Wild Wild West Trip
The great adventure began with a jaunt to Missouri to see Becky's niece, Amanda.
We had driven the trailer just once with the truck – a 20 mile circuit to get it up to
highway speed and make sure we could pull it with power and that it wouldn't sway.
But on our first outing we got a trial by fire as we had to deal not only with rain, but gusting winds.
Managed to make it OK, but definitely some white knuckles at times.
It was dicey the last mile or so to the park. I have found that GPS will get you where you are going,
but not always the best way. So it had us turn down a gravel road with the travel trailer. We were
dubious, but being from out of town and not knowing the area, we just had to trust silicone Sally's
directions. It was the back entrance to the park. Turns out that the main entrance was on down the
road and it was all paved. So we were a little jostled and a little dusty but we got there.
The Motauk park was nice – the stream is spring fed from the Ozarks. So the water is very clear.
At Amanda's they had a birthday party for Wesley, her youngest. Good time there visiting with them
and catching up.
We ate at a nice little restaurant in Salem, MO on this leg of the trip. Nice food and we spoke with a
fellow there that raised cattle. Turns out that his family farm has been held since the 1850's.
We stayed an extra half hour chatting with him.
Which leads the next leg of the trip. It was cattle farm after cattle farm as we drove through Southern
Missouri. You can tell the wealth of an area by the size of the stockyards in the town. Rolling hills in
either pasture or woods, we did not see any tilled fields until we got close to Arkansas. Then we
briefly felt at home.
We visited Krunal in Little Rock Arkansas. He worked as a subcontractor for LexisNexis while I was
there. He visited our farm and so forth while he was in Ohio. We had dinner with him, wife and
2 kids. It was a nice Indian Restaurant – the Indian Cafe. The kids were little and Mama had to ride
herd over them – which Becky and I remember well from our years of wrangling kids. It was a
pleasant visit and it was nice to see him again.
Next stop was Houston and my sister Heather. We had been warned about traffic – which was bad
in the 1980's when we were there. Not much has changed in that regard. Throughout our stay there
was never a moment while in transit where I could relax behind the wheel. And people cut through
traffic willy nilly, I don't know how the roadsides are not littered by wrecks. Maybe everyone is in
survival mode like us and is driving on adrenaline.
One fellow had a unique solution. My generation remembers the movie Ben Hur where there was a
chariot race and the chariots had hubs with steel cutting edges protruding to rip out the opponents
wheels. I don't know how sharp they were but a green car had chrome extensions on his rims that
stuck out like a foot and half – maybe more. And believe me when he cut in and out of traffic folks
scrambled to stay out of his way.
Dinner was good at the Grace household. They have a nice place with tall ceilings and a nice round
Maple table. It was built for a purpose – to make sure that all diners can hear each other. The idea
being that at a traditional rectangle table that you often times get 2 conversations going, with the
round table all can participate and savor a single topic for all.
The next day was the Houston Space Center. The museum had all sorts of space capsules, rockets,
and what not. They even have a real space shuttle. Lots of hands on stuff for kids. Oh and a
Saturn V rocket that is laying on its side. They claim it is operational, but from what I could
see it would have taken more work that it would be worth to fix it up. Plus it would be tough
to find any astronaut that would be willing to fly in a rocket based upon 1960's technology.
We did get to see mission control. But it was bittersweet. It was being renovated. Had new
wallpaper (original prints found in warehouse) and they were putting in carpet – that was it.
No tables, no monitors, so that was disappointing. But our guide gave a good speech about
the history and also explained that Mission Control will look original when done and will
have working monitors with data and even ashtrays. So I am happy that they are doing the
restoration. I am hopeful that some day descendants of mine will take to the stars.
We visited Trang and Hao who I had worked with at LexisNexis. We did some catching up
and talked about our time at LN.
Next was Galveston. Our only chance to visit a beach on this trip. We arrived early and stayed late.
Found a public beach that we could park on and set up camp. Another couple had pitched a tent
and stayed the night on the beach. It was a good day. Folks came and went and we sat back
and enjoyed the sun and waves. I got in a few times, but there was not enough wave action
to body surf. So I swam a little to cool off.
