Day 7

After cramming the last bit of catching up into our final morning with Rick and Lynette, along with some fortifying coffee, Marv and I headed west across the lake to get gas at $2.34 before dropping south to Houston. It was an unremarkable drive. We stopped at a Wendy’s for a quick lunch and waited a long time behind a large group of Spanish speaking kids and adults. Just as Marv approached the front of the line, four buses of Army Reserves pulled up and unloaded, proving once again that things can always get worse. It was no problem for us, but they sure had some long waits ahead of them!! We arrived in Houston right about 4:30 and set-up at the Lake View Resort, which is the kind of RV park we usually try to avoid, but serves the purpose of being close to Houston and Betty and Herb’s, as well as convenient to the light rail system and Museum area. It has free Wi-Fi so I’m sitting in the camper journaling and blogging while Marv starts the dishes. Betty and Herb treated us to a fabulous dinner at a favorite Italian place that was quiet and nearly empty when we arrived, but was full and noisy when we left. We chatted at their place, made tentative plans to have them come see the camper and our set-up Monday evening, and have definite plans for Betty to cook us dinner on Tuesday. Such kindness from relatives whom we just don’t see often enough!

Day 6

Brrrr!! It was 24° this morning. Ugh! We lingered over coffee at Rick and Lynette’s and then went to the Route 66 Diner for a late breakfast (Marv, Lynette, and I) or early lunch (Rick). Good diner food! From there we took the Blue Line light rail downtown. We visited the “Grassy Knoll” and saw the Book Depository building window from which John F. Kennedy was shot. Despite the cold we walked around the whole area seeing Old Red, the historic County Courthouse; the “herd” of bronze long horns and cowboys making up the Cattle Drive in Pioneer Park; and the Dallas Convention Center. They were doing auditions there for America’s Got Talent and we tried to talk our way into the waiting room to watch the contestants but it didn’t work so we had to be satisfied with just observing them as they waited to go into the judges. We took the Blue Line from the Convention Center station and headed home. Dinner was at a local Italian place called Luigi’s. The day wrapped up with hockey on the NHL Network and blogging, with a lot of talking all the while.

Day 5

I am now convinced that we are bringing Michigan weather to each spot we visit! We heard thunderstorms roll through twice during the night and awoke to 37°, light rain and a prediction of light snow coming in. We left the camper at the motel and headed out to see a bit of Shreveport. There seems to be a nice historic/interpretive park but it was listed as “By appointment only” (we assume this is because it is winter time). Other than that, if you aren’t interested in Riverboat Casino gambling, the only thing to do was to visit the air museum at Barksdale Air Force base. After giving our licenses to the gate guard and being warned not to go any further than the parking lot of the museum we looked through their modest exhibits of the 2^nd Wing Battalion’s history in military aviation, which started just before World War I. I was surprised to learn that Barksdale was where George Bush was taken for safe keeping immediately after the 9/11 attacks and that from there he did his national address. It was still raining as we walked along the long row of vintage air craft including, bombers ranging from a WWII B24 to a 1955 B52. (The B17, which the sign said was on loan, had apparently been returned.) Then we returned to hitch-up the camper and work our way towards Dallas. We had the time to meander so we took US-80, a divided highway, rather than the freeway and saw a bit of the countryside in this, our 7^th state. Because it is virtually due west of Shreveport the temps stayed nearly even most of the way and then dipped close to freezing as evening approached. We got to Rick and Lynette’s about 6:00 and spent a nice evening catching up on each other’s lives over pizza. When Marv went back out to get some things at bedtime he noted that there was a little bit of snow on the truck. Although we could do okay staying warm at sub-freezing temperatures, water in the camper would be a problem, so we were grateful that we were staying in a snug house for the weekend.

