RV Adventures of Pete & Doll

2017-08-28T11:22:00.002-04:00

Trip Update

On our way home we experienced a blowout on the trailer. It did $3500 damage. I am very conscious of the importance of maintaining trailer tires properly. I had new tires on it. I check my tire pressures everyday before travel to be sure none are soft. At every gas stop I feel each tire and hub for excess heat while looking at general condition of the tires. I never exceed the maximum speed rating of the tires which is 65 mph.

We were in Kansas on I-70 traveling at 62 mph. Temperature was in excess of 100. I had just gassed up and made my inspection of the tires and hubs. All looked good. The tire exploded a few minutes after leaving the gas station. It looked as though someone took a hatchet and chopped the tire in two.
The tire dealer said it looked like damage from an impact. I hadn't run over any curbs or hit any big pot holes as I recall but the Pilot gas station I had stopped at had huge holes all over the parking lot cause by trucks. Maybe with the tires hot from the road and driving over these holes damage was done although I did go very slowly over them.

The blowout ripped off the sewer connection. All the gray water dumped on the road. Fortunately, the black tank value remained intact or I would have had a big mess. A trooper who witnessed the blowout stopped to be sure we could get help and make sure our truck was running and we had water. With the temperature over 100 he wanted to be sure we would be ok sitting along the road waiting for help. I would never try to change a tire with traffice flying by at speeds well in excess of the speed limit. I called road service. They came out with a truck with emergency lights that helped move people over into the other lane. Some jerks still flew by just inches away from him. I was very nervous but he didn't seem to mind.

This really spoiled the rest of the trip home. It dampened our spirits on traveling across country with a travel trailer again. We saw many trailers and 5th wheels on our trip with blowouts. ST tires just don't seem to hold up like truck or car tires do. I can't imagine car and truck tires blowing out this often. They have to endure high heat and pot holes but seem to be better made. With everything made in China today who knows what kind of quality control there is on products made there.

My insurance covered the repairs. I had to pay my $500 deductible. I took the trailer to North Trail RV in Ft. Myers, Florida for repairs. They did a very good job. The trailer looks like new. They told me they are seeing a very large increase in blowout damage in the past few years. They said it isn't only travel trailers but large Class A units also.

2017-07-08T23:37:00.003-04:00

Heading Home

We left Perry's RV park this morning. We enjoyed our stay there even though we had to wait for a part for the hitch. The owners were very nice people. They held a spot open for us until they knew we had all our repairs made. I would stay there again. The park has many sites along Rock Creek. The creek is a very vigorous flowing stream this time of year with all the snow melt. Our campsite was not near the stream. I don't sleep well in deep valleys with streams. Too many times there have been flash floods during the night. In some cases people have been swept away.

We hit the road playing one of our favorite gospel albums. We seldom listen to music. We like the peace and quiet but today we felt like some spiritual inspiration. We sang along and felt so blessed to be able to do what we do. It has been a blessing to see and do so many things the past few years. God has been good to us.

We passed right by the Battle of the Little Big Horn Memorial. You know, where Custer got sacked by all those Indians. It is in the middle of the Crow Reservation which seems quite fitting. Custer was not a nice guy. His big head cost the lives of many good men. I wanted to stop and tour the Memorial as I am a history buff now. Darlie wasn't so eager to stop. It was too hot to leave the dogs in the truck and she didn't want to spend the night nearby so I could go. I was disappointed but maybe I will get this way again.

Our plan has been to take a loop around Colorado before heading back home. We changed that plan today. We are tired. The dogs are tired. We miss the comfort of home. Buster hasn't been eating very well. He has lost some weight. He vomits a few times a week. I think it is nerves. I think he misses home too. Last night the dogs got an unusual treat though. A small herd of deer walked right through our campsite. They went nuts. What were these strange beasts.

Red Road

We traveled I-90 to I-25. Eastern Wyoming is very BORING. There is no nice scenery. No buildings, cows or other animals just rolling dirt piles with scrawny brush on them. It was hot too, 95 degrees. No humidity like Florida though.

Tonight we are in Casper, WY. We will try to make it home by next weekend. It all depends on how long I feel like I can drive. The plains are very boring too. I wish I could put it on auto pilot and sleep across Kansas.

2017-07-07T16:52:00.001-04:00

For those who may be interested, here is a video showing what has happened to our hitch. One of the outstanding features of a Hensley hitch is its tight turning radius of 82 degrees, almost a jackknife.

If I turn tighter than that the Hensley is designed to save itself by allowing a bracket to slide on the frame rail. The bracket didn't slide as it should so I bent my strut. Hensley has a lifetime warranty on all parts of their hitches so they replaced it free of charge. Watch the video to understand just what happened.

The weather here in Red Lodge is very predictable each day. The mountains behind us produce their own weather. It is sunny and bright every morning but by about 1:30pm big black clouds begin to form over the mountain tops. Soon it is blowing and raining. Sometimes there is hail thrown in. Within a few hours the sun is back out again. The soil is so sandy here nothing stays wet for long.
The weather reminds me of our summer thunderstorms back in Florida. You can count on them about the same time everyday.

We finally received our replacement strut for the hitch. It is now 2:00pm. Too late to start out so we will stay another night here and get an early start tomorrow. The people who own this campground have been very helpful and gracious. They made sure we had a spot tonight if our part didn't arrive on time. They book solid on weekends so that was real nice of them.

When we stopped these goats started running towards the truck. Do you suppose people feed them?

If it hadn't started raining, I would take Darlie down to a dude ranch for a horseback ride. She has wanted to do that. I guess that will have to wait until next trip. She is in taking a nap now anyhow so I doubt she would want to interrupt that.

Darlie wanted you to see the baby goat.

Last night we went to the Carbon County Steakhouse. Darlie wanted some good western beef.
The restaurant was very nice and the food was tasty however, I think I get a better steak at Texas Longhorn Steakhouse in Ft. Myers. I had a ribeye that was pretty chewy for the cut. Darlie had a NY strip. The steaks were flavorful but chewy. They last longer that way though and you burn calories while you eat. You know, with all the chewing.

Mountain Lake

The night before we went to the recommended Red Lodge Cafe for some home cooking. Be both got the daily special, chicken fried steak.......why haven't I learned after all these years? The steaks were burnt on one side. I think the cook forgot to flip them. They smothered the burnt side with dark gravy as though that would hide it. We should have sent it back. We choked it down and regretted it later. So much for home cooking.

There is a steady stream of motorcycles going by the campground headed for the twists and turns of Beartooth Pass. I would love to ride mine up over there. Darlie said she would go with me. It is too scary. There is a motorcycle shop in town called Bone Daddy's custom motorcycles. I wonder if he rents them?

I will put a few more photos of our ride up the Beartooth just to add some color. We have spent the day here waiting for our part. Now it's raining so I doubt we will do much else today.......unless of course we head to town for more home cooking.

