North Instead Of South, Another Lighthouse, and The Wright Bros. Memorial

Avon, NC
49 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 64 deg. becoming mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of rain. South wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

Yesterday was very much like Monday, except instead of taking CLT and heading South, Jim and Linda took CLT and headed North.

It was about 1:00 by the time they got under way, and before they could leave town, they had to stop and get CLT a drink of 87 octane gasoline. Once he had his drink, CLT took them up Rt 12 and to their first stop, the Bodie Island Lighthouse, (pronounced "Body"), which is located just South of Nags Head.

CLT said that as he approached, he could see the lighthouse and it just didn't look right, so when they pulled into the visitor center parking lot, he wasn't surprised at what he saw. You see, they are completely refurbishing the lighthouse. It was built in 1872, stands 150' tall, is equipped with a first-order Fresnel lens, and flashes it's 160,000 candlepower beacon 19 miles over the ocean. According to the Ranger in the visitors center, was very much in need of repairs.

So, the view was not what Jim and Linda had expected, but it's good to know that they are repairing the lighthouse and it will still be there, and in good shape, for years to come.

From the lighthouse they continued North on Rt 12, through Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, and all the way up to Southern Shores.

Now, I must bring up the fact that there are 2 roads running up this part of the Outer Banks. From the town of Whalebone, Rt 12 runs up the Eastern side of the outer banks and all the way up to Southern Shores, while Rt 158, (a 4 lane highway), runs up the Western side of this part of the Outer Banks.

Jim and Linda took Rt 12 North, and saw all the houses along the beach, the small little restaurants and gift shops, and came back South on Rt 158 where all the Wall-Marts, fast food restaurants, and shopping centers are located.

CLT says that it's like two different worlds that are only blocks apart.

On the way back South on Rt 158 they did stop at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. This complex is spread out over a large area, so it would have been way too much walking for Linda to do. So, being that they had been to the Memorial before, Jim just took a few photos from the parking area.

If you're ever in the area, stop by. There's a lot to see and do, and they have a replica of the airplane that the Wright Brothers first flew on display.

From the Memorial, they continued South on 158, down to Whalebone, where they got back on Rt. 12 and followed it back here to Avon. CLT says that he traveled over 100 miles, and it was about 4:30 by the time he returned.

When we first got here to the CG, Jim asked about restaurants here in Avon and the lady in the CG office recommended a restaurant called The Mad Crabber. On the brochure that I saw, it says that the Mad Crabber was the first crab house on the outer banks, and "It's the kind of place that whets you appetite for life and great food".

Well, being that it was late and neither Linda or Jim felt like cooking, they headed over there for dinner. Again, they weren't disappointed. Jim had crab cakes, and Linda had flounder, and both were excellent. Jim said that these crab cakes were even better than the one he had down in Ocracoke. They said that the meals were kind of "pricey", but then it seems like most things are kind of expensive out here on the Outer Banks.

Did you know that the Wright Brothers made their first "Controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight", on December 17, 1903?
 

A Nice Day, A Day Trip Back To Hatteras and Getting Caught Up

Avon, NC
46 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 63 deg. partly cloudy, NE wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

It was a really nice day here in Avon yesterday. If you were in the sun and out of the wind, you were very comfortable, but in the shade or where the wind hit you, it felt really chilly. Jim even sat outside for awhile, on the East side of me where the wind wasn't blowing and it was sunny, and said he was very comfortable.

About 11:00 Jim walked up to the office and paid for the rest of my stay here. On the way back, he took some photos of the park.

This is the office.

Looking into the park from the office area.

My site.

As you can see, the park is very clean and well maintained. Although some of the RVs are parked here year round, no one is allowed to live here all year. In fact the park closes down during the coldest months of winter.

After lunch, Jim and Linda took CLT, (Cute Little Truck), and headed back down to Hatteras, where Linda had seen a few stores, (as we came through there on Sunday), that she wanted to check out. Plus, they just wanted to look around in the towns down there to see some of the areas that couldn't be seen from the main road.

Down in Hatteras they found a place called the Islander Gift Shop that had a bunch of neat things, so they bought some more items to give as gifts.

Then, on the way back up here, they stopped by at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, in Buxton, which is also known as America's Lighthouse. It's the tallest brick beacon in the country, at 208 feet. The original lighthouse, (at 90 feet tall), was built in 1803, and then the present lighthouse was completed and lit in December of 1870.

After Jim and Linda returned here to the CG, Jim took a little nap, and Linda did a load of laundry. Then, for dinner, Jim got out the grill and cooked a couple of burgers.

