Amarillo this Morning, Up From Elk City

Elk City, Oklahoma

The motel last night was new and very nice. We had dinner at Portobello Grill, a nice restaurant, really, with a decent bottle of pinot grigio. I had cedar plank salmon and it was outstanding. Must try this when we get back to the cabin in the woods. In case you are not friends with me on Facebook, this is a picture of that place that I took while we were home. The stream pictures are of the Watauga River that we cross getting to the cabin.

But I digress. We left Elk City at 7:30 a.m., gased up in 19 degree weather with a 9 degree chill factor and hit the maybe-icy trail. There was still snow in shady spots and where it had melted, icy spots. For people who have spent the biggest part of the past three winters in FLA this is bone chilling. The sun was coming up behind us and the full moon was still high in the sky in front of us. Quite lovely. Elk City is just 40 miles from Texas, so we quickly got to the panhandle.

 

Texas Panhandle

 

We have been trying to take a picture of every state’s welcome sign. What a joke. Either my camera is too slow or too fast or a truck gets in the way. That’s one reason there aren’t many of them on the blog.

 

  

Talk about flat. There is no other place we have seen that is this flat. We stopped at a beautiful rest area that had a little history of the area. One fact: This is the largest expanse of flat land on earth, which explains why we hadn’t seen another place this big and flat. Another fact: When settlers moved to this area they discovered that there was water, but it was well underground. This led to the development of the windmills you see all along the landscape. They pumpwater from underground to irrigate crops, like cotton, and water for cattle and horses.  Luckily the cotton boll does not live here. We saw bales of cotton wrapped in yellow plastic that were as big as the trailer 9 a semi. I expect they just load them on a truck and take them to wherever they process them. I suppose that could be in NC textile mills. Connections, connections. And way back, NC had water to power the textile industry. Ain’t history grand?

 

It is 9:50 a.m. CST and we have indeed made it to Amarillo this morning. We passed the Big Texan restaurant which we had seen advertised on billboards since entering Oklahoma. The signs say something to the effect of a free 72 ounce steak. If my math is correct, that is 4 ½ pounds of steak. I think I have seen that place on TV. In order to get the free part, you must eat the entire steak in one sitting.

 

So  this is Amarillo? Flat land, tall granaries, windmills for water and electricity in the distance, horses, cattle, and more flat land. Oh, another thing I learned at that rest stop in Texas, these electrical-producing windmills are spaced to allow for crops and cattle. And apparently the soft whirring of the blade does not bother the cattle.

 

Oh Shew!!! Another feed lot. Looks like 10,000 holsteins on about 20 acres of land, just standing at feed troughs. We have seen this in several places…New Mexico, California, now here. And lord the stink. It gets in the car and hangs on for miles. Makes you really enjoy your Big Mac.

 

Old Route 66 runs right alongside I-40 for many, many miles in this area. There is some good history associated with that road too, but I’ll let you learn that for yourself. Afraid my teaching tendencies are getting a little old. But it is weird to look over from our wide highway to that little two-lane road and know it was the first way west. I would love to get some old tapes, DVD’s, whatever of the  old Route 66 TV show. Does anything like that even exist?

I am going to publish this even though it is unfinished. At least I'll have up something.

Returning to Cali

Having enjoyed as much family as they could stand, we are heading back to our little tin home in Cali. We had packed to go from Doug's in Knoxville right after Christmas Day. We had hoped to go back via I-70 through St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, Las Vegas and back to Menifee. But weather made us go back to Banner Elk and wait until December 27. And then we decided that going I-40 was the least likely to produce a weather hazard.

So as I write this on Friday, December 28, 2012, we are between Little Rock and Fort Smith. There is a BUNCH of snow still on the sides of the road. There has been rain in various forms since we left Memphis this a.m., heavy  rain, drizzly rain, mist, and maybe a little frozen something. The temperature has hovered around 36 degrees. You know how they say writing can help you relieve emotions. Well, this little post is just perfect to keep me from screaming, "Get this car off the road." But on we go, him driving and me writing.