Our dog, Tootsie, was hesitant on her first visit to the ocean. She was scared of the waves.
But by our 2nd beach walk in the afternoon, she was getting the hang of things. Jumping
over the waves, running circles around me and enjoying this new game.
We wanted to try a Whataburger and found one a few miles away. We happened mention that
we were from Ohio and were trying one for the first time and we suddenly were the object of
attention. The manager, assistant manager, and the counter girl all came to our table and thanked us
for choosing their restaurant. We got a free apple pie to boot. Oh and I liked the Whataburger,
it tasted fresh. Next time we go to Galveston, we will have to go there again!
We made a stop in Dallas to see my cousin Perry and a friend - Ron. Perry's house also had the high
ceilings, so maybe it's a South Western thing. We had a pleasant chat with them and a nice meal -smoked brisket.
It had been a few years since seeing Ron and he was still the same Ron that we remembered.
We caught up things and talked about the past. He seems like he is in a good place and happy
with life.
Next leg was West Texas en route to Carlsbad Caverns. I had heard of the oil development in the
Permian basin. That place is rocking and rolling. There was one particular place littered with oil
derricks. There must have 50 that we could see. And in this same area of highway 10 there
were wind turbines on ridges along the road. Not just a few – thousands. It would be interesting
to find the energy per acre in that area of the country.
At one point a pop up storm was approaching. So the wind was picking up and lifting the red soil –
creating a red dust cloud. It was dusk so the sun was red too. And with the oil rigs lit up in the
distance, it looked like a scene from another planet.
Carlsbad Cavern was impressive. I forget how many football fields the main chamber could contain,
but it seemed like it was 14 or so. And it was tall too. Very impressive compared to caverns that I
have visited in Ohio. We also went on the desert drive and saw some deer. On the 2nd day we saw
some bighorn sheep – all ewes, no ram around that we could see.
Another thing to do is to watch the bats fly out the cave in the evening. The bats migrate up from
Mexico. When all have arrived there can be over a million bats there in a good year. I noticed
that when they exit the cave they do a little loop and then swoop away. I notice a similar behavior
in the beehives when young bee's do orienteering flights. They do short loops about 6-8 feet away
from the hive and back to get the location set. I imagine that the bats are doing a similar thing to
get their location fixed before flying miles away to feed on insects.
When we went to leave I noticed that one of the tires on the trailer didn't look right. Sure enough it
was low on air. So I put the spare tire - which appeared to be the original one. We were able to find a
shop that fixed it pronto. They pulled a guy off of another job so that us travelers could get back on the
road. It only took 30 minutes for the original tire to be patched and put back on. So we are thankful for
the kindness of strangers.
The next stop was Rodeo, NM to visit my Mom on her ranchette. But the journey there was
pretty much as I imagined the desert Southwest It was like driving through a John Wayne
movie set. Lots of mesquite and scrub. Various species of cactus. Dry and dusty with the sun beating
down and even the air was tormenting the ground - in certain places we could see 2-3 dust
devils at a time working over the landscape.
Some ares we would go for miles and not see a house. And gas stations were scarce, we kept a
close eye on the gas gauge. I could not imagine breaking down, the closest service was likely 50
miles away or even more. It takes a special breed to live out there.
Rodeo turned out to be small, maybe 50 homes. The last mile to the 'ranch' was the toughest.
There was supposed to be a Home Owners Association to care for the roads but they looked
neglected. We pulled our trailer down a dirt road with ruts and small ravines. It is a wonder
it did not shake apart.
On the way we spotted road runners, gambel quail, and even a hawk circling on the updrafts.
So even though the landscape looked desolate, it was full of life. There are mountains to the
east of the property and mountains to the west. It is a flat plain inbetween with the property
abutting the base of an East side mountain. So there is a nice view and the mountains keep
it cool at night.
Mom was a good host and saw to our needs. We set up our trailer in the driveway right in front
of the house. The dogs took a little time to adjust. She has 4 to our 1. The oldest, biggest dog
sniffed a little and soon lost interest. But the 3 little dogs took a little time to adjust to the intruder -
our Tootsie. They had a few barking sessions. But by about the 2nd or 3rd day they seemed to
worked out a pecking order and Tootsie seemed to enjoy playing with the black dog, I think
that they were finally sad to part company when we left.
