April 20, 2017 by Lee and Tracy

First Time in Petrified Forest National Park

I think I’ve mentioned this before but when I was a young child my parents bought me the 1973 World Book Encyclopedia set, which included a fifteen volume Childcraft anthology. The volumes included World and Space, About Animals, and Places to Know, among others, and since I read most of those books cover to cover, the pictures and stories formed the basis of my childhood bucket list. I don’t know if my mother knew what kind of impact those books would have on me, but every time we get to see a place I originally read about in those books I get pretty excited. Not surprisingly, the Petrified Forest figured prominently in those books, and we knew it was a must do while we were in the area.

The only bad news was somehow Lee lost our American the Beautiful card and since the program is not computerized, once you lose the card you are out the money and have to buy a new membership. Since the Petrified Forest cost $20 we would have done just that, but we got lucky when we discovered Easter Sunday was a free National Parks day. I wanted to go on Easter in any event. I thought the traffic would be slow, and I like to do something special on Easter if I can. Last year we were lucky enough to see a multi-denominational Easter celebration in Santa Fe so this year I thought being in a national park would be a nice choice.

There are two ways to enter the Petrified Forest National park, and we chose to come in through the south entrance via Route 66. The Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert National Park were two different entities at one time and over time the park has been expanded and the two ends joined together. The main road is also the old Route 66 and families would visit either using Route 66 or via the Santa Fe railroad which also runs through the park. The upshot of all of that is originally I was just expecting to see petrified wood, but this park has so much more, including the painted desert, Indian ruins, and some amazing petroglyphs. Even though it is easier to access via Route 40, I do recommend seeing the park the way we did. The southern part was much better than the northern in my humble opinion. If you do have to come in through the north, just make sure you make the entire 26 mile drive to the south entrance, because it really is spectacular, and the south entrance is where all of the petrified wood is.

This shows when sections of the park were added, the most recent was added by President George W. Bush in 2004.

Our first stop after entering the park was the Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center. Nice little museum, which included some skeletal remains of dinosaurs found in the area. Much better than the visitors center at the north end, and definitely worth the stop. Plus, behind it is the Giant Logs loop which is .4 paved miles and a can’t miss experience as some huge pieces of petrified wood are there, and have developed this awesome sheen that only comes from being outside for more than 200 years. The wood becomes petrified (rather than decomposing) by being buried under silt, and then wind and erosion uncovers it.

This was what the area looked like when the trees were alive. See below for the skeleton of the dinosaurs.

This shows how the trees fell and then were buried in the silt where they became petrified. Later erosion uncovered them.

The size of the big trees

The trees turn into quartz, agate, and other stone

The biggest tree on the walk was 411 feet tall

Reminded me of the redwoods just everything had turned to stone

The sheen on this wood was amazing

Some kids startled this little guy. It was surprising seeing a living thing in what felt like a museum of old things.

The visitors area was a little crowded, but once we got on the road things were much quieter. There are numerous pull-offs with great signage, and many of those have walks as well. There is very little shade though in the park so I definitely recommend a hat and/or sun screen. Our first stop was the Crystal Forest, which is a.75 mile loop, with a pretty large number of short but steep elevation changes. I didn’t want to walk the whole thing, so we went up to the edge, and it was amazing how many pieces of wood there were. We also stopped and took some pictures along the way.

Next up was the Jasper Forest and the Agate bridge. The Agate Bridge was really cool because a large tree had fallen over a gully and they had reinforced it with concrete back in the 40’s to help it stay there.

The Agate Bridge

View from the top

Base of the tree encased in rock

Next up was the Blue Mesa loop and this is absolutely a do not miss. Not only does it have numerous pullouts with spectacular views it also has my favorite desert views maybe ever. There is a 1 mile hiking trail that takes you down to the desert floor and if it wasn’t so hot (and had a 38% grade on the way back) I definitely would have done it. We were lucky enough though to find a covered picnic table near the hike, which wasn’t on the map but thankfully gave us a cool place in which to eat lunch.

