2019-01-31-Thurs Big Bend National Park to Van Horn TX

Woke up to pitch black outside even though it was 6:30 or 7:00. We must  be getting to the other side of the time zone. Walked to breakfast (in the dark) and had a nice B'fast, then back to the room. There is very little cell service here and the wifi works if you stand outside the visitor center (hot tip from one of the young folks who works here, "and they leave the wifi on all night!!")









After yesterday, I decide to download some maps of this part of Texas so I can use them offline. I also downloaded some podcasts which we have been getting into (Country Music history, I am slowly converting Deb..)
We decided to do an hour and a half hike this morning and then do another short hike along the Rio Grande. Overcast at first light so no nice sunrise pictures, but the sun came out while we
were hiking and we had a nice early morning hike down to "The Window". Deb is faster so we just set a time to hike out a trail, turn around and come back. Works great and we arrive back at the same time.





We drove down to the southern end of the park (30 miles or so) and parked near a short trail that takes you to the Santa Elena Canyon which is a narrow slot canyon that the Rio Grande cut through over the years. Short hike along the river and you quickly appreciate how small the Rio Grande is. The river is heavily controlled now and by the time the irrigation guys get done with it, there is not much left. We had heard that you can get a "ferry" across with a Mexican guy who rows you over (and sings) for $5, but now that I see the river, it must be a short song..
Nice little hike into the slot canyon with towering walls.
Then back in the National Park Assault Vehicle and headed north to try to get to Van Horn by dusk. We stopped for gas just outside the park (not taking chances out here) and then headed across the flat dry desert above the park with no radio
stations and no cell service.





The podcasts work great for making a long drive short. We are stopping a little more often for breaks which is helping my back issues tremendously.
Short detour into Marfa which we have been hearing is a quirky artist community. It does seem to have some vibe going on there, but we couldn't quite figure out what it was all about. All the buildings are painted nicely, even the empty one so there must be someone with a painting mission. We also saw signs for an Arts Festival, which must be an annual thing, and a couple references ti the Marfa Lights (they have a pull off on the road where you can watch them??). The waitress tonight made it sound like the Marfa lights are very mysterious (aliens??, Elvis??, pranksters??). Might be a publicity stunt. Gotta Google that one.






Nice road into Van Horn which is one of those interstate exit towns with restaurants and hotels. Met a woman driving from California to Texas to see her grand-kids and also chatted up a farmer from Minnesota and his wife with a motorcycle in

the back "escaping" from the Arctic blast at home.
Another full day.

2018-01-30 Weds - Kerville TX to Big Bend National Park

One of the nicer Super 8 motels last night in Kerrville TX. Conti breakfast was one of the better ones (eggs, sausage, etc) and even the waffle maker made waffles in the shape of Texas. Maybe there is a Vermont waffle maker??
The motels have been pretty cheap ($40 or so) probably due to the off season and we splurged in Galveston (bathroom the size of a ball room and doormen..) so we are thinking this trip is pretty inexpensive.
The Prius C gets 50 mpg so gas has been cheap, and gas prices are now down around $1.89 everywhere. The Prius is our Natural Park Assault Vehicle and it seems very comfy to ride in.

I am starting to wonder if my aching back is due to sitting in the car day after day so I'll hold judgment on the comfy Prius thing for now.
Today's goal was Big Bend National Park. We needed around 400 miles to get there since it is pretty far west of Kerrville (Jimmy Rogers lived there BTW) and also it is tucked way down in a pocket on the Mexican border so you need to go 150 miles down off the interstate.
So long day in the car with a nice national park for a prize.

The 2 hours or so before we got to the park is basically a desert with no cell service. The army actually tested camels out down here at one point.
We hit the friendly (and now getting paid) park ranger around 4pm. Got in free thanks to the Senior pass (getting old has its perks) and hit the visitor center where a nice lady gave us the overview. We still had to drive 35 miles or so inside the park to get to our bungalow.
This park is huge and it fully envelops an old volcanic mountain whose top blew off a gazillion years ago (apologies to any geologists out there). We checked in and the place ended up being about half full. Temperature was around 50 so very pleasant. Spectacular landscape.

