Back in Texas

Along the interstate from Chinle, Arizona to Albequerque, New Mexico we kept seeing signs for the Flying Eagle Casino.  They advertised great deals so we thought we would be "campinoing" it for the evening.  The Flying Eagle offered camping with full hookups (water and electricity) for $10, plus, if we signed up for the gambling club (no cost to us) we got a gift voucher for $10 worth of gas each.  We signed up.  What a deal.  Plus, they had a laundromat.  We spent the night and the next morning we hauled our laundry to the laundromat.  We loaded up two washing machines.  Hmm.  One of them worked.  The other-nope.  It got our clothes wet but didn't spin.  By the time we noticed, one load was already washed.
We were itching to get on the road since we didn't get a very early start (not an unusual situation for us) so we loaded the soaking wet load into a dryer and hoped they got somewhat dry.  Once the dryer was done we packed the wet stuff into our laundry sack and hit the road.  We reasoned that we could hang them once we got to our campsite destination that evening.

We headed for Palo Duro State Park, south east of Amarillo, Texas.  It was about 4.5 hours away.  An easy drive, for sure.  When we got there, they were full!  This is the first time we have not been able to get a campsite.  We bristle at making reservations because it means we have to be somewhere at a certain time and we prefer to be able to set our own pace.  We've stumbled upon numerous chance finds because we didn't have a plan.  Bit us in the behind this time.

We found a place to pull over in the state park and we had dinner there, and planned what to do next.

Our decision was to Wal-Mart it for the night.  This is also the first night we've spent in a Wal-Mart parking lot.  Fortunately for us, there was a Wal-Mart about 10 miles away.  (Wal-Marts and McDonalds are everywhere.)  Spending the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot took care of one of our problems.  The other-our wet laundry-remained. 

Al got creative with bungee cords and here is the result:

Laundry hanging from the ceiling in the van.

Fortunately, all the laundry dried overnight.

The next morning we were laughing at our misfortunes of the day before (big bag of wet laundry due to a defective washing machine and no place to camp).  We thought it would be prudent to go into Wal-Mart and stock up on beer and food before heading off to a remote state park further into the state.  Guess what?  We were in a DRY county.  No beer.  Well.  We weren't taking any chances on finding beer once we got to the next park.  We turned around and drove north up to Amarillo.  We knew that wasn't a dry county.  Stocked up on the essentials (Budweiser) and headed south.  Ended up at Caprock Canyon State Park in the middle of the Texas panhandle. 

Texas-sized campsite

Great park-we stayed three nights.  It has 64 miles of trails plus a lake for swimming.



Area before a burn



Throughout Texas there is a fire ban.  No open fires of any kind.  There is a huge wildfire burning not too far from where we are.  This inferno was caused when a car had a flat tire and the tire rim sparked on the pavement.  The wind blew the spark into the dry weeds along the roadside and the brush immediately caught fire. 

Area after a burn.

It seems to always be windy here-which drives the raging fires even further.  It would be a rare day that you could not fly a kite here. 

The state park practices prevention with respect to wild fires by doing controlled burns.  This particular part of the park was burned in February and already the new growth is very apparent.







New life growing after a burn.  Look for the bright green on the
Prickly Pear Cactus-right in the centre of the picture.



Well, we've hit a new milestone.  Our area of Texas was the hottest spot in North America for two days.  Oh yeah!!  Lovin' it! Please note the temperature-98.8 F.

Caprock Canyon is home to the largest herd of Bison in Texas. They've become very adept at hiding. 

Throughout the park there are bison silhouettes.

In 1880 there were 30 millions bison (don't call them buffalo) roaming the Texas plains.  Within two years they were almost wiped out by overhunting.  Bison exist today because of one family's attempts to preserve them.  The Goodnight family created a safe haven for the bison on their ranch in this area of Texas.

We took advantage of the miles of trails and saddled up for a bike tour.  The route we chose was called The Canyon Rim Trail.  3 miles out, 3 miles back.  You would think that a trail called a "rim" would merely follow the edge of a canyon and not go down to the bottom of the canyon.  Think again.  3 miles out-downhill.  3 miles back-uphill. 
The trail recommendation is one gallon of water per person.  We strapped on the 3 gallon water jug and started out. 


Notice Al's not pedalling.



16% grade on this hill.  Kim is pedalling!



Ah, we made it back up.



Sid, waiting for his share of the water.

He's not sharing.

He's not coming up for air.

