Randy Dance

We got up at 6:00 a.m. this morning to get ready to go to St Louis and square dance to Randy Dougherty, one of our "valley" callers.  The C2 was at 10:00 - 12:30 and we did amazingly well today after not having dance at that level for a month.

We rode with Barb and Charlie  to Sweet Tomatoes and had lunch with Ron and Pat Haslep and Randy.  Sweet Tomatoes is primarily a huge salad bar with a soup and pasta bar.  As I am trying to lose weight, I only had the salad bar.

We started dancing again at 2:00 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the C1 level and this was lots of fun.  We only had two squares which is really too bad as there are more C1 dancers in St Louis that just do not come to these weekends.  Their loss, I guess.

I drove home and as we had a large lunch we did not have dinner.  Hardy took his nap and I worked on the computer a little catching up on Facebook and email.  I tried the knitting needles I had bought but so far I am not making much headway so I guess I will check the internet to see what kind of instructions I can find.

Eye Exams

We went into town for our eye doctor appointments this morning.  Hardy is doing fine and mine had not changed too much either so all is well in that department.  Hardy needed a new prescription and my glasses need changing so we went to WalMart and I picked out a new pair to the tune of $520.  We then had lunch at Applebees and went to the Music Store to buy a tuner for Hardy's guitar.  He has been practicing a little since we came back from Mountain View. 

Weigh Day

I jumped on the scale this morning thinking I would go to Weight Watchers but decided not to go as my weight was up a little and I am cheap and don't want to pay.  We did go to Lowe's and pick up some plants and I brought those home and planted the rose bushes in the front yard and a mimosa tree in the back yard. The yard is looking a little better since we have had some rain.  I finally decided to get the books balanced and that took most of the evening and into the night.  I had not downloaded since June so had some major posting to do.  I also wrote a little information in the Campbell Facebook Group on Lydia Laditha Ruddick Parker and posted some pictures about William Ruddick, my ggg granduncle of the Pea Ridge, AR area.

Mowing Day

We came home from Paducah, KY after visiting with the folks for a few days.  The lawn needed a definite hair cut so I got out the tractor and did that little chore.  Rick, our neighbor, apparently took pitty on me and mowed clear down our drive-way so I did not have that to do, thank goodness.  I got clothes washed and put away and the yard cleaned out and Hardy and I worked on the camper getting everything put away and the camper back in its house.

Home Again, Finally

We came home from Paducah today after spending the weekend with Tutu and Hardy's folks.  We came back through Van Buren on US 60 to US 63 which is the route we took last week to go to Paducah.  After arriving at home, we opened the doors and windows in the house as it still smelled like moth balls that Hardy had put under the house to try and curb the mouse and rat population.  I emptied the groceries out of the camper and put all of that away.

Republic, WA

We left Libby about 8:00 and it took forever to get to our next camp at Curlew State Park outside Republic, WA.  We stopped at Kootenai Falls, one of the world's prettiest and I took some pictures with Hardy's camera.  There was lots of road construction along the way on US 20 which is a windy, hilly mountain road.  We stopped at an old log flume and got a geocache.  Hardy called Nita Peck to find a place to eat.  The Pine Tree junction Cafe east of town was well disguised as a C Store but an OK cafe.  We camped at Cerlew Lake SP, pretty but Washington does not fund their parks from tax money .  They have a yearly pass for $30 that is required for campers.  We did not have to pay that fee, just the camping fee.  Republic is a nice little town and a pretty area but there really isn't much there to keep their young people.

Geocaching Marathon

We were up early, had breakfast at Henry's and then drove to Sanders, Mineral, Rivalli and Lake counties to get geocaches.  We had lunch at Fudruckers in Missoula and dinner at Minnies Cafe in Thompson Falls. We stopped at Giant Cedar National Forest area on Ross Creek near Troy, MT.  This is four miles back in the mountains and really pretty.  We head out to Washington tomorrow.

Libby, MT

Libby Dam

We drove to Libby, MT in a driving rain but it cleared up after we got camp set up (in the driving rain) and stayed at Woodland RV Park.  We had lunch at Henry's then found a Lincoln County geocache on the old sawmill bridge over the Kootenai River.  It was a long walking bridge on a trail which was an old paved road through the old mill.  The ground is being reclaimed as a wildlife preserve.  This was a nice short one mile hike.  We watched a man work his black retriever dog in the river and that was pretty interesting.  We took a drive out to Libby Dam and crossed the river and came back on the other side.

Glacier Park

Silver Staircase Falls

We camped at Summit NFCG near Glacier Park and stopped and found geocaches in Teton, Pondera, Toole and Glacier counties along the way.  The most fun was the Shelby Visitor Center when Hardy met a family of geocachers from Kansas.  The cache was under a plant with the geo logo by the flag pole out front of the center.  We had dinner then stopped at the monument of Theodore Roosevelt and built by Slippery Bill Morrison.  We drove to the Silver Staircase and saw a pretty waterfall.  Hardy also found another cache by the waterfall and we took a drive up the road behind the campsite and found another.  We met "Tom" who was from Harligen, Texas.  Tom was riding a Harley.  He said he didn't know Darryl but that his boss had told him he was such an unreliable employee and to just leave and they'd keep on paging him.  Quite a character.

