2020 September UT and east bound

  Truly mid-September is a great time to be in Utah’s national parks. The weather is just right for travel with warm days and cool nights. Of course, we are boondocking and found some interesting places to camp. The I-Overlander app is quite handy to

find places to stay, the Campendium website helps to make sure that we have cell service wherever we are too. Tanya works remotely so this is essential for our travels.

As Tanya works, I take the scooter and tour Capital Reef National Park. The scooter makes it easy to stop at every pull off right up to the display boards and read each one. I have learned so much of the places we visit by reading the boards. The Capitol Reef National Park was named because of the geologic plate that created a drop of 600 feet along a 100-mile range hence the word “reef” in the name. The capitol portion of the name is from a distinct mountain that resembles the Capitol in DC.

There are 2 side canyons that have a trail at the end of the road that made for an interesting hike. One led back to some water tanks. These tanks were dry when I was there but important in the desert to have water much of the year. Along this trail was also a Pioneer Ledger. It had signatures in the rock wall from the 1800’s. Hiking these canyons with high narrow walls is exciting! Makes me feel I am in a protected area instead of the vast openness of the desert.

When I tour by myself, I look for the best places to return to so the next day after Tanya finishes her work, we can do a driving tour hitting the highlights. This way Tanya can have some of the great travel experiences that I do and still be able to work. This is working well for us to share experiences together.

There is a “river” that flows alongside Capitol Reef National Park and that is why the pioneers settled here and planted fruit trees and vegetable gardens. The native Fremont Indians had left before the pioneers arrived, so no conflict was recorded. Kind of nice to see some green in the middle of the desert!

Moving on to Arches National Park, we found a campsite next to the municipal airport. Our neighbors were pilots for commercial airlines and had a small plane at this airport. They spend quite a lot of time here and told us about the views of the area from a small plane. Wow, it would be quite a sight to see these National Parks from the air! Too bad that during our stay the wind was not cooperative for flying, it would have been outstanding to take a plane ride.

My scooter trip to Arches was different, I went into Moab to have breakfast and it took 1 ½ hours for breakfast. This restaurant was not very organized, and I did not leave a tip, the service was so poor. Going back to Arches NP and they had a sign saying park is full come back in 3 hours! Of course, no one to ask when the time started so I went to the parking area and waited 1 ½ hours before they opened it up for more visitors. Chatting with a man from CA who was on a scooter also and we ended up leapfrogging each other inside the park, kind of nice meeting people, sharing places.

Arches has several points to hike to see more distinct arches. I enjoyed the hikes as much as the scenery as well as the scooter ride. The next day when Tanya was done with work, we toured again hitting the highlights.

 

The smoke from Mexico and AZ had arrived and views with any distance were very poor so we elected to pass on Canyonlands National Park and move on to other places with better air quality and closer views. This is not so bad, for it means another RV trip in the future.

On the way to Canyon de Chelly, we stopped for the night in a small town of Bluff, UT. Parked next to a historical visitor center with log cabins depicting the early Mormon settlers who came from Salt Lake City, UT to colonize and spread the word in this region. The travels they made to get here showed 3 different routes, the one they chose was called “Hole in the Rock” because they blasted a trail down a steep cliff to cross a canyon. There were pictures showing drilling into the cliff face placing wood poles, covering them with branches and rock to make a road down the cliff. Then the same thing on the other side of the canyon to get back up. This site is one of the most beautiful and well-preserved locations we have seen. There were docents in period dress to share information about the historic village, this couple came from upstate UT to spend a month sharing the word. There are others who participate and each one spends time doing maintenance and providing tours. A nice quiet night, great tours.

Tanya has a long work meeting coming up so we travel to Albuquerque, NM to stay at a real campground at Kirtland AFB so she would be more relaxed and comfortable. Saw a roadrunner in campground! Apparently, he is a resident here, for we saw him the whole time we were there. Wow never thought I would see one so close and personal. I have only had a glimpse of one before, so this was really cool to watch him flit around all day.

While Tanya is having her meeting, I tour downtown Albuquerque historic district. I'm sure I mentioned the izi travel app before, this app gives you a free guided tour of many cities around the world. This tour in Albuquerque was a walking tour that I followed on the scooter. As you reach each location on the map the app automatically starts telling you the history of the building. Of course, most of these buildings are now tourist shops but interesting how the town came to be. I really enjoyed this tour.

I punched in vegetable stands and was rewarded with fire roasted green chiles! Mmmmmm, I bought a half bushel, for there was not much room in the freezer for more. Keeping two one-quart bags out in the refrigerator and the rest in the freezer, we enjoy the rich bold flavor of fire roasted chiles. They roasted them on the spot, apparently a local farm brings their harvest to town and sells them raw or roasted. Wow, many years ago I had some of these and loved it, didn’t expect to find it so easily but I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

So, Tanya gets on a plane for DC for her work and I leave Albuquerque and head toward Duane’s house in Brownwood, TX. Duane is the guru of Rialta's, he has helped so many people to keep these fine machines on the road and is a walking encyclopedia about Rialta's. We spent the afternoon and the next morning chatting about everything under the sun and had a very enjoyable visit.

