TravelStream™ news feed for member wbcci1529 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/wbcci1529 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:57:10 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1236704460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1236704460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1236704460/tpod.html Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:57:10 -0400 Tom's Spring Break - 2009

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

West Memphis, Arkansas, United States

I got to Memphis on Friday, and the RV park is just as nice as it was when we spent the night here almost 4 years ago. I called Travis, and made arrangements to have our first taste of Memphis later in the day. Friday was a nice sunny day, one of the few nice days that is forecasted for my stay. My campsite is about 20 yards away from the Mississippi River, so I have a great view of the river and the barges being pushed both up and down the river. The park is home to a flock of Canadian Geese who spend their days flying around and honking. I've noticed several groups flying in a V formation, so I assume they are preparing for their return trip northwards.

I go into Memphis, and encounter the same difficulties navigating a strange town's streets that everyone does everywhere. I finally find Travis' apartment, pick him up, and we're off to Central BBQ. Now a whole bunch of people have given me their personal recommendations of places to go for the best pork ribs in town. I chose Central for our first taste for two reasons. One, it was not far from Travis' apartment, and the most compellingg was that our friend Helen, who grew up in Memphis, gave it a 5 star rating. We found the place, and it is very unassuming in appearance. I had trouble figuring out which door to use to get in, but we made it inside. As we were starring at the menu board above the counter, the owner greeted us by saying "Not from around here are y'all?". We got into a conversation with the guy. I told him I was from San Antonio, and Travis said that he was going to Memphis University. Well, the owner said that he had visited San Antonio, and had eaten at some BBQ places there, two of which he said he enjoyed. He said we had to have the ribs for our first visit, and comped us two bags of pork rinds that they make. The dry ribs were simply the best I've had, and Travis agreed and started trying to figure out if Central was within walking distance of his apartment.

I picked up Travis on Saturday and we returned to Central for lunch. We had pulled pork sandwiches. Yummy! We then went to get a uhaul trailer so we could load up the stuff I had brought for him. We were also going to be using the trailer to go to Bloomington, IN on Sunday to empty out our youngest daughter's storage space. The weather report for Sunday was severe thunderstorms and hail in Memphis, and severe storms round Bloomington. I spent Saturday night fretting about what hail would do to our beautiful trailer, and had visions of the pock marks I'd find on it when we got back on Monday. There were also dark thoughts of loading and unloading the trailer in the rain. I am a worry wart.

Travis and I left for Oolitic, yes that's a name of a village in Indiana, early Sunday. No rain. I decided to use the interstates for as long as I could in case we did find the promised storms. We took the same route My Precious and I had taken to visit Melissa while she was still in Bloomington. I pointed out the sites to Travis as we drove, like a welll weathered traveler always does. The first true high-light of the trip was a stop at Boomland - somewhere near Sikeston, MO. Boomland sells fireworks all year long. They also sell all the curios a person never wanted to see, I'm talking really gaudy stuff - fiber optic stuff and tons of the rest. Precious and I had spent some time there going up and down the aisles saying "Oh, my; oh my ... " when we camped for a night nextt door.

This rv park next to Boomland is even worse than the one in Crockett. It is carved out of crop land, has gravel pads, and all full time campers who had been there for a long, long time. The park is unstaffed and relies on the honor system for overnight campers to pay for their space by dropping the payment into a slot [ like you find in some parking lots]. When Travis & I walked overthere I saw a trailer parked in the same spot it had been in 4 years earlier. Precious doubts this recollection, but I know it was the same one. When first there I had struck up a conversation with the man of the trailer who was in his middle sixties, or so. He and his wife had owned a house in Sikeston, and he had been considering selling the house for a while, but had not listed it. He said that one day this guy drove up, and asked if he wanted to sell, and he did. Now this was a spur of the momment thing, and they hadn't made any plans for what they would do when and if they sold their house. He went and bought this trailer, and had it moved to this rv park. Now neither of them had ever spent one night in a trailer in their lives. He didn't even own a truck large enough to tow it. So there they sat, and he said that his wife was none that taken with trailer life. The way he was talking led me to believe was not a part of the decision tree that led to this change of life. Ok, back to the present. I'm telling this story to Travis when we get to the park, and there in the same spot is this trailer, just as I had remembered. The only thing different was that there was now a diesel truck parked there as well. Now I know that I don't have the total recall the My Precious does, but with that man's tale it would be hard to forget.

We kept driving, and the sky started looking black in the distance ahead of us. Just before we turned East for Indiana, the skies opened, the wind gusted, and it just poured so traffic slowed to 40 mph. As it turned out we were in the south east side of the storm, and so as we headed East we were able to drive out of the storm in a short disstance. We made our way into Indiana with rainless skies, and strangly named towns. I think Indiana takes first place for towns with strange names. There's Santa Claus, Affordable, Oolitic, Bean Blossom, and, my favorite, French Lick [hometown of Larry Bird]. We turned North onto US Hwy 237. I mention this only because I'm all to familiar with this State's smaller highways and they are no fun to drive on, even without a trailer in tow. Well, this highway was just a step above the state highways. The speed limits were 55, 45, and 35 to 25 through a myriad of towns. It took almost two hours to travel a bit over 60 miles. The storage space was located in Oolitic, a subburb of Bradford. We found Bradford with Travis' navigation, and by some miracle he also got us to Ooliticc and the storage space. An 8 hour trip, and now the work begins.

