"Today is a Good Day to Drive!" .....Van-Go

October 30, 2006 We left the population area behind us and went on Apache Trail, the route Teddy Roosevelt took when he came to dedicate the dam named after him. This route would keep us to the inside on the narrow dirt road part. Our first stop along the way was Goldfield, a ghost town. Well, it was a simulation of a ghost town with old building constructed on the side of an old gold mine town. We paid our $5 and went into the mine and learned about gold mining back in 1893. There is also an open car train you can take for $5; The train makes a half hour loop tour of the area. The old saloon now serves drinks and meals; the mercantile store sells fudge and souvenirs. The road meanders around the hills, goes up and down, and wiggles. The view is of craggy rocks, rocks covered with yellow lichen, saguaro cactus, ocotillo all in green leaf, prickly pear, chollas like the teddy bear cholla, a few mesquite trees and creosote bush. It must have been a grand summer with rains as the century

October 29, 2006 Today was a shopping day. After Walmart we went to Borders where Will found a new Kukou puzzle book and Kathy found a fantasy adventure book to read. Then we watched the Steelers loose in football at Buffalo Wild Wings and played a little trivia.BWW has free wifi so we internetted and between puzzled and read. We spent the night at the large parking area with all the pretty flowers. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was our movie.

October 28, 2006 We got up and enjoyed a cup of coffee and gazed at the reddish mountains noticing that pine trees grew in a few places. We watched two hawks soar; little house sparrows flitter and then decided to take a walk around the figure eight. Oh my! Someone had parked their pick-up on the back side. No wonder we saw people backing around. We decided it was time to head down the mountain. It was a steep ride down. We drove to a camping area and took showers, filled up on water and had breakfast. Then we continued our ride on AZ188 The saguaro cactus is everywhere. They do not branch until they are 70 –75 years old. The big ones are over 200 years old and can be 50 feet tall. How many trees can you say that about? The Gila woodpecker makes holes in the cacti and then the cacti secrete a bark like covering inside to protect itself making a little cavity. Although this national forest has few trees it has lots of saguaro. There are small clusters of people in trailers, small towns,

October 27, 2006 Today we drove to the national forest visitor center. We picked up a recreation pass, got information, and looked at the exhibits. One neat exhibit was a wooden toy wagon with wooden blocks a various shapes labeled with the names of items one might pack along when traveling. The task was to pack the blocks, items, into the wagon for your trip. From there we drove over to the Roosevelt Dam. It was built in 1903 dedicated by Teddy Roosevelt; it was the largest granite dam in the world at that time. In the 1980s it was tested and they embarked on a renovation program that took 350 million dollars to complete. They took the top layers off above the water line and raised the dam 77 feet. They did everything with rebar and concrete. We made our breakfast and enjoyed the view of the massive horseshoe dam. We met Dave and Sharon and Richard and Patricia, fellow travelers and stood chatting for some time. We deicided, based on their advice to take the Apache Trail from the sou

October 26, 2006 We slept in until 10am then got gas for $2.17. AZ88 is a scenic route, Apache Trail. We took the trail up into the mountains, to wilderness areas and to the pueblo ruins. Saguaro cactus were everywhere; like trees on the sandy hillsides along the prickly pear and yucca. We past forests of saguaro. Tonto National Monument, 13th anf 14th century cliff dwellings that were occupied by Salado Indians, farmers of the Salt River Valley, are preserved here. We climbed the half mile paved trail to the ruins. They had a spectacular view of the valley. We saw many cacti on our walk back and through the Cactus Trail. We learned that the Saguaro only gets limbs after 70 years of growth. Many of these are well over 70 years old from the look of them. We went down to Roosevelt Lake to a picnic area and made lunch. We enjoyed the view, played Boggle, did up dishes, took a nice long walk, then drive over to the Freizer Campground, right around the bend, for the night. It is set up for