Blue Mesa Views

This sign showed how one of the most photographed formations fell, and what it looked like then and now

This is what we saw, still cool but kind of a bummer

We liked this big tree perched on the ledge

Would have loved to eat lunch right here but the sun was relentless

Oh yes he was out on the ledge. He talked me into coming out here for the view, which was amazing, but I didn’t stay long

The absolute best area on the Blue Mesa loop though was where the hiking trails were. These rocks were so amazing in their beauty it did indeed look like they had been painted.

The start of the trail

Where we found a place to eat lunch

You can see two figures in bottom left walking the trail

Loved, loved this rock

After Blue Mesa we passed the tepee rocks and then went to Newspaper Rock which was full of petroglyphs. They are protected, which is great, but next to impossible to see without the aid of binoculars or a long camera lens.

Tepee rocks

Great depiction of how the different layers show different environmental conditions

Newspaper Rock. Petroglyphs in darker brown sections

They had these viewers to help people see which worked well

Closeup pics with long lens showed an amazing amount of detail

Those petroglyphs were a little disappointing but were more than made up for by the next stop, Puerco Pueblo. There is a restroom at this location and an old Harvey train building. The railroad used to bring passengers here to see the area and a couple of the sites have old Harvey rest area. They have been reconverted into min-museums and are nice and cool and shaded. The loop to see the ruins is .3 miles and totally worth it because not only do you see the ruins of a 100 room complex but also the best petroglyphs I have ever seen.

This shows what the above ruins once looked like

The rebuilt Harvey building which has great information on the ruins

These are naked eye view points. The square drawing to the left stands for migration.

These represents spirits

My absolute favorite petroglyph to date. I thought it was a stork and baby (a common mistake), but it actually is …

An ibis holding a frog in its mouth!! Makes more sense

The best part of all though was this really cool solstice rock. Two rocks were cut and drawn on so that one day a year (summer solstice in this case) the drawing lights up. This let the agricultural people know when na agricultural event had to take place. What was so amazing about it was how anyone figured it out. If you just glanced at it, it looked like a couple of rocks. Turns out there are dozens of calendar markers strewn throughout the area. VERY cool.

Here’s the picture of how it works

And here are the actual rocks

The rock the sun landed on really spoke to me. Was one of my favorite things I saw all day. Looks for the footprints carved into the front center.

Our next stop was right after crossing I-40 and there is the remnants of a 1932 Studebaker from the Route 66 days. Lee loved this and even jumped inside, although getting out was pretty challenging.

Lee getting in

Funny!

Getting out was harder. Keep that in mind if you try this

Next we stopped at numerous vista points to see the painted desert. This was a totally different view and Lee loved these rich red and green colors.

We also stopped at the Painted Desert Inn, which was another Harvey Hotel, and particularly interesting because we ate at the Turquoise room the other day. This has been converted into a museum, but I enjoyed looking at the layout and Lee found another geocache.

Painted Desert Inn

Soda Fountain

Check out these prices. 15 cents for almost everything

The glass ceiling was really beautiful

Finally we made it to the Northern side museum which was a big disappointment, although I have never seen a national park visitors center with a working gas station before.

Loved these fountains everywhere. One for water bottles, one for people, and the one on the bottom for dogs. Dogs are allowed on all the trails here and we saw several people with them throughout the day

On the way home we stopped at several spots along Route 66 for some pictures, and I bought a piece of petrified wood for myself and one for my niece Elise. They find the wood by digging 6-8 feet down on private land in the area and there was tons of it. Many pieces were polished, and those were more expensive and we saw some really cool pieces of art, again reminiscent of our time in the Redwoods.

This is a planter but we thought it would make a great wine bottle keeper

Most gift stores at small museums in them. This one had “Wild Bill” a prehistoric alligator

The Geronimo giftshop had the “world’s largest “petrified tree

The famous Jack Rabbit Trading post was closed by the time we got there

But I still sat on the rabbit. I liked the one at Wall drug better

Loved all the dinosaurs everywhere

My favorite though was this motor lodge which had antique cars parked in front of it and looked like you could still stay in the tepees rooms.. Route 66 at its finest.

Great day, but a full one. Go early, bring a hat, and lots of water. Really wished we would have done that hike to the base of the rocks, but will save that for next time.

