Final thoughts October 17, 2020

5,529 miles

On our drives, we often talk about the little things that we enjoy or find interesting or annoying about RV traveling. Here are a few:

• Finding a level site seems to be getting more difficult. When you park an RV, it's important that the entire rig be level so that doors will open properly, the refrigerator will work efficiently, and
  
  
  most importantly, you don't feel like you're walking up or downhill inside your rolling house. We have automatic levelers, and we found that even with them, there were quite a few sites where we had to roll up onto blocks to get the coach level.

• iHeart Radio is great. We could listen to whatever station or podcast we wanted whenever we wanted. 

• It would be great if, in construction zones where the open lane is narrow, they placed the cones in such a way as to make the travel lane at least a few inches wider. If you're driving an 8 foot wide rig, and the travel lane is 8'6" wide, there's not a lot of room for error.

• From our previous travels, we became acquainted with the likes of Grit, Encore, ION, and Charge TV channels. It's amazing how many OTA stations there really are! This time, we saw many more. Have you heard of Cozi, Stadium, Hilsong, Enlace, H&I, Bounce, Justice, Dabl, and Positiv? 

• The old series hold up over time. Perry Mason and the Untouchables are great (shown on those independent TV stations). We must be old. We love watching for people who became tv or movie stars in those series.

• The things that we see in our travels prompt questions. How fast does the wind have to be blowing to move the wind turbines in a wind farm? Most  large-scale wind turbines typically start turning in winds of seven to nine miles per hour. Their top speeds are around 50-55 mph, which is their upper safety limit. Large-scale wind turbines normally have a braking system that kicks in around 55 mph to prevent damage to the blades. Who knew?

• We learned that 95% of  the corn grown in this country is for livestock feed.

• We'd like to request that farmers post a sign by the side of their fields letting people who drive by know what's planted in their fields.

• Even though we had reservations for the most popular places (Arches, Great Basin) we visited, we had no reservations for the very busy RV parks everywhere else. But we still managed to get a space in some great places along the way. Everything works out.

• Back roads are often a lot more fun. Detours, not necessarily so.

  
  
  

• We don't know who will win this upcoming election, but we do know that Trump support in the states we traveled in is very enthusiastic. We saw Trump banners, signs, placards and flags everywhere. Along I70, we saw a stand of at least 20 trees with a Trump/ Pence sign tacked to each one. In all our travels, I think we might have seen a total of 5 Biden/Harris signs. And yes, we were counting.

• Verizon is super. With unlimited data, we watched Netflix and Amazon Prime in places as remote as Baker, NV and Hanksville, UT where there were no other cell signals.

• Most fun hike: Capitol Reef, Grand Wash. Second place: Canyonlands Needles, Slickrock trail
  

  

  Grand Wash, Capitol Reef
  

  
  

  

  Slickrock, Needles Canyonlands
  

  
  
  

A garden and a forest October 13-14, 2020

We are blessed to have a wonderful spot on Mobile Bay where we can enjoy the quiet,

the breezes and the sunsets, which is what we did on Monday evening.  We spent all of Tuesday at the wonderful Bellingrath Gardens here in Mobile. I mentioned in my last post that we saw debris from Hurricane Laura on our way into Mobile. In fact, the damage was from Hurricane Sally in mid September. The gardens came through the hurricane well, but lost a number of big trees, and

Boat dock at Bellingrath. We sat here for a while-delightful!

cleanup is ongoing. There were very few visitors at the Gardens on Tuesday, which made it feel as if these were our own personal gardens. 

On Wednesday, we headed for the nearby Blakely State Park, the site of the last major battle on the Civil War. Some remnants of battlefield operations remain including the Confederate redoubts that cross the park. We use the All Trails app where we found a loop that would take us around the perimeter of the park. Fortunately I downloaded a map of the loop because we later discovered that this was a conglomeration of many trails in the park. As it was, trails were very poorly marked. We

started out on the trail, and had gone about a quarter mile, when we were reminded that we were back in the moist south. Mosquitoes were everywhere.. We had come prepared on our trip with bug repellent wipes. Unfortunately for us, those wipes were back at the RV. We turned around, went back to the car, and drove back to the RV (about 10 minutes away) to get them. We had gotten so used to hiking out west that bug repellent was not on our radar, but we definitely needed it for this hike. 

