SAN ANTONIO STROLL

Remember the Alamo, but take a San Antonio Stroll. We did this in two parts. First the Alamo where Santa Ana, self-proclaimed Mexican leader, with more than 2000 soldiers laid seige to less than 200 Americans trying to protect a fort and a mission on the San Antonio River in 1836. One of the protectors of the fort was Davy Crockett, alas, all perished when Santa Ana stormed the fort. The Long Barrack and the mission (The Alamo) is all that remains today. The 175th Anniversary of the fall of the fort is in 2011. Part two is the stroll along the famous "Riverwalk" in San Antonio. You actually walk along a man-made canal, about four feet deep, carved to relieve flood waters at one time. Don't know how long it actually is, but we walked it all, first one side and then the other. We even had lunch at the Casa Rio, the first restaurant to offer outside seating along the river in 1946. (You can recognize it by the colorful umbrellas on each table). It was a beautiful day, reaching into the high 70's, but the walk along the river was shaded and cooler than up above on the street. Paco and Pepe enjoyed that stroll too. They didn't have to walk though, as we carried them for security reasons. Tired little puppies by time we were done. The dogs too!!

A DAY LIKE ANY OTHER DAY

A visit to Oklahoma City is not complete without viewing the Oklahoma City Memorial. This memorial was created after the horrific bombing of the Federal Building in April, 1995. We walked through this memorial, first from outside by the relfection pool, and then inside from the third floor down to the gift shop and exit. A somber reminder of what Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols wreaked upon the people of Oklahoma City. The field of empty chairs symbolizes the people killed and where recovery teams believe they were located within the building. The bigger chairs were the grownups, the smaller chairs the children. The first row was the first floor, etc... Across the reflection pool was a lone elm tree, now known as the survivor tree, and a symbol of hope and life. The memorial was large with a vast amount of displays. All of them are not shown here, just a few glimpses of what was there. Upon exit, were walked upon a 'path of pennies' This was started when a boy who lost his mother in the bombing, asked, "Just one penny-for my Mom"? He recieved several, and then several more. $55,000 worth, (over 5 million pennies) to help toward this memorial.

NATIONAL COWBOY MUSEUM

So you want to be a cowboy? Momma, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys!! These and another phrases have been said again and again. Yet, to get into this museum you have to be a cowboy. Yeehaw!! There are a lot of them. Some fictional, some real, all cowboys. Some immortalized on film like Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers (and Dale Evans), Tom Mix, etc. Of course, who could forget the Lone Ranger ("Who was that masked man?") and his trusted companion Tonto. In the main entrance was an 18 foot tall sculpture of the 'End of the Trail' This work was almost destroyed after being at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. It was saved and restored in all it's glory, here to greet visitors once again. There were many, many different rooms. All carried some relationship to cowboys. There were hand-tooled saddles and bits. There were beautiful paintings by Remington, Russell, Lovell and many others. Some rooms you could take photos in, others you cannot. Therefore, the selections are limited. Enjoy the suit worn by Robert Redford in "The Electric Horseman" and some of the Indian artifacts. We get to enjoy the experience of being at the 'National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum'. Happy trails to you!!

OKLAHOMA!!

Where the wind comes whipping across the plains!! That indeed is the true story. We were in winds from the time we headed West from Missouri to where we finally parked in Oklahoma City. The night before we left Branson, we met up with our friend Tom and his new wife Dianne, at Lambert's Cafe in Ozark, MO. Lambert's Cafe is the home of the 'tossed rolls', and they do throw them to you. The sun was setting while we were there, so we captured the sunset for you to see. While in Oklahoma City we visited other friends during the evening. We spent the next day seeing the area. We went to the National Cowboy Museum first and the Oklahoma City Memorial later in the afternoon. Thanks Roy for showing us around.

