Arriving at Spring Hollow UT

May 3^rd, 2011

Finally as unpacked as we could get, we closed up the house and picked up the MotherShip and headed north on Interstate 25 to Bernalillo NM to our favorite KOA campground. We got the MotherShip all docked and settled and we called the shuttle to take us to the nearby casino. Most casinos have very good meals for very small prices!  This was not one of them so I ended up with a meatball sandwich and Chuck got two hot dogs!  Then we both took a Twenty and hit the slots. I should have quit when I was ahead but Chuck broke almost even after 90 minutes of playing. 

May 4^th, 2011

We headed out of Bernalillo on one of our favorite highways, US Highway 550!

The scenery is breathtaking on this highway, the roads are very good, four-lanes and very little traffic.  We followed it northwest to Bloomfield NM and then took a short jog west on Highway 64 to Shiprock NM then headed north on Highway 160/451 to Towaoc Colorado. Here we stayed at the Ute Casino and Campground. The campground was very nice and clean with large spaces. $19.00 a night with water and electric.

The campground was almost empty! This is a great time to go camping… every campground is happy to see you! Spring is just beginning here, new leaves popping out on the trees.

 After we walked the dogs and got the MotherShip docked and set up, we headed to this casino hoping for a better meal and better luck at the slots!  The restaurant was ok, not great but not expensive either! We both had better luck at the slots tonight too, going home just about even!

May 5^{th, 2011}

We are seeing snow! Way off in the mountain tops, all covered with snow!

Little did we know we were coming to these mountain tops! Maybe not these, because these were in Colorado, but we rode through several mountain passes with plenty of snow! 

  We were in Colorado only a short time following Highway 451 NW into Utah.  In Monticello UT, we picked up Highway 191 and followed it north to Interstate 70 West.  Everybody knows I don’t like Interstate roads! We were on it for only a few exits, in a very rural part of Utah so it was fine! We got off the Interstate at Green River UT still on Highway 191 North which we followed until we got to Wellington where we pulled into a campground in Wellington… not our favorite, but the price was right at $15 for water and electric and there was a good restaurant within walking distance, so we didn’t have to unhook.  As we walked the dogs, we realized the pasture next door was home to a llama and several sheep!

May 6^th, 2011

We left Wellington early, following Highway 6 in a northwesterly direction and picked up Highway 89 through Provo UT, where it became Highway 189/40. This highway took us right through downtown Provo and it was a beautiful place! Easily traveled and well marked and we actually enjoyed this detour from Interstate highway and Salt Lake City! We did pick up Interstate 84 for a short drive to Highway 189 again. Highway 189/80 was great… we began seeing more of the Utah snow covered mountain ranges!

The highway made a slight eastern jog into Wyoming and it was in Evanston where we pulled in for the night. The RV Park offered cable TV so we went right to the weather channel to catch up on weather! NOT good! Rain and snow and flooding was expected in the Logan area! Folks were sandbagging their property hoping to keep the Logan River from their door!  We called our Area Managers of the Logan Canyon campgrounds to find out if we should come on in or not. They didn’t respond that day.

May 7^th, 2011

We held tight in Evanston, glued to the weather channel.  Finally the Area Managers called back and said to come on over, the flooding reports were a bit overstated. Chuck and I were still a bit wary of getting into a flood warning area!

May 8^th, 2011

Finally Chuck made the decision about noon to undock the MotherShip and head west to Logan and Spring Hollow Campground. We knew it was only about 3 hours away.  We traveled beautiful country roads, Highway 16 North to Highway 30 to Highway 89 South. Highway 89 took us to Bear Mountain Pass… snow everywhere! Deep snow covered the roadsides as we passed through the most incredibly beautiful area! It looked more like January instead of May here.  Of course, here, my camera batteries died!  I took photos with my cell phone, but I don’t know how to get them from my phone to my computer!  Coming down from Bear Pass, we entered the Cache Valley/Logan Canyon area. What a beautiful drive! We found Spring Hollow Campground and pulled in, docked the MotherShip for the four-month stay we are to work here.

The day was gloomy, rain falling off and on and chilly! But we were here! The MotherShip had landed and docked! We met our Area General Managers, Sharon and Ernie and they are very nice. We have full hook-ups, water, electric and sewer here plus a nice salary. Sharon came over and showed me how to do the paper work.