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April 12, 2017 by Lee and Tracy

First Time at Dead Horse Ranch State Park

After saying goodbye to Steve and Deb we left Usery around 11:30. It took us about 2-1/2 hours to drive north to Dead Horse Ranch State Park and we arrived with plenty of time to get settled in. Dead Horse State Park is very popular and I was happy we had been able to get a spot for Sunday through Thursday so we could see what all the fuss was about. It has a pretty cool story! In the 1940’s a family was touring the area and looking at ranches, and they found a dead horse on this one. When the dad asked the kids which ones they liked, they said “The one with the dead horse.” The state acquired the land in 1973, and the only caveat from the family was that they keep the name, thus Dead Horse Ranch State Park was born. It’s a big property with numerous easy trails, three lagoons, and a river. Unfortunately the campground sites have little separation side-to-side, but since we are on the outer loop we do have a nice view of the hills. I wouldn’t recommend the inner sites though, because you don’t have much of a view. Our site 51 is right next to the camp host site and pretty nice.

The camp host has a quail feeder and there are several taking advantage of the buffet.

Now that we have stayed in a couple of Arizona Parks I will say they give their camp hosts premium spots. Unlike many other parks that tuck hosts away, these sites all have very nice views. Plus the volunteers/hosts are generally very friendly. They are serious about the rules, which is fine with me, but also friendly, and the parks so far have been neat as a pin. We weren’t planning on spending a ton of time at the park though, because the area has so much stuff to do. We have one visit with a friend who lives right here in town scheduled this week, but we had so many things to see we had to strategize a bit to make sure we got to see our favorites. Plus our summer job company is trying to schedule our physicals and drug tests this week so we are trying to make sure we are available for that as well.

To gather information Lee Googled “Things to do near Cottonwood” and I went back and read Deb/Steve and Jim/Barb’s blog posts from the area. It became clear pretty quick there was more to do than we would have time for so we had to start prioritizing. As I have mentioned before, every couple has a preferred way of seeing an area so the list should reflect what you like to do best. Deb’s favorite activity for example are hikes, while others prefer museums, historic sites, ATV trails, local restaurants/breweries, or shopping. There is no right or wrong way to prioritize your list and when researching it’s important to look not only at blogs but also cast a wider net. Our absolute favorite thing to do is scenic drives, and Lee found in his research there was a “hidden gem” of a scenic drive along a road called Perkinsville. Well, that was a no-brainer, but I also knew from blogs we wanted to see some local ruins and check out Jerome. So we got up early, were out the door by 9am, and off we went. (9am is not early. Dawn is early. – Lee)

Our first stop, the Tuzigoot National Monument was just a few miles from the campground. I really liked Jim and Barb’s pictures from there, and wanted to check it out. It is a small monument, with a steep entry fee of $10 per person, but since we have an America the Beautiful pass we got in for free. This ruin was excavated in the 1930’s and dates back to to 1300 AD when most people in the area were hunters and gatherers. This location was perfect with a hill surrounded by good farmland, and a river they could use to irrigate. Originally about 50 people built on the hill but by the end the community was 200 strong. Each family had it’s own one room “house” and those with the highest status lived higher on the hill. If you visit this site the paths are ADA compliant but the walk to the top is pretty steep so keep that in mind.

This picture shows what each house looked like. It helped us both understand how it worked.

They had a couple open to stand in and I asked Lee to show the scale

Lush farmlands all around. Modern day scientists have verified these fields could support the community with a surplus of crops

Down at the bottom you can see part of the river

They used pretty advanced irrigation techniques from the river to the fields

The visitors center was small but had actual artifacts from the site. They excavated over 600 bodies from the site back in the 30’s and the signs made it clear the National Park Service would never do that today.

Banana Yucca Plant

Lee thought it was great, but I was on the fence. I’m just not a huge fan of ruins personally, and it was pretty small. There are three distinct sites in the area created by the same tribe of people. If you saw them all it would cost $30 a person which I think is a little steep. It was a nice visit though with the America the Beautiful pass and took less than an hour to walk through.

Afterwards we headed towards Jerome and what a great surprise that was. Jerome was a mining town and is located on a very steep hill. It has lots of cute shops and the houses all have crazy walkways and driveways, but it does have very limited parking. We got there early enough to park while I took a couple of photos, but the steepness of the streets gave me a bit of vertigo.

