tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58503695665554287692024-02-07T15:58:04.852-05:00On the Road: Sometimes Confused, But Never LostOur snowbird travel journal. Two retirees (Ina & Ron) ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-11695644674023063312021-07-31T00:30:00.000-04:002021-07-31T00:30:24.409-04:00Papillion to Rock SpringsWe don't like long drives with our motorhome since driving a big rig and towing a car is a lot more taxing than driving a car. Since we are retired, we have no deadlines to meet (except for camping reservations). Therefore we broke up the 12 hours of driving to Rock Springs with three overnight stops. These 3-4 hour segments allow and unhurried trip with plenty of time to stop for lunch.&ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-13891621417351310292021-07-28T22:42:00.000-04:002021-07-28T22:42:59.511-04:00Mammoth Caverns to Pella Iowa From the Diamond Caverns Thousand Trails park, we traveled northwest to central Indiana where we stayed for three days at the Horseshoe Lakes Thousand Trails park near Clinton. We needed a few days break from traveling. Aside from shopping for groceries and doing some laundry, we stayed in the park. The motorhome generator would run for only a few minutes and then ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-40680187027345899342021-07-28T17:29:00.003-04:002021-07-30T00:35:31.897-04:00Papillion Nebraska Traveling from Pella IA we arrived at Papillion's Walnut Creek city park on July 12th. The park, which does not take reservations, had several sites available. We picked the only remaining site with 50amp electric hookup. None of the sites have sewer connections. However. there is a dump site
available and there are a number of fresh water hydrants whereronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-35761062249085588222021-07-11T20:12:00.000-04:002021-07-11T20:12:54.403-04:00Forest Lake to Mammoth CavernsDouglas Dam on the French Broad River, Kodak, TN Spending only two days at Lynchburg, VA, we traveled to the Forest Lake Thousand Trails at Advance, NC for a single overnight stay. We have stayed at this park twice before for simple overnight visits.Forest Lake is a very nice park with a pool swimming beach on a medium sized lake; miniture golf course, swimming pool, and clubhouse. Itronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-77026822531114398902021-07-09T19:44:00.000-04:002021-07-09T19:44:47.039-04:00Appomattox Court HouseWe set off on our summer trip to the West on June 28th, Our first campsite was at Lynchburg Thousand Trails. We've stayed at this park several times in past years. It is a fairly nice park which has a lake and a nice swimming pool. We noted on this visit that many of the sites are out of service due to "electric problems". Anyhow the two day stay was uneventful. Withronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-22868795269280553432021-07-05T15:42:00.000-04:002021-07-05T15:42:03.219-04:00What have we been doing this Spring? After returning from our Winter travels we realized that there were several projects needing attention around our house. The deck off the back door had not been painted in several years. Also a couple of the boards had rotted and needed replacement.A good pressure washing and then a couple of coats of paint were what was neededWe also had installed many years ago several retaining ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-35309791235367591462021-07-05T15:37:00.000-04:002021-07-05T15:37:48.409-04:00WInter Travel November 2020 to April 2021 Sunset on the Pasquotank River, North Carolina I have neglected this blog for quite awhile. Our travel during the late-Fall and Winter of 2021 was pretty much confined to Florida with very little touristy type of travel. We went south after Thanksgiving stopping for a brief visit with my sister and brother-in-law near Elizabeth City, NC. Enroute to Florida we also ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-4783852861158113022020-12-10T22:32:00.004-05:002020-12-10T22:39:15.088-05:00 Photobooks on our travels 2016 thru 2020.
I can't seem to find the time to update my blog site (or due to just plain laziness). In an effort to document our travels, I have produced a number of photo books for family and close friends. I've decided to share a versions of the books in an online format. The links in the titles of each book open the book's Flickr photo album where they can be viewed as a slide show. Fall ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-75940454029076614552020-02-11T15:06:00.000-05:002020-02-11T15:06:44.644-05:00Mittry Lake National Wildlife Area
Mittry Lake is an area of over 2000 acres of marsh and lake managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). There are numerous locations around the lake offering sites for free camping.
