June 30--California

Spending a few days in California, and went to lunch on the Sacremento River, at the Virgin Sturgeon, a waterfront restaurant with a very unique entrance.

June 27--The California Trail

Heading to California to see relatives, and came across this. So far, we've been on the Sante Fe Trail (Route 56 in Colorado and Kansas) and the Oregon Trail in Nebraska, and now we're on the California Trail. We've now hit all the western trails!

June 27--The California Trail

Heading to California to see relatives, and came across this. So far, we've been on the Sante Fe Trail (Route 56 in Colorado and Kansas) and the Oregon Trail in Nebraska, and now we're on the California Trail. We've now hit all the western trails!

June 26--Rockport State Park, UT

Found a nice state park just off the highway, at the foot of a dam. We pulled in a little late, so we were first in the overflow area--overflow for the campground as well as the dam!

June 25--Medicine Bow

Spent the night at Vedauwoo Campground in the Medicine Bow National Forest. The rock formations are amazing!

North Platte and the Oregon Trail

Found a marker in North Platte for the Oregon Trail, erected in 1914. It's so badly weathered, it's almost impossible to read it. But that's ok, because it's right in front of the Nebraska CSI building, so they'll be able to find it again!

June 24--North Platte, NE

On the way to the quilt museum, we crossed Interstate 6, called the Cornhusker Highway here. This is the same Route 6 that starts in Provincetown, MA. It ends in California!

June 24--Iowa to Nebraska

Did the blue highways through some of Iowa, to Interstate 80, and along to Nebraska today. Lots and lots of cornfields. Stopped for the night at Mahoney State Park. Like Iowa State Parks, these sites had electric, but no water. Saw people lugging jugs of water from the bath house. It's a beautiful park, on the river, and has a lodge and theater!

Went in to Lincoln, NE, this morning and toured the International Quilt Study Center & Museum. The old quilts on display were really beautiful. Currently they have a Japanese quilt display going on also; those are really unusual. Some are like our traditional quilts, and some are very different. All took a lot of skill and time.
This is the sculpture at the entrance to the museum.

Caught this on I80 today. What a landmark!

It's the arch in Kearney, NE.

June 22--Kansas to Iowa

Off Monday morning to Iowa, to find the area where Sailorsmate's father originated. Dad always said "Washington, Iowa", but we found out later that actually meant "the family farm, in an unincorporated area of Washington County, Iowa". "Washington, Iowa" is a lot easier to explain in boot camp.

We toured the town of Washington, because we decided it was as close as we could get. Main Street was being torn up on one end, so we had to get out picture from a side street.

And this is the park, across the intersection.

Drove through lots and lots of farming areas and spent the night at Lake Darling State Park; just us and one other camper--had the place to ourselves. What we couldn't figure out was that most sites had electric, but no water. Is this an Iowa thing?

Found family in Kansas and stayed the week. Tincansailor finished his honeydew list for his sister (house and motorhome), so we went out to Pomona Lake's Outlet Park for the weekend. It's a COE site, so we got our half price discount. Hot again, in the 90'sF, so evening were spent inside, waiting for it to cool off.

ElderNephew and family came out to visit us and took us for a boat ride on the lake on Friday. Niece came out too, later, and stayed the night. Nice to connect with everyone again, and see how much the little ones have grown since last we saw them.

Looking for Auntie Em, but there's nothing on Route 56 but dotted lines...

Route 56 in KS, to Spearville

Came across another wind farm, this one in Spearville, KS.

Actually stopped to take a few pictures this time. This one feeds the grid for Kansas City Power and Light, which includes the little burg where Auntie Em lives.

That's us, with the wind farm behind.

Route 56 Kansas--Midway across the USA!

Came across this in the little town of Kinsley, KS. Here we are in the middle!On to Overbrook, KS.

Route 56 through Colorado and Kansas

Off to Kansas to visit Auntie Em. Got caught in traffic for miles and miles behind this pickup and piece of farm equipment. Then there was the train...