We went to a restaurant in Portal, AZ. We saw a lot of signage welcoming star gazers
and birdwatchers. And we could see a lot of cottages for rent in the area soliciting both
groups of customers. But the food was great for an out of the way (for us at least) place.
That night we did some star gazing ourselves. We had a campfire and leaned back our gravity
chairs. It was a moonless night and at one point we saw 3 shooting stars in a 15 minute stretch.
Very little light pollution as there is back East, it is a serene place made to look at the stars and
contemplate.
Now it was time to play tourist. We were close to Tombstone, Arizona so you almost had to
go see the OK corral. It was a bit touristy, but in a good way. The best part was seeing the
actual bar where they played cards – the table is still there. This is the same place where
Doc Holliday and Ringo had their little confrontation. And a lot of the town is done in a
old West motif. So it looks rustic. Definitely a must see for anyone wanting a taste of the old West.
We went to Bisbee and ate at another good restaurant that Mom picked out. Again a small
place, but they had good food. Then it was time to go to mines. There is a mine that was
started over a hundred years ago and operated until the late 1960's. It was primarily a copper
mine, but they found gold and silver too.
The tour guide was actually a guy who worked the mine. We rode down in these small mine
cars and had to wear hard hats and lights. And they showed how it was worked when it was
first operated and showed the improvements over the years in the equipment used. I found it
interesting and besides – it was a good way to cool off from the desert heat!
One of the things I wanted to do was to ride a horse. You are out west on a ranch so you
almost have to ride a horse. It took some doing to get the tack sorted out and adjusted.
I was able to mount a nice Palomino and Mom was getting ready to mount her Buckskin.
But as she went to mount, it got skittish and went out from under her – tumbling her to the ground.
She said she was OK and to go on ahead.
So I went to the North of the property. Some of the other horses seemed to take notice
of this one horse with the human on its back and we had a little parade zig zagging through the
mesquite. I rode for about a half hour and got a cramp in my hip and decided to head back.
When I got back we found that Mom had done something to her knee she was not moving well.
We gave it some time to see if would get better, but the next morning we took her to Douglas, AZ
for an X-ray to make sure nothing was broken. Fortunately they did not find a break, but she was
still in a lot of pain and very gimpy getting around. I felt kind of bad about it from the standpoint
that if I had not wanted to go riding, then she would not have gone riding too.
We did meet her handyman – Craig. He was the guy who put up the fence and also comes over
to work on little projects as needed. He comes from Missouri and seemed like a real nice guy.
He was going to help out as needed while she got back to full strength. So we felt like we left
her in good hands.
Next up was the Grand Canyon. I had expected Yellowstone to be cold. But I was not aware
that the Grand Canyon was at elevation and so it was cold during our stay. We stayed on a
campsite in the Kaibab National Forest. I saw a bear print while walking the dog, but we did
not see a live bear. Although while walking the dog, it started to act funny and finally pulled
away and pretty much refused to go further. I figured it smelled or felt something not quite
right and so I ended that walk and returned.
The canyon itself was spectacular. Pictures do not do it justice. The views were memorable.
It is worth the trip to see it. We used the shuttle bus to go from vantage point to vantage point.
We quickly learned that there were probably more foreign tourists than American tourists as we
boarded and unboarded. We overheard French, Spanish, and German, spoke with a Ukrainian,
a couple from Halfax, Canada and young man from China. So quite the potpourri of nationalities
at the Canyon. Oh, and plenty of elk. We spotted several small herds of elk whilst traversing
the canyon.
We had planned to stay for a week, but with the cold and sporadic rain we decided to cut our
visit short. Our campsite was downhill from a gravel road. It was gravel too, but had some
soft spots. So we had to wait for the rain to stop for a bit and for the ground to firm up.
We decided to gamble and go for it once we heard the weather forecast call for rain to last
until Mothers day. I put some flat rocks in the soft spots and we went for it. We made it
OK to the main road and off we went.
We next visited Las Vegas. It was warm there and that put us into a better frame of mind.