Branson, Missouri

Time to tell a little about Branson. Got here Thursday, Oct 21 and will be leaving tomorrow morning, Oct 25th. Branson sits on a cluster of hills. Like real hilly, but then we are in the Ozark mountains. Known for country and variety shows, there a number of theaters all vying for customers. We just explored around Branson itself and even went downtown to the waterfront on the White River. It is interesting country. We also took a side trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas instead of taking the motorhome. This was a good thing. We thought Branson was bad, wrong!! Eureka Springs is hillier yet and a whole lot narrower with its streets. It is an old, old town in the hollers of Arkansas. We did visit the Baker Hotel, supposed to be haunted, and walked briefly through the town. On the way we stopped where they hold the great passion play, "Christ of the Ozarks". Pretty elaborate sets and a huge statue of Jesus you can see across the holler from Eureka Springs. We headed back to Branson for the rest of the weekend and we will prepare to move on to Oklahoma City. From the old postcard sayings, "Wish you were here"!!

KANSAS CITY--HERE WE ARE!!

Yup, a short stop in Kansas City, MO as we pass through from the high plains of Nebraska and Kansas to Branson, MO. Even though we say KC we are actually in Independence, MO. Home of Harry Truman and Jerry's sister Sarah and Brother-in-law Hugh. We are staying in the Temple Square RV park, hence the picture of the Temple spire. It is pretty majestic standing above the trees. Stainless steel and quite high, it spirals upward. We would like to take a tour some day if the timing is right. We did make a visit to the Midwest Geneology Center.WOW!! Talk about records for anyone researching their 'roots'. To quote Darth Vader; "Most impressive"!! Off to Branson in the morning. It is about a four hour drive from here through some Lake Ozark country. Hopefully the fall colors are still vibrant and we will see some reds, yellows and umbers.

High Plains Drifters

Sunday the 17th we left the rv park in Greeley and headed east. We went through Colorado and Nebraksa for a short ways. Then it was on into Kansas. We saw lots and lots of corn and wheat fields along the way and plenty of long straight roads.

For the night we stopped in Russell Kansas, with it's claim to fame as the home of senator Bob Dole.

Sculpture Park

After we were out of Estes park we went to Loveland, CO to the sculpture park. We walked through the park and saw lots of great bronze sculptures. One was by a famous guy we know.

Jeff Oens has one of his works in the park along with many other artists. It is a very pretty park with a lake and nice walkways all around.

Rocky Mountain High

On Saturday Oct. 16th we went with Russ to Estes Park, just outside of Greeley. Everything was perfect, the day, the weather, the scenery and the company.

We stopped in the little town of Estes Park and walked around the shops. We went to a glass blowing factory along with some other shops.

While on the drive up the mountains at over 8ooo ft. we saw lots of wildlife. There was a herd of elk in the meadow bedded down and also saw what we thought was a wolf. Then a pair of muleys. a big buck deer and doe ran across the road right in front of us. We drove back down the mountain road with some increadable views of snow capped peaks and brilliant foliage on the trees.

Wyoming

We left Eagle Idaho this morning and headed southeast again. We took I-84 and went towards Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah. This evening we stopped in Evanston, Wyoming at nice little rv park. Although it is very close to the Interstate and the railroad tracks, I hope the noise doesn't keep us awake.

Evanston used to be called Bear Town because it is located along the Bear river. It is another town built around the railroad.

Tomorrow we head towards Cheyenne, WY and Greely Colorado to do a visit with our friend Russ.

Today went rather smooth on the road, hope the rest of the trip goes as well.

Day One

We left Enumclaw and headed over Chinook Pass and on into Yakima. Then on down thru Oregon and the Blue Mountains and on into Idaho. Arrived in Eagle late Tuesday evening .
We caught up with friends Jon and David and David Caswell who now lives in Emmett. We will head out Thursday morning and move on southeast from here.
We had a great but short visit with the guys. Wish we could see them more often.
The weather here is good. Sunny and warm but starting to cool down pretty good a night.

Getting Ready

We are almost ready to head out for our trip. We will finish packing things today and hopefully we can be ready for tomorrow mornign. We will try for the Boise area for the first night .
I will try to keep the blog going and inform everyone of our travels. Wish us luck and we will be seeing everyone on the blog. Don't forget to email or phone us also