Still Fall 2017 and Trying to Catch Up ! Part 3

New Mexico - Fall 2017

I'm going to TRY to get these fall posts wrapped up with this one!  It's been over SIX months (yikes, bad blogger here) since these travels took place, so please forgive my memory lapses. 

 Fast forward to  our trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico for the wedding of Dennis' nephew.  We were pleased to meet up with some of our Indiana family who had traveled to here as well.  A one day road trip to White Sands National Monument was a fun diversion for everyone! 

Congratulations to Matt and Morgan!  It was a wonderful wedding at a beautiful western themed venue. 

From there we had a short drive to Las Cruces, NM.  Unfortunately, we both caught some type of virus and spent several days recovering and resting during our stop here.  But, if you know us, you know we love our Mexican food and our illnesses didn't keep us from enjoying the flavors of the area! Our campground was near the historic town of Mesilla where we found terrific food.

Finally we recovered enough to do a hike in the nearby Dripping Springs National Recreation area.  We wish we had felt like doing more of this, but we will have to save that for a return trip!

 From Las Cruces, we made a swing through the El Paso TX area and back over to Carlsbad NM.  On the way, we made an overnight stop at the Guadalupe Mountains

Probably the only reason for us to visit Carlsbad, is of course,  Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  I was here in 1968, so there had been a few changes since then :)

We took the self guided tour and walked down the entrance to the caves then rode the elevator back up. Needless to say, our calves talked to us for the next couple of days, but we felt this was a great way to visit the park.

 

Texas - November 2017

With no idea where we wanted to spend the next few weeks in Texas, we lucked out with a reservation at Johnson Creek RV Resort and Pecans near Ingram in the Texas Hill Country.

An added perk here were the all the pecans we could harvest! And the miniature horses that loved the added attention of the campground residents.  We spent Thanksgiving here and enjoyed their potluck dinner with turkey provided by the owners.  There were lots of winter Texans here and we could see why they liked it here. 

This was a great location to explore more of the area.  We made a day trip to San Antonio and saw the Alamo, some other old missions and of course, had some delicious Mexican food on the River Walk! Fredericksburg, Kerrville, Luckenbach, Boerne and Bandera were also within a short drive from the campground.  Lots to see and do near here!

 As we left Ingram, we made a stop at the LBJ Ranch near Johnson City.  We weren't sure what to expect here, but found it very interesting.

Our next destination was Waco.  Our campground here was Airport Park Campground, an COE park, on Lake Waco.  This was the sunset view from one of the sites as we arrived.

 Of course we visited The Silos!  We shopped one day, then went back the next evening to see the Christmas lights.

 This is about as much of Dallas as we really wanted to see.  D did great driving through heavy truck traffic in construction zones with the motorhome, but not his favorite day of travel!

Pilot Knoll Park and Campground near Highland Village TX was our next destination where I celebrated my birthday with cake and a visit from the Oklahoma relatives!  Also a visit with Dennis' former co-worker who lives on the other side of the lake.  

With this, I will say I am finished blogging about our Fall 2017 travels!  From Texas we made our way back to Indiana for Christmas with the family and some much colder weather.

Campgrounds:

Circle B Campground, Ruidoso Downs, NM 😐Easy access FHU with cabin nearby for extra family to stay, decent sites but mostly empty at this time of year. Probably would look at other places if we came through here again. $$$

Hacienda RV Resort, Las Cruces, NM 😀Easy access FHU pull through sites.  Lots of RV's overnighting as they head West for the winter but good choice for exploring the area.  Nice office staff.  Close to interesting town of Mesilla. $$$$

Pine Springs Campground, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, TX 😀NO Services.  Basically a parking lot with lines drawn as a guideline.  Scenic area. Great for an over night but can be very windy here. $

Brantley Lake State Park Campground,  12 miles N of Carlsbad, NM  😀A little out of the way for visiting the Caverns but FHU and nicely spaced sites.  Can be very windy here too.  $$

Schreiner City Park, Junction, TX 😀NO Services but FREE for up to 3 days.  Great overnight stop for travel to Texas Hill Country.  Nice sites along the river but we arrived after dark and a little difficult to find but would be fine during daylight. FREE

Johnson Creek RV Resort, Ingram, TX 😀FHU Easy access but a little ways from some of the main attractions in Hill Country.  Not an issue for us.  Nice campground with pull through sites.  We were able to get monthly rate for our 3  1/2 week stay.  Would be a great place for a rally.  Pecans (and deer) everywhere. $$

Airport Park Campground, Waco, TX 😀A COE park. Some FHU sites.  All with great lake views.  A little ways off the main roads but pretty easy to find.  Not as much airport noise as one would expect.  Could not level at our first site but were able to get FHU site which was much better. Great spot to stay while visiting the Silos, etc.  $

Pilot Knoll Campground, Highland Village, TX 😀City park but a little hard to find. W/E sites only.  Good campground for exploring the Dallas area.  Nice lake views.  Popular with locals.  There is a COE park nearby that would be worth checking out  $$$

Fair City RV Park, Hope, AR 😐City Park at the Fairgrounds.  Electric only. Easy access but could be muddy.  Good for an overnight when passing through on I-30. $

Grand Ole RV Resort, Goodlettsville, TN 😐FHU and easy access. One of the less expensive options when visiting Nashville. Quite a bit of train noise.  Otherwise a nice campground.  $$$

Fall 2017 - Part 2 - Still Trying to Catch Up!