Day 4

This morning’s wake-up call was delivered at 7:30 by two lumberjacks and a chain saw taking down one of the 100 foot pine trees in the campsite across from ours. We were happy to realize that the rain hadn’t started yet and the temperature was in the low fifties. We packed up the camper and headed into Hot Springs. We drove two scenic mountain trails that we happened upon before finding the Hot Springs Visitor Center, which was just across the street from the National Park boundary and “Bathhouse Row”. We left the camper and truck parked in their lot, which had bus/RV spots, and walked down the row. There are still 6 or 7 of the bath houses, with only two still doing “Baths”, one as a modern spa and the other, with a more traditional set up, run by the National Park. Another of the old bath houses is now the Visitors’ Center and has self-guided displays on all three floors. After viewing the 15 minute video about Hot Springs and visiting all three floors, we took the sidewalk down the block a bit further, then went up to the Tufa Terrace Trail, where we could see some of the springs in their “natural state”. The water comes out of the ground at about 143°F! At the end of the trail we took the brick Grand Promenade, imagining ourselves as upper crust nineteenth century gentry, walking in our finery and schmoozing with the social elite. As we returned to the truck the temperature was dropping and we headed south. We went around Texarkana and then dropped down to Shreveport. By the time we arrived the temperature was up to 65°! After checking into a Super 8, we looked on Google maps and found a walk-able restaurant called Brothers Seafood that sounded interesting. It had great Louisiana food and we both ordered the Red Beans with Sausage. The huge platters were plenty for our lunches tomorrow, too. It had been another full day and we were now in our 7^th state.

Day 3

A nice sunrise over the lake greeted us and was a portend of sunshine for the rest of the day. We had stayed cozy all night despite temps in the low 30s. As the sun climbed so did the temperature. After a quick breakfast, we took the shortest of the three hikes that left from the same trailhead at the end of the campground. This one was called the Fall Branch Trail and was about 2 miles. It was rugged enough to make us glad we had on our hiking boots, but not as bad as the other two trials warned. It was a really lovely path beside a babbling brook that tumbled down the hill we were climbing. After we crested the hill we met up with another stream that was a little bigger and grew as it fell. We came to the waterfall about ¾ of the way along the path. It was about 20 feet high and 10 feet today, but looked in photos like it could be bigger at other times of the year. The stream and our path came out at Lake Catherine, which is a lake formed by a dam. The only point against the setting is a large plant of some sort on the shore across from the campground. Everything else is beautiful.

Having spent the morning in a natural setting, we spent the afternoon doing cultural activities. The GPS took us right to the Heifer International Headquarters in Little Rock. We explored the exhibits about the organization in the Global Village, had lunch in their “local” café, and then had a guided tour of their new LEED Platinum certified administrative building. It is very inspiring and bright with every desk benefiting from natural light in some way. From there we went to the William Clinton Presidential Library, which is right next door. We spent a couple of hours going through the extensive exhibits and replicas of the Clinton Oval Office and Cabinet Room. Next our GPS took us to Central High School, where the Little Rock 7 took their stand to end segregation. We just drove by and took a picture as it looked to be a very busy place. Then we drove by the Arkansas State Capitol, which is designed very much like the US Capitol; so much so that it is often used as a “stand in” for the one in DC. We were nearly out of time so, rather than touring it, we drove on to the Old State House, which an online guide had told us was more worthwhile. It was nice to see the renovated building which was used as the capitol between 1835 and 1911. Since then it has housed a medical school, WPA and other general office space, and other things before undergoing a complete renovation to be used as a museum. We were kicked out of there at 5:00 and headed back to the campground. Marv made spaghetti for dinner while I took a shower and washed my hair. The temperature, which had briefly reached 60°, had only fallen to 51° at 9:00. But we know that this warm weather is ushering in bitter cold temps and an ice storm tomorrow night, so we plan on breaking camp tomorrow and driving to Louisiana to avoid the worst of it and stay in a motel.

