Amarillo to Tulsa

I was fascinated by the DC3 on display. In 1973
I spent 6 weeks in Africa including one week
in Ethiopia in a DC3 as part of an 
experimental tour designed by the sister of 
Haile Selassie.  There were only 6 of us tourists
and several staff including our own pilot!

We left Roswell early to avoid gusty winds and settled into the Oasis RV Resort on the edge of Amarillo. It was a quiet park with a tree, little patio and picnic table.  That afternoon we visited the Texas Air & Space Museum and stopped by Cadillac Ranch on the way back. The latter is one of those strange roadside attractions that are inexplicable. Who thought of them? Why do so many people go there? But then of course, we did (along with a lot of others and on a day where it was VERY windy).

I really enjoy getting in the cockpit of planes - 
but they are a tight fit and particularly getting
out!

Born in 1875, Harriet was the first woman to
receive a pilot's license (1911) and the first
 woman to fly the English Channel. 

Unlike the other women featured here, Ethel
wasn't a first or famous but her story of 
being an aviation mechanic during the war
honored all women who served.

The Air & Space Museum was very small compared to many we've visited over the last three trips. Like many it has a small staff and many dedicated volunteers. There were many signs explaining the big plans to expand to a new location but the volunteer we talked to was very skeptical.  But still there were new interesting tidbits. As usual I found most interesting the stories about women who served in various ways both in the military and in the aviation industry. One strange coincidence involved Harriet Quimby, the first woman aviator. She died flying the Third Annual Boston Aviation Meet at Squatum, MA in 1912. My father attended that meet and often talked about it. He was 6 at the time.

A detail of the spray paint layers on
the cadillacs.

It was so windy we could barely stand. This is the "famous''
Cadillac Ranch. A kiosk sells spray paint cans so you can 
add graffiti to the already thick layers!

Bessie was the first African-American woman to
hold an American Pilot's license and the earliest
Black person known to earn an international one.

The next day we spent at the Palo Duro Canyon State Park. One of the largest canyons in the U.S. it is about 35 miles long with an average width of 6 miles. It's been nicknamed "The Grand Canyon of Texas" for it's multicolored layers and steep walls. It became a State Park in 1934 and the CCC built the loop road and many structures over the next 4 years. Four groups of veterans, two groups of African-Americans and one junior group did the work - CCC groups were segregated by race and age. 

We drove the loop road and hiked the Paso del Rio trail, which followed the Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River which formed the canyon.  Georgia O'Keeffe, who lived in Amarillo and nearby Canyon in the early 20th century wrote of the Palo Duro: " It is a burning, seething cauldron, filled with dramatic light and color." She painted the canyon between 1910 and 1918. 

The Loop Road is 15 miles long and has a steep descent as you can see in this photo taken at the top.

The Visitor's Center was built by the CCC into the side of the canyon at the top with thick stone walls.

Scott's phone malfunctioned after the two previous photos so I added one taken off the web.

That evening we celebrated with a dinner at the Toscana Italian Steak House in the renovated historic Barfield Hotel downtown. The cocktails and food were terrific! And the service outstanding. The restaurant manager came over to chat with us and on the way out, the General Manager told us about the renovations and history of the hotel! 

At Toscana Italian Steakhouse - we enjoyed the 
house made pasta dishes and shared a antipasto
salad first.

My Shrimp Scampi 

Next day we were off early again, this time to the Foss State Park in Oklahoma. We've stayed there before but this time got a site right on the lake. We enjoyed a walk and met an interesting fellow who was camping in his van at one of the day picnic spots. He's a disabled veteran of the Vietnam War and after he talked to some of the park staff, who also served in the military more recently, was given a free site for a week. One of the Park security officers came by to visit him and we all waved to the Google car that circled the park filming for Google maps!

These flowering trees, magenta in color followed
us from Foss all the way along the highway into
Oklahoma.

Baby & Junior at our lovely site in Foss Lake
State Park, OK. 

Next we're spending 10 days with our oldest son Josh and his family, which right now consists of Michal, my daughter-in-law and the two youngest, Jonathan "Uzi" and Shira. They live in Tulsa during the week as the kids go to the University School there and weekends at their home in Dallas. But that's my next blog!

Brief Visits: Houston, San Antonio and Stockton

 

This was a wild west themed car. On the walls was a show dedicated to a local artist and founder Ann Harithas. 

The paint job on this car was really beautiful. These cars both still look basically like cars, but many featured in the movie were turned into other things, like cats!

