Travel National Parks

A Little More Desert and Wood

2010-07-30T14:07:00.000-04:00

Some have wondered how we can remember so much of the detail of our trip from 25 years ago. Truth be told, we don’t always remember *everything* until we read our journal. We kept a journal throughout our trip across the country, and we wrote in it every night. We took turns doing this, and on July 21st, Bill made the following journal entry:

"Got up at 6:00 a.m. I got up before Laurie did, had 2 cups of coffee before she opened her eyes."

We didn’t use an alarm clock except for those days when we were driving to the next destination and wanted to arrive by a certain time. On this particular day, Bill’s internal clock went off early!

We went back out to the National Park to start sightseeing at the exact point that we left off the day before when Laurie’s contacts had started to bother her. The first stop was to take the walking trail out to the Crystal Forest.

Crystal Forest

The Crystal Forest is a place where a lot of the petrified wood has been vandalized. Many throughout the years had carted off a lot of this precious rock. In fact there were loads of logs within this area that the mark of having been chiseled and broken up for the vandals to cart off the quartz crystals was evident.

Broken Pieces of Petrified Wood

Here lies an area that has the beginning effects of the badlands of the painted desert. The logs lie out in the vast expanse among the silt-like formations. The logs are those little dots you see in the background.

Badlands with Petrified Wood Logs

The next location that we rode the motorcycle to was the Jasper Forest. Jasper Forest has a wonderful overlook that lets the visitor view the vast land of the badlands within the painted desert as a complete overview.

Jasper Forest Overlook

While we were in the area of Jasper Forest, Bill spied a few of the park’s herd of pronghorn antelope lying in a wash bed. He crept up very quietly to capture it on film.

Pronghorn Antelope

There is a bounty of mammals that live within the boundaries of the national park, such as porcupine, coyote, fox, badger, bobcat, mule deer and a varied assortment of squirrels and chipmunks. Alas, we only spied the pronghorns and a few squirrels on our trip through the park.

Along in this area we got to see the Agate Bridge. We didn’t take a picture of the Agate Bridge for a couple of reasons. First, we were expecting to see a petrified log that fell across the expanse of an existing wash. As you can see from the picture that we found with our helpful friend, Zementa (a software that lets you utilize their pre-approved permission of usage by downloading the software) the log has been supported by human intervention, namely a concrete support.

agate bridge agate bridge agate bridge

Image via Wikipedia

Apparently in 1911 some conscientious conservationists decided that Agate Bridge needed a bit of structural support, hence they created some masonry pillars to support the old log. But in 1917 those supports were replaced with the current concrete support that you see in the picture. (Also we believe that we may have an actual picture of Agate Bridge somewhere in our piles and piles of pictures, but to be honest – we just couldn’t find it).

After viewing the pronghorns, we moved onto the Blue Mesa. Unfortunately, when we were there the Tepees Area and the Newspaper Rock (with petroglyphs) were closed. But we did get some pictures that were on the outskirts of the Blue Mesa Area.

Blue Mesa

Next our adventures took us to the Puerco Indian Ruins. Here there is strong evidence that the area sustained human habitation in the past. This section is plentiful with the writings of the ancient man who resided in the area. Here is a rock (not Newspaper Rock – remember that was closed) displaying the artwork/writings of the Indians that lived in the area long ago.

Petroglyphs

The Puerco Indian Ruins is one of over 300 Indian ruins within the park. The Puerco ruins is the location where approximately 60 – 75 inhabitants lived as farmers. The picture below is the remains of the stone houses that the people of that time built in the area. This ruin is what is left today (or more accurately – 25 years ago) of the 76-room, two-story housing that the people resided in – quiet a nice little community!

Puerco Indian Ruins

During our time of exploring the ruins, we happened upon this fellow atop an outcropping of rock. We thought he was an interesting character amongst the ruins.

Raven atop Rock

From this point we crossed the SanteFe Railroad and Route 40 to the most beautiful part of the painted desert. Here is where we ate lunch – nice peaceful place to nibble at our leisure

Painted Desert

Our journal tells us that upon arriving at our campsite that Bill changed the oil in our home on wheels as our travels had taken us a total of 3849.3 miles thus far. But some of the most beautiful attractions are yet to be seen, as we traveled on to the Grand Canyon from here.

Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

2010-07-28T19:02:00.000-04:00

Bill and Laurie left Apache Junction on July 19, 1985 to travel 238 miles to Holbrook, Arizona. What’s near Holbrook, Arizona? The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park.

Image via Wikipedia

It rained when we arrived at Holbrook for several hours, so we got our RV settled, had dinner, then went to the campsite’s recreation hall for the evening. In the rec hall there was a television set tuned to the “Dukes of Hazzard” show. This wasn’t re-runs folks! This was the actual date and time that their original shows aired. This was about the end of their run on television, so we weren’t thrilled with the Dukes antics, but there wasn’t much else to do – so we watched the episode. Then we walked back to the motor home to sleep for the night.

We got an early start on Saturday, July 20th to ride the 20 miles on our motorcycle to the entrance of the park. Interestingly, the park only cost $1.00 to enter per vehicle and the ticket was honored for entrance into the park for up to 2 weeks. Out of curiosity, we checked what the current prices are to enter the park. Private vehicles can enter the park for up to 7 days by paying $10. Single bicyclists, motorcyclists, and walk-ins can obtain the same privileges for $5. If riding in tandem, both riders pay $5 each! What a difference 25 years can make in the fees!

In the mid-1800′s U.S. Army mappers and surveyors came into this area and carried back East stories of the remarkable trees that had turned to stone. After a period of using the wood for souvenirs and numerous commercial ventures, territorial residents recognized that the supply of petrified wood was not endless; therefore, in 1906 the area was set aside as the Petrified Forest National Monument. It became a national park in 1962.

You may be wondering what is the “petrified forest”? Back in the Triassic period, the area around Holbrook held a tall (approximately 100 feet in height), stately pine-like forest that grew along the headwaters. The tall trees fell and were washed by swollen streams into the floodplain that sits upon this high, dry tableland. The trees were covered by silt, mud, and volcanic ash; and this blanket of deposits cut off oxygen – which slowed the logs’ decay. Gradually, silica-bearing ground waters seeped through the logs and replaced the original wood tissues with silica deposits. Slowly the process hardened the silica substances; and the logs were preserved as petrified wood – which is actually rock.

Rocks (petrified wood) display the different colors of the minerals that were instrumental in progressing the process of fossilization. This closeup of the petrified wood shows the varied coloration, yet one can decipher the grains of the wood texture.

Close Up of Petrified Wood

Behind the museum, they had a water display with petrified wood sitting in tanks of water. The water made the colors more brilliant and discernible to the eye.

Behind the Museum

There’s a beautifully laid out walking path behind the visitor’s center to view the Giant Logs area. This walkway is to prevent people from getting off the beaten path to explore or maybe even steal some of the precious petrified wood.

Laurie next to Giant Log

You can truly get an idea how royal these tall pine-like trees were when you see someone standing among the present-day ruins.

Bill Standing with a Giant Log

Next we traveled on to the Agate House. The Agate House was originally built by the Anasazi people over 700 years ago. Just who were these ancient people called the Anasazi? They were a culture that resided within the “four corners” of our country. The four corners encompass New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. They were very inept at creating their living quarters from the environment that surrounded them. Remember the cliff dwellings from a few posts ago? The Anasazi people lived within cliff dwellings throughout the four-corner region. Apparently, they also could build petrified wood houses.

The Agate House was constructed solely with the utilization of petrified wood. The pueblo originally had 7 rooms within its structure, but when the park service reconstructed it in 1934, they only reconstructed two rooms of the rock house.