October 25, 2006 Will got up early and worked puzzles until Kathy got up. We are in Pacific Time now, just three hours different from Hawaii. This is beautiful country; the Apache Indian Reservation is on some incredible lands. We sipped coffee and asked questions about how life for native Americans on a reservation are: Do they get paid? Do they get money from the Casinos? If they work are they entitled to social security? How is the land on the reservation divided. We had no answers. Our trip continued on AZ73 and connected with US60. Wow! Rolling mountains of red soil covered with short evergreen and tell pines. Rock outcroppings cap the reddish soil with molten rock. The valleys have wispy trees, maybe cottonwood or maple. The road wiggled through a canyon; over the Carrozo Creek and through the mountains. We came to the top of a pass and could see back to the cinder cone and where we spent the night. Clouds cover the sky, big puffy cumulus clouds with baby blue peeking through. We

October 24, 2006 Kathy got up and read magazines until Will got up. Clouds filled the sky, dark clouds. We made some coffee and headed west. The rains were south of us; we got drizzles.. We were going down hill; we hit 87mph! That s the fastest we have ever gone in this vehicle. We were smokin’. That is way different than our regular 45mph; this is more like Kathy driving the MR2. We made it to ShowLow where we found wifi and spent the day uploading. Check the Photo Gallery for new groups of pictures. Open Season was an animated movie with a great bear. Back on US60 and we moved south. We drove through the Apache Indian Reservation. First came the casino, then a few small towns with kids walking around and last was open land. We got down to 5000 feet in elevation before starting up hill again. Geronomo Pass was at 5337 feet. This is beautiful country: open, rich red soil, tall hills, a lone cinder cone, pine trees, tall grass, and yucca plants. We pulled off on a dirt road to enjoy the

October 23, 2006 We had parked at the South Rim Trailhead so this morning we decided to hike a bit. The rim is about a hundred feet from the road surface. We hiked about an hour out and the back. Stone carrions mark the way; Will fixed a few as we went along. Good views and vistas. Someone had left a stash of water for hikers of the Continental Divide Trail, which blends with the South Rim Trail for a distance. It was 11AM when we got back on the road, NM route 117 heading south. And shortly we came to Lava Falls Trailhead so we hiked that mile over pahoehoe, ahah and toe, Hawaiian names for types of lava. Lava carrions marked the way. Unlike the trail through the sand where you can see the trail ahead, here on the lava the re was not mark left where feet had passed. You needed the carrions to make your way. The fishers were deep in some places; we figured them to be about 15 feet deep. There were places were the lava domes had caved in leaving craters. We had lunch in Quemado, NM bef

(Pictures added to last few journal entries and new pictures in Gallery) October 22, 2006 We got up late and took our constitutional down to the main road and back. Then we drove to Grant to look for a place to watch the Steeler game. Nothing. Someone said to drive back east about five miles to Sky City Casino. We did and enjoyed the game on the big screen. It was a close game, but we lost in overtime. We got pizza for $4, free sodas, a pen, lanyards with member cards and $5 cash each. Gas at the Travel Center was just $2.19 so we filled up. We retraced our steps to the El Malpais National Monument. The overlook was breath inspirering views of sand stone columns, arches, and tinajas, depressions in the stone filled with water. The Natural Arch was also impressive. We were sorry that we missed it in the sunset. Driving through The Narrows, the area where the lava flow came close to the foot of the sand bluff. We found a place to stop. We watched Babe.

