Author: Tom Piper

We have just passed the half-way point of our summer at Woodland Trails in northern Minnesota and we can hardly believe how fast the time is going.  Summer actually had a late start with ice on the lake being fully melted only a week before we got here in May.  That kept swimmers out of the lake for awhile but the hot weather finally settled in, the water temperatures went up and everyone is enjoying their time.  Cold weather kept things pretty quiet on Memorial Day weekend but the July 4th break was very busy.  Falling in the middle of the week gave everyone an extended holiday and the weather cooperated.

We have had several severe storms roll through, which is typical for this area.  Fortunately there has been no significant damage to any of the RVs, just lots of wind, lightning and rain.

There have been a few bear sightings and a couple bird feeders wrecked by them.  This is the 2nd year that we have had a bear in camp and it is thought it might be a young, newly weaned bear, on his (or her) own, looking for food wherever it can.  It was only around for a couple weeks and is pretty much gone now.

Fishing is pretty good as usual.  We still haven’t been able to catch any walleyes but there are plenty of good size sunfish and bass.  We are again trying to stock our freezer so we can enjoy occasional fish frys next winter.

Speaking of next winter, we don’t know yet where we will end up.  Our desire is to go back to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas but we are also looking at other parts of Texas and also Florida.  Last season we spent in Arizona and we have come to the conclusion that we don’t particularly like the desert.  Maybe some day we can go back to northern Arizona but it really isn’t on our radar.

Fortunately, Mary’s diabetes seems to be a thing of the past.  Her numbers have been normal for almost a month, and without taking insulin!   Hooray!!!   As quickly as it hit her, it seems to have left her.  She has been working extremely hard to stay healthy – counting carbs and exercise – so this bout with diabetes turned out to be a health wake-up call for us both.  We have both been blessed with good health and will try to keep it that way.

We still enjoy being on the road, as we approach the end of our 3rd year.  We both marvel at the places and things we have seen, and all the new acquaintances we have met.  We are looking forward to much more.

Bryce Canyon was another “must-see” place on our trip north.  We stayed at Ruby’s Inn, which had a shuttle running to all the observation points.  The gal driving the shuttle was very knowledgeable and humorous, and made the tour a lot of fun.  Bryce Canyon is everything it’s advertised to be.  Beautiful and magnificent, and while not as large as the Grand Canyon, Bryce should still be on every travel list.  Interestingly, the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon are both part of the Grand Staircase, encompassing several parks and geographic areas.

Utah has 5 major national parks with lots to see.  Unfortunately our schedule didn’t let us check out any of the others, but we plan to return another day.  So, after 3 nights at Ruby’s, we headed north toward Salt Lake City.  We stopped 2 nights in Fillmore, Utah, to have the truck looked at.  We had an issue with overheating in the mountains and the service garage replaced a thermostat.

We stayed at the Salt Lake City KOA which was adjacent to the shuttle train pick-up, making it easy to see the city.  First on the agenda was going to Temple Square to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in practice.  They have practice on Thursday evenings open to the public, since the actual performances on Sunday in the Temple are open only to members.  While waiting for the doors to open we found a shady place to sit and were approached by a member who asked who we were and why we were there.  She indicated her husband was the leader of the Utah mission teams and invited us to join them.  We were ushered to the rooms beneath the tabernacle where the director of the choir was meeting with about 25 couples from all over Utah.  We then were led to the rooms where the music is kept and the choir has their robes.  Following that we were taken up to the main floor of the tabernacle to listen to the choir’s rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In”.  What a treat!  We thanked our friends and made our way back to the campground.  Altogether a great evening made even nicer by the friendliness of 2 strangers.

The following day we toured the state capitol building, as is our practice whenever we visit a capitol.  Beautiful building and grounds, high over Salt Lake City.  It seems everywhere we go, we run into genuinely nice people and Salt Lake City was no exception.  If you are wondering, we didn’t see the lake.  Since the Great Salt Lake has no inlet from any other source, it has somewhat dried up in the past few years and tends to smell, or so we were told.  So we passed on it.

