to Carlyle, Illinois

Was a big day of driving.  Needed to get down the road to get to Indiana on time.  Can't keep Stephanie waiting!  Drove thru the first real rain that we have encountered so far.  And then was just scattered showers and cloudy.  Makes it nice for driving when sun is not shining so bright and interesting to watch rains come and go across the flat lands of eastern Missouri and Illinois.  Spent the night at another Corp-of-Engineers campground near Carlyle, Illinois.  Big recreation area and am sure it was busy this past holiday weekend but plenty of spaces tonight.  These COE sites are a real deal.  With our Golden Age pass, we get half priced camping--tonight was a whopping $8 and comes with nice facilities.  Could easily spend some time here if we could.

  Every robin in the world is here also!  Well, a lot of them.  Great way to awaken in the predawn hours and they keep up their melody all day long.  They are a true Midwest icon as they are a rare find in southeast Arizona. Love 'em.

Eureka Springs

Eureka Springs was built over a creek bed and on the surrounding hillsides in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas. Fashionable people of the 1880’s came here for the healing spring waters. Today its winding, hilly streets are lined with trendy shops and restored Victorian B&Bs. Its fun to maneuver the maize of street levels and view the colorful homes and gardens. A highlight is the Crescent Hotel that sets on the top of the highest viewpoint in town. Word is that it is haunted by ghosts of people who came to this once cancer hospital and partook of Dr Barne’s dubious cures.

Our best reason to come to Eureka Springs was to meet up with dear, old friends, Larry and Marlene Linn who made the hour drive up here from their home in Fayetteville to meet for dinner. We tried a hillside Italian restaurant but when the wait was so long, we decided to drive out of town and found a really good Bavarian restaurant on the hiwaywhere we caught up on our lives over yummy red cabbage and weinerhnitzel and the like.

Memorial Day weekend in Branson

Holiday weekend in Branson, Missouri.  Took in a couple of fun shows, of course.  "Six" was a family of brothers that performed a two hour show using no back up band.  Just their voices and noises and clever use of sound system.  The Haygoods--another family put on an amazing variety show with old fashioned harmony and showmanship combined with all the glitz that lighting and technology can offer. 

At first we looked around and thought there was nothing but Seniors in Branson--is that us?!-- but the longer we're here the more families and young people we see.  There is something for everyone and more billboards than you can imagine advertising all the attractions.  Maybe its the holiday weekend because there are certainly plenty of tour buses and RVs parked around town.  We checked out the malls, shopping centers, river front and downtown and found a nature preserve for a morning walk.

  Yesterday we felt like kids and spent the day at Silver Dollar City Theme park.  We even rode the "Powder Keg!"  Now get this, this is a roller coaster that begins from a standing stop and reaches 70 miles an hour in 3 seconds flat.  Our family has always liked roller coasters and this was a great one.  The shotgun start is quite a thrill.  We still have it in us--we were giggling like crazy.  It was Blue Grass festival and BBQ days at Silver Dollar City so we found a shady spot and watched several good bands thruout the day.  We both enjoy Bluegrass. Banjo, fiddle and flattop guitar is a great combination.  Plus Bluegrass is music about a way of life that is pure Americana.  There was a special concert at Silver Dollar City in the evening after the amusement park closed so we stayed late to go.  Turned out it was Country music and not particularly Blue Grass so we did not stay to the end but our dogs were tired by the time we got back to RV.

interesting birds with full moon

I think it was a full moon last night

This was a bazaar find!  A Whip-Poor-Will in broad daylight sitting on a fence post in the middle of the day!  He did not offer to fly away as we approached.  Think he was trying to take a nap but think he sure could have picked a cooler spot.

This lady with a long tail is a Scissor Tail Flycatcher.  Oklahoma and Texas specialty that is a fun find.  She is a pretty bird and her tail gives her a special grace when she flies!  She's safe in her next up high.

Still in Oklahoma

Osage Hills State Park in northeastern Oklahoma has to be one of the sweetest we've seen.  Smack dab in middle of oak forest hills for a picture perfect setting.  The birding here is amazing.  Good time of the year as bright males are singing,  females on the nest and babies fledging.  Eastern bluebirds everywhere.  Finding lots of eastern species that we don't have in the southwest so we have to think a little harder.

 We took a short drive to a Nature Conservancy Tall Grass Prairy Preserve that was pretty interesting.  40,000 acres but just a hint of what the landscape looked like from the Canadian border to Texas 150 years ago!  Learned that cattle were driven up this far north from the King Ranch in Texas, fattened on the rich grasslands and then shipped out by rail to eastern markets.

Oklahoma

Last night was Canton Lake at a Corp of Engineers campground.  Nice spot on a huge dam and reservoir.  Oklahoma is a surprising state.  Changes from dry, flat western landscape to tons of lakes and rivers as you approach the north east second of the state.  Lots of agriculture in between.  We are noticing the humidity big time--they have obviously had lots of recent rains as farm fields flooded and rivers raging muddy against their banks.  Storms in forecast but so far we have managed to miss them.

