After 6685 miles we are home!

Ohio River

After leaving Missouri , we drove through Illinois. At Ciro we started following the Ohio River and continued on this scenic route across the state.  Although we didn't make very good time, the scenery was beautiful with all the fall colors.  We drove through a town called Metropolis.   In 1972 the Illinois legislature designated it the home town of Superman.  There is a museum dedicated to and a 15' tall statue of the super hero.  I thought the bronze statue was scary, but there were lots of people there taking pictures of it. That night we drove across the river At Evansville and stayed at John James Audubon State Park in Kentucky.  I sure didn't see many birds at this park---you would think that a park named after JJ Audubon would be filled with birds.

Path to the cave

 

Cave In Rock

The next day we stopped at Cave in Rock State Park IL.  There is a big cave (in a rock) that is visible from the river.  In pioneer times it was a landmark and shelter for travelers.  We spent that night at an Indiana State Recreation area called Hardy Lake.  Our last night on the road was at Shipshewana IN. The humans ate at a chicken restaurant and I got to have a kitty bag with yummy fried chicken and homemade noodles.



Horses at Shipshewana



Well….There you have it: 12 states, at least 8 National Parks, at least 18 campgrounds, and over 6600 miles, We’ve seen mountains, deserts, rocks, the Pacific Ocean, lots of different plants and animals, sand dunes and a 15’ superman. Stay tuned for our next adventure.  I’m guessing it will involve palm trees and warm weather sometime after Christmas.



Arkansas to Missouri

spider

After we left Hot Springs we drove about an hour North to visit a friend that used to be R&N's neighbor when they lived in Ney, Ohio.  She lives on the top of a hill and I had a beautiful view and a deer even came up to the camper during the night---I'm sure glad the door was closed!  She also has a big bug that I've never seen before.  One was sunning itself on our electric cord and the other was in the garage.  Ron called it a tarantula spider.  It sure looked big and fuzzy.

Cotton field ready to be picked

This morning we didn't got on the road very early and so we only drove a couple hundred miles.  We are at a campground at the Lucky Lady casino in Caruthersville Missouri.  It is on/in the Mississippi River.  It is suppose to be a riverboat casino, but it is a building that is more or less shaped like a riverboat on pylons at the edge of the river.  There is a shuttle to take people from the campground up the casino entrance.  Unlike the casino near Miami FL, we have a regular campsite with full hook-ups, cable TV and a picnic table! There is even a laundry.  Nice place.

Mississippi River from the ramp to the casino

Hot Springs Arkansas



National Park Campground.  Our camper is on the far left in the trees.

The water coming out of the spring is 143 degrees!



Stream the runs through the campground

I hung out at the camper today while R&N explored Hot Springs National Park.  Neat place.  It is easy to see how people came at the turn of the twentieth century to "take the waters".  There were bath houses lined all up and down the main street.  The baths were really quite a ritual, involving soaking in a tub, hot packs placed on the body , a steam bath and maybe a massage.  The whole thing took about two hours and people that came did this every day. There are still two bath houses in operation.



Part of bath house row

 

After the sight seeing was over, it was time for them to catch up on some chores.  The truck needed an oil change and tires rotated and washing had to be done.  They finally got done and came back and we had chicken on the grill---one of my favorite meals.

Gracie checking the chicken on the grill.

Texas to Arkansas

Downtown Dallas

This may be the train station in Dallas--not sure

After three days we have finally made it across Texas!  Tonight we are in Hot Springs Arkansas.  We are staying at the Hot Springs National Park campground.  Beautiful place and we didn't have any trouble finding a spot.  They don't take reservations so we just took a chance.  Tomorrow R&N are going to see the springs.  That means they will be near water and I won't be because I am gladly going to stay here!  It wasn't bad driving through Dallas-Fort Worth area on a Sunday morning.  We stopped for gas and Ron noticed a nail in a truck tire.  He didn't want to pull it out until we were somewhere that could fix it for us in case it was punctured   We went to a tire shop and they pulled it out-----luckily it was only about a half inch long and didn't do any damage.

This looks confusing!!

Las Curces NM to Monahan TX to Aledo TX

Sunset in the campground

My humans finally took my to a sand dune.  I've been writing about and looking at pictures of all the beautiful sand dunes they have visited and last night I got to spend the night in one!  Let me tell you all about it......

We got on the road early and drove through El Paso,Texas on our trip east.  I couldn't figure out why the houses on the left  side of the road looked so different (neater and larger) from those I could see off to the right.  Then Ron pointed out that we were looking at houses in Mexico!  Guess I didn't realize that the boarder was so close to the freeway.  We drove on through a lot of very little scenery---just flat, high desert with a few hills and mountains thrown in for good measure.  Everything seemed to be the same color---beige, except for lots of yellow flowers blooming along the roadside.