Mary didn’t seem to be getting any better and really tires easily. Beginning to doubt Desert Fever.

From Salt Lake City we headed east toward Rollins, Wyoming.  We had considered going north to Yellowstone but not trusting the weather that early in Spring made us go east instead.  Rollins was just a stopover on the way to our next big stop, Mount Rushmore.  One night in Rollins then we stopped in Lusk, Wyoming, at BJ’s Campground.  At 20 sites it is the smallest RV park we have stayed in yet, but it turned out to be one of the nicest.  Clean, wide sites in a quiet neighborhood and the owner was a delight.  We had further issues with our truck and she directed us to a mechanic who was right next door.  We stayed 2 nights and got part of our truck problems solved but there was nothing bad enough to delay our trip so the next day we headed for Custer, South Dakota,

Usually when you think of Mt. Rushmore, you associate it with Rapid City.  In reality, Custer was very close to both Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse memorial.  We had been talking about Mt. Rushmore for 3 years since we have summered so close, so finally we made it.  It is truly a truly amazing sculpture, particularly in light of the tools they had in the 1930’s.  It really is a must-see!  For someone like me that has a bit of vertigo, I can’t imagine lowering down the rock faces by rope, day after day, but those men got it done and created a lasting tribute to arguably our 4 greatest presidents.

We toured the Crazy Horse monument which, like Mt. Rushmore, is being carved from a mountain.  Eventually it will depict Crazy Horse atop his pony with his arm raised in a pointing pose.  So far all that is done is his head and they run buses up to it.  It is being privately funded so it will be a few more years to complete.  Interestingly, the face is actually a composite created by recollections of other chiefs who knew Crazy Horse, since no actual photograph of the chief exists.  However, they say it is pretty close and as a monument to native Americans, it will serve well.  There is also a very well done museum that features, among many other things, an account of the Battle at Little Big Horn from the native American perspective.

Next was our trek across South Dakota to Mitchell.  We passed on Wall Drugs this time since I wanted to get back to Minnesota for Mary.  She was feeling pretty tired and weak, and I wanted to get her to a doctor.

We did spend 2 nights in Mitchell and saw the Corn Palace.  It is now an auditorium where basketball can be played but the outside is completely covered in murals constructed entirely of corn.  And it is changed regularly for different seasons and events.  Pretty cool.  We also tried to attend to that other nagging issue with the truck but we have an appointment in Detroit Lakes once we get back to finally get things fixed.

Once in DL we made an appointment for Mary and got her in.  Wow!  Her blood sugar was through the roof and the doctor told her it was diabetes!  The good news is she is on a program to correct it and is well on her way.

We are back at Woodland Trails or as Mary says, “Home” for another season.  Closing in on the end of 3 years and still loving it!

We decided to return to Woodland Trails Resort in northern Minnesota once again, for year #3.  At this point, it’s almost like coming home – familiar location, beautiful setting on Strawberry lake, lots of friends, and great people to work for.  Each year we say we are not coming back since we want to travel, but WT is a good place to relax and get grounded.

Leaving Tucson on April 17th, we headed for Prescott Valley for a few days.  We stayed at the Fairgrounds RV Park which turned out to be one of the nicest parks we have stayed in.  Nothing in the way of activities but it was clean, had large sites and it was well located to see the area.

Our first side trip was to Sedona.  There was 2 routes, one was over the mountains, the other around the mountains.  On recommendation of the park office, we took the mountainous route.  Wow!  Picturesque with a lot of switchbacks, it was reminiscent of the road to Mt. Lemmon in Tucson.  It was a bit of a “white-knuckled” trip but  beautiful all the same.  We ate lunch at a very nice restaurant in Sedona, the Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill which had great views of the surrounding red and gold hills.  The restaurant was filled with unusual but beautiful artwork made from glass and framed like a picture.  After finishing our tour of Sedona we traveled back home, this time the long way, around the mountains.

