Final trip stats

Our 2 day stop in Charleston included a book fair at the boys elementary school. Jenny and I were able to participate in several activities with our grandchildren. I made myself available to Sidney to play with her Barbie dolls. That decision proved to be somewhat problematic. She had dressed Ken in a dress. Nothing I could do, nothing I could say would convince her that poor Ken was being humiliated. We then moved on to Frozen. Who knew there have been 2 Frozens. She had the primary character from both Frozens and one was flat chested and the other one wasn't. I asked her to explain that and she couldn't. My back eventually started to hurt because I was sitting on the floor so she allowed me to gracefully skulk out of her bed room. The pics below are of Lindsay getting Sidney's hair out of her face and the boys riding around the KOA in some rented vehicles. Here are the stats: total miles-6980, total fill ups-28, highest price/gallon $4.59, lowest price/gallon $1.96. We stayed in 34 different campsites, 19 State parks, 1 National park, 7 commercial parks, 5 KOAs and twice in Larson's driveway. Mileage ranged from 5.6 mpg to 9.6 mpg. Wind has a dramatic effect on milage. With a strong headwind going up hill you can almost watch the needle drop. Davejennyjournal will be off the air for awhile. Jenny and I need to unwind. We were away from Beaufort for 9 weeks.

tq

Mount Pleasant SC KOA

The drive here took us right past the turn off to Beaufort. The MP was trying to make the turn but I was able overcome the nearly irresistible force and continue here. Our grandparents activities will occur tomorrow at the boys school.

Crooked River SP Georgia

Today was a rainy day. Breaking camp was rainy, the drive was rainy, setting up camp was rainy and it's still rainy. This park is our traditional last stop before getting home. Not this time. We are going to bypass Beaufort and drive to Charleston. Lindsay's boys have something at school that needs grandparents participation. We are going to participate. Our goal now, is to return to Beaufort in time to vote in the Democratic primary on Saturday. Our problem with that is we don't know who to vote for. We have been on the road for over 2 months now. Getting home will require an adjustment. I took this pic on Lake Seminole during my bike ride yesterday. It's still raining here so I'm getting exercise by yelling at the TV.

Three rivers SP Florida

This park is in the Florida Panhandle a few miles north of I-10. It was absolutely walloped by Hurricane Michael. It was closed until last summer. Looking around I would estimate that 75% of the trees were blown down. There was an effort to
Recover some of the downed trees by, I guess, a logging company and that effort further trashed the landscape. Most of the trails no longer exist. Anyway, the park is on Lake Seminole. I don't know which 3 rivers flow into it. I'm kinda into knowing useless trivia but for some reason I just don't care. I did find a trail to ride and I took a few pics. I'm pretty sure the flowers are lilies. We are in Georgia tomorrow.

Buccaneer SP Mississippi

We are right on the Gulf Coast between Waveland and Bay St. Louis. Both of those cities were trashed by Katrina and Michael. The damage has been mostly repaired but there is still evidence of the devastation. There are alot of homes for sale. That's not surprising. Yesterday we had an I-10 slog to a commercial campground in Breaux Bridge La. This state park is apparently a big summer destination. There is a water park and a wave pool, a disc golf course and over 200 campsites. We drove into Bay St. Louis for a Cajun lunch and then drove into Waveland. The only significant building in Waveland was a casino. We are in another state park in Florida tomorrow.

96 years and counting

Today was the big day. We had fajitas and other assorted Mexican food staples. There was an ice cream cake and an apple pie for some reason. In attendance were brothers and sisters, grandchildren, cousins and a son in law. Oh, forgot to mention wine. Anyway, I have lost my buzz and I don't have a headache. Must have been good wine. Below are a few birthday pics. We head east tomorrow. Should be in Louisiana. We are still a few days away from home

San Antonio

We made it unscathed. Our time out west has ended. I think, "the west" starts around Del Rio Texas. The expansive views, and the empty roads are behind us. In the pics below Jenny is showing her dad some of the gazillion photos we took. Me sitting in the chair is just a bonus pic.