Had a great Christmas with Andy, Doug and family. The grandboys were terrific. And the older one is really growing up.

Doug is still such a kid, and Suzanne isn't much better. Santa put these down for just a minute and they had to hop on.

And Papa almost settled down for his long winter's nap long before he hit the bed.

 

We were able to go to Grant's soccer practice. Boy things have changed since my boys were little and played soccer. Back then it looked like a knot of monkeys with their tails tied together running down the field. I honestly think these kids knew something about playing a position. Not that if they were backfield they paid attention, but at least they didn't take off to get into the action. 

 

All decked out in shin guards and the works. Fired up! Ready to Go!

 

 

Getting busy on the field

 

But, coach, I thought I was playing back field.

Best thing about soccer?? Running

 

And I can sit and listen too.

And since it is the last practice, he got a medal. My grammy thought I should have gotten a big trophy just for cuteness.

Next time: Tyler's basketball practice and maybe the game. 

Back to present:

 

So, lunch was fried catfish and fried chicken at Charlie’s Chicken in Checotah, Oklahoma. Not your five-star rest-o-rawnt, but it was local and the waitress was friendly. Just as we finished eating, it started snowing. So for about 40 miles we drove in a blizzard. That was Larry’s estimate of the conditions. If you know Larry, you know that exaggeration is his forte. He’s never been sick; he nearly dies with every head cold. He’s never seen a rain storm; it was either a tornado or a hurricane. Anyway, our blizzard produced no accumulation and I could see everything within a quarter of a mile or more. I will say his visibility was limited. However, if he had taken off his sunglasses, the blizzard conditions might have been lessened.

 

So now we are driving across Oklahoma with a light dusting of snow on the roadsides, full bellies, Norah Jones on the radio, and old timey oil wells pumping away. I am as contented as the Angus beef grazing in the fields we pass and just about as stuffed. Life is good. It would be naptime if I could be sure I was the only one in the car who could nod off. Writing serves many purposes. For now it will keep me awake. But you are not obliged to stay awake with me though.

Larry keeps talking about getting back to the “land of no water”. That is another amazing thing I have learned on this trip. So much of this country is amazingly dry. When we got to Tennessee we constantly marveled at the abundance of rivers. We had not seen water freely flowing, making its own path, for such a long time. It really is a beautiful thing. I guess we are all drawn to water. I used to believe it was just the ocean that pulled us. But after being separated from flowing rivers for a few months, I had a new appreciation for their sinewy beauty.

 

Evening: 5:30 p.m.CST, Elk City, OK

We are relaxing at a Hampton Inn watching a prairie sunset from out window. Please tell me what you are doing.



Otay Mesa and Lakes

We spent three weeks in Pio Pico RV Resort in an area named Otay (procounced Oh Tie) Lakes What an abosolute change of pace for us. We were approximately 30 miles from San Diego, but it felt as if we could be on the moon. We had no phone service and had to buy internet service. We had to drive winding canyon roads to visit San Diego or to go the grocery store. It was not unlike West Texas in its isolation. And the hills. They were basically brown and gray, with a few low-growing green bushes. Not at all like home.

 

This is a view of the road we took into the RV Park. The road was really scary in a 40-foot RV with a tow, but it wasn't so bad in the Jeep. But we never could go fast enough for the locals. We learned to ignore them or pull over to let them zip by. Speed limits in California are merely suggestions apparently. No one expects people to abide by them.

 

Our stay at Jamul (pronounced ha mul) was unique to say the least. Behind the RV park, up across the mountain were narrow, dirt roads that were literally alive with white Border Patrol SUV's. Some nights we even had helicopters. Apparently we were a mile or two from the Mexican border and this area was a crossing point for Mexican citizens. Although we never saw anyone being arrested, there had to be many arrests here or they wouldn't have spent so much time here.

 

We even drove to the top of the mountain one day. The road itself was scary enough because it was so narrow and there was a cliff off one side.  But I'm sure we were being watched by the Border Patrol from some other vantage point so I didn't worry about being accosted. When we got to the top our phones started pinging and we got messages that said, "You are now in Mexico. Charges will apply." I don't know that we were actually in Mexico, but we were close enough to ping off their towers. At least they had phone service.

