Page 6 of BobandGena Travel Blog Posts


North America » United States May 4th 2012

Got off about 9:10 AM. Oil wells petered out quickly west of Artesia. We drove up a gradual grade to an 8600' high pass through the Sacramento Mtns then down a STEEP, curvy grade down to Alamagordo and then White Sands NM. The sand is just as white as snow. It was windy and we saw dozens of dust devils in all directions, some really small, but some really large. Got separated in Las Cruces but reunited when we both approached a gas station at the same exit off I-10. We reserved two sites at Rock Hound SP which turned out to be at opposite ends of the camp ground. Next morning Gena & I were able to move to the site right across from Charlie & Kerry. It was a very nice park. Saw spectacular ... read more
White Sand Dune in WS NM
Cactus Blooms in WSNM
First Camp Side at Rock Hound

North America » United States May 3rd 2012

Day 3: After fueling up at WM, we got off at about 8:30. Drove about 9 hours to Artesia, NM. Checked into a nice campground that appears to be filled mostly with oil field workers. I bet we saw hundreds of oil well pumps, they were everywhere in NM and as far as the eye could see. Saw several hundred really tall wind turbines south and west of Sweetwater, TX. At one stop at a rest area, Gena took Milo for a walk and returned with Milo coated with sand spurs. Took about twenty minutes to pick them off of him - - fortunately they were NOT as hard as the ones we have in FL near the salt water. Temperatures in the 90's prompted us to stop at a DQ for some ice cream. We ... read more
Wind Turbine close to the road near Sweetwater, TX
Dust Devil in west TX
City sign outside Hobbs, NM

North America » United States May 2nd 2012

Day 2: ~450 miles Vicksburg to Weatherford, TX. I-20 almost as rough as I-10 & I-40. Traffic was pretty heavy but moved right along. Gas mileage on the truck getting slightly better - - over all average now up to 11.96. gas prices out here are well below FL prices - - gas at WM this afternoon was $3.46. Drove south of Dallas and only got a short glimps of the skyline through the haze.... read more
Dallas Skyline through the haze
Deer in Campground about 4:30


Day 1: Got off from DFS at 8:00 AM. Stopped in Magee, MS to have lunch under the canopy of an out of business gas station in a shopping center parking lot. Nice breeze. Arrived at Vicksburg National Military Park at about 3:00. After a quick visit to the visitors center (stamps & patches) we took the auto tour of the park. It included a visit to the USS Cairo (a union civil war ironclad that was sunk by the Confederates using the first electrically detonated mine). Took only 12 minutes to sink. Got our first view of the Mississippi River. The park was nicely maintained and very interesting. It was just about 4 miles from there to our campground (Ameristar RV Park - - a glorified parking lot for the rigs used by the gamblers ... read more
Memorial obscured by a hill
USS Cairo under its shelter
Close-up of USS Cairo


We're going on another long road trip: DFS to Yosemite NP then north up the Pacific Coast Highway to Olympic NP, maybe over to Vancouver Island, then down the east side of the Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe, Great Basin NP, Grand Canyon NP (and lots of other smaller parkes & Monuments, then back to DFS. Leaving 1 May and getting back 16 Jun - - l guess something over 8K miles. We'll post every night that we can get an internet connection. Stay Tuned... read more


Bob and I are sitting in the lobby of the Casino Queen in East St. Louis. We traveled through lots of farm land today, some was under water, which will make it very difficult for the farmer to gather it in. It's no wonder it's underwater, as it's rained every day since we've been in the area. All we did was drive today. We did get in touch with Dorothea Hebebrand, a dear friend of Bob's mother. Dorothea lives in St. Louis, and we're going to go see her tomorrow at her place at 3pm. So, from our camper, we can see the Arch in St. Louis, it's so pretty. We're going to walk over there tomorrow morning after breakfast, and take the train back. The train cost $2.25 one way per person---which we think is ... read more
Arch from the campground
Arch from our camper

North America » United States » Iowa July 6th 2010

Toured the Black Hills (Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore, and the Iron Moutain Hwy). See the photos. After a heavy rain, George Washington looked like he was crying. On Monday, Gena & I left early on our own to head home. Along the way, we stopped at the Minuteman Missile Historic Site, Badlands NP, The Prairie Homestead Historic Site, and the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Got pictures of everything but the Missile site. We stopped at 6:15 at Onawa, IA at On-Ur-Wa RV Park. - - We hope to make St Louis late tomorrow. We sure missed Charlie & Kerry! ... read more
White Prairie Dogs
Tumble Down Barn & Corral
Corn Palace Exterior

North America » United States » Wyoming » Buffalo July 4th 2010

On the way out of Grand Teton NP, we had to stop to take some more pictures of the Teton Range. What a beautiful mountain range! Then up over a 9600+ft pass on the way to Riverton, WY where we stopped to provision. Then down through the Wind River Canyon on the way to Ten Sleep. After Ten Sleep, we climbed up another spectacular canyon to another 9600+ ft pass before making it to Buffalo, WY where we stayed the night. The climb up the second canyon was in 90+ degree heat and the Jeep tried to overheat - - had to turn on the heater full blast, and stop a couple times to let it cool - - BUT, it made it. Gena was too concerned about the engine temperature to take pictures going up, ... read more
Grand Teton
Water Falls on Mt. Moran
Rugged Mountains on way to Riverton, WY

North America » United States » South Dakota » Custer July 3rd 2010

After a windy (but sheltered) night in Buffalo, WY we headed east on I-90 the Devil's Tower. Got to spend a little time watching crazy people climbing the shear walls of the tower. Notice the one guy standing with his legs spread between two separate columns. It was a beautiful day. We saw lots of Pronghorn Antelope along the interstate but didn't take any pictures of them as we were moving by pretty fast. Ended up in an old KOA campground with lots of pine trees and really unlevel camping spaces - - had to use every block we have and still couldn't get level. Tomorrow we'll go to Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse.... read more
Red Rocks
Devil's Tower Again
Climber wedged between two columns

North America » United States » Wyoming July 3rd 2010

We've been out of internet access range since Bozeman Mt. We spent three nights in Yellowstone NP, two nights in Grand Teton NP, and are now sitting in Buffalo, WY. I'll include a few of the best photos of the last 6 days.... read more
A Deeper Blue Pool
Old Faithful from Hilltop Observation Point
A Non-blue pool




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