15 Apr 2019 - It's a Wrap - Home Sweet Home, Final Stats

15 Apr 2019

We departed Lawrence KS this morning at 0827 hrs and headed northbound towards Iowa.  The final leg of our trip was uneventful as we motored up Interstate 35 towards home.  4 hours 31 minutes later we arrived Cherry Glen Campground near Saylorville Lake, about 10 minutes from our house after driving 246 miles today.

Safe and sound at Cherry Glen

Blue sky's here today with highs in the mid-60's.

We own this place, right now at least.  Today is the first day Cherry Glen is reservable.

One other camper down near our loop.  Later a few more showed up.

The reason why we headed to Cherry Glen is we cannot store the RV at our house, even short term.  I know we did it before we departed, but that is the exception as we really do not have room for it there.   So we are not camping in it there.  We will sleep at home and spend this week unloading and cleaning it out at Cherry Glen before it goes to storage here in Ankeny on Friday. 

Well, thanks again for following along.  It was a great trip.  We are looking forward to the next one!  Stay tuned!

Final Stats Update:

Campsite#:  27 of 27

# States Traveled Through This Trip: 15 (some more than once)

Baseball Parks Visited So Far This Trip:  6 (Houston, Corpus Christi, Arizona X 3, San Diego)

Point to point travel miles:  6270 miles

  - Avg point to point travel miles:  224 miles

Vicinity miles:  4458 miles 

  - Avg vicinity miles:  165 miles

Total miles driven:  10,728 miles

Total point to point driving time:  121 hrs 22 minutes

Total fuel purchased: 951.375 gals

Total fuel cost:  $2740.35

Average fuel cost:  $2.951

Max fuel cost:  $3.999 (Seal Beach CA)

Min fuel cost:  $2.279 (Wharton TX)

Average MPG:  11.25 miles/gal

# Nights at end of this stay:  136

Lodging cost:  $4735.82

 - Average lodging cost/night:  $34.82/night

14 Apr 2019 - Final Night in Lawrence KS, Final Night on this Trip

14 Apr 2019

And here we are, the last 'wake up' for this trip will be in the morning.  As the sun sets on this trip, we reflect on where we have been; what we have seen, learned and tasted; and most importantly the great friends for which we have reconnected.  By the time we get back to our home base in Ankeny tomorrow, we will have driven over 6300 miles between campgrounds and nearly 4500 'vicinity' miles checking out the sights and sounds our great Country has to offer.

We are so blessed to live here in America and unfortunately it seems like far, far too many take it for granted.  I consider myself so very fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve our Nation for so long and that service took me to places like Iraq where the people there do not share the same freedoms we have here.  We can pick up and go about anywhere we want, any time we want.  How awesome is that? And we are not done going, believe me!

I am saddened that we were forced to cut this trip short just a bit but we will deal with whatever caused my affliction and then we will 'get back on our horse' and we will 'get back after it'!  Between Los Angeles and Ankeny we have a lot yet to explore and many folks for which to reconnect that we had planned see on this trip.  That will likely be rescheduled for next year.  But if I can get patched up well enough we will be shoving off again on 30 May with our RV for our 2019 Southeast trip to coincide with our son Dan's graduation for the National Fire Academy's Executive Fire Officer Program.  If my back does not recuperate well enough for that we will still attend graduation but without the RV.

So, thanks to those who have followed along on our journey.  I hope the blog has been informative and maybe even amusing at times. We will post one last time tomorrow night with our final stats, and then hopefully we will resume on 30 May.

Next report, tomorrow night from our home base in Ankeny Iowa

13 Apr 2019 - Arrived at KOA Campground Lawrence KS - Last Stop!!

13 Apr 2019

We departed Oklahoma City this morning early, at 0656 hrs to try to beat the rain.  We were able to load up and get out of there before the rain started and we were also able to stay ahead of the rain as it nipped at our heels (blue dot was us)!  The system had counterclockwise rotation and moved off to the east northeast bringing heavy rain to Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

This was a long day for us as travel days go.  Our goal is 200 miles/day but today was 333 since we modified our plans and are making a beeline home more or less.

You see some strange things along the way.  It's not every day you see a semi upright nose down!  

 We saw a lot of fields burning as they prepare for the spring crops.  The smoke was fogging up the Interstate a bit but not enough to obscure visibility.