2017-07-06T23:39:00.000-04:00

Bad to Worse

Wow! How fast a fun day can turn into a bad day. We met a guy who used to live in Red Lodge, MT. He asked if we have ever been there. We hadn't. He said we needed to drive the Bear Tooth Pass into Yellowstone. The scenery is fantastic.

We were headed back East but decided to detour to Red Lodge. We saw a state park on the map and decided to camp there for the night and drive the pass in the morning. We turned onto a paved county road headed towards the park. After about 3 miles the pavement turned to washboard dirt and dust. There was no place to turn around for 15 miles. The road took a toll on everything. The camper was a disaster inside. Cupboards had come open and dumped their contents and it looked like a dust bomb had gone off inside. Fortunately there was no real damage to the trailer. However, the jarring did break a major component of my hitch. We didn't discover it until we pulled into a campground in Red Lodge. It is a wonder we made it here.

At the summit. Mountains in the background are in Yellowstone NP.

53 feet shy of 11,000 feet.

Both of us at the summit.

I called the manufacturer a to see if I could get the part overnighted to me. They said they could do that. So hopefully it will arrive here Friday morning so we can get out of here. This campground is reserved to capacity over the weekend so we have to move one way or the other. So that makes it a little tense.

Messing in the snow.

Me and Buster messing in the snow.

Lots of snow.

With the part ordered, we decided to take the drive over the Bear Tooth. I'm so glad we did. It lifted our spirits. The mountains were absolutely beautiful. This is the only entrance to Yellowstone we had not taken. It is not recommended to drive a motor home over this pass. With the truck it was a piece of cake.

Very friendly mountain goats.

Darlie was snapping pictures the whole way. A photo just can't capture the scene though. You have to witness it. On our way back, the skies over the mountains turned black and it began to rain and hail. The weather changes very rapidly here.

Hmmmmm. Mountain wisdom.

The kids are missing home. You can see it in their eyes. They are tired of riding and living in these cramped quarters. Mom and Dad are getting tired too so I guess when we get things fixed we will head home. It has been fun. We saw and experienced things we had missed on past trips. We have left a few unexplored places just in case we are crazy enough to do this again next year.

One last view of the mountains.

2017-07-04T23:25:00.000-04:00

Bummer of a Day

We decided to leave our beautiful campground and go up to see Virginia City, Nevada City and Ruby mountain area. The route we followed was close to one followed by Lewis and Clark. We came to what is known as The Beaver Head. It was named by the Shoshone Indians because it resembles a beaver swimming with it's head out of water. Sacajawea, who was traveling as a guide to the expedition, recognized the landmark from her childhood. She and another native girl were kidnapped at the age of 16 by another tribe in the east. She told Lewis that her people lived in the valley of the beaver head. It was here she met her brother who had become chief. It was a joyful reunion and a beneficial one to the expedition as her brother supplied them with horses for the rest of the journey.

It is a neat experience to stand where such notable people in our history once stood.
In later years a stagecoach station occupied this spot.

We stopped at what looked like a nice campground from the road. I paid for one night. We didn't think we would find that much of interest around here. When we got to our campsite we were very unimpressed. Campers were packed in so tightly when I opened my pickup door it was under the awning of the camper next to us. Fortunately the folks were friendly. I would not recommend this place though it is typical of many places with a tourist trap nearby.

Virginia City and Nevada City are nothing like Bannock. They are jam packed with tourist and tourist trap attractions. The streets were filled with people browsing tee shirt shops and gift shops.

We drove through, turned around and drove back. Virginia City and Nevada City are only a mile and a half apart. They were gold rush towns that sprung up when gold was discovered in Alder Gulch. They had a wild history like most of these places. Stories about who shot who and things like that.

The place looked very staged compared to Bannock.

We drove back to Nevada City. Darlie insisted we stop somewhere to eat. So we did. Another mistake. We stopped at the Star Restaurant. They had a 4th of July special going on. You had your choice of a hotdog, hamburger or pulled pork sandwich with potato salad for just $9.50. Darlie got the burger. It was one of those formed things you get in a box in the freezer section. I had the pulled pork. It was about 2 ounces of pork on a hamburger bun. We each had iced tea which was $2.25 per glass. We both belched for the rest of the afternoon.

Yuck!

As we drove out of town we saw the only authentic looking building alongside the road. It had piles of junk piled around it and lots of cut lumber that looked like it was set out to age. I suppose so they could build more authentic buildings.

Once a nice place.

We spent the rest of the day here at the campground visiting with neighbors. I made us a nice grilled steak dinner and it didn't cost $23.00 either. We looked at the map trying to decide where to head next. I guess we will go east a bit and then drop down to Colorado for awhile. That could change very quickly though so stay tuned.

2017-07-04T00:17:00.000-04:00

Found one

Crystal Park

Today we went to crystal park. It is a piece of land located in National Forest land. It is open to the public to dig for crystals. We had never done anything like that before so we thought it would be fun.

I stopped at the hardware store to buy a small shovel, a hand rake, gloves and a screen box to shake the dirt out of the stones.

The miner

The ride out to the park is 42 miles from our campground. The road passes through some of the most scenic countryside in southwestern Montana. The fields and woods were covered with wildflowers.

As we wound our way up the mountain, the temperature dropped several degrees. It has been very mild here with very low humidity. Even temperatures in the mid 80s is very pleasant. On top of the mountain it was 74.

The mole

Wildflowers

One drawback of the crystal park is the hordes of misquitos that inhabit the area. They are so thick you can hardly breathe. We wore long pants and shirts as we had been warned. We took a can of deep woods Off with us too. With a heavy application of bug juice they were held at bay but they were ever buzzing around you.

Some of or find

We found some nice crystals. A couple of them were very nice. We dug and raked until we were ready to drop. Neither of us have worked so hard in years. We were filty. We looked like two buffalos that just finished rolling in dust. As we were leaving the park, a young couple with kids passed by us. We heard her say to her husband, "those peoplle are really into this." We looked like seasoned veterans for sure. Little did they know it was our first experience. I don't know how you would find many without getting dirty. We did meet one lady you picked up a very large crystal that was just lying on top of th ground.

One of our best finds

Tomorrow we will move up to Alder. It is the site of another big gold strike in Montana. There are two very touristy ghost towns in that area; Nevada City and Virginia City. We will visit those and check out Ruby Resivour where it is reported that small rubies can be found in the sands along the shoreline. Hopefully it won't be as dirty adventure.

Another nice one

2017-07-02T23:26:00.000-04:00

Bannock State Park

Saturday morning we set out for Bannock State Park. It is an historic ghost town that has been preserved by the state. It isn't one of those touristy spots like Virginia City, MT that is filled with the usual tourist trap attractions. Bannock is in its original condition. You walk the streets like they did when it was inhabited. Most of the buildings are open for you to explore.