The storage space was only 5' x 10'. According to My Precious, and daughterr Sweet Melissa, it contained a few pieces of furniture and a couple of boxes of books and stuff. Only Travis, with his massive vocabulary, could adequately describe just what an understatement this was. One major omission was just how high the boxes were packed. Not to mention the overpacking of books into a box!! Travis assured me that many of the book boxes weighed well over 50#; I take his assurance because I could not lift them. Then there were the miscellaneous boxes with just stuff in them - Travis has some very special adjectives for these. The chest of drawers filled with clothes, boxes with children's books, and the box of halloween decorations. I had rented a uhaul that was 6'x12', and we filled it up! Not the description of mass that had been imparted to either of us. I can't leave out the rock, the brick, or the bags of dried clay. But we got it done.

We went to the hotel, checked in, and Travis treated me to supper. When we got back to the hotel our watches said that it was 7:00, but the clock in the room reminded us that we were now in a new time zone so it was 8:00. After an hour we went to sleep. We got up at 6AM, had breakfst, and reversed our route back to Memphis. As we werre entering Travis suggested we stop at my trailer to unload as many boxes as the trailer and the Excursion could take. Travis and I had made the trip with the thought that he was to take the furniture, and I would take the "few" boxes back to Texas. Remember the part about the weight of the boxes, and how many there were. Weight, and the distribution of weight, is a critical element of towing - much like a load that a boat can hold. After talking this over with Travis, he agreed to take a great deal more than he had planned to. As we neared the trailer I again resumed my fretting about what condition I would find my trailer in. Not a drop had fallen on us on the return trip, and storms had been predicted. We found the trailer in tact and unblemished. Sigh, sigh, sigh. We had to unload almost all of the uhaul to get as many of the boxes into the trailer and the back of the Excursion as I thought I could safely haul. We reloaded the trailer, and off to his apartment. We unloaded the remainder into his apartment, and many emotions were aired as Travis' apartment filled up with Melissa's stuff. ]I have to give him credit, Travis took everything in when he didn't have to. Not to mention that he did all of the heavy lifting.

I also have to temper this tirade of feelings with a little sympathy for Melissa. When Melissa left Bloomington she was moving to China [she wasn't about to let her baby brother go to China and have all of the fun - but that's another story] and she obviously couldn't take everything with her. She had to sort through her worldly goods, that represented her whole life, and decide what to take with her to China, what else she could fit into a rental car to come to San Antonio, and what had to be tossed. It must have been a very emotional time making those decisions. Still, those boxes weighed a damn ton.


Now for a day of rest, and then I'm a tourist again.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1237670340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1237670340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1237670340/tpod.html Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:39:54 -0400 Tom's Spring Break - 2009

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Tyler, Texas, United States

I left W Memphis on Sunday the 15th, and drove through to Texarkana, TX. The weather was not too cool, and was supposed to get a little warm - 60's to 70's. I wish I'd of had some of this weather while camping in W Memphis because I didn't have many opportunities to just sit out by the trailer and watch the river traffic. Next time. I used the interstates all the way because we had used a US hwy once trying to get around Little Rock, and that wasn't any fun. I found the RV park, and was unhooked with a cold beer in hand by 3:00.

The next morning I got an early start. I had plotted a different route home so I could avoid the kamikaze log truckers around Nacogdoches. The new route would take me further East on I-30 and then down to Tyler, TX., through Palestine, and a stop in Marquez. Don't ask me how I found Marquez, because as it turned out it didn't happen anyway. Once I got onto the US hwy at Mt Pleasant, TX I slowed to 55, and rolled the windows down. Then as I got close to Tyler, actually Tyler's loop road, the Excursion lost all power. I was approaching the intersection, and the engine stopped. Then I had no power steering! I came to rest, first in line, at the red light. Shit!!! I tried to start the engine and it just cranked, but didn't start. No check engine light, not a damn thing! No coughing, sputtering, clanking, or smoke. Just dead in the water.

I put the flashers on, and got out my cell phone hoping for 4 bars of service. I talked with my emergency road service, and boy was I glad they were there. The human on the other end took all of the information about the Excursion and the trailer down, and put me on hold. I watched traffic go around me on both sides for at least two lifetimes, and she came back on. She told me she was sending two tow trucks - one for each - had notified the local Ford dealer they were going to get some business, made a reservation for me and my trailer to stay at a local RV park, and lastly had notified the local police that I was disabled in the middle of hwy 271. I could breathe again, yea!

While waiting for the tows I looked in the rear view mirrow and saw the reflection of flashing lights behind me. The reflection was off of the traffic now being warned they should pick another lane. Later, the policeman walked up and we had a nice chat. He liked the trailer, and asked where I had traveled from. About then the tows arrived, and hooked the Ex onto one, and the trailer behind the other. As the Ex was pulling away I was wondering how long it would be before she came back, and how much this whole thing was going to cost me. The driver towing the trailer was a good ol' boy who couldn't get himself out of high school fast enough - his words. At least he had learned how to drive a tow truck, and when we got to the RV park I found that he also had learned how to back up with a trailer in tow.

The RV park staff was nice, and I thanked them for finding room for me. The lady said I was lucky because they were expecting a crowd later in the week. Being Monday, I told her that I had every hope of being gone very soon. Well, the slot where I was parked was nice and wide, but it was not level. Being level is critical for trailers, and we always carry leveling blocks with us just for this purpose. Ok, the blocks were in the back of the Excursion with the other stuff. So, I could not extend the slide out on the trailer. I didn't care because I was safe. I was in the process of setting up camp when a guy walked up and wanted to chat. Turns out he was a Viet Nam veteran, and so there was a bond of sorts between us. After learning that I had no transportation he volunteered to take me to get groceries. I had no idea how long it was going to be, and I was low on beer, so I agreed. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, because good fortune just doesn't keep on forever you know.