And it kept coming and coming...
Finally, it went past. Seemed to take forever. We Easterner's don't see many trains this long, so it's a big thing for us.

Santa Fe, June 11

Went to the State Capital in Santa Fe. There are 4 floors in the building and 3 of them house a very impressive art collection, open to the public. We really liked the buffalo by Holly Hughes.






If you go, the Buffalo is on the fourth floor.

Santa Fe, June 10

Santa Fe is a welcome relief after the heat of Texas. Not so hot days (80'sF) and cool nights (40's and 50'sF) and very dry, and wow! the altitude--7200 feet high! But Santa Fe is a really nice city.

We toured the city first thing. The city center is small enough that you can walk around and pretty much do everything.The San Miguel Church, reported to be the oldest church in the US.
Across from the Mission is the oldest house.
This was a hotel in the city center.
And around the corner from the hotel is the Church of San Francisco.

Bottomless Lake, NM (June 9)

Heading north, into New Mexico, out of the heat. We're stopping at a state park for the night, Bottomless Lake.
Pretty sunset as we pulled in, and we had to wait for morning to get a better look at the campground.


Nice tower for viewing the lake at the campground, but unfortunately, you can no longer go up in the tower. Makes a great picture, though, and people love to come and paint it.
Here's the campground and the edge of the lake from the road, as we left the next morning.

Pecos, TX (June 9)

On the way to Pecos, we drove by the Desert Sky Wind Project, outside of Fort Stockton, TX. Then on to Pecos.

Stopped at the Museum and looked around.
Then on our way back to the camper, we heard a train coming. The parking lot backs up to the train tracks, so we got some good pix of the train coming through, a thrill for us Easterners.
And there it went!

Balmorhea June 8

Found another Texas State Park, this time Balmorhea. It was originally a CCC project and it's most famous feature is a huge swimming pool, with two wings.

As you approach the pool, it almost looks like Roman baths, it's so big. There is a wing on either side of the central pool, and a walkway all around it. It's spring fed, at a rate of a milion gallons an hour or more. That's right--24,000,000 gallons of water a day go through it! It's a steady temperature of 76 to 77F, and on a 98F day, that felt good. And contains fish, lots and lots of little fish.

The lighter colored water is the left wing, where the pool bottom is concrete and the pool is 5 feet deep. The darker water has a natural bottom, and is 25 feet deep. That's why there's a difference in water color. On the right wing, the bottom is also natural, and the water is about 20 feet deep, and has a diving board. Scuba diving is also allowed here, but no fishing.

It's not often you see a pool with the depth labeled for 20 feet!

Heading North, out of the heat (we hope)!

Temperatures on South Padre were in the high 90's, and going up. Our plan had been to head to Big Bend National Park, but the weather there is predicted to be over 100 for the remainder of the week, so we decide to just head north, and hope we can get out of this low pressure system that's holding the temps so high. On the road north today, it did indeed hit over 100.
Stopped for the night at another Texas State Park, this time Garner, on the Frio River. On the road early, heading north. Seven a.m. it was a cool 78F.

South Padre Island, TX

After a day on Mustang Island, we're headed south again. This time, to South Padre Island. We've read there's a county park on the island, but it's full, so we're headed for the KOA.

Regal Row at the KOA on South Padre. We took the standard site, which wasn't bad either. This KOA is right at the end of the bridge, on the water, and within walking distance to a fishing pier and touring boats, beaches, and a restaurant/bar. What more could you ask?

Then a Jeep ride out to the beach. Just take the main drag out of town, and follow one of the six Beach Access signs to get onto the beach. We took Access 6, and rode for about 25 miles, to the jetty that separates South Padre from the Padre Island National Park.

So, we finally made it to the end of the beach, and could see across to the other side. Only took 8 years, 2 trips, and 2 retirements.