Agate House

After viewing the Agate House, we ventured along the trail to the Flattops. The Flattops are one example of the beautiful sandstone formations that have developed throughout the park. The “painted desert” portion of the park is very hard to photograph as the position of the sun, the cloud cover, and the dryness of the mounds affect the brilliancy of the colors that are displayed.

Flattops at the Painted Desert

After viewing the Flattops………well………

Sorry folks! At this point (which was approximately 3:00 p.m.) Laurie’s contacts started to bother her. Must have been from all the flying sand as it was very dry at the park when we visited.

So we hopped back on the motorcycle to return to our motor home for the evening. But join us next time as we continue to tell you of our fabulous adventures at the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park.

Thar’s Gold in Them Thar Hills!

2010-07-26T23:00:00.000-04:00

We left Silver City, New Mexico and all its wonders on July 16, 1985. We were sad to leave the area as there were many things that we would have liked to stay and see, but we did have an agenda (not a really rigid one), but enough to move on to Arizona and the Superstition Mountains.

Superstition Mountains

The Superstition Mountains are east of the Phoenix area. The recreational features in this area are endless. The mountains are within the Superstition Wilderness Area where trails, lakes, mountain terrain, and desert prevail. There’s rock climbing at Weaver’s Needle. One can find the high desert a bit toasty in the summer months, but the dry climate does help with the heat index.

We usually avoided metropolitan areas on our trip, because we always felt the best scenery, and the best options for us to really “see’ the country lie in keeping far from city life. But since the Superstition Mountains were close to Phoenix, we bent our rules just a tiny bit.

Image via Wikipedia

We camped outside of Phoenix in a campground that was mostly deserted. We were told by the campground attendant that the park was known for its “snowbird” population during the winter. Sites were crammed in very close to each other on the sandy, desert floor. Thankfully, there were only about 2 other campers in the whole park, so we didn’t mind too much. It’s not that we didn’t like to see and talk to people while traveling. It was more about the privacy issues of being in such close proximity to the next site. When it’s a 110 degrees inside your motor home without the luxury of air conditioning, you didn’t want people peeking in first thing in the morning when you weren’t really donning many clothes. We also liked to be able to have a conversation without feeling that our neighbor could hear us unless we whispered to each other.

Arizona doesn’t observe daylight savings time, so in the middle of the summer one can expect to see the sun make its fast decline below the horizon around 8:00 p.m. Our days felt shorter due to this, but it didn’t stop us from checking out the surrounding area.

Arizona doesn’t observe daylight savings time, so in the middle of the summer one can expect to see the sun make its fast decline below the horizon around 8:00 p.m. Our days felt shorter due to this, but it didn’t stop us from checking out the surrounding area.

Legend holds that the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine lies within the Superstition Mountains. Mining has since been restricted within the Superstition Mountains due to the fact that it lies within the wilderness area, but Bill still had the yearning to poke around a bit.

Superstition Wilderness Area

The Lost Dutchman’s Gold mine is a legendary story of a man named Jacob Waltz who on his deathbed confessed that he had discovered a rich gold vein near Apache Junction. There are many mines that were developed after his death, but no verified reports that they were Waltz’s vein. The legend of the Lost Dutchman’s Gold mine is one of the most famous “lost mine” legends in America today. Although Bill had a great mind to explore the area for the lost mine, we also did a lot of touring of the area. In fact, the motorcycle tours we took were so beautiful that Bill pretty much forgot about poking around for those old gold mines.

We woke the next day to a very young couple (just like us) arriving at the campground with a large U-Haul truck. They were from Pennsylvania – not a great distance from us when we lived in central New York when you consider how far we were from home.

Naturally we stuck up a conversation with the two travelers. They were looking to settle the wife (Theresa) in Apache Junction, while Mike (the husband) was going to be traveling onto San Diego, California. He was in the U.S. Navy. He was expecting to go out on a big ship for a very long time, so he was settling Theresa in with her parents in Apache Junction. She was 5 months pregnant at the time, and honestly, we don’t know how she handled the heat so well being that pregnant.

Naturally we stuck up a conversation with the two travelers. They were looking to settle the wife (Theresa) in Apache Junction, while Mike (the husband) was going to be traveling onto San Diego, California. He was in the U.S. Navy. He was expecting to go out on a big ship for a very long time, so he was settling Theresa in with her parents in Apache Junction. She was 5 months pregnant at the time, and honestly, we don’t know how she handled the heat so well being that pregnant.


Apache Trail

The Apache Trail is a 180 mile loop which consists of some gravel/dirt roads that give a rustic charm to the drive. We traveled through the tiny town of Tortilla Flat. If you blinked you would miss it.

Another view of the Apache Trail

We saw hordes of tarantulas crawling along the roadway. On a motorcycle it can be hazardous to come along a tarantula making its way across the road. We tried to avoid them at all costs, because they can be flung up by the tires of a motorcycle onto the people riding. Nope, not for us! We saw dead rattlesnakes (only dead ones, thankfully) lying in the road. One we saw was over a yard in length.

We traveled approximately 28 miles on a gravely, then sandy road. The sandy road was tough going as there were hairpin turns and we could only travel at 10 15 miles per hour which is tough on a motorcycle as it grinds its way through the sandy sludge of the so called road. We never seemed to get enough traction to get going very fast, and those hairpin turns were looking treacherous at times.

Bill on the Apache Trail

We stopped at Apache Lake for a nice swim.

Apache Lake

We stopped at Canyon Lake for a swim.

Canyon Lake

We stopped at Roosevelt Lake for yet another dip.

Swimming in Roosevelt Lake

It was extremely hot and humid, so all the swimming holes along the way made for a nice way to cool off.

We drove through Tonto National State Park. At the state park, we met a traveler who was riding a bicycle along the Apache Trail. He was a young man from Germany. He had started his travels in Georgia by riding his bicycle all the way to Arizona. His destination was California, where he planned on catching a flight back to his home in Germany. He had told us that he had only spent $15.00 so far for overnight accommodations. He mostly slept along the road in his sleeping bag. We discussed with Mike and Theresa how we thought this young German man was so brave as he was out there sleeping amongst the Gila Monsters (deadly), black widows (deadly), scorpions (also deadly, tarantulas, coral snakes (you guessed correctly – deadly), and rattlesnakes (guess we don’t have to tell you all that they are DEADLY!)

The desert scenery was one that we never tired of. The Saguaro cacti were plentiful. They can grow up to 50 feet tall and weigh 12 tons.

Saguaro Cactus

The Saguaro can live up to 200 years. The first arms of the saguaro develop at age 75. It can have as many as 50 arms. The Sonoran Desert is the only place in the world where it grows.

Another Saguaro Cactus

The view within the mountains brought a serene atmosphere to our long drive.

It was a long day, but an enjoyable one. We were a bit sorry to say goodbye to Mike and Theresa, but it was probably just as well. Mike and Bill together were a bit mischievous during the day. They had found a large open field with rocks lying on the desert terrain, and much to Laurie and Theresa’s horror they decided to start turning over the rock. What were these two dare devils up to? They were looking for scorpions. They also had a run in with some fireworks, but we won’t bore you all with that silliness.

Join us next time as we travel on to Holbrook, Arizona. Does anyone know what wonderful attraction is near Holbrook Arizona? If you don’t know, come join us next time as we move our old motor home down the road.

White Sands and Gila Cliff Dwellings

2010-07-24T18:32:00.000-04:00

We left the Living Desert State Park in New Mexico on July 14, 1985 around noontime to travel to Alamogordo, also in New Mexico. We drove through the Sacramento Mountains along our way.

The scenery was quite beautiful driving through the Sacramento Mountains. We were suddenly seeing a lot of trees and grass, which we hadn’t seen in a long time. We also came down a 7 degree grade for 16 miles which brought us through the Lincoln National Forest. We did like driving through pretty scenery along the way, and we routed our traveling days to encompass the best scenery available.

