Since leaving Mead Lake near Boulder City on Monday the 26th we have driven over 1,200 miles, stayed in two RV parks, one Cracker Barrel parking lot, and tonight are in a WONDERFUL, secluded, FREE, Kansas Fishing Lake along joint highways US 54/400 just east of Pratt, Kansas. Last night we stayed in Cactus RV Park in Tucumcari, New Mexico. A Passport America Park, we had to pay full price ($24.50) because it is the week of the balloon festival in New Mexico, and they anticipate more $$$ from those traveling to this special event. The Cracker Barrel was in Gallup New Mexico, and we grabbed the last spot available when we pulled in. Before that (Monday) we stayed in Surprise Arizona at the Sunflower RV Resort, which was Passport America, for $30 per night. Tuesday we met our friends Joyce and her daughter Laurie at the Cracker Barrel in North Phoenix for a too quick of a visit, but we anticipate being back in Phoenix next March on our way back out to California. So here is a re-cap of the past few days…
Our stay at Lake Mead was very nice…$10 for the night, the park was quiet and not full, only complaint was a neighbor whose fire put smoke right at our windows on a night when windows needed to be open. That was about an hour of inconvenience, so not too bad.
Marcia tried very hard to get a picture of the Colorado River from the bridge which one travels over now instead of traveling over Hoover Dam. She finally got a small glimpse of it in the picture to the right, middle just this side of the mountains. The bridge sure cuts off time, but also cuts off camera opportunities too (although you can stop and walk and take some shots…but time was not on our side for that.)
Here is a second, a more panoramic shot, which also shows the Colorado River.
A view out my side of the motorhome…
And this one out the front window (hence, the tinted color of the sky). We need to stay here for a few days and really explore the area more, and visit the dam. But one must plan this when the weather is not too hot, which means others will be flocking to the area too!
As we got closer to Phoenix, Marcia knew that the saguaro cactus would be showing up soon. Here was one of the first batches of them…soon they were all over the place.
She knows the names off all the various cactus and desert plants…but alas…
…even the desert gets tiring to look at. This is actually a shot after our breakfast at Cracker Barrel with Joyce and Laurie. Dreaming about being another year older tomorrow I'll bet...
After a short nap, she was back at it with the camera.
As we got closer to Flagstaff, it was time for a quick stop…where Marcia got these two fall colors shots.
If you have driven up to Flagstaff from Phoenix, then you are familiar with this view…the San Francisco Peaks.
As we got close to Winslow, the clouds darkened, the skies darkened, and lightening and thunder abound…
Which brings the little girl up on Marcia’s lap, scared as can be. When she was rescued nearly 8 years ago now in Arkansas, she had gone through some intense storms that October as she lived and hid among the large dump trucks and after one of these huge storms blew through, she jumped into one of the workers vehicles and that is how they captured her…
Well, we missed the sand storm in Phoenix, but this little outburst got us…but after 5 or 10 miles it was behind us too. Our stay in the Cracker Barrel was good, and we enjoyed our breakfast there before hitting road at 8 am.
On Wednesday morning we drive on through New Mexico after our Birthday Breakfast at Cracker Barrel…yes, Marcia turned another year older… Saw a burned out old house which I failed to get a picture of…so just use your imagination for a moment. Told her, “I bought this house for you, but when I lit your Birthday Cake, it burned the old home down!” Well, my shoulder will heal from the bruising I got one of these days…
The trip between Gallup and Albuquerque is a real enjoyable one. After climbing out of the mountains an on to Santa Rosa and then Tucumcari, I was just beat by 2 pm…so we pulled into the Cactus RV Park on Old Route 66. That evening we walked (she rode the GoGo) to Del's Restaurant just a couple buildings down. It has been in operation since the mid-50’s, and was clean, very friendly, and we enjoyed our dinner. The waiter even sang “Happy Birthday” to Marcia when he found out it was her birthday.
Which brings us to our travels today…through the final 50 miles of New Mexico, 100 miles of Texas, 60 miles through Oklahoma…and 160 miles through Kansas. Tomorrow we have about 240 miles to get to the RV park near Kansas City where we will have some time with my son Ryan before moving on down to Arkansas. Why no pictures of today's drive? As Marcia said to me…all I need to do is snap one photo and it will cover nearly all the trip today since it was all basically farm/ranch land.
Well, not all of it looks like farm land…as the view out of our front door shows tonight.
Wow! You're moving right along! Happy Birthday Marcia!!!!! Beautiful pictures!!
ReplyDeleteWhen we decided to head down to Phoenix, we knew it would be a long travel from Utah to Kansas City area...that's what an 800 mile detour does to you.
DeleteHappy belated birthday Marcia!
ReplyDeleteWe love those Kansas fishing lakes. :-)
"IF" you are ever on that route, remember the Kingman State Fishing Lake. WOW, what a nice place to stop for the night!
DeleteWhew, my head is spinning with all your traveling. No wonder Marcia needed a nap. Happy belated birthday to her.
ReplyDeleteYes, it has been much too fast, especially after our travels from Alaska which some say was too fast too, but for us we did not drive nearly the number of miles in a day as we have these past few days.
DeleteA belated Birthday wish, that was a mean yet funny joke about the house. You guys are putting on the miles, nice to start early.
ReplyDeleteJoke, what joke? I was being serious! lol
DeleteYes, TOO MANY miles, even for us. Now that we are in Arkansas, all lined up for my doctor appointment on Wednesday, we are going to slow it up starting with a few "down days" in Little Rock.
Nice to hear from you again.