First day out--Deming to Santa Rosa

Will had one more meeting after church so I dashed home as soon as the morning service was over so that I could close up the house and put the last few items into RV.  We left as soon as he got home.  We made it to Deming, New Mexico even though we didn't leave Tucson until mid afternoon.  We had a good tail wind.
  We wanted a quick dinner but Sunday night in Deming--there isn't much going on.  We found a Chinese buffet that was open and reluctantly decided to give it a try.  What a surprise.  Will had the buffet special which he said was quite good.  I found an item on the menu that was called "Steamed Buddah Delight" that was perfectly prepared.  Crisp vegetables, tofu with nice brown sauce.  Who would have thought you'd find good Chinese at a roadside cafe in the middle of New Mexico.
   Today we got as far as Santa Rosa and found a very nice spot at Santa Rosa Lake State Park.  Spent the afternoon exploring the area.  Found the little historic community of Puerta de Luna which is one of the oldest settlements in southeastern New Mexico, and Billy the Kid supposedly had friends here.  Not much remains but a well preserved old church but the drive to reach it is very scenic along the Pecos River.  In the town of Santa Rosa, which is situated along the old Route 66, there is a huge natural spring that is called "Blue Hole."  It is something like 80 feet deep and amazingly clear.  It is famous in New Mexico as one of the few places to scuba dive.  Its a fun oddity to check out.  Rudolpho Anaya of "Bless Me Ultima" fame was born and raised here and a park is dedicated to him with a statue and bronze renderings of quotes from the book.  A hike from the campground to the big lake was a refreshing ending of our day.
 pictures coming. . .

Packing up!

Will is giving the RV a quick wash before we take off tomorrow.  Got a little dusty in winter storage.  Its pretty much packed, just have to move food stuffs from  my kitchen into the RV refrigerator and freezer. 

Its done!

It is done!  Just some odds and ends and landscaping left that Will and I will finish later as we get time.  Last inspection was this morning and we are "movin in."  Anyone need a contractor, I have some guys we'd like to recommend.

Montlure

Will and I joined about 20 others from St Andrews and traveled to Greer, Arizona to Montlure Presbyterian Youth Camp for a "work camp." We spent three days getting the camp ready to open for the summer.  We raked pine needles until they were coming out of our ears, chain sawed downed tree limbs and drug branches off property and trails.  They had a tough winter so there was some snow and ice damage to some of the buildings to repair, plumbing fixes, various carpentry projects, plenty of painting and cleaning to do.  We worked hard but had a lot of laughs to go along with our sore muscles too.  We managed to take plenty of breaks and enjoyed the 9000 ft elevation pine forest and trout stream that flows through the property.  Birding was fun, too.

Ramsey Canyon

Decided we needed to get another hike/birding day in before it gets so hot AND before we leave Arizona in only two weeks.  We haven't been to Ramsey Canyon in a while and it was a good choice.  Lots of clear, mountain snow melt still rushing down the stream--it looks more like a Colorado stream than what you think of as Arizona.  Birding was hard because trees have fully leafed out, plus they are so tall (pines, sycamores, oaks) but persistence pays off and we had a good number when the day was done.  This is a Nature Conservancy location and the feeders at the visitors center are famous for the number and diversity of hummingbirds that visit them.

Interesting perspective of a broad billed hummingbird. It perched right above my head! He's very colorful with his red bill and blue tail

Stephanie's window

Will realizes he only has a couple of weeks left before Steph's window has to be finished so he has been working furiously.  He's down to soldering it all together.  It is all clear, textured glass and think it is going to be really nice.  I'm jealous--I want one!--where can I put it?--how come daughters come first. (Guess that's the natural order of things.)  Maybe she won't like it and I can take it back home.  (Fat chance)

pics from China

Talked to our China kids last night via telephone.  Hadn't talked for a while so was a good catch up chat.  Doug and Tammy are doing just fine, busy as always.  Doug has been doing a lot of traveling with his job and the two of them have been enjoying some fun traveling as well.  On a recent trip to city of Chongqing they were served this dish.  My first question was, did you actually eat it?  Said Tammy was about to until she took a closer look and then she politely declined.  In all fairness, it was ordered for them by a local and it was for "shock value", its not a common dish but it was available if anyone desired it!  Hey, its protein, right?

But the pictures I really want to post is recent pictures of their little rescue dog, Tina.  This is before and after.  When they got her almost 2 years ago from a rescue shelter in Shanghai she looked pretty sad and had all kinds of skin and health issues, but look at her now!  They devoted a lot of time and love and patients to her.  Isn't she a sweetie.  Shes best-of-show now.

Folk Festival

We spent a fun afternoon at the Tucson Folk Festival.  Just milled around and then went from stage to stage and sat and listened to some pretty fun music.  They had four stages at four locations within walking distance from LaPlacita in downtown Tucson and the music was non stop.  Made for a pleasant Saturday afternoon.  Best kept secret in Tucson.