2019 Road Trip with Ma and Pa

Wednesday – 09/04/2019 – Beautiful day driving to Chippewa Falls to my parents. Tomorrow starting an new adventure. Taking a road trip with my parents. We will be heading west and be gone for at approximately 2 weeks. The plan is to head toward Idaho and spend a few days exploring that area then maybe drop down into Colorado and possibly on to Vegas.

Thursday – 09/05/2019 – Got on the road around 7:30. Hopped on I-94 and headed west. We did not do any sight seeing today. We arrived in Bismark ND around 5:00.

Today's Mileage: 524 Tonight's stay: AmericInn – Bismark ND

Friday – 09/06/2019 – After leaving Bismark we drove a few miles west on I-94 then exited the freeway near Gladstone to drive the Enchanted Highway. Along this rural stretch of road are several large metal sculptures made by Gary Greff. He is a local man from Regent ND who wanted to promote his small town so built this series of sculptures and placed them along the road that leads to Regent. They are a wonderful example of American folk art. From Regent we continued on rural roads and returned to the interstate at Dickenson. We made some brief stops at the Painted Canyon Visitor Center and The Theodore Roosevelt National Park Visitor Centers. Lots of miles today despite our stops.

Today's Mileage: 524 Tonight's stay: Baymont – Billings MT

Saturday – 09/07/2019 – We decided to bypass any tourist attractions and keep driving. Around Bozeman we started entering the mountains. It was cloudy and rainy in the morning with the clouds breaking up later in the day. The light and the mountains made for some awesome scenery. Lots of up and down and curvy roads. A few 6% grades but no more than 3 miles long. The steepest was at Lookout Pass (elev. 4700) at the Idaho border. We arrived at the Baymont in Couer d'Alene at around 6 PM Pacific time.

Today's Mileage: 495 Tonight's stay: Baymont – Couer d'Alene ID

Sunday – 09/08/2019 – After leaving the hotel this morning we drove through down town Couer d'Alene. It was Sunday morning so not much going on but it looked very nice if somewhat touristy. We took highway 97 south which is a scenic drive hugging the coast of Couer d'Alene. Spectacular and beautiful and curvy. Once we arrived at St. Maries we decided to take highway 5 to Plummer and pick up highway 95 which would take us to Moscow our next stop. This route took us along the south end of the lake and over the St. Joe River. According to a roadside information sign this river is the highest navigable river in the world.

The landscape south of the lake on the way to Moscow is rolling hills covered in wheat fields dotted with stands of pines. It is referred to as the Palouse. Lots of colorful contrast with the dark pines standing out against the golden wheat fields. We noticed other golden fields that were not wheat. It turns out is was garbanzo beans. In this area the wheat crop is rotated with peas, lentils and garbanzo beans. We arrived in Moscow in the early afternoon and checked into our hotel.

Today's Mileage: 90 Tonight's stay: Best Western Plus – Moscow ID

Enchanted Highway

Outstanding in a wheat field

Parkers Restaurant

Couer d'Alene ID

Moscow ID

Garbanzo bean field with harvested wheat field in the background

Garbanzo beans

Home Again

Tuesday – 04/09/2019 – Another long day of driving, 395 miles. All interstate driving today. Tonight we stayed at the Illinois State Fairground Campground. Full hook-up for $20, senior price. Going to hang out here for at least one day as there is snow and wind expected in Wisconsin on Tuesday. I have always wanted to visited the Lincoln Presidential Museum so we will do that tomorrow.

Wednesday morning we went out for breakfast at Charlie Parker's Diner, another eatery featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. The building is very unusual as it is in an old Quonset hut. We both had the DDD featured pancake. It was very good. After that we went to the Lincoln Presidential Museum. We spent most of the day going through the exhibits. There was also a two man play that was about the events leading up to the assassination. It was my favorite along with the Ghosts of the Library presentation. The weather does not look good for traveling tomorrow. There are high wind advisories all the way through Illinois. So it looks like we may be spending another day here.

