2008 Vacation: Day 9

We got up early, before daylight, with plans to end up in Vernon, TX back at the Rocking “A” RV Park. Our agenda today included only two stops en route. Quirky little stops really.

The Cadillac Ranch, located along the tatters of historic Route 66, was built in 1974, brainchild of Stanley Marsh 3, the helium millionaire who owns the dusty wheat field where it stands. Marsh and The Ant Farm, a San Francisco art collective, assembled used Cadillacs representing the "Golden Age" of American Automobiles (1949 through 1963). The ten graffiti-covered cars are half-buried, nose-down, facing west "at the same angle as the Cheops' pyramids."
In 1997, development creep forced Marsh to move the entire assemblage about two miles further west. The line of cars is far enough out in a field to allow for suitably bleak photography. The distance from any authority also encourages ever-mutating layers of painted graffiti, which Marsh doesn't seem to mind.

Visitors are encouraged 24/7 - no admission. Bring your own spray paint.

After this little stop, we moved on to Goodnight, TX a community on the edge of Claude, TX where Charlie Goodnight rests.

This is the cemetery way out in the field on a little hill.

Who the heck is Charles Goodnight? You might ask. Well, he was the co-founder of the Goodnight-Loving Trail. Born in Illinois in 1836, he moved with his family to Waco, TX in 1846 when he was ten years old. By the time he was twenty he was working as a cowboy and served with the local militia in the many fights against Comanche raiders. In 1857, he joined the Texas Rangers, where he continued to fight in the Indian wars and served as an Indian scout. Later, when the Civil war began, he again served as a scout.

After the war, he teamed up with Oliver Loving to move cattle from Fort Belknap, TX to Fort Sumner, NM, in what became known as the Goodnight-Loving Trail. It was during this time, that Charlie would invent the chuck wagon when he rebuilt an army surplus Studebaker wagon for more practical use on a long cattle drive.

Unfortunately, Loving was killed by a Comanche war party in 1867, but this did not stop Goodnight from continuing to organize cattle drives on his own.

The novel, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, is based on the historical accounts of Goodnight and Loving (The Real Lonesome Dove). Augustus McCrae is patterned after Oliver Loving and Woodrow F. Call after Charles Goodnight. The movie is also based on these men's lives. Charles Goodnight would be the patron saint of all cowboys as he developed the cattle industry as it stands today.

During our visit here we discovered a geocache full of geojunk. The kids were very excited to dig through this one. We paid our respects to Charlie Goodnight, we moved on toward Vernon, TX.
We weren’t doing too badly on time until we had another blowout on the trailer. This delay caused us to spend more time hunting for a tire place to purchase 3 new tires.

We ended up somewhere in a little town on Old Route 66 for a delay of 2 hours while we took care of this little chore.

Got to Vernon, TX around 7 p.m. The kids and I finally were able to don swimsuits (the ONLY time on this trip) and cool off in the pool. That water felt sooooooo gooood!

After a dinner of frozen, smoked chicken and deli macaroni salad, we got our showers and hit the hay.

2008 Vacation: Day 8

My husband woke us up before daylight to get on the road. He’s eager to get started so nixes my idea for an in camp breakfast. We head out and attempt to locate another Denny’s. Maggie had us doing U turns in places there weren’t any. Besides, U turns with a 30 foot travel trailer isn’t exactly something my husband is fond of performing.

Eventually, we got the rig facing east and stumbled across a trucker’s plaza that featured a coffee shop and a restaurant. There was not any available seating in the restaurant and we were directed to the coffee shop. Any other time, I’d be aggravated but I was pleasantly pleased to see a big screen TV in the coffee shop which was already tuned in to the Backyardigans! The girls were excited to see something familiar and promptly sat down in the big comfy chair to veg out to Pablo and Uniqua until we were served breakfast.

Resuming our drive, we headed out toward Meteor City, AZ. My husband had somehow allowed a housefly to enter the truck. He swatted at it, missed, allowed Kyle to swat at it, he missed too, and finally said, “Roll all the windows down!” We managed to avoid the fly catastrophe and safely continue our drive to Meteor Crater.