The guy at the Ford dealership called. He had pulled all of my warranty stuff from the computer, and said that they would get to it as soon as they could. I told him that was fine - I now had an ample stock of beer - and to call when he had found out what was wrong. He called the next morning to tell me the Ex was in the bay, and they were going to run a diagnostic check on it. He would call me after it had been done. Well, my imagination had been going full blast since this saga had begun. I had seen all of the other places I had come from realizing how much worse this whole thing could have been. Dead on the two lane streets of a small town I had driven through, on the highway where there was no shoulder, or any where with no cell service. I also thought well they're going to have to replace the engine- two weeks - or they were going to void my wattanty because of the exhaust modifications I'd made to the Ex and it was going to cost me two fortunes. Yes, I'm a worry wart, and my wife has taught me to see that glass half full - so I won't be disappointed when it really is. The Ford guy calls me about 3:00 and tells me that it's ready to go. He assured me that I had heard him right. He went on to say that they had to replace an oil pressure regulator that did something, something, something. Then he said, "All work is covered by your warranty." I could have kissed him right there over the phone. I left the dealer the next morning; just paying the $100 deductible. Tom's luck just doesn't last this long, but it really had.

It was 11:00 before I left Tyler heading for Bryan, TX. All the way there I counted my blessings, and there were a lot of them. Got to Bryan, spent the night and got home early the next day, Thursday. Whew, home and in one piece.

But wait there's more. Friday, still trying to get settled back in I get a call from the Ford dealer back in Tyler. Ok, the other shoe is fixing to drop. This lady said she was reviewing my paperwork and noticed that I had purchased an additional warranty which did not call for any deductible. She said that I shouldn't have been charged the $100 deductible because this new one over-rode the original. Did she really mean she was going to be sending me $100, egads yes she really did. Wow.

Then the other shoe fell and slammed to the floor. Being a good, retired, accountant, I had monitored my bank account while I was on the trip. I had not looked at the account for the last days of the trip, and the two days home, but I had a general idea of what I had in it. I checked it this morning, and saw I was a bit short. I opened the account, and yes almost $1,400 is gone! I look at the detail, and there is this charge from Pay Pal. Not mine!! Crap, crap, crap!! I log onto Pay Pal and open my account. They have a different contact phone number, and a mailing address in Maryland!!! Crap! I call their 800 number so I can talk with a human. The lady heres what I have to say, tells me my account has been hacked into, and they will initiate an investigation. She says I should get my money back in 2 - 30 days. Violated, f**king violated. They assure me that my bank account # can't be accessed from the web site; I can only hope.

I'm not leaving home again for awhile. I need to re-charge my good vibes. Not to mention how wonderful My Precious looks to me. Good to be home.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1237061580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1237061580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1237061580/tpod.html Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:53:25 -0400 Tom's Spring Break - 2009

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

West Memphis, Arkansas, United States

Well, either Travis & I aren't adventurous or we're decisive. I vote for decisive. The food at Central BBQ was so good we didn't feel the need to go anywhere else to convince us of what we already knew. A good friend of Travis' and My Precious' suggested we try The Little Tea Room for good southern style cooking.

The Tea Room is a little place downtown. We were warmly greeted by the owner, a very nice Lebonese woman I had meat loaf & brown gravy, okra gumbo, and mashed potatoes. Travis had baked chicken and potato salad. We both had fresh corn bread sticks. Both of cleaned our plates - it was very good. Then I had peach cobbler for dessert. Sooo yummy, gads it was tasty. We went back on Friday for another treat. I had the chicken pan pie, and Travis had the fried catfish - which he ate without pausing for air. This time we both ordered the cobbler, and Travis agreed that it had to be the best he's ever had.

We also went to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks. The hotel's website, www.peabodymemphis.com, gives the history of the ducks:
"How did the tradition of the ducks in The Peabody fountain begin?

Back in 1933 Frank Schutt, General Manager of The Peabody, and a friend, Chip Barwick, returned from a weekend hunting trip to Arkansas. The men had a little too much Jack Daniel's Tennessee sippin' whiskey, and thought it would be funny to place some of their live duck decoys (it was legal then for hunters to use live decoys) in the beautiful Peabody fountain.

Three small English call ducks were selected as "guinea pigs," and the reaction was nothing short of enthusiastic. Soon, five North American Mallard ducks would replace the original ducks.

In 1940, Bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal trainer, offered to help with delivering the ducks to the fountain each day and taught them the now-famous Peabody Duck March. Mr. Pembroke became the Peabody Duckmaster, serving in that capacity for 50 years until his retirement in 1991. Today, The Peabody Ducks are led by Duckmaster Jason Sensat.

The original ducks have long since gone, but after 75 years, the marble fountain in the hotel lobby is still graced with ducks. The Peabody ducks march at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily.

Ducky Facts Ducks were not the first residents of The Peabody's lobby fountain. Rumor has it that turtles and baby alligators each briefly graced the fountain in the 1920s. The Peabody Ducks have been a must-see Memphis attraction for Lisa Marie Presley, Michael Jordan, Nicholas Cage, Priscilla Presley, Don King, President Jimmy Carter, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Justin Timberlake, and Jeff Bridges. In addition, Patrick Swayze, Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King, Florence Henderson, Emeril Lagasse, Joan Collins, Molly Ringwald, Chris Matthews, Paula Deen, Larry King, and Kevin Bacon have been Honorary Duckmasters. The Peabody Ducks are five North American mallards - one drake (male) with white collar and green head, and four hens (females) with less colorful plumage. Duck is not served anywhere at The Peabody, and has not been seen on the hotel's menus since its 1981 reopening, quite possibly making Chez Philippe the only French restaurant in the world that does not serve duck. The Peabody Ducks do not have individual names. The hotel recognizes that its resident waterfowl are wild animals, not pets. However, the very first team of ducks were Peabody, Gayoso, and Chisca - named for the three hotels owned by the Memphis Hotel Company in 1933. The Peabody's lobby fountain is cut from one enormous piece of travertine marble made and shipped from Italy for the hotel's 1925 opening. The colorful flowers adorning the top of the fountain are changed out every other day in the middle of the night. When off-duty from the Lobby, the ducks live in their Royal Duck Palace on the hotel's rooftop. The Peabody Marching Ducks have appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Sesame Street, when Bert and Ernie celebrated Rubber Ducky Day, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and in People magazine and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. In addition, they were once a question on Jeopardy. The Peabody Ducks are raised by a local farmer and a friend of the hotel. Each team lives in the hotel for only three months before being retired from their Peabody duties and returned to the farm to live out the remainder of their days as wild ducks."

