Along the LONG ROAD

(2018 Alaska Ep 10)

We’ve driven nearly 5000 miles and have many to go before we reach Alaska.

Overall, the roads and related traffic have been good. The scenery has been outstanding. Construction has been infrequent for very short distances.

There are always interesting things to see along the road. Like a sign in Oklahoma Hitchhikers Could be Inmates, or the town of No Name near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Here are some more:

On an Interstate highway near Dallas, a rest area had silos for men’s and women’s bathrooms. I wonder what the windmill was for?

For you country music fans, we passed by Luckenbach, Texas, made famous by the late Waylon Jennings (click to hear). Ain’t nuthin much in the area, except a couple sound stages, a gift shop and lots of laid back country attitude. Closest decent-sized town is Fredericksburg, Texas, about 15 miles away.

Here is the world’s largest pistachio nut. There are numerous groves of pistachio and pecan trees in the New Mexico desert north of White Sands/Alamogordo.

We saw a jackelope (mythical jackrabbit with antelope horns) at a roadside stand in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Finally, we camped near a turtle-shaped rock in the Colorado mountains near Buena Vista, Colorado. It was a beautiful vista indeed!

Lots of Sand But No Beach

(2018 Alaska Ep 9)

We headed west from Blanco on May 1.

Our next stop was Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

The drive was a bit too far for one day, so we spent the night at a west Texas state park known for its large sand dunes. They don’t call then dunes however – at Monahans State Park they are known as sandhillls.

One theory is the Monahans Sandhills were formed by remnants of the Rocky Mountains in New Mexico that eroded in the Pecos River. The sand was eventually blown by the wind into the area.

The sandhills are located atop the Permian Basin, one of the largest oil-producing areas in the world.

We visited some world class dunes in New Mexico also. Outside of Alamogordo is White Sands National Monument. The dunes are indeed brilliant white.

White Sands is the largest gypsum dunes on earth (275 square miles), the dunes are clearly visible from space and they are constantly moving – some as many as 32 feet year!

A couple interesting facts:

The White Sands dunes, created from eroding mountains to the west, are only about 10,000 years old.

In many areas, the water table is just a few feet below the dunes.

A dune selfie…hats and sunglasses are essential equipment at White Sands!

Touring San Antonio

(2018 Alaska Ep 8)

My brother, his wife and their daughter live in Boerne, located a little less than an hour from the campground in Blanco. We had a delightful dinner with them one evening and were joined by my other niece, her husband and their eight year old son.

The next day we toured San Antonio.

Alamo? No. Riverwalk? No. Hemisphere Plaza? No. Been there, done those!

Instead we started with the site of the Pearl Brewery.

Pearl Beer is a well-known in Texas. The former brewery has been converted into a beautiful shopping, entertainment and residential district.

We had an authentic Mexican lunch at Mi Tierra Café y Panadaria in El Mecado/Market Square. The food was wonderful!

To finish our San Antonio tour, we visited the San Antonio Japanese Tea Garden. It was developed in an abandoned limestone quarry donated in 1899 and developed starting in 1917. See the link above for the interesting history of the gardens.

We Took an Enchanted Excursion

(2018 Alaska Ep 7)

Camper repairs behind us (hopefully), we set up camp in Blanco State Park for a four-night stay. The campground is centrally located between Fredericksburg, Austin, San Antonio and my brother’s home in Boerne.

We were also close to Enchanted Rock and enchanted BBQ.

The Rock

Enchanted Rock is a pink granite mountain about 17 miles north of Fredericksburg. According to Trails.com, a hike to the summit of Enchanted Rock has been a right of passage for every teenaged Texan since the 1960s. Although we are neither Texans nor teenagers, we decided to tackle the short (.4 mile) and steep trail (332 ft elevation gain) to the top.

From a distance Enchanted Rock somewhat resembles Ayers Rock in Australia and Stone Mountain in Georgia. Up close, it is rather daunting – a steep hike up the side of the mountain looks challenging. From the top, what a view! Long vistas of the stunning Texas Hill Country.

Why Enchanted Rock is enchanted (and more)

The BBQ

Having successfully ascended and descended the rock, it was lunchtime and we HAD to experience the enchanted BBQ of Cooper’s BBQ in Llano, about 15 miles north.

Smokey ribs, fork-tender brisket, cowboy pinto beans, white bread and MUCH more – there’s no better BBQ on the planet!

We saved a little room and finished our lunch with some pecan cobbler.

On the way back to Blanco we stopped at Fredericksburg, a town with many interesting shops along a wide main street through the center of town. Fredericksburg is surrounded by many bed and breakfasts and wineries. It’s a great place to visit for a special occasion or stop-off during a trip like ours.

Lone Star

(2018 Alaska Ep 5)

We left Kansas City after an evening stay and headed south to Wagoner, Oklahoma. In Wagoner we visited Pat’s cousin and her mother’s family home site. After two nights it was time to travel further south.

You might think this is a follow up to the earlier post about Superman, perhaps about Captain America.

It is actually a star at the Texas Welcome Center on US 75 north of Dallas.

Texas is called “The Lone Star State” to reflect its former status as an independent republic. The star is also a reminder of the state’s struggle for independence from Mexico and can be found on the Texas state flag and state seal.

In front of the lone star and welcome center is a beautiful field of bluebonnets, the Texas state flower.

King Neptune: A Patriotic Porker

(2018 Alaska Ep 3)

Leaving Metropolis and the bigger-than-life Superman, we drove Illinois 149 headed toward the Mississippi River and eventually St Louis. It was in the middle of nowhere, a welcome respite from the Interstate winds and traffic..

By then, it was time for lunch.

Towing an RV is always an opportunity for an impromptu picnic and ahead was a pullout for a memorial of some kind. I walked around to the look at memorial after lunch.

To my surprise, it was a memorial to King Neptune.

According to online sources, King Neptune (May 16, 1942 – May 14, 1950) was a pig used by a United States Navy recruiter to raise $19 million in war bonds (over $250 million in 2012 adjusted for inflation ) for the construction of the Iowa-class battleship Illinois between 1942 and 1946.

More About this Patriotic Porker

Most pigs give their all for the breakfast table. King Neptune gave his for his country.

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane…

(2018 Alaska Ep 2)

It’s Superman!

After a visit with our son-in-law’s parents in Tennessee on Tuesday, we headed north to St Louis. It was a VERY windy day, and after crossing the Ohio River near Paducah, Kentucky, we decided to take a different route to get away from the wind and to see what RabbitRAILS might lie ahead.

In Metropolis, a small town in southern Illinois, road signs announced a giant statue of their most famous resident. You guessed it – Superman!

We took ample photos and then were able to get up close. I rapped my knuckles against the cape and exclaimed to Pat, “Wow this statue is made of metal.”

She said that made sense, informing me, “After all, he IS the man of steel!”