This was a really neat stop. This 150 ft, multi-ton, extremely dense, iron/nickel meteor struck the earth about 50,000 years ago with a force 1,000 times greater than the atomic bomb that struck Hiroshima. When the meteor struck the Earth, it was traveling at 11 miles per second. Upon impact, the meteor was obliterated into tiny microscopic fragments. The only measurable fragments are those that broke off before impact and this accounts for less than 1% of the actual size of the meteor. Really cool place to visit!! This pic shows the largest discovered meteorite fragment of the meteor that created Meteor Crater.

This picture shows Meteor Crater. But......
If you zoom in a bit you can see where the scientists had drilled holes to get samples, etc. and......

Zooming in a little more shows a 6 foot plywood astronaut on the fence of the sample boring area. The flag is also plywood and measure 3 x 6 feet. Isn't that something?

After gaping at the hole for a while, we continued our travels east. The next stop planned was Winslow, AZ where I wanted to get a picture with the guy that’s standing on the corner. DH had agreed to do this just for me. It’s another virtual geo and I needed to collect some information. Unfortunately for me, this particular area is under construction resulting in more traffic. As we approached the corner, DH needed to find a place to pull off the road and park the trailer. We finally found a spot and The Teen and myself got out of the truck to walk to the corner.

Returning to the truck, I told DH that I needed one more stop for another geo. He snarled but said okay. I should have looked around a little bit before making him move the rig. After the fact, I discovered I only needed to go a short walk away from our current location. Needless to say, he was not a happy camper. We returned to I-40 E (a.k.a. Historic Route 66) and began a nice little drive to the Petrified Forest National Park.

This intriguing park boasts an amazing display of colorful hills made out of clay which was deposited in this area about 225 million years ago! After continuous erosion, the soft sandstone revealed many fossilized organisms from the Triassic period of the Mesozoic (when the dinosaur era was just beginning). The petrified logs, still abundant in the park, are remains of trees from a huge flooded forest. At that time, the logs' wood tissue were filled by a silica-rich water which combined with oxygen replaced their organic matter by crystals of quartz. They've got all the looks of wooden logs but are truly made of hard rock!

The following picture shows the Crystal forest.
This is the reason why it's call the Crystal Forest. The inside of the tree trunk has turned into colorful crystals.

What a fantastic place this is! The rig was dwarfed by the size of the colorful clay hills which are so soft and have been exposed to so much erosion I can't imagine how tall they must have been. The petrified logs are beautiful and so intriguing - even after reading the scientific explanation, I still keep asking myself: are these pieces of wood that feel like rock to the touch or are they real rocks that for some reason resemble tree logs so much? Providing a curious show, some logs still lie on the edge of cliffs, some start to come out of the ground as the rain washes down the clay, lots of them tumbled down to the desert floor where they lie in all imaginable arrangements and positions, delicate desert flowers growing here and there among them.

Fragments of petrified logs scatter the area. The ones that come from the bark or the outer part of the logs look so precious. They are remains of a distant, fascinating past. I took as many pictures as I could but what I really want is them to make an imprint in my memory so that when I am 79 and close my eyes in bed I can remember myself walking amongst the awesome 225 million years old petrified logs!

Along the Park Drive, one sort of slides from the Petrified Forest into the Painted Desert. “Painted Desert” is the poetic name given to a huge sweep of Chinle Group rocks that show a variety of colors from different minerals in the rock. The distinct white layers are sandstone. The cap of the Tepees is clay. Dark layers are caused by high carbon content. Darker reds are iron-stained sandstone. Reddish bases are stained by iron-oxide, which is also called hematite. The mixed reds, grays, whites, and blacks of the different rock layers combine to produce something that really looks like the result of an artist gone berserk with some REALLY BIG paint brushes. It’s like this everywhere you look in this part of the park.

