After the storm passed, we fixed coffee and had breakfast, then started to break camp. But the next round of storms came before we did any more than dry off the outside and do dishes. So we got a late start. So What. And I'm not going to say anything about Kerry barking and meowing at the ducks this morning. We crossed the Arkansas River just before getting on the Muskogee Turnpike in Oklahoma. The river was muddy, fast and out of its banks. We took the Muskogee Turnpike to Tulsa. What a nice road, so much better than I-40 [View Full Entry]

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We decided to go west then north instead of heading north first. With all the flooding in Iowa and vicinity, we figured dealing with itinerant campers is the last thing those poor folks need. So yesterday we crossed the Mississippi River at Memphis on I-40. The river was high, up into the trees along the shore, and the current was moving right along. The big flooding is still to the north. Arkansas was green and lush, unlike last year. We saw lots of rice fields (paddies?) It was a dry day so we saw lots of dust devils, too, along [View Full Entry]

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I want to thank you all for your comments and encouragement on our first blogging efforts. Any comments or suggestions for blog improvement on our next trip are, of course, welcome. Thanks again to Skip and Mary and Pat and Jim for your hospitality. It was so nice to be able to sit and relax for a few days without worrying about setting up the camper. And your company was a delight. Family is everything. On this trip Kerry ate enough sunflower seeds to sprout colorful feathers and squawk "Polly want a cracker," but he only smoked one cigarette the [View Full Entry]

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Western Arkansas looks a lot like home with hills and hollows, trees, honeysuckle vines, grass greening, and rivers and creeks that actually have water in them. Spring is coming as was evidenced by the thickening and color of the the trees and I actually saw daffodils blooming. As we got closer to the Mississippi River we could see darker clouds ahead in Tennessee. About 50 miles into Tennessee it started to spit snow. It got heavier the closer we got to home. The ground was mostly covered, but the roads were fine. We picked up pizza on the way through [View Full Entry]

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Note 1 to self: Never camp downwind from a feedlot. Note 2 to self: Never choose a campground on a frontage road for I-40. Last night was really noisy with all the trucks on I-40. The smell from the feedlot several miles upwind lessened during the night, but the wind picked up again this morning bringing with it a bovine bouquet. From Amarillo through most of Oklahoma is mostly prairie, though going down in elevation the farther east you go. Oklahoma is a bit greener than Texas was, too. It's been windy all day, the lakes and ponds we passed had [View Full Entry]

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We headed east on I-40 from Albuquerque. In the mountains east of Albuquerque there was snow on the ground in the shaded areas, and the lovely green color of pines. Further east it was high plains with broad expanses of fairly flat ground covered in dry grasses (not sand) and staghorn cactus, with occasional wooded hills. We came over a hill and there were the colorful mesas of eastern New Mexico. Next came the high plains of the Texas panhandle. We've stopped for the night just at the western edge of Amarillo, not far from the famous Cadillac Ranch. We [View Full Entry]

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It's sunny, but windy. The landscape is wide and flat with distant mountains in the haze. We cross the continental divide, then miles of yucca flats. We pass another sign "Dust Storms May Exist Next 15 miles." We can see the dust in the air ahead, then around us, blowing. We figure we'll see more of the same in west Texas, so decide to go north from Las Cruces. The road climbs steadily, but the air becomes clearer. It's still windy, but no dust blowing. It's still desert, but starting to show more colors; pinks and greens and reds. The [View Full Entry]

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We had a great time with Skip and Mary again. They went down to Mexico over President's Day weekend with church groups to build homes for needy families. We had talked with them about our possibly going down to the Sea of Cortez, but decided against it. So Mary brought us back a bottle filled with water, sand and shells from the Sea of Cortez. What a neat idea. This morning Skip picked us some fresh oranges and grapefruit and gave us fresh-squeezed orange juice with breakfast. We decided to take I-10 down through Tucson (for the third time) rather [View Full Entry]

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Last night we finally decided to set up the camper around 8:00. We had gone down to the campground office to use the bathroom and check on the status of the electricity, but they said no electricity = no water and no water = no bathrooms. They thought the power would be restored in an hour or so. So we set up the camper after brushing off some of the wet snow that covered it to a depth of more than an inch. We had lights thanks to DC power, but no heat. We finally went to bed around 10 [View Full Entry]

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It's a pretty drive down to Baker, CA and the entrance to Mojave National Preserve. We saw more desert flowers blooming, pinks, yellows, and whites. The cinder cones and lava beds were fascinating and the landscape everchanging. We stopped at the Visitor Center at Kelso Station and looked at the exhibits. The temperature was dropping and the woman at the Visitor Center said they were expecting snow storms overnight. We ate our lunch on the side of the road near the Kelso Sand Dunes. As we neared I-40 the dark clouds came closer. We heard on NOAA radio that the [View Full Entry]

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