Early Birthday Dinner

We got packed up to leave and Gary, Doreen, Frank, Shila, Damon, Hardy and I met in Helena at a Chinese place for an early birthday dinner for me.  We found another cache in front of the store where Damon works, an easy find!  We saw lots of deer over at Frank's place.

Maudlow, Montana

We had breakfast with Frank then drove to Maudlow via Manhatten.  Maudlow is a ghost town on the Milwaukee RR that still has a few building standing.  The school with it's playground equipment is still standing near the railroad tracks.  We drove up the well maintained road and through some no trespassing areas and on over to Ringling.  There were no gates, just lots of signs and we did not get off the road.  We had dinner at the Mint.

Crow Creek Falls

We drove into the Elkhorns to the Crow Creek Falls area and found another cache which was just a few feet off the trail near the parking lot to the falls.  We walked down to the creek and had a picnic and came back by way of the Earle Creek Ranger Station. We drove up to the Kimpton Cow Camp and reached the end of the road and had to turn around and drive all the way back out of the area. We saw a cute deer on Indian Creek near Hassel (St Louis). A small thunderstorm blew through about 8:30 p.m. but it didn't rain  much, just windy.

Outlet Project

Hardy started the outside outlet project and got the holes drilled and the box mounted.  He needed to wire the outlet and get a vertical cover.  We drove to Winston and had dinner with Shila at the Winston Bar.  We had a Pork Chop John sandwich and Hardy had a cold smoke draft pint.  We then drove to White Earth campground and found the geocache there.  We saw gophers, deer, pronghorns.  We went on a short four wheelr drive to where the fire had been on Sunday on the BLM land above the ranch..  We stopped to take a picture of an osprey in a tree but she got excited and flew to another tree and was too far away for a picture.  Three buck deer ran across the road right in front of us then stood on the opposite hill to look at us!

More County Caching

Hardy was up again around 4:30 to see Venus and Jupiter.  It was nice and clear at that moment and then we got a smattering of rain. We had breakfast at Penny's Diner then left on another county marathon caching trip.  We saw a large herd of pronghorns on the way to Harlowton. We also got a train cache in Harlowton.  The train is an old electric that was placed there after its last run when they closed out the Milwaukee RR. We went on to Lewistown and had lunch  then drove up to Fort Benton and found another cache along the river and under the bridge and then went on to Great Falls where we took a walk by the Missouri River.

County Caching

Hardy woke up at 5:16 a.m. to see the stars and planets. Venus was bright over Gary's trailer and Jupiter was three fingers above Venus.  It was a pretty sight. There were dry thunderstorms through the night with heavy gusts of wind and then an overcast sky.  We went geocaching after Hardy tried to install an outside outlet for Gary.  He needed a better drill and a hole punch to finish the job.  We got caches in Madison , Beaverhead, Silverbow, Deer Lodge and Granite counties.  We saw a cute fox near I90 and I15 junction between Butte and Anaconda.  Made it to bed about 12:30 a.m.  It cleared up and we could see the Milky Way at last.

Duck Creek Pass

We headed off to breakfast with Frank and Shila then went with them in their truck up over the top of Duck Creek and picked up a geocache along the way.  Someone has torn down the Sheepherders Monument which is a shame as it had been there for over 100 years.  Frank said it was the forest service and it probably was. Someone else has started another monument so we will see how long that one lasts.  We stopped at Gypsy Lake and had a picnic lunch then went on over to where we thought Vera' cabin was located  but did not find it.  We went into White Sulphur Springs and used the rest rooms and picked up water to drink. We took a back road toward the Castle Mountains looking for another cache but never did find that one but we did see a nice large herd of elk coming out of the trees into the meadow.  We took another road back into White Sulphur  Shila and I took a walk down main street then stopped at their little city park to pick up another geocache before heading back to Townsend.

Clyde Park, MT

We had breakfast and then went through Deep Creek over to Clyde Park, MT to meet up with Kelly and Shonas at Brian and Cheryl's.  Dale and Marlene were also there for a good steak dinner and  Marlene and I caught up on the news and gossip.  We got back around midnight.  Hardy lit the hot water heater so we could take showers in the morning.

Laundry

Hardy got up at 4:48 to take a look at Venus and Jupiter.  Clouds obscured them for a bit but Venus finally appeared briefly in a cloud hole.  Jupiter appeared later.  We went to Helena, again, for dinner with Frank and Shila at a Chinese restaurant.  That was good food.  Hardy spent the day working on the water system and had to go to Hardware Hank's for some more parts.  Mosquitoes are bad today.  We went to the library and did some much needed laundry.  Hardy paid bills from the library WiFi as they have a good connection.

Breakfast with Frank

We had breakfast with Frank in town after the Clairmont's left and then went into Helena for some shopping.  Hardy bought a 35 gallon plastic water tank to carry in the back of the truck.  He also bought a sprayer pump and fastener for the water system.  This way we can fill that tank with water and carry it in the truck and when and if we need water he can pump it into the tank on the Casita.  Once in awhile we get a little short on water, especially if we are dry camping like at Gary's.  If we take showers and do dishes the water runs a little short. We also bought two chairs at Murdocks.  I got a haircut and we met with Shila at Smith's for dinner.  We came back home by way of Canyon Ferry Road, stopped at Lucky Lil's and lost $10.

