Brrr!

Two days ago we had the air conditioner running because it was 86 degrees in Oklahoma.  Since leaving there, highs have only been in the 40s and the skies have been heavily overcast for two days.

I have a feeling we won’t be seeing 80 degrees for quite some time.  I guess there is always a trade-off for everything.  As we’ve been driving through Missouri and Illinois, I’ve been enjoying the views of green grass and the blooming Redbuds.  There are also some trees with white blossoms that are so pretty.  Even with the clouds, it’s been beautiful.

Here are some of the white trees zipping by.  You can see the bright green of the fresh leaves, as well.

And, of course, no trip through St. Louis is complete without a picture of the arch.  We drove through St. Louis around noon today, and traffic was fairly light.  I’m sure glad we weren’t  heading south on I-55 into the city.  They were backed up for miles.

 

 

 

It was windy again today.  Unfortunately, it was now coming from the northwest instead of the southwest.  So, Kevin was fighting a head wind all day.  No more being pushed along from behind.  Our gas mileage sure wasn’t good. In fact, it was so windy that it pushed our step down while we were driving.  Kevin had to bungee it to keep the wind from blowing it down. 

We are spending two nights at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield.  The rate for 55 and older is $20 a night for a FHU site with 50 amp electric.  They also have free Wi-Fi which works great.  Some sites are on asphalt parking lot and some are on grass.  It’s quite muddy so we chose the asphalt.  We will definitely keep this place in mind for future trips back to Wisconsin.

There were some tornados and heavy storms in central Illinois last night.  It feels like we’ve been tip-toeing between storms.  All we had was rain all night in Missouri.  Nothing serious.  It appears the severe weather will not be a factor for us between now and Monday when we reach Wisconsin.

We did see on weather.com that it is expected to be in the 40s all next week with clouds and rain.  Why are we going back there?? I guess seeing family and camp hosting are good reasons to return.  Hopefully, the weather will improve sooner than later :)

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

We’re Fine!

I was so sad to hear this morning that several people were killed by tornadoes yesterday in Oklahoma and Arkansas.  We were very lucky to have missed the worst of the bad weather.

There was a line of storms that came through our area yesterday afternoon.  We experienced some high winds, heavy rain and a brief period of small hail.  Nothing that did any damage.

There was a tornado spotted about ten miles from us.  That was a little too close for comfort!  The worst of the tornadoes were in southeastern Oklahoma. We were in the central part of the state.

We left this morning and Kevin put in a long day of driving, about seven hours.  We had planned on staying at a Passport America place east of Springfield, Missouri. It’s a motel with several campsites in the back.  When I called this morning, they said they had one site left. 

When we arrived, they had only back-in sites left, and they were too small for us.  The lady on the phone never asked me what size we were.  Oh well, it looked pretty dumpy and swampy anyway, so we left.

We kept on going, figuring we’d find something.  About thirty miles further along, we found an RV park right along the interstate.  It was $20 with our Good Sam discount, they had room and it didn’t look swampy.  Sounds good.  We’re here for one night.  Tomorrow we head to Springfield, Illinois for two nights.

Thanks for all the comments regarding our safety.  I guess I shouldn’t be writing posts during a tornado watch :)  I certainly didn’t mean to alarm anyone.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Tornado Watch–Yikes!

Our plan had been to leave Oklahoma this morning and drive to Springfield, Missouri for the night.  Yesterday the weather people were predicting severe storms and possible tornados for Missouri tonight.  That’s not good.

So, we decided to stay in Oklahoma for another day.  We paid for another night and enjoyed a nice day today.  Originally, the weather reports were for severe weather in eastern Oklahoma and east into Missouri.  We’re in central Oklahoma.

Well, the weather changed it’s mind and decided to become severe closer to us.  We are currently under a tornado watch.  There have been a few funnel clouds that have popped up in our surrounding area, but so far we’ve had rain and just a little bit of small hail.  Hopefully, that’s the worst of it.

The storm shelter is just across the road from us so at least we have a safe place to go, if needed.  Keep your fingers crossed for us that we won’t need it!!!

Oklahoma City

Today we drove to downtown Oklahoma City.  Our first stop was the Oklahoma City National Memorial site. I’m sure most of you remember the morning of April 19, 1995 when Timothy McVeigh parked a Ryder truck full of explosives outside of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. At 9:03 a.m. the truck exploded and caused the death of 168 innocent people.

The memorial is a peaceful place to remember and honor the people who died, the survivors, the rescuers and everyone affected by this senseless act.