It was a long drive from Lafayette to Houston and we were pretty tired when we arrived at the Lakeview RV Resort. That may be why we parked in the wrong site! About 5:30 we got the knock on our door. At first they wanted us to move (a big job with the truck detached, feet down, plugged all in). But happily the fellow was able to find a similar site for the incoming RV and they agreed. Many of the people here are long term due to the proximity to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital. We had a long talk with our neighbor who moved here two years ago due to her now 21 year old son's battle with cancer. We were glad to hear that right now he is in remission. 

The Orange Show, closed unfortunately

The view from our lunch on the way to San Antonio

We mostly did errands and chores the next day. It was a very nice park with a small lake that made for nice walking, a big lounge area with coffee and a book swap, and a good laundry. Scott had made reservations for the Art Car Museum and that was fun, although small. We especially loved the cars and the movie on people, really artists, that turn their cars/trucks into art works and the big parade they have here once a year to show off their creations. We'd hoped to visit Orange Show nearby but it was closed.  Jeff McKissack, a mail carrrier, transformed his small suburban lot into the Orange Show in honor of his favorite fruit!

Our first walk on the River was on a Sunday
afternoon and it was packed with visitors

The beautiful central alter at the Cathedral
of San Fernando in the main square.

Next day we were off again to San Antonio, early as we had lots of plans to see this lovely city. On the way we lucked out when we spied a State Park near the gas station where we were filling up, and enjoyed a scenic lunch spot. The KOA San Antonio was close to the center city and we ended up going in and out a bunch of times. That afternoon we went in and enjoyed the famous River Walk. On the way we were accosted by a very charming gentleman who convinced us to go to yet another time share presentation. He had to be charming and to up the money value before we agreed. But the "deal" was too good for Scott to miss. We got $100 in vouchers for a variety of restaurants, two tickets to the boat tour and a carriage ride. So we were on for the next morning at 10 AM. 

Early in the day the River Walk was peaceful

Sculptures, gardens, waterfalls adorn it.

A selfie on our boat cruise

And a view back to our guide

This big sculpture was in front of the Briscoe
Western Museum which we'll have to see
another time.

Looking down towards the locks that protect
the River Walk from flooding.

Despite promises, the presentation (no tour as we weren't at one of their hotels) took the full 3 hours. It followed the usual course, although we'd always been to an actual location before, so that made for a more interesting time, as you got to walk around. But the perks worked out very well. We enjoyed the boat ride and had a very entertaining guide. And we used the full $100 for an excellent lunch at Iron Cactus Restaurant, sitting right by the edge of the river. We returned that night for the carriage ride and another walk.  San Antonio is a beautiful city and we'd enjoy another visit there!

Scott and I enjoyed the carriage ride, although it was very short.

The River Walk is beautifully lit up and night and bustling. 

We had one more night before arriving at Big Bend National Park as it's a long way. We stopped in Stockton at a small, rather charming Hilltop RV Park. Metal sculptures were scattered all around the place, all really fun and a local amateur astronomer donated quite an impressive telescope for anyone to use. Scott really enjoyed it that night. He took some amazing photos of the moon through the lens.  We were able to do a big shopping trip to the Walmart Superstore to prepare for our 6 days at the park. There would only be very limited food available there so we came fully prepared. And we emptied our septic, filled up with fresh water and charged up our batteries.  More on that in my next post. 

This Mariachi players welcomed us to the Hilltop RV Park. 

Giant versions of the metal sculptures at the park are installed up on a ridge overlooking the town - very cool!

A photo of the moon Scott took through the 
telescope at the RV Park!

Texas to New Mexico

Buffalo Wallow at Abilene State Park, TX

We returned from Mexico to our RV waiting for us in Cleburne, TX, after a easy dinner at a steak house across from the Quinta Inn near the Dallas/Ft Worth airport. We stayed there the night before our flight to Mexico with the Park, Sleep, Fry website and it worked out very well. $130 for a nice room, 8 days parking and shuttles to and from the airport. We stayed two nights at the Shady Acres RV Park - basic but safe - so that we could clean up, do laundry and replenish our refrigerator. The next day we headed off early for the Texas Abilene State Park. 

Our private site at Abilene State Park and nice
weather as you can see to have our late lunch.

