September 23, 2021

Clayton And Dinosaur Tracks

Clayton Lake State Park Clayton, New Mexico

There was a city park directly across from the campground where I was able to take my morning walk.

Today we left Kansas.  This is the first time that we have taken time to enjoy being here.  Earlier visits had us traveling on windy, rainy days or chunking away miles on the interstate.  There are some beautiful places to visit. It was only about a mile of driving and we were in the panhandle of Oklahoma.  This is what Oklahoma looks like:

After another 70 miles, we arrived in New Mexico.  We drove into the small town of Clayton, parked the RV, and went for a bike ride.  We found a coffee shop and shared a pumpkin spice cappuccino out on the deck.

We saw this big white dome gleaming in the distance and pedaled over to see the Union County Courthouse.

We found, quite by accident, the Herzstein Memorial Museum.   The Herszsteins owned a general store in the community.  They were known to be kind and generous people.  They had a foundation that supported this museum, housed in an old church.  The collection of artifacts from the ancestors of the locals is tremendous.  The director gave us a personal tour.  She has a strong passion for history and for all subjects Clayton.  We learned about the Santa Fe Trail, the Dustbowl, WPA, Black Jack Ketchum, the Herzstein family, and lots of other stuff!

I was charged with finding our home for the night.  Clayton Lake was the perfect spot.

We spent some time this afternoon riding around outside the park.

We did see these pronghorns.

Later, we hiked the Dinosaur Trackway at the State Park.

Seeing these diinosaur tracks was amazing. They are some of the best preserved tracks in the world. This state park was built in 1954. At that time, a dam and spillway was created. In 1982, the spillway flooded and the dinosuar tracks were revealed. There are about 500 tracks. Each depression in the rock is a footprint. Scientists believe there are 4 different kinds of dinosaurs represented. These tracks are 100 million years old. I don’t care who you are…this is really COOL! It makes one feel kind of insignificant in relation to time.

The elongated depression in this picture is an impression of the dinosaur’s tail. The footprints indicate that the dinosaur was slipping in the mud and it used the tail to steady itself.

Ancient prehistoric worm burrows.

More tracks.

Little lizard with a blue belly.

Lovely evening.

September 22, 2021

Sea Of Grass

I was tired this morning and had a hard time getting started. I was awakened several times during the night by the really strong scent of skunk. It seemed like they were very close…but I didn’t get up to check!

It was a glorious autumn morning…perfect for a walk around the lake. The blue herons were “quarking” in their croaking prehistoric manner.

Along the roadside we passed these odd sculptures. We stopped to look and take pictures. The man who created these had very strong opinions! Some of his works of art are downright offensive!

We stopped in the town of Ensign outside the PrideAg grain elevator. We watched a steady stream of tractor trailers line up to offload their cargo of feed corn.

As we traveled along, we realized that there was at least one grain elevator in every town!

And we saw hundreds of wind turbines today.

We have learned that if a town has a gas station…it has a Dollar General Store. They are EVERYWHERE!

We drove through Dodge City and down to the most southwestern town in the corner of Kansas.

The campground, The Prairie RV Park and Carwash, is not much. However, this town, Elkhart, is adjacent to the Cimarron National Grassland. We started our adventure at the US Forest Service office in town. We got a map and were glad to have it as we made our way onto dirt and gravel roads.

Driving through the prairie, we were able to get a feeling for what this area might have been like in the 1800’s, before pioneers and settlers made their way west. In the early 1900’s the land was overgrazed and plowed for crops. The lack of rain and drought caused the dustbowl of the 1930’s. The government purchased land from settlers who wanted to leave. The area was allowed to heal and be restored to grassland. Along the Cimarron River, cottonwood trees grow. Some cottonwood trees were planted in the 1920’s and seedlings were carried downstream during heavy rain and flashfloods. Now trees line the banks of the river…a trickle really. This river runs mostly underground.

We explored the recreation areas and the scenic overlook.

What kind of bird makes this kind of nest?