 

Another day Larry went up alone and talked to one of the patrolmen.  He told Larry that they had arrested 16 people the night before. Two more were in the group, but they got away.

 

We had Thanksgiving Dinner at Pio Pico. What a disappointment. Cold food is never a great meal.

 

 

Surprise!!! We're Home!!!

I'll Be Home for Christmas

I don't know who thought we could stay away at Christmas. Was it you? It probably never was us. And it sure wasn't Doug because he offered to fly us home.  But that was way too easy, so on Saturday, December 8, we packed the jeep with several things that we felt were superfluous for our journey and battened down the RV. Sunday morning we emptied the frig into a plug-in cooler. Then we parked the RV in the storage area at Wilderness Lakes RV Resort in Menifee, CA and hit the road. 

Western California, Palm Springs Area 

  We found windmills again in western California. I think this is the San Gorgonio Pass. Here is a link to Wikipedia about the wind farm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Gorgonio_Pass_Wind_Farm  Among many other things it says there are over 3,000 windmills.  And they were all sizes. Some looked older than others. Ken Hoffman, our friend who visited us in San Diego, had told us about windmills that were built in the 80s and I think we found them here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is Ken with some old guy in Old Town San Diego, back in November.

 

People Have Died From Stupidity

After leaving the Palm Springs/Palm Desert Area we pretty much headed into real desert. Every 30 miles or so we might have seen a little oasis town, but they were few and far between. And that is when we started really watching the gas in our tank. We passed several abandoned gas stations on this long, long undulating road. And at one point we passed a station that appeared to have gas...at over $4 a gallon. Anybody know Thrifty Sue? Well she was in charge of using Gas Buddy to find gas, calculate distances and compare that to the number of miles our car said we had before empty. Can I just say, technology is a wonderful thing. But it can kill stupid people. Long story, short, we cruised into Needles on fumes. But we didn't pay $4 a gallon. $3.95, maybe, but not $4. This pattern continued across the country, but never again did we cut it this close. And I'm bragging here, Thrifty Sue saved us a bunch of money. She may have cost us a few years in stress, but I'll bet we have that $5 to leave the kids. I may have discovered a flaw in my plan.

 

 

First Night: Flagstaff, Arizona

We checked into the Hampton Inn and had a lovely night, except for Larry's 2 a.m. trip to the car to unplug the cooler for fear the battery would die. (This little story could fit in the last subheading.) It was about 15 degrees and he had to leave a warm bed. Don't tell him, and God knows he will never read this, he is pretty tough sometimes. When we left Flagstaff the next morning the temperature was 12 degrees F. And we had to stop for gas before we left town. Again with the Stupidity subheading. I'm thinking of changing the name of this post.

 

Albuquerque: City, Huge City, In a Bowl

 

One of the more interesting things we saw was Albuquerque. As we traveled across New Mexico, we were able to track our altitude on the GPS. As we traveled to Albuquerque, I think we were as high as 7,000 feet and then suddenly, lying in this huge bowl of land in between mountains was Albuquerque. It was like we drove over the lip of the bowl and there was a huge city.

 

These pics were made with my cell phone from a moving car, but you get the idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It took us four days and three nights to get to Knoxville. And it was so worth the effort. I can say that because I only drove about a hundred of the nearly 2200 miles. But this country is so huge and so different from what you believe if you have never driven through the southwest. The hills, the deserts, the reservations, the animals...they all were a continual source of amazement for us.


I have more info about Memphis, Arkansas, trains, trucks, my grandkids. I know I will see you back. Ha.

 

 

 

 

Great Day in Old Town

Have you ever heard of Old Town? In San Diego? Me either, until yesterday. But a friend sent a text and we looked it up. It is a neat little area. Lots of shops and restaurants and some history thrown in, especially in the area that is part of a "state park".