The geo-caching family

Geocachers

It got to 59 last night but it did not seem too cold.  It was a little cloudy early in the morning so Hardy could not see the planets.  He took the Clairmont kids, Sam and Jordan, caching with Shila.  They revisited the Silos and traded two travel bugs for a Veterans Hitchhiker.  They also revisited two in town.  It was very windy all day.  Camp is cleaned up and just Gary, Doreen, Frank, Shila and the Clairmont family are all that is left of the reunion bunch.

Post Reunion

Jordan and Frank

Jordan Clairmont loved to ride the four wheelers but he wasn't old enough to drive by himself so I went with him many times.  I did let him do the driving when we were around the ranch and on ranch property but not on the county road.  We would ride down to the stock tank at the BPM&I and one time Jordan found a baby bird in the stock tank.  I think it was a baby meadowlark and he was about done in.  Jordan pulled it out of the tank and we took it back to the trailers and put it in a shoe box to dry out. A couple of hours later I went to check on it and it flew out of the box and into the field so our good deed for the day was accomplished.  Shannon and Shay Clairmont along with Cindy and Kenny and their families are staying until after the 4th so we still have a nice camp.  Their boys are very hard workers and it would not have been as easy if they had not been there to help.  Ken and Cindy went geochaching with us and we rode clear to the Silos to find one.  Later Shila, Samantha and Shannon took the car and got the Bird Paradise, Water Tower and Welcome caches.  I think Samantha and Shannon are "hooked". 

The Wedding

Kelly and Debbie

  
After breakfast we had a marriage renewal for Debbieand Salam at Bonnie White Merritt's house in Townsend.  This was for close family and friends as she wanted a small wedding without any hoopla.  it was a beautiful day and Bonnie did a great job of hosting this event.  Dave and Trudy Miller were there along with Toni Simon.  Kelly and Shonas and Sharayah and Junior were her attendants while I got the better deal with watching Tristan.

 

Debbie and Salam with Gary officiating

  

Fire in the Limestones

The Container Party

 After the ceremony we spotted a fire out near the ranch in the Limestone Hills, west of Townsend.  The wind was blowing it away from the ranch but it was a bit smoky.  The Clairmont's were taking the tent down when we got back to the ranch and a hurricane type wind came up along with rain.  That helped with the fire and we got the tent down with injury to anyone although it was lifting me off the ground while I was trying to hold the poles in place. 

 Here we are in the container during the wind and rain storm.  Gary and Frank bought this container for storage and then Gary had it wired for electricity.  It made a very nice place to get in out of the weather and also was a good place to set up the coffee, juice and breakfast items plus a good place to store the food.

Family Reunion

The Trunk

The family reunion was a huge success.  We put up a large party tent on Friday and just before the high winds hit and tried to take it down.  We would never have succeeded in putting it up if it had not been for all the help we had from Cindy and Ken Clairmont's family.  The shade it provided kept things nice and cool.  The kids loved four-wheeling all over the place.  We had about 100 attending and had lots of food and games, face painting and kareoke after dark which was also popular.  Gary started a fire in the pit which was enjoyed by the family members that stayed in their camper at the ranch.  The rest of the family members either stayed at their homes, with family members or at the Mustang Motel in Townsend.  Kelly, Shonas, Debbie, Salam, Sharah, Junior and Tristan were all at the motel along with their cousin Brian and his wife Cheryl.  Mike's girlfriend, Jennifer and Julie and Damon were also at the reunion so my entire immediate family was there and we did not get any pictures of us all together.

I had brought my grandmother's trunk (Lela Gertrude Parker Campbell) to the reunion and we all went through it.  I gave everything that was in that trunk to anyone of the family that wanted it. The trunk, Elda's picture and wedding dress goes to Susan Stobie Roe, the daughter of Carol Campbell Faldorf and the grand daughter of Clarence (Toot) and Stella Walter Campbell.

Oldest and Youngest First Cousins

The Family

Gary's Ranch

We spent a cold night at the ranch with the temperature down to 47 degrees.  This is a far cry from what we have had.  Hardy lit the hot water tank, which works just fine, so we had hot water to use.  I cleaned out the bathroom to make it more friendly for taking showers and everything worked just fine.  Hardy saw Venus at about 10 degrees early in the morning and the half moon kept things pretty light.  Frank is at the camp so we visited with him and went down and checked out his mining claim...Big Pumpkin Mining and Investment.  It is nice out at the ranch camp sight  as it overlooks Townsend to the south and Canyon Ferry Lake to the northeast.



The family is gathering and we all went into Bonnie Merritt's for our Friday night get-together.  We had lots of family that had already come in so it was a good group there.

Big Timber and Bozeman

Absaroka - Beartooth Range

Up at 6:30 and took our showers.  This was a nice campground in Columbus with WiFi and hot showers and close to town so we could walk.  We went into Big Timber for breakfast.  Montana is green compared to its neighboring states as Wyoming was very dry. We stopped at the Visitor's Center in Big Timber to pick up a cache and the lady working there was the sister to someone I know in Townsend.  They have an art work of Charles Russell sitting looking out at the Crazy Mountains to the west. We found three geo caches in three counties (Sweetgrass, Park and Gallatin).

Bridger Mountains 

 We crossed the Bozeman Hill and into smoke from the Norris Fire.  The Bridger Mountains loom off to the northeast out of Bozeman and are beautiful.

We pulled into Townsend around 2:00 and camped at Gary's on the hill.  We stayed up until the end of light which was about 11:30.  The summer triangle was pretty high.