Nancy found a Texas State Park just off the freeway, so we decided to stop for the night.  What a beautiful place: Monahans Sandhills State Park.  All the campsites were along the dunes.  Nancy took lots of pictures and they ate supper outside on a table in the sand.  Nancy put me down on the ground to play a little in the sand.  I did a nose dive into it and rolled like a fool.  Next thing I knew she grabbed me and I was being dusted off the put back into the trailer.  She didn't do a very good job because when I got back into the camper all I had to do was shake a little and I could leave little sand piles all over everything!  I thought it was funny, but I don't thing neither Ron nor Nancy found the humor in it.  They were walking around muttering something about having to go buy a sweeper before they could go to bed or sit on the couch.

The wind started blowing in the night and by the time we got up in the morning we needed to turn on the heater.  When we got there the temps were 90+ and when we left they were about 50!  It didn't warm up much during the day as we drove on I-20 towards the east.  We drove past a town that had the most wind mills in the US and lots of working and new oil wells.  By the looks of all the camp trailers in make-shift parks, there are a lot of workers in the area working on new wells.  Tonight we are in Aledo, just west of Fort Worth.  As we drove today ,I noticed that we were finally seeing green again and trees big enough to give a little shade.  With the exception of San Diego and some irrigated pecan groves, it has been over two weeks since we have seen green grass and big trees!

How to grow pecans in a desert: Plant trees, hump dirt all around the field, flood field, hope trees get enough water before it all soaks into the sand.

Las Cruces New Mexico

R&N were busy today---I stayed home and took a long nap.  Good thing, because I have a lot to tell you about their day and a lot of pictures to sort out.

They drove up to White Sands National Monument and went to the museum and took the 16 mile trip on the paved road around the dunes.  The area is 275 square miles of white gypsum sand and as you can see from the pictures, beautiful.

Just on the other side of this dune J Crew was doing a photo shoot---I guess they where using these hot air balloons as props

On the way back down the mountain they stopped at the Army base at White Sands Proving Grounds and toured the museum and saw the decommissioned missiles.  The most impressive was the V-2 German missile, which, after it was liberated from the Germans in 1945, gave us the knowledge to help develop our space program.

V2 Missile, like the ones that were dropped on London in WWII

Lake Valley

 Next they decided to go ghost town hunting and they found a gem called Lake Valley.  They didn't realize that is owned by the Bureau of Land Management and they got there after it closed for the day and they couldn't look around.  It was an old silver mining town.

Before settling down for the night (and giving me my well deserved treats) the went to see Historic Mesilla, which was first settled in 1848. 

Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced to hang in this building.

Oldest documented brick building in New Mexico.
 Built in 1860.

 Tomorrow is another driving day---heading across Texas.

Casa Grande AZ to Las Cruces NM

We stopped here for lunch

To day was another travel day.  We saw rocks, desert, rocks, sand, short little palm trees and rocks.  I did see something strange------a windmill with a solar panel attached to it.  I didn't get a picture of it--darn!  I wonder if it was a wind powered solar panel or a solar powered windmill.  Either way it seems a little strange.  Maybe the person the put it up also wears suspenders with a belt.  It was cooler today, only high 90s. We are staying in Las Cruses for a couple days.  The humans want to go to White Sands National Monument and I need a nap and a couple days not looking at rocks.

Here we were not too far from the Continental Divide.  We were at about 4000 feet above sea level.

San Diego California-Casa Grande Arizona

Mountains of rocks

The Mexican boarder is the dark line neat the top of the picture

Very large Cactus

 We left SD SoCal (see---I learned to speak California!) this morning the headed East.  We got to see rocks, mountains, rocks, sand, desert, mountains, cactus, rocks, and the Imperial Valley.  Did I mention there were a lot of rocks? It was another very hot day.  Good trip and the humans were very happy to find the campground had a pool.  They met a couple from Cincinnati Ohio and spent a couple hours keeping cool in the pool, talking to them.

It actually got up to 107, but I didn't get a pic of the gauge.

Last Day in San Diego

Sunset over Mission Bay

It looks like we are moving on tomorrow.  They took one last ride around the bay and now the bikes are back on the back of the trailer and the awning is rolled up.

R&N went to San Diego Zoo Safari Park today.  They got an early start because a high of 104 degrees was predicted.  I stayed home and enjoyed the air conditioning.  They brought me some really neat pictures.  They only stayed about three hours---just too hot and there is lot of up and down hill walking in the park if you want to see anything.

The baby water buffalo is only 3 days old!

Check out the baby elephant

The Strand at Mission Beach

Busy beach!

Yesterday was a beach day.  It sorta seemed like our trips to Florida---the humans go off wearing bathing suits and carrying a packed cooler and come home smelling salty and fishy and a little sun burnt.