Leaving Duane's, I explore Texas Hill country and stop in and visit Eric and his wife Denise, another couple who are Rialta enthusiasts. They also had an older Rialta and Eric is parting it out, and I scored a gas tank cover holding spring. Have forgotten about this for years and used Velcro to keep the door closed, and now with the right spring it will function normally.

While in Austin, TX I finally found the right size tires for the front of the Rialta. Having replaced all 4 tires in Oregon I had made a mistake and gotten too large of tires, and we have been having a lot of problems on mountains, for the transmission shift ratio is way off. Gas mileage has suffered as well. Although the load rating of the Oregon tires is much higher and I feel safer, it is a poor performance. So glad to have corrected this and now we can climb hills much better again. I will keep the other new tires from Oregon to replace on the rear axle when it is needed. Oh well, these things happen.

I really like this area from Duane's to Eric’s – Texas Hill Country. After so long of dry brown desert it is really nice to see green again. The humidity is nearly half of what Florida is, so it is much more comfortable as well.

I looked into Presidential Libraries, for Texas has a few, and they were all closed due to Covid. Deciding that it’s time to head east to hopefully see some fall foliage, I go through Tennessee. The mountains did not have color yet and I had to decide to visit my son and his family or go north to find color on the trees. Visiting family won out and away I go to South Carolina to see Doug and family.

Next blog will be going to Florida for kayaking.

2018 November Return to East Coast

  Return to East Coast CA to SC

After a few days of visiting Mary's home Mary and I get ready leave again to go East back to South Carolina then Mary will fly home. Larry and I investigated his car that a mechanic told him the camshaft was bad and discovered a loose motor mount.  Yeah, it's not to believe everything a mechanic says! 

 

1st day's travel was all driving we went through Phoenix Arizona and a Casa Grande we stopped for the night found an Elks Lodge and got propane apparently, we had run out this is the 1st time I've ever read completely run out a propane and it took 4 and a 1/2 gallons to fill the tank whoeee. 

 

First 2 days of travel there was a high headwind all the time, the Rialta handled very well but fuel consumption was great.  

 

Tuscon, short during tour of old town then over to Saguaro National Park.  Nice exhibit and driving tour of Saguaro Forest. I had visited here years before during spring when cactus was In bloom. 

Petroglyphs

 

You can see the skeleton of the saguaro cactus. Looks and acts like wood.

 

 

Catching up with Pat Jones RV friend from Natchez Trace tour) in Deming, NM we toured the Deming Museum.  

Rooms included, Old Timers Association (original settlers), doll room, Indian area, Bataan, China, art gallery, train, laundry, wagon, law office, saddles, geode, rock shop, Stetson, carriage, automobile, fire trucks, military room, Hispanic, lace and quilt, sports legends, future farmers America, bells, Czechoslovakia, oriental, photography equipment, medical instruments,   

Great museum, so much to see in such a little town.  

 

 

Stopped in Mallisa for late lunch, early dinner.  This is where I stopped before, a former stagecoach stop turned restaurant, Billy the Kid and others had been here.  Cute town square.   

 

Making miles to San Antonio for it is flat and empty.  Will not make it until late tomorrow so see how many miles can make tonight 

 Alamo 

 

 

 

 

Riverwalk

 

 

 

San Francisco house, Garyville, LA 

The twin towers each side of the house were water tanks 8,500 gallons, piped to the house, then the were no drains so buckets caught the water used and was carried out.  

Owner was a free man of color, owned 89 slaves.  Sugar plantation.  House had brick floors where when flooding occurred Scholls simply drain out.  

 

 

Interesting thing was seeing the Jars in floor used to keep dairy and eggs cool.  

 There was no indoor photography allowed so not too many pics here.

 

New Orleans French Quarter 

Daytime without drunks or too many tourists is a great time to visit.  Found parking and walked following the izi app we found in Solvang. Great tour, learned history and inelegant places.   

Burbank Street roads are under construction, and you have to cross several times to get down the street.  Mary of course found several things to purchase.  I did find a gag gift for Tanya.  I know she will be surprised... 

 

 

 

The architecture of the buildings is unchanged since I was here last, I did not see anything that hurricane Katrina left, but also, I had only visited once many years ago.  

 

Voodoo museum

 

 

Went to the cemetery and learned that you are required to have a guide to enter now??? So, we look for a place to eat before leaving New Orleans. Cajun Mike's for a classic po'boy sandwich, Tom has an adventure in the men's room when a woman steps out of the toilet stall and surprises the both of them. She apologizes and they share the sink to wash hands together, as she leaves, she says "thanks for sharing with me". 