But for us the best part of Old Town today was that we got to meet up with our friend, Ken Hoffman, from Palm City, Florida. Ken, the sweetest guy you would ever want to meet, flew into San Diego to play golf with some of his previous working buddies in Temecula, CA. But before heading north, he and we spent the day shopping, eating Mexican food, catching up on our lives and sipping margheritas. Minus the shopping, which everyone knows I hate, it was a great day. But I did buy a leather backpack but only because Larry hates my purse. But that is not the important part is, we were so glad to see Ken and so sorry Janet wasn't with him.

Who saw Duke beat Kentucky last night? Not us because we don't watch our email and don't have phone service. I am trying really hard not to pull for Duke, but old habits die hard. ..

Good night from Cal I FOR NI a

MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT

We spent last night in another Wal-Mart just north of Tucson. Yesterday, we checked our Weatherbug app and saw that it would be quite cool and perhaps snowy at our destination, Cottonwood, AZ. I called the ranger there. He assured us that the RV park was lower than the three or four thousand feet where snow was predicted. However, we also saw that the nighttime temperatures would be in the upper 20's. 

Long story short (when have I ever done that)...We are now in California. That means we missed the Grand Canyon and our mule ride. I am REALLY disappointed. Larry says we will come back next fall, but I will have to see it to believe it. Stay tuned.

So now we are headed to San Diego. Again I must get my big camera downloaded to show pictures.

In Arizon we passed one humongous field of solar panels. That made me feel good. And in California we have passed irrigated beds of something...broccoli, strawberries, lettuce...I can't tell. But I'm sure it's something I can eat.

We are 95 miles to the RV park. Oh well you can't mess with Mother Nature, I guess. And Larry will get to the zoo in San Diego.

We spent last night November 8 at Deming, NM at the Wal-Mart parking lot with about 15 other RV's and 10 tractor-trailers. As we were pulling up to the edge of the lot to park, a young man came racing up with lights flashing in a security truck. He hopped out smiling and asked us if we were planning to spend the night. I thought, "Oh, crap. Now Wal-Mart is charging to stay in the lot." I knew it was allowed because there were already too many rigs there. He just told us we needed to move to the other side of the lot where the RV's were. That kept us away from the diesel engines on the trucks which I have learned in an earlier, not pleasant, experience are loud. So here was Wal-Mart, offering free overnight parking and helping us have a quiet night. That was damned decent. I will have to cut back on bad-mouthing them.

Now we are driving on the straightest, flattest road you can imagine. Along the side are a few scrubby green bushes, brown grass, and a few cows. I cannot imagine how they stay alive.

We have been warned about high winds and dust storms today on our Weatherbug app (a great little app, btw) and we are getting a little spit of rain. We have seen a couple of rainbows. So here we are going through the desert and getting rained on. Don't know if that is good or bad. Just hope the winds don't get too bad.

 

We are seeing what I assume are gas wells, some bigger than others, but quite a few. Haven’t seen any oil wells.

 

We have seen at least a dozen trains, and I heard them all night in Deming. Most of them are quite long and have mostly double-decked containers. I was talking to Doug this morning. He said that he sees a lot of trains through Knoxville but never with double decks. I figure these are trains from Southern California that have been unloaded from China and Japan. By the time they get past Bentonville, Arkansas they don’t need to stack the containers. Right, Kelly? I have seen the same names on containers, Hanjin and Cosco, on containers in Wilmington. I know lumber used to go back to China, (when the Bernhardts and Broyhills decided they could make more money if they closed down furniture plants in Lenoir, greedy b-----ds), although I doubt that was in containers, but maybe. I’m curious if most of these containers go back empty. Just a commentary on life in the world.

 

It continues to rain as we travel I-10. We are probably 90 miles from Tucson. When we first crossed in to Arizona, the road got really rough, but it has smoothed out considerably, thank goodness. The temperature is dropping. I don’t know if that is because of the rain or increasing elevation. I think it’s the rain.

