The first thing in the morning I saw Ovi and asked him if he had gotten his therapeutic massage at the waterfall. He laughed and said he got in to about his knees and the water was so cold that his feet and legs felt like thousands of needles were sticking him so no. He did get a good run in though.
Today Fred, Rick and Kathy were teaching classes again, and Ovi continued his Tiger consulting business, so once again I felt inferior. One couple did want to talk to me about our approach to RV’ing in Europe so I did not feel completely useless.
The three musketeers of Colorado looking for mischief.
The three musketeers continued having a great time when they were not busy showing off their Tigers. Kathy was of course the busiest of the three as she is well known in Tiger circles.
The day ended with us all on the spur of the moment gathering at Denise and Fred’s truck for some Sangria, and wine. Travel tales were being told, as well as stories of our checkered past. Denise announced that we needed to eat before the effects of the altitude and the alcohol incapacitated us. She said she had the beginning of fajitas, Ton and Cory kicked in some more ingredients, everyone got to work (everyone being Denise, Fred, Ton and Cory, the rest of us guarded the wine) and in about a half hour fajitas were served. Thanks Denise it was a memorable meal and a wonderful evening.
A big part of the Tiger Rally are classes to help Tiger owners improve their RV’s. Today Rick and Denise gave a presentation on their travels in Europe over 5 1/2 years in their Tiger. Fred gave a class on how to improve the electrical systems on the Tigers and the basics of RV electrical systems. Meanwhile Ovi’s extraordinary talent gained thru years of refurbishing sailboats was in high demand. He ran from Tiger to Tiger showing owners how to practically improve their systems, and frequently pitching in and fixing something.
A group gathered for one of the many classes at the Tiger Rally.
Ton and Cory spent a lot of the day continuing to develop their friendship and setting off on tours of other Tigers, as well as showing people around their Tigers. At first they were both reluctant to have people in their Tigers and by the end of the day were happily giving tours to whoever showed up.
The beautiful waterfall near the Tiger Rally. Ovi swore standing under it would be medically beneficial as long as you can stand immersion in 35 degree water!
In the afternoon Ovi took a well deserved break to go on a hike with Ton and Cory and me to a waterfall we had heard about. The distance was unclear as everyone had a different opinion, but after a 40 minute hike with a decent climb we came upon the waterfall and it was beautiful and more impressive than I expected.
Rick and Kathy’s heater had died during the previous night and Ovi and another attendee named Garret decided to pitch in and see if they could help Rick get it working. Despite several hours of intense work it appears that the problem is electronic and not fixable in a field even by people of their talents.
While Rick, Ovi and Garret where tackling the heater, and I was standing around admiring them and feeling useless, Kathy, Cory, and Ton had repaired to Scout where they continued to forge their friendship. They had a wonderful time together and at the end of the night Kathy declared them the three musketeers. When Ovi and I went over to break them up because we were cold, they almost threw us out, but finally after vowing to find Sally in the morning (an inside joke that caused howls of laughter between them) everyone headed to their Tiger to get some sleep. Like Rick said if things never go wrong you do not have good stories to tell later.
We had some time before we could arrive at Camp Hale for the Tiger Rally, so we arranged to meet Rick and Kathy at the Safeway in Leadville at noon and headed into town to check things out.
The main street in Leadville with two Tigers parked and contributing to the local economy.
We wanted to spend a little more time walking the main street as Leadville is a charming town, and we felt it deserved some more of our attention. Ton was working her way up the street peaking into little shops with me in tow when we came upon Melanzana Outdoor Clothing. We stuck our head in to see what it was all about and were surprised to see that not only was it a store, but also the manufacturing site for the company. Ton is now the proud owner of a hoodie and a very nice running jacket manufactured in Leadville.
Rick and Kathy Howell posing in front of their extremely well traveled Tiger La Tortuga.
After a quick run thru Safeway to top off the fridge we followed Rick and Kathy out to Camp Hale to join the rally. We were very fortunate to be able to join up with Rick and Kathy as they were one of our main inspirations for our purchase of Scout and traveling around Europe in Francois. They have visited 5 continents and over 65 countries in their Tiger RV. Their blog, travelintortuga.com is a great read and I admire the guts and the perseverance they show as they navigate around the world. They kindly took us under their wing for this weekend and we really appreciate it.
The Tiger Rally is an annual gathering of owners of RV’s like Scout. Tigers have been produced since the late 80’s and the rally promised to have examples of nearly every type of Tiger ever produced. I was interested to see the different variations of the Tiger and to meet people who are traveling in ways similar to ourselves.
Cory and Ovi new friends we met at the Tiger Rally.
After we arrived at the rally and picked a place Rick came over and told Ton and me he wanted to introduce us to a couple he had been corresponding with over the last couple of months who he thought we would like. Cory and Ovi are sailors who have been traveling the world for years by boat. Their boat is currently in Montenegro, and like us they can’t get to it because of Covid. Cory and Ton immediately hit it off like long lost friends. Ovi and I also found we had similar views on traveling and life. Rick was absolutely right that we like them, so once again we owe Rick and Kathy for introducing us to new friends.
