Home! Back in the North Country!

We packed up camp this morning at South Bend, Indiana and drove east to Middlebury for a tour of the Jayco RV facility there. They took us for a tour of one of the factories where they do all of the sewing for carpeting, furniture, and cushions for all of the Jayco campers being built. Jayco not only assembles campers, but also builds most of the components that go into them. Next we went to a building where they assemble the premiere fifth wheel campers. It was interesting to see the materials and processes that go into putting together the campers.
We were done with the tour at about 2pm, then ate lunch and started driving north. From Middlebury it was a straight shot up 131 to Michigan then through Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Cadillac and on into Kingsley to pick up our cat from Stan and Jacob's house. We wondered if Dusty would still remember us. Once Nancy picked him up he seemed to be all right.
We drove to the house and saw a few piles of snow that hadn't completely melted yet! I was hoping we were done with that! With warm weather forecast through the week it should all be gone soon.
Now we have to get settled in and get back into a routine so we can get on with the summer.
Glad to be back.

From Tennessee to Indiana

We moved from Arkansas to Tennessee to Kentucky and are now crossing over to Indiana. The weather has improved considerably since we woke up to a cold last morning in Arkansas. We drove across I-40 and crossed the Mighty Mississippi at Memphis. Elvis is still being sought there, and they are really proud of him. Graceland was advertised along the freeway, but alas, we didn't stop. We spent a night in Tennessee at Natchez Trace State Park, but it was still pretty cold. That morning was just above freezing. Then we moved into Kentucky and drove through an area called Land Between the Lakes. This is a national monument set aside by the Kennedy administration in the early sixties. The area is a long strip of land between the Cumberland and Kentucky rivers which have been dammed and created the Kentucky and Barkley lakes. They have herds of buffalo and elk grazing in the meadows here. We camped at Pennyrile Forest State Park Resort near there and they had golf, tennis, a lodge, and a lake, plus an equestrian area and camping. Kentucky does a wonderful job with it's state parks, and we had a good stay.
Today we drove through Kentucky and as a last hurrah are driving a part of the Bourbon Trail. We are not imbibing so much as taking a break from the freeway, but this is a very scenic drive.
We will be camping for two nights in Indiana and then home on Monday.
Hope all are well.

Enjoying Hot Springs

We made it to Hot Springs, Arkansas on Sunday and set up camp. Later in the afternoon we took a hike from the national park campground into the historic hot springs bath house area. It was a mile and a half hike over the dead chief trail and it got us onto the promenade behind historic bath house row. The water here comes out of the ground at 143 degrees Fahrenheit. It has to be cooled in order to use it as bath water. Otherwise it would scald the skin. The bath houses are being restored and are wonderful to look at. There are two that still offer baths to the public, along with massages and other spa treatments. This is a great spot to wander around and take in the ambiance. The temperatures are in the seventies during the day here, and the trees and grass are very green and leafed out. The azaleas are in bloom and it is like May in Michigan.

Here we were camped on the Arkansas River in Ozark, Arkansas on Saturday.

Sunday we were in Hot Springs, Arkansas enjoying a beautiful warm afternoon. This is the promenade behind Bath house Row.

Even the drinking fountains had hot water! Notice the ornate fountain. 

One of the bath houses. They were all very elegant and beautiful.

This one was being refurbished. Notice the stone moldings around the windows.

And another with it's blue awnings.

It was all about the baths.

A model of bath house row in the national park visitor center

The downtown area across the street.

These springs were 140 degrees warm!!

Bath House Row. This is a great place to see.