Kangaroo tries to explain about her favorite part of the desert.
I’ve always heard that though it’s hot here, it’s a “different” kind of hot. The wind is always blowing. The thermostat in the truck was showing 99 degrees Fahrenheit but it really didn’t feel that hot!

2008 Vacation: Day 7

Today is the day of the big Grand Canyon trip. We got up fairly early and started our day with large bowls of cold cereal. We drove up Hwy. 89 towards Gray Mountain. On the way there, I saw what looked like 3 telephone poles of various heights, standing upright behind a barbed wire fence. Each pole had a white face painted on it.

We stopped at a convenience store in Gray Mountain to take the girls to the bathroom. I asked the Navajo cashier about the poles with the faces and whether they represented anything. She responded a bit nonchalantly, with a wave of her hand, “Oh, the Hopi do that.” She offered no further explanation. So, I wondered and attempted to look up some stuff on the internet. I must not be typing in the correct keywords because I’m coming up empty handed on this issue. The best I can find is that these are Hopi Prayer Totems.

While stopped at this convenience store, DH got a cell phone call from work. We ended up sitting here for one and a half hours while he “worked” on vacation. Finally, the conversation ended and we resumed our ride across the Navajo Indian reservation on our way to the Grand Canyon National Park. I had heard that to enter the park from the South entrance is not a good idea if you don’t like crowds and traffic. My husband had declared that 2 things he would not do on vacation is fight crowds and traffic. So, we chose to enter the park from the east side and see the views backwards.

We spent most of our day at the Grand Canyon today. Our first stop upon entering the park was the Desert View Watchtower. It was already crowded but not too badly when we arrived. My first view of the canyon was epic. We have seen a number of awesome views on our adventure so far but I have never seen anything so stunning. The view to the north rim - 10 miles away, was clear, and you could see right down to the river below. I just wanted to stand and stare for hours!

This tower was built in 1932 by Fred Harvey and the Santa Fe Railroad. It is not a restoration or copy of any particular Indian ruin. Many months of research and three years of construction were needed to combine the finest examples of Indian designs and masonry found in the southwest. Ancient towers serving as models for the Desert View Watch Tower were probably used by their builders for protection and storage of food. There are also indications that some towers were used by aboriginal priests for making astronomical observations. Since the main purpose of such towers seems to be fore people to observe or “watch” from, the term “watch tower” is widely applied to such structures. The Watch Tower serves as a rest stop and as an aid for helping the visitor to better understand the past and present life of the Southwestern Indians. We took the Desert View Highway and stopped several times along the way for different views. We also stopped at the new visitor’s center where there was a lot of information on the formation of the canyon and the thirteen different layers of rock there.

There was little, if any, fence to keep rambunctious children from going over the edge. Scary!!!In my research for this trip I had read that three to five die EVERY YEAR from falling off the canyon rim. Ninety-five percent are male between the ages of 18 and 26. Most deaths occur where there are guardrails present. Therefore, I convinced DH that we’d take turns walking down to the viewpoints. The only time I felt comfortable letting the girls get out of the truck was when we’d stop to walk a trail on the opposite side of the road. The inside part, away from the edge.

If you see just one of the Seven Natural Wonders of America, it’s got to be the Grand Canyon. Absolutely awesome and truly humbling.

We left the park through the South Entrance and I must say that our choice to do things backwards was a wise choice. We drove on down through Tusayan to Valle, AZ where we stopped at Bedrock City. Kangaroo had fallen asleep in her seat and refused to wake up to visit with Fred and Wilma Flintstone. However, The Teen, Little Bird and I took advantage of the little village and had a grand time exploring the different houses and shops where Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty live. Personally, it’s a little cheesy but the yungun’s really enjoyed it.

We headed back to the campground. Upon arrival I discovered a note on our camper. I had forgotten to let the management know that we’d decided to stay another night. Off I go to the office to remedy that little situation.

Returning to the camper, I didn’t feel much like cooking anything so I warmed up some leftover hotdogs and chili, gave the girls a bath in the camper, and we hit the hay. DH wanted to leave early the next morning.

