Africa - oh my!

The first time I read about Jane Goodall in National Geographic I wanted to go to Africa. I even became a flight attendant when I was twenty-one so I could afford the trip, but I never got there during my short career in the friendly skies. I put money away when I could, but the trip never happened until the call became too great. Last year I decided that I needed to go to Africa before it was too late – for me or the animals.

Bob and I just returned from a three-week trip to South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. We booked a tour with Overseas Adventure Travel, a company that caters to active Americans over 50 and were joined by two old friends. We only had 14 people in our group. I highly recommend OAT and if you decide to book a trip to one of their worldwide destinations please use me as your referral (customer #001382737) and you’ll get $100 off your trip. http://oattravel.com/

on one of our lion walks

We landed in Johannesburg a few days early and spent that time with a client who takes care of the animals at a lion preserve a few hours north of ‘Joburg’. We got to walk in the bush with 7 lions that were less than a year old. What naughty kids they were – running off, jumping up on people and acting like all young kitties (don’t have anything dangling from your body). They were boisterous but manageable. At night we were awakened by the roaring of the older lions. That’s a sound you never forget. I also spent time there communicating with the lions, leopards, serval, caracal, and tigers. It was a great way to get our feet on the ground.

I wanted to go to Africa to see the animals, and animals we saw. It was amazing how many critters roamed everywhere. We saw the big five (lion, cape buffalo, elephant, leopard and rhino), sometimes four of them in a day. In South Africa we encountered both white and black rhino, and even spent some quiet time in the dark with three rhinos as the full blood moon rose over the trees.

elephants in the river at the lodge

Our first lodge was situated on the Crocodile River and during lunch we watched elephants, Cape buffalo, antelopes and hippos along with many species of birds. I was in heaven! At the next lodge a herd of elephants ran trumpeting from the woods to the water hole a couple of hundred yards in front of the camp. They drank and played and chased off the baboons. One night a few wandered into camp and chewed up a lot of trees.

Many of our safaris were in national parks: Kruger, Hwange and Chobe, and they reminded me of being in Yellowstone, only the animals were different. When you saw cars pulled over everyone sped up to see what they were watching. Once it was lions, another time a hyena, a leopard, and always there were elephants.

In Zimbabwe we visited a school that is supported by OAT and also went to a nearby village. These stops were more fascinating than I had expected and by the end of our trip I found that the people and the countries and the land were as important to me as the animals. It really is an amazing continent.

typical home

This is just the start of a series of blogs about our time in Africa and the places, people and animals we met. I hope you enjoy them and that soon you will experience the wonder of Africa for yourself.

England and France - Three

Southern France  July 13-24, 2013

Just south of Cannes

In only a few hours of driving you can go from the middle of the Alps to the Riviera. We drove south    through the Italian countryside. Once along the Mediterranean your driving choices are crowded freeway with limited views and culture, or seaside road with manic traffic, motorcycles and scooters passing left, right and sideways, plus maze-like transits through small towns. It was kind of fun and terrible at the same time. We did a little of both routes hoping that France would be less hectic than Italy.  We stopped for a much needed break in Monte Carlo, Monaco, and had a snack while people and yacht watching. Further down the French coast we found red rocks that looked just like Sedona!

The town of Vence

Our home base for these two days was a very nice B&B with a pool near Vence.  Our only issue was the last few miles of narrow winding road to get to and from it each day. We spent a day at the beach and I got to swim in the Mediterranean. The women in France all wear two-piece suits. Mary was usually the only one on every beach in a one piece, except for two ladies in their 80s! (and of course there were a few with only the bottom portion of their bikinis on).

Our B&B host suggested we take a small mountain road through the Gorge du Verdon on our way to Provence.  After the winding and crowded waterfront road we weren’t excited about a winding mountain road, but we are sure glad we took their suggestion.  The Gorge itself was not so wide but it was deep and the rock formations on the way reminded us of the Sierras. In fact, France reminded us of California in a lot of places. It was WAY more mountainous than we expected. Not too far from the gorge, we discovered a small medieval town tucked into a hillside called Moustiers des Saint Marie.  It was a fantastic setting with a chapel tucked high into the rock-cliff and a spring-fed stream running right through the middle of town. We really liked this place which is known for it’s ceramics. Beyond the gorge the river flowed into beautiful lake.