Columbus, MT

Mountain View RV Park

We were on the road between Merrill and Torrington Junction, NE and drove through fog with a visibility of about 100 feet and 67 degrees.  We sighted a Casita in the east bound lane around Douglas, WY.  There have been three Casitas so far that we have seen on this trip.  We stopped for lunch at a pull-out with four semi-trucks.  The wind was blowing and really rocked the camper.  The wind blew Hardy's hat off so goes the saying "Hang onto your hat".  We stopped for ice cream in Buffalo and there was a big grass fire outside of town along I90 toward Gillette.  They said it was from lightening the day before. There was another huge fire outside Sheridan, WY and another east of Billings as we were coming through. We were going to camp at the Riverside Park in Laurel, MT but it was closed.  It looked like they had some shore line issues from the river.  We went on to Columbus, MT and camped at Mountain Range RV park for $21 for electric but no water.  We walked into town and picked up a cache at the park.  The wind was really blowing.

Scottsbluff, NE

It got down to 70 last night and was a little muggy and we ran the A/C most of the night.  We slept OK and were up by 6:30.  A nice wren woke us up with her singing outside the camper.  There is a bit of a breeze this morning but none last night.  It is partly sunny.  We broke camp by 7:10 and stopped for gas in Auroa on I80 & 14.  We picked up a cache there.  That was a nice stop.  The temperature is 77 and it looked like we were driving through rain but not getting wet.  We had lunch at the rest area and Hardy geo cached while I took a walk.

We stopped in Scottsbluff, NE at Riverside Campground by a small zoo and the river.  The cost was $15 for water and electricity but the water faucet was corroded to the point that it leaked badly so we just filled the tank.  We drove to DQ for a blizzard and Hardy found a puzzle cache.  It was an easy find under a tree. They had a great hiking/biking trail and we walked on part of it to find a geo cache.  This was cute called "Who" (Hoo) lives here.  There was a cute psychedelic owl in a knot hole.  We did not find the other cache near the trail.

Montana Bound

We are off and running to Montana.  We will try and make 200 to 250 miles a day so we are not so beat by the time we get there.  We got up about 6:00 a.m. and Hardy checked out the truck tires and camper and added some water to the tank.  We had breakfast at the Huddle house in Rolla and then headed west.

We camped at Conastoga Lake SRA site 40 outside of Lincoln, NE.  This is a nice lakeside campground, about 1/3 full with full hookups.  The parks was nice but not quite enough or dark sky as there were street lights near our site.  There was quite a bit of trash left on the grounds, dead fish in the trash cans, etc.  The lawn was nicely mowed  and it was quiet. There was a nice dock into the lake and a place for swimmers.  Tomorrow we head for Scottsbluff.

AACE 2012

We traveled to Indianapolis, IN to square dance at the AACE convention.  This is the first year this convention has been held in Indianapolis. 

Kelly and Shonas house in Louisville, KY

We spent the night with Shonas in Louisville.  They have their house up for sale as they are both moving to Montana.  Of course, we went to Molly Malone's for dinner.  They have good Irish food there.

June 20, 2012
We left Shonas and probably our last stay at their house in Louisville and went to our favorite little breakfast joint for our wonderful breakfast before we took off for Indianapolis. We stayed At Jean Ballinger's house which is about three miles from the square dance center.  After getting settled there we went looking for a place to eat and checked out the area so we wouldn't get lost.  Jean has a very nice house in a quiet suburb and graciously allowed us to stay there while she was hiking in Michigan.  A truly good friend!

June 21, 2012
After breakfast we went over to the hotel and met with some of our friends that were here dancing too.  Sue and Arnie Shafer and John and Sandy Walenter are here so we hung out with them most of the convention.  This area at the convention center does not have many places to eat so we were forced to go a distance to find something beside Denney's.  We did go to Jimmy John's for lunch and it was fairly close.  For dinner, we found a good Italian Restaurant with good food.  It was a little pricy but the food was good.  Unfortunately, while we were there, the lady at the table next to us got up to go to the bathroom and stepped off a step and fell.  I, having the old EMT in me kick in, went to her assistance.  She was not hurt too badly but I had her sit until her husband could pay his bill and get her loaded in the car.  Habit for me I guess.

June 23, 2012
We went to the workshops and then the dance but left the convention early and headed back to Missouri.  We leave on Monday for Montana for the family reunion.  I have the camper packed and almost ready to go so will finish that up when we get home, groceries, etc.

Nassar Dance

Nassar Shukar

We went to Laurie to dance to Nassar Shukar.  Nassar does a fun dance and we had a great time and got to visit with our square dance friends before we head out west.  Of course, we had to go to the BBQ place outside Laurie.  Our old original had burned down but they have since rebuilt and it is very good.  The menu is almost the same, just with different names for the food.  The building is very nice and fairly large and accommodates us well.  The service is good but a little on the slow side and it sometimes make it hard for the dancers to get back in time for the evening dace, especially if they are going to round dancing.

Romeny Tannehill Dance

We left for the dance on Friday with caller Romney Tannehill, a local Missouri favorite, who has since moved to southern California and calls square dancing in that area.    He will be in St Louis this weekend, Eldon on Wednesday and Columbia on Friday night so he is making his rounds while he is here visiting his mother and father.