May 9^th, 2011

The next day the weather cleared, we had blue sky and snow capped mountains and fresh water streams! We loved it!

I will keep on working on the blog while we are here at Torrey UT. I promise to get caught up! Just keep checking back daily for awhile. You may have to choose the option to view older posts as I am adding pages so quickly now!

We love you all! Happy Trails from the MotherShip!

Turkey Texas !!!

BOB WILLS MUSIC FESTIVAL

IN TURKEY TEXAS!

April 25^th 2011

We continued on highway 70 west, meeting fog and rain and drove many misty miles.  After our 4 hour, 4 PM, 200 mile day we found ourselves at one of my favorite campgrounds, Quartz Mountain resort near Lone Wolf in the far western end of Oklahoma ! It was still gloomy but we did see places on the sky that showed pale patches of blue so we were hopeful that the bad weather was over. We walked around the park with the dogs, saw a small herd of white tail deer grazing in the park.  As we walked back to the MotherShip and noticed a big black cloud heading towards us very quickly! The whole sky became black in a matter of minutes. Safely inside, I began fixing supper when the hail first started pounding the roof! It was small hail… about mothball size… but plentiful! In a matter of minutes the ground was covered! The noise inside the MotherShip was deafening! So loud we could hardly make ourselves heard. Then just as quickly as it began, it was over! We were about to go outside for a look when it started up again, just not nearly as hard and almost as soon as it started, it stopped. The ice balls melted quickly and I couldn’t help but wonder where the deer went when the hail began to fall, that would have hurt! I could imagine them taking shelter under the covered picnic shelters! A few minutes later, the deer appeared in our campground unfazed by the hail and continued grazing behind the MotherShip!

April 26^th 2011

Less gloom today! Still cloudy, but with frequent patches of blue! Still windy but the occasional glimpses of blue sky made the day better!

TEXAS! We were headed for Turkey, Texas to meet our friends Karen and Tom Whaley from VA.  They spend about 6 weeks every spring dancing around Texas!

Texas Swing they call it!  April 29, 30^th and May 1^st is known for the Bob Wills Festival! Bob Wills made his home in Turkey Texas and he is credited as the creator of Western Swing music in the 1940’s.  He and his band of Texas Playboys played a new style of music some called “Country Jazz” because his band had a horn section. Saxophones, trumpets, etc.  not commonly found in country music. Imagine Glenn Miller with a cowboy hat and Texas drawl and you have a glimmer of what country swing is all about!  This was the third year that Karen and Tom went to Turkey Texas for the dance festival. We got there on a Tuesday just as this festival was warming up. Local fields became overnight campgrounds. The City of Turkey had it’s own campground in a field near town that offers water and electric.  As we were driving through the small town, we passed the only Mexican restaurant and there was Tom yelling “HEY!”  He got our attention and we pulled over to park and went inside to eat supper and catch up on all our gossip! Tom and Karen are two of our favorite people! They even wrote a song about Chuck and I and sang it at our wedding reception! It was great!  After eating our enchiladas and tacos, we followed Tom to the campground!  It was a big open field with water and electric sites along the fence. 

April 27^th 2011

The next evening we went to the Church of Western Swing!  It seems that Bob Wills bought this old abandoned church and turned it into a meeting place for Country Swing Bands and music !

The outside of the church is very plain, not much of a hint as to what is going on inside

(below- Chuck, Tom and Karen with one of the entertainers)

The inside is wall-to-wall autographed photographs of famous and infamous folks from the world of country music! Old playbills of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys showing they have played all over Texas and the west!  Bob Wills has long gone to the dance hall in the sky, but his music lives on. The church is alive with sparkly stars hanging from the ceiling, rope lights and small white Christmas lights draping the ceiling and walls… it is 2 stops from being gaudy.  Flashy yes, gaudy… almost! The bands play where the preacher and choir used to be on Sundays, part of the pews have been cleared away from down front so there is room for the dancers to swing their partners.

(Tom and Karen dancing to the band at The Church of Western Swing!)