Back on the trail, we noted lots of tree damage, but not necessarily entire sections of forest. Most damaged trees were snapped in two, and there were many of those. Since the loop we were following was a joining of several trails, we followed the Alltrails map, similar to following a trail of breadcrumbs. At one point, it wasn't clear where the trail was that we needed to follow. We finally discovered that the trail had been buried in storm debris. After picking through that, we finally got back to the trail.

It was a spectacular day, and mid-afternoon, we stopped in the middle of a field and sat in the shade of a giant live oak tree to eat our snack. It was a lovely, peaceful moment.

We head back to Florida tomorrow, with a stop in Ocala before we go home on Friday.

Detour, October 10-12, 2020

 Our next stop on our way east and home was Nashville. The ride from St. Louis was uneventful until we passed the Land Between the Lakes, KY, a large National Recreational area. We noted on our Google route that I24 was closed for miles ahead. We exited the interstate just before bumper to bumper traffic began, and started a detour that took us over some winding and narrow Kentucky back roads. Traffic that had been diverted from I24 westbound was heading towards us on that road as well. That wouldn't have been any concern, except for the fact that at least 50% of the traffic on that road were fearless semi trucks, barreling toward us. At one point, we were met with a wide load coming towards us from the opposite direction. I swear that rig whipped by us with only inches to spare between our mirrors, each of us going 40 mph. It didn't help the situation that the road had no shoulders at all, and there was zero room to move to the right.

By the time we arrived in Nashville and set up, it was raining. We had been fortunate that the hurricane that came on shore in Louisiana petered out over land, and was not producing a lot of wind in our area. This was the first rain we had experienced in our whole trip so far.

From Nashville, we moved south to Montgomery, AL. The campground we stayed at was essentially a

gravel lot in an industrial area. It had been fitted with RV utilities (water connection, electric and sewer), and was located on the Alabama River near the Interstate. Surprisingly it was quiet, and happily it was clean and gated and essentially a pleasant experience.

On to Mobile, down I65, a beautiful drive. We are staying at Meaher State Park there. On the way, we saw a great deal of evidence of Hurricane Laura that blew through here at the end of August. Debris was piled up

You can see where the water line was in the August hurricane. It goes left to right behind Ray.

along the roads, and we saw downed trees along the sides of the Interstate as well as local roads.

Here our campsite is right on Mobile Bay. There is a line of plant debris about 20 yards away. Storm surge here was 2-3 feet. Weather is in the 80s and fabulous, and my sinuses are happy to have back some of the humidity they are used to. 

Travel University, October 8-9, 2020

Under sunny skies, we continued across Kansas on Thursday. We motored past Russell, home of Bob Dole, Fort Riley, which I learned was originally established in 1853 as a military post to protect the movement of people and trade over the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe trails. The fort stores hundreds of military vehicles and equipment visible from I70. 

We noted many depictions of Jesus on I70. What was that about? I did  some digging and found that they were built by 4 men who are parishoners of Catholic churches in Gove County, KS. The billboards show the image of Divine Mercy, Jesus. The whole story about these signs is here:  https://www.emissourian.com/features_people/senior_lifetimes/seniors-distribute-1-000-divine-mercy-signs-throughout-state/article_cf9a73a7-0761-5e13-880b-5ab1498a4a8f.html

Our drive took us through the wonderful Flint Hills, an area that has densest coverage of intact tallgrass prairie in North America. It is all beautiful rolling hills where the land  meets the sky. The hills are best appreciated away from the highway. There's an incredible peace here. 

Through Kansas City and into Missouri, we passed many giant fields of sorghum, wheat and corn. In Missouri, we noted the increasing number of trees. 

