You will never in a million years quess what we did today. Go ahead and try....Damn how did you know? We were out for 3 hours this morning and 2 hours this afternoon. It is hotter n blazes right now. We are sitting in the car just outside the park. The only place we could find that wasn't 1x. When Jenny checked us in yesterday they were so enamored with her that they named a trail for her. She really does make a fast impression. We move tomorrow to Torrey Utah, near Capitol Reef NP.
This place is in the SW corner of Utah, near St. George. We had to drive around The Grand Canyon somehow, and we decided on the counter clockwise route. This park is really cool. A lot of red rock and volcanic black lava. On the drive we drove through Colorado City and Hildale. Those towns are the home base of the FLDS. That's the wacko Mormon sect that thinks the convicted child molester Warren Jeffs, is a prophet. Those towns had a weird vibe. Large houses with walls and not a person in sight. The pics were taken at a Arizona gas station and our campsite.
We spent this morning doing laundry. We had 3 bags of dirty stuff that took some time. After that adventure I took the car and my bike to a trailhead a few miles from town. Sedona is surrounded by public land, mostly Forest Service, and that land is covered with a spiderweb of trails. Virtually all of them allow bikes. After yesterday's sufferfest I wasn't up for a difficult ride and I rode for an hour and 1/2 on some fairly easy trails. At this very moment Jenny and I are waiting to get into the #1 rated restaurant on Trip Advisor. We arrived an hour before they opened so that we could get in. We are not alone in line. You might recall we ate at the #1 rated restaurant on Yelp the night we arrived. Nothing but the best. We move into Utah tomorrow.
We did another hike this morning. Pics below. Jenny has been here 8 or 9 times so finding a hike she hasn't done wasn't easy. This afternoon we had to drive 20 miles to Cottonwood in order to visit a Walmart. Sedona is apparently too special to have one. I did a bike ride on a Jeep road this afternoon. It was awful. 45 minutes of up hill. See pic below. I couldn't bomb downhill due to the roads condition. We have one more day here.
We made it. It took 8 hours but the drive was interesting. We drove over 3 high passes, one was 9000 feet. The RV park is pretty much downtown, right on Oak Creek. We had a great dinner at the # 1 rated restaurant on Yelp. Not sure what we'll do for the next 3 days but something will materialize.
This park is unusual in that they allow the collection of rocks. 15 lbs/day. The visitor center has a display of rocks and minerals that have been found here. Deming had a high temp of 106 this afternoon. We can see Deming from our camp. We did a 2 1/2 hour hike this morning that was a steep drive from here. We will probably do something similar tomorrow.
We're still in New Mexico and we will be for quite awhile. Last March Jenny & I started planning this trip. Today is the first day of the plan. We have campsites reserved for the next 5 weeks. On the drive here we drove through Hatch. I'm sure you are aware that Hatch Chilies are famous. We stopped at the first Chile store we saw and bought a couple of things. We continued to drive through town and noticed that there didn't appear to be anything but chile stores. As you can tell by the campground pic below, we are in the desert. We have a outdoor thermometer stuck to one of our side windows. Yesterday it read 138. Now granted, that was in the sun, but if one side of the MP is that hot, our little AC unit is not going to be able to keep up. It didnt. There are a few things we can do to keep things cool, but your definition of cool has to be flexible. We are here for 3 nights. There are some hikes to take and we are only 30 miles from Mexico. Maybe we can break one of those toddlers out of prison.
We pretty much just followed the river downstream today. We are camped on the river, just below another dam. We are only a few miles from 'Truth or Consequences' and we drove into town to visit their Walmart. We were shocked to see the store has covered parking. After having a brief encounter with an associate, I found out the covered parking was really solar panels. They already produce a majority of the stores power and they are shooting for 100% by 2020. Since we are on the river I decided to get my yak wet. I paddled up to the dam and then back downstream. We are only here 1 night.