In Provence, we stayed in Greoux les Bains, a cute little town with lots of cafes.  Nice small hotel, narrow stairway to third floor, no-air conditioning, but a very large un-heated pool that I appreciated very much. We had a wonderful drive through the blooming lavender and sunflower fields but we missed the baths. We were also happy to see a wide variety of crops in France, but still no wildlife. Our only sightings were two foxes.

I love the small towns that look like they haven’t changed in a few hundred years.  The economy of these places is very interesting.  I realize that new development and large cities keep the countries going, but there is something very satisfying about being in a small town of maybe 500 people where the stores, houses and small businesses have been in their same location and operated at essentially the same volume of business for hundreds of years.

Rennes les Bains

Speaking of small towns our next stop was a hot springs hang out during the hippie days.  Rennes Les Bains is a very small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees.  The natural hot spring is still accessible just outside town, but there is a developed warm pool in town where most people go.  While we were there, remnants of the hippie heyday were everywhere - a small open-air market, young nomadic singles and couples with kids, etc.  Mt Bugarash is nearby and has some of the same legends and aura as Mt Shasta. Mary and I hiked about half way up.  It is a very cool place.  

Carcassonne is a fully restored medieval town complete with towers and moat.  It is very   We stayed overnight just outside the walls of the ancient city so we were able to hang around into the night and enjoy a lovely meal.  I liked Carcassonne very much.

Carcassonne

touristy but also very great.

After a long drive on the wonderful and expensive French highway system, we arrived in Chartres, home to the wonderful and magical Cathedral of Chartres.  Our hotel room had a good view of the front the Cathedral that dominates the town and surrounding area.  The Cathedral dates from the 11^th century, has a labyrinth in the floor and some of the most amazing stained glass and flying buttresses.  At night during summer they project a laser light show on three sides of the cathedral and a few other buildings in town.  On TV or the web the show looks pretty hokey, but in-person it is really spectacular.  Since the sun sets so late, the shows go late into the night. We were able to see it lit up from our bed.

Chartres Cathedral

Speaking of late sunsets…I had always thought that Paris was at about the same latitude as San Francisco, but it is more like Minneapolis. Almost all of the major cities in northern and central Europe are in the higher latitudes. Florida actually lines up with Saudi Arabia!

Our last stop was Paris.  We got to Paris the day the Tour De France was ending there. We watched the finale from our hotel room rather than fight the crowds on the Champs Elysees. Our last two days in Paris were very hot - 95 degrees!  We toured around the city and caught all the major sights, but it was very crowded in late July so we only got into one Museum, the Rodin, which is one of my favorites.

After a wonderful flight to Atlanta on an Air France Boeing 777, and a short hop on Delta to Sarasota (SRQ) we were very glad to be back in our new home.  By the way, Air France had great meals, fservice, free drinks and smiling happy flight attendants in economy - what a pleasant surprise.   

Logistical Suggestions:  If you drive in Europe, we highly recommend a GPS. They aren’t perfect but they are great for roundabout directions and if you make a wrong turn they just pick-up from wherever you are. The French freeways are expensive, but worth it for the time saving and they have great and plentiful rest and service areas. It was not any fun driving in England! Being on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car is a challenge. Add tiny roads with hedges or walls right up to the asphalt and you’ll find Mary hyperventilating.

Thoughts on Food:  We were thankful not to see a lot of American fast food places.  We saw none in the smaller towns and only MacDonald’s, Burger King and KFC in the larger cities. England had very little vegetables on most menus (only peas), and almost no salads.  France had great salads, but they were expensive relative to other items on the menus. France, of course, had generally very good food, one surprising thing was that pizza and pasta were everywhere in France. We never thought we could get tired of wine, bread and cheese, but I think we did it on this trip. A glass of wine in France was often as cheap as a cup of tea, so how can you turn that down?