We're Getting Closer to Our Home

We've been moving each day now trying to get east and out of the cold. We have had respectable weather now for the past couple of days. It gets to the high sixties during the day and high thirties at night. The howling winds have calmed and no more flying dust!
On Thursday we drove through Amarillo, Texas, and wound up in Oklahoma. It was so interesting to see how the landscape changed. In the Texas panhandle the fields were brown and barren and the land was flat. This was huge oil country and there were oil pumps working and storage tanks and a few refineries along the way. When we reached Oklahoma it started getting green and a bit more rolling. Cattle and cotton predominated here and there were huge ranches and farms along the interstate. We camped at a State Park near Foss and had a good nights rest in a comfortable park with few neighbors.
Saturday we moved again and drove through several Indian reservations. There were casinos and trading posts advertised along the highway, and the trees were all leafed out and green. It is beautiful, fertile country and still a lot of cattle. We passed from Oklahoma into Arkansas and spent the night on the Arkansas River near the town of Ozark. We are a couple of days ride from Michigan now so we are going to spend a couple of days in the Hot Springs area and then begin moving north.
All is well with us and we are starting to realize that our incredible journey is starting to come to an end. We are anxious to get back north and see everyone. But first we have some more sightseeing to do in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Hope all are well.

Moving Eastward

We have been making our way east and yesterday we set up camp in Santa Rosa, New Mexico to sit out the wind for two days. We are in a cold front now and had snow flurries at Bluewater Lake State Park west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Tuesday. We drove further east to Santa Rosa Lake State Park yesterday, and this morning it was just below freezing when we got up.
This is historical Route 66 country and the area was the "great out west" while the road was "America's Main street" from the late 1920's to the late 1970's when the interstate freeways were built. At that point the traffic started using the expressways and Route 66 was abandoned by the masses and all of the local businesses started to suffer. Now the towns are in pretty rough shape and many businesses are boarded up and the buildings in various stages of disrepair. The homes, too, look like the economy is bad and a lot of areas appear pretty poor.
Albuquerque was a really nice city with modern suburbs and a thriving downtown area. It looks like a town that would be interesting to explore, but we passed through on our way east without stopping.
The winds have been howling the past three days and it made driving difficult unless we were going with the wind, and luckily we were going with it while on I-40. We encountered a lot of dust storms and when we would stop for the night the camper would be full of sand on the table and countertops. I can't imagine living here when the dust flies like it does in April.
Yesterday we were sitting outside and reading when out of the corner of my eye I caught movement. I told Nancy to get up and Moved her out of the way. Then I pointed at the rattlesnake that was crawling toward us! It was a cutie about four feet long and it crawled over to where we were sitting and curled up next to a pile of rocks. I rolled a couple of rocks toward it to scare it off, but it crawled into the rock pile and wouldn't come out! We got in the truck and drove to the ranger's office to file a snake report. They came with a snare pole and picked up the rattler to re-locate it. I was glad to see it go so that we wouldn't have to worry about getting out of the camper and stepping on it! The ranger told us that it is still a month early to be seeing many snakes and this was the first of the year for him. Lucky us!!
We are staying here today, then moving to Amarillo Texas for the weekend. Weather forecast for Amarillo is in the 70's for the weekend.
Hope everyone is doing well.

Out of Utah and Back into Arizona

We spent the last three nights near Moab, Utah and spent the days visiting Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. We left Green River on Friday morning and made the short haul to a camp on the Colorado River just north of town. The camp is in a Bureau of Land Management area and right on the river. There were several of these camps along the Colorado and most of them were already full by noon on Friday. We got in and then the overflow lot started to fill up. This is a very popular place for the young bikers, mountain climbers, river rats and off roaders as well as families and retirees that come to visit the national parks. Moab was a pretty busy resort town with lots of lodging, restaurants and gift shops as well as outfitters and off road vehicle rentals.
We missed having David with us because at the last minute he couldn't get away for the long weekend. We did our exploring by ourselves, but took his recommendations for things to see and do.
We toured Arches National Park on Friday and took a grille and burgers with us so we could get the most out of the daylight. We stopped at many of the sights and then grilled dinner. By the time we got to the end of the park it was too dark to see the last of the scenery.
Saturday we went to Canyonlands National Park. Like Arches, the scenery was awesome, but the most popular sites were quite spread out. We spent most of the day touring and making short hikes, then returned to camp and had dinner.
Sunday morning it was back to Arches to see the end of the park that we missed on Friday due to lack of time. Sunday's weather was awesome, clear blue sky and sunshine with no wind. We made a long hike with a lot of rock climbing and really enjoyed seeing the most spectacular part of the park. We were amazed at how many people visit these parks. Most of the parking lots at the various popular spots were filled.
This morning we packed up and drove to Holbrook, Arizona. We are now on I-40 and will be starting our trek back to Michigan over the next two weeks. We had lots of wind and a few dust storms on the road today. We will visit Petrified Forest National Park tomorrow and then start heading east. Trying to stay south of the cold snap.
Here are some pictures from the weekend (I have such a good signal at the park here in Holbrook that I am putting a record number of pictures on the blog today!) ...