There were lots of Illinois folks there and most of them we dance with in the valley so it was like a mini family reunion.

We stayed at the Marriott on Maryville Circle Dr. and it was very nice and also quiet.  They had a retreat weekend for soldiers and their families so I thought that was very nice too.  We didn't eat there because it is very expensive so we didn't even look for their restaurant but we did find a Thai Restaurant on Manchester Road that was very good.

Saturday we got up and checked out of our hotel and went to Mimi's Cafe for breakfast.  I was really good with my breakfast but Hardy had Cinnamon French Toast that was decadent. I was having some problems with the insert in my shoes so during the lunch break we went to WalMart and I bought another pair of inserts so I would be able to dance for another several hours without being in pain.  We had lunch at St. Louis Bread Company and they have the best black bean soup!  Saturday night a bunch of us went with Romney to Bandanas for BBQ.

We danced from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. with breaks for lunch and dinner but all in all I got in 22,100 steps for the day which is about 9.25 miles and added up to 9 points!  We drove home after the dance and hit the bed as soon as we got here.

Transit of Venus

About 5:00 p.m.

Well, I haven't been out here for a few days because I didn't have much of interest to write about.

About 6 p.m.

Today, starting about 5:00 p.m. we watched the Transit of Venus.  This will not be seen again in our lifetime, for another 117 years.  We set up the telescope with the filter at Stonehenge on the MST campus in Rolla and had several people come by and take a look through the scope and our friends Tom and Lana Vandoren with their two grandchildren came by too.  They were going to Alex's for pizza and brought us back one so that was very much appreciated.
We left MST around 7:15 or so and Hardy came on home in the truck and I went to Walmart to pick up a few things.  I had the telescope with me so he wasn't able to watch the sun until I got home and it was after 8:00 by that time so we watched it on NASA televised.

About 7 p.m.

We had taken our truck into the garage this morning to get it checked out before we went on our long trip this summer.  When we came back home our resident black snake was crawling for the door of the garage.  I told Hardy to put the door down before the snake got in and it came down on his little back so about 6 inches of him was caught under the door.  He hurried and raised the door back up and he crawled out and went to the side of the overhang to recuperate.  A little later he came out from the garage area and crawled over to his little home in one of the tires  where I have plants.  Poor little guy was probably in shock.  He is about 5 feet long and had just shed his skin (right in the flower bed in front of the house).

We also had the hot tub guy out this morning to see if he could repair the hot tub.  He called and told Hardy it was the breaker so we when we were in Rolla we bought another breaker.  We shall see if that works or not.

Another square dance with Darryl

Today we drove to the Laurie to dance with our own Zig Zag club and it is another Darryl day for us.  Darryl does such a great job calling and makes any dance fun.  We went to eat at the BBQ joint but they have changed the menu and it is no longer BBQ.  I guess they are moving to another location for the BBQ.  The poor waitress was brand new and she ended up with our big group so she had a few problems with the order but everyone finally got fed.

Square Dance with Darryl

We went to St Louis to square dance with Darryl Lipscomb at the Zig Zags.  We danced at 2:00 to C2 then went to dinner at El Maguey a Mexican restaurant.  All of us women had a margurita, a very large one too and then we went back and danced C1 in the evening.  It was a little fuzzy for the first tip or two but we managed to muddle through it.

Riding the Katy Trail

Missouri River on the Katy Trail

 
We finally bought a bike rack for our car so today we took the bikes to the Katy Trail and road about 10 miles.  This is usually a 20 mile ride from Jefferson City to Hartsburg but because we had not been on the bikes for several months we decided we should take it a little easy.  I had taken a snack along for the ride and we stopped by the river to watch the water.

We stopped in Jefferson City and had dinner at the Chinese restaurant.  Of course there was too much food so we had to bring half of it home.

Home and running

We slept in until almost 10:00 this morning so we must have been bushed from our long journey but we made it home without any accidents and in good health. 

I wanted to go to town and weigh but changed my mind so we went to town and ate instead.  I got my hair cut then went to have a manicure and pedicure and get an appointment for the truck before we head out to Montana.  After all that, I stopped and got a new pair of Sketchers (pink) and then headed to Walmart for groceries. 

It is very hot today with a heat index close to 100 so we messed around in Walmart for a couple of hours buying groceries and more junk! 

I wanted to get the blog caught up to date so that is what i have been working on for the past several hours.

Headed home

My geocacher

Camp site at Osage Hills SP

We are headed for home today.  We hiked up to the lookout and found a geocache and stopped and paid for our nights camping.  This is a very nice park and very quiet.  We had lunch in Afton, OK and stopped at George Washington Carver NM and got the book stamped and looked at the civil war display they had just put in.  We made it to Lebanon, MO for dinner at Dowd's Catfish and home at 7:45.

Osage Hills State Park

We stopped at the Rockin A Cafe in  Boise City, OK for a great breakfast.  This is a little local cafe that had lots of cars around it, a sure sign that it is a good place to eat.  We stopped for gas at Love's and they didn't have ice tea.  It was a bummer for me but Hardy got coffee so he was a happy camper.  (Mighty nice of me.)

We stopped for lunch in the might metropolis of Slapout, OK and did a bit of geocaching while at it.  Two muggels were there ahead of us but they were more interested in each other than us.  I am not sure they even noticed we were there!.