We are up above 5000 ft so it is pretty green with maple trees and pines since there is more water up high. The sun sets at 6:30 so we decided to do a hike for an hour or so and come back to catch the sunset.
People are very chatty here and I made two new friends (Georgia & New Zealand) while waiting for a perfect light picture.
And sure enough the sun slid under the clouds and past the horizon to light up the rocks for a nice picture.
Then dinner at the only place here (there is no town). We sat at the bar and made new friends from Michigan, everyone talking about how cold it was back home. Turns out these folks knew a couple women that Deb knows from VBT. Small world.
Then back to the bungalow (I call it that because this place has the 60's feel, cement retro looking rooms spread around the site).
They also pride themselves on how dark it is here being so far away from any cities and they have lighting that keeps everything lit below but no above. So we really noticed how dark it was outside when we went to bed.
Another great day on the road..

2019-01-29 Tuesday Port Aransas TX to Kerrville TX

Today we left Port Aransas and headed toward San Antonio. Another long drive down the length of the island checking out all the public Texas beaches to the south and eventually turning inland and heading north.
We saw all the huge chemical plants here making who knows what. Lots of "man camps" which are small modular housing units with pickups parked outside each one. I am guessing you make good money moving down here and working your butt off. We saw signs for jobs so they must be looking for more help.
We drove by Corpus Christi which was not so spectacular looking, lots of chain stuff everywhere, billboards, etc, but to be fair, we did not drive into Corpus so we will call it a draw.
The big excitement today was going on the plant tour at the Toyota Tundra and Tacoma plant outside San Antonio. I went to their plant in Georgetown

KY which was wonderful a couple of years back. Toyota does what's called "Lean Manufacturing" and they do it as well as anyone in the world. I had originally made a reservation for Weds but we are ahead of schedule and also want to stop at Big Bend National Park (now that the parks are open again..). So I called this morning and they said they could get us in at noon today. We had just enough time to make it there by noon so we let "Lead Foot Deb" drive and got there with a half hour to spare.
Awesome tour. These guys employ 3000 people and produce about 500 trucks every 8 hour shift. Two shifts a day and 5 days a week. I saw a board that showed they had made 23,000 Tundras or Tacomas in the last 30 days. The employees all are dressed neatly, nobody looks stressed

out, and they all seem pretty darned happy there. These plants are like roller coaster rides for engineers. Awesome, awesome, awesome. We did the tour with a school bus full of 7th graders who had to give up their cell phones (or else!!). So it was Deb and I, another couple from NJ and about 40 7th graders. The kids did great and nobody had to escorted out.
The it was on to San Antonio to see the Japanese Tea Garden which the NJ folks had said we had to see. It was built in 1914 or so by a guy that made Portland cement and gave it to the city as a gift. When WW2 came along they re-named it the Chinese Tea Garden (remember that WW2 Japanese internment camp thing..) but they changed the name back to Japanese Tea Garden in the 70's.
After the Tea Garden it was on to the Alamo. This Mexico-Texas-USA thing is really confusing. Mexico was declaring its independence from Spain, and invited Americans to become Mexican citizens. Americans got confused with the Mexican civil war thing going on and decided to declare their

independence from Mexico, and the US was upset and also got into the act. So big mess over 50 years or so. If you controlled the Alamo, you controlled Texas, so the Alamo changed hands several times between Spain, Mexico and Texas. I need to find a good documentary to figure this out.
Chatted with the reenactors who kind of cleared it up, but not really. Mexico has its own version of what happened. So Texas was a republic for 10 years or so before it became a state.
Next up was the famous San Antonio River Walk. This is cool. It looks like in the 1940's, they decided to make a river in a U shape off the existing river using some streets in town. It is the

coolest thing. It's like what I imagine Venice is like with a small river running past shops and stores and restaurants. But done beautifully with lights and stone works and lots of trees and plants. A must see.
We stopped for coffee and tea to warm up (50's today) and decided to head west a little to get out of the city before stopping for the night. Since Toyota got us in a day early, we decided we could make it (we hope) to Big Bend Park on the way to Arizona. So here we are an hour west of San Antonio where we found a cute little city with a nice (and cheap) motel and dinner in a restored train station followed by coconut cream pie (my first on the trip) at another local place (Billie Genes). This morning seems like a week ago..