England and France 2013 - Two

 Northern France  July 1-12, 2013

Ile de Sein

 After flying into Paris we immediately drove out to the Brittany Coast.  We were heading west to   We went there with our friend Frederique and her daughter, in hopes of connecting up with Dony,  an ambassador dolphin. Ile de Sein is a special place, rugged and peaceful with almost no significant vegetation, but there is a village of stone and plaster houses with a few shops and businesses. Fishing was the historical industry, and there still is some fishing, but day tourists and seasonal residents seem to account for the majority of activity.  The area has many rocky bays and shoals and beautiful lighthouses.  If you have seen a picture of a lighthouse almost being inundated by a large wave, the picture most likely came from this area.  Luckily, we experienced pretty nice and calm weather while we were there.  Unfortunately, we did not get to see Dony.
spend four days on Ile de Sein, a small island several miles off the coast in the Atlantic.

Beach at Fouras

After Ile De Sein, we followed Frederique to her home in Fouras, just south of La Rochelle on the mid-Atlantic Coast of France.  Fouras is great town of moderate size, and Frederique and her kids live in an original townhouse right across the street from the bay and a castle!

Zena's place

From the coast we went straight to the interior of France near the center of the country – the Morvan region. Zena, an old friend of Mary’s, lives on few acres in a 200+ year-old farmhouse. She has outfitted and decorated the house really nicely, keeping the rustic feel décor while upgrading functionality.  We thoroughly enjoyed the fresh food from the garden and

Zena’s excellent cooking.  We explored the old Roman ruins and sites in the area, and made a trip
to Abbey De Fontenay.  This restored 14^th century Cistercian abbey near Montbard is a gem.  It is far enough off the beaten track to not be crowded, and the buildings and grounds are very peaceful and awe inspiring.

From a cathedral of monks to a cathedral of mountains, we went to Chamonix, a town in the French Alps near the Swiss and Italian borders. Mont Blanc (the highest peak in Europe) and its sisters are the main attraction. Skiing in winter and hiking and cable car riding in summer.  The weather was great and the majesty of the Alps from Chamonix was breathtaking.

Mt. Blanc

We drove through the 7 mile-long Mont Blanc Tunnel from Chamonix to Italy and spent a day and night in Pre St Didier. There we enjoyed a very relaxing day at the thermal baths - a lovely complex of pools, waterfalls, saunas, relaxation rooms, snacks and massage.  We both loved it and appreciated the break from sightseeing, driving and walking. Our massages were good too. We needed this because our next stop was the hubbub of the Italian and French Rivieras.

England and France 2013 - one

A while back Mary got invited to speak at the second annual Awakening to Animals Conference in England.  At the time we thought it would be great to extend our trip a few weeks and explore France and connect with a couple of friends living in France.

As it turned out the trip came only two months after we moved into our new house in Florida, so we weren’t real anxious to leave our new home on an extended trip. But, airfare is expensive, so we decided to keep to our original schedule; 10 days in England and 23 days in France.

England June 19-30, 2013

Before the conference we spent a night in Oxfordshire at Swinford Manor Farm B&B.  The farm was very nice and located right along the Thames, near Oxford.  There was a nice trail beside the river

where we could see the private barges and view the very old and still operating hand-powered lock system.

The conference in Kenilworth was excellent; eight presenters over two days - topics ranged from saving white lions in Africa, to natural horsemanship and emotional healing with horses, to holistic veterinary care, to Tellington Touch, to Mary’s presentation on Whale and Dolphin Consciousness & Spirituality.

After the conference Mary and I went to see the ancient stones of Avebury and Stonehenge, and to the Glastonbury area where we met up with Mary’s friend Madeleine. She showed us the sacred sites of the Tor and the Chalice Well. Glastonbury is quite the ‘new-age’ town, and we had fun wandering through the many crystal and rock shops.

Thanks to a picture on a BING search engine home page, we headed south to the Dorset Coast to explore Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door. This area along the English Channel across from Normandy is very beautiful with rolling hills and cliffs and some very interesting rock formations.  Durdle Door is an arched rock formation that looks a lot like a very large Dragon taking a drink of water from the ocean.  We had a nice hike along the coast.

We then drove to London for two days of sightseeing before heading to France.  London was packed with tourists and they were also in the middle of the Gay Pride weekend when we arrived, so the people watching was fantastic, but the crowds and traffic were a bit much.