Some of the houses were ruins and in a few cases they had slid off the mountain, they were also stacked slightly above each other.

Lots of artists in the community and I loved this sculpture. The fence was necessary because the drop behind it was straight down.

We looked around a little, but then headed back down the hill to the nearby Jerome State Historic Park. They turned the mine into a State Park and it cost $7 per person to get in, which wasn’t that bad, but we decided to skip it in the interest of time. The good news was the mine shaft was outside of the park and totally free to see.

We weren’t sure what this building was, it was behind us. Pretty cool though. I think it’s part of the power plant.

This is the state park area we skipped

But we stopped at the mine shft

I was like no way would I go down in that. I didn’t even want to get in on solid ground

You can see the relative depth of the mine shaft

They had put heavy glass block over it so you can stand on it. I did it for like two seconds but Lee was fascinated

He took all the mine shaft pictures. I could barely peek down there. 1900 feet deep…yikes!

This area was also the site of a Hydroelectric project and the history was pretty interesting

Lee liked the pump display

After viewing the shaft area we drove back up through Jerome and out the other side where Perkinsville Road started. This is a primitive road and not recommended for driving when wet or snowy but 4-wheel drive is not required on dry days. It was pretty bouncy, but we’ve definitely experienced worse and the views were really stunning.

They weren’t kidding about the no services part. Tank up before you get to Jerome if you are going to do this drive!

We didn’t see much traffic on the road, but there was some, but since you are only driving 20-30 mph there is time to pull over

The road is the line in the middle of the hill

Beautiful views of the San Francisco Peaks in the background

After 16 miles we came to an old corral and a bridge on the road and that is Perkinsville. The only thing that is there is the Perkins ranch, but because the railroad stops there it is a place on the map. From Wikipedia: “The Verde Canyon Railroad, a passenger excursion line, runs between Clarkdale and Perkinsville on the tracks of the Arizona Central Railroad, a shortline. The excursion train engines disconnect at Perkinsville and move along a siding to reconnect at the opposite end of the train for the return trip to Clarkdale. The track through Perkinsville is also used to haul freight between Clarkdale and Drake, on the BNSF rail system.”

Unfortunately the ranch was closed to visitors, but we did have a great and very quiet and peaceful lunch by the river, and we saw some more pretty vistas.

Corral

Bridge

This sign is all that shows it’s Perkinsville

Lunch spot with several camping sites that looked as if they had been recently used

The ranch front gate

We got a peek of the ranch on the road leading out. We could see three houses

Stunning background, but absolutely no internet. I had to remind Lee of that before he started thinking about settling down there!

Open range, but the cows stayed off the road.

Leading out of town their was this gorgeous ravine which was mostly empty of water, but truly beautiful

We had the choice of turning back or to keep going and make one big loop, and since neither of us are fans of going backwards we went on ahead. The road was actually better on that side, but we made the mistake of taking a side road towards Salt Flats and the road was brutal. After a few miles I asked Lee to turn around because there wasn’t much to look at and I was taking a pounding. It looked like mostly ATV trails and wilderness camping and the road was pretty rough, the main path though wasn’t really that bad and before we knew it we were back on blacktop. Eventually the road ended up in Williams, Arizona and what a pleasant surprise.

Williams is one of the few old Route 66 communities that is still thriving despite I-40. The town had instant charm and we loved the main street and especially the Route 66 gift shop. We have been on sections of Route 66 in our travels, but never seen a town like this, so we had to do a little souvenir shopping. I bought a magnet and cool coffee cup with a rubber bottom and Lee bought a license plate for the front of the truck. We don’t do this type of souvenir shopping often, but liked the place enough that we jumped right in.

This bar is over 100 years old and supposedly haunted

Loved, loved this diner

We had eaten our packed lunch but I would definitely have eaten there if we were hungry.

The gift shop was next to the diner and had a great selection and the prices weren’t outrageous

I saw this sign on the ladies room. They didn’t charge, but anyone else remember when they did! I do.