We stayed at Red Rock Canyon about 20 minutes away from downtown. We did a tour of the
Canyon and enjoyed the deep red rock formations. Las Vegas was nice. We went to the Rio as
that was were Penn and Teller were scheduled to perform and so that kept our driving to a minimum.
We did some slots and I tried to play some cards but it was a game that I didn't quite understand and
so I was lousy.
But it was fun to just be there and people watch. I would guess that there was at least a football
field sized area with all manner of gambling being offered. There was a guy playing roulette and
he must have had several thousand dollars in chips and he was betting stacks during our entire
time inside the casino.
There were people playing slots that looked like they should be in intensive care in the hospital.
Walker or hove-around, oxygen tank and tubes - moving from one place to another at the pace
of a snail. Figured that they must be gambling in hopes of striking it rich to pay off their hospital bills.
Or maybe gambling away the last of their kids inheritance before they kick the bucket,
you never know! There were also the cocktail waitresses dressed to leave very little to the
imagination who brought you drinks so long as you were gambling.
We did have a little run of good luck. Becky spotted a paper left in a machine that still
had some money on it. A whole 7 cents. We took it to one of the cheap slot machines and won.
She built it up to $28. Overall we ended up behind when we cashed out then but then we only
gambled $50 apiece.
Penn and Teller met our expectations. We had seen them on TV before and liked their mix of
humor and magic. It was a good show and we left satisfied. We made a pass down the strip
on our way out and we were not disappointed. It reminded us of Times Square - people everywhere
and flashing signs all over the place.
We made a side trip to Hoover dam. Becky was not impressed, but being a geeky kind of guy I
was enamored with the engineering that it took to build the dam and the sheer scale of it all.
Next up was Moab, Utah. A friend from the last place that I worked told me that Moab
was worth a visit as long as we were out West. He was right, it was a bit out of the way, but the
views were as good as the Grand Canyon.
We drove through some remote area to get there. In one spot there was a sign warning
“No Services for 106 miles.” Yikes. We saw some cattle land in that region. In one spot we saw
cattle but there was like a clump of grass here and a clump of grass there, like a yard space around
each little cluster. It seemed no where near enough forage for a herd of cattle. We speculated that
they must have supplemented their diet with sand.
This area is known for its natural stone arches. I think it states somewhere that there are over
2000 in the area. So we spent a lot of time looking at them. Some of the arches took a little
walking to get to, so extra water was a good thing to have. Then we went to Canyonland
National Park. We soon saw why it was called Canyonland. It had several immense,
colorful canyons that were as spectacular as the Grand Canyon. Lots of eye candy to see there.
It was another place that you have to see for yourself. Pictures do not capture the grandeur.
Next up was Yellowstone. At least we knew that it would be cool there. But as luck would
have it we caught a bad weather week. So it was outright cold during our stay. It snowed
several times while we were there. It did not stay for long as the ground had warmed up,
but we were not catching any breaks weatherwise. The locals said we should have come
the week before – temps were in the 60's.
But the visit was a success despite the weather. We had to see old Faithful and it went off
at it's prescribed time. We were able to see lots of Buffalo. At one point there a herd of about
150 or so that was sprawled out along at a creek bottom. You could see the young calves laying
down in little clusters in the grass. We almost had one walk out in front of us, but it thought
better and waited for us to move along.
We saw waterfalls, boiling mud, and some other geysers. I found the hillside where me and my
brother Matt were yelled at by a park ranger for leaving the trail when we visited 40 something
years ago as youngsters. We had wanted to take a closer look at one of the mud pots on the slope
and we were spotted and taken to task for our transgression.
We decided to take a drive on a path less taken. It was a national park down a gravel road.
20+ miles of gravel road and not very well maintained to boot. We were on a plain between
two mountain ranges most of the trip. But still thank goodness for 4 wheel drive. We saw
pronghorn antelope and deer on this trip Lots of rugged landscape. We made it to the park
center and everything was pretty much closed up until Memorial Day. We did get to walk
around the buildings and see some of the outside exhibits. Still the drive was worth it.
We passed several large ranches and scenic mountains.