  

As we traveled the English countryside trying to stay on the left side of the road and not hit the quaint stone buildings jutting into the roadway, we were longing for the wide open spaces of North America. We got spoiled traveling in our fifth-wheel trailer for so long - always the same bed, air conditioning and no hauling heavy suitcases up and down narrow 300 year-old staircases. We looked forward to France where we could at least drive on the right side of the road again. Driving on the left side of the road from the right hand drive cars was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

We were surprised by a few things in England. We didn’t see hardly any wildlife other than a few dead badgers on the road. The only crops we saw were hay and wheat. The food and drink were very expensive, and except for London – the food choices were pretty boring and almost always the same. It was hard to even find a green salad on the menu! We did find the rest areas on the English motorways to have excellent services and snacks.

Emerson-Getten Housing Safari

Mary has always wanted to go on an African Safari and we are still hoping that we can do that in the near future.  But, right now we are on a Housing Safari.

 I frequently go out on ‘Game Drives’ (driving around looking at neighborhoods and houses), in addition to wringing out every last bit of information and insight I can from the internet.  Mary usually stays back at camp – she is busy with work now, and she does not have a great deal of patience for sorting through all the maybes.  She is much more happy to scrutinize the short list.  We are, of course,  looking for the ‘Big Five’ – curb appeal, tropical landscape, open floor plan, great neighborhood and right location.  Oh yes, it has to be affordable for us, too!

We started out thinking we could spend about $400k and be able to be on one of the barrier islands (Gulf Islands) Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key or Lido Key and within walking distance to the beaches of the Gulf.  However, we found that you don’t get a lot for your money and that insurance and taxes out there are high, and when there is a hurricane warning you are in the first evacuation zone. We also realized that while we liked the elevated houses, it actually separates you from the nature that we are trying to get close to.  Also $400k is a stretch and would mean we would both be working for quite a while.  Here are a couple of our ‘affordable’ favorites from the islands..

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7080-Longboat-Dr-N-Longboat-Key-FL-34228/45794145_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/312-57th-St-Holmes-Beach-FL-34217/2131525990_zpid/

We considered trying to build on the islands but all of the lots are in excess of $200k and building is expensive on the islands. Here is one nice lot on Longboat Key..

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/721-Broadway-St-Longboat-Key-FL-34228/99693239_zpid/

We then discovered the Northwest Bradenton Area (west of 75th St West and north of Manatee Ave). This area is very close to the beaches (even biking distance) and there is also the Robinson Nature Preserve and Palma Sola Botanical Garden to provide hiking and biking in a large natural area of mangroves and bayous where the Manatee River meets Anna Maria Sound and Palma Sola Bay.  Great bird watching and sunsets!

In this area, it looks like we could get much more house and land and be closer to $300k. We have even seen some pretty good things under $300k.

We have come to understand that we are looking for a combination of house, landscaping, neighborhood and location that has some special ‘wow’ factor for us. We both like unique, and therefore the new or tract neighborhoods feel a little ‘Stepfordish’ to us.  Sometimes, even funky feels a little better than a more upscale but uniform neighborhood.  These three houses are a good representation of what we’ve seen..

http://www.yellowkeyrealty.com/property/m5832651/306-nw-73rd-nw-street-bradenton-fl-34209/ (nice floor plan and landscaping)

http://www.michaelsaunders.com/properties/property-detail/9206-18th-nw-dr-bradenton-fl-34209/M5828312/ (great location and neighborhood)
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8509-19th-Ave-NW-Bradenton-FL-34209/82392202_zpid/ (nice house - similar to Evergreen floor plan (below) – same builder)

Lot prices are much more reasonable in NW Bradenton than on the islands, and we are discovering that building costs are much lower here in Florida than in Washington. Therefore we are likely to consider buying a lot and building a house. The good news is we don’t need or want a big house so it might be possible to get the things we want without the price getting too out of hand. But building is a big uncertainty, so we are considering a house plan with a development home builder, but since it would be on a large lot in a different neighborhood it would not seem as ‘cookie-cutter’.   This is one of the lots we are considering.

http://www.michaelsaunders.com/properties/property-detail/1508-80th-nw-st-bradenton-fl-34209/M5822884/

These are three of the floor plans we are considering.

http://houseplans.designsdirect.com/home-plan-details.asp?PlanNum=2284

http://www.homeplans.com/plan-detail/HOMEPW07702/three-bedroom-
http://nealcommunities.com/model.html?SubivisionID=122&SubdivisionModelID=600

Any feedback, thoughts, ideas or insights you might have will be welcomed and appreciated.
We will keep you posted…

We Made It!