The old motor home rolled down the steep grade quite well. Laurie was in the passenger seat (remember she didn’t drive the motor home as she couldn’t reach the clutch), and she had white-knuckle syndrome the entire way down that windy, steep grade.

Upon arriving within the borders of the Lincoln National Forest, we started seeing cedar trees, apple orchards, beef cattle, alfalfa, and corn. The National Forest travels through five life zones ranging from cacti in the lower elevations of around 4,000 feet to the sub-alpine zone as high as 11,500 feet elevation.

Lincoln National Forest

After leaving the Lincoln National Forest, we happened to drive through the area of White Sands National Monument which lies 15 miles southwest of Alamogordo, New Mexico. White Sands National Monument is an area of 275 square miles of white sand dunes made up of gypsum crystals. It’s an awesome sight! Miles and miles of white sand out in the middle of nowhere!

White Sands National Monument

We arrived in Alamogordo around 3:30 that afternoon. We mustered up some energy to go swimming, grabbed some groceries, ate dinner, and went to bed early.

We woke early the next morning to set out on our travels to Silver City, New Mexico. Actually our destination had intended to be Apache Junction, Arizona, but the drive was too far to make in one day; so we decided to stop off in Silver City to spend the night, then continue on the next day to travel to Apache Junction and the Superstition Mountains.

We arrived in Silver City quite early (10:30 a.m.) so we decided to check out the scenery while we were there. The lady who was working at the KOA campground became our tour information center. She handed us brochure after brochure of the many wonders that Silver City had to offer. Shucks! We wish we had known there was so much to see within driving distance of this little town. We had only allotted one night’s stay in this beautiful area.

We poured over the brochures of the area. There were brochures on the Gila desert, the silver mining ghost town of Silver City, the Gila Cliff Dwellings, the City of Rocks, the ghost town of Pinos Altos, Bill Evans Lake – we could list a lot more, but well, just so you all know – there was a lot to see in this little place.

We decided to visit the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. The cliff dwellings lie within a cave-like area that Mongolian people inhabited over 700 years ago. They actually lived inside the cave-like area of the cliff.

Gila Cliff Dwellings

The National Monument is surrounded by Gila National Forest and lies at the edge of the Gila Wilderness Area. This particular wilderness area has one very special feature: it was the nation’s first designated wilderness area.

A trail wanders over to the dwellings which is about 2 miles in length. It takes approximately 30 minutes to hike out to this beautifully preserved home in the cliff.

Another view of Gila Cliff Dwellings

After the invigorating hike, you step into the area of the cliff dwellings; and you are transformed back in time. The dwellings are protected from the weather as they are set back into the cliff; therefore, they appear today very much as they did when they were built by the Mongolian tribe that lived there. There was even a corn crib of sorts that still had corn in it from 700 years ago, or so they told us!

Bill inside Gila Cliff Dwellings

Notice the blackened roof of the cave. That’s from the cooking fires inside the cave all those years ago – all of 700 years ago!

The Mongolian people who populated this area were farmers. They grew squash, corn, beans, and probably amaranth and tobacco. They supplemented their diet with animals that they hunted or snared. The surrounding forest supplied them with an abundance of wild berries and nuts.

Laurie outside the Dwellings

The national monument holds seven natural caves, but only five contain the ruins of cliff dwellings with a total of 40 rooms. We were amazed to be told that all the timbers in the dwellings were the originals. Tree-ring dates obtained from these timbers range through the 1280′s. Absolutely amazing!

Laurie at Gila

See the timbers in the above picture. They are estimated to be 700 years old. Now, the ladder in the picture before, we know wasn’t 700 years old. We know that because it held Laurie’s weight.

“Bill, you stop that! I didn’t weight *that* much back then!”
“Yes, my dear, Laurie!”

By the time we arrived back to our campground we were wore out from the hot sun, but it was a “good tired” as we went to bed early to start the next day on our mission to complete our miles to Apache Junction, Arizona.

Come back next time as we tell you what our days were filled with at Apache Junction which lies within the Superstition Mountain range.

Nighttime Feeding and the Living Desert

2010-07-22T06:13:00.000-04:00

We last took you through a visit of Carlsbad Caverns. But just wait until we tell you about what happens every night at dusk at the entrance of the cave.

But first, after our long day of touring the cave, we went back to the campsite, took a long swim at the beautiful pool and soaked in the spa! Yes, the campground we stayed in was divine!

After dinner, we arrived in plenty of time to view the amazing happenings at the cave entrance. We got good seats in the amphitheater that is erected near the cave entrance which is encased by a primitive, but beautiful stone wall. The rangers arrive well before dusk, and they give a talk that is chalked full of information about the Mexican Free-tailed Bats that live inside Carlsbad.

The ranger told us that approximately 300,000 bats live within the cave. You have to remember that this was 1985, because more recently it has been estimated that close to a million bats live inside the cave walls. (We even found one website that bragged over 8 million bats within Carlsbad Caverns – okay, we really think *that* was a gross exaggeration, but who really knows?). Whether their estimation was a bit off in 1985 or the Mexican Free-tailed Bat population has increased in 25 years – well, we’re just not quite sure.

The bats leave the cave right after sunset to feed along the Pecos River. They can travel several hundred miles to feed in an evening. They come out of the cave in a swarm that resembles a massive number of tiny black spots. They leave the cave at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour, but after gaining flight they can reach 40 to 60 mph.

Image via Wikipedia

It is a rather eerie, but awesome sight to see the bats come out in their swarms to feast for the night. They can take up to 1 1/2 hours to completely vacate the cave for the evening. Truly, a sight to see!

Once the bats finished leaving the cave, we rode the motorcycle back to the campground (in the dark). Laurie kept insisting there were bats tangled up in her hair on the ride home, but Bill knew better. We arrived at the old motor home to get a night’s rest for the next day we were leaving the area to continue on our trip. But before leaving the Carlsbad area, we visited the Living Desert State Park.

Living Desert State Park opened in 1971. It is located atop the Ocotillo Hills at the Northwest edge of Carlsbad. They offer an unusual zoo and botanical garden that lends the visitor an opportunity to experience the Chihuahuan Desert.

We took lots of pictures of the greenhouse full of cacti.

Greenhouse Full of Cacti

And we took more pictures inside the greenhouse full of cacti.

More of the Greenhouse Full of Cacti

Then there was this really cool looking “Smiley Face” cacti! That’s not the proper name for this particular species of cacti, it’s just what we call it!

"Smiley Face" Cactus

Laurie posed in front of a beautiful blooming cactus!

Laurie Poses with the Blooming Cactus

Bill posed in front of a Century Plant.

Bill Poses with a Century Plant

We got a picture of a blooming Century Plant. What’s so special about a blooming Century Plant?

Blooming Century Plant

Century Plants are of the Agave Family of cacti. They only bloom once in their lifespan. The blooming spike is so large and grows so fast that it saps all the resources of the plant. The plant being sapped of all its nurturing features dies soon after blooming. The lifespan of a Century Plant is approximately 25 years, then it blooms, then it dies! Isn’t that that amazing?!?! Hence, it’s called the Century Plant, because it basically blooms once per century.

There were many other flowering cacti in the park too.

Flowering Cactus

And even more flowering cacti!

Another Flowering Cacti

There was a wonderful display of animals at the Living Desert State Park also. Although we did feel sorry for the animals as it was hot, muggy, and hardly bearable for us humans. This little badger was trying very hard to hide in a little corner of his caged area – trying to find some shade!

Badger

This mountain lion didn’t seem to mind the hot, very hot, beating down sunlight at all.

Mountain Lion

And we also captured this pretty good picture of a bobcat!