On the morning we left Becky spotted a moose through the trees. She had been wanting to see
one and so it was great that she got to see one as we were pulling out. I was unable to see it
as I was just trying to keep the rig on the road through the snow.
We continued our journey North to Great Falls Montana. Becky has a niece up there and
the plan was originally to just spend 2 days there. But since we were slightly ahead of schedule,
we were there early on a Monday. But the niece was somehow indisposed and could not see us
until Thursday as originally planned. So instead of 2 days there, we stayed until Friday.
Therefore we got to know the town well. We did get to settle in and rest a little from
travelling so that was a bonus.
One thing we noticed about Montana is that every other place seems to have a casino.
You can't hardly sling a dead cat without hitting one – they all seem to have a 'casino' added on -
gas stations, truck stops, bar and grills, etc. I would not be surprised to see a laundromat that
has one as well.
While I was fishing near the campground, I stumbled across signs of hobo’s. I thought it was a
thing that had long died away. But scrawled under the bridge, with a date of 2018 was
a message indicating that man of the rails had been there. In the undergrowth I saw an old couch
and chair that had been set up facing the river side by side. And even further away than that
I found a small tent. I looked like it had recent use, so I let it be.
There were originally 5 falls there, and one is no longer fall, but we visited 3 of the others a
nd the Lewis and Clark expedition center. They had a Newfoundland dog at the center like
they had the expedition. It was like a small bear. Maybe they brought it along to intimidate
the natives.
We made a detour on our way to the next stop and went to visit the 1880 railroad outside of
Deadwood, SD. One sidenote, Montana is a lot wider than I thought it was, it seemed to take
forever to cross the state. The railroad has a real working steam engine and old railroad cars
from way back when. Again Becky was not so much into it, but she tolerated my enthusiasm.
Arriving there we had our 2nd thoughts. There was snow stacked up on each side of the road
and it was melting, making the roads wet in places. But the campground was nice, it was by a
lake. It was smooth and you could see the mountains reflected in the water.
The next morning I took the dog for a walk. And of all things, I saw a group of 6-7 buzzards
by the lake warming themselves in the rising sun. And a duck swam up to check us all out and
see what us up. The train ride itself went fine. It went slowly through the mountains and we
got to see some nice sites and wildlife.
Next stop, the Badlands where we had a little adventure. The visit got off to a cool start,
we were getting used to cool weather by then. We set up on BLM land about 5 miles away
from the entrance to the park. We were on the rim of the badlands, you could walk about 50
and look down to the bottom. So that is why I wanted to stay there. But it gravel road so far
and then dirt the rest of the way.
So it stormed the one night, hard enough to shake the trailer. We went to town the next day to
visit Wall drug. We saw the silver dollar that I remembered from my first visit like 40 years earlier.
Only it was now part of a counter for the restaurant.
So after spending the morning in Wall, SD we went back to where we camped. Part of the way
was uphill and my truck skidded off the dirt road. So I tried to go backwards to get back on
the gravel. There were ruts there from other folks who had problems. My front tires were in
one set of ruts, back tires in another. I went back like 50 feet and got stuck and then dug out, went another
50 feet and got stuck and was digging myself out again. I was now about 100 feet from the gravel
road.
A guy pulls up in a 4 wheel drive suburban with knobby tires and says - hey I will pull you out
for $75. I considered for half a second and said Yes - just pull me out to the gravel road. His helper
hitched me up and in no time we were headed for a motel. The plan was to wait out the rain
and to go back up to the trailer when it was dry enough in 3 days.
So again we had time on our hands. We visited a grassland center, wounded knee museum,
and a minuteman missile museum and launch site. While we were there I noticed it was time
for an oil change. I scheduled an appointment and to my surprise when I walked in the door -
it was the same two guys who had pulled me out of the mud! They said hi, how are you doing.
I said, “By god, it’s like we are all old friends by now!” They were nice though and the guy did
give me their card in case I got stuck getting out. I was hopeful that I would not be a repeat customer!