Bob and I spent our last two days on the road, running ahead of, then waiting out, and dodging storms. We drove out of Knoxville early as the rain started, and stayed ahead of the storm all day.  It was a doosey - Knoxville got 5+ inches in 24 hours! 

We spent the night at a nice little RV park just north of Valdosta, GA. We had been passing fields of cotton during the trip and hoping we could pick some.  Luckily, just down the road from the RV park was a small field of cotton. This was the first time either of us had seen cotton growing up-close so we stopped and picked a few balls. It feels just like cotton except it has hard seeds in it. The plants also have flowering blossoms.

That evening we had dinner at Cheddars, a new favorite restaurant of ours. They have great food at even greater prices. Check and see if there is a location near you!

The next morning, there were HUGE storms approaching with high winds, thunder and lightening, so we hunkered down with the weather channel and waited for most of it to pass. It was a good decision as they lost power in parts of Valdosta just south of us, and we didn’t get much wind or heavy rain where we were.

We drove into Florida just before noon yesterday and stopped at the big welcome center for some free juice and brochures. What a great place. Bob and I both agree that I-75 is one of the best highways in the nation. The section from southern Georgia all the way to Tampa is in great shape, and they have nice rest areas in Florida about every 30 miles. Bob sampled a lot of the vending machines.

Lake in the RV park

We are getting settled into our new RV park in Bradenton, just north of Sarasota. We’ve got a shady spot and the neighbors seem nice. It’s still a little quiet around here as most people are gone until winter when it will be totally full. I enjoyed walking around the RV park’s lake today and checking out the birds. This evening we went to the beach for sunset and then celebrated with Bang Bang shrimp and drinks at Bonefish Grill – another favorite eatery. There are a few around the country.

Bob on the beach

Mary in the waves

Tomorrow Bob and I will celebrate our 4^th wedding anniversary in our new state. It’s exciting to be starting this new phase together. The next several months will be filled with researching neighborhoods, searching for houses, squeezing in some fun times at the beach, and maybe even working.  We have a one-year lease at the RV park, so we don’t have to rush. We will continue to post any blog-worthy news. Bye for now………

The Volunteer State

Mary and I spent a few days in Tennessee mostly visiting with friends and family. 

My niece Misty lives just south of Nashville.  She is a couple of years older than my son Matt.  Her second daughter was born six months before Matt’s first.  Matt and Misty have skied together a lot, both as kids and adults. Misty and her husband Adam have a great house just outside Franklin, TN and the two daughters seem to keep them pretty busy. It was great to spend an evening with them. 

While visiting Misty, we stayed at the Nashville KOA and got to see one of our favorite things – the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile.  Mary and I had previously looked in to being Wiener Ambassadors, but the website was looking for young energetic types - not geezers. 

Misty parents (Deb’s brother Mike and his wife Kathie) recently moved to Lenoir City, TN, just outside Knoxville (about three hours from Misty).  They had been stuck in Portales, NM and suddenly got the opportunity to move to the Knoxville area.  They have only been there for two weeks! 

The four of us got to play tourist in Knoxville on the day of the big game between the University of Tennessee Volunteers (Vols) and the University of Florida Gators.  Knoxville seems to be a fantastic medium sized city and the entire city was decked out in “Volunteer Orange”.  The color is exactly the same as the Home Depot orange, so I felt right at home.  We enjoyed the farmers market and historical area of the city, but it was especially exciting because it was so alive with people tailgating and having fun even 7-8 hours before game time.  Unfortunately Tennessee lost the game.

Mary has a friend that also recently moved to the area. Carie and Mary were flight attendants together at Northwest Airlines almost forty years ago.  Mary’s career was quite short, but Carie is just now retiring!  Carie and her husband Andy built a beautiful house on one of the many TVA lakes in the area about a year ago.  We had a very nice lunch with them, and even got to go out on their boat and experience the winding wooded Watts Bar Lake.