We're on the road now, heading home.  We've passed through Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.  We're blogging from a McDonalds about 2 hours west of St. Louis, Missouri.  We expect to be back in Stratford by Saturday, April 23.

Kim picking cotton

Our Asian adventure starts on May 3 when we fly from Toronto to Hong Kong.  We'll keep you posted.

Utah to Arizona: the roadkill route

The Barton's with 6 of their children.  Mrs. Barton died
just after the birth of her 7th child.

We stumbled upon Bluff Fort in Bluff, Utah.  This is a historical site so we stopped.  Glad we did.

This fort was established in 1880 by a group of Mormons-the Barton Clan. 

We toured the cabins and other building that were on display.  The oldest cabin was the original Barton home from 1880.  They created it by combining three one-room log cabins and putting a sod roof over everything.   The sod roof was constructed using narrow trunks from cottonwood trees which grew in the area.  These cottonwoods were laid tightly together over the centre beam of the roof.  Then, they were covered with a layer of burlap, which was then covered by a layer of sand.  Seeds were planted in the sand-usually sunflowers or stinkweed.  The sod roof was a good insulator, keeping the cabin warm in winter and cool in summer.  It wasn't good in wet weather.  It leaked.  During rain, the roof continued to drip constantly, long after the rain had stopped. 

Sod-roofed Barton homestead

The entire cabin was one room. Kitchen was the
small desk in the front right corner of the picture.

Early RV.

Trivia tidbit-we passed by the only place in the USA where 4 states corners meet.  These states are Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and  Arizona.

In northern Arizona the landscape continues to be spectacular rock formations.

Spectacular highway view

As we travelled south along highway 191 we saw roadsigns that said "Open Range" and it had a picture of a cow. 

We soon learned that this meant the livestock was roaming freely.  We have a whole new meaning to the term, "Holey Cow."  Literally!  There was a dead cow lying in the ditch at the side of the road, dead.  Hit by a vehicle.  (Hey, Elaine-maybe hold up on that beef order! Perhaps we can scoop a cow here. Just kidding.) Then we saw another one.  Then we saw a dead horse lying right beside the road.  We talked about the likelihood of actually hitting a slow moving cow and how impossible it seemed to be.  Certainly a driver can see a side of beef that big in time to slow down to avoid it?  Then, we rounded a bend and there were two horses grazing, just feet away from us on the road.  We were so surprised that we came upon them that quickly, and we sure didn't see them in advance.
Next, we saw some activity in the ditch so we slowed down.  Yuck.  It was a dead horse, being eaten by two wild dogs (we really aren't sure if they're dogs-we don't know what they are.)  We turned around to get the picture.  The van window was rolled down all the way to get a better picture.  Very bad idea.  Dead horses smell really, really bad.  Got the picture and had to breathe through our mouths for the next few miles.

Dead horse with wild animal which was eating it.  Bad smell!

Altogether, we saw a herd of sheep, numerous horses, many cows and even a bull, not to mention just the regular deer, on the side of the road.

Flock of sheep being herded by 3 dogs.  Speed limit - 65 miles per hour.

Roadside horses.  Handy if you run out of gas.

On their way to McDonald's.

We took this roadkill route so that we could see Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Chinle, Arizona.  It's within the Navajo Nation-a very different place.  Another country within the USA. 

Spider Rock within Canyon de Chelly National Park

Arches National Park, Moab, Utah

Driving along the valley in Idaho and Utah was much of the same scenery.  The roadway was flat and bordered by distant, snow-topped mountains.  Very little agriculture due to the poor soil. Nothing to look at along the road, not even cows.

Then, in Utah, the landscape changed dramatically.  The mountains moved closer to the road.  They were not the traditional rocky-looking mountains at all.  They were very colourful-deep red, green, beige, white, black even aqua.  Much of the landscape looked like the Grand Canyon, only this time instead of being on top, looking into the canyon, we were driving through it.  Beautiful.

We didn't really plan to visit Arches National Park but the area was just too unusual to pass by. 

Many millions of years ago, this area in Utah was covered by a sea (hence the salt lake.)  As the sea evaporated, it left behind huge, thick salt deposits.  Then, sand from the surrounding area blew over top of the salt, leaving many layers of sand.  The colours in the sandstone reflect the composition of the sand deposits.  The sand compressed to create rock (very colourful rock).  Then, rain water began to seep into cracks in the sandstone rock, eating away at the salt base that this rock was resting on.  Ice formed in the cracks, expanding the rock and breaking off pieces.  Wind cleared out the loose stuff between  big pieces, leaving a series of free-standing big, flat rocks called fins. 