We spent the 9th preparing to get back on the road. In the morning we went out to fill Scouts refrigerator and made another Costco run. Tak and To continued their great hospitality by taking us out to a last dinner at a Korean restaurant as well as visiting another brewery.
Thank you Tak and To for a wonderful visit to Colorado.
Today we were up pretty early as it was time to head out from Tak and To’s place. They have been incredible hosts and we really appreciate them putting us up and showing us Colorado Springs. It was a great visit.
US-24 may not be an official scenic highway, but Ton thought it was very scenic.
After we left we took a beautiful drive from Colorado Springs to Leadville on US-24. The road from Colorado Springs to Buena Vista is not officially a scenic highway, but Ton said while it may not be an official scenic highway, it was a scenic highway in her books. At one point there are 5 14,000 foot plus mountains in front of you and it is spectacular. The road from Buena Vista to Leadville is an official scenic highway and we enjoyed it immensely, though Ton wasn’t as sure it was as scenic as the earlier parts of the road.
There are 5 14,000 foot peaks that make for great vistas.
Our purpose in arriving in Leadville so early were to meet two other couples. Rick and Kathy Howe have taken a Tiger RV over 5 continents and have visited 65 countries. They are one of the inspirations for our current travels. Fred and Denise Cook helped us when we were deciding on purchasing Scout and we have gotten many ideas for technical improvements to our RV’s from them.
The old hotel in Leadville. It is an interesting old gold mining town that has a cool vibe to it.
After hooking up in Leadville we headed out for lunch at a Cuban Restaurant. The food was good and we began what would turn out to be a fun afternoon of exchanging ideas for improving our trucks and travel stories.
Parked up for the night on BLM land above Leadville. The truck on the left belongs to Fred and Denise.
After lunch we decided to convoy out to the country above Leadville and find a place to boondock for the night together. The three of us parked together and then spent the rest of the afternoon sharing experiences traveling. It was fascinating to hear Rick and Kathy’s stories of traveling around Africa and Europe. Fred is a former US Ambassador who served throughout the world and he and Denise also have very interesting stories of there travels throughout Latin America and Africa.
The wildflowers were out in force where we parked.
We finished the day with a dinner. The final highlight was singing Fred happy birthday and sharing some cake before turning in for the night.
I decided to lump two days into one for this post. On the 7th we spent a lot of the day shopping, and being lazy around Tak and To’s house. We did have a nice late lunch at a very good German restaurant, and finished the day at very good brewery for a round.
I am babysitting Timber while he wonders where his owners are off to.
We had a big day planned for the 8th as To was really excited to take us to Pikes Peak. It is the most famous landmark in Colorado Springs and maybe Colorado.
Climbing to the viewpoint at 12,700 feet.
Pikes Peak is a 14,000 foot mountain that overlooks Colorado Springs. It is famous for having a road to the top of the mountain. It is one of the highest roads in North America. They are working on the last stretch of road so we could only go to the 12,700 foot mark but that is plenty high enough as the air was quite thin.
A view of the road and some of the switchbacks.
The road as you can imagine is quite steep and there are multiple switchbacks particularly after you rise above the treeline. The road is also used by bicyclists though we saw only one group going up. Several tours take bicyclists to the top and have them ride down where they can reach some pretty high speeds. There is an automotive race called the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb where the current record for covering the 20 kilometers is 7 minutes and 57 seconds set by a VW electric car in 2018. It is considered the most dangerous automotive race in North America because in addition to the elevation change you have to negotiate 156 turns most of which have no guard rails if you miss the turn.
Looking to the top of Pikes Peak from the brake temperature checkpoint, that conveniently has a gift shop you can spend money in while waiting for your brakes to cool down.
We took a much more leisurely pace going up and down. After about 3 miles coming down, you have to go thru a check point where they check the temperature of your breaks and if it exceeds 300 degrees you have to pull over and let them cool off before you can continue going down. To did a good job of using his low gear and we passed the check easily.
The entrance to the Broadmoor hotel.
After a lunch at the bottom of Pikes Peak we headed over to the Broadmoor hotel which is one of the great hotels of the American west. When we pulled up to the hotel the security guard was frankly a jerk, but we went in anyway. The place is immense and luxurious. Timber particularly enjoyed himself as there was a lot of grass to run on, a big pond to attempt to pull To into, and lots of nice people to interact with.
One of the several room towers at the Broadmoor. The height of luxury.
Ton and I enjoyed a quick walk around the grounds. The grounds are immense and well manicured. Our days of thinking of staying at a place like this are over. But once in a while it is fun to hobnob with the rich.
Looking towards the pool.
We finished the day with a trip to Costco where Ton and I felt like we were back in our proper element!
We had a nice quiet day. The morning was spent taking care of some chores including giving Scout a bath to try to knock a couple of thousand miles of bugs off of the front of Scout. After about 20 minutes and $20 in a car wash I declared it good enough.
In the afternoon we went to a local lake to take a walk. About half way thru the walk we saw a large thunderstorm bearing down on us and got back to the car just as it hit. The volume of rain from the storm was indeed impressive and made the ride home a bit of adventure as the roads were flooding.