Main Street

Bannock was the first territorial capitol of Montana. Abraham Lincoln established the Montana territory in an attempt to bring law and order to the area. Bannock was first a gold rush town in the frontier. It drew the usual people seeking to get rich with a gold strike. Merchants and tradesmen followed.

Site of the first Governors Mansion. I guess they didn't think too much of him.

The community had a strong Masonic influence. One of the most striking buildings in town is the Masonic Temple. The building also housed the school. The second floor of the building still has the Masonic carpet on the floor that was there when the building was built. Masons still maintain the temple. It is closed to the public but you can view the room through the windows.

Masonic Temple and school.

A circuit preacher known as Preacher Van came to the town, walked into the saloon and asked the bartender if he could quiet the place down for a minute. The bartender whistled and the place when silent. Preacher Van began to sing a hymn. Everyone was taken by it. The bartender said the place was closed for business for one hour while Preacher Van sang and preached. Entertainment was hard to come by in this remote area so all the patrons were happy for the singing and religion.
Later Preacher Van was instrumental for having the Methodist Church built.

Methodist Church.

The town elected a man by the name of Henry Plummer as sheriff even though he was wanted for murder and had spent a few years in San Quentin prison. Sheriff Plummer pretty much ran things with a bunch of thugs as deputies. One day he was in the saloon when a patron was making a big ruckus about something. Plummer got tired of listening to the argument and shot the guy in cold blood. The community didn't hold it against him.

The Saloon

He and his deputies were responsible for robberies and other crimes in the area. Finally a group of vigilantes formed to put an end to the Sheriffs reign of terror. Sheriff Plummer had built a gallows and a jail house. The gallows were the only sight prisoners could see out the little window on the jail.
When the vigilantes caught Plummer and his deputies, they hanged him from the gallows he built. His last request was that they would give him a good drop.

Jailhouse

A county courthouse was built in 1875 but in 1881 the county seat was moved to Dillon. Dillon had experienced growth and influence when the railroad came though the area. The Bannock courthouse remained vacant for over ten years until it was bought and converted to a hotel.

County courthouse. Later the Meade Hotel

Eventually, the gold ran out. Most people left town but many stayed on. The town had occupants as late as the 1950s. Concerned Montanans wanted to preserve the historic town. Property was bought up and donated to the state as long as the town was kept in its original condition and not turned into a tourist attraction like other nearby ghost towns.

Old mining equipment

Pan old tailings. Found two specks and a half dozen garnets.

We enjoyed our look into life on the Montana frontier. We didn't see any ghosts but in your mind you could hear the sounds of a gold rush town in its prime.

Darlie had to visit the dentist at the drug store.

The kids are having a ball. New smells and adventures.

Kids say howdy.

2017-07-01T00:08:00.003-04:00

We left Arco this morning and drove across some of the most boring land I have ever seen. It was a huge valley that went off into infinity framed by distant mountain peaks. Darlie searched the landscape for wildlife. Nothing. We went through a village (according to the sign) of Reno. There was nothing there but a large house, a pioneer cemetery and a beautiful village park with a pond, benches, playground and swans swimming on the pond. Not a soul around anywhere. Very strange.

We arrived in Dillon around 1:00pm. We are at Countryside RV park near town. It is a very beautiful park. It is packed with the holiday weekend upon us. I'm glad I made reservations. I called around to other RV parks for Sunday and Monday but they were all full. Fortunately, this place has an opening for us so I reserved two more days.

We went into town for lunch. We found the neatest place. It is called Sparky's 1950s Garage. It is decorated with all kinds of memorabilia from the 50s. It was a very cool place. One table was in the bed of an old pickup truck. I had chicken BBQ and Darlie had a gigantic mushroom and Swiss burger. The food was very good.

We asked our server what things we should see in the area. She was a local girl and didn't think anything was that interesting about her little town. But I pressed her saying what is common to her may be a treasure to us. She opened up. She told us about a small village museum, a crystal park, Virginia City, Nevada City and Bannock State Park. We knew about Bannock. It is a fantastic place we will visit tomorrow.

Sparky's

After lunch we drove into town to see the museum. It was a very cool place with many farm implements from the late 1800s, a fully supplied school house from the period, a log cabin built by some of the original pioneers in this area and a shepherd's cook wagon. The cook wagon was the forerunner of today's travel trailer. It had a bed, kitchen, living area and a wood stove.

Truck bed table.

As we were leaving the museum, I managed to back into a truck parked behind me. I put a small dent in the side of it. It was parked in front of a real estate office. I went in to see if they knew who the truck belonged too. The lady at the desk said it was hers. She went out with me to see the damage.
She was very gracious and was very kind. We exchanged info and wished each other well and I was off.

Shepherd's wagon.

We spent the rest of the day walking the dogs around the park and sitting outside enjoying the cool weather. Darlie went in to take a nap but the dogs wouldn't leave her alone. They all got on the bed and did all they could to keep her awake.

No nap today.

Tomorrow I will go into the local hardware to buy a small shovel and gloves to use up at the crystal park. It is a mining area open to the pubic. They find all kinds of semiprecious gem stones and crystals there. That should be a fun activity.

2017-06-29T18:59:00.001-04:00

Nap time for Muffie.

Craters of the Moon

We didn't see any green men or the old man in the moon but we did see a lot of cinders and hardened lava. Craters of the Moon is an unusual place. The most recent eruption was about 2000 years ago. I'm not sure how they determine these things. It is a guess based on how much vegetation has grown back.

The visitor center had a video which describes how it is believed this volcanic area was formed. It was quite interesting. It showed rock formations we see here in Craters compared to rock formations found on live volcanos in Hawaii. The comparison helped you understand the various structures you see here.

Take me to your leader.

These volcanos emitted vast quantities of cinders along with lava. Walking around here reminded me of our driveway at home where I grew up. We had cinders for a driveway topping. The crunch, crunch, crunch as you walked brought back memories.

I climbed to the top of this cinder cone. That little spec you see at the top is me.
Quite a hike for an old man. That wasn't even the top. I had to go up another section like this.

There are lava tubes you can enter to view the bats that live there. I opted to pass on that hike. It was over a mile and I was pooped from the cinder cone deal. As we walked through various areas you could see where lava tubes had collapsed. There was a hollow area beneath them where lava once ran.

The Green Man! I'll be darned. I missed it.

The video showed lava carrying large pieces of rock down the mountain as the cone collapsed as lava spewed out. Sometimes these pieces of rock were carried long distances.

Another example of these "floaters"

We met a woman who had just visited Mt. St. Helens. She said it was a disappointment as you were not allowed close to it. I guess there is still some activity there. She said this area is completely different from there though. I guess Mt. St. Helens spewed ash rather than cinders. I've seen the ash in Guatemala. It was light like styrofoam. People there dug it out of the hillsides to use as bedding. A bucket of it wouldn't weigh a pound.

Wildflowers on the cinders. We missed the best bloom of the wildflowers.

