Mt. Rushmore, 2013

Hey George.......




...............June 23, 2014 - Goshen, Indiana
 Just completed the Escapee's Escapade here in Goshen, Indiana
Had 543 rigs and 1,062 in attendance

 

Friday, Sept. 13

 

Guess what?  Bob was re-introduced at the Escapee's Escapade in Gillette, Wyoming this year to the Ham Radio Group.  Apparently Bob read from front cover to back cover all about electronics and being a ham radio operator when he was a mear teenager.  I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!  We won a massive book on.........you guessed it....becoming a ham radio operator.  He studied and took his test last evening....and passed the "Tech and the General" portion.  And...he PASSED both of them in a little over 45 minutes.  He is smarter than the average bear.                              He is now waiting for his call letters. 

There is a group of about 20 folks here in the Livingston area.  The president is a Chiropractor and it works down from there.  This park has a number of  folks (including women) who also have their license.  Me.....don't believe so....I don't know a compositor from a resister..............Bob said I will learn........................heck I'M still trying to master "facebook". 


We made the Escapees magazine
Sept/October, 2013 

Chapter and certified-BOF
representatives on the ROW
at Escapade, 2013

We are at Livingston, Tx.  This month belongs to the doctors.  Altitude problem in Denver, Colorado is proving to be just that "altitude".  His last week's blood test is "Normal" and got a call today about his stress test...and it is also "Normal".  YEAH!

  We bought a new to us grill.  It is called BIG GREEN EGG.  It grills, slow cooks, bakes, smokes, and roasted.  T-bone steaks, pork chops, and sirloin steaks have become our favorite. 



Big Green Egg..........................

Aug. 25 Livingston, Texas

Staying inside - feels like 104 degrees outside.

We are back from our summer trip to the Escapade, in Gillette, Wyoming. 
Oh, what a beautiful part of the country. 
Next year the Escapade will be in Goshen, Indiana.......yeah.....family time!

Who is looking at whom?

 

Today Sunday, August 25, still no rain in sight.  With it being this HOT, at least the grass is not growing.  Flowers are withered, mosquitoes are looking for moisture and blood.....  We go out at night, well, so do the mosquitoes.  Ouch!



About 30 miles south of Livingston

Full Rainbow over our Volvo in Hondo, Tx. 

We will be at our lot in Livingston, Tx. for about a month.


 

Aug. 9, Friday Hondo, Texas

Aug. 9, another HOT day. 


108 degrees  IT'S HOT DON.......I mean BOB


You wait and wait for the sun to go down to go outside
but it is still 102 degrees and it is 9:49 p.m.  You would think
mosquitoes would not be out...wrong....they are out if full force.     

I hear it is a cool 82 degrees in my hometown of Evansville, In.  but
if it weren't for the cold winters....hum......                                       

                                     


 

Aug. 3 - Chicken Earl's

Aug.  3, Tuesday we are taking as our "date day".  We try and do something different and usual on this date.   Got this idea from Kay and Bill here at Hondo.  Thanks guys for the idea....another one of your good ideas.   Today we decided to drive over to Lackey, Tx. for lunch at "Chicken Earl's".  I'll let the picture describe the building, a thousand words.  Folks come from miles around for this on Tuesday only famous "Chicken Earl;s fried chicken". 

Chicken Earls's - Lackey, Tx

Hey, Bob, what year is that car?



Only in Texas! 

And our favorite restaurant here in Hondo, Tx. is a place called "Bill and Rosa's Restaurant". 




Bill and Rosa's - Hondo, Tx.
It was 106 degrees here in Hondo, Texas today.  It is 97 degrees, cooler you say...yes but it is 10:04 p.m.  Suppose to be another hot day tomorrow.  Except for our "date day" we are staying inside where it is much cooler.    
 

July 29 Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park, Carlsbad, New Mexico

July 29 we spent a couple of hours enjoying the sights at the zoo.  This zoo is located at the top of the Ocotillo Hills.  The park offers an expansive view of Carlsbad and the surrounding Pecos River Valley.  Captured a good picture of a "Roadrunner". 

We walked the 1.3 mile paved pathway that lead us to many native animals and plants.  Not one of our smarter moved, the temperature was HOT.   Could not wait until we got back into air-conditioning.  Drank a diet coke and found sugar free ice-cream....so we cooled our outside body and our inner temp was also given a cool treat.    Told ourselves, next time check the outside temperature first., and the altitude.  Oh, well, live and learn, right?

Our evening was much better planned.  Carlsbad Caverns National Park is well noted for its caves and its Bat Flight Program.  Every evening in the summer , Mexican free-tailed bats exit Carlsbad Cavern in search of a smorgasbord of insects for dinner.  It has been estimated that two million bats live in this cave.  No cameras were allowed, but the sight of these bats single filed come out of the cave, swarm to make what looked like a cone and then take off for parts unknown for the nearly twenty thousands pounds of insects they consume per night....no wonder we are able to sit outside here at night without getting bit by mosquitoes. Nice! 


The bat can consume  insects up to 1/3 of its body weight every night.
1,000 bats can consume 4 tons of insects each year.

Return flight, they re-enter Carlsbad Cavern with spectacular dives from heights of hundreds of feet.  Individual bats diving in from every direction may reach speeds of 25 mph or more.  They put on quite a spectacular show. 

July 26, 2013 From Las Vegas, New Mexico to the SKP Park in Lakewood, New Mexico

July 26, 2013   Escapees Co-Op Park  -  "The Ranch"

Arrived about 1:30 p.m. and was greeted by two residents...wow...this is a friendly park. 