 

We have seen some really poor places. I thought Appalachia was poor, but it’s nothing like some of the things I saw in El Paso and now in Arizona. In El Paso I could have sworn I was looking at Mexico. If people are willing to risk death to come here and live like that, I can’t imagine what life must have been like for them there.   Yes, I am a bleeding heart, always have been, and most likely always will be. I know we are blessed to live in this country. What I don’t understand is the curse of being born in another.

 

Too much time to think today. I wish I had more to tell. It’s just flat and brown with amazing peaks in the background. I will have more pictures when I get my big camera downloaded.

 

 

Medina to Balmorhea

This trip was 355 miles of new and old scenery. We went through Kerrville and got on I-10. From there is was a straight shot to Balmorhea. From the interstate I was sorry we did not get to visit Fredricksburg. There were some interesting things there. But there was plenty to see just riding.

These are buffalo in a pasture just before getting to Kerrville. 

 

Near here is a place called Camp Verde where for a short time a camel train operated to and from California on a trade route.

 

 Below is a picture from the Kerrville Museum. Great cowboy art gallery.

We passed oil and gas wells aplenty. But the most wonderful sight was the windmills on mountaintops. We saw probably 200 and figured our view of many was obstructed by the hills. I wish we would see more of these. I don't like that they are made in China, but maybe this country will get there.



 

 

 Some lovely vistas along I-10.

WINDMILLS!!!  U S A...U S A

 

Bandera

 

I have mentioned Bandera several times, so I must get down what we liked about it.

It is a small town that seemed to have tried to maintain some of the Old West feel. It was the collecting point for longhorns in the cattle drives to the rail road in Dodge City, Kansas and beyond.  Anyway it still has a feeling of the Old West. Visiting in September would be good, I think, because they have a re-enactment of a cattle drive. Not exactly sure how that would work, but I did find this picture.

Celebrate Bandera 2010

And wouldn't you know, he is riding a longhorn. I wouldn't get within a 100 feet and two fences of those horns.

OUR VISIT

After stopping at the small city square to see the little play, we decided to wander around the central part of town. I found a fabric shop, and Larry high-tailed it off the other direction. (I love shopping with cell phones. We are never together and never apart. Makes for a happy marriage, I think.) Anyway, I couldn't afford their fabric even at 25% off so I headed back out on the street. I spotted Larry headed in a virtual trot in the other direction. He had located the 11th Street Bar, complete with live music and a boatload (bad metaphor?) of Harley riders. Apparently this group of bikers had been on a poker run and this was the end of the run. The bar was open air with tables and a dance floor. It was really cool.

 

Did you know that Harley drivers always hug when they greet each other? I'm way liberal but seeing bearded men in leather jackets hugging, A LOT, was a little off-putting.

 

      That was Bandera. We talked several times about going back to the Friday night dance or the Wednesday night steak night. You bring your own steak or chicken and throw it on their grill. They provide the fixin's. I may try that at home or own the road if we ever get among people again. Sorry to say we didn't make it.

  

      Before we left Medina we visited Kerrville. We went to the museum that concentrates on cowboy art. Another neat experience.

 

            Again these small towns are much better in our opinion than the big towns of Houston and San Antonio. I have to say I would probably prefer to live near the big towns because finding a grocery store out in the country is a 30-mile drive if you are lucky. But for visiting purposes, these small towns have kept their Texas identity. I think that is a good thing.

Tips From Me on San Antonio

If I were visiting this part of Texas again, I would spend half a day, one day tops in San Antonio. Riverwalk is fine, Alamo is a necessity, and the Tea Garden is lovely. Here are some pics from there.

 

 

I guess I had heard so much about the Riverwalk that I really wanted to be dazzled. Maybe it is better at night.

But we did find a gem or two, not in San Antonio. We went to Bandera which is about 40 or 50 miles west of San Antonio. It is the closest thing we have found to an old Texas town, one that could have had saloons and gunslingers and cowboys. We were headed to an eatery about 20 miles past Bandera that was featured on the very first Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. (Again, I watch too much TV.)_Mac and Ernies is one of two eateries waaaay out in the country. On the way there we were passed by about a dozen motorcycles. (Yes, we drive slow. Texans, you can GET OVER IT.) When we arrived, lo and behold, there was the motorcyle gang...all women, each with a prominent piece of purple clothing. Cool, huh?