After dinner, Jim got caught up on all the blogs he follows, while he and Linda watched TV.

Another great day! ;-)

Did you know that the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved 1/2 mile inland in 1999 to save it from the encroaching Atlantic?

Luckenbach and A Great Day With Paul & Louise

Bulverde, TX
42 deg. clear, no wind
Forecast today = high temp. 76 deg. clear, light Southerly winds.

"Let's go to Luckenbach Texas with Waylon, Willie, and the boys" Yep, Jim, Linda, Paul and Louise took a ride to Luckenbach yesterday. (Population 3) From what I could gather from their conversations, they all thought it was a pretty neat place. The photo below is of the combination General Store and Saloon, (opened in 1849), where you can buy all kinds of Luckenbach merchandise, have a cold one, and listen to musicians play and sing country music. (Jim and Linda said there was a guy performing in saloon, while they were there.)

This photo is of the inside of the store, looking back at the entrance. As you can see, there's all kinds of merchandise packed into this small store. The Saloon part is to the rear of where Jim was standing as he took the photo.Beside the store, there's also a big dance hall building where country singers perform almost every weekend. And, of course, there's always the chance that Willie Nelson will show up.

After Luckenbach, Louise took Jim and Linda on some scenic roads in the area, and ended up in New Braunfels, TX, where they had dinner at Montana Mike's Steakhouse. Both Jim and Linda said the food was excellent.

It was a little after 7:00 by the time they got back here to the park, and after thanking Paul and Louise for a great afternoon and evening, Jim and Linda came in, watched some TV and then went to bed.

Did you know that Luckenbach's slogan is "Where Everybody is Somebody"?

A Visit To A Rock

Fredericksburg, TX
32 deg. rain, N. winds @ 5 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 38 deg. rain, North winds @ 5 to 10 mph.

I don't care what anyone says, it's cold here!!!! 32 degrees, rain, wind!!!! Brrrrrr!!!!! Thankfully, the rain isn't freezing!!!! Yet!

Yesterday afternoon, Jim and Linda took CLT and went to a place called Enchanted Rock, which is about 15 miles North of Fredericksburg. It's a huge pink granite rock. It covers about 640 acres, and rises approximately 425 feet above the surrounding terrain. The Native American tribes believed the rock to have magical powers, and thus, the name "Enchanted Rock". They also heard mysterious creaking and groaning sounds which geologist now attribute to the rocks night time contraction after being heated from the sun during the day.Jim and Linda spent rest of yesterday inside as the strong wind out of the North, (about 20 mph), felt very cold. They had planned to go out for dinner, but Jim wasn't feeling real well, so Linda just popped some micro meals into my microwave. Unless it stops raining, I doubt if they will do much today either. I know they still want to go out to eat once more before we leave the area, but Jim won't want to go if it's too nasty.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what this weather does.

Did you know that Enchanted Rock is the 2nd largest granite rock of it's type in the United States? Stone Mountain in Georgia is the largest.

The Ocean, The River, and The Campground

Warrenton, OR. El. 8'
47 deg. overcast, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 59 deg. partly cloudy, NW winds @ 5 to 15 mph.

Yesterday afternoon, Jim and Linda took CLT and headed up to the place where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific Ocean. It's just a little North of Ft. Stevens S.P. so it didn't take them long to get there. From what CLT told me, there are different areas where you can see the river, the ocean, or the place where they come together.

The photo below is looking North towards the tip of the jetty. The water you see on the left is the ocean, and the water coming in from the right is the river. CLT says it's really impressive, but I'll have to take his word for it. There have been quite a few RVs come into the park for the weekend. There are 12 camping loops, and when we came in on Thursday, 5 of them were open. Now those 5 are full, and they have opened a couple more. I would imagine even more RVs will come in today.

One of the reasons there are a lot of campers coming into the park, is the weather. It's been really nice and sunny but cool. The highs have been in the upper 50's so the people have to wear jackets, but for this time of year, that's to be expected.

Did you know that the average precipitation in Warrenton is 75 inches per year?

Photos, Weekend Campers and Stonehenge

Maryhill, WA. El. 187'
59 deg. rain, no wind.
Forecast today= high temp. 62 deg. cloudy, breezy, scattered showers, SW winds @ 15 to 25 mph.

Here's those photos I talked about yesterday. This first one was taken from the road in front of my site. This one was taken from the site next to me. As you can see, I'm not very far from the river, and can easily see the barges and a paddle wheeler go by. Jim's been trying to get a photo of the paddle wheeler, but never seems to have the camera ready when does. It looks just like one that you would see on the Mississippi River.
Well, it's been a long time since we've been in a State Park on a weekend, and I guess I had kind of forgotten what happens. Yesterday, my memory was refreshed.

