Texas Hill Country

Our travel plan takes us from the Dallas area to San Antonio and back - an exploration of familiar areas but we are planning to visit new places and some unfamiliar backroads.

Our journey began on Wednesday September 28 - a truly beautiful day.

Starting from home - Fairview, TX - it is always such a relief to get through Dallas - then on 67 and finally on 281 - which gives the feeling of a genuine Texas country road.  The familiar Texan towns with their authenticTexas flair were there to greet us - starting with Glen Rose then Hico on to Hamilton to Lampasas where we stopped to eat at Alfredo's - a fun Mexican restaurant we have long wanted to try. It was delicious! We took a new road - 183 up to Cedar Park near Austin and turned on 1431 toward Marble Falls - following the (Texas) Colorado River. Green, beautiful hill country - ranches with some bailed grass but mostly hills and trees and open country. Love seeing it all!

Stopped at Marble Falls for the night.  Next day we traveled through Texas Hill Country where every plant seems to be defending itself. Pear cactus, gnarly live oak, sunflowers grow among craggy rocks and open grass lands with cattle grazing.

We enjoyed seeing Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. 

Enchanted Rock

Then we drove through the willkommen Germantown, Fredericksburg, a destination place we plan to return to soon. 

Next to Kerrville and then the small, windy, backwood roads that follow the Guadelope River that led us to Lost Maples State Natural area and our campsite for the night. 

Lost Maples Campsite

On Saturday, Septemer 30, a pristine fall morning, we were up early and hiked the Maple/East Trails - a  rigorous 4.6 miles up and down the mountain following stream beds filled with large boulders.

 Lost Maples Trails

We enjoyed the scenic drive out - as we drove toward Boerne, Texas.  The road was narrow and windy with  dips and climbs  We were impressed to see the "mountains" of Texas.

Wichita Mountains Oklahoma

Lee needed to find some mountains to hike in near Dallas (which is a little hard to do in the middle of the prairie) so he found a decent size mountain in Oklahoma (Mt Scott at 2464 ft) in the Wichita Mountain range.  Unfortunately, there is a road all the way to the top of Mt Scott, so not much of a hike.  However, there are other mountains in the range with no roads so he hiked Elk Mt. instead (trail was only 2 miles but substantial vertical climb).  The mountains are in a national wildlife refuge that has a bison herd, an elk herd and a long horn cattle herd.  We were very impressed with the scenery which reminded us of a mini Hayden Valley in Yellowstone, large meadows with bison surrounded by mountain peaks.  Not what we expected to find in Oklahoma.  On the drive up to the mountains we stayed one night at Waurika Lake, a Corps of Engineers lake that had a nice campground.  The second night we stayed at Doris campground in the wildlife refuge.  Overall a beautiful area and wonderful drive on backroads to and from.  One surprise was the Holy City.  Who would have thought that you'd find a stage for a reenactment of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ in the middle of the Wichita Mountains but there it is!  Every Easter the local community puts on a Passion Play for tourists. An elaborate set has been built here that includes all the major sites of the play.....definitely worth a look.

Until next time,

Lee & Liz

View from the top of Elk Mountain

Holy City in the Wichita Mountains

Tetons/Yellowstone, Lake Tahoe, Lake Powell

June 13, 2016.  We left early for our annual trip to Lake Powell because we wanted to make some stops along the way.  After overnight stays in Amarillo, Santa Rosa State Park, and the Sandia Resort & Casino near Albuquerque (a very good place to stay overnight in the RV) we drove on to Navajo Lake in New Mexico and Colorado.  Here we met up with Jim and Anna Maria (Liz's sister) and spent an afternoon on the lake.  The next day we drove to the the Aztec National Monument ruins near the town of Aztec, NM.  These ruins contained many kivas and other structures that had religious significance for the Pueblo Indians.

Liz, Jim & Anna Maria by a Kiva at Aztec Natl Monument

On June 19th we headed to Provo, UT and arrived the next day.  Here we found a beautiful campsite in Provo Canyon right on the Provo river at Nuns Park.  The Provo Canyon bike trail goes right through Nuns Park and we took full advantage riding our bikes up to Bridal Veil Falls and down the canyon into the valley where we found another great bike trail (the Murdock Trail) that winds through the valley.  On our last day at the park we invited Lee's Mom and Dad and  Rick and Ruth (Lee's sister) to join us for Mom's birthday dinner.  We had a great time and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings.  This would be the last time Liz & I would see my Father alive....he passed away in August.