About 60 miles west of St. Louis, we took a 70 mile detour off the Interstate to explore back roads of Missouri. As it follows the Missouri River, the road was narrow and winding, but had been newly paved for 30 miles of it. We passed farms, and  wineries and fields on the hills and valleys we rose and descended. We passed Dutzow, MO, the first German emigrant settlement in Missouri, and many entrances to the Katy Trail, the USA's longest recreational rail trail. That trail runs 240 miles along the Missouri. 

We are staying at a campground in Fenton, MO, and from here will visit the Missouri Botanic Gardens on Friday.

____

Another warm and sunny day in the 70s greeted us as we headed of to the botanic garden on Friday. Missouri Botanic Gardens is internationally known for its plant study materials, second only to the New York Botanical Garden. MBG takes its mission to inform and educate seriously. Most plants and trees are labeled, and many have additional information to give you an appreciation of the uniqueness of the specimen you're looking at.

We saw a tree whose fruit grows directly from the trunk, ferns that looked like caterpillars, flowers that

felt like wax, and a tree with a symbiotic relationship with a wasp. Highlights for me were the many mature trees with unusual and strikingly beautiful bark. We particularly enjoyed strolling in the Japanese Garden, the largest in North America, and anchored by a 4 acre lake. The serenity of the scene was heightened by the fall colors of the bushes and trees, and it was easy to enjoy with the many benches along the walking paths.

We saw Osage orange trees that were planted in

Osage orange

1860 and that were at least 60 feet tall. A sign nearby advised visitors to watch out for the 3-4" fruit falling from the trees. We had never seen what walnuts looked like on the tree until yesterday. There was a similar warning sign for falling fruit from the black walnut trees. No wonder!

Sadly, several large areas of the gardens were closed due to COVID. It's really worth a return visit.

Travel notes October 4-6, 2020

 After spending a great day visiting with my brother and sidter-in-law in the Denver area, we spent Monday doing errands and chores. I had a blood draw for an upcoming doctor's viit. We then did weeks worth of laundry at a local laundromat. Using the laundromat always reminds me of how grateful I am to have a washer and dryer at my disposal at home. $18 and about 2 hours later, we went grocery shopping to fill up the refrigerator and pantry. We just kicked back at the RV for what was left of the afternoon.

Tuesday was a drive day. We had made a reservation at a campground off I70 in Wakeeney, KS.From the campground in Larkspur, south of Denver, it was an interesting drive just watching the change in scenery. We went from hill and mountain views to rolling hills to plains in just a matter of hours. Trees gave way to farm fields. We rolled past large windmill farms, a herd of antelope, huge fields of sorghum, hay bales to the horizon, a large stockyard chock full of cattle and complete with a slew of mounds of manure. One of the windmill farms we passed was completely inactive. Not one vane was moving.

On a political note, we saw a handful of Trump 2020 signs in fields along I70, but not one BIden sign. Come to think of it, in our travels so far (over 3600 miles), we have never seen an RV with a Biden sign,

but have seen many promoting Trump, and usually enthusiastically so (many banners, flags and signs for 1 RV).

Once we arrived in Wakeeney, our attention turned to the hurricane brewing in the Gulf, Delta. Our plan (always subject to change) is to be in Mobile, AL by next Monday. The storm will be gone from the Gulf by then, but we'll have to traverse the remnants as it tracks inland. Rain isn't a problem, but wind over 30 mph is. So we'll be watching the storm's progress closely and be ready to change our plans as need be.

Garden of the Gods, October 3, 2020

Garden of the Gods is a public park in Colorado Springs, CO with 1300 acres of towering sandstone rock formations. It sits at the edge of the front range, the easternmost section of the Southern Rocky Mountains. Since our visit fell on a Saturday, we opted to stay away from the main rock section (that was, in fact crawling with crowds of people), and hike a series of trails that runs the perimeter of the main rock section of the park. 