In fact, we learned that it is possible to boat all the way from eastern Tennessee to the Mississippi and then out to the ocean. A big surprise for us has been the abundance of navigable waterways throughout Arkansas, and Tennessee. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) built many dams starting in the 1930’s, largely to provide electricity and flood control.  Thanks to the convoluted topography, a side benefit is hundreds of miles of smooth waterways that provide animal habitats and a myriad of recreational and residential opportunities for the citizens and visitors of Tennessee.

Mary and I had thought of taking some more side trips before we head to Florida, but we are ‘getten’ ready to set up our home base in the Sarasota area. We can explore more of the Southeast later. So, tomorrow we will head down I-75, and after one more overnight stop we should be at Pleasant Lake RV Resort, our new home base for now.  

Memphis/Graceland

Bob and I spent an hour the morning we left Hot Springs getting another new tire put on Harriet. It seems that we are always in need of a tire, but at least Bob discovered an impending problem before it happened. We left town a little late, but we were safe.

As we traveled east, the hills and forests of Arkansas gave way to fields of rice, cotton and sugar cane. It was nice to see some new crops after so many miles of corn and soybeans in the Midwest. Did you know that 48% of the rice grown in the USA is grown here in Arkansas?  I didn’t. They call this area the Mid-South……hmmmmm. Seems like the North-South to me.

We camped at a nice RV park in West Memphis that is right on the Mississippi river. Bob really enjoyed watching the tugs pushing huge loads by at all hours of the day and night. The hum of those big engines is quite soothing. Unfortunately at night some plant that we can’t see must start up, because there has been quite a stench in the evening. It smells like cooking corncobs – yuck.  Both the shipping activity and the aromas reminded Bob a little of Tacoma.

Elvis's Living room

Paul Simon convinced me many years ago that I should go to “Graceland, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee” – so we went and it was wonderful. They have saved so many of Elvis’s personal things, gold records, clothes, airplanes and household items. The mansion is still just as it was when he died 35 years ago. We also visited his gravesite. Bob and I were reminded that Elvis stopped doing live performances for about nine years while he was staring in movies, but he made his big comeback with a TV Special in 1968 that put him firmly back into the music scene. He had a huge influence on the entire world of music.

Balcony where King was shot

Memphis is the city of museums, but there was only one that we really wanted to visit – The National Civil Rights Museum housed in the Lorraine Hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. We spent all afternoon there and it was truly amazing. Our country’s journey to civil rights lasted for hundreds of years, but the events of the 1960s finally brought some results. It’s often easy to look back and think that things happened so quickly, but the struggles of the 50’s and 60’s were a long and arduous series of victories, setbacks and victories. I am always blown away by the history of the 60s and today was no exception.

How do you compare Elvis Presley with Martin Luther King Jr.? They both had a huge influence on America and the world, and they both died way too early in Memphis. It was a day of great history and remembering these men and their struggles and accomplishments.

We finished our day in Memphis with a stroll down Beale Street and had drinks, gumbo, jambalaya and gator chips at a local joint. Fun stop!!

Hot, Hot, Hot Springs

Mary and I made it to Hot Springs Arkansas just in time for 100+ degree temperatures, we didn’t think it was too conducive to sitting in hot water, so we decided to check out the other things this area has to offer.  We were pleasantly surprised…a huge lake, crystal mines, mountains, forests, rivers, barbeque, music, motorcycles and even a presidential library.

Lake Ouachita

Mary has a friend that just moved to Hot Springs from Maui.  We connected with her and she was very gracious and gave us the inside scoop.  We rented a boat and spent an afternoon on Lake Ouachita (wash-i-ta) with Mary’s friend and her dog.  The lake has over 200 islands, 1000 miles of shoreline and nice clean water for swimming. 

We heard some great blues at the Ohio Club – a small nightclub that has beeb in continuous operation since 1905.  Hot Springs is a small city surrounded by a National Park that was first created as a national reserve (before the national park system was created).  The reserve was created to protect and provide public access to the natural hot water springs. The national park includes some trails on the hills surrounding the town, a 210 foot observation tower on one of the hills, and a string of architecturally significant historic bathhouses. Some are not in operation and one of them serves as the National Park visitor center. 