No Man's Land is as empty as ever with rolling hills and prairie with an occasional abandoned farm house.  We saw an interesting burned out motel and restaurant with a dog on the roof in Elmwood, OK.  We struck Fort Supply about 1:18.  It seemed to be out of supplies but has a nice grove of trees along the Highway 412.  We changed drivers in Woodward, OK and stopped at McDonalds for coffee and ice tea.  Hardy didn't want ice cream, go figure, and I even had the points all figured out for Weight Watchers.

Fuzzy tarantula in our camp

We were in camp by 8:00 and took a walk around the park.  We met a nice fuzzy tarantula and Kyle the Park Ranger who said we could pay when we leave in the morning.  He was a nice young guy who has been all over at different parks.

Capulin Volcano NM and Clayton State Park

We left after breakfast and a trip to the dump.  We saw and heard a turkey gobbling on the way out of Sumner Lake.  Yesterday we saw a beautiful orange, black, white and yellow robin sized biird in our camp.  The weather is cool at 67 and it is overcast.  The park lighting is superb without any street lights and a few subdued walkway lights that looked like Easter Island statues shining orange light.

We had lunch at a rest area without facilities outside Las Vegas, NM.  The wind was really blowing and it was 76 degrees at noon. We stopped at Capulin Volcano National Monument.  This was a cinder cinder cone volcano about 1,000 feet high.  The lady at the desk named Vanita Brown is a shirt tail relative of Hardy's.  Her grandmother was Vanita Willett whose grandfather was Alexander Hamilton Willett.  He found two geocaches and answered questions to the earth cache.  He took a picture of him and the casita showing that we could not take the trailer up on the volcano so hopefully that will fulfill any questions.

Capulin Volcano is at more than 7000 feet in elevation. Summers are cooler than typical of the Southwest and winters are cold and snowy. In summer, highs may reach 85 with lows in the 50s. Winter may have warm days in the 60s, but single digit temperatures and snow are common. Between 58,000 to 62,000 years ago, just yesterday on the clock of geologic time, the scene near Capulin would have been one of fire, ash, glowing lava, and ear-shattering explosions.

Capulin Volcano

Capulin Volcano formed during the most recent period of activity in the Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field. The cone rises more than 1,000 feet above the plains to 8,182 feet above sea level and consists chiefly of loose cinders, ash, and other rock debris. These materials were ejected during successive eruptions and fell back upon the vent, piling up to form the conical mountain. The symmetry of Capulin Volcano was preserved because lava did not flow from the main crater but from secondary vents located at the western base of the cone. Evidence of the other episodes of activity can be seen in nearly 100 nearby volcanic peaks and lava capped mesas. The largest of these volcanic peaks is the Sierra Grande, an extinct volcano rising some 2,200 feet above the surrounding plain, about 10 miles to the southeast. The largest lava flow is Johnson Mesa, 14 miles long and 7 miles wide, to the west of Capulin.

Clayton State Park

We headed to Clayton State Park in New Mexico.  We traveled about 300 miles today and mostly along the Santa Fe Trail.  Apparently you can still see old wagon tracks in some areas.  We didn't see them but that is what is reported.  We met another camper from Vernon, TX who was quite a talker and a ham radio operator.

A big dude

We took a walk out to the spillway and looked at the dinosaur tracks that were uncovered when they were building the spillway for the dam. Along the spillway, more than 500 dinosaur footprints have been preserved and identified. Plant-eating and carnivorous dinosaurs, as well as some ancient crocodiles, made these prints. Markers identify significant tracks.

The Annular Eclipse

Today is the day we have been waiting for and why we traveled 1,000 miles to New Mexico.  We were up at 7:30 after a very windy night of rocking and rolling in our little camper.  There is a clear blue sky with a few skiffs of thin high clouds and a darker mass in the south.  We went to breakfast in Fort Sumner at a different restaurant.  We were going to wash clothes but the laundromat was closed on Sunday.

Hardy had the scope out last night and we saw Saturn and some nice star fields around Corvus.  The scope was setting on the window sill of the small cabins on our site.

Small clouds started moving through which was a cause for concern as we didn't know if it was going to block the sun during the eclipse but they started to move away right before the eclipse was supposed to begin . We parked out on the highway at the Seal Team 6 memorial site.  He rigged the scope up around 6:30 and I saw a little dimple on the sun about that time.  By the time he got it aligned and centered the eclipse had started and we started taking pictures.  The clouds had totally gone by 7:15 and we had an unobstructed view of the sun throughout the entire eclipse.  Hardy texted Steve and his brother Jan to let them know what was going on.  Steve couldn't get the eclipse where he was in Texas as it was too cloudy and Jan was too far north.  We got some great shots of the annular "ring of fire" on both of our cameras but mine seemed to do the best.  We used photography through a filtered 25 mm eyepiece. 
 
I took this as the eclipse was just beginning using my Canon camera held up to the view finder with a filter on the telescope.  I think it turned out pretty well.

In the beginning

 

The ring of fire

This was taken when the eclipse was total also using the Canon camera.












.This was taken as the moon was across the sun and coming out the other side.

Moving off the other side

Fort Sumner and Bosque Redondo

We were up at 6:30 and had breakfast.  It is very sunny and clear in in the mid 70's. We went into town to the library which was closed and to do laundry which we put off doing.  This is the town where Billy the Kid was killed by Pat Garrett.  This happened in a house that had been converted from the barracks at Bosque Redondo. Unfortunately in my estimation, the town glorifies a thug when in essence the real tragedy was The Long Walk forced upon the Indians.

