Kingman, AZ-Wednesday-Home!

Up and out, we know we have a long day ahead but our final destination is HOME, so that’s okay.  Gas prices have increasingly risen as we head west. It will be interesting to see the price at home.  We endured quite a bit of traffic after entering CA because of the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow.  

There’s no place like home…I suspect everyone feels that way because we are comfortable with what we know, even if it isn’t perfect!

We have marveled at the beautiful USA in so many areas, felt humbled by the great plains that emigrants traveled, and struggled with sadness in abandoned towns we saw along the way.  This was not a typical “cross country” trip for us.  Normally we would travel a few days, then camp for a few days and see any given area.  Due to the nature of our trip the time on the road seemed interminable some days.  However, all said we are happy we had this opportunity and we enjoyed ourselves in many ways.    

Total miles logged:  5,613.  Thank you LORD for a safe, enjoyable trip and for bringing us home. 

Gallup, NM-Tuesday

Brrrr… 16 degrees in Gallup, NM this morning.  I know it was cold and I hopped out of bed and clicked on the heater and hopped back in.  It was later that I checked just how cold it was.  We moved on and by the time we did it was sunny and much warmer.  We had an uneventful day driving, we are grateful for that.  We have been feeling safe and sound this whole trip with no problems, other that the self-induced turnpike fiasco… We are so thankful. 

The biggest news of the day was when we stopped for lunch.  Just as we sat down in the trailer to eat our lunch my phone rang.  It showed “ABSENT NUMBER” on the face and I debated if I should answer or not.  I’m sure glad I did!  It was Steven calling from the sea!!! He was calling to tell us he made Petty Officer on his first try!  We are so proud of him.  He also surprised me by saying Happy Birthday as well, because it’s already my birthday where he is! I can tell you it made my day!  Haven’t heard his voice since August, just email, which I am thankful for too!  He is on the Andaman Sea at this time and I feel certain that is because our President is in Burma or Myanmar area.  We are proud of him and all those aboard the Bon Homme Richard.

We are in Kingman, AZ tonight, logged 312 miles today.  I like the name of this place, it is Blake Ranch RV Park and Horse Motel!  I don’t see any horses spending the night, but it’s still humorous to me!  It isn’t really a joke though, they have pens for horses and I think that is nice because after they have been confined to a horse trailer all day I am sure they want out of there as much as we want to be out of our van!   Having passed by John’s brother’s cut off this afternoon, they called tonight when they got home.  We probably passed each other on Hwy 40, they were going east and we were going west.  Sorry we missed them but we will see them “next time” around.

My Mom saw the doctor today, she is doing really well and getting stronger each day.  We are so happy to hear this. I think we will be home tomorrow. 

Tucumcari, NM-Monday

It was a beautiful, sunny morning as we bid farewell to Cactus RV Park.  Our Australian neighbors who came in last night were still sleeping when we left.  They live a few miles out of Brisbane and have rented a motorhome for 42 days to see the USA.  They began in Los Angeles.  I hope they see more than the sites along Hwy. 40!  Not too many “kicks” left on Route 66!!!  An uneventful day on the road and we thank the LORD for that.  We just traveled 263 miles and we finally got around to grocery shopping.  We stopped at Wal-Mart, I was stunned at first by the crowds but then remembered Thanksgiving is just a few days away. Tonight we sleep at USA RV Park in Gallup, NM. Tonight we got a military discount.  Often we receive a Good Sam discount or AAA discount.  

We didn’t hear back from John’s brother, I think they went somewhere for Thanksgiving.  We thought we would be returning to CA later than this but we are anxious to get home now and to see how my Mom is recovering.  We nixed the idea of Carlsbad Caverns as well because it is hard to concentrate on planning such things right now. 

Dodge City, Kansas-Sunday

After taking care of a few things we didn’t finish yesterday, we were on our way. The wind continues to blow but it is not causing us any problems.  We have sway bars and stabilizers on our trailer and the wind isn’t an issue.  I might not have mentioned the multiple wind machines around Dodge City and really all over this area of Kansas.  They even sell desk top wind machines as souvenirs!

We were on several US highways today; 56 west, 385 south, and 54 south, meeting up with US 40 in Tucumcari, New Mexico.  We breezed through small portions of Oklahoma and Texas after leaving Kansas completing 381 miles today. Much of US 56 follows the Santa Fe Trail Cimarron route. We passed the National Grasslands marker and tried to visit the ranger station, but it was closed. There were maps and an interesting road trip but we skipped that and went ahead hoping to make Tucumcari, NM tonight. There is much to see and read about these fearless travelers on all of the western routes.  Today along these highways you will find just small communities anywhere from 10 to 30 miles apart.  The size of the community must have something to do with the size of the silo(s) as some are huge, others much smaller.  The railroad runs right along us all the way and right by the silos as well.  I believe the correct term is a silo and not a granary.  Portions of the highway also have cotton balls all along the sides, mile after mile so obviously they grow cotton here as well.  Then there is hay, both is round and rectangle bales.  I won’t say the views today were stimulating but middle America surviving the best they can.  We went through some pretty depressing looking towns that seemed drab at best and at worst, perhaps totally abandoned. 