Downtown Hot Springs

After the weather cooled a bit, we visited two of the bathhouses. The Quapaw is the only one with communal pools so we started there since Mary and I like to sit in hot water together. The Buckstaff Bathhouse still carries out the traditional routine.  Mary and I were led off to separate men’s and women’s locker rooms where we disrobed and were given a sheet and a loofa.  An attendant then led us to a large 100 yr old porcelain tub filling with the magical natural hot water.  After a few minutes the attendant comes in and starts scrubbing you with the loofa!  Next stop is a steam cabinet – mine was like a closet, but Mary had the classic cabinet where your head sticks out and your body par-boils.  The steam was followed by a “needle shower” (sounds scary – but it’s just a lot of small jets of water spraying at you from all directions – but the piping does look like the same vintage as Frankenstein’s).  After a soothing hot towel and sheet wrap you get a 20-minute full body massage.  Mary’s massage was quite modern, but mine reminded me of those old boxing movies where the trainer slaps, pats and rubs vigorously. It was actually pretty good.

Clinton Museum

We took a side trip to Little Rock to check out the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum.  What a great place!  We were there the day after Bill’s speech at the Democratic convention. The library includes replicas of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room and had very well done displays chronicling the events, decisions and results of the Clinton years.  It also has a fabulous restaurant.

Mary and I drove 15 miles north of Hot springs to the Coleman Crystal Mine. They pile up the “tailings” of the mine and you can dig up your own crystals for a small fee.  We had planned to do some digging, but we found such reasonably priced stuff in the store that we skipped the digging and cleaning and bought a few lovely specimens. This area has many crystal mines and there are rock shops along several highways.

We stayed in Hot Springs for a week.  We found a very nice RV Park along the Ouachita River, but we also discovered that there are some great State Parks in the area.  The Arkansas State Parks are free for day use, and many of them have full RV hook-ups, and marinas with rental boats.  We visited Lake Catherine State Park in the early evening and found a free Bluegrass Concert, and the Rangers were making peach cobbler in a “dutch oven” and handing it out free to the audience.  What a nice touch!

We found some great BBQ at Stubby’s, good burgers at the Ohio Club and a fantastic wide-ranging menu at the Bleu Monkey Grill!  Food prices are also very reasonable in this part of the country.

When we were at Sturgis, SD we got there just after the Motorcycle Rally.  Well, we were here for the Hot springs Motorcycle Rally, and while it is not on the scale of Sturgis it was fun to see all the bikes and it gave us a small glimpse into what the Sturgis Rally must be like.

All in all, we really like the Hot Springs area and we’re sure we will visit again someday.  Oh yes!  I almost forgot to mention….Arkansas was the last state to fill up our map of the lower 48.  Mary and I cracked a small bottle of champagne and toasted as we placed the decal on our map.

We’re heading to Memphis tomorrow. 

Five states in a day

The route Bob and I drove from Nebraska City to Afton, Oklahoma, took us through five states in one day. The highways followed the Missouri river for quite some time and brought us from Nebraska into Iowa, then Missouri, Kansas, back into Missouri and then Oklahoma. It was a pleasant drive through rolling hills with oaks and a wide variety of deciduous trees. We were also amused as we passed lots of towns with familiar names – Miami, Pittsburg, Oregon, and Tia Juana. There are so many towns with the same name all over the country. We’ve already encountered quite a few Emersons, but no Getten City yet.

I have to give Iowa my A rating for their rest areas. They were frequent, clean, new, and each one had a different theme with lots of information.

Bob and I arrived at our RV park on the shore of the Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees in northeast Oklahoma just as they were setting up for a potluck dinner. The owners insisted we come, so we got a free dinner and enjoyed some conversation about Oklahoma and the full-time RV life.

Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees is a tremendous lake with 1,300 miles of shoreline. It is famous for fishing with many Bass tournaments throughout the year. There are also lots of blue herons, white egrets, gulls and this time of year, pelicans. It seems so odd to find what I consider “seabirds” in the middle of the country, but there they are.

We have been experiencing quite hot weather this week – about 104 today and more of the same predicted for tomorrow. Harriet’s air conditioner has been running non-stop for about ten hours today and we are so grateful. Even though it was hot we walked through the Bernice state park next door and visited their nature center that had great exhibits. I had quite the conversation there with a young girl who noticed my whale tail necklace and surmised that I wasn’t from around here.