Thursday – 04/11/2019 -Stayed another day because of the weather. Snow, rain and wind predicted in Wisconsin. Visited Lincoln's New Salem State Park located a half hour drive northwest of Springfield. This is a reconstructed village where Lincoln spend his early adulthood. Along with a visitor center there are twelve log houses, a tavern, ten workshops, stores, mill and a school. These buildings have been reproduced and furnished as they might have been in the 1830's. There were few visitors there as it was midweek when we visited. During peak season they often have docents demonstrating crafts and techniques used during that time period.

Friday – 04/12/2019 – The storms have moved out of Wisconsin so we headed home. Left early in the morning and arrive home around noon. There was a verily strong wind but it was mostly a tailwind.

Where we are parked: Illinois State Fairground Campground – Springfield – 300 sites- Some with full hookups, some water and electric only. Our spot was in one of the paved areas with full hook-ups. $25 per night, $20 per night for seniors.

Tucson, Texas and Oklahoma - Flutes and Flowers

04/05/2019 – 04/08/2019

Friday – 04/05/2019 – Today we attended the Voyager Flute Festival. This is a two day event at the Voyager RV Park in Tucson. Besides multiple flute makers selling their flutes there was workshops and performances by various flutists. I purchased two flutes from Kenny King. One in the key of A made of maple with a purple heart mouth piece. The second flute in the key of E made of canary wood, paduak and maple. I also purchased a small pocket flute from High Spirits in the key of G made of cedar. We listened to a couple of performances including a guy playing the didgeridoo. We returned to the our RV park to go to happy hour and grab dinner. Then we returned to the festival to watch flutist Timothy J. P. Gomez. What a awesome performance!

Saturday – 04/06/2019 – Moving day! We left Tucson around 8:00. Pretty early for us but I think we were both ready to get on the road. Destination today was Sunland Casino and Racetrack in El Paso. As we neared El Paso we started noticing a conflict between the GPS and the directions on the billboards for the casino. The billboards said to take exit 13. The GPS said use exit 19. We passed by exit 13. Then there was construction around exit 19 which was closed. The alternate route would have taken us down town then wound back to the casino. There was also signs saying eastbound I-10 was going to be closed on Sunday and Monday. It just seemed prudent to keep going and avoid the mess. We drove another 90 miles to Van Horn where we found a nice little RV park to stay the night.

Sunday – 04/07/2019 – The destination today was Wichita Falls and Horseshoe Bend Vineyard to visit Scott, Linda and Gabby. Hopped back on I-10 heading east then picked up I-20 through Odessa and Midland and the oil fields. You would think fuel would be the least inexpensive in this area but no...it was the highest we had seen this year. Diesel was over $3 a gallon. At Sweetwater we left I-20, turned onto 70, then 180 to 277. Took 277 all the way to Wichta Falls. The Texas Blue Bonnets were blooming along the roadsides.

The vineyard is a great place to stay overnight and it was wonderful to visit with Scott, Linda and Gabby. In addition we picked up some wine to take back home to be donated to Ritchies benefit party. A few months ago Scott had added the vineyard to Harvest Hosts, a program where Rvers can find a place to stay overnight. Shortly after we pulled in, another camper pulled in. They had found the place through Harvest Hosts. We all sat outside the winery and visited until almost 9:00.

Monday – 04/08/2018 – Another long travel day today. Destination today was a casino near Joplin Missouri. We stayed off the freeway for a while until we picked up I-40 at Stroud, OK. This route avoided Oklahoma City. It was pretty nice but of course we had to go through a few small towns which did not help our fuel mileage. It was very pretty though as the fields in OK were green, green, green. The Black Angus in the fields provided great contrast. There were lots of wild flowers blooming as well as Redbuds in the woods. We arrived at Downstream Resort and Casino in the late afternoon, set up and went inside to register. One night camping is free when you sign up for a players card. It was two for one at the buffet so we took advantage of that as well.

We traveled over 1200 miles in 3 days. That is a lot for us. Partly because we are trying to make it home by Saturday to attend the benefit for Richie Ramminger. We could be home by Wednesday but they expect 2”-5” of snow. Stay tuned!

