Bill, Nature, and The Grand Ole Opry

Hello again and thank-you for following along at home. At the end of the last episode we were on our way to Little Rock Arkansas. We arrived there on Saturday just after 2 pm. We stayed in an Rv Park right downtown across the river from Bill Clinton's presidential library. There was an old train bridge that had been converted to pedestrian/bike traffic only and we used it. The Clinton Library area is really a big park c/w his library building and several others. There is also a wetlands park beside it that we toured.

The Presidential Library

Muskrat

While walking around the "Wetlands Park" we saw a muskrat, about 50 turtles of at least 3 different species and a hand full of birds (including a Canadian Goose). The highlight of the walk was seeing a Cottonmouth water snake attack and eat a small cat fish. WARNING NATURE SHOTS COMING SCROLL FAST IF YOU DON'T LIKE SNAKES EATING FISH!!!!!!!

Step 1 Catch a small catfish

Step 2 Make sure fish is out of water.

Step 3 When fish is mostly dead, Open real wide and start swallowing.

Step 4 Make sure you swallow all of it

Step 5 When finished swim away as if nothing has happened

Score this day SNAKE 1 CATFISH 0

Ok you can stop scrolling now.

Old train bridge we crossed

When we got back to the campground this was parked near us. It had Alaskan plates, note the 2 quads on the back of the 3/4 ton pickup.

We quite liked Little Rock and plan on stopping here again on the way back.

We left Little Rock Sunday morning and drove to Waverly Tn and staid one night at a rustic campground( no WiFi) run by an ex-Torontonian, he gave us a deal so there was no talk about the Leafs.

We drove through to Crossville today with a stop in Nashville at the one and only Grand Ole Opry.

June's a little Country

Kelly's a big Rocker

Proof we have been here.

There are shows scheduled every Tuesday Friday and Saturday, so nothing was playing today but was good to go there. June bought a Johnny Cash CD so we drove the rest of the day listening to "The Man in Black" There was just something right about that. Well that brings this episode to an end. You all come back now Ya Hear.

Junkel

Aliens and Goodbye to The Desert

It is catch-up time again. We left Benson on the 7th of April and drove through to Las Cruces New Mexico. As you get to the Arizona New Mexico border on I-10 you climb through Texas Canyon, go figure.

Rock Formations in Texas Canyon

Texas Canyon

As you can see we are pulling the trailer just in case you thought it was a trick on our part. The stop in Las Cruces was uneventful and the park was barely habitable. You could see that 10 years ago it was at its' peak and then was abandon, too bad. 

We left Tuesday morning and drove to Roswell New Mexico. The drive was very difficult as it was mainly hour after hour of desert. You go through the Whitesands Missile range it is about 80 miles long and 50 mile across, at times it is hard to stay awake. We arrived in Roswell just after 2 pm and after a quick lunch and setup we headed for the UFO Museum.

Oooops my mistake it is the UFO Museum and Research Center. It sounds kind of corny but it was only $5.00 each to get in and they had lots of information about what happened in Roswell. You spend most of your time walking around reading material posted. It is quite well laid out and there was definitely something covered up there.

Kelly with his friends

On a Mexican Restaurant

Those pesky Aliens are Everywhere.

I thought Roswell was going to be this little town trying to make a go of it as a Mecca for Alien people not true. Roswell has a population of over 50,000 and has one of the top military academies in the USA. I'm sure the city council has had enough the the Alien thing.

We left Roswell Wednesday morning and headed for Texola Oklahoma. It was a long day for us but it was worth it. We drove through the pan handle of Texas with only a lunch stop on the way. After being on I-10 to start our trip at Amarillo we picked up I-40 and we will be on it till we reach Knoxville. The section of I-40 through Texas is part of the old "Route 66" so some of the signs are quite interesting. "Federal Penitentiary next exit" with under it "Don't Pick-up Hitchhikers". The welcome sign to a town we went through said " Home to 17,000 Happy People.......and 4 or 5 Grouches". You go through Hereford which claims to be the beef capitol of North America.

One of Seven pens this size near Hereford.

Massive cross on the side of the road.

The story goes that several towns along old route 66 tried different things to get people to stop there. We saw a massive cross, the "Leaning Water Tower" and several places on the highway with "The Largest" whatever. They didn't work on us as we made it to Texola, which is 1 mile into Oklahoma, in time for dinner.

We left Texola the next morning and drove to Checotah Oklahoma with the plan to stay there for two nights. The park has great WiFi so we have had several good Skype calls with Kelly's dad and with Linden( oh yeah his parents were there too). Kelly has been able to update the Blog and June has caught up with her e-mails and Facebook. Kelly went into town today for a hair cut and found out that Checotah is the hometown of Carrie Underwood, and has had more national champion steer wrestlers then any other town. I guess all towns like to have a "claim to fame".

Well we are off to Little Rock Arkansas tomorrow, I wonder if Monica's dress is on display at the Bill Clinton Presidential Library??????????

Take Care JunKel

Boot Hill and Stalagtites

On Sunday April 6th we got up early again and headed for Tombstone. Yup Wyatt Earp and the OK corral and all that old western stuff. The town of Tombstone got its name from a prospector who thought there might be silver in the hills around what is now Tombstone. At the time the Apache Indians controlled the area and the local Ranger said that the only thing that prospector would find is his own tombstone. When his first silver mine turned out to be very profitable he remembered that Ranger and called the mine Tombstone. The name stuck when the town grew up around it. The took an equivalent of 230 million dollars worth of silver out of the Tombstone region.
Our first stop was Boot Hill Cemetery.

 The Three Losers in the Gunfight at the OK Corral

 John was the mastermind behind a bank robbery that went real bad and 5 people were killed including a young child. The city folk of Tombstone didn't want to wait for a trial so they broke him out of a Bisbee Jail(a town about 10 miles away) and brought him back to Tombstone and hung him. The doctor/coroner said he died of emphysema while hanging there so no town folk could be charged with his death.