Bobcat

Okay, maybe not that good of a picture, but you must remember we had this little Pentax 35 mm. You know the kind of camera that you actually remove the film, then take it to the store to have it developed! That’s the kind of camera we were using – no fancy add-on lenses, nope! We did have a slight “zoom” feature on that old camera, but even that was a fairly new feature for cameras back in 1985.

We hope you enjoyed our visit to the Living Desert State Park in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

We left the area around noon on July 14, 1985 to drive on to Alamogordo, New Mexico, then on to a little tiny area in New Mexico that we seriously didn’t even know existed. We ended up in Silver City, New Mexico – and boy, oh boy, were we ever in for a big surprise at the wonderful sightseeing options that were open to us there.

Join us next time as we travel down the road in our little old motor home!

Carlsbad Caverns!

2010-07-20T21:13:00.000-04:00

The last post we told you about leaving the Texan desert and entering New Mexico. The scenery changed dramatically once we crossed the border. New Mexico has an abundance of hills, flora that wasn’t present in the Texan desert, and fauna such as roadrunners skittering across the empty terrain. There was still a large amount of cacti, and we saw a lot of cattle. The strange part for us, being from the eastern seaboard, was the cattle were all free range or what they call “open range.” The cattle roam without boundaries in the west. No fences keep these beasts contained. The human population doesn’t mingle with the bovine kind. There were also many crops being grown in the area.

We arrived at the campground, got a good dinner in our bellies, went to bed early to arise to the adventures of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Carlsbad Caverns is one of the most famous caves in the Americas, and is known throughout the world for its glorious underground sights.

Image via Wikipedia

In the late 1800’s Carlsbad Caverns had become a National Monument. But by 1930 it was honored with the status of National Park. The park encompasses more than the cave system that winds beneath the surface. When one enters the park at the White Sands entrance, the drive takes you approximately 7 miles before reaching the entrance of the cave. The drive has pull outs that one can park at, in order to take advantage of the many hiking trails along the way.

The hiking trails led us into some of the finer above-ground areas of the park to enjoy the beautiful plant life which grows in the Chihuahuan Desert. Carlsbad lies not only within the boundaries of the Chihuahuan Desert, but it also lies on the edge of the Guadalupe Mountain Range.

We woke up early on July 13, 1985, ate a hearty breakfast, and then hopped on the motorcycle for our ride into the park. We stopped along the way to enjoy the hiking trails.

Flora Outside Carlsbad Caverns

After the invigorating hike, we hopped on the motorcycle once again to gain entrance to the cave. The cave entrance doesn’t look like much for being one of the most famous cave systems in the world, but if you happen to look up onto the roof of the cave upon entering, you may be fortunate enough to spy a few sleeping bats. The bats sleep during the day within the cave, and a few of them perch on the roof near the entrance.

Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns

The cave is open to the public down to the 800 foot level. We were very surprised to find a small restaurant and bathroom accommodations at the 750 foot mark. Yes, toilets are provided way down there in the deep, dark earth. These bathrooms actually push the waste up to the surface to be handled at the top, and disposed of into the parks sewage system. Of course, we had to use the bathrooms, and we had to flush! It had a hollow, echoing reverberation when you flushed upward!

There is an elevator at the 750 foot level to utilize in your return to the top at the cave entrance. When we visited the park back in 1985 one had the choice of either taking the elevator back up to the top or walking back up out of the cave. Today, the only option for one visiting the cave is to take the elevator back up to the top.

Upon entering the cave we were in awe of the many formation types, and the beautiful sights beneath the surface that this beautiful park has to offer, such as these oddly shaped “Cave Coral.”

Cave Coral

“Draperies” are a calcite-rich formation that is formed from the leakage of water from the roof of the cave that drips and forms these beautiful curtains within the cave.

"Drapery" Hanging from the Cave Ceiling

Yes, there’s a ladder in the back of the above picture. They were placed throughout the cave in different locations to enable the rangers to repair lighting. Bill had wanted to climb that ladder to explore a little more of the cave than the attendants would have allowed, but Laurie *did* convince him that it would probably end their tour immediately!

Strolling along at a leisurely pace, we came across another smaller drapery deeper within the cave.

Small "Drapery" Hanging

Flowstone formations are seen throughout the cave, and some of these peculiar formations can become rather large.

Flowstone Formations

“Soda Straw” formations are hollow, thin formations that look just like their name, and yes, they are hollow. They are the beginning stages of what are called stalactites. Caves are known to have stalactites, which hang tight to the ceiling of the cave. Get it? StalacTITES hang TIGHT to the ceiling; whereas stalagMITES MIGHT reach the ceiling. Those are two important terms that one should always remember while visiting a cave. The cave verbiage we learned from all our spelunking, can become a language all of its own!

"Soda Straws" Hanging from the Cave Ceiling

Within the Green Lake Room of the cave there lies a little green malachite-colored pool in the corner of the room. In the 1940’s the military tested the feasibility of Carlsbad Caverns as a nuclear fallout shelter by watching the little green pool within the Green Lake Room during a nuclear bomb test. Scientist watched for ripples to appear in the pond when the bomb test took place. Interestingly, none appeared!

Small Pool of Water

Columns appear when stalactites merge with stalagmites. You might want to remember the terminology as we might have a pop quiz at the end of this post! Of course, we’re just kidding!

"Roman Columns" Formation

The Big Room or The Hall of the Giants is the largest chamber (covers over 8 acres) in Carlsbad Caverns. This room is the 3^rd largest cave chamber in the Americas and the 7^th largest room in the world. Some very interesting formations lie within The Big Room.

More Formations

And more formations within the cave.

And More Formations

Here’s another view of some of the formations that lie within The Big Room.

Beautiful Formation!

Here’s another interesting formation that was coming up from the floor of the cave.

Formation Coming Up from the Cave Floor

Upon exiting the cave, we took a picture of the surrounding area from the parking lot! It was definitely a good feeling to leave the bowels of the earth and to be back up on the surface!

View from Parking Lot of Carlsbad Caverns

We hope you enjoyed the tour of Carlsbad Caverns. It is one of the most interesting caves that we visited throughout our travels.

Join us next time as we tell you about the grand happening at the cave entrance every evening at dusk, and our visit to the Living Desert State Park.

The Big State of Texas, Caving, and the Desert!

2010-07-15T22:23:00.000-04:00

We arrived at our sister-in-law’s house on a hot, humid day. How did we remember that it was hot and humid? Every day in Texas is hot and humid when you get into the month of July! When you just stand in the heat of Texas, you can feel the drops of humidity fall off your fingertips onto your shoes! It’s like hitting a brick wall when you leave any location with air conditioning.

Our sister-in-law was in the process of building a beautiful, grand home near the Galveston Bay! It was almost finished, but not quite! The inside was livable, but it was still a work in progress.

Judy's Home in Texas

We parked our little 19 1/2 foot home right next to her big, grand home!

Our Little Home Parked Next to the Grand Home

We visited with Judy for a few days, but before we left we just had to swim in Galveston Bay! We just had to! Judy warned us that there had been a major oil spill in the area about a year before on July 30, 1984 which spilled 65, 500 gallons of crude into the bay near Louisiana. The oil traveled smack dab into the very beach we wanted to go to which was on Galveston Island.

Upon arriving at the beach, we noticed a few articles of debris that had spotty, black, oily splotches, but it didn’t concern us. It was the only time during our trip that we were going to be in the Galveston Bay. We decided to chance it! Hey, there were other swimmers enjoying the water, so we figured it couldn’t be too bad!

Bill waded out into the water…

Bill in the Oily Water at Galveston Island

He wore flip flops as Judy had also warned us that this particular area of Galveston Bay was covered with rocks and sharp stones. While in the water, Bill didn’t see any oil, he didn’t feel any oil, heck, there’s no oil in this bay.