We will leave here tomorrow and head for Dillon. There isn't much else to see around here. There is a museum of atomic energy up the road but it didn't look to interesting. I don't know if they mine uranium around here or what but there is a lot of of things making reference to atomic energy. I tried to ask someone about it but couldn't find a local with much knowledge.

Another piece of rock hahaha.

2017-06-28T18:08:00.001-04:00

We've been getting bugged!

Darlie had a bug for a couple of days. She feels better now but still not 100%. This morning I woke up with the same affliction. We almost decided to stay another day. In a couple of hours I felt better so we moved on.

We drove over to Arco, ID. We are camped in a nice park there. It is near Craters of the Moon national monument. We will drive there tomorrow to check it out. Darlie decided to do some more laundry today. All the doggy clothes and blankets needed washing. We were starting to smell like a kennel according to Darlie. I can't smell anything. Some people think I'm nuts to have 3 dogs anyhow. I say so what! I like what I like and you can like anything you want. I might think your likes are just as ridiculous as you think mine are. So there! Thank God we aren't all alike. It would be a boring world.

While she was down to the laundry here in the campground, we had a real bad hail storm. It piled up an inch or so deep. The noise of the hail hitting the top of the camper terrified the dogs. They went hiding under the bed. After the storm I went down to see what Darlie thought of it. She said she didn't hear any hail. She just thought it was raining hard. Ear wax, I think.

It's a rare sight to see ice next to a Florida tag.

2017-06-27T23:02:00.000-04:00

We are on the move again. We stayed over at Gros Ventre an extra day. Darlie has not felt well for a couple of days. She spent the whole day Monday sleeping. She is feeling better today. She even felt like going out to dinner tonight.

We drove over to Idaho Falls, ID. so I could get the truck serviced. It was time for an oil change and fuel filter change. They gave the truck a clean bill of health saying it was 100%. After the service stop I made a stop at the local Walmart Supercenter. It was a brand new store and very busy. It is the first stop we have made for major resupply. We packed about all we could from home before we left. The freezer finally had some room in it for new things.

We are parked at the Snake River RV park tonight. It is a busy place and it is packed. Our site is one of the tightest we have ever had. My slide out is almost touching the awning of the trailer next to me. We will only be here one night.

We have reservations this weekend in Dillon, MT. It is the busy holiday weekend. We didn't want to be left without a campsite over the weekend. Until then, we thought we would drive over to the Craters of the Moon national monument here in Idaho. I guess it is a large lava bed from an ancient volcano. I know there are many hot springs in Idaho which is evidence of its volcanic past.

For my Florida friends: the temperatures here are low 70 daytime and mid 40s at night. Beautiful cool dry weather. People around here are complaining about the heat. I saw several people carrying fans out of Walmart. I find all that quite humorous.

Beautiful yellow fields in Idaho.

Idaho is a very fertile farming state. Of course we all know about the famous Idaho potatoes. They are also a leading wheat producer. We don't know what this yellow bloomed crop was. The plants sort of looked like some kind of peas.

2017-06-25T19:13:00.003-04:00

What the fancy RV sales brochures don't show you.

We have been camped at Gros Ventre for a week. We love this place. We have wide open campsites with nature all around us. We have seen a cow moose and a bull moose right behind us. A mule deer buck, still in velvet walks by every evening following the same trail. He passed 20 feet ahead of us last night when I was walking the dogs.

This tank is called a Smart Tote. I haven't seen it do a smart thing yet. I handles the nasty job of dumping waste when you are not on full hookups.

The downside to this park is you don''t have full hookups meaning you lack water and a sewer connection at your site. You have to dump waste at a dump station near the entrance and you have to fill water jugs and bring it back to fill the trailer holding tank. It isn't a real big deal for me. Some would pass a place like this by because of it though. It is their loss. You don't find the setting we have in full hookup parks.

Oops, a little spill there.

We will move on tomorrow, reluctantly. The weather here has been beautiful with low 70s days and 40 degree nights. I am glad I packed a huge blanket Darlie bought some time ago. I call it the wooly mammoth hide. The thing is over an inch thick. I don't know what she was thinking buying a blanket like that for Florida. We never could use it there. But as we were loading up I remembered we had it. I put it in the trailer just in case we hit some real cool weather. It has been my lifesaver this week. Darlie loves the cold and sleeps with no covers while I am buried under the mammoth hide and two other blankets. I hate to crawl out from under it in the morning. Darlie won't let me set the heat above 50.

Cleaning up the spill.

I need to get the truck oil changed and have my exhaust brake checked. It doesn't seem to be working. We will head over to Idaho Falls to a Ford dealer there. We reserved a couple of nights in Dillon, MT for this next weekend. There is an old ghost town there that is now a state park. The town is called Bannack. It used to be the capitol of Montana back in the 1860. From what I read the buildings are in remarkably good condition so you can walk through them. We may head up into Canada after that and make our way back east. We may spend some time around Lake Superior before heading back south. It will be hard to face that heat and humidity again though.

2017-06-24T12:59:00.002-04:00

Something Stinks

Yesterday after Darlie came out of the bathroom she said, "something stinks." I replied, "should I be surprised?" She said, "No. Really. Something stinks." I mixed up some of the brew we put down the toilet to deal with such matters. When I poured it in and flushed, it blasted right back out at me. We must have a back up.

Our camp

For those who have no idea how an RV toilet works, it is basically a hole that leads to a tank under the floor. When you push the flush peddle the contents drop down this hole into the tank. There happens to be an elbow that can catch matter and plug things up. After astute analysis of the situation I determined that is what has happened to our system. The problem now is that our toilet isn't like the one at home where you pull out the plunger and pump away. This toilet has no water in it. You have to run water in to the bowl with the foot peddle partially depressed adding enough to successfully wash deposits down the hole. Our problem occurred when one of us didn't fill the bowl sufficiently to accomplish the job.

Black Eyed Susan

So how do you handle a situation like this? Well you could put on a rubber glove and probe down in the hole to see if you can dislodge the clog. That idea quickly gave me a mental image of an arm stuck in said hole. I could imagine rescue personnel coming in to extract me laughing uncontrollably as they discussed how to get me loose. I quickly shelved that idea.

I decided to cut a piece off one of our water hoses and use it like a rotor router to dislodge the clog. It worked. I hated to ruin a perfectly good hose to accomplish this but the bright side is I have a handy dislodging tool for the next back up.

Teton Sunset

We have always enjoyed viewing wildlife out here in the west. Yellowstone and Grand Tetons always teams with such critters causing traffic jams as people leap from their cars to take pictures.

This year however, we have been unable to locate many animals. Where have they gone? A park ranger said the predators had a very good winter. Since the reintroduction of wolves to these parks the number of elk has dropped dramatically. Rangers claim they were too numerous and numbers had to be reduced for the health of the herd.

Fat and Happy

We have been leaving just before sunset and driving back roads to known areas where elk and other wildlife can be seen. There has been little to see. We drove 70 miles last night until after dark searching for elk. Places where we had seen them in the past failed to produce. Darlie, armed with her camera, was on alert the whole time hoping to get that perfect shot. Our efforts produced one photo of a distant elk.