Day 2

The sun was shining brightly when we arose for a quick continental breakfast. The day was ready to prove some old adage about lemons and lemonade or best laid plans or something. The motel allowed us to leave the camper parked there while we went in to Memphis to do some sightseeing, thus giving us our 6^th state visited, so far. J We turned the last corner into the downtown and saw the very familiar Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was brutally gunned down. The hotel now houses a Civil Rights Museum, which we found is closed on Tuesdays! L There was nothing to be done but to drive to Graceland, to see if it could be viewed without taking a tour. We were pleasantly surprised to find that there is a pull-out drive alongside the grounds, where one can easily and safely take a few pictures. J It proved to be more modest than I had expected. Leaving Memphis far earlier than expected we decided to go back to get the camper and drive a less traveled road to Parkin Archeological State Park, the sign for which we had noticed at the motel exit. For several hundred years between A.D. 1250 and the early 1600s, the Parkin site was a thriving Native American community. When an expedition led by Hernando de Soto traveled through the region in June 1541, this village was home to a powerful chief who controlled over 20 smaller communities in the area. The village of around 4000 took its name, Casqui, from the chief. Now there is a visitor center with a short video explaining the village and its history, a museum of artifacts found there, and a self-guided tour of the site. It was a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the so-called Mississippian Native Americans, a group with which we were unfamiliar. J From there we rambled for a while on back roads and ate lunch at a local bar-b-que place called Mike’s Family Restaurant. Yum! J The sun was still shining and the temperature reached 52° as we drove. We got to Lake Catherine State Park later than we had expected, because it was much farther from Little Rock than Marv had calculated. L But we set-up our camper in a nearly deserted campground and were happy to have electricity so we could easily heat it up (the temperature was back into the mid-40s) and bake dinner while we walked around the campground for a bit. We enjoyed a great supper of meatloaf, sweet potato sticks and salad. We went to bed that night satisfied with how things had turned out after all.

Day 1

Monday, January 25, 2010: The I-pod woke us at 6:30. We took care of last minute items and hit the road by 7:30—right on schedule. It was cloudy but dry and 34° as we left town. By the time we hit Charlotte, there was snow only along the edges of fields and woods. At Fort Wayne the snow was only in “glaciers” at the sides of ditches, but there was snow scudding across the highway and blowing in the air. Despite a headwind from the south the temperature had dropped to 31°. We arrived in Indianapolis right on time to meet Craig as he pulled into Chipotle’s. Sarah followed with the boys and we enjoyed a nice lunch. As we left Indianapolis there was more snow and it was even beginning to collect just a bit on the road and fields. We were happy to have it quit for good soon after we entered Illinois. The rest of the trip was uneventful and we made it even farther than we had planned, to Marion, Arkansas, just about ten miles from Memphis. The temperature was 37° as we parked at the Hallmark Inn to spend the night. We had seen gas for everything from $2.37 to $2.79, and driven in 5 states, including some time on our ol’ friend, The Great River Road!

We are ready to go!

The camper is packed and so is the truck. We'll try to get to bed early tonight and be up early enough to do last minute stuff and get on the road. We need to be in Indianapolis for lunch with Sarah and her boys, but after that we don't really have to be any where at any particular time. This is so exciting!

More on our travels so far

This fall we had our first chance to really feel "retired". As a teacher, having the summer off didn't feel any different. But finding myself kayaking on the Platte River, floating my way towards Lake Michigan on a 70 degree Wednesday in September, and having that river nearly to myself, certainly showed me what life was going to be like from now on! After camping at the National Forest Campground about 5 miles from the Lake, and managing to place our bikes so we could kayak to the lake and then ride the bikes back to our truck, we went on to visit Dana and Mary near Interlochen State Park. We stayed one night at a very nice Township Park on Elk Lake and saw MAL and Juan at their cottage. From there we camped at St. Ignace State Park with a site overlooking the Mackinac Bridge. It was cold and rainy by then, but we found that the Public Library can be quite a haven that also offers Wi-Fi access. We went on to DeTour State Forest Campground, on the shore of Lake Huron. For two nights we had the whole park entirely to ourselves. Then we met up with Jan and Lou in DeTour and took the ferry over to Drummond Island. The color was just beginning to get nice and we had a lot of solitude at the Drummond Township Campground. While on the island we biked and hiked and learned much about its interesting history. On the way back after four nights on Drummond Island we saw a magnificent bald eagle on a tree right next to the two lane highway and followed a pick-up truck with hunting dogs in the back and a black bear strapped to the top of their crates! That was a first!