The highlight of the day was a group watch of the US-Mexico final of the Nations league. It was a wild 3-2 victory that had just about everything you could wish in a soccer game. By the time it ended everyone was ready for bed.
The last few days have been focused on Canyons. So when Tak and To suggested we visit the Royal Gorge we were up for it. The Royal Gorge is formed by the Arkansas River and is about 1200 feet deep but very narrow, in some places as narrow as 50 feet at the base and only 300 feet across at the top. The local town has developed a tourist spot at one of the more scenic spots. It is pretty comprehensive with relatively mild attractions like a tramway and a very high suspension bridge, to thrill seeking attractions such as a zip line across the canyon and a human catapult that shoots you out into the canyon on giant rubber bands.
The suspension bridge across the Royal Gorge. A sightseeing train runs on the track below next to the Arkansas River.
We opted for the mild attraction of the tramway and a walk across the bridge. The tramway took about three minutes to cross the gorge, but it was enough for me as I am not too fond of heights. Ton was too focused on taking pictures to get nervous, and was a little surprised when we got to the end.
The tramway near the center of the gorge.
Once on the other side we watched the more adventurous people do the zip line across. You are strapped onto a carrier in a sitting position, and after you are released you go across the canyon at a pretty good speed. The other ride for the adventurous is a catapult that shoots you out into the canyon. It will hold two people, and everyone who took the ride screamed. Our favorite line from the day was hearing a girls voice telling the person next to her to “open your eyes” as they bounced back and forth over a 1000 foot canyon on a giant rubberband.
The giant catapult that launches people out over the Royal Gorge. Definitely not for the faint of heart.
We recrossed the gorge on the decidedly unexciting suspension bridge. But it was enough for us, as it had a little bit of movement, and the floor of the bridge was wooden planks, with occasional small gaps that you could look down into the gorge thru. It was plenty of excitement for us. It is one of the highest suspension bridges in North America and the views of the gorge were spectacular.
The suspension bridge across Royal Gorge.
After the excitement of Royal Gorge we headed out for a nice lunch at a Catholic Abby nearby that also produced wine. Getting in was a little complicated by Covid Rules, but once in we had a nice relaxing lunch while enjoying the monks wine. In Thailand when you donate food or money to a monk it is called “making merit”, so today we decided that by purchasing the monks product we were supporting the monks and it counted as “making merit”.
The product of Holy Cross Abby.
Later we joined Tak and To as they took Timber the labradoodle to a local dog park. Being dog lovers, but not owners we enjoyed watching the dogs play with each other. Timber took his fun a little too far when he found a large mud puddle and decided that was more fun than other dogs. By the time To coaxed him out of the puddle he was thoroughly soaked and a little muddy, but quite happy and obviously proud of himself.
Tak and To began our day touring Colorado Springs by taking us to the Garden of the Gods City Park. It has been a park in the city since 1909. It has some great spire formations caused by erosion of the red rocks in the area. Ton had a great time taking pictures and catching up with Tak. To and I also caught up mostly on sports and life in Colorado Springs.
Looking thru a couple of natural doors to Colorado Springs.
I have to admit that I didn’t know how big Colorado Springs was. The area is over 500,000 people and To was telling me that as the city has grown and Denver has expanded that the two cities now are almost connected. Like Portland it is a very young and outdoors oriented city.
The park was pretty busy today. To says it gets much busier during the tourist season.
Our lunch stop was a converted elementary school that now features a brewery, distillery, and a couple of restaurants. They are still asking that people wear masks inside, but it is not being enforced. I think we are at a transition period where mask wearing is optional and few businesses or government agencies are enforcing mask rules even where they exist. The beer was excellent and we had Detroit Style Pizza that was quite good.
Our last stop was in the downtown area at a warehouse building that had been converted to several small restaurants and one large brewery. Tak opted for a small desert from a bakery in the building, and we all opted for one more beer at the brewery. To told me that this area was quite run down in the past, but had recently gentrified. The local soccer team which is in the second division just opened their new stadium in this area. The combination of the new restaurants and the stadium had resulted in the area now being an attractive place to live for younger people.
After that we headed home to check on the kids and the dog. Tak and To have a new Goldendoodle dog. He is quite energetic and I enjoy playing with him. So Timber and I spent the rest of the day entertaining each other while Ton and Tak continued to catch up.
We started our day by heading over to the Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo. The Cadillac Ranch is a work of art that was placed near the old Route 66 in the late 60’s by what one of the local websites described as a group of displaced hippies from California. It is a bunch of 1950’s Cadillacs half buried in a field and has been a landmark for the Amarillo area since it was finished. The cars in the field are the original cars. We were not sure what to expect as we drove to the location. We expected a tourist trap, but were pleasantly surprised that it was pretty much what it was in the beginning. You pulled over on the shoulder of the road and walked out into a field to the Cadillacs. No tourist trap, no one charging you, just a bunch of people experiencing the art. You are now encouraged to bring a can of spray paint with you so that you can personally contribute to the work, so the area around the cars is littered with spray paint cans. We thought that was untidy until we realized that people were leaving partially full cans of paint so others could use them. Someone in Amarillo is doing a bumper business selling paint cans.