The Ranch is in a high desert setting amid agricultural operations, near the foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains.  Situated about 22 miles north of Carlsbad and 16 miles south of Artesia.  The Ranch is located in Lakewood, New Mexico.  It is actually in the middle of a 6,000 acre cattle ranch in southern New Mexico. 

We are looking forward to seeing the sights in this area. 

all set up in site #55...just enjoying the day.

July 25 we stopped at an Elk's Lodge in Las Vegas, New Mexico.  Bob joined the Elks Club while in Gillette, Wyoming at the Escapee's Escapade.  Found out Elk's Lodges have RV camping, checked this one out and yes they have a few sites....okay, that will work....we will take one of those sites.  Got in the middle of a pool tournament, hey they are serious about that game.  Played the pull tables and missed it by one number....darn the luck...to date I have won one spatula and a camera.  The prize was a couple bottles of beer, some beer pretzels and other snacks.  Oh, well, better luck next time.

Oh the drive the last couple of days was just spectacular. 

 The above pictures were taken in New Mexico.  Didn't realize this state was so beautiful. 

July 20, 2013 - Buena Vista, Colorado to Frisco, Colorado (west of Denver, Colorado)

July 19, 2013 met Sheryl and Steve for breakfast/lunch.  It was a beautiful day, low 80's, snow we could see on the mountain tops, the meal was plentiful and very reasonable and to have lunch with Sheryl and Steve was just a win...win.  Life is good!

July 20, 2013 met Sheryl and Steve at their favorite place, oh yes and Bob's favorite place, in Frisco, Colorado.  Frisco got its name, the railroad made the name from letters in the name of their rail line:  the "FR" from Francisco, the "IS" from St. Louis and the "CO" from Company - making "FRISCO!"

Who is Sheryl and Steve, well Sheryl is Bob's co-worker.  They have stayed in touch all  these years after Bob's retirement and we are able to visit and they are  RVers.   




Buena Vista, Colorado  We found a campground by the name of Mt. Princeton RV Park in Buena Vista.  A little history about Buena Vista:  Buena Vista, offering the best of Colorado, is a mix of quiet mountain community and a vital tourist town known for its friendly people bound together by a love of the outdoors, clean air and small-town living.  Located in central Colorado on the Arkansas River, surrounded by 360 degrees of breathtaking mountain views, and enjoys summers ranging from the 80s to low 50.  Buena Vista, Spanish for "Good View" is truly "8,000 feet above average."  Buena Vista is located on highway 24, is 125 miles southwest of Denver and 94 miles west of Colorado Springs, with Aspen 63 miles northwest over Independence Pass. 

Here it is Sunday, July 20, 2013 and the temp right now is 63 degrees, high of 81 degrees and a low of 53 degrees.    Wow, no wonder folks come here during the summer. 

July 18, 2013 Cheyenne, Wyoming to Buena Vista, Colorado

July 17 and 18, 2013....Very long driving days

Interstate I-25 from Cheyenne, Wyoming towards Denver, Colorado

Notice the Buffalo on the hill...

Interstate I-70 west of Denver, Colorado

Eisenhower Tunnel - I-70 West of Denver, Colorado

July 15, 2013 Wall Drug and The Badlands, South Dakota

July 15, 2013

 Wall, South Dakota

snakes!  Yikes....

The Badlands   ---   Bad Land To Cross

Wall Drug and the Badlands

July 15, 2013  Took a day to see the sights in the area.  One place that is a must see is the Wall Drug Store, Wall, South Dakota.  We drove the 90+ miles on I-90 east to Wall, South Dakota.  We found the café and boy was it crowded.  Got there about 1:00 p.m. and figured the lunch crowd would be finished eating.....wrong.  We found out that Wall Drug draws up to twenty thousand people on a good summer day.....okay, we didn't know that before we went.  Guess we should have gone on a rainy day.  Believe everyone decided to take advantage of this beautiful summer day.

Wall Drug Store started by offering Free ice water to those passing their town on route 16A.  It started out with 326 people back in December 1931. 

It taught the owners that there's absolutely no place on God's earth that's Godforsaken.  No matter where you live, you can succeed, because wherever you are, you can reach out to other people with something that they need...even if it is as small as ICE WATER.

Then on to the Badlands.  The Badlands got its name when the French trappers who explored the west in the early 1800's called the area a "bad land to cross." 

Badlands coloring.  The Badlands have vibrant colors caused by mineral deposits.  The layers containing tinges of oxidized manganese have a purple cast.  Iron oxide in small quantities produced  the orange and the layers.  The volcanic ash, dropped by westerly winds from the Rockies, produced the white layers...in places where the ash fell and mixed with silt and clay in the streams, it produced the dirty grey layers. 

 July 12, 2013......   Fort Hays, Rapid City, South Dakota

Taking a 55 passenger bus for a day long tour, breakfast and a dinner with a show.

$80.00 per couple  

Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

One of 7 tunnels the bus had to pass through.

Yikes, LOW and NARROW.......

Tunnels getting lower and narrower....     

Buffalo galore....each has their birth year on their back sides....life is 10 years.....to keep the numbers manageable.

Oh, boy..we have to go through this?

Oh my gosh, how in the world!  We are in a 55 passenger bus.....squeeze through I guess......can't go back

Now come on....this one also?  Come to find out, we only have 2" on each side to spareOh my gosh!

Crazy Horse Monument