We see more wildlife in our backyard than we have seen here this trip. It is difficult to imagine so many thousands of acres of land without anything visible. We saw a few birds and ground squirrels and the herd of buffalo that occupy the same field day and night along the Rt 191. At home I see alligators, otters, raccoons, opossums, herons, ibis, lizards and even a green iguana now and then right out my back window. The plus side though is that it is much cooler here right now. We were down into the 30s last night.

Western Bluebird

We have enjoyed our week here traveling dirt roads exploring. The view of the mountains changes with the day. We love it here. But time has come to move on. We have no destination in mind. We think we will wander over into Idaho. I need to get an oil change and have my exhaust brake checked. This area has little to offer in those kinds of services. We will probably go to Idaho Falls or somewhere nearby to find a Ford dealer for service. I made reservations for July 4th weekend in Dillon, MT. . We don't want to find ourselves without a place to stay over the busy holiday. There are a few things in that area to explore while we are there. From there who knows? We have traveled this area extensively so there are few new things to go see. We will just bump along until we find something interesting.

2017-06-21T22:33:00.000-04:00

The Grand Tetons.

This is the glacier on the Tetons. Not what I would call a glacier after seeing them in Canada and Alaska.

The Kids say hello.

We have been on the road quite a lot this visit to Grand Tetons. Before we had the motorhome without a car so we were limited to places we could go. We have been hitting the backroads to get a closer look at this fantastic place.

View from our site.

We are so pleased with our campsite here. It is set amongst cotton wood trees, sagebrush and green grasses of various kinds. A moose makes it's bed out back of us. The campsites are widely spaced also so you feel like you are actually camping unlike a stay at the KOA. I don't know how to describe a stay at a KOA. It certainly isn't camping.

Moose in the backyard.

We ventured up into some National Forest land that borders the NP. The mountains were very beautiful. Many mountains here have patches of pink or lavender streaks on them. They remind me of a ripening peach. Came upon a lake called Slide Lake. A huge part of the mountain slid down in a landslide damming up the Gros Ventre River forming the lake. The scare on the mountain side is still very visible and looks like it was recent but it occurred in 1925.

The Slide

Slide Lake with Lavender Hills in background.

We came across an old homestead probably used sometime around 1862 when Congress passed the Homestead Act. Darlie had to get inside to check out the kitchen. Little did she know then she was standing in a patch of stinging nettles. They sting like a jellyfish.

See the nettles?

The homestead

In the park are the remains of a Mormon family settlement. The buildings are in pretty good shape being they are well over a hundred years old.

Barn on Mormon homestead.

Another barn on the property

Cabin on Mormon homestead.

We found a quiet place to sit next to this stream.

We traveled up Signal Mountain. It was similar to climbing Mt. Washington in New Hampshire.

Wildflowers on Signal Mountain

If I look grumpy it's because I don't like drop offs.
View from Signal Mountain.

My bride with Tetons in the background. I took this photo and it looks pretty washed out.

Oxbow Bend. One of the most photographed places in the world.

2017-06-19T23:53:00.002-04:00

Grand Teton NP

We left the Snowy Range in the rearview mirror and headed toward the Tetons. We took Rt 289 out of Rawlins, WY. We have never been this way before. The scenery was absolutely stunning. Wide desert valleys stretching as far as the eye can see was an awesome sight.

We made our way to Dubois, WY where we spent the night. I paid the most I have ever paid for a dry campsite (one without water and electric), $40. We first stopped at the KOA but it had been flooded so most of their available sites were water damaged. They referred us to this other place. The site we had had been flooded a few days before. Fortunately, it was a hard gravel site.

We were up early on Monday and on the road before 8:00am. We were headed for Gro Ventre campground in Teton NP. We have stayed there before. It is situated along the Gro Ventre River. It is a very large campground in a woods setting. We have a moose lying in the grass behind our trailer today.

We wanted to arrive early in hopes of getting one of the few electric sites they have. Most sites are dry. We did manage to get one of two that were available. We have a generator but having power at the site saves work and a generator can only be run certain hours.

We ventured out into the park later in the day looking for wildlife. We saw the usual buffalo and pronghorns but nothing else. We found a nice quiet sitting area next to the Snake River at the end of Schawbacker Landing Rd.. We sat there listening to the water as it rustled by. We had the Tetons in the background which made the perfect setting.

I think the Grand Tetons is the most beautiful place in America. The Teton mountains spring up out of a very wide sagebrush covered valley. There are no foothills to block the view as with other mountains.

2017-06-17T22:51:00.000-04:00

Snowy Range

Today we took a drive up into the Snowy Range. The highest peak in the range is a little over 1200 feet. There is still many feet of snow up there. Some campgrounds were still buried under 20 feet of snow. The ranger said some won't be open until mid-July. We were hoping to find a NFS campsite for a day or two but there was nothing available.

Standing on 20 feet of snow

The trip up passes through open range. We saw many pronghorn and mule dear. The mule dear were in velvet. It makes their horns look real fat. They were running across the range for who knows where. It is open land as far as you can see. It really is incredible land. It is so open and huge.

Pronghorn

We passed by a Wyoming gated community. Homesites were 40 acres apiece. There was a huge arch and iron gate at the entrance. It is odd to look out over the range and see houses spaced so far apart. Not that is my idea of a gated community. You don't have grass to mow or trees to trim either. I bet it is really cold in the winter.

Pups seemed to enjoy cold wind

As we climbed up the mountains, the temperature dropped from 70 degrees in Laramie to 45 at the pass. The wind up there was blowing so hard you could hardly stand up. It had to be 60 mph.

I lost my hat many times. Once it would have been gone forever but it hung up in some brush.

You couldn't take a breath facing the wind. You had to turn away from it or the wind pushed your breath back down your throat.

Wind was tough on hair dos

We passed through the old frontier town of Centennial. They had a small area with the old train station and some old buildings and equipment that were once used there.

Medicine Bow peak

There is a lot of logging going on in the National Forest. The pine bark beetle has killed most of the trees. It is very sad to see this. The mountains are covered with dead spruce trees and lodge pole pines. Some areas have been closed because the hazard of falling trees is so great. I am glad I saw the west before the trees died. It will take decades to regrow. The ranger told me the logs are being sawn for lumber. The ranger station ceiling was made from beetle logs. It was very beautiful. So I guess that is a very small silver lining. The campgrounds are stark and ugly though. Once the campgrounds were in deep forest. Now they are open lots with tree stumps. It is sad to see. The trees had to be removed because the danger was too great that one could fall on campers.

One of our last stops was at Medicine Bow peak. It is the site of a United Airlines crash in 1955. All 69 people on board perished. It was one of the largest ever airline disasters at that time. Back then, airlines often operated by visual flight rules and flew below 10,000 feet as they didn't have pressurized cabins on all flights. This particular flight was bound from Denver to Laramie when it hit the fog enshrouded Medicine Bow peak. There is a monument in memory of the flight.