I love when restrooms have themes. Luckily I was alone so I could snap a pic

And here’s my cool cup with the rubber bottom

It was a bit of a drive back to Cottonwood, but we got back by 3:00pm (you can do a lot when you leave by 9am) and relaxed a bit before going over to Sherry’s house. We met Sherry at our very first RV-Dreams rally back in 2014, but not long after the rally Sherry and her husband Jesse left the road because he had ALS. Through sheer providence the house they had sold prior to becoming full timers was back on the market and they were able to buy it back and move in before Jesse was confined to a wheelchair. Sherry and I have been Facebook friends for a long time now, and my heart went out to her over what was happening and I was also incredibly impressed by how she and Jesse handled the end of life experience. I’ve always wanted to visit her and when we had this extra time reached out to find out where in Arizona she lived and that’s how we ended up in Cottonwood. Turns out Cottonwood is a pretty cool place in and of itself but it started with us wanting to see Sherry. She and Lee are practically identical twins when it comes to political views and since I rarely want to talk politics with him, he was excited to get to get to talk to someone who gets his viewpoint.

I offered to meet in a neutral location, but she immediately invited us to the house and said she was cooking dinner and baking a pie. Oh yes, and she fed us all of Lee’s favorites including rib-eyes, baked potatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, and the most delicious blueberry pie either one of us had ever eaten. The conversation was wonderful, and I was so happy to see she had settled back into a sticks and bricks life. I know we won’t be doing this forever and it is good to know you can go back and still be happy when the time comes. In her case the time was cut short, but she is extremely grateful for the 5 years she and Jesse had together. She has her kids and grandkids, her local community, and her RV friends who stop and see her when she is passing through. Beautiful person, beautiful love story, and it reinforced once again why we are glad we didn’t wait. This life isn’t always easy and it often calls for sacrifice, but the time we have together is precious and we are making the most of it. Love you Sherry and next time we are absolutely taking you out to dinner!

This pie came out of the oven right after we arrived

Buddies!!

Amazing steak. She let Lee cook them which was a good call since he is pretty picky about how is steak is cooked

He completely cleaned his plate

Sherry laughing at how Lee enjoyed her food. He is fun to cook for

What a beautiful piece of pie. The crust was awesome! Berries were just perfect. Her secret she halves the sugar in the recipe so the fruit favor shines. (There are other secrets she uses, but we won’t divulge them here. You’ll have to experiment on your own. As you practice, you’ll want to get some kind of expert evaluation on the results. Contact me for information on how to ship the results to my specialized mobile field testing center. – Lee)

This picture says it all. Seriously, I need to learn to make pie or I could be in trouble here 🙂

It was a long day, but a wonderful one and next up I am very excited to go to Sedona. Heard quite a bit about that town and really looking forward to it.

March 30, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time in Amarillo

We left New Mexico around 9am on Good Friday and headed toward Texas. The drive on I-40 was easy, with lots of rest areas and truck stops along the way. For the first time we are traveling with plenty of time to get where we are going. We have to be back in Rock Hill, SC (where my sister lives) no later than April 21st, so we have over three weeks to make the drive. The idea is we will stay extra days in areas that are interesting and keep moving east on the other days. We also have stops scheduled to see some friends, which I am excited about, and Lee wants to show me some things along the route. So we planned a light day ending in Amarillo, TX with a visit to Cadillac Ranch and The Big Texan steakhouse, but when I talked to my friend Kelly and she mentioned we should see Palo Duro we decided to extend another day. It’s weird traveling with no reservations and no specific dates to be at the next place, and for me at least it takes some getting used to. I have to actively fight the urge to put a schedule in place. Some people can just get in their RV’s and wander aimlessly, but apparently this is tough for my project manager soul. Still, baby steps, right? This trip back East is an important test on whether we can choose to “meander travel” as so many other people do. It seems like fun, go where you want, when you want, and this kind of travel really appeals to Lee, so I am giving it a shot.