I’m happy to say my Mother is home from the hospital today.  My sister is there with her so we are feeling much less concerned today.  We got gas and ate a giant dinner of carbs at Denny’s right by Hwy 40, then back tracked just about 2 miles to spend the night here at Cactus RV Park.  The wind is blowing so hard one might feel like their on a cruise if there was only a dinner hour and waiter to serve us! Tomorrow we will head out on Hwy 40 (Route 66) and either head to Flagstaff and down to Dewey to see John’s brother and his wife, or if we don’t hear back from them we will head to Carlsbad Caverns.  Wondering what tomorrow will bring?

Water Sports Campground-Dodge City, KS

There must be water here at some point but the lake next to the campground is totally dry!  Total miles after a bit of site seeing today: 4,207.  The first place we went was the Boot Hill Museum.  It is very well done for the topic matter. They have replicated Front Street and still have some of the original items used in the 1800’s, such as cash register, furnishings, clothing, etc. The museum interprets life in the 19th century through audio-visual, exhibits, and a reconstruction of Dodge City in 1876, Old West restorations and history demonstrations (during summer months). One steps back into the 1870's as you walk down the boardwalk of Front Street at Boot Hill.  This is located on the original site of Boot Hill Cemetery in downtown Dodge City. It took a couple hours to visit. If it were not off-season I suppose one could spend the better part of the day there seeing some of the performances they put on and eating period food as well.  There were only a few people visiting today.  The piano player in the Long Branch Saloon asked where we were from.  He played “California Here I Come” for us and said he rarely gets to play that tune.  They even had a small Gunsmoke exhibit and a couple other TV shows that were based on the real life of Dodge City so long ago. 

We were hungry by then and decided we would go to the Boot Hill Casino just out of town for lunch.  We saw Prime Rib advertised and couldn’t resist.  Unfortunately, the Prime Rib is NOT today.  However, we had a nice buffet lunch.  The hostess suggested we get a “players card” for the casino because we would save $2. on lunch.  We did so, and with it got a $10. credit if you spent $1. first on a machine or other form of gambling.  We did so… I guess you have not heard about the BIG win… because there was none! The casinos here are owned by the state, unlike CA where they are owned by the Native Americans.

On we went to the Santa Fe Trail Historical site. I should mention it was very windy today, from what we have heard and read, it is windy much of the time.  It is lovely as the wind bends the grasses of the plains nonstop.  Nevertheless we venture out onto the plains and see they sort of gullies left by the thousands of wagons that have passed over these plains in years gone by.  If you look past the walkway in the middle of the photo you can see the gullies the wagons formed.  There isn’t just one trail as the wagons would move over to new land when the trails got too muddy. We hoped to see the ruts that wagon wheels made, but perhaps we will further along our travels back. 

After today’s little adventures it was time to do our housekeeping and laundry.  For those of you who asked about my Mom, she is doing better today and the pneumonia is clearing up.  She hopes to go home in a few days.  Thank you for your prayers.

Independence, MO-Friday

Up and out of Independence this morning.  I forgot to mention we are by Columbia Gorge Community College. We drove a long time with city freeway traffic on I-70 west, next on 35 south, and finally on a very sparse Hwy 50 west to Dodge City, Kansas. We entered Kansas mid day and we were going to stop before getting to Dodge City but heard my Mom is back in the hospital so cut back our site seeing to make more time.  Logged 386 miles today.  Some of that was a bit of a mistake as we got on a turnpike and could not get off.  It was a tense time as we were trying to get off to buy gas when I took a wrong turn in a construction zone that got us in this unfortunate situation. There were no exits in sight but we finally came to a sign that said “Truck Cattle Pens” and we took it.  Sadly, that’s all that was there, fenced pens, no people or services.  However, it did give us the opportunity to turn around back in the direction we needed to go.  By then our gas light came on and it was prayer all the way back, thanking the Lord we made it on E.  There was a very narrow shoulder to this turnpike and it was a very tense time thinking we could be stuck there with large trucks blasting by at 70 mph.  We again thanked God for provision, bought gas, and headed on our corrected route.   

St. Louis, MO-Thursday

It was warmer last night, not sure of the temperatures but not near as cold as it has been.  It was close to 60 degrees during the day today, though we had little sun and it looked foggy most of the day. Our morning started on I-64, which was also US-40, onto I-70 for the rest of the day.  We traveled 243 miles today, with a total of 3,795 miles for our trip so far.  We stopped in Columbia, MO for lunch. We are in Independence, MO tonight at Campus RV Park.  The pictures looked good but it is rather dreary little place with green grass turned brown and very few leaves left on the trees, expected for fall of course.  We decided to stay here because we wanted to see what we thought would be a big museum called National Frontier Trails Museum, which is walking distance from where we are.  The museum was actually quite small but it was still interesting and we are glad we went there.  Independence, MO was a main hub and starting point in 1840, for those heading west on the Santa Fe Trail, the California Trail, and the Oregon Trail.  These intrepid travelers rarely realized the daunting events that could take place between their starting point and where they felt their dreams would be fulfilled. They had goals and some of them met their goals, but very few.  Many lives were lost but the reality is 90% of the people survived the trip.  You just hear more about the catastrophic losses like the Donner Party experienced.  We first thought about staying here two nights, but we will move on in the morning, perhaps we will stay two nights in Dodge City, Kansas further down the road.