Then he promptly walked out of the water, and gasp! His flip flops were covered in oil! They were black as coal, and he ended up throwing them into the garbage can right there on the beach!

Laurie, being the more hesitant and cautious of the two, decided to stay real close to shore. She didn’t venture out into the oil field!

Cautious Laurie at Galveston Bay

The remainder of the day, we soaked up some rays and started on our tans. Being from New York, we had no tan, and we really wanted to take advantage of the beautiful day!

We stayed in Bacliff, Texas for a few more days, then we set out on July 11, 1985 to travel across the big, wide-open state of Texas. Upon leaving the Houston area, we were caught in a torrential downpour (once again). We really started getting paranoid about taking this storm with us all the way to California.

When we arrived in New Braunfels, Texas around noon time we stopped to visit the Natural Bridge Caverns. Natural Bridge Caverns was discovered in 1960 by a small group of college students from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. The cave is celebrating it’s 50th year since it’s discovery this year in 2010. How amazing when you think we visited it 25 years ago, only half the time since it’s discovery!

Natural Bridge Caverns is a living cavern. A living cavern is one where there is a constant drip of water which sustains the many formations within the cave. The constant water supply also means that the formations are ever changing. Natural Bridge Caverns has a guided tour that offers a dazzling sight of lustrous colors and formations throughout.

The cave was named in honor of the majestic (we do seem to like that word, don’t we) natural limestone bridge that spans the entrance of the cave.

Natural Limestone Bridge

Inside the cave, the lighting wasn’t always the best; and you have to remember this was 1985 so we really were limited with our little 35 mm Pentax camera.

The different areas of the cave have some very appropriate names. This particular picture shows the area dubbed, “The Castle of The White Giants.”

Bill Among the Giants

The Castle of the White Giants

The area of the cave named “The Broom Closet” had a lot of very interesting formations, including many of these strips that look like bacon. In fact, they call them “Bacon Strips.”

Bacon Strip

Other really impressive formations were in ‘The Broom Closet” too!

Formation in the Broom Closet

More of the Broom Closet

And some more unique formations throughout the cave!

Unique Formation

At the time we visited Natural Bridge Caverns there was a lot of water that covered some of the walkways. Unfortunately, due to the excess water we were unable to see the entire cave, but we did get see most of it.

Here’s an example of some of the pools of water that had developed within the cave.

Room Partially Under Water

When we finally ended our tour of Natural Bridge Cavern, we started out traveling toward New Mexico to an even bigger and better cavern!

But before we could reach the beautiful state of New Mexico, we had to drive miles and miles and more endless miles across the Texas desert! We saw tumble weed. We saw road runners. We saw cactus. We saw a lot of this:

Texas Desert

Then we drove through some more of the Texan desert, and saw some more of this:

More Desert

Finally, in the middle of the Texan Desert we stopped at a little state park named the Lady Bird Johnson State Park. What appeared to be in the desert somehow smelled very much like a cow pasture. In fact we believe that the Lady Bird Johnson State Park was indeed a cow pasture. We could hear cow, we could definitely smell cow, and we were getting eaten alive by the biggest mosquitoes that we’d ever seen before! Of course, Texans always brag they do every thing bigger and better in Texas, and we know for a fact that they grow bigger, meaner bugs in Texas (most especially at the Lady Bird Johnson State Park) than anywhere else that we visited along our travels.

We really didn’t mind the bugs, the smell, or the heat at that point as we were so tired; we just went straight to bed.

We hope you enjoyed our travels through Texas. Come join us next time as we enter New Mexico. No one answered our question from last time as to what famous cave lies within New Mexico – so you’ll need to stay tuned until next time to find out the answer as we travel along down the road in our home on wheels.

Leaving Florida

2010-06-27T18:02:00.002-04:00

While visiting Florida, we spent days gathered with family, went out to eat, and swam in Laurie’s aunt and uncle’s pool. They were lazy, hazy days, but we really enjoyed them.

One particular meal that we ate out was at a place called Duff’s Smorgasbord! Laurie’s grandparent’s all time favorite place to eat out was Duff’s. They had a plethora of different dishes for everyone to pig out on!! Bill often calls it “putting the feed bag on.” Anyway, we did want to mention that although Duff’s Smorgasbord Franchise did go out of business, the wide selection of food they offered was done so at the miraculously, cheap price of $3.75 for adults back in 1985. Can we just tell you that the place was packed, the food was good, and the grandparents paid! You couldn’t ask for anything more than that!

But getting back to our travels, we left Sebring, Florida at 2:20 a.m. on Saturday, July 6, 1985 to travel to Panama City, Florida. By driving at night we found that it eased our travel days considerably. We’d go to bed, get 3 – 5 hours of sleep (hey, remember, we were kids, and could function on that little bit of sleep), then drive throughout the night.

There were many advantages to traveling this way. First, we wouldn’t be traveling during the hottest part of the day in the middle of the deep south. Secondly, we found that not being able to drive much over 55 mph, it was easier to drive when the traffic was thin. Thirdly, we would usually arrive at our destination about mid-morning; therefore, allowing us the entire day to go sightseeing.

On our way to Panama City, we drove right through the Apalachicola National Forest. It had appeared to have recently had a bad fire in the area. We often drove through National Forests on our travels. We routed ourselves so we could see the best scenery while traveling across the country.

This particular day we crossed into the Central Time Zone. We arrived at Panama City at approximately 10:30 a.m. We checked into the campsite, donned our bathing gear, grabbed our beach towels, and ran for the Gulf of Mexico. We had to hurry as the clouds looked mighty dark and gray. We got to swim in the Gulf for about 15 minutes, then we ran back to the campground just in time to prevent getting drenched or hit by lightening.

We started to realize in the summer Florida had daily thunder storms, and they were usually pretty strong ones. But 30 minutes later the sun came out, and it was a beautiful evening. Here’s a couple of old postcards that we kept all these years of Panama City Beach.

On July 7, 1985 we left Panama City, Florida at 3:30 a.m. to arrive in Lafayette, Louisiana after traveling 400 miles. The old motor home seemed to be humming right along with no overheating problems, nor did the clutch give us any more scares!

We arrived in Lafayette, Louisiana to be faced with yet another storm. Bill made the statement, “We’ll probably take this storm all the way to California with us.” On our way to Louisiana we crossed the Mississippi River.

Photo from Freefoto.com

The next day we traveled from Lafayette, Louisiana to Beaumont, Texas in order to stay a few days with our dear sister-in-law. Beaumont is a suburb of Houston, but it’s on the Galveston Bay!

Join us next time as we tell you about our brief visit in Beaumont (and the nasties we experienced swimming in Galveston Bay), then traveling on across the BIG state of Texas! Yes, we drove across the entire state of Texas, but it wasn’t boring! We visited a beautiful cavern, which we’ll document next time followed by arriving in New Mexico!

Do you all know what famous cave is in New Mexico? Go ahead, guess! We bet someone knows!

When we arrived in New Mexico the following conversation took place:

“Bill,It finally feels like we’re really starting our trip!”

“Yes, my dear Laurie, it does!”

Until next time!

The Wonderful World of Disney – Or Not!

2010-06-24T03:12:00.001-04:00

If you read our last post, you’ll know that this particular post is mostly about our visit to Disney!

But first, we thought it would be good to let you know about the condition of the RV. Laurie’s aunt and uncle lived very close to her grandparents (same town), and they told us of their mechanic. Laurie’s uncle said he was very good, and he was! He fixed the clutch. He also told us that he didn’t think we were having any overheating problems, but that the dummy light was defective or overly sensitive. He installed a new gadget (that’s what Laurie called it) to the dashboard that gave a read out of the exact temperature that the engine was running at. With the new “gadget” we could tell if the engine was overheating or not. What a relief!