We got there right at 11:00 and a crowd was gathered. It was announced that the ducks were on their way down from the roof, and seconds later the elevator opened and there they were. They waddled over to the fountain and climbed the stairs up and then jumped into the water. It was fun to see. It took no more than 15 minutes, and that made it better.

Since we got back from Indiana, the weather in Memphis has been cold and rainy. The weather kept me from venturing out and seeing more than I did, which I didn't mind all that much. It also kept me from sitting outside my trailer enjoying the river, and that I really missed being able to do. But I was able to enjoy some really great food, get Travis some of his stuff from home, and retrieve Melissa's stuff from Indiana - something that would have been impossible without Travis' young back.

I'm ready to go home. I miss My Precious, and my bed. I've changed the routes, and stop overs, for my trip home. I'm going to bypass Arkadelphia, and stay in Texarkana, TX instead. From there it's off to Marquez, TX for my last stop. I did this so I can avoid the road to Crockett and the re park I stayed at on the way up.

Maybe I can have a Fall Break and come back. Just before it starts to get cold.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1236274200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1236274200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1236274200/tpod.html Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:52:33 -0400 Tom's Spring Break - 2009

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Arkadelphia, Arkansas, United States

Going North on TX 21 towards Nacogdoches the road narrows, and there is no shoulder. The highway is now the size of a residential street. It courses through a pine forrest whose trees are large enough to be harvested, and they are. Now I'm made aware of this when a logging truck flies by me on a solid yellow line. Being past by a truck is always an experience, but is even more exciting on a narrow road. I'm goiing 55, and know that the trailer is riding on the line because the road is narrow, the trailer is wider than the Excursion, and my depth perception isn't the greatest in the world. I all but close my eyes as the logger is passing me. Several pick-ups pass me as well, and then a semi pulls into que. The semi has the common sense, and isn't on a clock, to be aware that it really isn't safe to pass, so he settles in behind me. This has the affect of keeping the drivers behind him from passing. I get to a hill that has a passing lane, and I pull over to let the 13 or so vehicles go around. The semi has a chore climbing the hill trying to pass me so I slowed down to 30 so he could get around and pull in front of me. At Nacogdoches I get on a US highway with much wider lanes, and relax again.

I stay on this highway all the way to I-30 just West of Texarcana. The interstate is just another blue line, so there isn't much of interest along the way. It is also a major East/West artery, and 200 semis or more passed me along my way. I arrived in Arkadelphia at a decent time, and the RV park was a much nicer place to spend the night. You actually felt like sitting outside. I had supper at the local Cracker Barrel which was pretty decent.

To Memphis the next day.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1236176040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1236176040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/2/1236176040/tpod.html Sat, 07 Mar 2009 10:44:13 -0500 Tom's Spring Break - 2009

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Crockett, Texas, United States

Wednesday, crack o'dawn. I got up early so that I could say good by to my Precious, who is still a working girl. After she left, I finished packing and loaded up the Excursion. I've been getting stuff together for the last 6 weeks so there wasn't all that much to do. I had to dawdle for a little while so that the rush hour traffic would ease up. My first leg of the trip involved driving I35 to San Marcos. Lots of morning traffic. I pulled out with the trailer at 8:30, and the traffic was light.

Back when I was a working stiff, I worked with a guy who also had a trailer. On one occasion we were talking about going East, and he had told me that he used Hwy 21 to start out with. I knew the hwy up to Bryan, but not beyond. I decided to use it based on his reccomendation, and because I wanted to avoid the interstates if I could. I don't drive State highways very often. They are mostly narrow two lane highways where shoulders are optional. I knew part of the highway from our days of driving to Bryan to see the Aggie Band play at halftime. I had divided my trip to Memphis into 3 legs; home to Crockett, Crockett to Arkadelphia, AR, and Arka.. to West Memphis, AR. None of the legs were over 300 miles, and that gets me to the next destination in 3-5 hours. I've learned that towing for any longer gets me road weary and I'm not as alert as I need to be with a 10,000# trailer behind me.

The day was pleasant; clear skies, temps in the upper 60's/lower 70's, and a tailwind. I rolled my window down and enjoyed the scenery. Being alone, I could crank my tunes and let my mind drift a bit. I passed through Old Dime Box, followed a mile later by Dime Box. Neither one was large enough to qualify as a village, so I wondered what had happened to cause the split - did the kids grow up and want to leave home or did some of the families vote republican ... hmmm makes you wonder. Leaving Bastrop I drove through the lost pines forest, a favorite part of the trip. The car filled with a fresh pine scent, very nice. I passed through farm and ranch land, and smelled fresh grass - maybe hay - and a faint aroma of manure. Both were nice for a city boy who had worked on a ranch in the last century. I passed through Bryan and into unfamiliar areas. I went through another community named North Zulch. As I was driving North, I wondered why there was no South Zulch. We always wonder why people had decided to live in a certain area. I learned that North Zulch's primary industry was a nearby State Prison, and the one that is home for Death Row inmates. I wondered if the town's lights used to dim back when we used electricity to end the lives of the unforgivable. I also passed through a place called Midway. Midway to/from where? No clue.