We spent a good part of today hiking in "Tent Rocks National Monument". Its was extremely cool. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. We move tomorrow.
We are a little west of Santa Fe. The lake impounds the Rio Grande river behind an enormous earthen dam. The dam is 5 1/2 miles long and 251 feet high. One of the things cool people do while camped here is ride bikes on the dam. Pics below.
We are in a KOA. We needed to stop somewhere that had a few facilities. During the 2 1/2 hour drive I passed no one and no one passed me. It was pretty desolate. Before I forget, we are now on mountain time and will be until toward the end of July. Tucumcari has nothing really going for it except the old route 66 runs right through town. For those of you that might be interested, I have some route 66 fun facts. When it was established in 1926 it was known as "The Main Street Of America". It ran from Chicago to Santa Monica California, a total of 2448 miles. It's reputation was enhanced by the song "Get your kicks on Route 66" and a TV show "Route 66. The TV show ran from 1960 to 1964 and starred Martin Milner and George Maharis (pics below). If I remember correctly, these two guys cruised the highway in a Corvette convertible. I don't recollect that they had any visible means of support but they were able to do it for 4 years so there must of been something. We move tomorrow. We don't have reservations anywhere but we do have a couple of ideas.
The wind last night was something out of a horror movie. We had the AC off so it was pretty quiet. At 3AM we heard some screaming from the tent campers who were camped below us. Massive, wind induced, tent failure. The plan this morning was to take the yaks out on the small lake that's in the park. We decided against that due to white caps. Just to be a little more descriptive of how bad it was, if you were standing outside with a glass of wine, there would have been white caps on your wine. Especially if it was Chardonnay. This afternoon we drove to a spot where 3 states converge. Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico. There is a small monument there. We took some pictures but I won't be able to post them today. The park's Wi-Fi doesn't let me post pictures. Yesterday we drove 16 miles toward Boise City to get an adequate cell signal. We just decided to hang out in the park instead. I'll post pics tomorrow from our new location in New Mexico.
The hike to the top was the only thing on our agenda today. It was a 4 1/2 mile one way walk. There is a group of individuals who try to summit the highest point in each state. The people we met on the trail were attempting to do that. The hike up wasn't really difficult but it was scenic. After we got back down we visited some dinosaur tracks and then drove into the town of Kenton (pop. 17). There was a museum in town manned by a 94 year old resident. She had been born in the building that now serves as the museum. She was a wealth of information. That last pic is a 'Side Saddle' that was on display. We are here one more night.
We got on I 40 and eventually drove through Oak City. It rained on us for 4 hours and the wind was gawd awful. On top of that, we stopped at a Wal-Mart off the freeway and they didn't sell wine. They sold beer but no wine. For crying out loud, a bunch of states sell marijuana now. There is some oil or gas well drilling going on in this part of Oklahoma. We are near the small town of Watonga. We did find a liquor store and the guy did have what we needed but it was the most pathetic excuse for a liquor store I've ever patronized. One thing of note. The liquor store was right next to a "Loves" gas station. Turns out that station was the first "Loves" gas station ever built. There's a another piece of useless trivia you can stash somewhere. I'll explain the origin of this parks name tomorrow. We'll be here another night.
That was the only pressing issue on the agenda today. It wasn't really that pressing, kinda like the Trump-Kim thing in Singapore. Jenny checked the laundromat reviews and she decided on "Bettys". We went to Bettys and lo and behold Betty was there. In fact, she has been there for 64 years. She is 87 years old, been married and widowed twice and lost a son to lung cancer when he was 61. We obviously got to know alittle bit of her story. She was so nice that she did something weird to our dryer and we didn't have to pay. After that adventure we ate lunch at a railroad themed restaurant. That sign was on the wall and that pie was coconut cream. We move tomorrow.