The recent rain had made all but one Cadillac unreachable due to mud.
Our next stop was Colorado Springs, we were cruising along backroads in the panhandle of Texas when Scouts dashboard lit up like a Christmas Tree with warnings about the stability system, the ABS braking system, and the tow braking, basically anything to do with stopping the truck had supposedly failed. Despite the dire looking dashboard there did not seem to be anything wrong with the brakes on Scout. Ton googled the closest Chevrolet dealer as I drove along looking at all the various warnings. Luckily there was a dealer in the next town we were coming to which was only 5 minutes away. When we arrived I described the problem and the service manager grabbed a portable diagnostic machine, he also warned me that he was booked solid for a week. He ran the diagnostic and said it looked like the ABS system had an electrical problem which triggered the cascade of warnings. When he restarted Scout the ABS appeared to be functioning normal and it may have just been a quick glitch in the computer that caused the warnings. He pronounced Scout safe to drive to Colorado Springs and said we may not see the warnings ever again. We drove another 200 miles that day and did not get any new warnings so hopefully it was just a glitch.
As we crossed into Colorado we saw our first bear crossing road warning. Ton wondered if it was really a problem. Unfortunately a few miles down the road we realized it was, as we saw a freshly killed black bear on the side of the road, and a fairly heavily damaged car on the shoulder being attended to by a State Trooper.
We have now arrived at our friends Tak and To’s house another set of old friends from Portland that we have not seen since before Covid. We are looking forward to spending a few days with them exploring Southern Colorado.
Watching this storm roll in was pretty cool. Particularly since it did not turn out to be as bad as it looked.
Our day got off to a later start than planned due to the weather. When I went out for the first time the skies were blue all around us and I thought we would have a nice day to travel. After I brewed the morning coffee I went outside to begin breaking down the water and electricity and the sky to the north west was really ominous. Dark billowing clouds were down to ground level and moving fast towards us. I stood outside mesmerized for a few minutes watching the storm approach. Our neighbors stuck their heads outside looked at the storm approaching, shrugged and said “Texas” and went back inside. I also decided that was a good indication for me to go in Scout too. It was a pretty good storm but fortunately blew thru in about a half an hour so we were not too delayed.
Our first stop the Big Texan. A very touristy restaurant.
Our destination for today was Amarillo in the panhandle of Texas. We had two stops in mind for Amarillo, the Big Texan Steak House, and Palo Duro State Park which bills itself as the Grand Canyon of Texas.
This guy finished his 72oz steak with 14 minutes to spare.
We had stopped at The Big Texan on a previous trip traveling from east to west, and we both had fond memories of it as a fun place. It is a real tourist destination. The draw is a 72oz steak challenge. If you can eat the 72oz steak, a salad, and a side dish in one hour you get the steak for free. Those who take on the challenge are put on a stage and introduced to the restaurant before the clock starts. While we were there one guy succeeded in finishing the meal in 44 minutes, though he did not look like he particularly enjoyed the experience. By the way if you fail to finish, the steak costs you $72. Ton and I enjoyed our much smaller steaks and had enough left over to have another meal later.
A pavillion at Palo Duro State with the canyon wall in the background.
The main attraction for the day was Palo Duro State Park. Palo Duro Canyon is the second longest canyon in the US after the Grand Canyon. It stretches over 120 miles following the Prarie Dog Town Fork (a cool if long name) of the Red River. It is not nearly as deep as the Grand Canyon but quite beautiful. The state park is located near Amarillo. When we checked in they told us all of the hiking trails were closed due to the recent heavy rains. The campground was nice but we could see the effect of the rains with some campsites with standing water, and others showing signs where water had flashed across the site.
All of the rain has the cactus flowers blooming.
We took a drive along the loop road in the canyon, and there were some nice views. It is about 800 to 1000 feet from the canyon floor where we were to the top, it was pretty but not super impressive compared to the Grand Canyon and the Snake River Canyon on the Oregon/Idaho border which are both much deeper.
The one place we could get off the road was a short walk to a cave.
We settled in for the night and had a conversation with our neighbors who had lived in the Portland area for 30 years before retiring to Texas to be with their daughters. As it turns out one of the daughter is now moving back to Oregon for work so they told us they would be going back to visit soon.
We reluctantly left our friends Pae and Supachai today. Every time we visit them we have a great time and they are wonderful hosts. Supachai proudly told us that during our 3 days visiting Austin we walked over 50,000 steps. So we burned off a good portion of all of the food we ate.
We are now heading north towards Colorado so that we can visit more friends in Colorado Springs. We picked Abilene because I remember it from some westerns and it had an Air Force base to stay on. The drive was entirely backroads from Bees Cave so we enjoyed watching the land change from the hills around Austin to the flat prarie of the Texas panhandle.
Dyess Air Force base is the home of the B-1 bomber.