Getting closer to Crockett I saw Cottonwoods in bloom, and the Red Bud Trees had been blooming all along the way. The area also had a bunch of cattle ranches with breeding stock having lunch in their pastures. Driving to the RV Park the surrounding area was very pretty, and I had hopes of spending the night in a pleasant setting. Wrong! I turned into the park to find that about an acre of a local rancher's land had been cleared and had been filled with gravel. The advertised concrete slabs turned out to be concrete ramps [two strips for your tires to sit on]. The strips were about 8-9 inches too narrow, so the right tires of my trailer were half off the strip. There were only three other campers there; staying in very old trailers. The place did not have a staffed office. You had to call and tell a voice that you had arrived, who would then tell you how much money to drop through the mail slot. The advertised free wi-fi was nowhere to be found, and I was within 20 yards of the transmission tower. When the voice arrived to give me my receipt I told her of my problems with the wi-fi. She pointed over to the building with the mail slot, and asked if I saw the red button on a side wall. Now this red button was the same thing you see on the walls of a gas station that's used for an emergency shutoff. The voice told me that I should of gone over and pressed it to reset the wi-fi. Well, the button was not labeled and I wondered who would press a red button not knowing what would happen once depressed. I had visions of a gas pipeline erupting.

Crockett is a very old town. Driving through it to get fuel for the next day I found narrow streets, and a round about to assist you in going around the county courthouse. The gas stations were on the other side of town; as were some box stores and fast food joints. I guessed that the citizens had wanted to bring in 20th century capitalism, but didn't have room to build inside the town so they decided to build a loop road for this purpose. It also provided me with a route around the narrow roads the next day.

I spent the night inside the trailer since there was nothing to look at outside. Ready to leave Crockett with a vow to only drive around it the next time I'm in the area.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1217280240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1217280240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1217280240/tpod.html Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:52:31 -0400 To the Pacific Coast and the Rockies

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Hungry Horse, Montana, United States

The drive to Glacier NP from Spokane was long, and strange. In Spokane we were staying on US2, a route to the Park, but I dithered. US2 was marked scenic, and my map[ping program had us going east on I-90 and then north on MT 83 to Hungry Horse. Not only did I dither my way out of taking US2, but I took a different exit off off I90 - as directed to by a State highway sign. The State of Montanna had put me on to a secondary highway with narrow lanes, curves grades, no shoulders and scenic drop offs that appeared to My Precious to go down forever. We turned on to another secondary road which had a bit of a shoulder, but had to turn down a narrow village lane to avoid a house being moved down the middle of the wighway. We then turned on to MT 93, a primary road with wide lanes, shoulders and softer curves. We drove along the western banks of Flathead Lake, which was absoliutely gorgeous, into Kalispel, MT whcih seems to be a year round tourist town and very pretty. With close to 4000 towing miles we hit a come to a stop, get out of your car, go back to the trailer for a sandwich and a beer, traffic jam. In the middle of B F Montanna I'm parked in the middle of a highway with my engine off, for a good 45 minutes.

We arrived in Hungry Horse and found the prettiest rv park we have ever stayed at. The people were very friendly, and the rv sites were the best. This is all gravel, but it is tucked into the side of a mountain in B F Montanna, but they are long and level. You park in between giant Christmas Trees, and you are a comfortable distance from your neighbor. Some of the sites would have no neighbors because of the layout of the property. To top it all offf they had real wireless, not the pretend crap most of the parks lure you to stay with them and charge more for weak to nonexistant wireless. The park is Mountain Meadow Camppground and Cabins. If anyone, ever stays there because of this and doesn't like it I'll buy them a bottle of Moose Drool.

I was beat from 3 driving days, and this one that was really a hard tow for me. We did fo into the NP to look around because everything was just so beautiful. All kinds of gian Christmas trees, the bluest rivers and lakes, and mountains with snow on their tops. There were also giant red cedar trees that were very impressive. The fact that most of these trees were juniper, fir, or cedar of some sort didn't mean anything to me until our last day there when I became congested to the point I thought I was coming down with a cold. I've got allergies. The strongest of which involves trees and mountain cedar is the worst, but is trailed closely by firs and junipers of the Texas variety. Now we have been driving amongst most of these trees for several weeks now. So surprise, I was having an allergic reaction to the Great Northwest. I realized this when we left and got to Butte where there weren't many of these trees. I started to feel better and clear up until the wind kicked up from the NW and blew the pollen in.

Anyhow, we drove over to the park to check things out. We went to Appgar Village which is on Lake Macdonald. We walked around and signed up for a Red Bus Tour on one of the Parks 1930-ish touring busses. We then drove over to the lodge at Lake Macdonald and signed up for their boat tour of the Lake. The Red Bus Tour will drive us on the Going to the Sun Hwy - a road my Excursion was to long to ride on. We went back and decided to go into town for supper. We ate at the only cafe in Hungry Horse and had a Buffalo steak. Buffalo, it turns out, is a very beef tasting meat that is much leaner than beef. Then we went across the road to the local Huckleberry everything place for dessert. My Precious had Huckleberry ice cream and I had vanilla. I like my ice cream, and I can get pretty picky about it. I always try vanilla first figuring that if they can't get vanilla right you damn sure know they're not going to get any of the rest right. It tasted like the stuff you get 5 gallons for !.50 at Wal-Mart. I still ate the rest - it is still ice cream you know - but didn't enjoy it.

The next day we went to the NP for the Lake Macdonald tour. Everyone wanted to sit on top, and then the captain - a 20 something guide - said that it would only take 12. My Precious and I opted for the bow section to avoid the manic crush that was going to happen above us. This was nice and cozy with us and a family from the Dallas/Ft Worth area, small world. The guide hadn't done this much, and read from a script, but we enjoyed it anyway.