Enjoying a break at the end of the Buffalo 
Wallow Trail

The Abilene State Park was great. We had a nice level spot with trees all around. A nearby host pointed us to a lovely trail around "Buffalo Wallow", a pretty pond that must have been a favorite watering spot for buffalo herds back when. It was a quiet night but bad weather threatened the next day - severe thunderstorms with hail was predicted to come in later that morning. So we left early, thank goodness as the 5 hour trip turned into 8 hours. We did manage to mostly stay ahead of the storm, which we could see just south of us.  And there was a brief attractive section over the first 20 miles through hill country in Texas but then we ran into a problem. Google navigation had shown a gas station in 20 miles on our route and our range was 30 - so no problem we thought. Bad decision. Suddenly the navigation changed to 26 more miles (the station was permanently closed). But we made the right decision then. We pulled into a layby next to a cemetery, unhooked the RV and Scott continued while I stayed in the RV.  He went slow, coasted as much as possible and made it into the gas station. We couldn't have done it with the RV attached. He also made it back, which wasn't easy as it was all complicated rural roads. 

Thousands of huge windmills decorate the flat
plains on our drive through western Texas

The cemetery where Heather and Baby waited
anxiously for Scott to return with a full tank.

So our 8 AM start got us to Brantley Lake State Park at 4 PM and it was great to pull into our easy site with long views over the reservoir. I had made a chicken parmesan and rice dish ahead of time for those two nights and it was a relief to have it all done. Before bed we snuggled up and watched an episode of Doc Martin. 

Our easy level site at Blakely Lake State Park

The view over the Lake, the southern most one
in New Mexico.

We got an early start the next morning as we had a busy day. Our advance reservation for Carlsbad Caverns National Park was for 9:30 AM and it was over an hour's drive. From the highway entrance it's a 7 mile scenic drive up the mountain to the Visitor's Center. There was plenty of parking for RVs happily, but it must be very hard when it's busy here. It wasn't during our visit - no line for the elevator trip. That's down 750 feet to the cavern. It's possible to walk 1.5 miles there but there's another 1.5 miles through the cavern so we were glad to take the elevator. 

It was so dark when we first started on the hike
through the caverns I held onto the railing for 
quite a while.. 

After a while our eyes became accustomed to
the dark and we felt more confident. Spot
lights show off areas, here with some blue color

You can see the walkway better here as I
lightened up the photo.

It's really quite beautiful and the history of it's
discovery and exploration is fascinating.

This ladder was used (a long time ago) to 
explore the lower depths of the caverns.

The next leg of our journey was 4 hours south through El Paso to Las Cruces and until we got near El Paso it was endless stretches of plains with no development whatsoever - including no gas stations. This time we had investigated carefully and filled up before leaving. We only average 9 miles to the gallon with Baby attached, giving us a minimum range of 216 and that's when it not mountainous. 

Our table at the Rio Grande Winery overlooking
the mountains and vineyards.

Our new friend Don from Minnesota

Our stop for the night was Harvest Host member the Rio Grande Winery in Mesilla, just south of Las Cruces. We had been here before and again it was a great night. Both times we came on a weekend when there is live music and food. And again, we met a fellow traveler and enjoyed his company over dinner. 

La Cueva trail left from here and went up into the first rock formation on the left. 

We had planned to spend the next two nights at Aguirre Spring Campground, which we loved two years ago,  but we wanted to do some biking and hiking around Las Cruces this time so we stayed two nights at the Hacienda RV Resort. It was a very nice RV park with a big hot tub, which we enjoyed a lot. Our first afternoon we went up to the Dripping Springs Natural Area and hiked the La Cueva Trail. This cave had been used for thousands of years but more recently is famous for the man know as the Hermit. Giovanni Maria de Agostini was a Italian lay monk who traveled throughout South America, walked north as far as Canada and then settled in a cave here on the mountain in 1867. Many during his travels regarded him as a holy man who could work miracles. He lived in the cave for two years, coming down to the town to preach and heal, before being murdered. He was 69 years old at his death. 

Scott pauses on the trail

The entrance to the cave.

Looking out at the entrance.

Our first night we treated ourselves to a beautiful dinner at the D.H. Lescombes Winery and Bistro.- terrific wine and food with a view across to the mountains. The next morning we biked the La Llorona Multi-Use Trail along the Rio Grande River. It was mostly an easy asphalt trail with a few difficult sections through a park and over some bridges. 

It was nice to adjourn to the Spotted Dog Brewery nearby and enjoy their IPA sitting out on the terrace with that same great view. Tonight it's dinner at our RV and an early start tomorrow to meet our friends Bob and Lesa DeFeyter at the Bonita Canyon Campground, which is at the Chiricahua National Monument, the "Wonderland of Rocks" in Arizona. 

The view from the Llorna Trail to the mountains, where we had hiked the day before.

The Rio Grande River at this time of year is just a trickle. In the Spring water is released from the dams for agricultural and recreational use during the summer.