Tag: Historical Sites

No, we didn’t fall off the earth…

Just a quick memo as to what in the heck we have been up to this year.

We returned to Ohio in December, if you remember from our last blog entry. It was a long but uneventful drive from Arizona to Dayton, Ohio. We saw a quirky Road Runner statue made out of trash in Las Cruces, New Mexico and we stayed at our first Army Corps of Engineers campground outside of Little Rock, Arkansas. That was a real treat.  Too bad we only stayed one night. After that, we found ourselves having to adjust to a new reality which involves taking care of family as part of our normal day-to-day life. So we parked Beau, our RV, caught up on some repairs, then skirted him as we settled in for the winter. As the temperatures dropped, the wind picked up, and snow fell we received some news that entailed starting a new adventure.

This statue of a Road Runner is made out of trash (sneakers, electronics, car parts). Its 20 feet high and 40 feet long. You can find it on I-10 E at the rest stop outside Las Cruces.
Road Runner statue made out of trash. Statue is 20 feet high, 40 feet long. Artist is Olin Calk.
The eye is a Volkswagen Beetle headlight.
You can see keyboards, some car parts, a horse cutout, sneakers. Fascinating.
Huge campsite on a lake.
Three days working on the skirting in freezing temps. Ugh. But it looks like it will work.

What’s that new adventure? Well the exciting news is Bev has been hired as an Interpretive Park Ranger for the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park! It is a six month appointment and fulfills a childhood dream. We have always thought it would be pretty cool to be a Park Ranger. Now Bev will have first hand knowledge and experience. We visited this particular national park a year ago and wrote about it on my Facebook page. Due to space concerns, I was pretty light on the history side of the post.  Now, with Bev working there, expect to have fun reading about the history of the Wright Brothers, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Dayton, Ohio as we explore in our blog all she is learning from her work.  Stay tuned for those posts.

Big travel plans are off the table for the near term, but we are still planning on visiting national park sites in Ohio. The Hopewell Culture National Monument is not too far away as well as the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument. After that we plan on visiting other sites in Ohio and neighboring states. So stay with us as we work on a new schedule to fit our current situation. As always, “Happy Trails,” till we post again.

 

The Big House

While we were in Ohio for the month of October we used the time to do a few minor repairs on our RV. When we had the RV in for service, we were told (and shown) the ignition electrode for our refrigerator was in need of replacement. But it was going to take the shop 3 days just to get the part. They were nice enough to give us the part number and we ordered it online. After looking at YouTube videos on refrigerator repairs, we got the tools out and in 15 minutes, had the part replaced. Yay! Continue reading “The Big House”

There Be Tallgrass in Them There Hills

As Bev mentioned in the last post, we decided to revisit the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Strong City, Kansas on our way back east. The first time we visited was in July 2017.  The grasses were only about 2 feet high. So, like many, we asked the rangers, “Where’s the Tallgrass?” They patiently explained (seems everyone asks that question) that the grass grows during the summer months and reaches its full height during the September/October timeframe. Then you can see the grass at around 5-6 feet depending on the amount of rainfall during the summer. Continue reading “There Be Tallgrass in Them There Hills”

Wandering Through Washington, Part V

After exploring the Olympic Peninsula for 10 days, we finally pointed our RV south and made our way to our new hub town, Castle Rock. From this point, we would get to visit Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. This blog post will cover the Fort Vancouver site which is located on the north shore of the Columbia River.

Continue reading “Wandering Through Washington, Part V”

Washington Interlude or A Little This and That…

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

True. Only we need to extend the lyrics of that popular 1958 song. For us it has been smoke gets in your eyes, nose, and lungs. While the smell of smoke lingers in your clothes, fills your RV and blurs everything you see in a smoky haze. This is the way it has been since we first arrived in late July. We are now headed into mid-September and the smoke has been inescapable. There have been times where the smoke has been so dense we could barely discern the skyline of Seattle, see the peaks of mountain tops, or even more than a 20-30 feet across Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park! It has definitely been a challenge! Continue reading “Washington Interlude or A Little This and That…”

Wandering Through Washington, Part III

Wow, still more to come in Washington. After our fabulous stay in Anacortes, we headed south to Auburn, outside of Seattle. Next up was a trip to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. The park is in downtown Seattle and occupies two floors of the historic Cadillac Hotel. It is a satellite site of the main location in Dyea, Alaska. Now, why would there be a satellite park for the Klondike Gold Rush? The answer was found in the exhibits of the museum. Continue reading “Wandering Through Washington, Part III”

Wandering Through Washington, Part II

After stuffing ourselves on blackberries in Concrete, it was time to move on further west to Anacortes for a visit to two more parks. The first one was Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve (NHR) on Whidbey Island. Continue reading “Wandering Through Washington, Part II”

Best Laid Plans…

Remember the saying, “The best-laid plans of mice and men?” The gist of it is that things tend to go awry or happen outside the confines of our carefully laid plans. Turns out our carefully laid plans skipped entire destinations, took a detour and were modified to meet changing circumstances. First, let’s write about how our plans came to be…updated. Continue reading “Best Laid Plans…”

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Utah

As much as we enjoyed our stay in Rapid City, it was time to move on. On July 5th, we packed up, and as Bev was retracting the jacks, I noticed a big oil leak. We just had an oil change in Colorado so we weren’t expecting that. We called a couple of places but could not get an appointment to have it checked out. We decided to change the oil filter and see if that fixed the problem. (The oil was dripping off the filter). Lo and behold, after taking an oil bath, the new Fram filter worked perfectly. The one the shop used was bigger than the original equipment and I believe that is a problem with this engine. We will just have to remember to insist on OEM oil filters when having a shop do an oil change.

Continue reading “Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Utah”

A Stratospheric Find

A couple of days after our Wind Cave NP excursion, we wanted to take the dogs on a nice hike. So I googled for hiking trails and found one called the Stratobowl Trail. It was about .25 miles from the campground and about 1.7 miles one way. Sounded like a good candidate – easy hike with a view. Continue reading “A Stratospheric Find”