The next day went went to Prescott, which we actually liked a bit better than Sedona.  We ate lunch downtown then went to the Chamber of Commerce office for some area information.  What a coincidence – the Chamber director was the same person who was director back in Rochester Hills, Sherri Heiney!  We had a brief reunion and she told about the area and that she and her husband John had realized their dream of moving to the Prescott/Sedona area and really love it there.  Nice to see her again.

Mary found a couple nice bead stores to restock her supply.  She is really getting good at designing and making jewelry.  (Actually, good enough to have her own website at www.mddesigns.biz.  Check it out!

The next day we were on our way to one of the most anticipated stops on our trip, the Grand Canyon.  Mary had never been there and it had been about 64 years since I was there, so we were excited to see it.  We stayed in Cameron, about 45 minutes east of the canyon then made the trip the next day.  We sort of hit the “perfect storm” of visitors since we were there on a Saturday and it was Earth Day.  We did finally find a place to park, and the trip was definitely worthwhile!  We stopped at Navajo Point and Mather Point, what a view!  If you haven’t been there, put it on your must-see list.

The only damper was Mary feeling tired rapidly from what we thought was an allergy or maybe Desert Fever.  Whatever, we hope she snaps out of it soon.

Tomorrow it’s on to another high point on our trip, Bryce Canyon.

We returned to Tucson the first of February and settled in to the Crazy Horse RV park just south of the Pima Air Museum and Davis Monthan Air Force Base.  This turned out to be a pretty good spot from which to continue our exploration of Tucson and the surrounding area.  Even though we saw quite a lot when we were here in October, there still are many things to see.

Mary has really gotten into making bead jewelry, so we were excited to attend the annual gem show.  The Tucson Rock and Gem Show is billed as the largest show of its’ kind in the country.  It is held in many locations and lasts for almost 2 weeks.  We met Dawn, from our summer place in Minnesota, and she and Mary went off to look for beads, while I had the chance to just browse.

There were 2 big tents set up, the largest of which was as large as 2.5 football fields.  Row after row, table after table of gems, rocks, precious stones and a huge variety of things made from them. Just from the sheer volume of stuff, the show was a bit overwhelming but still very interesting.

Our plan was to stay in Tucson for about 2 & 1/2 months, site seeing and getting ready for our trip back to northern Minnesota. Tucson is rich in things to see and places to go, so we kept busy by visiting:

Kitt Peak Observatory – An hour drive from Tucson, Kitt Peak is a 7,000 feet high mountain hosting more than a dozen telescopes as part of ongoing international astronomical research. The drive to the summit is about 12 miles long and in itself is worth the trip. At the peak we listened to the story of Kitt Peak and went on a tour of one of the largest optical telescopes in the world. The telescope was down for conversion to a dark energy detector but the museum had many pictures and displays relating to the work they do.

Mount Lemmon on the north side of Tucson. In Tucson there are mountains in every direction and Mt. Lemmon is the tallest and most obvious. A couple of times the peak was white with snow after a chilly evening. The drive up was again quite beautiful, being able to look back and down on Tucson. We enjoy this sort of drive because there are trees and grass, a pleasant change from the desert. At the top was a nice restaurant for lunch and then the drive back down. When we left Tucson the temperature was 68 and when we reached the top it was only 40, the difference attributable to the altitude.

Titan II Museum, about 20 miles south of Tucson. During the Cold War the United States had 37 Titan II ICBM silo missile installations, several of which were around the Tucson area. When we entered into the SALT agreement, one of the stipulations was to destroy our silos, which we did, however the Russians allowed us to keep one as a museum. They have an actual Titan II missile in a silo without the nuke warhead, and the tour takes you down into the living quarters and control room, where you go through a simulated missile launch. Pretty cool!

The ASARCO open-pit copper mine, which is a short distance from the Titan missile museum. They have a nice gift shop and display about how copper is mined, plus a very nice tour to the top of the mine and into the processing facility.