We are seeing a change in vegetaion as the area is drier. There were prickly pear cacti, sagebrush, and soapwood yuccas growing amongst the long grasses.

It was fun to be out exploring…seeing things we haven’t seen before…learning new things about the land and the history of the country.

September 21, 2021

What a lovely morning for a walk. The air was chilly and the wind was brisk…I even needed a sweatshirt. I walked the loop around the lake and through the woods.

We traveled today further south and west toward Wichita, continuing on 35 and the Kansas Turnpike. This was a toll road in good conditon, making for an easy drive. Our ride took us through farming country. We passed red barns and tall silos. We passed wind farms and stockyards and fields of cotton, corn, sorghum, soybeans, and hay. The land is flat and open.

We stopped in the town of Pratt. We gathered supplies and used the laundromat. We were really lucky to find another great place to spend the night. Pratt County Veteran’s Memorial Campground sits on Pratt County Lake at an outlet of the Ninnescah River. The park was well-appointed and cared for.

In the evening we went back into town for dinner. The menu at the restaurant reminded us that we were in cattle country. There were lots of beef choices. We don’t often eat red meat…haven’t had it for months…but in land locked Kansas, it is probably not best to choose seafood! We had our filet with mushrooms and onions and blue cheese and they were melt in your mouth delicious! The baked potato served with my meal could have fed a small family!

After that big meal it was nice to enjoy a stroll down Main Street.

As we settled for the night, we could hear owls hooting, geese calling, and a large pack of coyotes howling.

September 15 – September 20, 2021

Enjoy The Ride Phase II

We left Maryland on September 15^th.  We traveled west to Morgantown and dropped down onto Route 7, a country road that took us for a roller coaster ride across rural West Virginia.  For two days, we drove on the Ohio River Scenic Byway and camped along the water. 

Friday the 17^th we (Tim) drove on even more harrowing and narrow roads to arrive at Kincaid Lake State Park in Falmouth, Kentucky.   Kyle and Allison joined us.  On Saturday, my beautiful niece, Megan, married Tristen Knox at Broken Arrow Farm.  It was a lovely wedding.

My mom dancing…such a joy to watch!

Sunday the 18^th and we said goodbye to Kyle and Allison.  We won’t see them until the spring.  We began our drive across the country, through Louisville, across the Ohio River, into Indiana, and through Illinois.  We stayed the night at a Cracker Barrel in O’Fallon.

Sunset over Cracker Barrel.

Monday morning, we crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri and passed the Saint Louis Arch, the “Gateway to the West”. 

All day we traveled on 70W, crossing the Missouri River and continuing on to Kansas City. There we dropped down to 435 to 35. We found a gem in Kansas. We stayed overnight at the Outlet Campground Melvern Lake. This is an ACE or Army Corps of Engineers Park. In our experience these parks are usually on a lake with a dam. The parks are meticulously maintained and beautiful. The best part is for 10.00, with our senior discount, we were able to have a site right on the water’s edge.

Home for the night.

Everytime we have passed through Kansas, we have encountered windy conditions. Last night after dinner we had a couple of hours of 18mph winds with gusts. Kansas is the place where the winds blew Dorothy and her house away! Fortunately, by bedtime, the wind was calm and we slept well.

July 30, 2021-September 14, 2021

Moving On

These past weeks have passed in a blur.  We had a quick week at home before we drove to Atlanta, with my mom, to visit with David and Dre and the boys.  My mom hadn’t been to see the children in more than a year and a half and this visit was overdue.  We spent weeks playing. 

Oliver drew the rainbow and the rain and the sun….because that’s how you make rainbows of course!

We had so much fun with Stomp Rockets…only Gigi landed hers on the roof!

I spent hours and hours in a suoer hero cape and mask. Most often, I was Flash…who can run really fast!

Apparently, gingerbreadmen are not just for Christmas anymore!!

We celebrated Oliver’s 5^th birthday.

New Spiderman bike…no training wheels on this one!