Nuns Park on the Provo River

Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon

On June 24th we left Provo Canyon headed to Bear Lake (stopped in Garden City, UT for raspberry shakes) and camped overnight at Allred Flats, WY.  Then on to the Tetons Natl Park, staying one night at Gros Venture campground and 3 nights at Colter Bay.  The Park was simply beautiful.  We were joined by Liz's sister Barbara and we hiked and biked together through country as beautiful as heaven.

The Tetons

Mt Moran on Jackson Lake

Selfie by Heron Pond near Colter Bay

Barbara and Liz

On June 29 we went to Yellowstone and stayed 2 nights at Grant campground with a campsite right on Yellowstone Lake.  We went for a day trip to Yellowstone falls and hiked down to an overlook.  There was a young couple that wanted us to take their picture kissing by the falls.  After we took the pic they asked if we wanted one too......I never turn down a chance for a free kiss!

Kiss at Yellowstone Falls overlook

Liz at hot springs in Yellowstone

Yellowstone Lake near our campsite

From Yellowstone we traveled to Burley, ID to see Liz's family.  Then we pressed on to Lake Tahoe, CA stopping at Jackpot and Winnemucca Nevada along the way (great rest area outside Winnemucca with a dump station).  At Lake Tahoe we stayed 2 nights at Granite Flats campground where we met up with Bruce (Lee's brother), Becky and Aubrey and d, Zhouyi and grandbaby Meila.  We enjoyed dinner with Bruce & Becky who left later in the evening while d & Zhoyi stayed on for 3 days.  On July 4th we rode the Truckee River bike trail down to Tahoe City where we had an ice cream and enjoyed the beauty of Lake Tahoe.  The next day we moved on to Fallen Leaf Campground at the south end of the lake.  Here we took a bike trail to the beach at Taylor Creek.  The water was a little chilly but Meila still enjoyed it.

d, Zhouyi & Meila ready for biking

Swimming in Lake Tahoe

From Lake Tahoe we headed out on the last leg of our journey to Lake Powell, stopping in Provo to buy food for our week at Powell.  We picked up the speedboat in Green River, UT and made it to Lake Powell safely.  We were hoping for a great time at Powell this year because all the kids were there for the first time in many years.  John and Kathryn and their three kids Akston, Reayen, and Elynn, drove out from San Antonio with their boat and arrived on Monday July 11th.  All the rest of us (Liz & I, Topher, My, Denae, Beau, d, Zhouyi,Meila, Rachael, & Kevin) arrived on Sunday July 10th.  We had a good  day boating up river from Bullfrog on Monday.  On Tuesday we headed down river with the houseboat and found a great campsite in Clear Creek Canyon on the Escalante River.  Then trouble struck.  People began to get sick with the 24 hr stomach flu.  Before we were done more than half of the group had  been sick.  Fortunately, the symptoms only lasted a day or so and everyone was better by Friday, but it did take a toll on our fun.  Also, the houseboat generator only worked intermittently so we couldn't run the air conditioner.  To make matters worse, on Thursday while we were exploring the canyons on the Escalante River, I hit a rock with the propeller of our boat.  It bent the propeller so we were unable to use the boat except at idle speed for the rest of the week.  (When we got back home and took it in for repair we found out that the propeller, drive shaft and rudder were all bent and had to be replaced and the hull was cracked and had to be repaired to the tune of $10K - thank goodness for insurance).  Fortunately, we had John & Kathryn's boat so we still had fun for the rest of the week.  Despite our troubles, or perhaps partly because of them, we had a good time at Lake Powell as always.

Grandkids having a "danceoff" on the top deck of the houseboat

Kevin enjoying the scenery

Rachael, Denae & Topher at Davis Gulch

Beau reading the instructions on his life jacket

Meila wading with her dad

On July 17th we left Lake Powell for home with two of our grandkids, Akston & Reayen, in tow.  It was great to have them with us on the return trip and they were real troopers on the long trip home.  We arrived home July 20th having been gone more than a month but with the memories that only come with being in beautiful places with loved ones.

California and Death Valley

In our last post we mentioned that we decided it was time to retire the Minnie Winnie after 15 years of dedicated service.  We began looking for a new RV that had everything we liked about the Minnie plus a few things the Minnie didn't have.  We had 3 major criteria: 1) not longer than 30 ft, 2) fiberglass end caps front and rear (to prevent water leaks), and 3) full body paint (standard decal striping fades and looks bad over time).  It turned out to be a major challenge to find an RV that matched our criteria but we finally found one on line at a dealer in Ventura, CA.  It was a 30 ft Coachmen Mirada class A motorhome.