We only drove for an hour today. We needed 2 things. A Wal-Mart and a laundromat. Jenny has been using our new (washing machine?) To do our clothes but it won't handle sheets. We did the local Wal-Mart after we got here. One of my tasks was to get Jenny some Champagne. Well, after roaming around the store for awhile I asked an associate where the beer and wine section was. He told me it was 30 miles away. We are camped in a dry county. Damn the luck. Jenny has only 2 days of champagne remaining and my bourbon bottle is getting pretty light. Changing the subject-- Our campsite is mere feet from the shore of the lake and the lake is in the middle of a massive May Fly hatch. They are everywhere. The birds are walking around with beaks stuffed with bugs. There is a fishing tournament underway and I'm wondering if the May Fly hatch and the tournament are related. Anyway, we are here for 2 nights. Not sure what we'll do tomorrow other than sheets.
Another hike this morning. We rode our bikes to the trailhead. This park is really nice. Even though we are parked in the overflow campground (picture below) we get good vibes here. About yesterday's video. It is somewhat of a mental exercise to get a YouTube attached to a post. I first have to upload it to YouTube which requires a pretty good cell signal then I have to perform a magic spell, then I have to jump through some hoops, then I hold my breath and then I either cuss or smile. There probably won't be too many videos. We move tomorrow. That last pic is something we saw for sale in a questionable grocery store.
We are a little west of Little Rock. This is another one of those CCC parks. The stonework is spectacular. There is a classic log and stone lodge that is reminiscent of the national park lodges out west. We were only able to get a full hookup site for one night and we have to move to the overflow campground tomorrow. Weekends are a problem. There are some popular hikes in the park and there is a lake so we have a few options. We will probably be here 3 nights. The University of Arkansas has a campus here and that lower pic is the administration building.
We hit the disc golf course this morning. As is typical we had a hard time finding the #1 tee. Then we had a hard time finding the #1 basket. We couldn't find the #2 tee or basket. There was another 18 that we were able to figure out. I was pretty bad but with Jenny's help I didn't lose any discs. We ate lunch at an old general store cafe that makes the best hamburgers on earth. That's what the sign said. I am just finishing a bike ride and I stopped by the ranger station to use their Wi-Fi. Let's see if this works. We move tomorrow.
Today was pretty much a mileage day. We got back on I 40 and drove. This place is North of Memphis on the Mississippi river. There are several camps we have stayed in near Memphis and this was a new one for us. I rode my bike to the river, hence, the pic. Cell and Wi-Fi at our campsite are weak so we are going to have to drive somewhere every afternoon. Oh, did I mention there is a 36 hole disk golf course in the park? Haven't seen it yet but that is on tomorrow's agenda.
Every drop of Jack Daniels is produced at the facility in Lynchburg. The tour took us all through the production process. There was one room where 2 fire hoses were pouring 140 proof alcohol into a giant vat. That goes on 24/7/365. There are 63 warehouses full of barrels where the whiskey is aged. Over 1 million gallons/warehouse. The barrels stored on the upper floors produce a darker, richer whiskey because it gets hotter higher up and that allows the liquid more easily to soak into the oak barrels. The expensive special bottles of Jack come from the upper floors. By expensive I mean $150+/bottle. Gentleman Jack is swill compared to those select bottles. At the end of the tour we tasted 5 of those. It was interesting and informative. I know you are wondering, the answer is no we didn't buy any booze at the gift shop. We move tomorrow.
We had to go around the South side of the Smokies because that's the side Deep Creek is on. We've never done that before. Hwy 74 goes through the Nantahala Gorge and when it enters Tennessee it goes through the Oconee Gorge. The Oconee river is famous for white water. There were a lot of rafters and the water was huge. Unfortunately, I had to keep my eyes on the road so as not to crash. We are close to Lynchburg, the home of Jack Daniels. We have booked an afternoon tour that includes a "tasting". There are some bike trails near here that I might ride tomorrow. Jenny took these pics of the lake and of me blogging. Exciting stuff.