On July 2, 1985, we planned to visit Disney. We got up early. We left at 7:45 a.m. on the motorcycle and traveled over 70 miles up the highway. The day was hot, hot, hot AND humid. The ride up to Disney wasn’t too bad. One has a tendency to generate their own wind chill factor while riding a motorcycle, don’t you know! We hadn’t started to feel the heat yet!

Upon entering the park, we were a bit overwhelmed by all that there was to do. What to do first? What to do next? What would we enjoy the most? All the typical questions that a first timer has while visiting Disney.

First, we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. This was before the days of Jack Sparrow, but that was the name of the ride! In fact, we found this ride to be a very good run, and we only waited 45 minutes to get on!

This was before Disney had implemented RideMax or FASTPASS. Basically, RideMax and FASTPASS estimate how long your wait for a particular ride will be through a computerized system. Instead of wasting time in line, the system enables you to go enjoy different areas of the park while you’re “waiting.” In 1985 the World of the Magic Kingdom hadn’t dreamt up this wonderful feature, so you had to do it the old-fashioned way – wait in line! Wait, then wait some more, then fall asleep on your feet in the heat, then wake up to wait more before you could actually go through the magical turnstile to the ride.

But we felt the 45 minute wait was well worth it for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Unfortunately, we were so excited to actually be experiencing a ride, that we really forgot about taking out the camera and getting pictures. In fact, we only got this one of the Pirates of the Caribbean.

Next on the agenda was to head over to the African Safari exhibit ride. Do they even have these rides anymore at Disney World? We don’t know, we only made one visit to the Magical Kingdom ever! And we don’t believe we’ll ever go back again!

The African Safari exhibit was quite interesting as we got to ride in a rather sturdy float boat through the entire exhibit. It was all water generated, and we really didn’t mind being on the water as it was already starting to get unbearably hot! Bill remembered to pull out the camera and he snapped lots of pictures!

Then suddenly the reedy branches parted and out popped this creature with a mighty trumpeting roar!

Near the end of our boat ride we got to see this mighty beast yawning his large jaw open and shut.

After the African Safari ride, we ventured over to a sight seeing area of Disney World. There was a rather large grotto-type formation that you could walk by, get your picture taken near, or ride a riverboat past.

We quickly thought what a wonderful place to rest out of the hot sun and scorching heat. We practically ran to the nearest cave opening, burst in through the cave entryway to be suddenly confronted with the most horrible stench of human urine that anyone could imagine. Apparently there weren’t many public bathrooms in that area of the park, because many had decided to use the cool, dark enclosure of the cave as a bathroom.

But Bill urged Laurie to stand in the entryway without plugging her nose, and snapped a picture.

To this day Laurie insists that whenever she looks at this particular photo, she’s sure she’s smelling a dirty, sweaty toilet!

Next we had lunch. It was very expensive. We ended up paying over $20 for a scanty meal. You have to remember $20 would most likely feed us both for a whole week back in 1985. We each had a burger only, then we bought a drink from a different stand, because the stand where we bought burgers didn’t sell drinks. The drink stand offered chintzy ice-type drinks with blueberry, strawberry, or grape flavorings, but they did put a little toothpick umbrella thingy in the cup. Perhaps that’s why they cost $5 each!

There were two people in front of us in line for the food, but they appeared to be together. It seemed like a very long wait, when suddenly the servers started putting up mountains of food onto the counter. Out of nowhere people were coming up to the booth to collect their food. That’s when we realized that the two people in front of us had ordered about 20 meals! We didn’t notice how much their bill was, but we bet it was humongous!

Meanwhile there was a man who noticed the almost 20 people randomly grabbing food off the counter, and he assumed they were budging ahead in line. He had on a cute little wide-brimmed straw hat with his rather large ears sticking out from underneath. He had large coke-bottle type glasses (don’t laugh, Laurie’s eyeglass prescription is of the coke-bottle type too), and he was utilizing his high-pitched nasally screech to pr0claim, “Hey, Hey, Hey!” We really wish you could hear us imitating this man. Twenty five years later, whenever we hear someone yell, “Hey, Hey Hey!” we smile and think of this man! He’s imprinted upon our minds forever!

After almost an hour of waiting for our food, then 5 minutes of actual eating, we were back in the crowds looking for a great ride to go on.

Since most rides had lines of 2 hours or more, we had decided to find Space Mountain, which was the newest and greatest attraction that year at Disney. We would ride it, then head on back to our home on wheels. Once we located Space Mountain, we realized the line looked to be about a 3 hours wait! What was a person to do! We stood in line for over 3 hours! In great anticipation we had edged our way up to the front of the line! There were exactly 3 people in line ahead of us! We knew we were going to be on the very next run of the biggest and best attraction!

But unexpectedly an attendant came to the front of the line that we were standing in, and stated, “Sorry folks, the ride has broken down, and we’re shutting it down for the day.”

By this time, we were exhausted from the heat. We were fed up with the fact that we had been at Disney for a good 10 hour day, and had accomplished a total of 3 rides, and a crappy, expensive meal! So we looked for a cool spot to rest our weary feet. We found a small patio with umbrellas to shield us from the hot sun. We rested for a little bit, when we got the really bright idea to go visit the castle. The castle has four large awnings going into it (or at least it did then). Upon entering you found yourself in a wide open space beneath the concave roof of the castle. Or at least that was the way it was supposed to be.

We walked swiftly over to the castle, and it seemed as if we were sucked into it like a big vacuum. It just sucked us and about 300 other people into a space that truly looked to be about 10 feet by 20 feet. A lady with a stroller ran over Bill’s foot about 15 times on the way into the building. We were unable to turn around to try to exit the castle due to the crowd behind us. Plus the lady with the stroller was one determined lady! She was going to get into that castle with her twins (yeah, it was a double stroller) if it was the last thing she did.

Being pushed into the dark, dreary castle by the crowd was not a fun thing, because we could sense that all four entryways were experiencing the same thing. What happened was a huge human traffic jam of great proportions! Now you may be thinking that we’re just exaggerating this piece of history to make it more interesting, but honest injun! It happened just this way! We could see that all four entryways had been entered by such a large crowd at the exact same moment that everyone met in the middle! No one could move forward due to looking someone square in the eye who had entered from one of the other entryways. There was no going backwards as there were people pushing, pushing us all forward trying to get into the middle of the traffic jam!

Finally, a Disney employee came along with a bull horn and started directing the human traffic out. Bill’s foot was run over another 15 times by the stroller lady as we all inched our way backwards out of the castle!

By this time, we were whupped, tired and not very impressed with Disney. It was around 8 p.m. and we had seriously discussed heading on back to Sebring, when……suddenly, Florida did it’s favorite thing! It poured buckets from the sky! Thunder was roaring, and lightening was putting on a pretty good show shooting across the sky! Buckets and buckets later, we were starting to become concerned if we would be able to leave this nightmare at all! Remember we were riding a motorcycle. One thing you never do (if you want to live) is ride a motorcycle in the rain!

So a few hours later, and a few very expensive , plastic, rain ponchos later, we headed on back to our RV. We arrived back at 1:00 a.m and we happily plopped ourselves into bed!

We realize that Disney World is not the same place that we visited 25 years ago, but in explaining to our son our impression of Disney World, Bill stated, “It was….it was…Mickey Mouse!” Yes, it was very much a Mickey Mouse kind of outfit back then.

Come visit again soon as we tell you of our adventures at Panama City (which was a much more happier time than Disney – we promise!), and beyond!

Continuation of the Broken Down Home on Wheels!!