Smoke across the road

We reached the Kansas State Line around 0930 hrs or so.  We avoided the rain as it headed off to the east.  The winds were strong out of the N-NW which was basically a headwind for us.  That really took a toll on our fuel mileage.

We saw quite a few oil wells along the way.

We arrived at the Kansas City West / Lawrence KOA RV Park at 1335 hrs which equals 6 hrs 39 minutes of travel time including stops.  333 miles total.

This KOA is a basic campground.  None of the roads or sites are paved and quite a few including ours is not all that level.  It is a pull-through and full hookup with 5-0 amp electric.    

We were able to see the Directv satellite even with the tree there but there is no foliage on it yet.  The big surprise is that we are apparently on the lower side of the 'spot beam' which means we are receiving our Des Moines local channels here! 

We are just here tonight and tomorrow night, and then Monday morning we will head home, actually we will take the RV to Cherry Glen where we can plug it in and then we will head home to sleep Monday night.  Then we will take our time throughout the week unloading from our trip before we take it to Sudzee's for storage as we did last year.

That's it for today.

12 Apr 2019 - Oklahoma City National Memorial, Preparing to Leave OK City

12 Apr 2019

Today we drove downtown Oklahoma City to visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum.  Luckily we found parking right across the street from the museum.

The museum from across the street

Kids around the world created these images that were converted into tiles.

We walked to the museum but not through it, unfortunately.  I just cannot do it at this point.  I was able to hobble to the memorial park and then I sat near the reflecting pool while Doreen walked around and looked at the area.

The reflecting pool.  The stone walk was created from stones from the original building.

This whole memorial area and museum is a tribute to the lives lost and impacted when on 19 Apr 1995 at 0902 hrs in an act of domestic terrorism, a huge fertilizer bomb in the back of a Ryder truck detonated.  It destroyed the major portion of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building,  killing 168 people, injuring over 680 others.  The blast destroyed or damaged 324 other building in a 16 block radius of the downtown area. 

The memorial consists of 168 chairs arranged in nine rows that reflect the floor where the victim was working or visiting.  Each chair is etched with the name of the person killed. 163 were killed inside the building and of the 163, 19 smaller chairs represent the children killed who were in the daycare portion of the building, and the other five chairs represent those killed outside the building.   

A peaceful and respectful memorial. 

The names are etched into the clear base of each chair, and they are base-illuminated at night

At the top of this doorway is inscribed 9:01, which represents the innocence before the attack.

At the opposite end and atop this doorway is inscribed 9:03 and marks when the healing began. 
The attack was at 9:02

This American Elm tree stands at the highest point of the memorial and is called the 'Survivor Tree', as it survived when everything around it was burning or destroyed.  It is a symbol of strength and resilience.

In front of the tree are steps where you can sit and reflect.

As stated before, we were not able to visit the museum.  I would like to come back here next time and do so.

We headed back to the RV park and stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings for a late lunch.  Neither of us had been to B-Dubs for a long time.  It was very good.  We fueled the truck and returned to the RV to watch the Chicago Cubs vs the Los Angeles Angels baseball game.  We also made preparations to depart early in the morning due to impending weather.

Next report, Lawrence KS. 

11 Apr 2019 - Arrived in Oklahoma City!

11 Apr 2019

This morning at 0849 hrs we packed up and pulled chocks in Amarillo TX with wind chills at 18 degrees F.  Our hands were freezing by the time we finished loading.  Our neighbor was out fiddling around with his hose and water filter so I suspect he was froze up.  Our water was flowing but it was really cold!

The trip to Oklahoma City was fairly flat and much greener than previous, but we had some nasty winds out of the N-NW rolling in from the storms north of us, so we really had to pay attention to our road position.  It is days like today that makes me thankful I have a dually.  Even with 20-30 mph cross winds, our truck is really stable on the highway.  The trailer still does a little 'tail wag' from time to time, but never enough to be of concern.  As the road curved around to the NE just past the TX-OK state line, the wind was hitting us in the drivers front which impacted the fuel mileage also.

We made one stop for fuel and to stretch the muscles a bit, and at 1321 hrs we rolled into the western edge of Oklahoma City.  It was a 259 mile drive today.  We've had longer and we've had shorter.  We shoot for 200, but we are on sort of a beeline to get home now, so it was OK.

The Mustang Run RV Park is really nice and very convenient at access from I-40.  the spots are all paved and the ground in between sites is GREEN GRASS!   Liberty is thrilled!  That ol' peeing on the rocks stuff is for the birds!