The reflecting pool is in the location of 5th Street which was the street in front of the building.  The truck was parked about half way down in front on the building which was on the right.  You can see the field of 168 chairs representing each of the people who died.  They are in 9 rows representing the 9 floors of the building.  Nineteen of the chairs are smaller than the rest representing the children that were killed.  All of the children were under the age of 6.

At the back right hand side next to the gate is part of the original wall of the building.  It has a plaque on it with the names of the 680 people who were injured, but survived.

The names are on those plaques behind the trees. The plaques are made of granite rescued from the lobby floor of the building.

A total of 324 buildings were damaged in a 16 block area.  Eventually, 16 of those buildings were demolished due to the damage sustained. 

Across the street is a church.  The rectory of the church was destroyed by the blast.  In it’s place, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City has erected this statue of Jesus.

The words on the statue are a quote from the Bible, “And Jesus Wept".  The statue is facing away from the site.  This was a really moving visual for me.  I can certainly imagine that Jesus wept at the evil that happened at this place on that day. 

Across the street behind the statue, you can see part of the original fencing that was placed around the site after the explosion.  Next year marks 16 years since the explosion, and people are still leaving memorials at the fence.

In addition to the outdoor memorial, there is also a museum on the site.  We didn’t go in the museum.  I really didn’t want to hear the audio and see the images of the tragedy.  Visiting the site and honoring those killed was enough for us. Prior to 9/11, this was the the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil.

On the way back, we drove past a church called LifeChurch TV. It has a massive cross outside of it.  They must be having a carnival or something.  There is this inflatable ape next to the cross.  It looks like King Kong is going to try to climb the cross.  We’ve noticed a great many crosses and churches in this area.  I’m wondering if it’s part of the Bible Belt.

The weather today was gorgeous.  It was sunny with a high of 80 degrees and calm winds for a change.  Perfect.

When we got back to the camper, there were two new rigs next to us.  They’re from Wisconsin, too.  We spent a while sitting outside and visiting with them.  One of the couples ordered a new Jayco Pinnacle and is picking it up next week when they get back to Wisconsin.  Cool!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Green!

We’ve been on the road for much of the past two days, about 5 to 6 hours each day.  Yesterday we left New Mexico and spent the night at AOK Camper Park outside of Amarillo, Texas. It was one of those Passport America parks that is nothing more than some hook-ups in a field.  It was $11 and just fine for the night.

It was really windy all day yesterday, but luckily the wind was coming from behind us.  We actually got very good gas mileage.  The last hour or so before we stopped was quite dusty.  There were a couple of times where it was getting difficult to see because of all the dirt blowing around.  I sure wouldn’t want to see what a full-blown dust storm is like.

There is a landowner near Amarillo who has “planted” ten Cadillacs in his field.  I pictured it a little different.  I didn’t realize how out in the middle of nowhere it was.  I was able to get a picture as we drove by.  As you can see, the air is full of dust. 

We left Texas this morning. As we got closer to Oklahoma, I began to notice green; green grass, green trees, green bushes, green fields.  It was fantastic.  I’ve missed green!  I thoroughly enjoyed the weather in the desert southwest, but I’m ready to be out of the desert for a while!

We’re spending the next three nights outside of Oklahoma City at Oak Glen RV Park.  It’s another Passport America for $12.00 a night plus $1.00 per day extra for wi-fi.  It’s an adequate park.  Our site is FHU with 50 amp service.  When we got here, all of the sites were open so Kevin picked this nice site with a concrete pad.  Do you see the green trees and grass? 

The campground has a pool which is not open yet.  I’m thinking even if they put water in it, I wouldn’t want to swim in there.

The good news is no more sand or gravel for a while.  Now it’s time to give our home a super-duper spring cleaning and get all of that sand and gravel out of every crevice and corner :)

The key to success is having dreams. The mark of success is living them. ~ Unknown

Old Town Albuquerque

Yesterday was the annual Founder’s Day celebration at Old Town.  The afternoon was filled with all kinds of entertainers.

We got there a bit early to look around and check out some of the shops.  We did find some t-shirts we liked, so they have been added to the wardrobe. 

These guys were playing in one of the courtyards.  I’ve always loved the sound of the wooden flute/pipe organ so we spent some time listening to them.  I really enjoyed their music and ended up buying a CD.

The church in Old Town originated in the early 1700s and is the oldest church in Albuquerque. Services are still being held. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Founder’s Day entertainment line-up included many different types of acts.  There were clowns, a variety of musicians, dancers, cowboys on horses and many more.

This group of Native American dancers were representing the Dakota Tribe from Minnesota.