 

O and some lovely young ladies came by on horseback. Yes, this is TEXAS.  I liked that, a lot.

 

  One of the featured items at Mac and Ernies (I keep wanting to call it Mcanerney's) is the cabrito burger. Who knows what a cabrito burger is? Did you guess yet? If you knew, you must post it. There is a prize. It's doe meat. (Too late, I get the prize.) In NC wouldn't we call that venison? Anyway we ordered that and a catfish dinner which we had eyed on someone else's plate as we went through the tiny dining area. And then shared with each other. The cabrito burger was very good, very lean as you would expect. The catfish was good, but it was like every other good catfish.

Ok, that was Mac and Ernie's. Cool local place. We always try to find local places. You can eat at Olive Garden any time. But who else serves a cabrito burger.

 

 

Then we went back to Bandera. It was on the way home. On the way we saw the longest horns on

longhorns I have ever seen.Those are some horny cows or maybe bulls.  I didn't check for that part. But horny, you betcha. (Hey, Warren. You liked that one, didn't you?) 

 

 We saw a lot of cars parked near the pasture where they were and thought we might get a closer look. It appeared that there was something special going on. We slowed down and were ready to park and go up to the small house. The gate (Every ranch, house, mobile home, outhhouse in Texas has a gate. Go figure.) was closed. We figured out it was a family thing. Good thing we didn't approach. I think maybe Texans still carry sidearms, though to tell the truth, I haven't seen any. But anyway, longhorn cattle are cool animals. We used to have some horns that we bought when we lived in Oklahoma. Wonder what happened to those???

 

But I digress. We drove on into Bandera. We were driving by this tiny little city park and saw cowboys and saloon girls. Whoa, Larry, stop this car. We gotta see this. It was a little play being presented by some locals about the "days of the Wild West" complete with gold (from a tooth) and a shoot out.

 

 

 

 

As you can see from the first pic, Bandera was the starting point for the cattle drive to Kansas City and even on to Omaha. Makes me think of Gunsmoke. Didn't they have cattle coming through there once in awhile.

 

OK, I'm tired of this and so are you, no doubt. Next the 11th Street Bar and Harley people. I promise to do better.

 

Love to all. Please figure out how to post here. I need to hear from you.

 

 

 

 

How High's the Water, Mama

If you don't know Johnny Cash's music, a lot of my posts probably don't make sense. Anyway that post title is also an old JC song. We are at Medina Lake and the water here is not high. It is not even existent. The entire lake is dried up. We rode our bikes to the bottom. Cows graze on the bottom every day. We have seen a trickle of a little stream, but that's it. There are big homes high on the banks and docks that have fallen I can't guess how many feet down. They are now lying on the bottom of the lake. In the picture of Larry you can see the steps/walkways that went out to the docks. The docks are on the lake bottom.

The tracks are from people driving down into the lake. It is so weird to see.

 

 

 

And the cows.

Apparently there has been a drought in West Texas for five years. I can't believe this is an occurence that they expected. Why, if they knew this happened frequently, would they have built the big dam and all these houses and dried up resort-type services for the lake? Amazing, sad and amazingly sad.


We visited San Antonio and the Riverwalk was nice. It is one of those things that, for us, is good once. It was interesting to see how they had incorporated this area into the city. Tourism is the second biggest industry in San Antonio, after the medical industry, and I am sure the Riverwalk area is the reason.

 

We also went to the Alamo, and I think I finally understand Texas history. It really is unique among the states because of having been a Spanish, then Mexican territory, then an independent country and then part of the US. And if this isn't true, you didn't hear it from me. I said I THINK I finally understand Texas history.

 

 

 

I still need to tell you about the deer in this park and the town of Bandero, a real cowboy town, I guess. At least they said so. And is boot-scooting in my future? No, because the only boots I own are hiking boots. Oh, well.