After arriving a little early at the Air Force base we killed some time doing some grocery shopping and splurged on some high tech beer coozies made by Yeti. We saw their headquarters in Austin and they are famous for making world class insulated containers. The “coldster” coozie is supposed to keep an open beer cold for over an hour in 100 degree heat. We will give a product report later.
A good sized coyote looking for something to eat. He wasn’t at all interested or intimidated by me.
Near the end of the day I asked Ton if she wanted to go down and look at the airplane display on the base. They had about 30 different airplanes on display from WWII to the present. They have a mix of very common airplanes as well as some rare aircraft. She passed because she wanted to relax, so I went by myself. The airplanes were nice but I was also treated to a wildlife display of Coyotes and wild Turkeys. Except for the mosquitos it was an interesting walk.
One of the coyotes was stalking these turkeys when I walked up and spooked him off.
Today was a relaxing day exploring Austin with our friends Pae and Supachai. We began by visiting the original Whole Foods store in downtown Austin. While Ton knew that Whole Foods was from Austin I did not. They had a huge hot food bar there which became brunch for us. The food is trendy and aimed at a much lower demographic than us. I spent about 10 minutes looking for a plain orange juice. I found Kombucha, Keto, and a lot of mixtures of juices from plants that didn’t sound very good to me, though I was assured they were very good for me. I finally gave up on orange juice and settled for water.
Part of the holiday crowd on Lake Lady Bird.
Part of Pae and Supachai’s weekend routine is a walk around Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin. The Lake is a prominent green space in downtown formed by damming part of the Colorado River. It is a really nice urban space and both the walkways along the lake and the lake itself are very well used for exercise and recreation by the people of Austin. We covered about 5 miles watching families swimming in the lake, dodging bicyclists and joggers, and observing groups of kayakers and paddle borders going up and down the lake. Ton and Pae lagged behind most of the time as they chatted and caught up on life. Supachai and I are always amazed how long they can talk without running out of things to say.
A Quiddich game in the central park in Austin. Part of the “Keep Austin Weird” campaign.
Finding a place for lunch was difficult as both locals and tourists were out in force. We ended up in a trendy hamburger place where we had to wait in line for 45 minutes to get our seat in a packed restaurant. As I said yesterday in Austin people are trying to return to normal. Hopefully, it is not too soon.
No social distancing at the swimming hole.
The rest of the day was spent shopping for some groceries to stock Scout and our friends fridge. We arrived home just in time for me to watch the Timbers get crushed by Philadelphia 3-0.
Austin is a vibrant young city and we have enjoyed our stay here. The economy is largely driven by tech companies who are setting up second campuses here because of the cost of housing in California. Supachai commented that he and Pae are often the oldest people in the restaurants they go to, since Ton and I are slightly older than them we have been looking for someone who looks older than us, so far without success.
A part of the riverfront trail in Austin. It was quite busy, and greener than we expected in Texas.
Pae and Supachai wanted to show us some more sites downtown and a couple of more restaurants. As we were arriving downtown traffic was being diverted away from the main street and was quite backed up. As today is Memorial Day we suspected some special event was taking place on the street. Supachai said he knew a place we could park and have a nice walk downtown. We covered another stretch of the river walk downtown, this time on a stretch that was largely on a platform above the river.
Not a famous soldier, or a cowboy, but Stevie Ray Vaughn a great guitarist from Austin.
As we walked Pae and Supachai discussed where to have lunch and could not come to an agreement on a single restaurant. So they compromised by telling us we were going to have two light lunches at two of their favorite places. So to make up for eating two lunches we walked a little further and came to the cause of the traffic jam earlier. Today was the Austin Triathlon and we found the finish line.
Pae and Supachai and a giant Mimosa. Thanks for your hospitality.
Our first lunch was at a famous fried chicken place called Gus’ Fried Chicken. The chicken was excellent and worth the 45 minute wait to get in. Second lunch took place about an hour later at a German style beer hall on Rainey Street which is an area of the city known for restaurants and food carts. Ton and I split a bratwurst. We were definitely the oldest people in the extensive beer hall.
The highest point in Austin county.
Our tour of Austin was not complete we went to Mt. Austin which is the highest point in Austin County at 760 feet. The view of the Colorado River and the expensive houses along the river was nice and expansive.
This peacock put on a full display for the tourists.
The final stop of the tour was a beautiful gardens near Mt. Austin. The highlight was a flock of peacocks in the garden. As we got in the car Supachai announced there was one more stop, we were going to pick up Chinese take out for dinner.
This peacock in the tree and another on the roof of a house taught me that peacocks can fly.
Today we had a nice tour of Austin. Our friends Supachai and Pae spent the day taking us around town. We visited the local “yacht club” which is located on a reservoir in the hills above Austin. It is quite a drop down to the reservoir and the yacht club has installed a funicular to help you get up and down. The boats are not quite up to what we saw in Monaco, but there were some nice ones.
Part of the brewery complex.
Our next stop was lunch at the largest brewery I have ever seen. They say everything is bigger in Texas, and in the case of this brewery I will have to agree. Ton and I split a hamburger and tried a beer. They were both excellent. The place was very crowded. The local High Schools are having there graduations this weekend and there were a number of families with the graduates in their robes there for a celebratory meal.