Monument at Medicine Bow peak

We came back to Laramie for a late lunch. There isn't much of a selection of restaurants here other than the standard franchise outfits. We ate at Perkins. Yuck! Laramie is a city with communities on both sides of the tracks literally. On one side you have the University and the assorted buildings and residences you would expect. On the other side of the track it is all mobil home communities and apartment buildings. That happens to be where the KOA is located also.

Mountain Wild Flowers

Laramie is a worthy place to visit. If you like nature, hiking, fishing, rafting and viewing wildlife this is a good place to spend a few days.

Snowed In

2017-06-16T22:53:00.000-04:00

Laramie, WY

Today was interesting. We lumbered on across Nebraska. Gone was the corn and grain elevators. Grazing cattle and even some lamas filled the fields along the road. We had entered the high plains. Off in the distance we could see the snowy peaks of Rock Mountain NP.

Shortly after crossing into Wyoming the wind began to pick up. Warning signs stated winds were gusting to 45+. My gas mileage dropped from my usual 12.7 to 8 mpg. We were towing a big sail into the wind. Darlie though my bed cover was going to be ripped off the truck. We stopped and secured it better. I couldn't open the door against the wind. I have never been on the road in this kind of wind. I guess it is very common in this area.

Tonight we are camped at the Laramie KOA. The trailer is rocking around pretty good. We are just happy to be off the road and relaxing. We made a run into town to pick up some things. This is an old western cow town. There are some interesting things to see here.

Darlie got out to ask for directions. She went up to an old pick up. An old guy with a scruffy beard was more than obliged to help a damsel in need. Darlie got back into the truck laughing. She said she had never met anyone like that before. He was an old cowboy. See asked if there was a Walmart around. He said there was but it was way outside of town like you were going to Cheyenne. She asked about how many miles out. He said or gosh 4 or 5. I guess that would be along ride on a horse.

I finally got to wash the truck. It was a mess. It was bug blasted and covered with road grime.

Tomorrow we will ride up into the Snowy Range to look around. There are some National Forest Service campgrounds up there. We want to see if we can get our rig in there. Sometimes the roads are too narrow and curvy. We will check out some of the other interesting sites in the area too.

We finally found beautiful weather. It is in the low 70s and overnight is supposed to be in the 40s.

We have the windows open with the breeze blasting through.

2017-06-15T20:48:00.001-04:00

Boy, another very boring day. They call it the plains for a reason. Nebraska is a very long state with very few features to draw your attention. Grain elevators and corn is about all we saw today.

We spent the day on I-80 only to make this go by faster. It is interesting though that this route follows in the footsteps of the Oregon Trail. The trail split west of here depending on where folks were headed. Some on to Oregon, others to Salt Lake and still others on to the gold camps in central California. I-80 follows the route those seeking fortune in the gold camps would have followed. It passes very near Donner Pass in California where the Donner Family was stranded in the winter. It is said they ate the dead to survive. It is a horrible story.

I have read quite a bit about those who traveled these trails. They laid everything on the line to find a better life. Many died along the way. I forget how many graves there were per mile of the trail but it was high. Much of what they left home with was jettisoned along the way because oxen died or mountains were too steep to haul the heavy loads to the top. I can only imagine the tears that mark this trail. I'm sure most of those tears belonged to women. Children died. Family heirlooms were discarded along the way. Loved ones back home would never be seen again.

Most don't realize those on the trail walked most of the way. The wagons carried supplies leaving little room for human cargo. Plus the added weight would have added to the load the oxen had to pull. Can you imagine walking all day chasing kids, building fires, cooking meals, washing clothes in a stream not to mention the many unknown terrors that lie ahead. I'm sure most of those tears belonged to women. I have an awesome respect for those people I never knew. They were courageous strong people.

Enough of that for today. Not sure about tomorrow's route. We are in Ogallala, NE tonight. We have the choice to continue on 80 into Wyoming tomorrow or to follow Rt 26 along the North Fork of the Platt River to waypoints on the trail such as Chimney Rock. Tune in to see.

2017-06-14T22:03:00.000-04:00

Got on the road just about 9:00am. I dumped our tanks in the Hermann City Campground before we left. The dump station tank was filled to the top. I was afraid all my "stuff" wasn't going to go down. What would I do then with a hose full of poop? I waited patiently and it slowly took it. I was worried for a few minutes.

Camped on the Missouri River just over the Nebraska line tonight. It was a very long hot day. We left Florida looking for cooler weather but we haven't found it yet. We are in a State Recreation Area tonight. It is primitive but there is electric hook up. I am glad for that because it would be a very uncomfortable night without it.

Missouri River

We left Hermann just in time from the weather report we are getting from our friends in Bellflower. They are expecting severe thunderstorms tonight with possible hail. I hope they get the much needed rain but no hail. That would be very bad indeed.

We had a small problem tonight when we pulled in here. I reversed my Hensley hitch. I know you have no idea what that means but it is a pain to fix. I basically have to disassemble the hitch and reinstall it. It was a nice hot greasy job but it is done. Now I just hope it is adjusted properly. If not the trailer will not pull right.

A guy from Oregon pulled in here tonight. He spent last night in Casper, WY area. They had sever wind storms all night. He had to move his RV for fear it was going to flip over. He said portions of the interstate were shut down too due to the wind. I guess it gusted up to 70mph. The place we are in tonight had a sever thunderstorm early this morning with very high wind. Many limbs are lying around. We had to move some off our site to park. We parked far enough from the trees that they wouldn't fall on us if there is another storm. They are cotton wood trees which are very brittle and split easily.

Telling fish tales

This recreation area has a very busy boat ramp. Everyone is out fishing for flathead catfish. According to the guy in the photo above they run over 100 pounds in the Missouri River. He had a photo of a large one he caught recently. I asked him how many he had today. He said he threw them all back. Likely story.

We will head up towards Scotts Bluff, NE tomorrow. We probably won't drive as long as we did today so will probably stop well short of there. We aren't in a hurry.

Not a very interesting day but that's how some are. See you tomorrow good Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

2017-06-13T20:59:00.000-04:00

We have spent the past two days with our friends Russ and Sue. We have had a wonderful time visiting and touring the area. Sue made delicious smoked pork chops yesterday. I haven't had them in years. I forgot how good they are. If we had room in the freezer I would buy some to take along.
We topped off a great meal with coconut cream pie. It was a huge pie and we made a huge dent in it. It was all from scratch and very good.

After dinner we got on the mules, I guess that is what you call them, and took a ride around the farm. This is beautiful peaceful country. I can understand why they love it so much. I think they were very fortunate to grow up in farm country and work a farm all their lives. There is an independence I don't think you can find anywhere else. Farming is a gamble. Russ seems to always be watching the sky for rain or fair weather. Everything depends on the weather, good or bad. Good harvest or lean.