2019-01-28 Monday Galveston TX to Port Aransas TX

A day late posting this so I hope I remember everything. Spent the night in Galveston in a really nice hotel with a bathroom you could play handball in. We went to the place our friendly barkeep recommended last night for breakfast and it was great, way friendly host that gave us more info, where to go, etc.
Galveston is a pretty clean city and is the perfect place to spend a few nights hitting the beaches by day and clubs at night. Not many people this time of year, but since it is so close to Houston, it sounds like it gets swamped with overheated Texas folks in the summer. Nice city.
We stopped at a castle place Deb had heard about and then drove all the way down the end of the island past Mustang Island and turned inland at

Surfside Beach to head toward Corpus Christi. The entire Texas coast must be public land because there are tons of access points where you can drive onto the sand road that runs all along the backside of the beach. Some folks told us yesterday that you can park your camper or RV for three days right on the beach. Everything was very tidy so folks seem to keep things picked up.
Once you head inland, things get more rustic and a bit more gritty. We took the closest road to the coast that Google could find and got a snapshot of how normal folks live. Kinda like Florida back roads. And ever present off in the distance are the refineries. This morning at breakfast we could see all the oil tankers off shore which I suppose are bringing oil in, but maybe taking oil out?
We ended up taking the short (really short, not sure why they didn't build a bridge?) ferry over to Port Aransas. Another huge surprise at what a beach town this is and how much of resort town it is. Not glitzy, but very clean and well kept. No chain places but lots of beach houses and local places to eat.

This reminds me of the Outer Banks in North Carolina with endless houses on the beach built on stilts, mostly empty this time of year. We chatted with a lot of folks as we walked down the beach and this time of year the snowbirds come down to escape the cold. They all have their own angles on how they manage it. Some do the RV thing (big ones and small ones), some rent condos for a few months at a time. The motel we stayed in had some retired folks that just rent a block of rooms at the motel (big discount) and then entertain all their friends and families from up north for 3 or 4 months. Pretty happy bunch!
We hit the local popular restaurant (the retired folks know them all) and hit the shrimp night specials.
Back to the motel and crashed from the three mile walk on the beach and long day drive. Another great day with great weather. Tomorrow we go to San Antonio!!

2019-01-27 Shreveport LA to Galveston TX

 My back is still killing me so I finished the ibuprofen and we stopped for more this morning. Deb did all the driving today. I hate taking this stuff but it works.
Pretty much a "work day" since there was not much in Shreveport we wanted to see. We did get catfish last night so I guess that is our accomplishment in Louisiana.
We stopped in a cute town called Nacogdoches TX, which is the oldest town in Texas and they say it has been under 9 flags since it was first begun, not just the 6 flags of Texas. The Spanish and then French, then Spanish again, then Americans, etc.. Very quaint brick streets. Not quite back to full strength, but they have a lot of potential. Pretty town.
Then drove right through downtown Houston which is a giant sprawling metropolitan area.. Then south to Galveston. Deb scored a nice hotel right downtown (door men and everything) and she did a long walk around town (recon) and I had a nap and let my back heal a bit.
Then we walked to the bay side of the island (Galveston is an island by the way), and we found a great restaurant and sat at the bar and learned everything we needed to know about Galveston, hurricanes, rents, weather, tourists, you name it from the very friendly bar keep. Sitting at the bar and eating dinner is way more fun that sitting at a table. We also got some great leads on places to stay in Corpus Christi tomorrow night. And where to go in Austin TX if we end up there. Goldmine of information.
Galveston feels a little like the Keys. Hot Texans flock here in the summer. There were two cruise ships in the harbor and it sounds like this is a take off point for them and/or a stop. The whole coastline here is a beach and they have a trolley that will carry you around where you need to go on the island. January is a slow time of year but there are still lots of folks here on vacation.
We ended the night with a drink on top of the hotel building at the bar they have up there. Lots of gas lights for light and heat (not much).
The back is almost back to normal so maybe Deb will let me drive tomorrow.

2019-01-26 Van Buren AR to Shreveport LA

Today's goal was to go back east a bit and see Hot Springs National Park, and we were successful, mostly.. The government shut down ended Friday and we had this crazy idea that the national parks would be open the next day. Did not work out that way as you could have guessed..
Van Buren is next to the larger town of Fort Smith, and was an ok town, but we were itching to go. We drove through a nice part of Arkansas and made the transition from the very hilly north-west of the state to the more rolling and finally flat parts to the south. Arkansas actually surprised us with how nice the landscape was. Must be nice in the fall when the trees are all full.

Deb had been following someones blog that raved about Hot Springs and it is an unusual national park for sure. While there is a large natural area, the focus is on the restoration and protection of the town and it's history of the hot springs. The headquarters are in an old bathhouse and that building and another 4 or 5 buildings make up the national park headquarters.