What made the hike interesting was that we needed to pick out the junctions of 4 separate trails. We were assured by a person at the visitor center that the trails were well marked. It would have been so much easier if that had been the case. We found that trails would start and stop without signage. Fortunately, we had a downloaded trail map on my phone to follow that showed us whether we were following the correct trail, and we only had to backtrack a couple of times.

We were amazed at the number of people with dogs on the trail, many with multiple dogs (as many as 5). The weather was perfect, and the wind had carried the smoke from fires northwest of Denver away from Colorado Springs for the day. 

Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UvfDwd6XiDXTB2vx6

Colorado smoke October 2, 2020

Bounce anyone?

The ride from Browns Canyon is not a long one, but it does go over the mountains. A steady stream of RVs and cars headed in the opposite direction (west) and we assumed that Colorado Springs residents were heading for their weekend retreats further west. We could see that we were approaching Colorado Springs by the pricy McMansions on the hillsides as we moved east.

Even this far south, the smoke from the wildfires northwest of Rocky Mountain National Park was heavy in the air when we arrived at our stopping place in Larkspur, about 40 miles south of Denver.  We could smell as well as see it. A departure for us, we are staying at a "resort" campground, one that offers a slew of activities and entertainment for its guests in addition to a place to park your RV and hook up. This place is owned by Sun Resorts, a large company with units all over the states. This particular place had been a rundown independent campground, and Sun purchased the property and made it into this resort. It looks like they razed the original campground and rebuilt every site, adding propane fir pits and trex picnic tables. They paved the roads, remade the sites, built retaining walls, and added a clubhouse, fitness center, sports courts, a recreation center, 3 sizes of cabins. 

Why did we choose this place? It's closest to Cenrtennial, where we will visit family this weekend. Our ideal campground is one that offers a level site ( a rarity on this trip so far) that is quiet, steady electric, and good water pressure. We're not camping, we're traveling and staying in our rolling home.

But this place is a hoot. They have face-painting, ice cream socials, outdoor movie night (brrr!), mini golf, and much more. Want a campfire? There's a statewide ban on fires. But here, you can connect a propane tank to the propane fire pit, and voila!

Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/domWRhWvhi8uJRzX7

Browns Canyon October 1, 2020

 Our trip to this area included the always interesting ascent up Monarch Pass at over 11,300 feet. Dragging a car 10 miles up (and down) a 7% grade puts a bit of a strain on the RV. But we made the trip just fine.

Buena Vista, CO is a jumping off point for Browns Canyon National Monument, add to the park system in 2015. The canyon follows the Arkansas River and is a popular destination for fishing, white water rafters, ORVers, bikers,  and hikers. Since it is so new, there is not a lot of infrastructure similar to other monuments and parks. There's no set entrance, just places where you can start hiking, or put into the river.

We stopped at one of the centers for activity, Ruby Mountain. The campground there looks great (dry

camping only), and there is a ramp for putting your boat into the river. The scene was lovely, and I walked down to the river to get a better view upriver. Rather than walk down the boat ramp, I figured I'd stay out of the way of anyone who might come and want to put their boat in, and I stayed to a slightly elevated way on the left of the ramp. Less than a minute after I'd started down this path, I heard a pounding noise to my right. A quick glance showed me 6 cattle galloping toward the river down the ramp less than 10 yards from where I was standing. They hit the water with a splash. Needless to say I was freaked out. Four of them crossed the river, and 2 stood in the water for a bit and took a drink. This IS free range country.

We then decided to take one of the trails in this area, and walked about a mile up the trail, with the idea that we would take a spur down to the river at some point. One of the problems with being a newer monument is that trails are not as well marked as in other parks, and maps don't show distances to trail junctions. With uncertainty as to where our river cutoff was, we decided to turn back.

We then drove up  CO route 306, a scenic ride that took us up to Cottonwood Pass, at 12,126 feet right on the Continental Divide (the next pass north from Monarch Pass). At the top, the wind was howling, and I could barely stand up. Ray took the .2 mile path to the highest viewpoint.

After descending the pass, we stopped at a town park in Buena Vista, and walked down to the river, a lovely spot.