We did make it back to the trailer on the 3rd day. I got hitched up and Becky was finishing
up getting the inside prepped for travel. So I had about 15 minutes before leaving which I
spent rock hunting. We had found all sorts of quartz, chirt(sp), fossilized wood, and other
unusual rocks. As I was making my last pass, I did a double take - there by my foot was an
arrowhead! I had been watching for them for years on my property and here by chance I
had found one in the middle of nowhere. So our luck had changed. We did make it out OK,
so no repeat business this go around for the tow guy.
One sidenote, it was fun to zip along the highway at 80 mph; not with the trailer of course,
but rather during the 3 days of sightseeing. It is something that I could get used to doing.
We had one last stop to make, to visit Becky’s niece in Wisconsin. Wyoming was nice
countryside too. The eastern part of the state gave way to farm fields and as we got into
Minnesota it started to feel more and more like home. Only thing was I think we only
saw like 2 planted fields. The rest were wet and many were still flooded. This spring is a
tough spring to be a farmer in the US. When we got back home, we could see that the
crops were way behind where they should be for this time of year.
We were closing in on Superior Wisconsin and it was getting to be dusk. We had seen
some deer by the road as we drove. Sure enough we had one run out in front of us.
It made it to the other side of the road, so I let off the brake. Then it decided to press
its luck and run back in front of us. I hit the brakes hard, but I bet that I was still doing 45
or so when we made contact. It bounced off the front and spun around.
I lost track of it as I was braking and pulling off the road to survey the damage. I was expecting
broken headlights and a smashed in grill, but after walking around the truck I didn’t see anything.
Later after we got home from the trip we did find a slight crease on the drivers side rear door.
But I figured no use getting with insurance as I have a high deductible.
We did finally got to the campground and set up. The next day we met up with Joanie and Tiffany.
It worked out that Joanie’s mother Connie, sister Angelique, and nephew Owen were all
visiting the same weekend. So we went to a place called Adventureland the next day. It was full
of stuff for young folks to do - video games, a rock climbing wall, laser tag, etc.
They started with the rock wall while Becky and I did some video games. I was surprised
with how adept that Joanie was with rock climbing. Owen did OK until he got to a certain height.
Then he pushed himself away and the hoist slowly lowered him to the ground. I observed that
if I did that then the steel cable would be smoking off of the spool from my weight!
We spent the last day alone at the campground and the next day we went to coffee shop with
Joanie and Tiffany. It was a nice place that was in a large log cabin. So it felt cozy inside.
Coffee was good and Becky and I got some small breakfast items. Then it was time to do the
last leg of the trip and head for home.
We made the mistake of following what Waze told us and it took through Chicago and all the
toll booths. It was like New York all over again. We didn’t have a device for paying tolls and
had to pay cash. At one point we stopped to get gas and hit up an ATM so we wouldn’t run
out of cash for the tolls! It felt like every 5 miles were stopping at a toll booth.
We stopped North of Indianapolis to sleep the night. This was the 1st time on the trip that I
felt homesick. It was hard to get to sleep thinking about what kind of shape the lawn would
be in and all the mail we had to go through and so forth.
We made it home the next day and it was back to reality.
When asked what was our favorite part - we both say it was the whole thing! From Carlsbad
Caverns to Montana it was like driving through a John Wayne movie set. In our area land
is measured by the bushels of grain it will produce. In the West, there is a different value to the
land - how much it moves the soul.
Amazing that in many cases the land was built particle by particle at the bottom of some
long gone ocean. Then it is raised up thousands of feet where an unseen hand now takes it apart
one grain at a time and forms such spectacular views over eons of time. It reminds one of ones
place in the universe. A speck of dust that flashes in the sunlight for an instant, returns to the
shadows and is gone.
As far as manmade things, the visit to Tombstone does stand out to me. And as far as natural things -
the visit to Moab was worthwhile. I liked it even more than the Grand Canyon - it just has a
better agent.
The trip was so much fun for the both of us. After a month and a half on the road either you are closer together, or ready to strangle each other. We were definitely closer together. When we first married we moved 6 times in the 1st 3 years that we were together. I was a subcontractor and so we went from one job to the next as work dictated. It was an adventure. But it ended when we started to have kids and needed to settle down. So we resolved that when we retired we would travel again and so here we are and next year we will travelling again. Then again as my mother says the English love to roam the earth - so maybe there is some of that.