Hot Springs was visited by native Americans forever, then Cortes  back in 15-something, and then by the French when they owned this area (think pre-Louisiana Purchase). It attracted people because of the 143 degree water bubbling out of the ground. The town has been through all the usual cycles of discovery, frontier years, abandonment, trading post, crazy people, wooden cabins evolving to wooden hotels which all burned eventually, replaced by non-flammable buildings, then the pre-depression tourist boom, the post WW2 boom, then the slow down in tourists. Right now there are a lot of high rise buildings built 50+ years ago that seem mostly empty, waiting for the next cycle.
But what is open is pretty nice and all in all it is a nice small town. And a National Park.

We walked all over town and after chatting with the local tourist info ladies (who do not seem to get along with the national park folks..) we drove to the top of the mountain behind town and took the elevator up the tower to get a birds eye view.
The park was closed of course so we headed south toward Louisiana. It gets flatter and flatter and wetter and wetter as you go south. We finally ended the day in Shreveport LA just as the sun dropped over the horizon.
My back got tweaked out this morning so I was in pain all day, but Deb pumped some Advil into me and I am on the mend tonight. We found a local place (not fancy) that had catfish, shrimp, oysters (but no crayfish).

Good dinner of catfish and back to the room to get John to bed and get his back healing. Another fun day!!

2019-01-25 Mountain Home AR to Van Buren AR

Mountain Home was so-so, even though it was listed on a list of 10 cutest towns (or something like that). Kinda meah. Eureka Springs, however was a very cute little town. Definitely an end destination town for all the surrounding area and crazy cute. It was built down in a canyon type geographical detail and a single row of houses on either side makes for a skinny town running up the canyon.
This corner of Arkansas is very different from the rest of it, and I can truly now say I understand what they call the Ozarks. The road we took between Mountain Home and Bentonville was built on top a ridge so lots of up and down, twisty turns and 15 mph corners. And not much traffic.
We stopped and saw the Christ of the Ozarks (saw a billboard), and what a big guy he is (actually 66 feet tall). Eureka Springs is down the hill from him.

Next stop, Bentonville where we stopped at the Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Bentonville. This place was built by one of the Walton daughters (think Walmart) and it must have cost a fortune. No real art theme here but some nice works. We toured a Frank Lloyd Wright house they moved from New Jersey which was built in 1950. Pretty timeless design. And simple. The museum buildings are amazing and the art is ok. A few pieces that caught my eye (but heck, I'm and engineer..)

We stopped in Bentonville for lunch and chatted with a local guy and the bar maid. This corner of Arkansas is like a different state than the rest of Arkansas since it is so hilly and geographically interesting. Bentonville is where Sam Walton had his first Ben Franklin store back in 1950. They have a completely restored replica which we took a quick look at.

It started to snow so we headed south and ended the day in Van Buren AR. We did some laundry and walked up the street to an Italian place for dinner. Arkansas has 75 counties and 39 of them are dry (no booze). This is one of the dry counties so no beer or wine with dinner tonight.
I called and got a slot next Weds at the Toyota plant in San Antonio TX (plant tour) and we have lots of time so we may head down to the gulf. Stay tuned..

2019-01-24 Memphis TN to Mountain Home AR

Where Martin Luther King died

We spent half the day in Memphis. If Nashville is the home of country music, Memphis is home of the blues. Beale Street is to Memphis what Broadway is to Nashville, but different music. Lots of neon lights, blues clubs and music blaring everywhere, live or recorded. We started by spending 2-3 hours in the National Civil Rights Museum, a must do if you come to Memphis. They built it around the motel where Martin Luther King was shot and killed in 1968. Growing up in Vermont, we are isolated from the 3-400 year struggled African Americans have endured. I had tears several times today.
The take away is that the United States has been striving toward "All men are created equal" for generations and we are slowly gaining ground. Powerful place.

Memphis is Blues

We then walked around the city until we found Beale Street and found some coffee and took in the "scene" there. We ran into what we first thought was a meter man, but turned out to be one of the dozen or so city ambassadors who make the rounds helping tourists find their way and peppering us with Memphis history and information.