October 21, 2006 While we slept trains passed, lots of trains! Within about 24 hours over a hundred trains passed. We waved to many this morning and got whistled at. Trains were long with a normal four engines and sometimes engines in the middle or back.. It was a leisurely morning sitting and talking, remembering and dreaming. It was well after noon when we continued our drive along route 66/I40. well actually we were on the frontage road going lots slower than the trucks on I40. This area is home to the Pueblo Indians. Suddenly the soil became old lave, black and wavy. We approached El Malpais National Monument. The molten rock dried and crumbled in heaps of black filled the ground like plowed fields. Over time few plants have penetrated to set root, but slowly it is being covered. Roots are slowly breaking down the rock and flow. We stopped at the visitor center and explored the exhibits that tell of the volcanoes and the pioneer peoples that settled here. The ranger directed up the

October 20, 2006 It was a very lazy morning; we didn’t really get going until noon. We drove over to Petroglyphs National Monument in Albuquerque, NM. The petroglyphs include animals, insects and geometric designs. The human figures are usually showed with their hands up, legs apart and on a stick. We walked among the petroglyphs, through the rocks of West Mesa, a table of land west of the Rio Grande when 150,000 years ago lava flowed. Long ago people discovered they could chip away the rock’s thin desert varnish and revel a lighter gray leaving a lasting mark. People many years ago made these rocks come alive with messages. The pueblo elder, William Weahkee said, “ each rock is the keeper of a message left y ancestors…there are spirits, guardians and medicine here.” We began our exploration listening to Ranger Diane, whose family just moved here from Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, give a talk arranged by a gentleman originally from Pennsylvania. We drove about two miles out to Boca Negr

October 19, 2006 Will got up about 5:00AM and found the water frozen. He turned on the engine, rearranged the outside heat lamps and stayed up playing computer games. Kathy got up at sunrise. We watched the sun come up over the mountains and work its way down into the valley. Will tried the water; it ran. Wow were we lucky. For our morning walk we headed up the valley to visit JMe. There was ice in the road puddles and in the pond. We continued a bit and explore the new ponds 10 and 11; they are big. Back at the lodge we met up with Lanier, Matt and Leroy just heading out to winterize the rooms, fix the stream at pond 11 and do what ever else they need to do. We sat on the lodge deck and had a second breakfast. Will worked on the birdhouse for JMe and Kathy picked willow and started a basket. We took the birdhouse and a snack. up to her grave site where we sat for a long while. We watched birds flitter, airplanes streak the sky and bugs buzz. We had the 4x4 and went up the mountain to

October 18, 2006 It was noon before we pulled out of our nightspot at the Kmart. We enjoyed a leisurely morning watching some TV, having breakfast, puzzling and relaxing. Back on I25 the view is open space, blue skies, golden trees, mountains and an open road. Too soon the cloud ceiling covered us once again. Caught a hotspot in Las Vegas, NM so did some internetting. Thanks everybody for checking our blog! We drove a little on historic route66 on our way into Pecos. We stopped at the store that carries everything from groceries to hardware and picked up wood pieces to a birdhouse to put up at JMe’s gravesite. Then, began the long slow ride on a dirt road into Cow Creek Ranch. The main gate has a metal Cow Creek logo of a fish; we entered. The ranch now extends to this gate; the cabin on the hill is where Lanier and her parents live when at the ranch. We drove up the valley. The grass that Will and Forrest had planted in the fields and around the ponds was all grown tall and rich. We m

October 17, 2006 After we got up we spent time on the internet updating our blog; sorry it took us so long to get information up but we were out of wifi hotspot area when we were at Four Valley Hay. We will try to do better. Carmine, thanks for letting us know you were worried about us. The Pueblo Zoo is home to more than 115 animal species and we understand they are getting more each day. They are opening Islands of Life in 2007, a many faceted display of isolated ecosystems. We left the gift shop and walked through the woods and on into the African Coast Rain Forest. It was a great room open to animals and visitors. Sloth slowly moved through the trees, tamarin monkeys frisked about, birds flew about and ducks and turtles swam through their pond. Other areas we visited included: Serengeti Safari, Asian Mountain, Australia and South America. Our last stop was to see the reptiles. Kathy got to hold a two-year-old tortoise. Will called to the gibbon monkey that were yelling. (Look in t