The new Coachmen Mirada Motorhome

In order to get the motorhome we decided to take a trip out to Ventura and pick it up ourselves.  We chose to register and license the new motorhome in Texas to save on taxes so we actually couldn't take possession of it in California.  We had to hire a driver to drive it to Las Vegas, NV where we could take over and drive it home from there.

So on March 17th we flew into Las Vegas and rented a car and drove to the dealer in Ventura.  The dealer showed us through the Mirada, we signed the paperwork and stayed in the motorhome that night.  The next morning our driver showed up and drove the motorhome (with the rental car following) across the Nevada border where we signed the transfer paperwork.  We then dropped him and the rental car off at the Las Vegas airport and headed in the motorhome to Beatty, NV and the Space Station RV Park outside of Death Valley National Park.  That night we were joined by d & Zhouyi & Meila who drove over from Sacramento.

On March 20th we drove into Death Valley Natl Park and were greeted by a bloom of wild flowers that only comes out at this time of year.  We hiked on the dry salt beds and on the sand dunes on our way out of the park.  We decided that March is definitely the best time of year to come to Death Valley.

Walkway to the Salt Flats in Death Valley

On the Walkway

Liz, Zhouyi, d, and Meila

Hiking the Death Valley Sand Dunes

From Death Valley we traveled back to Las Vegas and then followed Highway 93 through Kingman, AZ and on down to Burro Creek Campground.  We then continued on down to Phoenix and Tuscon, AZ where we stayed a night at the Desert Diamond Casino (casinos are ideal for RVs because they often have free overnight parking and lots of eating and entertainment options).

On March 25th drove to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.  This is a large valley with large dunes of pure white sand....amazing.  The road in is plowed right through the sand and has to be plowed out again regularly to keep it open.  This area is also used by the military as a missile test range (fortunately there were no explosions while we were there).

White Sands Natl Monument - view from a sand dune

Liz hiking on the dunes

Access road plowed through the sand

From White Sands we headed home through Ruidoso and Roswell, NM, arriving home on March 27th.  There we were greeted by the Minnie Winnie which we still hadn't sold yet. After advertising on Craig's list, a young couple from Lindsay, TX came to take a look and fell in love with her.  They wanted to buy her on the spot and so we did the deal.  A few days later we offered to drive the Minnie up to Lindsay to drop her off.  As we pulled into their farm they were waiting for us with a space in their garage/barn already cleared out for Minnie...we think she was very happy with her new home. They also gave us a tour of the original barn on the property which they had converted into a rustic entertainment center with a bar and flat screen TVs - it was amazing.  It was nice to know we were leaving our old friend Minnie Winnie in good hands.

Southeastern U.S. Winter Trip

On February 3, 2016 we left for our southern states trip...not knowing at the time that this would be our last trip with the Minnie Winnie.  From Fairview we drove I-20 East through wide open spaces and small Texas towns that in years past dealt with cotton and slavery as part of the Old South.  We stopped for the night in Shreveport, LA.

On February 4th we crossed the Mississippi River into Vicksburg, MS - a town steeped in Civil War history.  Next morning we visited the Vicksburg National Military Park which is a major Civil War battlefield.  In the park we drove along the battle lines of the Union and Confederate armies which are lined with memorials to the battalions of the various states in the North and South that fought in the battle of Vicksburg.  One highlight was the U.S.S. Cairo Museum which houses the U.S.S. Cairo -  a Union ironclad battleship that was sunk in the Yazoo river during the battle.  The ship has been restored and is fascinating to explore.

U.S.S. Ciaro Ironclad Warship

Vicksburg National Historic Park

The afternoon of Feb 5th we drove down to the town of Natchez, MS which marks the beginning of the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail.  While exploring the quaint town of Natchez in the Minnie Winnie, we came upon a Mardi Gras parade and almost ended up in the parade before we were able to find a side street where we could exit.

For the next 3 days we drove the scenic Natchez Trace Parkway.  The original Natchez Trace was a trail used for thousands of years by the native American Indians.  The Natchez Trace begins in Natchez, MS and ends in Nashville, TN.  It was used in the early 1800s by traders on the Mississippi River.  They would load their goods on barges in the Ohio valley and float down the Mississippi to markets in New Orleans where they would sell their goods and their barges.  Then they would walk back up the trace and start over again.  The most famous traveler on the trace was Meriweather Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition.  He died in 1809 while hiking the trace...an apparent suicide.  When steamboats arrived in the 1820s the Trace became obsolete.

The Trace Parkway today is a beautiful 450 mile 2-lane road with no stop signs or red lights.  The speed limit is 55 mph so it's a great way to enjoy a leisurely scenic drive.  Stops along the way include ancient Indian mounds and restored way-points (called Stands) along the trail that provided food, sleeping accommodations, and supplies for the travelers.  The road also passes a beautiful Cypress Swamp.