We did learn that the mountains are made of sedimentary rocks which made it easy for the glaciers to carve out gouges in the mountains and lakes. As the glaciers moved along the soft sedimentary rocks would either be crushed underneath or moved ahead of the glacier. When the glacier stopped moving, so did the rocks it had been pushing in front of it. These rocks formed a natural dam for the lake that was going to be created by the glacier melting. Sedimentary rocks are very porous, so, as snow melted each year, the water filtered through the layers of rocks and picked up the crushed rocks - called glacial dust - and flowed to the river and lake. This glacial dust is suspended 5' below the lake surface. It is this dust, just underneath the surface, that causes the dramatic reflections, the water's color, and the lake's calmness. The pictures will attest to this, or I hope they will.

My Precious was set on seeing a bear. Something similar to the pink bird thing in Morro Bay, so I was determined to really put my foot dow for real this time. The Red Bus tour of Going to the Sun Road was over 6 hours of oohs, aahs, and an occasional oh my god. The road is narrow, down to one lane in places, and is restricted to vehicles under 21' long and less than 8' wide. The Excursion is close to 26' and is almost 8' wide so a self guided tour was out. This tour guide knew his job, and conducted a great tour. The guard rails were built by the CCC, but were hardly over 2' tall and couldn't guard more than a Model T. The road itself was built with private funds. Towards the middle of September snowfall will close the road down until May when they will go and dig the road out from under up to 96' of snow. Yes that's 96 feet. We were able to see three glaciers, and just acres of just plain snow. Did not see a bear, yea, but did see some mountain goats. We also missed out on Elk and Big Horn Sheep. This was a great tour.

I'm sure My Precious will have a much better thread on this because she has the memory. Our trip's been a long one, and we have to get to San Angelo to help my Moter-in-Law move into an apartment. We decided to eliminate our stay in Colorado Springs so we can get to Angelo early for a visit, go home, and return with a trailer on moving day. This has meant 7 back to back travel days. Not much fun, but necessary.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1217177040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1217177040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1217177040/tpod.html Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:01:27 -0400 To the Pacific Coast and the Rockies

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Portland, Oregon, United States

The trip East out of Florence to Portland was an easy drive. The lanes were nice and wide, and they had shoulders too. Not too many of either for the past week, so they were welcomed. Diesel is still under $5 p/gal since Oregon has no sales tax.

We stayed in an RV park in Wilsonville, OR; about 15 minutes South of Portland, and one exit away from the loop we'll take when we leave. The park is nice and clean, but once again the advertised wifi is questionable. I have one recurring complaint on this trip, and that's rv parks who put in a very poor wifi system to justify their rate, and the inability of the office staff to be able to reboot their system when it goes down. It's irksome to pay for your stay, unhook your trailer, and set up your camp site just to hear My Precious say "Crap, the f'n wireless is just crap here."

During our stay we met up with some more of Pat's bird friends Sheri and Tai. Sheri was having medical problems and supposed to stay in bed, but she came out to the trailer to meet our birds. Then they took us out to luinch at Giant Burger. The place is a local favorite, and its owner is famous for his grumpiness. We weren't disappointed by either. Then we went over to their house to meet their birds who were very entertaining. Sheri told us how to get to the Columbia River Gorge, and what we should see as we drove along. Texas rivers are, for most part, barely too wide to skip rocks across. Texas really has no waterfalls at all. We were driving alongside a navigable river by barge traffic, and it appeared to be at least as wide as the Mississippi. It also contained several hydro-electric dams. We were on the scenic route just off of the interstate we would travel on our next leg. The waterfalls were majestic and a bunch of other descriptive adjectives that Professor Pat will use in her blog - and justly so. I had never been this close to a waterfall before that wasn't in an amuzement park. What sights. You'd think my eyes would start hurting with all of the things they'd had to look at.

PHOTO_ID_R=another-fall.jpg]We had decided to drop a day of our planned stay in Portland, so I spent some time contacting the places ahead of us to see if we could move our times ahead. Got that done and we were ready to leave the next morning.

We headed into Eastern Oregon driving the interstate alongside the Columbia River. The landscape was mountains filled with giant trees and the river. I'm not sure what happened, but, just like going to the next slide, the scenes changed and now we were in West Texas with rolling hills. Driving to our stop for the night, Hermiston, OR, Pat noticedd that there was an Army Depot there and that our atlas noted that there was also a bombing range there just outside of town. We also decided to just spend one night instead of the 2 I had planned. After we got hooked up at the cookie cutter rv park Pat got an email from Portland Sheri telling us that the Depot housed chemical weapons from WWI & WWII, and that the bombing range had unexploded ordinance laying around. I crossed of the scenic tour from the list of things to do and thought about getting a lot of bottled water. This was not the place to have stopped, and the damn planner should be talkked to. We did find a decent Mexican Food place to eat. The food was almost as good as the Mexican place Melissa took us to in Bloomington, IN several years ago.

We left the next day for Spokane, and trip planning mistake two. We should have driven an extra 50 miles into Idaho to shorten the following day's trip up to Glacier NP. Oh well, the planner can't be fired so we'll just suck it up. Washington has sales tax, so the fuel cost is over $5 p/gal. Seamus, our wonderful cat, managed to escape for the second time on the trip, so we spent some time skulking around the park looking for the cat. Damn cat. We got him, and put him back in the trailer and got ready to leave.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1216503780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1216503780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1216503780/tpod.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:20:05 -0400 To the Pacific Coast and the Rockies

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Florence, Oregon, United States

The drive North from Brookings to Florence was gorgeous, and surprising. We saw the Oregon Dunes. This is an area of the Southwest Oregon coastline that has sand dunes as tall as 500', goes some 2.5 miles inland, has trees, rivers, and lakes where the sand has damed up the river. The coastline is beautiful and again the sunlight is enhancing its beauty.