 

More long empty road this time much greener than the Texas desert. To pass the time we listen to more audio books, seem to have difficulty in selecting ones that do not irritate. Mary is enjoying looking at the Live Oak trees with Spanish moss, Tom is getting anxious to end the trip as his mind goes to the next event of getting ready to go back to work. 

 

Savannah, GA and used the izi travel app, pretty cool to cruise the streets and listen to descriptions of the houses along the way. Parking is sometimes tough to have the time to wait for the audio to complete. I think that if I used a bicycle to do the audio tour it would be more enjoyable. Have to talk to Tanya about that and see if she would ride a bike too. 

 

There was one place where they were setting up for a movie, there was fake snow and 1920's cars on the road. No actors no signs saying what film it would be. Pretty neat to stumble upon it! 

 

Charleston, SC

 

Spending the evening catching up with Doug and his family there next day take Mary to see some of the sights around Charleston, SC.

Tuesday Tom had a little business to take care of then we went to Fort Moultrie, decent walking tour of a Fort that had served in Revolutionary, civil, WW1, WW2. This fort and Fort Sumpter played major roles in the civil, WW1, WW2 wars. Although you do not hear much about it, it was definitely good that we saw it today for tomorrow we go to Fort Sumpter.

 

All Doug's family except Doug came along to see Fort Sumpter the ferry boat ride allowed us time to sit and chat while looking at the scenery then touring the fort itself was fun.  Watching my 2 grandsons exploring the fort was especially cool to me.

 

 

 

We also did a driving tour of the haunted homes in Charleston.  Using the izi app, we drove through the streets and stopped when we came across a haunted house and the app told us all about it.  Really cool!

 

Doug's off work so we met at a Chinese buffet and off course I am overstuffed.  Going on home I realize my 3-month trip is really over. I fly back to MD tomorrow morning to spend some time with Tanya before going back to work in December. The Rialta will winter over in SC at Doug's and be there for the next trip.

I wonder where the next adventure will be? It is such fun seeing new places and after this trip of 11,985 miles and having someone along the entire way to share things with has been quite a memorable trip. This blog and many more pictures are reminders of what a great time it has been. From now on anytime I talk to Mary or Tanya we have things to remember and share all over again. Thank all of you for sharing my travels with me, hope to share more with you next year.

 

 

 

2018 April Gulf Coast, St Francisville, LA

 Gulf Shores, AL to Natchez, MS April 2018

After a great week at the Rialta Rally in Gulf Shores, AL it's time to move on toward the Natchez Trace Parkway. This leg is to enjoy the route getting there.

Rachel and I are going the same route, so we select a destination to meet at the end of day and often stop at the same places.

I stopped first in Mobile, AL to tour the USS Alabama, a retired USN Battleship. I liked the tour and got into the engine room (I was an engineer in the Navy) also there was an airplane museum, US submarine to tour. Walking the ship and I understand that not much has changed in the many years the US Navy has built ships. Of course, most of the ships I was on were WW2 era ships.

 

Engine room, I recognized all of the equipment here.

 

 

Rachel and I meet in Biloxi, MS boondocking by the Golden Nugget Casino. I had a great omelet in the casino next morning.

The sunset was good, the purple on the building is from lights they shine on it, made a different combination sunset.

After breakfast in the casino, we tour Biloxi, found a French restaurant that served better prices at lunchtime, cool meal. Driving along the shore with pristine white sandy beaches on one side and antebellum homes on the other side I could not help but to drive slowly and enjoy the view. We passed the Navy Retirement home, and I could see both the old building and the new buildings. Hmmm is there where I will end up someday? I love the view here, just might do it.

 

Mansfield, LA is a north shore community of Lake Pontechrain. We found this cool place at the marina.

Staying overnight to go tour the Wooden Boat Museum, we met the museum volunteers the next morning and they were so friendly and chatted with us quite a bit before the museum opened. What is really unique here is the workshop to build your own wooden boat, some 20 boats were under construction at the same time. I know if I lived here, I would be building a boat.

 

Heading north toward Natchez the next stop is Baton Rouge

 

 Capital of Luisiana, this is the former Capital Building. Built like a castle it served many years as the Capital Building. Displays inside spoke of the many different governors in Luisiana, Huey Long of course took grand stage, there was allot of differing opinions of the impeachment process for him.

 

 I liked the flags at the base of the spiral staircase.

Traveling north alongside the Mississippi River is St Fancisville, LA, several plantation homes are open for tours, this one James Audubon worked for a time as a tutor for the rich plantation owner and he drew 23 pictures of birds here.

Peacock that practically lived on the stairwell

Rosemont Plantation, very unique in that the furnishings and wallpaper are original

 In 2002 I had a picture of me in the exact same position.

Next blog we start the Natchez Trace Trail from the town of Natchez, LA.