12/6/2016 - 12/17/2016; TEXAS & ARIZONA

December 6, 2016

We left Rogers as the temperatures started to fall.  We were sad to be leaving family at Christmas time, especially since we have a house this year, but were anxious to get to warmer parts!

We spent the night at Fort Richardson State Park in Jacksboro, Tx.  The park would probably have been interesting to explore, but we arrived late and planned on leaving early the next morning.  We picked a great campsite, but then realized it was a bit of a trek to the bathroom.  Not much fun in the dark!!!!

December 7, 2016

A long dreary day through west Texas...  An amazing amount of oil fields dotted the land around Midland, Tx.  Texas DOT trucks were busy putting ice preventative on the highways- not a good sign!!  We decided to skip Balmorhea State Park and drove on to Van Horn, Tx.  The night was spent at Southern Star RV Park, where the evening sunset was spectacular.  We set the alarm to get on the road the next morning by 6 a.m., in order to avoid the drop in temps.

December 8, 2016

Although we were on the road by 6, as planned, the temps were already below freezing.  Good news is the roads weren’t bad at all.  Evidently most of the bad weather/roads were more around the Ft. Davis/ Balmorhea area.  We stopped at Cracker Barrel in El Paso for breakfast.  (Perk of getting up early!)  We arrived at Kartchner Caverns State Park in Benson, Az fairly early in the afternoon. It amazed us that people were sitting outside in shorts! Unbelievable!!!! 

December 9, 2016 - Sunday, December 11, 2016    Happy Birthday!!

Enjoyed spending a few days at Kartchner Caverns S.P. and celebrated George’s 74th birthday on Sunday with lunch out at The Texas Roadhouse in Sierra Vista.  The campground was fairly empty our whole stay, which made it even more enjoyable and the trails were a great place to walk with Lizzie.  Wow- the sunsets were absolutely beautiful most evenings! 

December 12, 2016

With a few days to kill, I thought it would be a great time to visit Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  Hwy 86 from Tucson seemed to go on and on and on and on…  It also didn’t help that it passed through the O’odham Indian Reservation, which was pretty bleak looking in and of itself, but add to that the dryness of the desert and it was not a pleasant drive.  By the time we arrived at Why, Az, we decided to just stay in Ajo for a couple of nights and drive to Organ Pipe the next day.  As we drove into Ajo, we couldn’t believe what a pretty town it was.  Yes!  We set up the Casita at the Ajo Heights RV Park, where I met several nice folks.

December 13, 2016

The morning was spent driving to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  It was a pretty area, but we were glad that we chose to actually stay in Ajo.  There didn’t seem to be as many organ pipe cactus, as I thought there would be.  We did really enjoy the saguaros- they each seem to have their own “personality”, determined by the way their “arms” have grown.  The campground wasn’t much to see and it made us wonder what the reasons are that people would choose to stay there.  It was only a few miles to the border, so, we drove down to see what was happening.  NOT MUCH, but we can say that we’ve been to Gringo Pass.  It looked like the little settlement at the border went out of business, which was probably because of the park’s closure for several years due to the killing of a ranger and many illegal immigrants crossing through a few years earlier.

December 14, 2016

Today we traveled from Ajo to Yuma, Az.  Funny how your perspective changes- Yuma looked really good, after some of the areas which we had been through the past week.  After settling in at KOFA Escapees Park, we enjoyed a late lunch at In-N-Out.  Yum!

Thursday, December 15,  2016
Mexican food was on the menu, as we met a fellow Casitan, Eileen Glick and her friend for lunch at Manjares II.  Food was good and it was a nice visit.  On the way back to the park, we stopped at The Peanut Patch.  I thought I was having a moment of strong willpower, but alas, we went home with double chocolate dipped peanuts.

June 8, 2014. Custer State Park. Rapid City, South Dakota

Breakfast fit for a president!

Although the morning was a little on the rainy side, we thought breakfast at the State Game Lodge in Custer State Park sounded like a nice idea.  We took Hwy 16 through the Black Hills National Forest and were oohing and ahhing the whole way.  We even let out a little gasp upon meeting a small motorhome as we drove. What was he thinking??

We had just passed this tunnel when we met the motorhome.

The State Game Lodge was the summer White House of President Calvin Coolidge in 1927.  President Eisenhower also stayed there in June 1953.  

Our breakfast was great, however, I was greatly disappointed in the dining room.  It was not a part of the original building and was very different from what I had imagined.  I was able to see the original presidential dining room and even peeked into the suite of President Coolidge.

After breakfast we continued our drive through the park.  Some distant buffalo and a few donkeys were the only wildlife we saw within the park.

After leaving the park, we passed some bighorn sheep on the roadside just outside of Hill City and then saw another on the opposite side of the highway.  We were so excited!  We found a place to turn around and went back to get pics, but as we approached the second sheep, we discovered they were actually statues.  I can only imagine the people sitting inside their house laughing at us!  Oh well.