There were several very good dancers that evening but Tom and Karen were among the very best! Chuck and I don’t dance, but we like this music. We plan to come back to Turkey Texas next year for a much longer stay! We already made reservations for a week next year! 

In the middle of downtown Turkey is this beautiful old gas station ! It is closed, but it is so cool with the old gravity gas pumps and everything still intact!

April 28^th 2011

We didn’t drive far, only about 50 miles south to Floydada TX.  The city of Floydada provides a free campground with water and electric and a dump

Station.

Finally, in Texas, the rains stopped, blue skies emerged and we were happy campers. We arrived in Floydada early…. took advantage of the free wifi, and caught up on all the tornados spawned over our heads and taking their toll in the southeastern USA.  It felt good to catch up on the news and facebook and to email friends. We just took the afternoon off and relaxed!

April 29^th 2011

A beautiful morning! Blue Sky! Sunshine! I am definitely a solar person! I was energized by the second day of gorgeous weather!  We left Floydada about 10am headed to Bottomless Lakes State Park near Roswell, NM.  It was a great drive but boring as most of the day was just cotton field after cotton field for miles after mile on highway 380.  The campsites at Bottomless Lake State Park were huge! Pull thru sites could easily have plenty of room for the largest RV you could imagine. We fit the MotherShip and truck and my TrailBlazer towing a 12’ Utility trailer and still had plenty of room to spare! We had already decided we were going to stay here two nights.  We wanted some down time from the highways!

The swimming area was amazing! Still too cold here for me to swim, but if you look close you can see two heads bobbing in the other side of the beach!  Surrounding the beach was this wonderful shelter full of picnic tables! I am sure it gets very hot in Roswell NM in the summer, so the shade given here would be very welcome!

It was very windy while we were here, but we enjoyed our two days reading, resting and walking about with the dogs. We decided to call our Camp Area Managers in Utah to let them know where we were and that we would see them on the 20^th of May as planned. NO! We needed to be there no later than the 10^th of May as the campground opened up on the 13^th of May! YIKES!  We were thinking we had almost 2 weeks to unpack and move in to our new home in NM and now we find out we are expected in Northern Utah no later than the 10^th of May, 10 days earlier than we had thought!

No time! No Time! We hurried on to Truth or Consequences to our home there and spent 3 days trying to unload the TrailBlazer but we ran out of time before we got to the Utility Trailer!

Next blog will be about our Campground in Spring Hollow!

Are we almost caught up yet? haha!

Happy Trails from Geri and Chuck

And the journey begins!

LEAVING FLORIDA & NEW ADVENTURES AHEAD OF US!

Friday April 15^th  2011

After a hectic week of helping Sharon to move Tallahassee, finding new cash buyers for our home in Eastpoint, we finally headed out on our journey west.

We had intended to leave tomorrow, Saturday, but we decided to give the new buyers space to move in.  We knew from weather reports that bad weather was headed in, so we did a short first drive. I was glad for that, as it gave me a chance to get a feel for pulling the 12’utility trailer packed with all our worldly possessions! The Chevy TrailBlazer pulled the trailer easily! I was relieved. So ended our first, short day in Fountain FL at the Pine Lake RV Park.

Saturday April 16^th 2011

All the bad weather passed north of us overnight, but left us with a cloudy day.

We followed Highway 231 North to I-10 West and Highway 331 North. Yes, I drove Interstate! But this area of Interstate highway is pretty easy and low traffic! We got off on exit 85 in DeFuniak Springs. FL.  There is an amazing old home up on a hill on the left by the railroad tracks there! We followed Highway 331 North into Alabama and turned west on Highway 84 near Opp AL.

When we got to Andalusia AL, we made a WalMart stop to stock up on lunchmeats, ice cream bars, beer and other goodies! It turned into a dog walk, a bathroom run for us too and a gas station stop. We left about an hour after we pulled in, restocked, refueled and refreshed! We continued on Highway 84 West and pulled into the Park Service Campground, a Corps of Engineers campground just a bit west of Coffeeville AL.  This was a great campground, right on the Tombigbee River! We had a great site right next to the river and we were lucky enough to watch tugboats pushing barges loaded with coal down river and later see the tugs pushing the empty barges back upriver!