We drove south from Quartzsite on January 28th following our friends Rick and Janet Pilger. After a 5 mile drive on gravel road from the Yuma Proving Ground entrance, we located a site largeronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-9337080953134126662020-02-08T18:28:00.003-05:002020-02-08T18:28:38.206-05:00Boomerville, Quartzsite, Arizona January 9-28
We arrived at the Escapees Boomers group site, "Boomerville" on January 9th. We had the coordinates for Boomerville center and parked about 60 yards south in a practically deserted area with only a few other rigs.
In a few days the area quickly filled with many different rigs camped helter skelter around the various desert washes. We spent the next 19 days visiting both theronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-34805686918378971462020-02-08T17:21:00.002-05:002020-02-08T17:21:34.674-05:00New Years, Christmas, and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Campground at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
We checked into the Valley View RV park at Benson, AZ on December 20th where we spent the next two weeks through Christmas and New Years. We did not do much in the way of tourist type activities. The park had nice parties for both holidays.
After Benson we traveled south to Sierra Vista where Ina attended the Korean ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-42127333263673016742019-12-17T13:40:00.000-05:002019-12-17T13:40:17.767-05:00Quartzsite to Palm Springs
We intended to spend time with the Escapee Boomers for Thanksgiving south of Joshua Tree National Park. However, when we departed Bullhead City a significant rain storm was predicted for Thanksgiving. We were concerned about the possibility of getting stuck due to the mud. Since some desert areas become mud pits in the rain, we decided to extend our overnight boondock ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-7396776960216031772019-11-21T15:08:00.001-05:002019-11-21T15:08:44.818-05:00Bullhead City and Oatman
After spending a few days at Pahrump, we returned to the Las Vegas area intending to see the Nellis AFB air show. We stayed one day in the Lake Mead national recreation area near Government Wash. Although quiet and isolated, we changed our mind and made reservation for a week at the Ridgeview RPI park at Bullhead City, Arizona. We refueled at the Costco in Las Vegas and ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-67877462470516610342019-11-20T14:28:00.002-05:002019-11-20T14:50:12.163-05:00Death Valley 49ers Encampment - Twenty Mule Team
Photo From Wikipedia
Death Valley was the location of a number of mining operations. The most famous mining effort was the Borax mine near Furnace Creek. From 1883 to 1889 borax was scraped from the valley floor, and loaded into wagons. Mules were used to pull the wagons some 80 miles out of the valley. The Twenty Mule team wagons were made famous by the television ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-91399477824560772002019-11-20T13:59:00.000-05:002019-11-20T14:50:12.256-05:00Death Valley 49ers Encampment - Dantes Point and The Wagon TrainDantes Point is a mountain peak on the East side of Death Valley with an awesome view of the southern section of the valley directly above Bad Water Basin.
Dantes Point was closed for road construction during our 2017 visit.
As a part of the 49ers Encampment there is a group who do a wagon train journey into the park camping and traveling by horsedrawn wagon and dressing in period ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-50913507126803002932019-11-20T13:19:00.002-05:002019-11-20T14:50:12.020-05:00Death Valley 49ers Encampment -The Racetrack
From The Kanab, Utah area we traveled west toward Las Vegas. After doing some shopping and picking up mail in St George, Utah; we found a BLM area to the west of Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. We spent a couple of nights there. No hookups, totally quiet and good Verizon cell signal.
We broke camp and headed toward Death Valley on Oct 31st. Stopping for gas inronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-6020639834883621752019-10-28T22:19:00.000-04:002019-10-28T22:19:40.506-04:00Vermillion Cliffs and Marble Canyon
Leaving McHood park on Oct 25, we drove north toward Kanab, Utah.