Bosque Redondo Visitor Center

This state monument is a beautiful building and grounds. The Long Walk to Bosque Redondo refers to the 1864 deportation and attempted ethnic cleansing of the Navajo people by the U.S. Government. Navajos were forced to walk at gunpoint from their reservation in what is now Arizona to eastern New Mexico.  like some internment camps involving several tribes, the Bosque Redondo had serious problems.  About 400 Mescalero Apaches were placed there before the Navajos.  The Mescalero and Navejo had a long tradition of raiding each other; the two tribes had many disputes during their encampment. Furthermore, the initial plan was for around 5,000 people, certainly not 10,000 men, women and children. Water and firewood were major issues from the start; the water was brackish and the round grove of trees was quite small. Nature and humans both caused crop failures every year. The Pecos River flooded and washed out the head gates of the irrigation system. In 1865 Navajo began leaving. By 1867 the remaining Navajo refused to plant a crop.  General Sherman visited the Bosque Redondo and found the encampment deplorable and it was disbanded and the Indians were able to go back to their homelands in the Four Corners.

Pecos River

We took a nice walk along the Pecos River and listened to the interpretive given by Wes Studi, a local Native American who lives in Sante Fe.  There are a few areas of the old fort that can be seen and the old visitor center which was apparently an officer's quarters. The young park ranger was very sweet and quite knowledgeable and wants to travel like Hardy and I do.

Staked Plains

We had lunch at Fred's and I had the best chicken salad I have ever had.  We then took US 60 to Vaughn then US 54 back into Santa Rosa and 84 back to camp.  We saw loads of purple flowers along the highway and in the fields on the road to Vaughn.  We also say some antelope but it was mostly stretches of the "Staked Plain".  Yeso was interesting with old stone or adobe buildings going to ruin.

Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, NM

We drove to Puerto de Luna to visit the site of Cornado's Bridge.  We didn't see the bridge but it was a beautiful drive.  We stopped at the Blue Hole in Santa Rosa and ate at the Sante Fe Grill and we shared an Indian Taco...so good.

New Mexico - here we come

We left Palo Duro Canyon (Hard Wood) and headed to Fort Sumner, New Mexico to camp at Lake Sumner.  We stopped in Deaf Smith County to pick up the geocache at the historic marker.  We are traveling along US 60 again.

We stopped for lunch in Black and picked up the Men In Black cache in Palmer County.  We met "The Lady in Black" who thought we needed help as we were parked outside her house!  We stopped for gas in Fiona, Texas at a Valero and they had free water and air on their gas pumps.  We arrived at 3:30 and set up our site then drove into Fort Sumner for dinner.  Fort Sumner is about 10 miles from the lake so not too far to drive.  We found "Freds" restaurant on US 60.  It was nice with good food and friendly.  We chatted with two women from Houston who were on their way to Albuquerque.  Hardy had an X-Con (burrito) which was very good.  I had a chicken burrito with green chili and it was really good too.

We drove out to the old military air base where Hardy's dad took flight lessons during WWII.  There isn't much left out there but the hangar and two long metal building that were used as warehouses and red stone parts that looked like the front gate at the base.  We found out later at the town grocery store that most of the buildings had burned.  The grocer was a local man and very informative and even had a copy of the 1942 yearbook from that base and we found a picture of Hardy's dad in the book.  The grocer scanned Squadron 44B for us.  He had played in that area when he was young and played on the old junked aircraft left over after the war.  He was born about 1949 or 1950.

Sunset in the desert

We stayed up to watch the stars as it is very clear at our campground.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

After a great night's sleep we watched the first quarter moon come up over the mountain outside our camp.  After a shower we had three hen and a tom turkey near our campsite.

After breakfast we went for a hike before it got too hot.  There are lots of birds around our camp and we have 25 boys and girls from the Duram School that are camped next door.  This is a field trip for them and I talked to their teacher who says she does this every year for her class.  They teach the kids about the environments, science, history, geology and even math.  They apparently have races and they have to measure the distances and do some calculations. 

The hike was uneventful.  We saw the Goodnight Dugout near camp along the Prairie Dog branch of the Red River.  This is a small stream about 5 or 6 feet wide, swift and red.  After lunch we drove up to the Visitor's Center and found a copy of Roadside Geology of Texas.

We then drove into Canyon to McDonalds for wi fi which was a bust.  We decided to drive to Alibates Flint Quarry National Monument. This was a great location. We met Warner Schmitz the ranger and chatted about the Harry Yount award for park rangers.  He was very familiar with this award. Harry Yount is a shirt tail cousin of Hardy and was the first park ranger in Yellowstone Park. This was prompted by Hardy's spotting "Blood and Thounder" on the shelf.  The ranger was very informative about the history of the quarry which has been a flint quarry for approximately 10,000 years.  The original "Clovis Point" is Alibates flint.  The quarry is named for Allie Bates, an area rancher.  Unfortunately the guided tour was closed so we could not go up to the site.

After we came back to Palo Duro we drove up the canyon and checked out the other campgrounds.  The Cow Camp Cabins were cute and a possibility if we come this way again.  We saw more turkey and four deer.  A man from Dallas stopped to talk to us and wait for the deer to cross the road and he had just seen another 4 foot Diamond Back crossing the road.