While in Tucson we also had a chance to take care of some maintenance items on the RV: new tires, new valves for our plumbing, and new carpeting. We still like our little “house” and are looking forward to our trip north, another great summer at Woodland Trails, and deciding where we want our adventure to take us next winter. I know I have neglected this blog but I promise another update before the end of May.

We arrived in Yuma on October 22nd and got settled in for what we thought would be 6 months.  We were staying at the Cocopah Golf and RV Resort which is located in the extreme northwestern corner of Yuma, where the Colorado river bends and forms a natural border between Arizona and California.  From our rv site we were actually only about a quarter mile from California.  In addition, just about a mile south of us was Mexico and the city of Algodones.

All around us were fields in various stages of growing, from bare ground to lush greens, ready for harvest.  As we learned, some 90% to 95% of the green leaf vegetables in the United States are grown in Yuma.  Since the early part of the 20th century, the Colorado has been dammed and diverted to make the land along the lower Colorado River some of the most productive in the country.  Greens like cabbage, spinach, lettuce and even dates are all grown near Yuma.  At any one time, a field is either under planting, growing or being harvested.  Quite a different landscape than the stark desert we crossed on the way there.

We did manage to get to Algodones, Mexico, one afternoon, and it’s pretty much like most other border towns.  I guess if we had to choose, we like Progresso a bit better.

In most of the seasonal parks we have stayed in have been in areas with much to do and see, usually within 30 – 45 minutes drive.  Yuma is different in that it is primarily agricultural.  We had the golf course and beyond that there wasn’t much to do.  So after 3 months in Yuma we decided to return to Tucson for the balance of our winter.  We enjoyed our week in Tucson and there are a number of activities we didn’t have the time for.  In addition, we have friends and family in Tucson, so on February 1st we left Yuma.

 

We arrived in Tucson on the 15th of October for a week of sightseeing, meeting previously unknown relatives and some relaxation before heading to Yuma.  We stayed at a small park that was literally right down town and was close to the light rail trolley so we could see a lot of the city.  We spent the first day stocking up at Costco, then we took the trolley downtown, walked around, stopped for a coffee, and just had a nice relaxing day.

The next day we met with Mary’s distant cousin, Bob, and his wife, Kay.  Mary connected with Bob through her genealogy search on Ancestry.com.  We met at downtown for lunch, then made our way to the library where genealogical information was exchanged.  This info has largely been added to Mary’s “tree” and has filled some blanks for her.  We said goodbye to Bob and Kay then went to an olive oil store to replenish our stock, then dinner and back to the park.  All in all a great day with new friends.

One of our desired stops in Tucson was Biosphere 2, the closed environmental experiment where 12 people spent a year without going outside, in a fully self-contained environment.  This was done to test the feasibility of establishing colonies on the Moon and maybe other planets.  They had several “climates” represented including jungle, desert, rain forest, and ocean.  Very clever and interesting.  Nobody lives in the Biosphere now, however they still maintain many of the experiments.  Biosphere is located north of Tucson and the drive out there is through desert and mountains.  Very picturesque but we think a steady diet of desert would get old.  We like greenery.

10/19  –  We took the trolley to the University of Arizona campus today.  Our rv park has given us a coupon book with several interesting stops at U of A including the Flandreau Science Center and Planetarium, the Space Imagery Center and the Arizona State Museum.  First we have to say how lovely the campus appears.  Also how friendly the students and faculty that we met treated us.  We stopped at the Imaging Center and as we entered (probably the wrong entrance) we were presented with an elevator and no idea where we should go.  Fortunately, along came Ken (from Wisconsin no less) who is one of the professors and as it turned out, he is in charge of an electron microscope lab.  He very graciously gave us a brief tour of the center, then turned us loose to look around while he got back to work.  The center is devoted to visual, remote exploration of planets, moons, asteroids, comets, etc, and there are numerous rooms where faculty members are assigned individual objects.  Outside each room are hundreds of large photos taken by telescopes and spacecraft.  One of the current major projects is OSIRIS-REx, a mission to analyze data from a craft that would land on an asteroid and gather data.  Pretty cool!