 

 

 

This guy was with a group of circus style entertainers.  They reminded me of movies I’ve seen where a troupe of performers  traveled in a wagon from city to city entertaining as they went.  

We stayed about two hours, and enjoyed our visit to Old Town.  By the time we got home, the winds were howling again.  I don’t think we’ll be spending time in New Mexico again in March or April.  It’s their windy season :)

A reader asked a question about how big our site is.  Here’s a picture of our site in Albuquerque.  This was one actually a pretty good-sized site.  I’ve shared pictures of the sites at a number of places we’ve stayed at in previous posts, just to give you an idea of what each place is like.

We left Albuquerque at 8:30 this morning.  We’re traveling 300 miles today to Amarillo, Texas.  We got an early start to try and avoid as much wind as we can.  Mornings are always calm.  The traffic was great going through the city on a Sunday morning.  We’ll be home in 8 days if all goes well.  I’m excited to see my family at Easter.  Korey will be traveling from Minnesota to spend several days with us.  It will be great to be with my boys again!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

National Monuments Tour

We spent the last two days touring three National Monuments in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area.

Our first stop was Bandelier National Monument, which is about an hour west of Santa Fe.  It’s in a mountainous area that reminded me of some of the scenery we saw in Colorado.

This monument contains ruins of a pueblo of the Ancestral Pueblo people.  Part of their pueblo was built on the ground and part of it was in caves dug into the sides of the cliffs.  Here’s what remains of a 400 room section called Tyuonyi.  The hole in the middle is a kiva.

They also had many dwellings in the cliffs.  They dug caves into the cliff and built an adobe entrance in front of it.  Here’s what’s left of those dwellings.

Some of these cave dwellings were 2 or 3 stories high and there were several caves in each dwelling.  It’s believed the caves were used for sleeping and storage, and the daily living was done in the area in front. 

The Park Service has re-built a replica of one of the entrance rooms. A few of the caves have ladders you can climb to take a look inside.  There’s not much to see.  There are holes in the floor which were believed to have been used to anchor looms for weaving. The people living here were of the same group as the people who built the cave dwellings at Mesa Verde in Colorado.

 

From Bandelier we drove through Santa Fe to Pecos National Monument.  Here there are more pueblo ruins.  This site was similar to the Salinas Missions we saw.  The Spanish came to this area as well and built a mission in the early 1600s. 

Other than the mission, much of this pueblo has not been excavated.  It’s amazing to walk around and see hills of grass and realize that under all those hills are the ruins of people’s homes. 

A kiva has been restored so we climbed down to take a look.

We have seen many kiva’s all over the southwest.  These rooms were thought to be ceremonial rooms for many of the native cultures.  Here’s a look from the outside.

The people of this pueblo lasted much longer than some of their neighbors.  They actually lived here until the early 1800s.  However, the Spanish, pioneers, drought, famine and disease finally forced them to leave.

Yesterday we went to Petroglyph National Monument.  There are thousands of petroglyphs in a 17 mile area of land here in northern New Mexico.  Most of them have been etched into volcanic rocks.  All the other petroglyphs we have seen have been carved into the sides of cliffs or caves.  These are the first we’ve seen on rocks.

Kevin has a Kokopelli keychain.  We found his ancestor on one of the rocks.  (Kevin is holding the keychain in the right corner of the picture.)

As we were walking between the trails, we heard a clicking noise.  All of a sudden there were about six roadrunners running across the road.  Here are a few pictures.  Boy, they sure are fast.  It was so cool to see them even if I couldn’t get a close-up.

These two were either playing or fighting with each other.  They’d fly at each other and ruffle their feathers. 

They are much smaller than the one in the cartoon, and we didn’t hear any of them say beep-beep :)

We had a question regarding our RV negotiating the other day.  We were asked if we thought the mark-up was 30%.  In our experience of buying several new Jaycos over the past 30 years, we have always been able to pay around 30 to 33% below list price.  Our last purchase was 37% off in 2008 when the RV industry was in big trouble.  This salesman tried to tell us the mark-up was 10%.  We almost laughed in his face. We offered him 32% below list price with a credit for our trade-in of the NADA blue book price, but they weren’t interested.  Oh well.  It was a want, definitely not a need.

Also, I’d like to update you on the wildfire we witnessed last weekend.  When we left on Sunday we could see smoke still coming from the area.  That fire has burned all week, and is now considered 70% contained.  It has burned over 3,000 acres, but did not destroy any homes.  There has been another fire burning just south of Albuquerque which has destroyed over 10,000 acres and 5 homes.  It is extremely dry here.  We had a little sprinkling of rain last night and today, but they need more.  And the winds just keep on blowing.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!