Bush Presidential Library

 Something we had been meaning to do since it opened. Been a busy week with Ada and other task but we took Friday to brave the trip to Dallas and the museum. Enjoyed the visit and the overall feel of the place. Very different feel than that of the Clinton library.

 We managed to get a spot at Texan RV park which proved very convenient. Not the best park but decent value.

 Tomorrow the big party then we leave for Brownwood SP on Monday

feels weird

 You truly can never go home again.

 We are in Mansfield, a town we called home for 26 plus years. But it is not the same. Sure it grew a lot in those years but it seems to have exploded since. To be honest we could not afford to live here. How do the young people do it? Signs for new homes in new subdivisions luring buyers in. Prices from $280k to $400k for track built homes, not custom! What the hell...

 For most of the years we lived here it was dry. Had to drive 8 miles or so to Arlington to buy a beer. Now there is a new grocery store in town that includes a tap house with happy hours and live music Thursdays. HUGE wine section and massive beer coolers.

and this cooler is craft beer ONLY. mass produced is in another

No, we are not home, just visiting another different city along lifes road.

On the road again

Fair warning that things are changing.

 In the past I tried to entertain and inform my reader(s). In doing so I stressed about content and timeliness of my post. In looking back at photos from past trips we had difficulty remembering the where and when. This little blog will morph into an open diary of sorts to help us remember or give a place to refer back to.

 April 7th we left home just ahead of a squall line. Do we wait till it passes? Do we leave while we can knowing that we are driving into it hoping to pass thru quickly? Decisions, decisions. Our choice put us in heavy rain for 60-70 miles. Even after that it rained off and on all day. We always try to get thru Austin on a Sunday hoping for lighter traffic, alas it was still a nightmare. Once dreamed of living there, so thankful that never happened now.

 Last year in Yellowstone we met Dave and Diane who live in Bee Cave. Dave is a orthopedic surgeon. He jokes that he has more degrees than a thermometer. Surprisingly we have kept in touch since. He called when we were in heavy traffic so I did not answer but called him back from Belton. Enjoyed some laughs again. Need to try and meet up in Austin.

 Live Oak ridge at Lake Belton is a nice corp of engineers park. At $12 a night a very economical place to stop. We are in site number 1 where we we were 3 years ago. Move on to Mansfield today.  Life always presents challenges and ours are minor compared to others. Everything worked when we parked it but now ice maker is not working...geeze.

 Beautiful sunrise that the boss is missing...

That's a wrap

 No, we are not home but we are back in Texas. It has been an epic journey covering 6770 miles so far, plus another 800 to get home. Some 138 days on the road to this point. We checked off a long list of national parks and mouments that I have shared with you.

 Speaking of sharing, or trying to share with you. So many time we found ourselves with no or limited data connectivity. That mad trying to update this blog with interesting items extremely difficult and personally frustrating. I was not able to share all that I wanted to and try and stay current.

 The route driven looks something like this LINK TO MAP. If you start in the valley and follow it clockwise it gives a good representation of our trip. In this case I added PLANNED stops on our way south in Texas. Previous to this it only showed those driven. On the left side list the names of the places we have spent the night.

 Rest assured that for the rest of my life, as I sit with my hands around a glass of scotch or bourbon, I will have plenty to remember and relive. A lot of the past 4 plus months I shared with you, a lot I did not.

 Some beautiful things and places to see in America. We will probably go east next year. But to be honest once past Virginia or maybe Pennsylvania my desire drops off quickly. So next year will probably be shorter, both distance and time wise.

 That brings me to the next issue. I learned how to do a blog to help Rhonda document Dan's fight against cancer. Dan has been gone 2 years, I think it is time for this blog to go as well. It will stay on the web but no future contributions. Maybe in 7-8 months I will feel different, maybe not.

 I hope you found something useful or at least entertaining in these 4 years.If not accept my apologies. I tried, I really did.


Try and enjoy life...


Goodbye

A morning at the beach

 After starting off the morning at 38 degrees we went over to the National Park. Even though it is a valley, said valley sets at 8000ft in elevation. The sand was blown off a dry lake bed and trapped by the mountains. Highest sand dunes you are ever likely to see. The sand is very fine and not coarse at all, like the sugar sand on Emerald coast of Florida, just a darker color.

use the people as a frame of reference for height

 Just another national park we have checked off our list. Of course Maggie got a magnet!


"...gather ye rosebuds while ye may..."

It's all happening at the zoo...

 We decided a trip to the zoo was in order, had not been in decades. The Cheyenne mountain zoo was close by as you might expect. We enjoyed walking around looking at the animals and interacting with the people. It was started by a couple named Penrose. Made his money up in Cripplecreek and became quite wealthy. Their foundation carries on today.

 Your ticket to the zoo also got you access to the Will Rogers shrine to the sun. I had never heard of it before although it was built in the 1930's. Sits high up on the side of the mountain.

 A couple of links to tell you more.

LINK to shrine and zoo

LINK to foundation


 The Penrose's and another couple are buried in the bottom of the shrine.


 Tonight we are at 7456ft in elevation, forecasted low tonight is 38. Brr...


frosty rosebuds...

Gorge and Phantom Canyon revisited

 Sometime back in the 1990's as best we can recall, Mary and I flew up on a long weekend and visited this area. It was on that same weekend we visited the Academy.

 Royal Gorge bridge was built as a tourist attraction years ago. On our visit back in the 90's we walked across the bridge and played tourist. When we arrived today we were a bit surprised to see the pricing, $27 per person! No thank you. Took a couple of free pictures instead.

 We were fortunate in that apparently a vintage Porsche club was there. Several nice cars in the lot.

 Part of our memories of that trip was a journey up phantom canyon road. A narrow, twisty, gravel road between Canon city and Victor. We learned today it was the route of a narrow gauge railroad to haul gold ore. Mary wanted to conquer her demons so we drove it again.

these signs did not exist on our first trip up the canyon

I told you narrow, remember two way traffic

classifies as a blind corner

 The drive took us up to the Victor/Cripple creek area. These are two old mining towns from the 1890's. They have resumed mining gold around Victor but doing it via open pit, not hard rock shafts as before. Back in 1991 Colorado passed legislation to allow limited gambling in Cripple Creek Blackhawk and Central City.( Blackhawk and Central City are up north of I70 west of Denver). At any rate this created a boom for the area that did not last. Cripple Creek was mostly closed up small casinos much like we found in Deadwood. Since our last visit they have build a very nice heritage center.

 It was a very nice drive in the high country. Tomorrow is our last full day here and we plan to visit the Olympic training facilities. The neighborhood back home is flooded due to heavy rains. More forecasted and possible tropical storm coming. Not worried about the house but all of these things may affect our timeline.


carpe diem