(above photo Chuck and the Hound Herd, Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar!)

The overnight cost was only $9.00 for water and electric sites and a dump station available on the way out. We will come back here for sure! ! 

One thing I have really enjoyed this trip was the pair of walking talkies we purchased. It meant that even though Chuck and I were driving two different vehicles, we could talk and share points of information and travel information. Our radios had a range of two miles, this provided me with a sense of security.

Sunday, April 16^th 2011

We left the C.O.E. campground wishing we had more time to spend there! But we had friends waiting for us in Arkansas so we pressed onward! We pulled out on Highway 84 West and entered Mississippi.

After entering the highway became four lanes and remained so through most of the state. A lot of roadwork going on, but it was all off the roadway where we were driving. Shortly after noon, we crossed the Mississippi River…. Very long bridge and quite high but despite all my inhibitions I drove across with success. 

We crossed at Natchez MS into Vidalia LA, still on Highway 84 West. We traveled about 6 miles west and then turned north on Highway 425.  We followed 425 North almost to the Arkansas state line.  We pulled into the Chemin-A-Haut State Park near Bastrop. We were more than ready to pull over and camp! We had long ago exceeded our usual 4-4-2 travel rule. To keep us happy campers the 4-4-2 rule is simple 4 hours, 4 PM or 200 miles we pull in whichever comes first. This keeps us from becoming overtired and grouchy. We were well past the 4hour rule as well as all the others when we hit Bastrop LA.  We were confronted with road construction that had us balancing on extremely narrow roads with nothing on the passenger side but steep 2-3 foot sheer drop offs! Construction continued all through town, which we happened to hit at evening rush hour and well past town.  When we arrived at the campground we were gratified to see huge tall trees and an almost empty campground. We shared the area with only one other RV and it belonged to the camp host! What was amazing is the fact that this campground had 3 WiFi antennae placed around the campsites! We had a full 4 bars of reception there! The camp cost was a bit high at $24 for Water and Electric but the bathrooms and showers were a hit with me, very roomy showers and bathroom stalls and extremely clean. Wonderful water pressure too, I hate a wimpy shower! Our three fur-kids, Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar loved all the squirrel smells and even a cat to bark at! Sorry I didn't take pictures!

Sunday April 17^th 2011

We woke up well rested from the previous long day’s drive and ready to head to Arkansas and Lake Greeson to meet with our friends.   We followed 425 North to 82 West.  We stayed on this road, enjoying the way Arkansas towns listed their populations on the city limit signs.  On these roads less traveled, most populations were only several hundred per town.  Arkansas takes good care of it’s back roads and they are a joy to explore!

When we arrive at Magnolia, we changed from highway 84 West to highway 278 North. This was a very slow road! Twisty, turny, up and down type highway but incredibly scenic! We enjoyed each and every turn of the road while at the same time, eager to be at Lake Greeson.

Finally in Nashville Arkansas, Highway 27 took us north to Kirby where we turned west on highway 70.  Soon we were turning left to Lake Greeson and meeting our friends Larry and Betty Harmon and their furkid Poco!  About an hour later, Pete Marks and his smiley dog Oscar, returned from doing laundry! 

(in this photo- Pete Marks, Chuck Hajek, Larry Harmon-“The 3 Amigos”)                          

This was our third year of meeting at the infamous JugFest at Lake Greeson. JugFest is fishing for catfish using empty antifreeze jugs tied up with fishing lines, hooks and live bait. They place the bait on the hooks and throw them in the lake near sunset. Sunrise finds Larry in his boat with volunteers looking for his bright yellow jug floats and hopefully finding catfish attached!

Fishing was good when weather allowed! The whole time we were there, it rained and at night we had great displays of lightning followed by thunder rumbles and tornadoes dancing all around.  The weather may explain the small turn out of friends this year. Usually there are 6 – 10 campers coming and going with friends having a good time eating catfish and re-uniting with everyone. Gas prices are almost $1.00 per gallon higher this year than last year and I am sure that also kept a lot of folks away. But the five of us had a great time eating at the local restaurants and enjoying swapping favorite campgrounds and stories of our travels. 