Garner SP day 2

A quick blog post from a top Mt. Baldy. I wanted to climb up here before it starts raining. Its looking pretty grim at the moment. Jenny wasn't interested in a sprint to the top. We leave  tomorrow for San Antonio. Larsons birthday is in a couple of days. We will be camped in his driveway. I've got some LTE up here so I'll give this post a try. The campground doesn't have 1X it's got 0X.

Garner SP TX

This is the most visited State Park in Texas. The Frio river flows through the park. The river attracts Texas teenage riff raff in the summer. Right now its old retired folks. I'm going to try and post a picture of the river but I doubt it will go out. I'm using the public wifi at the visitors center. We have no cell service. This is like living in a 3rd World country. We are here for 2 nights.

Davis Mountains SP Tx

This is West Texas near Fort Davis. We had a pretty long drive today, something we haven't done in awhile. I have included a couple of more White Sands pics because we took a ton of them. To answer Pat's comment yesterday. The 5 mile trail through the dunes was marked with orange posts. You could always see the next one up ahead. I had my GPS with me and the 5 mile trail was indeed, 5 miles. We move tomorrow.

White Sands

We did a 5 mile loop hike through the dunes. Otherworldly!

Alamogordo NM

The drive from las Cruces wasn't too far so we drove into Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument and did a 2 1/2 hour hike. This NM was established by Obama 6 years ago. We hiked to a small waterfall/spring that was used by the landowner in 1890 to provide water for a small resort. The buildings are now ruins but at one time the resort was a hopping place. We are in another commercial campground. We will visit White Sands National park tomorrow.

KOA Las Cruces NM

• Nothing overly exciting to report on today. After we got set up we drove into an old historical area of the city. There is a plaza with art shops and jewelry stores and the always present Catholic church. I took a pic of the alter in the church, it dates from the early 1800s. I did get a short ride in and took a pic of the sprawling city below  me. Jamie took a business trip to India and bought Sidney a dress.

Faywood Hot Springs New Mexico

This resort is not too far from Deming. We had wanted to get into City of Rocks SP, which is only a few miles away, but it was full. There are many hot springs pools scattered throughout the park. Half of the park is reserved for 'clothing optional' campers. This time of year that is not really practical. The mountains we could see during our drive got a dusting of snow last night. We are expecting 25° tonight. I rode my bike into City of Rocks this afternoon. We move further east tomorrow.

Kartchner Caverns SP, AZ

This cave was only discovered in 1974. It's location was kept a secret for 10 years while the land owner negotiated with the state. A camera crew was blindfolded and brought here for 12 hours of documenting. The film was shown to the governor and one thing led to another and the state legislature unanimously voted to buy the property and make it a state park. It is spectacular. The park is absolutely paranoid about preserving the cave. We couldn't take any pictures. Breathing was discouraged and taking a stalagmite as a souvenir was a Capital offense. I did get a bike ride in after the tour and took a few pics.

Patagonia lake SP day 2 (last)

This park borders a State Natural Area. Most of the hiking available to us is in that area. We actually had to get a permit to enter it. The trails were really well done. The outflow of the lake forms a creek that meanders through the Natural Area and a portion of our hike today followed that creek. Water in the desert is a life giver and there was a lot to see near the water.  Tomorrow we move to a park that has a cavern with tours. We have booked a tour.

Patagonia Lake SP

• We are 12 miles from Nogales. The drive was due south for 2 hours. Haven't seen the border wall yet, I'm thinking the Mexicans need to sell some border wall bonds to finace this portion. We are only here for 2 nights. It's supposed to rain tomorrow (90% chance) so our plans are in limbo. My opinion is "Damn the tornadoes, full speed ahead". Unfortunately, it's not shared with the other members of this road trip. More tomorrow.

KOA near Picacho

I'm going to give a brief synopsis of our day. We drove 30 miles to this park. We got here too early to check in so we parked and did laundry. That's why we came here anyway. After we got set up, off we went to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. The ruin is not Adobe. It's caliche. 4 foot thick walks and 4 stories tall. Next was the Pinal County fairgrounds for the annual Gourd festival. I know, that's not a thing but it is. Gourds are a big deal hear. We move tomorrow.