Both of the breweries we have visited have had re-purposed Airstreams. The first brewery had converted theirs into a bathroom, this one had been converted to a mobile beer dispenser.
We decided to take a siesta for the afternoon which allowed me to watch Chelsea beat Man City in the Champions League final. Unfortunately, the game was a little boring from a neutral perspective, though I suspect the fans of Chelsea and Man City were on pins and needles.
Gulf of Mexico oysters on the half shell with your choice of American or Thai sauce to flavor them.
Supachai suggested a Thai/American seafood fusion restaurant for dinner. It was excellent and the owner has done a good job of merging the two foods without compromising on the flavors. The somtum (papaya salad) was excellent and authentic to the Thai tastes.
The back of the state capitol building.
After dinner we headed to downtown Austin to experience the nightlife. We started by taking a walk around the state capitol grounds. It is one of the larger state capitols befitting the size of Texas. The building is built of a pink granite and silhouetted against the sunset was quite beautiful. The amount of security around the doors to the building was striking though the grounds remained open to the public.
6th street in Austin just as the police were closing it to traffic to allow it to become a pedestrian zone.
Our last stop for the evening was 6th street which is where the younger crowd goes for nightlife. It is a four block area with over 40 bars featuring all kinds of live music. We arrived just as the police were putting up barriers to close the street and convert it to pedestrian only. We were going to go in to one of the bars, but Ton had left her purse at home and did not have an ID to prove she was 21 so we could not get in anywhere!
The most striking thing today was the crowds. This is the first post covid shot holiday and people are returning to normal behavior. The crowds downtown were dense and no one was making an attempt to social distance. Some people were wearing masks outside but they were in a distinct minority.
Today was the shortest drive of the trip, and very nearly a disaster. On the 48 mile trip to our friends Pae and Supachai we were following a pick up truck down a two lane road with a center third lane to make left turns, a common set up on busy two lane roads in Texas. The truck was traveling at about 45 mph on a road with a 70 mph speed limit and had his emergency flashers on because of the slow speed. We ended up following him for about 5 miles, and were the first vehicle behind him, immediately behind us was a semi-truck, and behind the semi were 8 or 10 cars.
Coming to an intersection the pick up truck pulled into the center lane which is used for left turns. Just as I went to pass him on the right, he swung in front of me from the center lane and turned right. I initiated a full brake panic stop and swerved to the right and just missed him. The semi-truck behind us also went into full panic stop and swerved left to miss us, but caught the left corner of our bumper, and scrapped the paint on the back of the house on Scout.
We pulled Scout over to the shoulder and the truck driver pulled his rig in behind us to look at the damage. The guy who caused the accident slowed down for a few seconds after he heard the semi hit us, but decided to not stop. The only significant damage was to our aluminum bumper that we mount two storage bumpers on. It had a hole punched in it from one of the lugs from the wheel of the truck. Unfortunately it is a specialized bumper and expensive to replace.
Jaime the truck driver then told me that he needed to call the police because as a commercial vehicle he needed a police report for the accident and could not just exchange insurance information. We waited on the side of the road for about 20 minutes and a sheriff showed up. He took a quick look at things, and then told us that because it was a commercial vehicle accident the investigation had to be done by a State Trooper. He called the Texas State Police and asked for a trooper who was dispatched from San Angelo. The sheriff explained that San Angelo was about 45 minutes away, apologized and left Jaime and I there to wait on our own.
It turns out Jaime is a really nice guy, and we had a wide ranging conversation from the stupidity of the guy who had us talking to each other on the side of the road in Texas, to what it was like to drive a semi-truck, to climate change. He did say one thing that got my attention, he had just dropped his load and his trailer was empty, he said if he had been full he probably would have hit us square on, because he would not have been able to slow down, or maneuver fast enough under load to almost miss us.
The Texas State Trooper eventually arrived, took our statements, assessed that neither of us were at fault for the accident, but that the pick up truck was the cause. He provided us with the accident report and after an hours delay were on our way.
The goatherd at the Jester King brewery near Austin.
We spent the rest of the day with our friends Pae and Supachai. They took us to a nice barbeque restaurant for lunch. After lunch we went to a local brewery which is on a working farm. As part of the farm the brewery keeps a herd of about 60 goats, we got a treat as the goats were out of their pen and working in a field. I met my first goatherd ever, and he told us about the hierarchy among the goats, the alpha is a female, and even the bigger male goats do not mess with her.
A slight correction to yesterdays post about the wildflowers. There are two flowers that look similar the Indian Blanket I talked about yesterday and this flower called a Mexican Hat. Both are really beautiful.
We finished the day by cooking some steaks on the back porch of Pae and Supachai’s house during a big thunderstorm. It was a nice relaxing way to end an unexpected stressful day.
We really enjoyed Pecan Valley RV Park so we kind of lingered around in the morning enjoying a cup of coffee. Just as we were finally getting around to packing up the owners came by to ask how we enjoyed our stay. Even though they were getting ready for their first big weekend of the year they took the time to have a nice conversation about traveling. Their operation is really first class and the atmosphere is really relaxing. I hope we are back thru the area again in the future so we can enjoy another stay in Pecan Valley.