We spent two nights at Whispering Pines Campground on Hwy 385 between Rapid City and Deadwood.  It was a cute and peaceful little park.  When we met the owner, we discovered that he and his wife were from Idaho!

June 12, 2014. Montana State Capitol. Helena, Montana

We are doing what?

We barely got settled at Camp Three Forks in Three Forks, Montana and then jumped in the car for a little road trip to Helena to see another state capital.  While the setting was not as pretty and the interior was not as elegant as South Dakota's Capitol, it had some beautiful stained glass and many wonderful paintings.

Next visit, I would definitely want to see the Charles Russell exhibit at the state museum across the street!  Also, the original Governor's mansion is open for tours.

This was our campground, Camp Three Forks, and it was such a cute place.  They had a barn-evidently with horses somewhere, and chickens running around.  Just my kind of place!!

June 2, 2014 Nebraska City, Nebraska

Taking Another Look

We decided to spend our first night "on the road" at Victorian Acres, a cute campground in the southeast corner of Nebraska.  We stayed here about 15 years ago and had passed by many times on our way to and from Idaho, but never stopped again until now.  After getting settled I inquired about the Lewis and Clark Visitor Center just down the highway.  I was totally surprised when the owner suggested we go into Nebraska City- about a mile down the road.  "Is there actually a town there?", I not so brightly asked.  Well, were we surprised!!  

Missouri River Basin Lewis and Clark Visitor Center

We enjoyed our tour of this visitor center and learned more about Lewis and Clark's journey.  There is such an amazing amount of information out there and we learn a little more each time we visit these sites.  Did you know that Sacagawea died around the age of 25?

George at the helm- er, oar

Actual Size Replica of Lewis and Clark's Keelboat

We took a drive across the Iowa border to a state park, which I had wanted to stay at, but decided against because of the stormy weather. (Actually George decided against and it was a good call!)  Great view from overlook, but probably won't ever choose to camp there.  It was located in the Loess Hills, which are a geological formation found only along the Missouri River basin in this area and in China.  Who knew???

View from overlook at Waubonsie State Park, Iowa

We drove into Nebraska City (actually to get some groceries at Wal-Mart) and stumbled upon the Arbor Lodge State Historical Park.  

Arbor Lodge was the home of J. Sterling Morton, who was the founder of Arbor Day and Secretary of Agriculture under President Grover Cleveland.  When he and his young wife settled in Nebraska City around 1855, it was mostly plains and barren hills.  He decided that trees should be planted to make the area more attractive to other settlers and to serve as windbreaks.

His original four room house was remodeled and extended several times over the years. The last and grandest remodeling was in 1903 by his son Joy Morton, as in "Morton" salt.  The 52 room mansion served as a summer home for Joy and other family members before being turned over to the state of Nebraska.  ***The slogan on Morton salt, "When it rains it pours", refereed to the fact that this was the first salt that did not clump when stored for periods of time because of moisture.  Joy Morton and a partner discover an additive to make it free flowing.

J. Sterling Morton's Arbor Lodge

Hard to imagine this was ever "barren" land.

Unique Children's Furniture at the Lodge

At the Carriage House

Now I know where Tiffin got the name for their motorhome.

June 5, 2014 Pierre, South Dakota

We found this state park, situated along the Missouri River, and decided to stay a few days to check out the South Dakota State Capitol.  This was possibly the nicest campground that we have ever camped in, however, can't say much for the actual town.  Not sure how they talk the governor into staying around for his whole term.  We did notice as we toured the Capitol, that many only had a four year term.  Could there be a term limit or something else going on ?

Oahe Downstream Recreation Area

We were actually parked by the back flow area.  The Missouri is to the far right side of pic.  It was very relaxing to just drag our chairs out to the edge and do n-o-t-h-i-n-g!!!

Site #198 

Interior loop of campground 3

This whole area was devastated by a flood in 2011.  The good side of that is that much of the park was redone and the bathroom and showers were fabulous!  Almost made me want to walk over and take my shower there...almost.

We would liked to have taken a dam tour (thinking of you David McClintock), but we waited too late in the day.  It was all very strange looking to us.  We would liked to have had more info.

Intake for generation

Dam Power Plant

The lake, which was above the earthen dam, and the generating plant had no apparent connection- must have all been underground.

While camped at Oahe, we drove into Pierre (pronounced "peer") and walked around the Capitol.  It was a beautiful building with lots of marble and gorgeous oak woodwork built around 1910.

State Capitol of South Dakota  

This visit will allow us to mark one more state capitol off our list.  (We really should visit Arkansas' Capitol building one of these days!)

June 4, 2014 Sioux Falls, South Dakota

First day as South Dakotans!

Setting up residency in South Dakota was a piece of cake.  After we received our drivers licenses, we thought we ought to at least look around the city which we would now be calling "home".  The downtown reminded us a lot of Boise, which we really, really like.  When we came across a statue of a hog- well, we really did feel like we were home!  

 

Wooooooo Pig Soooie

George at Falls Park in Sioux Falls