A true classic

Tombstone is a cool old west town and they close down the main drag so you can walk freely around to take in the sights. The only problem is there is a cover charge for just about everything. The original town was built by prospectors, gun fighters and "Ladies of ill repute" and today it is run by hucksters. Every corner has someone selling you tickets to Their Shootout" which by the way is so much better than the other 4 "shootouts" in town. We selected the "Vaudeville comedy shootout as it didn't try and pretend to be authentic. For $10 each we got a guided tram ride around Tombstone and a 30 minute comedy shootout where we cheered the good guy and boo'd the bad guys. The actual "gunfight at the OK Corral" lasted about 30 secounds start to finish. I couldn't see spending too much money on that.

 150 year old Stagecoach the real thing. Doesn't look very comfortable

 Pool Hall where Virgil Earp was playing pool before the big event

 Gallows behind the Court House

 Bad Guy on Left Good Guy on Right......Good Guy turned 90 3 days ago.

The show was good Kelly had a beer so I think he enjoyed it more.

Statue of Wyatt Earp in front of his house in Tombstone.

We said goodbye to Tombstone and drove 30 minutes to The Kartchner Caverns. The Caverns are a series of "Wet Caves" discover in 1974 by two amateur cavers. They had been told about a sinkhole in a near by farmers field. Well they dug out a hole about the size of a coat hanger and followed the path 450 feet into a huge Cavern. The manged to keep the discovery a secret fore many years until the Arizona government could protect the site for future generations. It took 7 years and 37 million dollars to catalog and construct the entrance way into the "Big Room" and more dollars and time to open the "Throne Room". we only had time to do the Big Room tour. It lasted about 1 3/4 hours and was at times breath taking. The stalactites and stalagmites were just 50,000 years old and they were bland compared to the rest. The only problem is you are not allowed to take photos in the caverns. I know what a pain how can I show you all what we saw if I can't take photos.

If you are at all into caves etc. and are in the Tucson area please go there.

When we got back to the RV park we had a new neighbour.

You can't read the front but it says "Freight-liner" on it. oh yeah it was towing an H3 Hummer. Ah the rich. At 7:30 sunday night we went into the observatory at the park and spent an hour and a half looking at the moon and 4 parts of Orion. The park has a 16" reflective telescope and on even nights the manager allows 12 people in to do a little star gazing. This was very cool. Kelly wanted one till he found out it was about 37,000 for the scope and about the same for the building, besides there just isn't quite enough room in the rv. We left Benson on Monday the 7th heading for Las Cruces New Mexico and then Roswell......................Beam me up.

Critters and Dusters

Hi there what with lack of good internet and we have been very busy I find myself very behind in the Blog department so here we go. Saturday the 4th we went to the "Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum" aka Zoo in Tucson. It was about a 45 minute drive from Benson but worth it. We took 365 pictures there so here are the highlights. 

 Cactus forest on the way.

 Mother Hummingbird on nest

Mom just finished feeding the kids

June"Doolittle" talking to an Argentinian Chipmunk

 Grey Hawk

 Barn Owl

 Three Harris Hawks on Maneuvers

 Can't remember but it has great colouring

No idea but it looked awfully freaky flying at me.

 Seahorse June's favourite

 Just a little "Dust Devil" in the distance.

We spent about 4 hours walking around the trails with the highlight being the Raptor show at 2pm with the Grey Hawk, Barn Owl, and Harris Hawks. Very cool and worth the $20.00 to get in. We left the "Zoo" and headed down the road 3 miles to Old Tucson. Old Tucson is a working location for films and includes a complete western downtown. The have shot over 150 movies there since inception 70 years ago. John Wayne filmed parts of 4 of his movies there. The movie history building was great and we spent some time in it. The have Medicine Shows, Can Can shows,and a shootout to finish the day.

 Stagecoach Ride

 Secound floor was added for Three Amigos

 June "Doolittle" talking to one of the two new colts

 Can Can Girls at the Saloon

Replicas of old wanted posters.

We left there at 6pm and headed out for supper then back to Benson. Sunday was just as busy and that will be the next Blog.

Moving on...The Adventure Continues

On the 2nd of April at 9:47 am the Millers left The Sands Rv and Golf Resort. The weather had deteriorated, the temperature was 14 C and the wind was blowing about 20 mph and it was time to get on the road again. The goal was to get to Gold Canyon Arizona to hook up with our friends Rod and Sylvia Williams (Blog: Six Saturdays and a Sunday). The drive, around 300 miles was very boring. There were subtle changes in the vegetation but it was mainly flat and empty. We did see several "Dust Devils" or mini tornadoes that were about 15 feet across and were sucking sand straight up about 40 feet.

some of the rock formations

This car carrier that we past had 5 e type jags on it. I don't know where they were going but I was sure tempted to follow.

Gold canyon is just east of Phoenix near Apache Junction. The park that Rod and Sylvia are in has about 680 spots c/w 8 pickleball courts a Baseball Diamond and an remote control race course. The park is an open design with no greenery between units.

 As you can see in the above photos they do have some nice cactus. We were invited to join Rod and Sylvia for their last happy hour . Well they were wrong the 'happy' part lasted alot longer than an hour.

Alcoholic beverages were consumed,lies were told and much merriment was had by all those at our table. Rod and Sylvia are definitely ok with this retirement stuff. We stayed there for two nights then moved onto Benson Arizona. Benson is about 35 miles east of Tucson. We will be in Benson for three nights as we plan on touring the area. Tombstone is 25 minutes away as well as the Kartchner Caverns and many others to be highlighted in the next blog.

Later Junkel