October 16, 2006 We enjoyed a leisurely morning with John, Rip and Gonzo. John headed off to work all dressed up in his suit because he had a lunch meeting. We finished up some laundry, cleaned up the house and by afternoon we headed south. Safeway gas with our extra ten cents a gallon off the regular price was just$2.09 a gallon compared to most stations at $2.39. We filled up. We wanted to get south so hit the interstate going south, I25. In Colorado Springs we watched snow fall on Pikes Peak, passed the Air force Accademy and Garden of the Gods and continued with the traffic past Patterson Air Force Base and through town. Traffic was heavy, but we stayed with it and made it out the otherside moving free. Tumble weeds blew across the road. We made it out of the dark cloud cover into the blue. The sun felt good. We arrived in Pueblo, CO and found a Buffalo Wild Wings where Will played some Buzztime Poker getting on the big board with over $30000 and Kathy played QB1 predicting the pla

October 15,2006 Forrest and Will were up early sipping coffee and talking. John joined in and finally Kathy got up. We talked a bit and soon John had to get ready to leave for a Hunt activity and Forrest headed for home. We relaxed around the house. Will put up some insulation around the back where John thought the cold air had come in freezing the water pipe that burst causing water damage to the house. Insurance had paid to have new rugs put in, redo the hardwood floor of the den and refinish the furniture from water damages. By then the Steelers were playing so we set up our chips and salsa and sodas and settled in for the game. The Steelers were in better form than the last games we had seen. Troy Paulamaulu made his tackles, Ben Rothernburg threw his passes and Heinze Ward caught his throws. The Steelers were up three touchdown and the other team was ready to get one when the channel we were watching, CBS, changed to a different game. Wow! What a thing to do. It was reminiscent of

October 14, 2006 Forrest came to visit us at John’s. We spent the day catching up and making rocking chair stories. We took a nice long walk around the ranch where we had seen bucks and doe grazing in the morning. A deer skull lies white. Kathy picked it up and hung it on John’s fence when we got back. She also found a neat gourd that she left on the coffee table in the den. As we walked along Will and Forrest were ahead. Kathy paused because she heard a sound in the bushes. A small red fox ran right at her heels and off into the trees! Forrest found a set of huge buck antlers. He figured it was from last season from an old buck. It had 18 points! A treasure for his collection. Forrest went out past the pasture and got a close look at some deer; three bucks munching acorns stayed for some time with Forrest pretending he was a fence post. Kathy sat on the deck watching. They decided to go for a ride and look for more. First critter they saw was a coyote. Then they saw several small herd

October 13, 2006 Will and John got up early and took care of the horses and dogs and got in lots of buddy time. Kathy enjoyed sleeping in and taking a long hot shower, sipping coffee and watching the morning news. After reading the paper, working puzzles and chatting about the state of government today we separated our paths. John readied himself for work, Kathy read a magazine and Will jumped on the John Deere tractor with mower bed on the back and headed for the front field. Later in the day when John returned home Will and John took the horses out for a run in the field. Wow, they had those horse running! Kathy made a nice salmon dinner for John and his friend. She made stuffed mushrooms and artichoke dip for our appetizers which we enjoyed sitting in the living room toasting with hot pepper vodka from Russia and lemon vodka from the states. Dinner was served formally in the dining room with salad first, then the entrée. Raspberry sorbet broke the meal and desert of key lime pie. It

October 12, 2006 We had a slow easy morning. Will and John did the garbage run, horse clean-up and feed and the dog walk getting in lots of buddy time. Kathy took a nice long hot shower. It is okay taking a sponge bath daily; keeps you clean and feeling good, but there is something to be said about water just running off you. Kathy saw a large fox run across the driveway! She was sitting in the van working on pictures when the brown critter moved and caught her eye. She thought it was a small dog, but then looked up and sure enough it was a red fox. They are pretty animals. John gets a herd of about two dozen deer that come through his field grazing. There is one big buck with nice pointy antlers. Will and John went riding today. John's horse, Goldie, is a big horse with big hoofs. Scamper is a friend's horse that keeps Goldie company. they get along really well. Will was riding Scamper. Kathy went to take a picture and the flash went off scaring the horse who backed right up t