While on campus we also visited the Arizona History Museum where a docent was just beginning his tour.  Obviously much of Arizona history is centered around Native Americans, so we learned quite a bit about their history, including the Yumans and Cocopahs.  The rv resort we are going to when we leave Tucson is on property owned by the Sovereign Nation of the Cocopahs.  So now we have some background.

Finally, in the late afternoon, we attended a presentation in the planetarium and strolled through its’ associated science museum.  A very nice day overall!

To round out our first visit to Tucson, we went to the Pima Air Museum, one of the largest non-government funded aerospace museums in the world.  Virtually every aircraft the military ever flew was represented there and we rode a tour that was narrated by a former mechanic who had information on each plane.  Also on the grounds was an indoor display of a B-29 that actually flew in WW2 and some very interesting stories of its’ former crews.  There also was several other hangars showcasing the space race and other aircraft, including the SR-71 spy plane.  A day well spent!

Much more to see and do in Tucson, but we needed to get on to Yuma.  We hope to return!

October 10, 2017

Organized creatures that we are, our travels aren’t quite as random as we’d like.  We tend to plan our routes around certain “must-see” landmarks.  On this trip, Carlsbad Caverns was one of the places of interest we really wanted to see.  It certainly didn’t disappoint.

We stayed at the Carlsbad RV Park which was on the road to the Caverns, about 20 miles away.  We settled in, grabbed a pizza and got an early start the next day.

The road to the Caverns is pretty forgettable, until you turn into the Park.  It’s a beautiful drive over several miles to get to the main building where there is a gift shop, restaurant, museum and the entrance to the caverns.  We were given the option of either walking in through the “natural entrance” or taking an elevator down the roughly 800 feet to the main room of the caverns.  We elected to walk.

The natural entrance is a large, steep hole in the ground with a zigzag walkway that is easily traversed, however we were not expecting it would take us around an hour and a half to get to the bottom.  It was tiring but well worth it.  On the way down we passed several other hardy souls going back up.  Definitely hardier than us!

Once at the bottom we walked out into the “Great Room”, a gigantic cavern that is the primary focus.  There is a trail that winds around and through the great room, and there was a sign telling us that the entire circumference would take us about another hour and a half.  We were a little pooped and considering the hour, we decided to take the elevator back up and return the next day to tour the Great Room.

 

The next day we took the elevator back down and explored the Great Room.  Very impressive!  Pictures really don’t do justice to the size of the cavern.

We spent a couple hours there then decided to go to Sitting Bull Falls for the afternoon.  Another nice drive to this out of the way park.  We were there during the dry season so the falls were less than usual but still pretty, falling about 80 feet into a small, clear pond.  It’s tucked back in a corner of the small park which has picnic facilities and would be a great place to picnic or just relax.

The next day we left Carlsbad for Las Cruces, New Mexico,  We were now really into the desert, crossing through a couple mountain passes and down into the flatter, cactus strewn plain that we have always read about.  We spent 3 days in Las Cruces, sightseeing, visiting the Old Town, getting ready for our final week on the road before beginning our winter in Yuma.

 

 

10/5/2017

Traveled to San Angelo on the recommendation of friends.  Camped at the San Angelo State Park on the NW side of the city.  The sites are all very large and have expansive views of the surrounding area.  Lots of mesquite trees, cacti, and probably lots of critters, although we didn’t see too many.  We explored the town, restocked groceries, caught up on laundry, relaxed at the library and generally lazed around enjoying the quiet.  We were graced with an amazing harvest moon on Friday night, then watched the Packers game on Sunday.

10/9/2017

Originally our plan was to go south through Sonora and Fort Stockton, then on to Carlsbad, but we decided to detour more to the west hoping to avoid much of the oil truck traffic.    As it turned out, it was a great idea.  Our route took us through an area of Texas that showed us huge wind farms, oil and gas derricks, miles of seemingly barren landscape with mesquite and cacti, and copper-colored clay fields.  As a plus, the highway was smooth and relatively less traveled.  We decided to spend the night in the town of Andrews, Texas, so we checked online and noticed that the Andrews Chamber of Commerce had a few RV parking spots, so we called and they told us to come on in.  They had 5 water/electric hookups right behind the Chamber offices for RVers to use as their guest.  What a nice little town.  We had dinner (best steak fingers in Texas!) then walked down to the city park which had a small lake, ball fields and a paved walking path around the lake.