We are off to Hot Springs, Arkansas tomorrow and will finally be able to put that last state sticker on our RV map. We will have visited all of the lower 48 in Harriet, fulfilling one of our goals when we set out in January of 2010.

Hobo, Grotto, Wind, Tires, Trails and Trees

When Mary and I left Minnesota, our plan was to head straight for Nebraska so we could fill in one of the three remaining states on our map of the lower 48, but we got side-tracked by some interesting diversions.  We spent the night in Iowa so we could experience…..

Britt, Iowa, the home of the annual Hobo Convention and Hobo museum.  The term Hobo comes from the greeting “Ho! Beau”, as men traveling for work would great each other during the great depression.  We also learned (from the brochure-the museum was not open when we came through) that the definition of a Hobo is “one who wanders and works”, whereas a Tramp is “one who wanders and dreams”, and a Bum is “one who neither wanders nor works”.  I guess Mary and I are Hobos aspiring to be Tramps, and hoping we don’t end-up Bums.

We visited the Grotto of the Redemption, a wonderful Catholic shrine built entirely of stones, petrified wood, stalactites, crystals and gems that were gathered throughout the western states.  Father Dobberstein gathered from 1900 to 1912 and then began a 40+ year obsession to build a very large rambling and strangely beautiful labyrinth of walkways and alters and caves to honor Jesus.  The site is literally out in the middle of nowhere (Iowa) and includes thirteen great statues made of Carrera Marble from Italy.  The grotto kind of reminded Mary and I of Coral Castle in Florida.  The adjacent church has a 300lb amethyst and a carved wooden alter with stained-glass windows from Germany.

We also learned that Iowa produces a greater percentage (20%) of its electrical energy from Wind than any other place on the planet, though they are not the largest producer of wind power in terms of total megawatts.  The wind blowing across Iowa seems almost constant, and there are very large windmills almost everywhere. There were also lots of semi’s carrying huge blades on I-80.

On our way to Nebraska City, one of the tires on Harriet separated. When this happens the tread rips off and sometimes can do great damage to the trailer. Luckily, only some of the lower sheet metal was bent and I was able to pull to the side of the road (I-80) safely.  Our motor club dispatched someone to put on our spare for us (it takes a pretty hefty jack), and we were on our way again in about one and one-half hours.  I was able to get a new tire and borrow a jack in Nebraska City to put it on in the RV park.

Nebraska City turns out to be a pretty interesting small (7,000 pop) town. We really enjoyed Parker’s BBQ – a must if you are ever here. The area was a prominent stop for Lewis and Clark, a major starting off point for the westward migration, and thanks to J Sterling Morton, a significant player in the country’s appreciation for trees. The Morton family settled just outside of Nebraska City on a large tract of grassland and proceeded to plant trees of numerous species.  The patriarch was the US’s first Secretary of Agriculture (under Grover Cleveland) and was the founder of Arbor Day.  A day to celebrate and plant trees, and as the literature points out, one of the few holidays that is not political, religious or commemorating some past event.  Arbor Day is a day to look to and invest in the future by planting a tree.  One of Morton’s sons went on to become the owner of the Morton Salt Company and another son, the Argo cornstarch company.

We visited a fairly new and well-done Lewis and Clark interpretive center that included some trails overlooking the Missouri River.  In a little over two years the expedition went from St Louis to the Pacific Ocean (and back!) via the Missouri, Snake and Columbia Rivers.  They recorded over 100 new plant and 122 animal species and learned of the migration of the salmon from the native cultures that they encountered.  We biked along a trail called the Steamboat Trace that ran along the western edge of the Missouri River (before it was channeled). The Missouri, as we learned, used to flow wide, up to 3 miles, and shallow along Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.  Spring floods added fertile silt to a broad stretch of “bottom land” and the river wandered a very curvy path before modern channelization and dredging deepened and straightened its course.

During the great westward migration from 1846-1866 Nebraska City was home to several “freighting” companies who would outfit the wagon trains with livestock and supplies for their journey on the Oregon, California or Mormon trials.  With the advent of the transcontinental railroad the overland route was obsolete and Nebraska City was no longer a major commercial transportation hub.

We successfully waited out hurricane Isaac up here in Nebraska and were able to learn a few things to boot!  We are heading out tomorrow to Oklahoma - another of our “not visited before” states.