Picacho day 2 (last)

I did the climb to the peak this morning. The route gains 1400 feet in 1 1/2 miles. There was maybe 30% of what I would call trail. The rest was a climb. So steep in places metal cables were provided to aid in the ascent. Jenny used good judgment in not going. One bit of trivia about this park. There was a civil war battle fought here. Who knew! Lincoln had called all of the Union troops back east. The Confederates saw an opening because of that and wanted California. Anyway the Confederate advance west was stopped here. The battle was small but there was loss of life. This is the site of the farthest western battle of the civil war. That could be a Jeopardy question.

Picacho Peak SP Arizona

We didn't move much today. 35 miles. The peak has a distinctive shape that has been used to navigate for 100s of years. There is a trail to the top that requires using cables to climb up 60° pitches. We are going to take a look at the trail tomorrow. We are only here for 2 nights. This trip has had us on the road for over 6 weeks now. It has been full speed ahead the entire trip. Today we went to a DQ for lunch and I took a nap when we got back. A greasy lunch was all it took. I would suggest you Google "hunter trail Picacho state park" and watch a video. It looks pretty hairy.

Catalina SP day 2 (last)

It was chilly last night. 24 degrees. I haven't mentioned this earlier but our propane furnace hasn't worked the entire trip. It lights off and then immediately flames out. I have been on the phone with various experts and the consensus is it's broke. We'll need a part and it will have to wait until we get home. We have a portable electric heater and the AC converts to a heat pump so things have been manageable. Today, Jenny did Walmart and I rode the trails. I got the better part of that arrangement. This afternoon we roamed around a bit and took some pics. One bit of trivia. A saguaro doesn't start sprouting arms until its 50 years old.

Catalina SP

We stopped here on our way out. This park is near Tucson. Tonight's low is forcast to be 27. This will be our first sub freezing temp on this trip. The park gets its name from the Catalina Mts. (See pic). For some reason I like to take empty road pics. Kinda the opposite of I 95 near home .

Quartzite Az

Quartzite is a hard, metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone. It was converted to quartzite through heating and pressure. I'm absolutely sure no one we have met here is interested in that fact. Actually,  you probably aren't either. We are in a commercial park. $25/night. The entire population of this town seems to live in RV parks. As we drove into town there was one park after another. There is some BLM land just outside of town and there were RVs parked randomly out there. I'm assuming they are paying $0/night. We stopped here to do laundry. It's been done. We decided not to go into town because we are in Tucson tomorrow. Last night 9 Bighorn rams bedded down behind the MP. We got the Sidney Pic from lindsay and I thought it was blogworthy.

Valley of fire day 5 (last)

Todays "mis" adventure was supposed to be a one way 6 mile hike. It's one of the longest in the park. The problem was the trailheads were too far apart for a bike shuttle so Jenny was going to let me hike it alone. She shuttled me to one of the trailheads and off I went. The trail is advertised as unmaintained and unmarked. Are you seeing any red flags yet? I won't go into the logic I used to navigate other than to say it was flawed. I was briefly in phone contact and I used Seth to help get a message to Jenny that my plans had changed. Anyway, I got to see some of the park that is seldom visited. I saw no one all day, took some cool pictures and lost no blood. A successful hike.

Valley of fire day 4

This being Saturday the Las Vegas riff raff has invaded the park. Trailhead parking lots were full and rubber neckers were on the roads. We hiked in a dry wash that had no official trailhead so consequently, there was no one on it. Sweet. I feel like we have seen this park. Don't know what we'll do tomorrow. That's our last day here. Weather has been good for us. I probably shouldn't have mentioned that. The Super bowl is tomorrow. Jenny and I are going to have a party. Chips and dip, bourbon and coke and Andre Champagne. Does anybody know who's playing? That weird looking rock is called Elephant rock. Obviously.