Mount Locust Inn and Plantation
One of the "Stands" along the Trace

Emerald Indian Mounds

Natchez Trace Parkway

Cypress Swamp

We ended our trip on the Natchez Trace at the Meriwether Lewis Monument which marks his burial spot and pays tribute to his many accomplishments as an early explorer of the American west.

We stayed one night at the Davey Crockett State Park in Tenessee where it snowed.  We also stayed one night in Chattanoog, TN and one night near Asheville, NC after crossing the Smokey Mountains.  We made our way through the pines of North and South Carolina and into Georgia where we stayed at Petersburg Campground on Thurmond Lake. On Feb 13th we drove to Savannah,GA and visited Fort Pulaski National Monument and Tygee Island Lighthouse on the barrier islands near Savannah.  Fort Pulaski was part of a system of forts built in the early 1800s to protect key ports along the east coast of the U.S.  This fort was attacked and captured by the Confederate army during the Civil War.  The walls still bear the scars of the heavy bombardment from rifled artillery that eventually bought down the fort.

Fort Pulaski Natl Monument near Savannah, GA

Tybee Island Lighthouse

We spent Valentines Day in Savannah and thoroughly enjoyed taking a guided tour of the city on the Oglethorpe Trolley and eating at the Distillery.  Savannah is unique with over 20 park-like squares surrounded by stately antebellum mansions.  It's moss covered cypress trees preserve the feel of the old south.  This town is one of Liz's favorite places and we plan to return.  It also boasts a wonderful visitors center that allows overnight parking for RVs.

The Distillery Restaurant

Next day we left Savannah following Rt 17 down the Georgia coast.  We stopped at Fort Frederica Natl Monument, one of the oldest coastal defensive forts - built in 1747.  The fort was built to protect the early English settlers in Georgia and was established by James Ogelthorpe. Then we continued down the coast and stayed the night at Little Talbot Island State Park near Jacksonville, FL.  This park had a beautiful beach on the Atlantic.

Fort Frederica Town Ruins and Visitor Center

Little Talbot State Park Beach

On Feb 16 we continued down the Florida coast to see the fort Castillo de San Marcos at St Augustine.  This fort was built in 1695 by the Spanish to protect St Augustine and their other colonies and interests in Florida.  It's the oldest masonry fort in the U.S.  We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of the fort and sightseeing in old St. Augustine where they have an overnight RV parking lot within the Natl Monument.

Castillo de San Marcos Natl Monument

Castillo overlooks the Matanzas River

Next it was on to Orlando and Disney World where we met for a 3 day adventure with Topher, My, Miurie (their nanny) and grandkids Denae and Beau.  We spent 1 day each in the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot.  How can you not have an amazing time with grandkids in Disney World, and we did!

Denae with Piglett

Beau running from Piglett

My, Topher & Denae in the Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom

On Feb 21 we left Disney World and traveled west across Florida to Lake Griffin State Park where we saw some beautiful 300 year old live oaks with Spanish moss.  Then on to Tallahassee, Fl where we spent the next night.  On Feb 23 we drove to St.Marks, FL on the gulf coast which is the trail head for a paved bike path up to Tallahassee.  We did a 20 mile round trip on the beautiful bike path and ate dinner in a small seaside cafe overlooking the bay.  Then we returned to Tallahassee for the night with warnings of dangerous tornadoes in the area (fortunately they missed us but they gave us a scare).

300 Year Old Live Oak

St Marks Bike Path Trailhead

On Feb 24th we drove to Panama City, FL and then on to the Gulf Islands Natl Seashore near Pensacola, FL.  Located on the barrier islands in the Gulf of Mexico, this seashore consists of miles of pristine white sand beaches, Fort Pickens (built in 1834 as part of the network of forts to protect coastal cities), and a beautiful RV park within the National Seashore boundaries.  We had a wonderful time biking, touring the fort, and lounging on the beach (at 55 degrees it was a little chilly).

Fort Pickens

At the Beach (dressed for cold weather)

Beach at Gulf Islands Natl Seashore

On Feb 28 we headed for home.  On the way home the Minnie Winnie began making a moaning noise (like she was tired from the long trip).  She is 15 years old and has been a wonderful companion taking us safely and comfortably on our travels through all these years.  So we decided it was time to give her a rest and starting looking for a new RV.  As it turned out, this was our last trip in the Minnie Winnie.  All we can say is THANK YOU MINNIE - you were amazing and we will never forget you and the memories you made with us!