Two nights in Andrews then we were on to Carlsbad!

 

9/28/2017

Drove in to Dallas today.  We stayed here for a week, at Loyd Park on Loyd Lake in Grand Prairie.  This was our first experience with a state park rather than a typical RV park since we have been on the road.  The traffic getting here was a bit hairy but the weather turned nice and sunny as we rolled into the park.  The first thing we did was to take a much needed day off for some rest.  The park is probably busy on the weekend but it was almost empty so nice and quiet.  Ahhhh.

 

Drove to Keller to meet with Mary’s niece, Deanna, whom she hadn’t seen in more than 40 years, and her husband, Peter.  Peter is a gourmet chef and prepared a great dinner for us.  He also has a business called Red Kitchen Foods, where he conducts cooking classes and also makes his own line of specialty foods.  After a beautiful evening of catching up for Mary and Deanna, we made our way back to the park.  The next day we went to the George W. Bush Presidential Library with Peter and Deanna.

The library was nice and although we  didn’t enjoy it as much as some of the others, it was still an impressive chronicle of history.  This makes 9 libraries we have seen on our journey and each one has enabled us to gain new perspectives on our presidential history, regardless of party affiliation.  Every American should make it a point to visit each one.

 

 

 

We took a couple days to visit with old friends, Curt and Anita, who live in the town of Plano.  Curt and Mary are both from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and have known each other since their high school days .  Their hospitality was superb and we enjoyed 2 nice days with them, visiting the Dallas Arboretum and the Cowboys headquarters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our stay in Dallas was only a week and we wished we could have stayed longer since there is so much to see and do there.  It is our half-way point on our journey to Yuma and we have to move along.  We enjoyed our visits and the opportunity to recharge our travel batteries and we are definitely looking forward to our next visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We departed Dallas for the next half of our Fall trip.  Next stop – San Angelo, Texas.

9/25/2017

We made our way out of Nebraska and into Kansas, accompanied by hot, windy weather.  Got off a little later than we wanted due to a minor issue with the hitch but after that the trip was smooth and uneventful.  We rolled into Dodge City about mid afternoon and found the park adequate but bordering a railroad track and stockyards detracted from the experience a bit.  Our hopes for an interesting stay were let down a bit.  It was evidently not the right season for the true Dodge City experience so we went through the gift shop and saw a lot of Gunsmoke (TV show) souvenirs, a little disappointing but we managed to find a great Mexican restaurant.

The next couple days were rainy so we spent some time planning more of our route to Yuma.  When we left Dodge City it was with rain and thunder but we managed to get to Amarillo, Texas, without any issues.  We have had really excellent traveling weather for most of the time on the road these past 2 years so we can’t really complain.  At least it’s warm!  The RV park we stayed at was the Oasis RV Resort and I think it was one of the best planned parks we have seen.  It is also very close to the Cadillac Ranch which we had to stop to see.  If we are back through here in the future, this is where we will stay.

The main reason for stopping in Amarillo was the proximity to Palo Duro Canyon, billed as Texas’ Grand Canyon.  The ride down into and through the canyon and was quite beautiful.  We had considered taking the RV down into the canyon and spending the night, but I am glad we didn’t.  A smaller 5th wheel or motorhome would have been okay but ours, at 40′ might have given us some problems on some of the turns.  Nonetheless, we enjoyed our afternoon there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left Amarillo and headed toward Dallas, stopping overnight in Vernon,Texas, about half way between the two cities.  It was overcast and rainy these 2 days but the road is good and didn’t have any issues.The truck is running like new after the great job the guys in Detroit Lakes did for us.  Crossing our fingers it stays that way!