2010-06-19T00:52:00.000-04:00

We last left you when we were in the middle of an intersection in Avon Park, Florida in the pouring rain. Yes, our little home on wheels was not going to move. The clutch had stopped working on the RV.

The drivers around us were having a hard time seeing the road in front of them, so we were fretful that someone was going to hit our new home before we reached our first destination!

Laurie jumped out of the motor home and bravely started to stand in the middle of the very busy intersection (hoping and praying that she wouldn’t get hit). She started directing traffic around the RV.

In the meantime, Bill jumped out of the comfortable driver’s seat, and shot out the door to the back trunk to fetch some fluid to pour into the clutch. He uncapped the fluid, poured it in, pumped the clutch, then yelled, “Laurie, get back in here, we’re ready to roll.”

And roll we did. We rolled into a nearby parking lot. The clutch seemed to be back in working order, so we called Laurie’s grandparents from the pay phone (those were the days when every major intersection, parking lot, and place of business had a pay phone – no one had cell phones back then) who promptly drove to Avon Park to lead us back to their home.

Upon arriving, we were tired, hot, and soaked! After getting the RV parked on the side lawn of Laurie’s grandparents’ property, we decided to relax for a little bit, then go see some sights. We still had a motorcycle that was operating, and we were beginning to wonder if it was going to be the only mode of transportation that we would be using for our cross country trip.

It didn’t cross either of our minds to turn back and return to New York. We were California bound, and we were going to get there somehow, someway, some day (we hoped).

After getting our wits about us, we decided to take the motorcycle out for a ride. We drove to the Highlands Hammock State Park in Sebring. Highlands Hammock State Park is one of the oldest state parks in Florida. It first opened to the public in 1931. The park is known for its old-growth cypress swamp. There’s a boardwalk that winds through the beautiful cypress forest. The trees are hanging with Spanish moss from their mighty limbs. Algae and lichens adhere to the great trunks so they mainly look greenish-gray in color. When the sun shines at the most perfect angle, you can see the reflection of the trees in the murky swamp water.

We walked along the boardwalk that runs through the park, because mostly we wanted to see a real live alligator! We had heard that they could be seen from the boardwalk. We did see one! It was a little baby alligator! See!

Okay, maybe we need to point him out to you, because he’s so tiny!

Can you see him? His little beady eyes were poking up out of the water! That was the only gator that we saw in Florida! Truth be told, it was the only one that Laurie wanted to see. He was big enough. But Bill has an adventurous streak in him, and he wanted to go find this little guy’s mama!

Upon driving out of the park, Bill saw a couple of deer. Okay, he really did! They were tucked back in a rather dark, shaded area; so you can’t really see them very well. In fact, Bill had to point them out, because they are hardly discernible. See!

Okay, okay, we’ll point them out to you, because really, we saw those deer, but now they aren’t so easily seen!

We think that’s the back end of those deer. We aren’t too sure, but we think!

Our visit to Highlands Hammond Park was an enjoyable one, but it was cut short as it was getting to be dark, and the park closes at dusk.

Come back and visit soon, because our next post will be about our visit to this well-known park.

Our First Days of Traveling

2010-06-17T10:24:00.000-04:00

It was Tuesday, June 25, 1985 when we had planned to leave on our massive trip across the country. We had gotten married on a Saturday, then planned to give ourselves a few days to get things situated into the RV before traveling south to Florida. Laurie had family that lived in Florida which we wanted to be sure to visit on our way out west. Well, they may not have been on the way, but we decided that we would like to see them anyway!

We frantically had been packing the RV for a few days, and hoping beyond hope that it would be finished before we planned to leave on Tuesday. There were more things that we planned to put in that RV than we could actually fit into it! How did that happen?

Tuesday morning we said our tearful goodbyes to Laurie’s parents as we were staying with them until we left on our trip. We said our goodbyes very early in the morning as they both were off to work for the day.

Then we rushed out to the RV for the remainder of the morning to frantically shove stuff here and there, trying to get everything we wanted to take with us within the 19 1/2 foot walls.

Things weren’t going too well, because there just wasn’t enough room. Maybe we would have to stay another day in upstate NY and get better situated.

An elderly neighbor lady to Laurie’s parents walked across the street around noon time and said, “I thought you two were planning to leave today.”

We responded that we had hoped to, but we just couldn’t get everything situated into such a small space just yet, at least maybe not today – maybe tomorrow.

She put her hands on her hips and said, “Laurie, you just can’t put your parents through the turmoil of saying goodbye a second time.”

She was right! We knew we had to hightail it out of there before Laurie’s parents got home for the day from work. Laurie’s dad was home pretty early in the afternoon most days, so we just threw the remaining belongings helter skelter into the RV and started our trip!

Really, that’s about how we got started. Clothes were lying on the back bed which is where we had planned on sleeping. Cookware was shoved into the cupboards…..well, let’s just say that it was a complete mess!

But down the road we drove.

Cruising down the road several hours later, we really got tired of the one lane traffic through Pennsylvania due to construction. Can we just say that Pennsylvania is always like that in the summertime. Pennsylvania has some rolling hills (and some mountains) that curve and sway through Route 81 coming out of NY. It’s treacherous most summer days as the construction crews can only work during the warmer months to get the roads back in good driving conditions.

So we took a detour off Route 81 and started on a different route. We ended up in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania for the night. We had only traveled just under 180 miles that first day. At that rate, it would likely take us over a week to get to Florida.

At the rate we were going, we started to think maybe we should have one of these:

But nah! We couldn’t have used a carriage without one of these:

We did a bit better the next day. We got up bright and early and were on the road at 7:30 a.m. We drove until 1:30 then ate a small lunch in the motor home. One of the nice things about taking your home on wheels is that you can fix food, and eat it as you drive. Or you can pull over and have lunch at the “kitchen” table. We drove to Enfield, North Carolina that night with a total of 425 miles. A bit better, but still slow going.

The third day which was the day we had hoped to arrive at Laurie’s grandparents house was a little rougher going. The motor home seemed to be overheating, or at least that was what the gauge was reading. We stopped, let the RV cool off, then we’d try to drive a bit further. Same problem, overheating or at least that’s what the gauge was registering. We’d knock our fists onto the dashboard and say, “I wonder if this thing even works!”

We got just across the Georgia border when the RV, once again, overheated. We pulled over for an hour, then we pulled off some extra blankets that we had sitting in the cab just over the motor (thinking they might be insulating the engine too much and making it overheat). We even turned the heater on in the RV, because the heat is filtered off the engine thinking that might help. We do remember it being an extremely hot, sticky day and with the heat on – it was unbearable.

You can imagine our dismay to discover that we had a lot of miles that we planned on driving in the next few months, but we couldn’t drive the RV too fast or too far without the gauge reading “HOT!” We ended up driving as far as St. Augustine, Florida the third day before pulling over for the night.

The next day we were a bit apprehensive as to what the driving day would bring with our ancient home on wheels. We continued with all our antics to keep the temperature gauge from going into the red zone, such as keeping the blankets off the engine cover (which sat between the driver’s and passenger’s seats) and running the heat. It helped enough for us to get as far as Avon Park in Florida.

Avon Park is just 9 miles north of Sebring where our destination was. Laurie’s grandmother had told her to call them when they arrived in Avon Park. She and Laurie’s grandfather would come lead us to their house.

The only problem was….we had another problem. It started pouring rain! Bucketfuls came showering down upon little Avon Park and us! We were not able to see only a few feet in front of us, when suddenly, the clutch went out on the RV. Bill couldn’t move it one foot forward or backwards or sideways.

Join us next time as the true saga continues of our travels across the United States!

P.S. Yeah, we know – it’s a cliffhanger until next time!

Why Is Our Blog Titled I Can’t Drive 55?