Light lunch

He pointed us to Central Barbecue for lunch and we were not disappointed. Pretty inexpensive and awesome barbecue. We finally made it out of Memphis and across the Mississippi River and into Arkansas in the early afternoon. We were trying to find "The Ozarks" and at first we seemed to run out of the rolling hills of Tennessee and onto the flat plains. Looked like cotton and corn were grown there, but maybe something else. We headed north and the countryside slowly got hillier and finally it got very rolling with lots of ponds and lakes. This was the Ozarks. Pretty rustic like Vermont and of course no leaves since it is January, but you can see why people from all those flat places flock here to enjoy the mountains and lakes.

Map of last two days

We only made it to Mountain Home before it started getting dark, but that was plenty. We are way ahead of schedule so we can goof off.

Weds Jan 23 Nashville to Memphis

Rained most of the day so perfect time to stop at a museum. And the most recommended museum by the history profs at the bar last night was the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Easy GPS directions to downtown Nashville. Underground parking (which ended up costing $30 @#$%). But the museum is top shelf. Nice history of how country music moved from folk / bluegrass in the early 1900's and morphed with blues and later more mainstream rock influences. Special Emmy Lou Harris exhibit and Waylon & Willie "Outlaws" section. Nashville is all about country music. After a couple/few  hours at the museum, we walked around the block and down Broadway which is the main drag with lots of neon lights, honky tonks, and music playing from almost every doorway. And live music as well. All in the rain. (I did not bring a rain coat so we made a stop and purchased a Frogg Togg one, which is what I use for motorcycle trips).
The goal today was to make it to Memphis for the night and we tag teamed the driving playing tag with trucks on Rt 40. Dinner at a little local Mexican place and then went to see 'The Up Side" at a theater (with a giant pink elephant water sculpture in the lobby..)where we were the only people seeing any movie as far as we could tell. We are making good time and still getting some diversions in. Deb has mastered the cheap motel thing and is working up to having my coffee ready when I wake up, still working on that :)

Sat-Tues Jan 19-22 VT to Cookville TN

A little behind in this since we have been doing so much socializing..
We left Saturday under threat of the incoming storm and got out just in time. I packed the summer tires in the back with the idea of changing the studded snows out in North Carolina so kind of a full car.

We kicked off the trip with breakfast at Rosie's in Middlebury and took Rt7 to 103 and stopped in Chester since Deb had never been through there. Chester is easy to miss since the downtown, such as it is, is not on Rt103 and I have driven right by it a hundred times on my way back and forth from Putney to Burlington.
We made it to Shelton and saw our old friends Vera and Glenn. They moved to CT 16 years ago so it was great to catch up. I got to meet what

Night at the Gaitano's

seemed like the whole town at the local pizza place where we picked up fresh bread. Friendly and tight knit community (Italian) and Glenn goes way back with everyone there. His high school football team picture was on the wall at the pizza place. Wonderful folks!! Five stars all the way.
Sunday we headed for our next stop, Deb's cousin Michelle and her family's house in Arlington where they also fed and housed us. Nice to catch up with them and their growing teens (and Aunt Ginny who was also visiting). They have a great spot right next to a park and a rail trail. We drove by the capital, Pentagon and Washington Monument! Another pleasant evening.
Monday (MLK day) we gave Deb's brother Pete a

Breakfast at Heimberg's

ride back to Greensboro, which meant getting the tires change at a local place and stashing the winter tires at Michelle & John's place instead of Greensboro. But the weather was great with nice dry roads. Also a good chance to catch up with Pete. We pulled into Greensboro as the sun was setting. We stayed the night at Pete's in-laws, Marian and Robert Heimberg who have a lovely apartment in Greensboro with a spare room. They made dinner for all of us and we stayed up late chatting and catching up. Another wonderful night. But our last night staying with friends and family..
Tuesday we decided to hear southwest toward Nashville. But first we wanted to stop in Boone, NC. What a nice town. Feels crunchy just like Vermont. and we walked around the downtown and got coffee and then wandered through the Appalachian State University campus on our way our of town. Felt a lot like Vermont.
Deb was sooo excited to cross the Appalachian Trail where she hiked 6 years ago and we found the spot where it crossed the windy back road we took toward Nashville. The roads around here are twisty and in good shape. She took me to the hostel she stayed in there and we found some good barbecue down the road for lunch. More windy roads and then back on the interstate with warm sun. We ended the day in Cookville which is a nice college town (Tennessee Tech) and found a brew-pub downtown where Deb chatted up a couple college professors who gave us lots of "must-see" ideas.