Small town people know everyone and care for each other. That is so unlike where we live. We are lucky to know a couple of neighbors. Everyone keeps to themselves. Here it seems everyone is family.

Today they took us to the El Capitan restaurant for lunch. It was good homestyle food and my Florida friends would not believe the price. I had chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and green beans. It was the daily special for just $5.95. It was all I could eat. The restaurant was packed with locals who stopped in for lunch. They get a lot of food out fast in this place. They erased the daily special after a few minutes. I guess it was so popular they ran out.

The building has all kinds of memorabilia hanging on the walls. Old signs for various products, old road signs and circus posters. Out front is an old black and white police car with the old gum ball on top. It said Mayberry PD on the side. In the dining room was a large sign that said, Bellflower population 403. Today when we drove through Bellflower I noticed the sign said population 393. I guess some people left town.

We stopped by the Purina plant where their daughter, Sherry, works. She has been there forty years. They make feed for everything from dogs to elephants at this plant. Russ sold corn to them in the past. Maybe your pooch ate some of Russ's corn. We toured around Montgomery City for a time. It is a small farming community. It seems to be full of life and wholesome people.

Back at their house we were in for another treat. Sue made homemade strawberry ice cream. It was very tasty. I think I need to buy an ice cream machine. Sue said when the kids were little, she would make ice cream and put it in a tin outside the house in winter. The kids would come home from school and scoop up a big serving of homemade ice cream from the tin. One time the tin disappeared. Some varmint probably got its head stuck in the tin and walked off with it. Sue said she thought it would turn up in the spring when Russ started preparing the fields but it never did.

We had hours of good conversation. It has been so good to get together with them again. They feel like family to us. How many people do you meet in life that you feel that way about? Not many. That is what makes them so special to us. I hope they get down to Florida this winter. If they don't I guess I will just have to drive out here again.

2017-06-11T17:31:00.001-04:00

A very special day.

Happy 60th Anniversary Russ and Sue Winter

This was a very special day with Russ and Sue, their family and friends. We all met at Harvest Table restaurant in Hermann, MO. We enjoyed seeing Russ and Sue again. They are very special people to us and to many others. We got to meet some of their friends and family we had not met before. We even met great great grandchildren. We had a reunion with others we had met in Florida when Russ and Sue had a house next door to us.

We enjoyed a delicious luncheon together. We were served briscut, green beans and mashed potatoes. We also had a slice of this delicious anniversary cake. Harvest Table was the perfect place for a celebration like this. They have a room in the rear of the restaurant that offers some privacy for speaches and conversations. I was honored to be asked to say the blessing before our meal. This special day was arranged by Sandy, Sherry and Jenny, Russ and Sue's daughters.

I felt the Lord helped me with the right words for their blessing at the meal. It went like this: Lord, we are gathered here today to celebrate and honor two people who took a vow before you 60 years ago. They have honored you Lord by keeping that vow. You have blessed them with family and this world's goods showing your love for them. You have taken the joys, dreams, heartaches and sorrows and woven them into a beautiful fabric which is their marriage.

I was told by Russ and Sue's brother-in-law, George, that between the four Winter siblings there has been 236 years of marriage to the same people. That must be some kind of record today with short term marriages being so prevalent. There was a day when a vow meant something. We are so proud of our friends who have honored not only each other but God Himself before whom they made oaths.

Darlie and I with Russ and Sue

2017-06-10T21:27:00.000-04:00

Memphis KOA
We only did a short drive on Friday. We had a reservation at Memphis KOA which is really in Marion, Arkansas. I guess the highlight of the day was just after crossing the Mississippi River we crossed a bridge that was like riding a bucking horse. We both got laughing so hard my eyes filled with tears to the point I could hardly see. That bridge has some serious structural problems. In fact, most of American roads and bridges have serious structural problems. I am constantly having to tighten things on the trailer that shake loose.

We made a reservation for Friday night because things tend to fill up on weekends. The park was very nice, as are most KOAs. The problem with this one though is that it sits right next to I-55.
The roar wouldn't be louder if we were camped in the median. It was hard to get to sleep with trucks roaring by all night and a train to boot, or should I say toot?. Fortunately Darlie had some earplugs that helped some.

We didn't realize we were on central time until morning. I was up an hour earlier than normal due to the early sunrise. We decided to let the KOA cafe do the cooking this morning. We ordered biscuits and sausage gravy. It was very good but made different than what we are used too. They put pieces of bacon in with the sausage. It was good.

We were on the road before 9:00am. We had a long day ahead of us, well for us at least. We only drive 5 hours or so each day. What's the hurry. I chose a route up through the countryside of Missouri. We hate interstates and avoid them when possible.

I got us into some pretty backwoods roads. They were very curvy with lots of ups and downs. I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride with a 30 foot travel trailer chasing me. It was fun. Some portions of the road looked like no one had been on them this year. We didn't see a single car or house. But what was puzzling though was we passed two baptist churches. We wondered where the people lived. We didn't see side roads or driveways for miles. We got lost a couple of times but the Lord blessed us with places to turn around each time. Something that was lacking in most places on this route. I could see myself backing up for 5 or 10 miles easily.

We have been watching for wildlife along the way. So far we have seen one live deer, three dead deer, dead dog, a dead raccoon, a dead armadillo, two dead squirrels and a dozen or so live ones, a dead skunk, a dead turkey, a dead opossum, a dead rabbit and a dead cat. The wildlife isn't doing too well. Hope things look better in the mountains.

Hermann City Campground

We arrived in Hermann around 3:30pm. It is a busy little place. It reminds us of Hammondsport, NY with wineries and the village is made up of old historic buildings that have been restored. They now house museums, gift shops and restaurants for the most part.

Hermann City Hall

We are staying in the Hermann City RV park. It is very large with huge grassy areas. The sights we are on are shaded with full hookups. I have the feeling when the sun goes down this place will start to rock. It looks like party central to me. We will have to dig out the ear plugs again. I could just blast Christian music over my outside speakers in retaliation. But that might get us burnt out hahaha.
Seriously, the people here have been very friendly but they do enjoy the wineries.

Sleeping off mushroom ravioli

I will update tomorrow. We are going to the anniversary celebration of our dear friends, Russ and Sue who live nearby. We will be celebrating at the Harvest Table restaurant. We went there for dinner tonight so I would know where I was going tomorrow.

More absent mindedness.....I left my hitch wrench on the bumper of the pickup. It was still sitting there when we got to the restaurant. Lucky for me. It is a specially made tool.

Did You Ever Get One Of Those Days?

2017-06-08T21:44:00.000-04:00

Did you ever get one of those days boys, did you ever get one of those days. When nothing goes right from morning to night?

Well it wasn't that bad but still........

We woke to a beautiful morning in Florida Caverns SP. I took the pups for a long walk out one of the trails near the campground. The dogs loved it as much as I did. The morning sounds and smells were you would expect in deep forest.