Caprock State Park

We took a very nice hike before we left Copper Breaks.  The park had prisoners from Quannah cleaning the trail so we stepped aside and let them do their trail blazing.  This was a very nice trail up into the breaks.  The lakes are really low in this area, as they are throughout Texas.

Hardy at rest.

Copper Breaks Lake

We hiked to the top of the trail which was about a one mile hike, round trip, and fairly steep.  At the top was a nice place to sit and view the lake area.  We left about 12 noon, filled up with gas in Quannah and headed to Caprock State Park, outside of Turkey, Texas. Turkey, Texas is the home of Bob Wills, country singer who had Bob Wills and the Country Playboys.  He was well known in early country music.

Caprock State Park

Home on the range

We arrived at Caprock and picked up the Caprock travel bug and dropped off the Sunshine travel bug. This is home to the last remaining vestige of the Northern Plains Bison Herd. 

Our campsite in Palo Duro

We arrived at Palo Duro State Park about 5:00 p.m  and set up camp and had dinner.  We went for a hike on the CCC Trail near the Visitors Center and picked up another geocache.  On the way back a nice approximately four foot Western Diamondback Rattlesnake was laying under a tree waiting for his dinner to walk by.  He was just far enough from us that he didn't bother us and we certainly didn't bother him.  I got excited just to see him and I forgot to take a picture and decided I wasn't going back looking for him.

At the Visitor's Center we met a family from Mission, Texas.

Copper Breaks State Park

We were off at 8:30 a.m. after a shower and breakfast.  We fed the ducks one more time and then took off.  It was a nice night except for a dog that barked and a train outside the park on Highway 51.  We decided to take a different route along 51 to Vici, OK then 34 to Highway 6.  We stopped in Stillwater, OK at a Walmart for new air caps and groceries and chatted with a clerk from Eugene, OR.  We took Oklahoma 44 to Altus and stopped  for ice cream  This was a scenic byway through limestone, granite weathered mountains.

Mountains near Altus, Oklahoma

The GPS lead us over a tiny country road in Texas, paved but narrow cut off on SR 91.  The land is flat.  They were harvesting wheat in Texas.We camped at Copper Breaks near Quannah and it was a very nice campground. We found the Quannah Rocket, a weather rocket, with a peak altitude of 240,000 feet, near the courthouse in Quannah, TX.  We also found Texas Ranger McDonald's tomb with his second wife, Pearl McDonald Williams buried beside him and  Joe Earl with his wife Bertie Shaw. Joe Earl was the first white man killed by Indians near Quannah  and they buried him where he lay.  These were all virtual caches. 

We were in bed by 10:00.  The stars were brilliant in a dark clear sky.  Venus was creating shadows.

The great eclipse hunt

We are off at 8:30 for the great eclipse hunt of 2012 and headed for Keystone Lake State Park near Tulsa, OK.  The eclipse is an annular on May 20.  We plan to stay at Sumner Lake State Park new Fort Sumner, OK and do some geocaching in Texas counties near Copper Breaks State Park and Palo Dura Canyon State Park.

We spied another camper outside of Rolla headed west and stopped on an on ramp and had a tow vehicle like ours.  We met up with them at Love's near Joplin.  He was a nice guy (Rich) from Indiana and had stopped because they had some problems with their cat.

Hardy realized that he had no way to play the I Pod through the radio and needs to move the FM transmitter to the truck.

We stopped for lunch of ham sandwiches at a Missouri rest area near mile post 51.  Everything looked ship shape except our air conditioner is filthy and we may also need to clean the back of the refrigerator. We stopped for ice cream at McDonalds and had Blue Bonnet ice cream cones.  They were very large and very good!  We went through the toll which has increased in price since a couple of weeks ago...must be summer.

We arrived at Site 68 on Lake Keystone State Park and got set up and then walked to the office to pay the $18 for water and electricity.  These were nice concrete pads overlooking the lake and there were only two or three campers that we can see.  We had dinner of chicken and noodles and Hardy had his Shiner Bock.  There is a high haze but otherwise it is clear and the temp is 77.  We picked up a Keystone Lake geocache in a five gallon bucket near the entrance to the park.

Resident Ducks

These two little guys (girl and guy) came to visit us while we were getting ready for dinner.  They were making their way from camper to camper and doing a little begging along the way.  The only thing I had to give them was some Cheerios and boy did they like them.  They hung around our camper for 15 minutes or so and then went on to the camper parked across from us to see what they could find to eat over there.  I don't think they got fed at that camp ground.

Mother's Day

A great start to my day with a text message from my son then breakfast with my BBF at IHop.  We filled up with gas, got an ice tea and headed to Fredricksburg for dinner at Riverside Restaurant.

We took a little side trip for a geocache called Elephant Walk.  This was up a gravel road into a very pretty valley back in the hills outside Fredricksburg.

Going to "jump" off that step

At dinner at Riverside

Four generations

Debbie, Salam, Sharayah, Junior and great grandson Tristan met us at the restaurant in Fredrickburg.. 
We had a very good dinner with Hardy and I splitting a prime rib dinner and Tristan eating most of my sweet potato.  We checked out the water and had a good visit.  We talked about our trip to Montana in June and they are all going too so we should really have a good time.  Debbie and Salam are going to renew their vows with family in attendance.