When we were about an hour outside of Amarillo, I called the Amarillo Ranch RV Park (which is owned by the Big Texan restaurant) and grabbed a spot for two days. Normally we don’t stay at places like this, but it’s actually pretty nice. The people are great and our particular site (103) is extremely large. It’s a weird layout though, with some spots having tons of room and others being close, and at $33 a night (with Good Sam’s discount) it’s not cheap. Still, we’ve been doing great on campgrounds this month and decided to splurge a little on full hook-ups. My one complaint is the indoor pool and “adult only” sauna was not adult only. The lady at the front desk told us they will be building a whole new park next year, along with a new restaurant and several hotels. Apparently business is good at The Big Texan! The campground also offers a free limousine shuttle to the Big Texan steakhouse, so once we checked in we told them what time we wanted to be picked up. Our driver was right on time, and did a nice job telling us about the history of The Big Texan on the way to the restaurant.

RV Park Office

The campground

Really cool lobby

Oh yeah we are in Texas!!

We found out later free shuttle rides are offered to all the surrounding campgrounds, and even the local Walmart

Our site which was deep but we did have neighbors close on each side

The limo!!

Did I ever mention Lee wanted to mount bull horns on the truck? I exercised veot power on that one and glad I did because looking at the horns made me kind of car sick

Did I ever mention Lee wanted to mount bull horns on the truck? I exercised veto power on that one and glad I did because looking through the window at the horns made me kind of car sick. Plus would the other states even let you in???

The restaurant itself is part restaurant and part experience. It was located on route 66 and then eventually moved to I-40 once the freeway opened. It has a western themed motel, a swimming pool shaped like Texas, bars, party rooms, and a balconied restaurant. It’s claim to fame is that anyone who can eat a 72oz steak with all the fixins in less than an hour gets the meal for free. Two people made the attempt while we were there and they sit up on a platform near the open kitchen with a timer so everyone can see…no pressure. One 12 year old boy didn’t make it while we were there but everyone in the crowd cheered anyways. The meal costs $72 if you don’t manage it in under and hour, and since only 1 in 7 manage the feat it’s pretty genius marketing that pays for itself. The current record is held by a 124 pound woman who ate the whole meal in under 5 minutes, then went on to eat 2 more steaks. It’s all out on You Tube and good for her, but I never really got speed eating. I like to enjoy my food, plus love leftovers.

I loved the whole vibe of the place and it all felt very Texas. It’s not cheap (we spent $79 on appetizer, dinner, and drinks before tip), but the couple next to us ended up splitting a meal which would have been plenty of food and much more affordable. One piece of advice though is to request a well-marbled steak. The key to great ribeye is lots of fat, and mine was just too lean for my taste. I ended up switching with Lee though and his was fabulous, I think it is the best restaurant steak I have ever had, certainly since eating at the Red River Cattle Company restaurant in Cincinnati in the 1980’s (which is now unfortunately closed). I also recommend trying their homemade craft beer sampler. I picked one before I realized they offered four 4oz samples for $6. Should have gone that route and tried several. It’s the most by far we have spent on a single meal since going on the road, but I didn’t regret it. Gotta do everything bigger in Texas!!

The Big Texan

Loved the dog park with it’s own fire hydrant

The Texas shaped swimming pool was closed but you get the point from the cover

They even had a horse hotel with a horse in it..

Checked out the huge rattlesnake in a terrarium while we were waiting. Yikes it was big

This is how much you have to eat for the challenge. Huge steak, shrimp cocktail, salad, baked potato, and roll.

Our view from very cool balcony seats

Look at all this food

The giant friend mushrooms were the best I have ever had, but didn't heat up well the next day so definitely go for the half order

The giant fried mushrooms were the best I have ever had, but didn’t heat up well the next day so definitely go for the half order

My steak was so-so “Duke cut”, bone in ribeye

But Lee’s was to die for

I loved the table side music. They took requests

Lee’s scared bear face. I made him do it lol. Look at all the leftovers he is holding.

When we waddled to the limo for our ride back (with three boxes of leftovers) I was so full!! I rarely eat that much in one sitting, but again, it’s Texas, and it’s OK to splurge once in awhile. We ended up getting three individual lunches (with some supplement) out of the leftovers alone so I don’t feel too bad about the excess, but really, if you decide to split a meal you will have plenty of food. You just can’t go with Lee who is not so much about sharing his food.