October 11, 2006 We are back under the ceiling of cloud cover, but clear skies are to the south. A flock of about a dozen turkeys were grazing their way across a field. A lone horse nibbled grass. Cattle were scatter across the grassland with their heads down. We passed Genoa, CO where there is a tower. You can climb that tower and see six states; can you name them? (OK, CO, KS, NE, NM, WY) Will says that maybe you can see the sky over six states! When we got to Limon on I70 we could see Pikes Peak in the distance. There is fresh white snow on those peaks. As we got off the interstate on to CO scenic route 86 a coal trail passed with over one hundred cars filled with coal. There were two engines pulling and one pushing. This is rolling Grass Plaines country with cattle and bison grazing. We like that there are few fences to chop up the landscape. We saw our first rocks and our first antelope on the way. Twenty some miles later we came across our first pine trees. We pulled over in Kiow

October 10, 2006 Kathy heard a voice saying, “Pennsylvania license” and woke Will. By the time he had dressed the police officer was coming around to the side door. Will opened the door saying, “ Are we okay here? We got tired and pulled over here.” To which the police officer replied, “You’re okay. Parking near the tracks makes you a terrorist these days.” Both men laughed. Will told him we would be out of here in an hour or so and he told us to have a good day. That is how our day began. It was cool and cloudy today. Two more trains came this morning; one was a passenger train headed east out of Denver. We joined US34 for the last stretch across Nebraska. Coming into Cambridge, Nebraska we found the city park with free hookups with electric, dump- great spot to spend three days. Take note fellow travelers. It was 44 degrees. Gas was $2.28. In McCook we caught a wifi hit so sent mail and then stopped in the Walmart to pick up a few DVDs. Kathy found flip-flops and water shoes great fo

October 9, 2006 Last night was a good trivia night; Will got on the local board three times for Wipeout. Mary and Connie, we missed your competition. We got up to a cloud-covered day and hit the interstate. We were flying! 50mph. We got off there the next exit after crossing the Platte River. In Elmwood we learned about Bess Streeter Aldrich, author who portrayed life on the prairie in Nebraska. Kathy made a navigational error and we ended up on country road 4, a gravel road for over six miles. The good news is that we saw a herd of bison. The bad news was the white dust. The dust seeps in every crack.covering every inside and outside surface with white. Sueann you would not like the dust! The fields of rusty red sorghum, dried straggly soy, newly planted winter wheat and golden corn are being harvested. Fields spotted with balls of rolled corn stalks. A tractor pulling a husker dumped his fill of corn kernels at an egg ranch. We past a whole field of sunflowers, about 60 acres we figu

October 8, 2006 We drove through the birthplace of John Wayne, Winterset, Iowa. Our stop included playing some tennis, well hitting balls back and forth anyway to give us a little exercise. Then we walked around the square. We cut across Iowa on sr92 leading us through rural country. Most the farms are corn and most are in the process of being harvested. In Fontanelle we paused long enough to see the town mural and wooden Indian statue. We came to Omaha, Nebraska. At Lake Manawa State Park we made some dinner. A surprise call came from Linda with good news: we have money with the PA Treasury. They hold unclaimed money; check to see if you have unclaimed money with your treasury department! Linda, it was fun catching up on life with the family too! Justin’s cousins are in the workforce: Erin is with Mellon Bank and Erich is teaching math. Hart’s daughter Ava is already two! My goodness where does the time go? It was sunset when we headed over to the Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Steel

October 7, 2006 The 29th annual AKA Kite Festival was held in Des Moines Iowa at Waterfront park. We happened upon it last night so came directly here this morning. Others did not arrive until just before noon for the mass assention when everyone are invited to put their kites in the air at the same time.. Will spent his time making a kite to fly. We watched kite fights, kite arobics and kite dances. There were a few large kites. Two octopus, a dragon, a barrel and one geko were the largest. The largest kite in the world was suppose to fly, but got a tear the first day of the festival and was not repairable. Unlike the big international kite festival of Long Beach Washington this was low key. There were no booths selling trinkets or food, no booths of kites for sale. It was a day of flying kites. The day was enjoyable. On our way to Waldorf we crossed the flight path of the airport and paused to watch several planes pass overhead.