April 19^th 2011

Betty got only one chance to fry a wonderful catfish dinner for the five of us.  This was Pete’s last night, he leaves for Texas in the morning. The rain stayed away several hours so Betty set up her outdoor kitchen and cooked like crazy to feed all of us before the sky opened up dumping more rain on us! She cooks the best catfish dinners ever!

April 20^th 2011

All too soon, it was time for Pete and Oscar to leave. He wanted to spend Easter with family and who could blame him?

Larry and Betty taught Chuck and I a new game called “Sequence”. We love it and played it often. Because of the weather, Chuck and Larry only got one chance to toss jugs. They yielded 3 big catfish!  Finally, it was time for the four of us to leave also!  We played one final game of Sequence which Betty and I won, becoming the “Champions”!

April 24^th 2011

We left on Easter Sunday, April 24^th.   Betty and Larry headed north to their docking station a few miles away and Chuck and I headed west, all of us heading into terrible weather. It rained off and on all day, we met head on strong winds but we made it to Texoma State Park. We had followed Highway 70 all day from Lake Greeson near Daisy Arkansas to Lake Texoma in Oklahoma on the Texas/Oklahoma border. Highway 70 is very good 2-lane roads with very little traffic. Texoma State Park was just about empty! Nobody camps in nasty weather. We heard about tornadoes in Arkansas and Alabama and we hoped all was well with Larry and Betty. We hunkered down to a night full of bright lightning flashes, loud thunder boomers and rain pounding the roof of the MotherShip!

We walked the dogs the next morning between the raindrops and puddles!  The world was gray and gloomy. We had been in rain or cloudy threatening clouds ever since we left Florida. The gloom is getting old!

To be continued....................

Happy Trails 

Our First Stop - Lake Greeson Arkansas

OUR FIRST STOP, LAKE GREESON AR

 Here are the 3 Amigos, Pete, Chuck and Larry.

This was our third year visiting at Lake Greeson. 

This year we had bad weather almost the whole time with tornadoes dancing around us, wind, rain but we still had a great time!

 After leaving Lake Greeson, we met up with Karen and Tom Whaley in Turkey Texas.  They both love the Texas way of dancing and spend their winters touring Texas and attending dance festivals. Turkey Texas has a great Bob Wills Country Swing Festival! Bob Wills was the creator of Country Swing, just think of Country Jazz or country music with a Glenn Miller twist! Good Stuff! There were dances happening all over town!

Saw this Jeep covered in license plates all over it! 

Made me think of you Jeff!! Click on the photo to take it full size!

 This was our camp site at Spring Hollow, near Logan UT. It is a beautiful campground and we loved our bosses there.

But this just wasn't what we expected. So after a month, we put in our 2 week notice and they told us one week would be enough so we left. We have decided we prefer privately owned campgrounds over publicly owned/managed campgrounds.

Spring Hollow is a part of the Forest Service and managed by American Land and Leisure. 

There is snow all over Utah still! We had snow on 

Memorial Day up in the mountains.

 Chuck, busy at work!

 The road out of the canyon and into Logan Utah! Snow covered mountains all around!

 We even had a small waterfall at Spring Hollow!

 After we left our job, we went up to Bear Lake and around to Moab Utah. The lake was beautiful but hard to think of all this snow still happening in mid-June!

 The day after we landed in Moab UT, we ventured into Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park.

It was good meeting our travelling friends Diane and Paul in Moab. They have a good workamping job there for the rest of the season.

 Canyonlands is awe inspiring! The beauty there just takes your breath away!  We want to go back and do more exploring.

Now that I have the photo editor thing figured out, I'll try to keep the blog caught up now! Thank you for your patience!

Happy Trails to you from Geri, Chuck and the Hound Herd,

Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar!

Caverns of Sonora, Sonora TX

       CAVERNS OF SONORA TEXAS

  On one of my first trips west travelling

on Interstate 10,I was tired,

it was dark and all I could

see was natural gas fires burning

off in the distance. Finally I

see a sign Caverns of Sonora

campground, next exit!

It is about 8 miles off the interstate,

I was sure I was lost when finally a

small hand painted sign pointed a left

turn to the campground!

This was my 5th visit! I even got to show

these wonderful caverns to my mom

on our trip west!

http://www.cavernsofsonora.com/

Caverns of Sonora are very small, intimate

compared to Carlsbad Caverns.