A bit of catching up to this point

Since this is developing as a sort of "retirement travels" blog, I thought I better catch it up to include what we did this summer and fall. I don't intend to recreate the day-to-day adventures. However, our goal is to have stayed overnight (with friends, camping, and/or in motel/hotel) in every state of the union. And we added to our progress towards that goal in July, with a trip to Chevy Chase and brother Hank's house. We went via daughter Sarah's in Indianapolis so we could see our grandsons, stayed overnight in Maryland on our way. and then stayed with Hank and Janis. Sister Sallie and her husband, Jim, came from Ann Arbor. We drove down to see where nephew Dana attends school in St. Mary's. After a picnic supper by the pool at The Watergate, we saw the fireworks over the Mall from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Following Edgewood Camp near Lake Michigan in August, we headed north to the Mackinaw Bridge and turned west, to follow US2, eventually to North Dakota. We stopped in Naubinway at Ross & Pat's cottage and their grandsons tried to sleep the night in our camper with us, heading back inside in the middle of the night when Ethan woke-up, disoriented by the strange surroundings. We followed US2, across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Wisconsin and camped for a couple of nights at Amecon Falls. We biked for several miles out from Duluth and spent the rest of the day wandering their renovated harbor area. From there we drove on to camp near Bemidji, Minnesota. We drove to the head waters of the Mississippi River and did the obligatory wade across the river. That is also the beginning of the Great River Road, which we followed for a ways, having driven another part last summer farther south in Minnesota and Wisconsin. We pressed on to Minot, North Dakota. We camped in a tiny but cheap camping area at the edge of Stanley and visited Minot, which doesn't quite live up to its impressive tourist brochure. US2 looked very different now, with broad stretches of rolling plains. We drove briefly into Montana (just so we could say we made it that far) and then dipped south. There is a nice Visitor's Center at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers which we enjoyed and then visited a nearby Encampment (in full regalia) at Fort Buford. This is also when we learned that this was a "Free" weekend at all National Parks and Sites, a lucky happenstance. Having left US2, we were now sometimes following the Lewis and Clark Trail. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, both north and south units, were our final western destinations and we had arrived! There is a lovely drive through the north unit and they were fairly sure we could do the drive and would still find room to camp at the south unit, so that was what we did. The south unit included hiking and driving opportunities where we enjoyed sighting buffaloes, prairie dog villages, wild horses, and mule deer. In the town of Midora we did more kitchy tourist activities like the Pitchfork Steak dinner and attending the show about Theodore Roosevelt at the Blazing Hills amphitheater. It was then time to head slowly east and home. Part of the time we followed winding country roads and sometimes we made time along I94. We visited the interesting and informative North Dakota Cultural museum in Bismark, next to the capitol, which we chose not to visit, since it looks like an unassuming business building. We camped at Cross Ranch State Park, on the shores of the Missouri River and had the entire park almost to ourselves! It was a good place to bike. And we were able to learn much more about the Lewis and Clark Expedition from the centers, museums and sites in this area. From there we went back into Minnesota and camped for just one night at a state forest campground on a small lake that made us wish we had our kayaks along for the trip. Returning to US2, we hurried across the rest of Minnesota and northern Wisconsin to spend two nights at Wilderness State Park on the shore of Lake Michigan on the northwest edge of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. We had hoped to take our bikes over to Mackinac Island for the day, but the weather made us decide it wouldn't be worth the trip. Instead we hiked and biked in the area and then finally headed home.

I will leave our fall adventure for another time, since this has gone on long enough, I think. But I'll cover that next time. Stay tuned!

Response to new followers

As we get underway with this new blog, I am posting some responses to see if my new followers will be notified. If this includes you, welcome aboard and I am so happy to be able to stay in touch and let you know how the trip goes!

Before the big trip

Here we are at the Larzelere Cottage for our annual MLK weekend. This year we have three Kabodians and the Larzeleres, Dunns, Chalous, Hubbards and Nuttalls. The furnace wasn't working quite right so it was a cold evening and night. Marv and I are sleeping on the porch so I was particularly cold. But the warmth of being with good friends makes it idyllic, none the less. We will stay for three nights and return to East Lansing to pick-up the camper. Then we have about five days to get everything in order and make visits with family and close friends we want to see before we leave for six weeks. This should be quite an adventure!