we left Albuquerque NM and drove west toward Holbrook, AZ. The scenery was dramatic and striking as we moved across a perfectly flat 6000 foot high "valley" with I-40 running to the horizon as if laid out with a straight edge.

We topped one ridge and came out into Mesa country with flat topped hills rising out of the plains. Were these pushed up by geologic uplift or were they the former level and time, wind and water eroded all of the land around them? Passed the Bandera Volcano surrounded for scores of miles by black volcanic ash and lava.

Long ridges stretch across the landscape.

We topped the Continental Divide, at about 7200 feet, in western New Mexico and started down the other side. Now all of the rivers run in a westerly direction rather than in an easterly direction, so I've been told.

The Welcome center Rest Stop coming into Arizona was set among red cliffs like the one here. Sandstone, I would guess, with areas carved out by the wind and rain. At this point we moved into Navajo Indian Reservation territory and crossed the Petrified Forest NP on our way to Holbrook. We plan to see the NP, Hopi Reservation, Meteor Crater

Albuquerque New Mexico

Friday, April 20th:
After pulling in to the RPI "Hidden Valley Resort" about 15 miles east of town, near Tijeras, on Thursday afternoon we decided to go see the Albuquerque "Old Town". This is a sight well worth your time if you are in the area. The buildings are all maintained in strict accordance with origional plans. It was laid out in the fashion of the time in a square surrounded by the church (on the right - isn't it gorgeous and still hold services), government administrative buildings, businesses, and residences. We had lunch in the "Church Street Cafe" and had a wonderful meal.



I could not do justice to the church interior with mear words, so am including a visual image for you to see. The church itself was small and narrow with wooden pews leading down a narrow isle. The whole experience was inspiring. Right after we entered the door opened again and about 30 young six and seven year old children, all dressed in Catholic school uniforms came in. They were perfectly mannered and respectful.

Saturday April 21st we drove up the "Turquoise Trail" (NM-14) about 30 miles to the towns of Madrid and Cerrillos. The road up the trail was through very stark, dramatic countryside. A new vista was unfolded over every hilltop and around each curve. Miles of ranch land, small scrub trees, and mountains rising up to touch the clouds.

Madrid was a small coal mining town that has been revived by an infusion of crafters and artisians up an down main street. We parked the truck and one end of town and walked through town. We took the dogs with us so Carolyn "had" to be the one to go into the shops while I stayed outside. We drove on to Cerrillos which was only about three miles further, but known for its Turquoise mines. The town itself was pretty empty and was almost a ghost town. At one time though it sported several hotel, many bars, and "bawdy houses". Very sad in many ways to see how far it had fallen.

Carlsbad KOA

Monday afternoon April 16th:

Arrived at the Carlsbad KOA mid afternoon, Mountain Time, on a beautiful day. Carolyn took this picture as we walked the dogs around the campground.

Carlsbad New Mexico

Tuesday April 17th.

Carolyn and I were saddened yesterday with the news of the Virginia Tech shootings on Monday. What a terrible tragedy to occur in such a peaceful setting. Tragic in any setting.

We drove to Carlsbad Caverns this morning. The drive itself was striking for its views of the rolling hills and crossing over part of the Guadalupe mountain range, although this end of it was only a few hundred feet high. The drive into the National Park was, again, very striking as we traveled through valleys and along hillsides and over ridglines on a winding road that took us through the best of the park. The Caverns were as beautiful and awe inspiring as the best that I had ever heard told of them. This is one of 57 pictures that we took in the Big Cavern.