It is very much like walking through

a huge geode!

Only small tours each trip, usually

less than 12 people. The lady in the red shirt on the left was our tour guide. She has been leading tours since she was in high school!

At this point I handed the camera to Chuck!

I had all I could do to hang on to the railing

and climb up and down over 200 steps as we took the two hour tour through these beautiful and unusual caverns! If I can do it with my knees,

you know you can do it too! Worth every step!

If you are the least bit claustrophobic, you might want to stay on top! These caverns are also very warm

the deeper you go. Most caverns I have toured are cold and get colder as you tour down.

This was the pop corn room! Looked like

popped corn on all the walls.

Down more stairs! Everything is so close,

you can touch it all... but please DO NOT TOUCH!

One photographer busy in the crystal room.

Caverns of Sonora should be on your bucket list!

The campgrounds are beautiful, full hook-ups

are $15 a night! Deer wander the campground

at dawn and dusk along with a flock of guinea hens

and one turkey hen who thinks she is guinea!

There is only one pair of peacocks remaining

at the campground. When I first visited here...

I was rudely awakened by the strangling

scream call that passes as peacock talk!

There were maybe 12 peacocks there then.

They can be very loud in the early AM!

Just west of Caverns of Sonora you will see

Ozona Texas on your map with a 1/2 circle

bypass road. On that bypass road is an

amazing restaurant, The Hitching Post!

The best ever chicken fried steaks, or any kind of  steak for that matter! Chuck and I found it by accident last year, this year we made a point of

eating a late lunch there !

It's not fancy. But it's home cookin'

the way we like it!

The Caverns of Sonora.Located 8 miles west of Sonora, Texas off I-10. Information about the show cave, photographs, and tour information. Camping available.


1711 Private Road 4468

Sonora, TX 76950


(325) 387-3105


Open Daily 8am-6pm

Hope you enjoyed the Caverns of Sonora!
Happy Trails from the MotherShip crew:
Geri, Chuck and our Hound Herd, Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar

On The Road Again!

BACK TO FLORIDA!

We finally left Truth or Consequences NM and drove 40 miles to get to our favorite little Ghost Town of Chloride NM!  LOL! Long drive! But what better place to spend Halloween than in a real bona fide

ghost town???

We love any excuse just to go there!

This year we had visitors of the UNghostly kind!

Mule deer! They came up just at dusk every night.

We had two other campers there hunting deer!

But they can shoot only bucks and all they could

find were does! These does were cautious but

not too shy.

 

We gave you a lot of photos last july when we visited Chloride so I won't do that to you again. If you want more photos you can hunt them up in the July Archives. What I will do is give you a link:

http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nm/chloride.html

This is a great link all about Chloride NM !!!

After we finally tore ourselves away from Chloride,

we returned to Three Rivers Petroglyph Park.

This is another of our favorite places. We posted about it last year with a lot of photos so this year

I am just gonna give you a few pics and this link that will tell you all about this interesting area!

          http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/mar/poi/du_3rivers.html

You can click onto the signs to make them

full sized and readable.

If you want to see more photos you can click onto the post from last year or the link!

Our good friend from Truth or Consequences, the tie dye king! :-) Jeff Dukatt came up with a wonderful logo for TheMotherShip! We put it on while we were camped in Chloride!

We just love the Logo! Thank you Jeff!

Then when we left Three Rivers, we visited a friend

in High Rolls NM. We met her last year at the

Three Rivers Trading Post. Sue now has her own

shop in High Rolls, near Cloudcroft NM. When we

walked in, we passed by this fellow!

He became our alien mascott for the MotherShip! Now we need a name....  any suggestions??

Tonight we are in an Escapee RV park in Lakewood NM. Tomorrow we will finally drive out of NM and enter Texas! Ya'll know how long it takes to get through Texas???  A danged long time!

Especially when you follow the 4-4-2 rule like we do.

4 hours driving or 4 PM or 200 miles, whichever comes first!

That is why we still love travelling! 

We don't push it! We take our time!

Good advice!!!

Happy Trails from The MotherShip!

Geri, Chuck and our furkids

Scotty and DoogieBowser