We got off to an early start for us, 9:15 am. Our trip plan for the day was supposed to be about six hours. All was going fine until we got to Montgomery, AL. There both of our electronic devices gave us erroneous info. We went around in circles for two hours trying to get back on our route. We shut the things off and dug out the map. We had things going right in short order. So much for technology.

I had to stop to go to the bathroom. We pulled into a big vacant lot that looked harmless enough until we got into it. There were deep holes everywhere. I wasn't sure how we would get out of there without doing damage to the trailer. I went in to do my business and discovered the freezer door had popped open and the contents were strewn all over the floor. A cabinet door was open and a window shade broke. Darlie got out and guided me out of the lot helping me miss most of the biggest holes. We are talking a foot to a foot and a half each. I did manage to break a safety chain in the process but we got out ok.

No she ain't been drinking. We're Baptist.

Things got better after that but we were way behind our expectations. We had set our sights on Starkville KOA in Mississippi. We rolled in at 5:30 pm. The dogs are enjoying this park. It is open and spacious with lots of grass and large trees full of squirrels. They were entertained until nightfall.

The family

Tomorrow we will make a short hop up to Marion, Arkansas to another KOA. Good campsites between here and Hermann seem in short supply unless we go way off our course. We will still have a fairly easy drive on Saturday from there to Hermann.

That's it for today. Nothing real exciting. Met some nice folks here tonight who are starting out on their first RV trip. They had a ton of worries and questions. I think I helped lay many of those things to rest for them.

2017-06-07T14:48:00.004-04:00

New Day-New Trip June 2017

Our good friends in Missouri are celebrating their 60th anniversary this month. We were invited to join them, family and friends at a luncheon in Hermann, MO. We hooked up the camper and headed out yesterday.

After months of severe drought in Florida, we now have a monsoon descending upon us. We left home in a downpour. Our trip was starting out like the one we took last summer. It rained for most of our time away. I hope this isn't a sign of another wet summer of travel.

We have plenty of time to reach our destination. We will only dive a few hours a day. It is easier on us and our three bichons. Our first stop was in Perry, Fl. We stayed at the KOA there. It was the only place in town other than a real run down place outside of town. The campground had a dog run so the kids loved stretching their legs. Buster even found a squirrel to chase and bark at. He must have felt at home. He and the squirrel that lives in our neighborhood have an ongoing game of tag. The squirrel always wins of course.

My pups are seasoned campers and kayakers.

We had some sunshine before bedtime but it rained very hard all night. It kept me awake. A pitter patter on the roof is pleasant to fall asleep to but a downpour sounds like you are under a waterfall.

Today we set out for Florida Caverns SP. It is located near Jefferson, Fl in the panhandle. It is a beautiful area with rolling hills covered with spruce pine, white ash and southern magnolia. The park is set in dense woods. The feature popular here is the cavern.

The cavern has the usual features you find in caverns. My theory is if you have seen one you have seen them all. This cavern is small compared to others. The tour takes you on an approximate 3/4 mile hike through the cavern. In places it is only 4 feet high and 2 feet wide. We discovered after arriving here that the tours are only run Thursday through Monday. So we missed it being it is Wednesday. Neither of us care much however. Like I said if you have seen one you have seen them all.

Park Brochure
(this is as close as we got to it)

Just south of here is Falling Waters SP. We stayed there on our first camping trip. It hosts Florida's highest waterfall over a hundred feet. We couldn't believe there could be a waterfall that high in Florida as there ins't a hill that high for it to fall from. The waterfall turns out to be somewhat like the cavern. It does indeed fall over a hundred feet. A small brook falls into a sink hole that is said to be over one hundred feet deep. Hardly a comparison to all the waterfalls in the Northern Cascades in Washington.

Lick Country Store
(Darlie bought fried chicken at this place)
She likes to live dangerously

Lately I have been having problems misplacing things. I misplace something almost everyday.

We forgot to move the car into the garage when we left home so we called our son to do it for us.

He said the key wasn't on the hook. I blamed Darlie for not putting it back where it belongs when she used the car. Besides, she said I was the last one to drive it. She told Pete to look in the jacket pocket of my black suit. Sure enough it was there. How does she know these things? Yesterday, I went out for a walk with my favorite hat on. Somewhere along the line it disappeared. I looked everywhere, nothing. I figured I set it down somewhere in the KOA. Someone who like it as much as I did must have come along and took it.

This morning I was thinking of asking at the office if anyone turned it in. While packing things up this morning I opened a compartment door on the trailer and there it was! It must have legs. How did it get there? I'm tired of all these things playing games with me. It's not nice to mess with an old man. But I have to say, everyday is like Christmas. I never know what I am going to find.

Silver Springs State Park, Florda

2016-10-31T11:00:00.000-04:00

Historic Silver Springs

Silver Springs State Park is one of the nicest parks in the state of Florida. The campground is superb and the attraction of the springs is the icing on the cake. Silver Springs has a long Florida history. It is the home of many movies including Tarzan and the Creature From the Black Lagoon. The TV series, Sea Hunt was also filmed there.

Glass Bottom Boats

I visited this park in 1952 or 53 with my parents. I was 8 years old. A Tarzan movie was being filmed when we were there. I remember marveling at that beautiful springs seen through glass bottom boats. I was fascinated watching large schools of catfish fighting for a ball of bread the boat captain dropped into the water. He called it catfish football.

View of a spring from glass bottom boat. It really does look like silver.

Silver Springs went through several owners over the years. Eventually it began to fall into disrepair. The glory days of the real Florida were being overshadowed by the artificial Florida seen at Disney World. Today, people demand more sophisticated entertainment, I guess.

Silver Springs State Park adjoined the land where the attraction was located. The state maintained a campground there for years. When the attraction looked like it might shut forever, the State of Florida took it over as a historic landmark. It was the right thing to do. It has been three years since the state got involved. Things have been spruced up. The glass bottom boats are still in operation.

Scene along kayak trail

My boat captain on this visit told me he began working there in 1962. He was very proud of the years he has spent there guiding people out to view one of nature's natural wonders. The head spring pumps out 850 million gallons of water per day. It is pure, drinkable and clear as the air.

There is a restaurant and kayak rental concession on the grounds. We brought our own kayak along on this trip. Paddling quietly down the paddle trail we saw many birds of various kinds, turtles by the score, alligators and monkeys. There is a breeding population leftover from the movie days. It was fun watching them swinging in the trees and watching parents with their young playing on the shoreline.

Monkey Business

Mom, Pop and the Kids

We enjoyed the campground at this state park. It is one of the nicest in the state with large gravel sites spaced out in open forest land. There is plenty of room between sites for privacy. Each site has water and electric 20/30/50amp. There are also several full hookup sites available.

The park has miles of trails to be walked or biked. They pass through the "real Florida". You may see a bear, deer or a multitude of small animals and birds. We will go visit this park again in the future.