On to New Mexico

Monday April 16th:
We left Abilene, TX heading for Carlsbad, NM this morning. Plan to drive on out I-20 to Pecos, TX then cut a sharp right and head north on US-285 from Pecos to Carlsbad. The scenery continued to change as we drove west moving from the "Big Country" region with the trees getting shorter and more scrubby and the land gradually flattening until we were in what I think of as the Plains area. We crossed over into the "Permian Basin" not far eastof Midland and Odessa and we could feel that we were driving on what was once the bottom of an inland sea. Many salt lakes and salt basins along the road as well as factories processing Gypsum left over from the drying up of the seas. Very curious about the sudden sharp ridges that rose up from the flat plains and ran for a while the abruptly stopped. Are they fault lines, ancient reefs, or sand dunes? The land was very flat and desolate until Pecos. As we turned north up US-285 we ran into rolling hills and sagebrush for mile after mile. The only houses were abandoned it seemed. Long white dirt/sand roads cut off from the highway and ran perfectly straight to the horizon or sometimes to one of the many oil rigs pumping along.
Crossing into New Mexico we began seeing signs of humans again and then just north of the border groves of Pecan trees and fields of what I guess to be rice planted in paddies. We didn't expect rice paddies in New Mexico. Stopped 13 miles north or Carlsbad at the KOA near Artesia.

News from Texas

Sunday April 15th.
We had stopped in Shreveport, LA Friday evening, April 13th, to "hunker" down for the major thunderstorm line that was forming around central Texas and heading east. The storm got to Shreveport about 1 a.m. Saturday morning, but was only wind and heavy rain. Thank God no tornados or hail. Drove across to Abilene, Texas Saturday the 14th in cool, overcast weather. We really enjoyed watching the change in scenery as we left the heavily wooded, swampy east Texas country and entered the "Hill Country" As we neared Dallas/Ft. Worth we could see the woods thin out until the countryside was mostly rolling hills with sparse wood lots. West of Ft. Worth we began seeing our first cactus along the fences. The trees began to turn from Oak and pines to short wild limbed Mesquite and patches of Texas Bluebell flowers began appearing along side the roadway.
We spent Sunday, April 15th, at a KOA by Abilene, Texas to catch up on some chores and get some down time from driving. We also decided on a change in route. Rather than go to El Paso, TX we decided to cut north to Carlsbad, NM where we will spend time site seeing Monday and Tuesday. Until then.

Finally a Beginning

Wednesday April 11th.
Well, we finally pulled out Wednesday morning, the 11 of April. It was cold when we left Pennsylvania, but the weather remained dry. Drove over to I-81 and turned south in overcast, but dry weather. Ran into drizzle about noon and stayed in it the rest of the afternoon. Temperature hovered around 38 degrees all day. In the late afternoon, as we were coming up to the Virginia/Tennessee border we must have crossed the warm front because the temperature rose to near 47. Real heat wave huh? Stayed Wednesday night at Baileyton, TN
Thursday April 12th.
Left Baileyton and drove to Knox Hill RV Resort near Knoxville, AL Eat your hearts out you Maryland and Pennsylvanians - temperature rose to 77 degrees. Balmy by any standards. Hooray, I got the WiFi to work so I can make this entry. On to Shreveport, LA on Friday. Hugs to all.

Final Preparations

April 9th: Well everyone we are down to the week of departure. Looks as if we will be able to get off on Wednesday morning as expected. I have watched the weather closely and have decided to make a plan change. Instead of going west on I-70 to St. Louis then down to Oklahoma City to catch I-40 to Phoenix we will instead take I-81 south to Knoxville, TN then slope across in I-75/I-59 and catch I-20 to Shreveport, LA and beyond. That will put us in El Passo, TX next Monday the 16th. Plan to spend a few days then at the El Passo West Campground the up to central NM for a week. Central AZ will be another week then on to Palm Springs, CA for a few day and will spend a while around San Diego. After that it is up the coast to Seattle and over to Yellowstone and Salt Lake City, UT and back home.
Busy today packing the trailer and getting the truck fueled. Last minute packing on Tuesday then off.
I hope to be able to keep this up as we go. The next entry however will probably be in New Mexico when we slow down a bit. Hugs to everyone. Clark & Carolyn

Preparations for Leaving

Here it is the 24th of March and we plan to leave in about three weeks. The trailer has been put in for two replacement tires and wheel bearing repacked. We have taken all of last years tools and clothes out for rechecking and restoring as we go along. We are both starting to get excited and itching to get on our way.