Reluctantly leaving Pecan Valley. Ton made me stop to shoot the sign on the right side.
We had a relatively short drive today of just under 100 miles. We have talked about this in the past but one of the biggest differences between traveling in Europe and the US is the distances. In Europe a 100 mile day would be a fairly big move, in the US we consider it a short hop. Also today the majority of the trip was on back roads which is much more enjoyable.
One of many fields covered in the Indian Blanket wild flower.
The wild flowers are blooming and we have really been taken with a flower called Indian Blanket. The fields all over are covered with them and they are really quite beautiful.
We arrived at our next stop pretty early so we decided to get out and explore the area a little before settling in. The Texas hill country has some wineries so we picked the highest rated one near us and headed over. As we pulled up the winery looked really nice so we were pretty excited.
Art from the tasting room.
The tasting room was also first class and would have fit in any of the wine regions on the west coast. We were really interested to see what the Texas take on wine was going to be and what grape varietals would work in the hot humid temperatures here. So after tasting the first white we asked the server where they sourced the grapes and what varietals grew in Texas. We were quite disappointed when she responded that the white grapes were from California and the red grapes were from Washington. The wines were drinkable but on the whole mediocre. However, the tasting fee was on par with some of the very best wineries in Walla Walla (an upscale Washington vino cultural area), and more than the fees we paid in the Yakima Washington area where we suspect they source the grapes. So our first Texas wine tasting was a bit of a bust.
The marina next to our campground for the night.
They lock the gates at the military facility we are staying on at 6pm, so we hustled back for an early dinner. After dinner we took a walk down to the lake next to the campground. It was really quiet here tonight though they are expecting a big crowd tomorrow for the Memorial Day weekend.
We knew as we lingered in New Mexico that we were going to have to cover a lot of miles in one day at some point. So we decided today was the day to get that out of the way. We jumped across West Texas covering 550 miles today almost all on I-10. As long days go it was not too bad, traffic was reasonable and the weather was mild. West Texas looked pretty empty and dry, it is not the most visited part of the state, but I am sure if we had more time we could find a lot of interesting things to do there
The pecan orchard next to our campsite for the night. If you look very closely in the back center of the photo are two deer.
We are now in what is called the hill country of Texas as our neighbors told us. Originally I had a place in mind that sounded reasonable but bare bones. The more we talked about it we decided to see if there were any alternatives. Ton came up with a place called Pecan Valley RV park. It is a beautiful place located on a Pecan Orchard next to the Llanos River. When we arrived the owners met us and showed us to our spot, they offered us some candied pecans to sample and told us they had more for sale if we were interested, we now have a pound. The owners have free range chickens running around and goats penned. They have a couple of deer feeders on site that somehow dispatches food for the deer at a set time. The deer are now well trained to show up at 5pm and 6pm for their evening feedings.
Some of the deer who came into the campground for their evening feed. The two in the foreground were much more interested in munching on the bush by the downed tree than whatever the feeder was giving.
After a long day we sat down with a beer and had our dinner while watching 16 deer grazing and gamboling around 100 yards from scout. It was a great end to a long day of driving.
Today we visited the newest National Park in the United States. White Sands National Park was designated a National Park last year, prior to that it had been a National Monument since the 1930’s. The upgrade means more funding for infrastructure.
The drive over was a relatively easy 250 miles on I-25. Traffic was light and more importantly there were no 35 mph cross winds. The last 30 miles are thru the White Sands Missile Testing Facility run by the Army. The park is surrounded by the missile testing facility and is sometimes closed due to missile testing.
No it is not snowing, that is the gypsum sand in the National Park.
We arrived at the visitors center right off the main road and our first impression was a little underwhelming. The sand was white, but it was full of the normal desert scrub brush so it was interesting but not impressive. After getting our park passport stamped we headed in on the entrance road and came into the real park and it was indeed impressive.
The dunes are up to 100 feet high.
The white sand is caused by the erosion of gypsum deposits on the surface. There are two places like this in the Chihuahua Desert the one here and a national park in Mexico.
The mounds in the center are solid gypsum, the dunes are caused by the erosion of the solid gypsum.
The gypsum deposits cover 250 square miles here. The dunes are incredibly bright and if you stay here a while you need to take care of your eyes because the light is so intense it can cause temporary blindness.
The road is down to the surface gypsum. It must be a constant battle to keep it clear from the dunes in the fore front.
The gypsum has a really different texture to it, it feels more like talcum powder than sand. It is also a little easier to walk on than sand, as it seems to support our weight better. Also because the white reflects the sun the ground is cooler than regular sand. One of the fun activities here is to sand sled, sliding down the hills on Frisbee like sleds.
These Yucca Cactus have taken root in the dunes. We were lucky as many of the Yuccas were flowering. The flowers are edible, and supposedly delicious when fried with an egg.