We had such a wonderful visit and too soon, it was time to make our way back to Maryland.  We stopped overnight in Henderson, NC; Tim’s hometown.  We picked up BBQ from Skipper’s and took it to Kerr Lake for a picnic.

In Reisterstown, we had lots of time for sharing meals with Kyle and Allison and she joined me most every morning for walks.  Tim loved feeding garden scraps to “his ladies”, the six chickens, who got all kinds of excited when they saw him coming.  He also enjoyed collecting the six eggs each morning and he will miss that when we are on the road.

Kyle and Allison are buying our house.  We have made the decision to travel fulltime in the RV.  We have been “most of the timing” for three years anyway…this just makes it official.  The two weeks that we spent at home in September were completely devoted to packing up our “old” life…lots of trips to Goodwill, lots of trashcans full of stuff, lots and lots of boxes, and one full king-sized storage unit. 

Sorting our things and giving things away…simplifying our lives…felt incredibly liberating…freeing!  Most everyone says they are envious but we wonder if they REALLY are.  We have no reservations or regrets.  You cannot make this kind of decision and feel uncertain.  This feels like the right thing for us right now.  We will travel and when the time comes for us to make a choice about where we will land more permanently, we will formulate a new plan.  There is no pressure to decide now.  It kind of feels like we have run away to join the circus!  Wanderlust, the pull of the road…is so compelling for us as we leave our home behind and embark on a new sort of adventure.  From now on, home will be wherever we find ourselves together.

July 29, 2021 Cycling On The Riverwalk

Riverside Campground Montgomery, Pennsylvania

I walked in the campground along the Susquehanna River.  The water was mirror calm this morning.

We packed lunch and took our bikes into Williamsport. 

Our first stop was the Little League World Series Field.  It is beautiful!

We biked on the Riverwalk, a paved trail that followed the river.  We rode on the northern side to the end. 

We crossed the bridge and road into South Williamsport.  We rode to the end of the path and crossed another bridge back into town. 

The trail continued to the east and we found a picnic area.  We were there just a couple of minutes when we felt the first drops of rain.  We hastily packed up and lit out of there.  We were 2 miles from the Jeep.  We got rather wet…but it was warm rain and we had dry shirts in the car.

The rest of the afternoon, it rained.  We took naps and read.

By dinner time, the rain had ceased and the sky turned blue.  We grilled fish tacos for our dinner.  Tomorrow we are heading home.  We both have follow-up appointments and a few other tasks that we need to accomplish.  We will be home for a week and then we are going to see David and his family in Atlanta.  We aren’t sure yet when our next adventure will begin…but you can be sure that it won’t be long!

July 28, 2021 Williamsport

Riverside Campground Montgomery, Pennsylvania

I started my morning walk in the campground. 

When I got near the campground entrance, I saw trash bags strewn around in front of the dumpster.  This was odd because the day before, the area was neat and clean.  I went to investigate and I saw bear scat! 

I was out and about early and I was out by myself.  A bear that is eating people food is BAD news.  I went back to the RV, having decided that as much as I would like to see a bear…this was not the place to do so!  A young guy told me later that the bear has been getting into the dumpster at night and probably isn’t a threat to campers during the day.

As Tim and I were checking out, we stopped to look around and Tim saw these bear prints.

We drove along the scenic road through farm country and forest.  We wanted to see Williamsport but the closest RV site we could find was 10 miles south in Montgomery.  We are camped right along the Susquehanna River.

We had lunch and rested and then I walked here in the campground.  We drove into Williamsport. 

A scenic overlook on the way. It is so hazy here. We wonder if it is related to the fires out west. We had heard that the residual smoke was this far east.

We walked around a little in town. 

This is the home of the first organized little league baseball games and now the home of the Little League World Series.  There are statues on the street corners.  Here are players at home base.

And first base.

We had a delicious dinner at Barrel 135.

July 27, 2021 A Little Bit Of Nothing

Potter County Family Campground Coudersport, Pennsylvania

I walked campground loops this morning.