Photo courtesy of Google Maps
We had the intention of signing up for the lottery for a permit to hike to "The Wave", the very colorful Paria canyon of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National park.
North from Flagstaff, AZ US-89 swings east toward Page, AZ. We chose to travel west on US-89A. We hadronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-17866122576858462242019-10-28T19:53:00.000-04:002019-10-28T19:53:11.630-04:00Petrified Forest National ParkAfter resupplying in Farmington, we headed south toward Gallup NM. In Gallup, we found a super Walmart and spent the night in the parking lot along with many other trucks and RVs. It was a fairly comfortable stay, but noisy since I-40 was very close.
In the morning we paid a visit to Petrified Forest National Park. We had passed by this park two or three times on previous ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-88436941031799178172019-10-28T18:42:00.002-04:002019-10-28T19:01:12.494-04:00Angel Peak New Mexico
The Angel Peak area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The no hook up campground is at the end of a 7 mile gravel road. Like most BLM areas, the camping is free for up to a 14 day stay. There were only three other rigs parked when we arrived.
The peaceful desolation and stark beauty of the these badlands is spectacular.
We stayed three days. I wouldronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-45367103058827943232019-10-28T18:02:00.000-04:002019-10-28T18:02:40.346-04:00Tent RocksAfter over a week of boondocking at the Balloon Fiesta, we spend several days at the Cochiti Lake Army Corp of Engineers campground. It was a comfortable concrete site with 30amp electric and water hookups. A bargain at $10/da (with senior discount).
We visited nearby Santa Fe twice, but did not do much of the tourist-type of exploring. We simply walked the old ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-77610902968403873612019-10-28T00:19:00.000-04:002019-10-28T00:19:38.874-04:00Balloon Fiesta Part 3 - The Chase Crew
The Crew
We volunteered to crew for a pilot on a part time basis
(e.g., not every day). With our late arrival it worked out that we
helped with about half of the launches. There were several days where
the weather and winds did not cooperate. Sometimes, our balloon was set up and
inflated but the launch was scrubbed. In most cases pilots don't like to
launch if the ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-73818897402457037522019-10-21T20:31:00.000-04:002019-10-27T22:53:57.268-04:00Balloon Fiesta Part 1
Arriving on Thursday, Oct 3rd; we were a couple of days late for the start of the event. Attending as part of the Boomers group of the Escapees club has the advantage of daily access to the launch field; participation in a number of group events (happy hours, pot lucks and dinners) as well as the opportunity to volunteer as a balloon crew member.
Since we were late arriving our ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-54903651932904290822019-10-21T20:08:00.000-04:002019-10-27T22:53:42.407-04:00Midsouth Navy RV Campground We left Woodbridge on September 24th. Our first stop was at a Harvest Host winery, "DeVault Vineyards" in Concord, VA.
The vineyard was peaceful and it was a pleasant overnight stay parked among the rows of vines.
The next day we drove to Crossville, TN and found the Bean Pot Campground, a Passport America affiliate. The sites were not very level, but it was a quiet ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-11198071470462687592019-10-21T19:39:00.000-04:002019-10-27T22:54:05.617-04:00Balloon Fiesta Part 2 - Unusual Shapes
About 580 balloons and pilots were registered for the fiesta. Most of them try to launch every day if weather permits. What follows is a collection of the nonstantard balloon shapes. Many of them are unusually large and present challenges to actually launch especially on days with very much wind. Our own pilot would not launch his balloon if the ground wind speed was much over ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5850369566555428769.post-13006073434305537442018-05-12T19:15:00.000-04:002018-05-12T19:15:53.149-04:00Pacific City to Seattle5/12/18
Todate we have completed our journey up the Pacific Coast Highway. Staying three days at each campsite and driving short distances is really the best way to travel. Most retirees and new full timers tend to be in vacation mode traveling long distances and staying very briefly in each camping spot. We have never really been in that mode. However, we have ronswanderlusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12872240876083356001noreply@blogger.com0