Despite the inhospitable environment there is a surprising amount of plant and wild life in the park. Many of the plants have adapted to grow quickly when they are covered by sand so they can return to the surface.
King of the hill.
The newest national park is a great addition to the system. We hope in the future that they develop a campground in the park as it would be really cool to camp right in the sand for a couple of nights. Right now camping is limited to tents. I am guessing that one of the reasons there is no camping is due to the surrounding missile testing range.
We had visited Santa Fe about 15 years ago and we had very pleasant memories of it. It was the original city in what became New Mexico and has been the capital of the region for over 300 years under both the Spanish, Mexican , and US governments. It has a rich cultural heritage and some very interesting architecture near its central plaza.
A colorful set of mailboxes in Madrid.
There are two ways to get from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. In the morning we opted for the Turquoise Trail Scenic Highway. We seek out the roads that have been named Scenic Highways and have had great experiences traveling these roads so we were excited to try another one. About halfway on the highway was a town called Madrid which was described as an old coal mining town that had been converted into an artists colony after the mine closed. Madrid was an interesting stop with a lot of homes that had been converted into artist and artisan studios. We enjoyed a walk around the town. Unfortunately the pandemic seems to have hit the town pretty hard as about 25% of the shops were closed and had for sale signs in the windows.
One of the many small shops in Madrid, this one sells handmade cowboy boots.
The first half of the Turquoise Trail into Madrid had been unimpressive, so we assumed the scenic part would start after Madrid. We were disappointed, this is the least scenic, scenic highway we have traveled on in the US.
The church in Los Cerrillos a small town on the Turquoise Trail.
New Mexico is famous for it’s green and red chile salsas particularly the green chile salsa. Fortunately for us our neighbors for the first two nights were native New Mexicans and they told us that their favorite restaurant was called La Choza and that they ate their every couple of weeks. After a bit of an adventure finding a legal place to park Scout we arrived at La Choza about 12:30pm thinking we had missed the lunch rush only to be told the wait would be 30 to 45 minutes. Ton had enchiladas with green and red chile, and I had a combo plate of a chile relleno, and a dish I had never heard of called Carne Adovada. It was all delicious and the spice level was high enough to even impress Ton. The Carne Adovada was pork mixed with chile sauce, oregano, and secret spices. It was delicious and Ton enjoyed the sauce enough to compare it favorably with a Thai dish which is a high complement.
Ton remembered this shop from our last trip and it was just as nice this time.
I received some ideas on where we could park Scout within reasonable distance of old town from the waiter, and we were off to see if our memories of Santa Fe would stand the test of time. While Santa Fe had clearly undergone a pretty good growth spurt since we were last here, the old town retained its charm and won us over again.
This is a statue of the first Native North American Saint.
We finished the day with a quick stop at Santa Fe brewing and the Costco in Albuquerque.
We slept in today. Between the long drive and the wind yesterday we were pretty worn out. As we were working on breakfast I realized that today was the end of the Premier League season, so a quick search of the TV and we found the Liverpool game. Our morning was set, we sat back enjoyed our coffees and watched the game.
The Sawmill Market was a restored historic building with a bunch of cool restaurants.
After the game was over we decided to head into the old town in Albuquerque. When we parked Scout on a side street we saw an interesting place up the street called the Sawmill Market. We decided to check it out and it is a historic building that has been converted into a bunch of restaurants and small food shops. It really reminded Ton of similar places we have seen in Europe, particularly one in Lyon, and another in Turin. We were tempted to try a couple of the restaurants but were holding out for a special dinner we had planned later.
Ton loved this combination of the adobe building, roses and the window with bars in the old town of Albuquerque.
The town was founded by the Spanish in 1706. The old town is built around a typical Spanish colonial square with small roads branching off of it. The old town is full of artist galleries, tourist stores, and restaurants. It is a nice walk and the old adobe buildings are interesting to look at.
This church dates from the late 1700’s and is made of adobe. It replaced the original church which was built in 1706.
We popped into the Catholic Church which was built in the 1790’s. It is a Spanish Mission style church made of adobe. The walls of the church are over 5 feet thick to help keep it cool during the hot summer. While it is small compared to the giant cathedrals we have been seeing in Europe, we were quite taken with it.
Ton loves cactus and this flowering one was lovely. She also liked the mariachi’s on the roof of the restaurant.
One of our friends in Oregon takes care of our mail when we travel. She lived in Albuquerque about 25 years ago, and when we told her that we were visiting Albuquerque she told us her favorite Chinese Restaurant in the US is here. As she is from Taiwan we took that as a good recommendation. We had planned to go there for a late lunch but they did not open until 3 pm, so it turned into an early dinner. When we arrived a little before 3 we were the only customers, but the waitress was very friendly and handed us a large book like menu. After we told her our friend had recommended the place she grabbed the book, took one laminated page out of it and said this is the menu for Chinese people. After consulting with her we picked duck and a seafood hot pot. Ton pronounced it the best duck she has had in the US, and the seafood hot pot was excellent. Thank you Miriam for a great recommendation you were right it is one of the best Chinese restaurants we have been to. If you are ever in Albuquerque check out East Ocean Restaurant