We had no idea about Florence, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that it is a pretty town with an old town nestled in a harbor. We found the RV park, and hooray - it has wireless that works. During the drive up Pat had noted on our Atlas that there was a lighthouse just North of Florence. There had been two others along the way, but we had been unable to see them from the road - and well we are towing 34' so we can't just go down any road - and Pat really wanted to see one. There was also supposed to be a spot to see Sea Lions in a cave. So, we got the trailer hooked to shore power and off we went to see the sights.

Just North of Florence the hwy became narrower and the curves sharper. I was glad we would be leaving 101 to go East towards Eugene in the morning. For once I'm looking forward to driving on an interstate for a while. The Sea Lion place came up and we parked the Excursion, and I was hoping it wasn't a tourist trap. We paid and then went outside to an overlook and there they were. 100's of em just hanging out on a rock. We would have one as a pet if Pat could figure out how, and is she could convince me that it could travel with us. We then took an elevator 200' down into a cavernous area where the sea lions could relax out of the sun. Wow, tons more of em, all over the place. We were in an upper viewing area caged off from them. I often wonder who is viewing who in a situation like this. [To see pics of the sea lions in the cave you must wait for Pat's blog, mine didn't come out.]

Then we went about a mile up the road and there was the lighthouse. It's just like you see on postcards! Wow, I'm really glad we made this side trip. We had to walk up the side of a cliff, 1/2 mile up, but it was worth it. Gosh how pretty, and sunshine to boot! Way better than foggy, cloudy California. I'm also aware that July is Oregon's designated sunny month. We got to the top and took some pics, and then walked over to a gift shop. We picked a cute art-deco poster to buy, but couldn't find one. The sales girl came over and told us the two on display were the last ones, but we could have one of them if we wanted - we did. She had the hardest time dismantling the display. but we've got it.

On the way back to Florence we stopped to take pictures of the Dunes.


Very unique, and not advertised very much, if any. We drove into the old town area and walked around just looking. There was a fish place right on the wharf, and we decided to eat. I had the battered prawns, and they were actually pretty tasty.

This was the last stop of the ocean leg of our trip. We now start heading Northwest towards the Rockies, and the most Northern part of the trip Glacier Lake National Park on the Montana-Canada border. This part was just as beautiful as I had hoped it would be, and My Precious has really enjoyed it as well. Costs are about where I had estimated, especially now that fuel costs are again less than $5.00 per gallon. We have found the people to be very friendly, and accomodated the trailer with reason on the road. No problems with the trailer, so far, and just a new fuel pump for the Excursion. Some good luck, more in good preparation, but regardless I'm thankful.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1216257540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1216257540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1216257540/tpod.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:55:31 -0400 To the Pacific Coast and the Rockies

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Brookings, Oregon, United States

We went over to Bodega Bay before leaving the San Francisco area. Bodega Bay is where Alfred Hitchcock filmed "The Birds" a helluva long time ago. We saw the school, and maybe some other stuff but we couldn't remember [a very long time ago]. We saw some more water and rocks. For Texans from central and west Texas these two things put together are a rarity for us, and we must take pictures of them at every occurrence. I also was able to glimpse Hwy 1, and see for myself why everyone with half a brain has been telling me, for over a year, to keep off this road when I'm towing.

We then went up to Benbow/Garberville. This area is in the middle of the Redwood Forest areas. The RV park was nicely landscaped, but it stopped there. This is where my name changed to Murphy, because it was wrong. The services were lacking , and I'll just stop there.

We traveled South on Hwy 1 through a gorgeous Redwood Forest, and we emerged to see the ocean - water and rocks. We continued into Ft Bragg to enjoy the drive. We did a grand tour of Bragg. Stopping for lunch at Denny's and then over to a small grocery store where we bought a tiny box of cereal for $5.00. Took the reverse route back home and enjoyed it again. Lots and lots of fog has been with us while we've been on the California coasts. Again fog is alien to us so we enjoyed the eeriness of it all. I can see how it could affect people after a long time of gray.

The Redwood forests were something everyone should see. My Precious will describe them a lot better than I can, but they are our National treasure and we need to protect them. I'm not really a "green" kind of guy; I don't recycle nearly like I should but these trees could turn George Wallace into a decent human being. It's obvious that he never made it over here. A long 22 years ago I traveled this Hwy with my son Greg. That was a trip both he and I will always have memories of. What a wonderful thing to be able to relive that trip, and to bring back memories of such a great time we had.


The next day I had the pleasure to meet some more of Pat's bird friends; Don and his wife Grace, and Janet. Don picked us up and took us up to their home outside of Eureka using the back roads so we could enjoy seeing more beautiful trees. The Avenue of the Giants is a road lined in Redwoods so tall that they block out enough of the sun that the only ground cover is moss, fern, and needles from the trees. You look up and they just tower above you. We drove through an old town called Ferndale that is in the middle of dairy country. They had kept all of the historic buildings, and they were nicely painted.


We ate a great lunch at Don and Grace's house. I had a Buffalo Burger, and Pat had an Elk Burger. Both grilled by Don. They have two birds, Gauguin and Linus, that are very sweet birds and they are both fully flighted. Janet is a wonderful person who brought me the most delicious chocolate slug. She has a bunch of birds, too, and they all get on the internet to gab, swap pictures, and offer each other advice on caring for their birds.