The next day we started out pretty early with our list of things to see. I have been using the Roadside America app since we have been traveling and this close to Historic Route 66 it did not disappoint. There was a VW ranch (don’t go out of your way to see it, a Combine Ranch (cool but closed off by barbed-wire fence, and lots of giant Texan statues. The big winner for the day though was the Jack Sizemore Traveland RV Museum. Our interest was piqued when we saw they had one of the RV’s from the Robin Williams movie “RV” so we decided what the heck, let’s check it out. And wow, what a find it was! The museum is in the back of a large RV dealership in Amarillo and Jack’s collection of old RV’s and old motorcycles was amazing. Each RV had a sign stating where Jack found it and if and how it was restored and Lee and I really loved it. Plus, it was totally free. The RV place also had a really cool store with lots of high end RV items and we even took a tour of some Super C’s while we were on the property, because I have been very curious about how roomy they are on the inside. Lee liked the Aspect, but I was a fan of the Minnie Winnie’s.

Nice RV store

The RV Museum

Very cool old Harley only one of two made that year with a left hand side car

1936 Alma

Part of the nice motorcycle collection

The first known tent camper

A Chris Craft Boat with a BEER license plate for my friend Bill 🙂

The Gornicke Bus was really exciting to see

The Gornicke Bus that Jeff Daniels drove in “RV” was really exciting to see

The inside of the bus. Ceilings were nice and high

Where Jeff Daniels sat

1976 Argosy

An old truck camper

This trailer was owned by an 84 year old woman who finally decided to stop camping and turned it in

My favorite was this FMC which was owned by the president of Max Factor

It came with a built a counter top blender

One of several restored air streams

The inside of the aristream with a really nice fridge

This trailer has been all over the world

1953 Fleetwood

Dog house designed to look like the Fleetwood

The weirdest thing is what I saw as I was walking by the owners office. That is the best stuffed lion I have ever seen. Would have loved to ask about it, but they were all pretty busy

And if all that wasn’t enough we also visited Palo Duro Canyon State Park (The Grand Canyon of Texas) and wow, am I glad Kelly recommended it. At first I was unimpressed. Long line to get in and a $5 per person entrance fee, plus the initial view was cool but not that impressive. But when we drove down to the bottom of the canyon it was really cool. We found a spot to picnic (it was packed, so I definitely don’t recommend going on the weekend) and then we toured the campgrounds. The Mesquite campground in the way back was fantastic and we have added it on our list of places to stay in the future. The sites are big enough and very close to the rocks, and the views from the bottom are spectacular. There were numerous hiking/equestrian/mountain biking trails designed by local runners and there were several easy, shorter trails interspersed with some more challenging ones. I was very impressed, and like I said, we are going back for sure, despite there being absolutely no cell coverage of any kind down there. They even have horseback riding in the canyon for $35 an hour which I will absolutely do when we come back. We didn’t want to fight the crowds though on the trails, but did stop and hike up to the big cave. The walk up looks worse than it is and we were so lucky that we had the cave all to ourselves for the time we were in there. It was really neat and a great romantic spot for kisses and that alone definitely made the $5 entrance fee worth it.

The crowds for coming in. Definitely recommend coming during the week

The Grand Canyon of Texas

The spot where we ate lunch

We walked down the path a bit

And saw the cowboy dugout

You could see in the inside. Nice for kids

Terrific campsites back in the mequite loop and despite absolutely no cell coverage we are definitely coming back here to stay

Terrific campsites back in the mesquite loop and despite absolutely no cell coverage we are definitely coming back here to stay

Lots of great views. Can you spot the hikers at the very top?

We decided to hike up to the Big Cave which was in the back of the park and not that crowded

The path up looks worse than it is.

The cave was really pretty with great rock formations and colors

Also the ceiling had some holes you could look up through

I even saw my first golden-fronted woodpecker

And got my first shot of a road runner in the wild

So Amarillo, which was supposed to be a quick stop in the road, turned out to be a fantastic place to visit in its own right. I can now see the benefit of no reservations and being able to extend for extra days on a whim. That being said, we have been lucky enough to make arrangements with numerous people on our way back east due to travel serendipity and have locked ourselves in to make meeting folks work for the next couple of weeks. No spoilers, but I am super excited about the people we get to see on the road. So from Texas…Y’all come back soon!

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