A leopard lizard out in the desert. This one was about ten inches long! The biggest one yet. Almost enough for a sandwich! (They taste like chicken I am told).

Friday afternoon at Arches N.P.

The rock formations were huge and weird.

Balanced rock looks like it might not be up there long.

The park road into Arches. Driving through the monuments.

The scenery was stunning especially with the snow peaked Lasal Mountains in the background.

And of coarse there are arches!

Arches as seen through an arch.

The wilderness of the national park.

A strange rock formation with holes! They call these windows.

Here is not one but double arches!

 

The sign says it all!

And HUGE arches!

This one is called "Delicate Arch". It is the symbol of Utah.

After dinner we ran out of daylight in Arches N.P. This was where we left off (Landscape Arch).

Saturday morning we headed for Canyonlands National Park.

Here everything was about the erosion from the Colorado and Green Rivers. The carved out deep canyons in the landscape and the views were everywhere!

Dirt roads led out through the landscape back toward Moab.

They even had a few arches here! 

 

But below the arches were, what else? Canyons!

 

A drop off led to another, deeper, canyon

It is unimaginable how much soil had to be moved to create these canyons.

A history of how the landscape was created and used.

Driving out of Canyonlands park we saw our second Bighorn Sheep of the trip. The first one was at Capitol Reef, but that one was camera shy!

A view at the peaks behind our camp on the Colorado River.

Here is the river. Driving along this stretch of highway was almost like being at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

 

Sunday morning back at Arches where we left off on Friday.

Landscape Arch was three hundred feet long, and only six feet thick at it's thinnest point. They say it may not be standing too much longer.

Big round domes all in a row.

Wonderful scenery with bright blue skies. 

Hang in there, sport!

Waves of color in the rock.

Another arch!

And another!

I couldn't get enough of the view with the mountains in the background.

These were fins of rock eroded out of the mountain.

 

So long till next time.

Picture Update

We are in Green River doing chores today. The weather is looking up and we are going to pick David up this evening. For now it's the Laundromat, groceries, LP gas filling and an oil change.

Catching up from where we left off at Escalante State Park.....

Big Hollow Reservoir at our camp at Escalante

A hike along Calf Creek on Sunday morning

We found an old cliff dwelling from the Anasazzi people along one of the rock walls

Life grows in the most unexpected places in the rocks and desert

These are the cliffs at Capitol Reef National Park. Two plates on the earth's crust pushed together and formed a 90 mile long ridge. Over the millenniums erosion has exposed the layers of the earth's crust and all of the colors of the various layers are displayed.

A view of the Capitol Reef

We found rocks of all shapes and sizes along here. 

Ancient and native people left their mark on the cliffs here.

The Egyptian Temple. One of the huge rock formations left over time.

I told you!

Hiking through a narrow canyon. Nancy is at the bottom of the picture. The cliffs towered over us for a couple of hundred feet.

Petroglyphs along the rock walls

A family raised ten children in this small cabin. And you thought we were crazy!!

Formations on the east side of Capitol Reef

Oh giver me a home where the deer and the turkeys play.

Standing above the goosenecks in the river below, it was starting to snow flurry!

Castle rock

Desert wildflowers

Posing for the camera