About noon, RVs started coming into the park. Every kind and shape you could think of. There were pop-ups, truck campers, old and new trailers and 5th wheels, and old and new motor homes. They just kept coming all afternoon and evening. I didn't see any tents though, (probably because of the forecast of rain for the weekend), and not many kids.

I really get a kick out of watching some of the week-end campers set up their sites. Some of them bring everything!! They have large grills, lawn chairs, tables, ground mats, and lights hanging from their awnings and RVs. One guy even has 2 "pinkus flamingus" on his site. I thought those things were only put out on the lawns down in Florida!

I don't think there will be too many parties this weekend though. It is raining now, and by the forecast, it sounds like it's going to rain most of the day. I just hope it quits by tomorrow, so I don't have to travel into Portland in the rain.

Did you know that there is a true-to-size replica of Stonehenge here in Maryhill?

It's only a few miles from the CG, and if it stops raining, Jim and Linda are going to go and see it today.

Still No Mail, The Valley

Moab, UT. El. 4026'
60 deg. partly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 81 deg. becoming mostly cloudy with possible showers, S. winds @ 10 to 15 mph.

Yep, we're still here in Moab. It's not because we want to be here, it's because the mail still hasn't come! And to top it off, nobody seems to know where it is!!
The people in the Post Office here in Moab have been very helpful, but other than doing a tracking search, there's not much else they can do.

Thursday, Jim was kind of upset about the mail, and then to top it off, the people here at the CG decided to put an new water line in, (for a new site) right next to me. They came in here with a backhoe and started digging right next to me. The ditch was no more than 6 feet from me and the dirt was piled within 2 feet of me!! If you remember, Jim and Linda had wanted to take a ride up into a scenic area, well, with them digging right next to me, there was no way that Jim was going to leave me here alone.

Anyway, the day didn't go well at all, and Jim and Linda didn't go anywhere, except to check on the mail again. Jim got in a bad mood, and all plans were cancelled. Then there was the problem of what to do about staying here at this park. Jim didn't know if he wanted to stay here, but moving would have been a big hassle. So, they went to the office, the lady apologized for the mess, and Jim and Linda ended up extending our stay for a couple of days.

Yesterday, they got the ditch filled back up, and the dirt removed from along side of me. There still wasn't any mail, but Jim and Linda did finally decide to go on that ride to see Castle Valley.

Castle valley is a very scenic area. Many of the old western movies were made here in this area, and with a little imagination, you could see John Wayne or Richard Widmark riding their horses through the valley. The photo below was taken in the valley, and you can see why they call this formation the Castle. This second photo is of the canyon that you drive through, to get to Castle Valley. The river you see is the Colorado River, and it sure has carved quite a path through these mountains.
Upon retuning from the drive, and as they were going through town, they decided to stop at the Hogan Trading Company store. They had wanted to stop there the other day, when they were shopping for gifts, but didn't for some reason or other. Anyway, they stopped and Linda ended up getting Jim a very nice ring for a birthday present. It's really nice. It was made on a Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona, is made of Sterling Silver, and has inlays of Jasper, Tiger Eye, and Black Jade, stones.

Great News!!!!! Jim just called the Post Office, and the mail is there!!! Yesterday, Jay, one of the nice people at the post office, told Jim to call after 7:00 this morning, to check on today's delivery. Well, Jim did, and Jay gave him the good news and told him that he could come in and pick it up anytime this morning!!

We are paid up here until Sunday, so we will stay here one more night, and then leave tomorrow morning.

Yahooo!!!!!

Did you know that more than 30 major movies have had scenes in them from the Moab area?

Canyonlands and Smitty's

Moab, UT. El. 4026'
60 deg. clear, SE winds @ 6 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 85 deg. partly cloudy, 20% chance of showers, light Southerly winds.

Yesterday, CLT (Cute Little Truck) took Jim and Linda to the Southern section of the Canyonlands National Park. This area is called the Needles area, and is about 40 miles SW of Moab. Actually the part that they went to is on BLM land and is not in the N.P. CLT said that it was a very scenic drive out to the overlook and it didn't take long for him to get scenic overload again.

It was quite hazy when Jim took the photos so they didn't turn out real well, but I think you'll be able to see how huge these canyons are. In this first photo, if you click on it to enlarge it, and look real close, you'll see some green down at the bottom of the canyon. Well, that's the Colorado River down there, and they say that it is responsible for much of the formation of these canyons.