Where we are Parked: Far Horizons Tucson Village RV Resort – Cal Am Resort – Site 633 – 665 sites. Pool, hot tub, activities, laundry, rock, silver and glass shops, bocce ball, pickle ball, shuffleboard. We stayed one week free as we took advantage of a promotional program through a Cal Am Resort in Yuma. See attached fee schedule for rates.

Where we are Parked: Desert Willow RV Park, Van Horn TX – We parked across the street in the pull-thru area. 40 some sites with full hook ups including cable TV. Also has showers and laundry facilities. We paid $22.50 with a Good Sam discount. Didn't see they were an Escapees park until we had already paid. Escapees rate was $13.50. Still a great rate and a nice overnight stop.

Where we are parked: Horseshoe Bend Cellars Vineyard – parked in the field next to the winery parking lot.

Where we are parked: Downstream Casino and Resort – Site 4 – First night free when signing up for a players card. Otherwise $30 per night. Electric and water. Note: Lots of semi-trucks nearby running their engines. Stay closer to the east end as there are no marked spaces for semi-trucks.

Voyager Flute Festival

My flute collection

Dust Devil somewhere in Texas

Desert Willow RV Park and Campground

Horseshoe Bend Cellars Vineyard

Downstream Casino and Resort

A short visit in Tucson

04/01/2019 – 04/04/2019

Monday – 04/01/2019 – It was a short 2 and one half hour drive from Apache Junction to Tucson. We took Hwy 60 to 79. It was a pleasant drive until we got to the outskirts of Tucson. We ended up driving through 20 miles of city. That was not much fun but we arrived safely at Far Horizons RV Park. We had our choice of sites. The streets are a little narrow and the sites are short. It took about 20 minutes of finagling to get the RV in the right spot on the site. Dennis did an excellent job!

Tuesday – 04/02/2019 – Visited the Titan Missile Museum today. It is a National Historic Landmark located south of Tucson in Green Valley. It is the location of the last of 54 remaining Titan II missiles that were on alert in the United States during the Cold War, from 1963-1987. For $10 we were shown a short video about the construction of the complex and the missile silo. Then we were taken on a tour of the control center as well as the missile silo itself. Our tour guide was stationed here and was in command of the control center. She had lots of first hand experience and stories about what it was like to live and work here, always on alert for the phone call that would initiate the launch of the missile. Each missile was fitted with a 9 megaton warhead and had a range of 8700 nautical miles. Fortunately the Cold War ended without having to use any of the 54 missiles. All but one of the 54 missile silos were destroyed except for this one which is now a museum.

Just south of Green Valley is the town of Tubac. It is a small town known for its shops, art galleries and artisans. Since we were close we decided to check it out. We poked around in a few of the shops but did not find anything that we “needed”.

From Tubac we drove south a short distance to the Tumacacori National Historic Park. This is the site of a mission established around 1700. Construction on the church began around 1800. It was never completed. The part that remains is in excellent condition.

Wednesday – 04/03/2019 – A few of our friends mentioned how nice Sabino Canyon was so we headed there today. This is a U.S. Forest Service Recreation Area. We paid $10 each to take a narrated shuttle bus ride into the canyon. The bus travels on a paved road 3.8 miles into the canyon crossing Sabino Creek multiple times. At some crossing the creek crosses the road. It was a very lovely drive. At the end we got out of the bus and we decided to walk back down. About three quarters of the way down we met a park volunteer. We walked and chatted with her for a ways. She recommended we leave the road and take a trail to Sabino Dam. At the dam she continued on to the Visitor Center. We followed a short time later.

Where we are parked: Far Horizons Tucson Village RV Resort – Cal Am Resort – Site 633 – 665 sites. Pool, hot tub, activities, laundry, rock, silver and glass shops, bocce ball, pickle ball, shuffleboard. We stayed one week free as we took advantage of a promotional program through a Cal Am Resort in Yuma. See attached fee schedule for rates.

Far Horizons RV Resort

Titan Missile Museum

Tumacacori National Historic Park

Sabino Canyon Recreation Area