We left Benbow and California for Oregon. We both enjoyed California's sights, and found the people there to be very friendly and helpful. I have to, again, thank the people on the Airstream Forum for their advice, and to apologize to those I wasn't able to meet. My special thanks to Excella3287 for his suggestions, and to both he and his wife for their hospitality in LA

We got to Brookings, OR in high spirits because we have sunlight!! It seems that Oregon has stolen all of the sun from California. We arrived at Whaleshead Beach RV, and found it to be a really beautiful rv park on the coast. Another nice treat was that diesel here is $4.95 p/gal, and that's full service. I was amazed that there could be such a price difference. Taxes make up some of the difference, but then you have to factor in that Oregon is full service and that's what makes the difference dramatic. I don't even count the price gouging going on in the Monterey Penn, 5.79 p/gal.


We drove back into California to see the Redwood forests in the Northern part that we had driven through with the trailer in tow. In tow, I had not been able to really look at hardly anything other than the yellow stripe in the road. There were 6% grades up and down, spiced with 30mph ess curves that kept my attention. There was one place that I really wanted to see - Paul Bunyon. Don had reminded me of him, and it really brought back memories off my earlier trip with Greg.

Hwy 1 was built long enough ago to have a plethora of tourist stops up and down the coast. As they expanded the highway, and rerouted it in some areas, some of these stops have closed up while others have continued and prospered. They have been passed down from generation to generation. The "Trees of Mystery" is one of the survivors, and that is where Paul and his blue Ox, Babe, live. This was the introduction to the Redwoods that Greg and I received on our trip South. Pat & I got there, and I looked across the highway to see the motel that Greg & I had stayed at in the last century. Until then, the memories had been vague, but boy did they jump back up to the front of my brain! This was the best part of the whole damn trip. Pat & I took the same tour my son and I took and marveled at the same things - just how damn cool is that. They have even added a sky ride for something new.

Tomorrow we head up the Oregon Coast, and hope for more Oregon sun.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1215818280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1215818280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wbcci1529/1/1215818280/tpod.html Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:39:21 -0400 To the Pacific Coast and the Rockies

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Petaluma, California, United States

We left Marina and within 15 miles noticed diesel fuel for .70 less than what I had paid for it. That just might come real close to gouging, but what do I know. This is our first experience towing on Hwy 1, and I was anxious about what the road would be like.

The road was nice and the traffic was light, at first. The curves and hills were manageable. We found a light house and Pat found a pull out for us to take. Since we are going North, the pull outs will be on the left - ocean side - and harder to navigate in to and out of. This one worked out great. Got some pics and made a wide left turn back onto the hwy. The traffic picked up around Half Moon Bay, and it became more of a freeway. Both Pat & I were concerned about navigating through San Francisco because the map showed hwy 1 turning into a city street. What we did not know then was that hwy 1 had been an elevated freeway through the city to the Golden Gate Bridge, but after the 1989 earthquake the had had to tear down the freeway and had decided to improve the roadways and not rebuild the freeway. So, what we found was a nice, wide, multi-lane street that was easy to navigate up to Golden Gate Park, and then it really started getting narrow and twisty and crowded as we drove through the Presidio area. Getting onto Golden Gate Bridge involved a twisty two lane on ramp which I managed to take up both lanes. Golden Gate Bridge was easy from there on, and it was a clear day so Pat was able to take some neat pictures as we crossed. The drive on into Petaluma was typical for a freeway with not too much congestion. My idea of driving through major cities during the middle of the day has not let me down in years. One day I'm going to drive into the traffic jam from hell, but I can wait for that experience.

The KOA in Petaluma turns out to be one of the nicest RV parks we've stayed at in California. Probably second only to Morro Dunes in Morro Bay. Nice wide spaces, and very accommodating staff.

We took a tour hosted by the RV park in a small type tour bus. We were the only Americans, as well as the only couple from this hemisphere. There were French, Ditch, a family from Norway and another from Sweeden. Very cosmopolitan. The tour host was from Germany, but has lived in the area long enough to know San Francisco like a native. She took us all over town. We saw the Pacific Heights, the Painted Ladies, the financial district, Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, Fishermans' Wharf, the Japanese Tea Gardens, China town and a lot of other areas, and we also rode a cable car. It was an all day tour, and very well done.

Today we took a drive over to Hwy 1 and the Bodega Bay area. Twenty some years ago my son Greg and I drove Hwy 1 south from Oregon to San Francisco. I have the best memories of that trip, and a lot of those are of the cliffs and hairpin switchbacks. But those memories soften over such a long period of time. When I first started planning this trip last year, I had planned on taking Hwy 1 north all the way into Oregon. In discussing my plans with the wonderful people on the Airstream forum I soon changed my route. North of San Franciso would be on Hwy 101 to Benbow, CA, not Hwy 1. The reason is simple, I'm too long to make a safe journey up that section of the Hwy. My trailer is 34' long, and add my Excursion and we're looking at close to 60'. This side trip to Bodega Bay really brought home just how sound the advice I had received was. Narrow, twisty road and climbs to make sure your speed doesn't exceed 40mph. It would have been a miserable trip that I would have only seen the yellow stripe in the road. Before we got there I was wondering how close this road would be to the Bear Tooth Hwy in southwestern Montanna. It was every bit as hairy, save for the elevation. I drove that sans trailer, and swore I'd never tow anyplace that was near the same. Hwy 1 was it. Beautiful, but not for towing anything of length.

We took some pics, did the obligatory shopping and got some really good salt water taffy, and came home. Diesel fuel, just north of San Francisco was $5.09. A lot easier to take than the 5.79 I paid in Marina. I hope they have a hard time sleeping with the guilt - but they won't. Tomorrow we're off to Benbow and another adventure. This is great, and life is good with My Precious riding bitch.
]]>