We drove south on the scenic highway from Letchworth Park to Cloudersport…from New York into Pennsylvania. We found a county park to camp in. There is not much here and there isn’t much around. We enjoyed a quiet day…sometimes it is okay to just be still. No pictures today, no adventures today…maybe tomorrow!

July 26, 2021 Letchworth Waterfalls

Letchworth State Park Castile, New York

Yesterday, when we biked through Victor, I saw a laundromat.  I had already thought that I wanted to drive into town for my morning exercise.  I didn’t want to walk along the busy road.  So, it was decided that I would take the laundry with me.  I went to the laundromat and threw the clothes into washers.  Then I walked for 30 minutes and returned just as the wash cycle was finishing.  I threw clothes in the dryer and went back out to walk again!  Tim did his morning workout and then met me in the laundromat parking lot with the RV…we were ready to roll with clean clothes!   It was multitasking at its finest and it saved us lots of time!

We were not really sure where we were going…that happens frequently.  Tim saw a scenic highway on the map and so we went to find it.  On our way, we saw a propane company.  I had been searching for campsites and Letchworth State Park popped up.  The guy at the propane place was super helpful and when he heard we were considering staying at Letchworth…he got really excited!  He told us what loop to camp in and he gave us really good directions.  We booked a site online and we had a destination!  We arrived at 11:30 and we were not able to access our camping spot until 1pm.  We took a hike on the Flatwoods Trail, rated easy and 1 ¼ miles.  This trail was not flat…it was in the woods…it was NOT easy!  As we neared the 1-mile mark, the trail became slippery with mushy, sticky, mud.  We could see mud on the lower branches of the trees.  We realized that we were seeing a water level.  With all the recent rain, the water had rushed down into the gorge and the Genesee River had risen really high!  We could see where the water level had risen at least 50 feet, onto the hillsides and into the wooded area.  The water is now receding.  We picked our way across the sloppy section.  We saw lots of little animal prints, but it was clear that no other hikers had gone on past the slick as grease section!  It took us over an hour to walk 2.5 miles.  It was all downhill on the way in and all uphill on the way out…though Tim tried to convince me otherwise!

See the residual mud on the trees? We had a picture of the gorge but the picture did not show the magnitude of the flooding in the way that we had hoped.

We settled into our camping site and the first order of business was to wash my tennis shoes…they were covered in thick and slimy and smelly mud.  We both took naps.

This afternoon, we packed stuff to make omelets and toast and went to see the rest of the park.

Overlook views of the gorge.

Lower Falls…to get there, we had to hike down 127 steps.  It was worth it.  The falls were really pretty.  To get to the footbridge, it was another 50 steps.  To get back to the parking lot, we climbed back up. 

Middle Falls.

Upper Falls.

We found an overlook where we set up the cookstove and prepared our dinner.  It was wonderful!  This park has been voted the number one state park in the US.  The waterfalls are a treasure and we enjoyed our day here.

July 25, 2021 The Apple Farm

The Apple Farm, Victor, New York

One last walk up the hill.  It was cool and cloudy and I felt good and so I walked 4 miles this morning.

We are grateful for rain, especially when a great deal of the country could use it!

What in the world are these strange bugs???

Early morning critters.

We traveled along Seneca Lake through Geneva and across to Canandaigua up to the little town of Victor.  We chose a Harvest Host site, The Apple Farm, for our campsite tonight.  This is a working apple farm with a really nice gift shop.  We bought some goodies and then spent some time resting this afternoon. 

We took the bikes into the town of Victor and rode along Main Street.  We found the Auburn Trail, a multiuse path, and followed that for a short time.

We had a simple dinner of delicious apple butter, peanut butter and crispbread with watermelon for dessert.  We sat outside enjoying the ambiance of this place. We enjoyed talking to Roxy and Matt from Texas. They left Portland, Maine this morning and are on their way home. It is always fun to share stories with people who love to travel. Safe journey and travel blessings!

Tim talking to the goats.

Sunset.