Oklahoma Fall 2017

I've been a Pioneer Woman blog reader and fan for many years.  I loved visiting her Mercantile in Pawhuska, Oklahoma and loved that my sister and brother-in-law drove up from Edmond to meet us there for breakfast and some shopping! (Great food, by the way!)

Since we were in the area, we did a little other sightseeing with a trip to Woolaroc which has a fantastic collection of Western art, native wildlife and firearms.  The next day we drove by the  Frank Lloyd Wright designed Price Tower  in Bartlesville but unfortunately had missed the next tour.

We moved on to Oklahoma City where we got to meet a new great niece and spend a little family time with my sister and her crew. 

Next Stop, Texas!

We spent a few days exploring Palo Duro Canyon State Park.  Gorgeous place, but it was a good thing it was fall and not summer! 

The highlight of the visit to the Amarillo area was meeting up with a friend and former employee from 30+ years ago.  It was great to see Jon and some of his family!




Campgrounds:

Riverside RV Resort and Campground, Bartlesville OK  😃Enjoyed our stay.  Nice pull thru site. Easy access.  Would return. FHU $$$

Twin Fountains RV Park, Oklahoma City, OK 😐Good location for visiting family. Easy access. Pull thru site but was too close to front of park. Noisy and other sites appeared to be un-level. FHU $$$$

Palo Duro State Park, Sagebrush Campground,  Canyon/Amarillo, TX 😀Great natural setting.  Pretty views. Steep entrance road. Site was level. Would return. EW $$

Memories - Fall 2017 Part 1

Just a few quick memories of our return to Indiana in August and September and the first part of October.

The brothers Joe and Bill spent the night with Grammy and Papa in the motorhome.  Don't know if they wanted to spend time with us or the Ipads :)  But it's always fun to have them around and they are all growing up so fast!

All the Grandkids.  Don't look too close at their faces, there might be traces of the black birthday cake frosting!

I discovered that even with the limited space in the motorhome, I can still make some pretty good cinnamon rolls!

Siblings!  Not often are they all together.  And now with one moving to NY, it's going to be less often. 

Yes, we watched the eclipse.  

Sadly, we lost another family member last August.  We all have fond memories of Dennis' Aunt Jane.  We made a quick drive back to Kansas for her services and time with her family.

This is a rare sight!  It's probably been a couple decades since he mowed a yard, but since we park on his Dad's driveway, the least he could do is help out when they were out of town.

I purchased a Sew-Ezi table.  I love it, and now I can actually set up my machine and get some projects done when the desire hits me.

This cutie turned TWO!   Shirt by Grammy.  I was even able to set up my embroidery machine on my new table.

Our personal parking space at Dennis' dad's driveway in Jeffersonville.  A great location when visiting back "home".  It was great to spend some time with family again but as September came to a close, it was time to move on.  We had plans to attend our first ever Newmar Kountry Klub RV Rally in Sedalia, MO.  We've driven through Missouri many times in various RV's and if we have to stay there, we usually stop at Cottonwood RV Park near Columbia, MO.  But after a bad experience with a park employee's careless guidance too close to a cottonwood tree that resulted in minor damage to our awning, we decided to search for alternatives.  

So this time we tried Lazy Day Campground near Danville, MO and were very happy with our site and our brief stay.  Near I-70 with easy access to pull-thru sites for overnighters, we would definitely recommend it to anyone passing through or even looking to stay a few days.  

On to Sedalia for the NKK Rally!  We didn't know what to expect for an experience here, camped with over 500 other Newmar rigs and their owners, but we had a great time!  The parking crew knew how to handle that many motorhomes and how to get them all set up.  We had a 50 amp, FHU site and though it was a little cramped and dusty (until the rains came)  but we met some really nice folks and learned a lot from the seminars and classes.  Dennis was signed up for the FreightLiner School and I think he felt it was worthwhile.  FreightLiner is the manufacturer of the chassis of our motorhome and where we go for any maintenance of the engine and any of the "truck" parts of Newmar.  While he was there I attended various seminars, some helpful, and some not.  Probably the best ones were put on by the Fulltimers chapter and were all related to the full time RV lifestyle.  

 You can see that we were all packed into the 50 amp sites pretty well.  At least we had FHU's and had some nice neighbors.  In fact, we've kept in contact with some of them and found kindred spirits!  We had such a good time, we are already signed up for the next International Rally in Gillette, WY next June. 

From Missouri we ventured on to the Southwest.  I'll update the rest of fall travels soon!

It’s Time to Catch Up!

It seems as though I might as well skip over Fall of 2017 and Winter 2017/2018, but that just doesn’t seem right that I would have no record of some pretty awesome events during that time.

We spent several weeks parked in the front yard of the cabin at TinCup, Colorado.  Dennis and his sister Jody spent just about every summer here when they were growing up back in the “old”days! 

With only power and water hook ups, we were able to maintain our tanks with only two 4 mile trips to the Forest Service Sanitary Station.  Having access to the cabin and the “privy” helped too!  Jody is always ready for company, so we didn't have to worry about what we would eat during our stay! She is famous for her "stockpiling" talents and there is never a shortage of snacks or any grocery item we might need! 

We spent many evenings out "hunting" for moose in the valleys just up the road.  But the views coming back into town weren't bad either.  We did manage to find several to photograph over the few weeks were there.  

We had several guests during this time too!  Daughter Brooke was excited to show her husband and boys the Colorado that she remembers from childhood vacations.  I think they really enjoyed their visit!  We all had a blast riding jeeps and ATV's on the trails.  It was great that our nephew and his bride were able to be there too!

Grandson Drake was able to celebrate his birthday with us before their long drive home. It was great to see them!