2010-06-14T10:32:00.000-04:00

Notation: This particular blog is named "Travel National Parks" but our previous blog (which this post was imported from) was named, "I Can't Drive 55" with Wordpress. We left the post in tact due to the fact that it does add continuity to the blog. (posted January 2011)

Well, first we’ll tell you a little bit of history about the song written by Sammy Hagar titled, “I Can’t Drive 55.”

Sammy Hagar had a little cabin in the area of Lake Placid, NY. That’s the same Lake Placid that the Winter Olympics took place in 1932 and then again in 1980. Apparently, Sammy wanted to get away from it all and visit the cabin to do some songwriting. Unfortunately, there is no direct flight into Lake Placid (or at least there wasn’t at that time), so he rents a car to drive from Albany, NY to Lake Placid. It’s quite a drive, so Sammy is cruising along at 62 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone at 2:00 in the morning with one little cabin in the woods on his mind.

Next thing Sammy knows he’s getting pulled over by a police officer, and he tells the man, “I can’t drive 55.” The officer informed Sammy that in this particular area of the country they give tickets for driving over 60 mph in a 55 mph zone. Sammy claims that before the officer finished writing the ticket, the lyrics for his song were being written in his head.

So, what does that have to do with our blog?

Twenty five years ago when we got married we had a master plan. Our plan was to move to California. We wanted to see the country before settling down in California, so we had to have a plan. Our plan was to save our pennies, buy a motor home, then sight see our way across the country.

We bought a 1968 Winnebago Motor Home. Now you have to remember that this was back in 1985, and even then a vehicle built in 1968 was ancient. It had under 75,000 miles on it. The engine was in good shape, and we got a great deal on it. It was 19 1/2 feet long, and it is what we called home for 8 months (traveling for 3 of those 8 months). Everything that we started out in our married life with, fit into that little 19 1/2 foot long home! We know we could never do that now, but hey, we were kids, young, free, and newly married!

Here’s a pictures of our little home on wheels.

Motorhome

This particular vehicle was built back in a day when very few highways were traveled at high speeds. In fact, we found that we often couldn’t drive it much over 55 mph or it would overheat. You have to keep in mind that we also had all our belongings housed within its walls, which was a substantial weight, and we also had to haul up some pretty good sized hills and mountains during our travels.

So now you know why we called our blog “I Can’t Drive 55″ because we really couldn’t! Well, we could have, but we’re sure we would have left the motor somewhere in Utah if we had.

So now you know why we called our blog “I Can’t Drive 55″ because we really couldn’t! Well, we could have, but we’re sure we would have left the motor somewhere in Utah if we had.

Laurie on the Motorcycle

No, Laurie didn’t drive the motorcycle, nor did she drive the motor home. She couldn’t reach the clutch pedal for shifting the motor home which had a 3-speed on the column. And she didn’t even want to try to ride the motorcycle other than being a backside passenger.

Although she did like to pretend to want to drive both. Here she is sitting in the driver’s seat of the RV, relaxing. That’s all she ever did in the driver’s seat of the RV – RELAX! It was a comfy seat, you know!

Laurie Sitting in the Motorhome

Of course while Laurie was busy relaxing in the driver’s seat that she would never use as it was meant to be used, Bill was cleaning, fixing, stripping, screwing in cupboards, on the motor home.

Bill in the Motorhome

"No, Bill, you're wrong. I was packing, making curtains for the motor home, and getting ready for a wedding. There was no relaxing."

"Whatever you say, my dear Laurie."

So, we call our blog “I Can’t Drive 55″ because we really couldn’t drive 55 mph with our new home on wheels. We thought we really had to baby that old motor home, but the truth is that we drove it over 10,000 miles, and it never broke down. It didn’t even sputter or cough once. Well almost!

Our next post will tell how our journey began and where our travels took us to first.

Where It All Began!

2010-06-12T18:18:00.001-04:00

So we decided to share with you a small portion of our wedding album!

When we got married 25 years ago, we both agreed on a couple of things. We wanted a family and best friend only wedding. We wanted a home wedding, and we wanted it to be simple, but complete.

How does one go about that? We got married in the back yard of Laurie's parents house. There was a huge, looming pine tree that majestically towered over the family's back yard. That was the spot.

Laurie and her mother cooked all the food in advance, because they wanted home-cooked food. Bill's family was a large family, so a lot of cooking went on for days and days.

It was a touching experience for Laurie and her mom as they talked, laughed, reminisced about "the good old days" not realizing that one day Laurie and her husband-to-be would one day write about those very days, and call them "the good old days" for our blog "I Can't Drive 55!"

Note: You may be wondering why this blog is called "I Can't Drive 55" but that's a future post.

The day arrived as a hot, humid, windy day in a small community in upstate New York. Bill's family arrived from across the state to spend the day with their new daughter-in-law and their son. Laurie was the first of her family to marry, so her brothers arrived with their friends too. You know, home-cooked food is a huge attraction to country folk!

The wedding party was assembled, and they proceeded with the ceremony before all their friends and family.

The guys (Bill and brother-in-law, Paul - who was best man) waited patiently for the ceremony to begin along with the Justice of Peace who was actually Laurie's mother's boss. In fact, Laurie's mother signed her marriage certificate. But, oh yeah, the guys waiting.......

Waiting for the Bride

Then, here comes the Maid of Honor who was Laurie's childhood best friend, Diane.

Maid of Honor

And finally, the bride on her father's arm.

Bride and Her Dad

Laughing at the Bride?

Are they laughing at the bride? We can't remember. But we do know that when Bill and Paul get together - there's lots and lots of laughing that takes place.

In fact, the laughing lasted through much of the ceremony!

Laughing Through the Ceremony

Can you see Paul? He's mumbling something to Bill. He is! He did that most of the ceremony, so we had more of this laughing going on!


More Laughing!

But then again, we did have some solemn moments too!

Solemn Moment

But then it was time for the rings, and well, see Paul - he's at it again! He's mumbling something to the bride and groom! Paul! You stop that!

The Rings

Then finally! The kiss! Oooh, laaa, laa! Sweet! But look at Paul, we know he was saying something! What? Neither of us know, but we just know he was saying something.

The Kiss!

Congratulations all around now!

Congratulations!

Pictures with the families!

Picture with the Families

Then finally, the food, the relaxation, and just getting used to "He's my husband" and "She's my wife." Notice how we aren't even looking at each other?? What's up with that?

Relaxing

Oh, yeah, we almost forgot...the cutting of the cake!

The Cake

That's how it all began, folks! It was a grand day! It was a beautiful day for us to start our life together. Here we are 25 years later retelling it all, and it feels like it was just yesterday!

Continue on our journey as we tell you next time just why our blog is called, "I Can't Drive 55!"

Almost 25 Years Ago!

2010-06-11T00:07:00.001-04:00

Okay, so we've been married *almost* twenty five years. Our anniversary is June 22, 2010 and we wanted to celebrate this mega euphoric event (for us anyway) with anyone who desires to "see" the great United States of America through blog format.

We had traveled three whole months and visited many sites from upstate New York down to Florida, then across this great wide open country.

We ended up in California, and lived there for almost 10 years. During that time period, we did all the typical married couple things. We got jobs, we bought a house, we had a baby, then we moved back to upstate New York with a 4 year old.

This blog was developed in order to let people know that you don't have to travel across the ocean to see beautiful. You don't need to go to a foreign country to experience the unknown. Many can step outside their front doors and experience beautiful, awesome, and yes, even some ugly.

Come join us in our retelling of our adventures as we traveled over 10,000 miles by motor home, and over 2,000 miles by motorcycle.

The horizon is endless, the sun is just beginning to rise on our wonderful world of travel.
Come on! Come travel with us on our adventure. We promise, you won't be bored!