October 6, 2006 Got up at the Walmart and went to Buffalo Wild Wings and tapped in to their Internet. Then we went over to the Iowa Capitol. It was constructed between 1871-1886 and is being updated now. There are many different types of colors of marble and works of art. The wood carving around the doors is very ornate. Five domes distinguish the exterior. The center dome is covered with 23 karat gold leaf. We walked into the senate and house chambers. Outside is the Independence Bell; each state was given a replica of the Independence Bell. Most are kept under glass or protected. Iowa has theirs out on the street with a rope so that visitors can ring the bell of freedom just as our forefathers did. We spent most of the afternoon at the park near by. There were many statues to various wars. From there we did a drive by Terrace Hill, the National Historic Landmark Iowa Governor’s Residence. It has been the home to Iowa’s governor and family since 1976 when the home was donated to the s

October 5, 2006 We came into Marshalltown and drove around admiring the courthouse. Next we stopped in Bondurant and sent some mail and walked around Petoka Park lake. Sea gulls came by the dozens; they soared and dove before continuing on their journey south. It was like the older birds were teaching the young and playing a bit enjoying soaring and diving. There were grasshoppers too! They hopped when we came close to them, sometimes falling over like they were just learning to hop. We continued on US65 to the Blank Zoo in Des Moines, Iowa. The zoo is mall with lots of animals from Asia, Austrialia and Africa. We walked up the ramp to see the giraffe. They could not reach us; the zoo lets people feed them from the ground where the giraffe reach down to get the crackers. The Gibbons had a great haitat area. Sea Lions got fed; lots of staff go out for the feeding. They use feeding time to look over the seals, check their mouths and train them rewarding them with fish food. The best part

October 4, 2006 In Waterloo, Iowa we found Beck’s Pub and Grille where we had lunch and played trivia. Kathy got on the big board, 6th in the nation playing Appeteasers and Will got on the board in 17th in the nation with a later game. We enjoy playing. Kathy sampled the micro beer Grizzly Bear, a dark malt- yum. At one o’clock we had a tour of the John Deere Factory. They run three shifts: production, clean-up, and stocking. About 27 tractors come out of the factory every day. There were four people for the tour including us; the other three were JD engineers from North Carolina. We boarded a custom flatbed with benches, which we rode around the plant listening to our guide, Bill and driver Ted. Both had worked for John Deere for many years. This particular plant manufactures the three largest tractors made by JD: the 7000, 8000 and 9000 series. The process works through assembly lines of workers customizing each tractor. Each of the three lines have two sections, a brown and green se

October 3, 2006 Kathy got up with the chicken lady, our alarm clock, at 6am. She did some computer work, crocheted, and did some sudoko. Will got up about 9:30 and we got on the road about 10. It was a sunny day with cool air. We listened to NPR and zipped along US20 toward Waterloo. Along US20 we saw a sign for “Field of Dreams” was released in 1989. The movie was based on a book, Shoeless Joe. The baseball field is still in place and people come. We went the distance. We came out from the cornfield onto the field, check the movie! Two families own the land that the field is located on. One family owns the house and part of the field; the other owns the cornfield and the other part of the field. Unfortunately they do not get along. When one family invited Kevin Costner to return which he did and his band played the other family refused to let anyone on their portion of the field or near the house. Over 6,000 people attended the event and aerial photos show “the line”. Despite this fru