Wind and rain continue to erode these fins.  Some look like they are balancing loose stones on top. 

Others have strong rock on the sides and eroded interiors, creating an arch.



This is called Delicate Arch and it's on the license plate for Utah

It was a strenuous hike to get to this photo spot for the Delicate Arch.  We took this photo from the next mountain top over. Look closely at the photo and you will see people under the arch.

We camped in the national park campground along the Colorado River (the same river which cut the Grand Canyon.)  It felt like we were in the Grand Canyon.  It felt like we were in a wind tunnel.  The gusts rocked the van throughout the night.  We thought we heard rain but it was sand pelting the van.  Still, incredibly scenic.

Our view of the canyon and river, leaving the campground.

WARNING: Violent Images!

Roadside warnings: dust storms and strong winds

There's a reason that we don't hear too much about Idaho (other than for potatoes) and Utah.  There isn't anything here. 
The major interstate highway runs along a valley.  It pretty much follows the old Oregon Trail-the route the wagon trains took when they headed west.  You've probably seen an old western movie about it. 

The road is flat, although it can be at quite high elevations, and mountains run along either side.  For miles.  There is nothing else. 
On the plus side, gas is cheap in Utah.  We paid 3.55 a gallon.  That's much less than the 4.24 in California. 

Last night's campsite in Snowville, Utah

Along the highway we saw a sign that read, "Deer Migration Route Next 10 Miles."  Sure enough, we saw them.  First we saw a large herd grazing in a field off the highway.  Then, as we took our campground exit, we saw more.  

We drove 1.5 miles to our campground and saw 12 deer carcasses within that stretch alone. All in various states of decomposition.  Yuck.

This deer's leg is caught in the wire fence

Our Oregon Trail

We've been loafing in Oregon for the past week.  The temperature has been in the high 50s/ low 60s (or around 16 C).  What a beautiful state.  It is very green-lots of trees and leafy growth.  Moss grows everywhere-along the rock face on mountains, up tree trunks, along paved surfaces (roads and sidewalks).  So much moss grows that they have to shovel it off sidewalks and roads. 


Moss grows on a rolling stone here.  That's moss on the pavement and in the tree.



The mountains are always within sight and many are snow topped.  Road signs warn of "snow zones" where chains are required even now in April, and some higher elevations roads remain closed still.



Scenic river overlook, with snowcapped mountains in the background



Compared to the cost of living in California, Oregon is a bargain state.  There is no sales tax so it is shopping heaven.  Three outlet malls later we can prove that! 

The more you shop, the more you save!

Camping fees are cheap at $16 a night and that includes full hook ups.  In California it was $35 per night with no hook ups.  Gas is 50 cents a galllon less than in California and here in Oregon it is illegal to pump your own-they have gas attendants at every pump.  Al is in gas heaven.

In California, dogs weren't allowed on trails, even on a leash.  Here, in Oregon, dogs are welcome.  Sid was happy to be joining us on our hikes.  We felt such a relief to be able to walk a trail without worrying about any local predatory wildlife that we had to beware of in other places, like javelinas, rattlesnakes, bears and mountain lions.  We were carefree, happily hiking away.  Then, we saw the warnings, "Oregon is Black Bear Country," and, "Oregon is Cougar Country." Great.  We read the guidelines for living with these wild beasts.  First, keep pets indoors at dawn and dusk.  Dawn isn't a problem; we're not up then.  Hmm, we had Sid tied up outside at dusk at one campground.  Won't do that again.  Didn't mean to troll for cougar. 

We spent some time in Portland.  It's a pretty city, right on the Columbia River.

Al in Portland, overlooking the Columbia River



Sid in Portland, enjoying the park



We drove along the scenic route which hugged the mountains, without actually driving into them. There were a series of three waterfalls; the highest one is 542 feet. 




First of three waterfalls



We stopped at the state-run Bonneville Fish Hatchery.  You are probably thinking, "Really?  You stopped there?"  Yup, and it was interesting. 
This place has been hatching salmon, trout and sturgeon for over 100 years.  They have a huge sturgeon, Herman, in a viewing pond.  He's over 70 years old, weighs over 450 pounds and is over 10 feet long.  There were millions of fish here, all destined to be released into inland waters.




Fish hatchery-statue, not real salmon



It was a tough day for us-this is the point where we had to turn east, and head for home.



Looking west, heading east