This second photo was taken from the overlook, and looking almost straight down. Those little squiggly lines you see down there are roads and 4 wheel drive trails. It's a long way down there, but the photo doesn't really show the depth.
After they returned, Jim and Linda both took short naps before getting ready and heading into town for dinner at Smitty's Restaurant. They said that it wasn't anything real special, but they had some very good country fried steak dinners. When they got back here, Linda worked on her family tree program, and Jim checked out some web sites. Then, after the news, they headed for bed.

Folks, if you want to see some beautiful scenery, be sure to take a swing through Utah. The National Parks here are really spectacular, and the scenery in between them isn't too shabby either.



Did you know that the city of Levan is "navel" spelled backwards, and was so named because it is in the middle of Utah?

Arches N. P. and My 10 Foot Travel Day

Moab, UT. El. 4026'
50 deg. clear, S. wind @ 5 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 85 deg. sunny, light southerly winds, 0% chance of rain.

As you can see by the photos below, Jim and Linda took CLT (Cute Little Truck), and headed to the Arches National Park, yesterday. CLT said that he never saw anything like it. He said that everywhere you looked there were interesting and beautiful formations, and before he was very far into the park, he already had a scenery overload. :-) The way I understand it, there are many viewpoints where you can pull off of the road to look at the scenery and take photos. CLT says that many were full though, so all he could do was drive by slowly, so Jim and Linda could see the attraction.
When Jim and Linda came back here to the park they were talking about how beautiful the park was, and how well they could see many of the sites from CLT or within a short distance of a parking area. Of course if you can walk a lot or are into hiking, there is much more to see, but even if you can't, be sure to take time to visit this park. You won't be disappointed.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about my travels yesterday. At 9:46, Jim fired up my engine and moved me back farther in my site. It was 9:48 when I arrived to my new position, so I was on the move for 2 minutes and traveled about 10'.

The reason for my move? Well, when we originally pulled into this site, Jim pulled me as far forward as possible to get me closer to the utilities and to take advantage of some shade from a small tree. Well, that was fine, but I couldn't really get level because of the slope of the front part of my site. Jim thought it would be OK, but after one night, he decided that I was not level enough. So, get me to a more level area, he backed me up a little.

Now I'm level and everyone is happy! :-)

Did you know that Utah has 5 National Parks, 7 National Monuments, and 2 National Recreation Areas?

Palo Duro Canyon and Ready To Go

Amarillo, TX El. 3685'
65 deg. clear, S. wind @ 10 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 79 deg. becoming cloudy with a 40% chance of rain, winds NE @ 10 to 20 mph.

When we were in Rantoul, IL this summer, Jim and Linda were talking to Paul and Louise, (the couple who manage the RV Park), about our travel plans. Jim mentioned that we might be going through the panhandle of Texas on our way to Portland Or. Well, Louise knew of this mostly unknown park near Amarillo, called Palo Duro Canyon State Park. She said that it was well worth seeing and highly recommended it. So, yesterday, Jim and Linda took CLT and headed for the park.

The park is about 25 miles South of Amarillo, and there are signs showing the way. As they entered the park, the lady at the entrance station gave Jim and Linda a map and a brochure that gave some info about the canyon. It turns out that the Palo Duro Canyon, is the 2nd largest canyon in the United States. (Can you guess which one is 1st?), It is about 120 miles long and is between 600 and 800 feet deep.

The photo below is just one of the many that Jim took, but I thought it best showed the depth of the canyon. This is another one of those places that you have to see for yourself to really appreciate. Photos just don't do it justice. The colors of the rock, the rock formations, and the wildlife can best be seen on the approximately 16 mile drive through a section of the canyon. There are camp grounds down in the canyon, and CLT said that there were some large RVs down there, but be forewarned, the road in and out is very steep, (10 % grade in some places), and there are some pretty sharp curves, but evidently it's very doable.

Folks, if your in the Amarillo area, this park is well worth the time spent to explore it. A lot can be seen from a vehicle, but there are many miles of trails to be explored if you're into hiking. Oh, and be sure to bring your camera.

After they came back from the canyon, Jim took a little nap and then cooked some burgers on the grill for dinner, while Linda put together some salads and cooked some corn-on-the-cob.

I don't know when we will be leaving here this morning. Linda is going to call the bank to see about that problem with the card and also Alternative Resources, (their mail forwarding service) to get their mail sent, and get my and CLT's license plates renewed. If everything goes well, we should get out of here by 10:00 or 11:00. Jim has just about everything outside ready to travel, and Linda has a lot of the inside stuff done, so it won't take long once the phone calls are done.

Did you know that in 1893, Amarillo's population was listed as "between 500 and 600 people and 50,000 head of cattle?"