Nice spacing between RV's

Beautiful blue skies today bit the rain is coming in a day or so.

They even have storm shelters strategically placed throughout the campground.
You would think we were in tornado alley or something!
I refer to them as bomb shelters.

After we unhooked and set up, it was time to do the ceremonial 'placing of the decal'!  Another state bites the dust!

After Oklahoma, we only have Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia remaining to visit in the RV. If everything goes OK with my back, we will knock them out this summer when we head East for Dan's National Fire Academy graduation.

2019 East Coast Trip (partial plan) - 30 May-1 Oct 2019

Not many plans here since we only have one day and my mobility is limited.  Tomorrow we plan to see the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, then Saturday we will head north to Lawrence KS for a couple nights before heading home.

10 Apr 2019 - Cadillac Ranch, Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Route 66 Historical District, Windy Day

10 Apr 2019
Crazy weather day here today.  Low of 48F last night, high of 88F today.  Tomorrow they are forecasting 33F for 0800 hrs.  That's a 55 degree temperature swing in less than 24 hours.  The front that is driving this is the same system that is bringing the heavy snow to the upper Midwest.  So, warm day here today the the wind was incredible.   The front was impending, though.  So we 'battened down the hatches'.

The front coming towards us this morning

The winds picked up and the sky turned gray.  Dust everywhere

The pictures don't do it justice.  The dirty brownish gray sky's above the RV's is dirt in the air.

That 60 for Amarillo is not a misprint.  We had 30-45 mph sustained winds
with gusts to 63 mph.

Not far from the RV Park is the Cadillac Ranch, so we started out there this morning.  This started as an art project in 1974 by two architects and an art student, and was funded by a local Amarillo landowner. It consists of 10 Cadillac's (1949-1963) buried nose-down in the ground and painted with graffiti. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own spray paint and do their own decorating, and they are also encouraged to take their empty spray cans with them.  As you will see, that is not always done.  I did not walk out to see them due to my back, but Doreen did and took the pictures:

This is the entrance

 

This is the mud pathway to the Cadillac Ranch.

Visitor's painting the Caddy's

Thanks for leaving your trash on the ground, morons.

The visitors apparently can't read.

 

After the Cadillac Ranch we drove about 30 minutes south to the Palo Duro Canyon State Park.  The Palo Duro Canyon is nicknamed the 'Grand Canyon of Texas' and is the second largest in the United States, second only to the Grand Canyon.  It is about 120 miles long and averages 6 miles wide but is 20 miles wide in certain spots.  We first arrived at the visitor center where you can get a breath taking view.

Entrance to the Visitor Center

  

A panoramic of the canyon

The roads on the canyon floor are visible here.  We will drive them to the south end. 

The canyon is massive, beautiful.

There are campgrounds and hiking trails scattered throughout the canyon.

We drove down the road leading to the canyon floor with grades up to 10%.  The rock formations are amazing.

These are pictures from the canyon floor.  We drove all the way to the south loop and then returned.  There is only one way in and out of the canyon that we are aware.  The view from the bottom is incredible!  I wished we were able to hike the trails.  There is a variety of camping here, some primitive tent camping, some RV camping with electric, some with water also.  None with sewer.

The rock formations vary in color.

A couple turkeys feeling non-threatened!

This is called the 'Lighthouse' rock formation.  

The 'Lighthouse' from a distance.

Deep reds.

Caves in the stone.

Cactus everywhere.

Rains can cause flash floods quickly.  Gauges near the washes/bridges help judge water depth.

Veins in the rocks

By the time we drove out of the canyon, visibility was dropping.  It became very hazy so we are glad we visited early before the winds picked up.

From the canyon we drove to downtown Amarillo and the Route 66 Historic District, a section of 6th Avenue.  It is lined with antique shops, boutiques, restaurants and other stores to help preserve the memories of the Route 66 days.  

By now the wind is ferocious so we headed back to the RV for a late lunch.  We stopped for Subway sandwiches and to fuel the truck for our travels tomorrow.  When we arrived at the RV, all of our tire covers had blown off and one was gone completely.  Doreen went on a hunt for it and luckily she found it stuck to a fence.  

Tomorrow we will bug out of here and head eastbound for Oklahoma City.  The wind is supposed to be 20-30 mph out of the north which will be a cross-wind for most of our trip.  At keast it is not as strong as today, and we won't be driving into a head wind.

Next report, OK City!