Funky glasses kept re-hydration fun!!

2008 Vacation: Day 6

We got up and hit the road early, stopping in Cortez, CO for breakfast at a “Classic” Denny’s. Afterwards, we moved on to Four Corners, AZ. Upon our arrival, we saw a sign requesting correct change. I kicked myself for not have the foresight to anticipate the need for cash money. We were directed to a trading post five miles down the road for an ATM machine.

Upon obtaining the cash needed, we returned to Four Corners for the photo op and some shopping. I couldn’t believe the number of people who were standing in a line in the desert for a chance to stand on this one spot to get their picture taken. I found myself thinking, “What silly people!” even though I was one of them!

We purchased a few Indian crafted necklaces, a couple of yummy snowcones, and some really good “frybread” smothered in powdered sugar. Frybread is a bit like funnel cakes or New Orleans favorite beignets but a little heavier.

We moved on to Navajo National Park for a virtual geocache and a sandwich picnic lunch. The virtual geocache had me huffing and puffing for 1/2 a mile. I seemed to be suffering from memory loss up here in the thin air. I can’t seem to remember that when one hikes downhill it takes twice as long to climb back up.

Once I got this virtual geo accomplished, we continued driving on to Cameron, AZ where we stopped for a quick potty break and I got yet another virtual at the old Valentine Bridge and learned a little from a historical marker about Cameron, AZ.

Our Maggie has directed us through downtown Flagstaff, AZ to our spot at Woody Mountain Campground on Old Route 66. We went ahead and paid for only one night’s stay not knowing if we’d stay a second night.

We set up camp. I gathered some laundry to wash and The Teen took the girls to the nearby playground. I was really looking forward to a dip in the pool. However, I couldn't find the pool that was advertised on the website. So, I asked the campground office about a pool but was told it had been shut down and filled in. Man, I was bummed!

The end of this day ended like the rest, with us all exhausted and excited about the next day’s adventures.

2008 Vacation: Day 3

Man, I slept so good! A nice thunderstorm woke me up in the middle of the night. I remember wondering what time it was before drifting off back to sleep. At approximately 7 a.m., DH woke me up to ask where my camera was. He walked out around the campground and witnessed a beautiful scene of cloud enshrouded mountains. Upon his return to the camper, he began to cook a light breakfast while I dressed the girls.

After breakfast, we took advantage of the Coronado State Monument. While DH and the kids learned a little about the residents of the 1600’s, I went off in search of the geocache. As usual, I misread the GPSr and ended up about 1/2 a mile from the actual cache location. All was not lost though as the views of the landscape was so beautiful it could be a cache by itself. I was disappointed that I’d made such a mistake yet again and resolved to miss this one in order to get moving on to Durango, CO.

I rejoined the family for some touristy sight seeing and the walk back to the parked vehicle when I spied the treasure. The geocache! Hidden right where I shoulda been looking in the first place! YAY! At this point, I decided to let the girls “find” it. There was a small outcropping of rocks near the cache that looked like it’d make a wonderful photo op. I suggested the girls have a seat there and Little Bird in all her curiosity could not sit still. She looked a bit like a bobble head doll toy with all the turning, twisting, and looking she was doing. Finally, she spied the cache and stopped her wiggling before declaring, “Treasure! Mommy, a Treasure!”. Jumping up, she grabbed the box and proceeded to open it for treasures only a child would deem valuable. Happy meal toys!

The kids dug through it for some geojunk and I dropped travel bug into it, telling DH, “Mission accomplished!”. Satisified, we returned to the campground to hook up and hit the road again. At 10:10 a.m, we pulled out NW on 550 toward Durango, CO. As we ride, the landscape changes dramatically. Where before the land was somewhat flat and sparsely vegetated, now the red sandy dirt juts up in front of us, ever growing along the route.

We arrived in Durango, CO at approximately 1:30 p.m. and began searching for the campground. I had keyed the location address into Maggie and she directed us straight to the local Walmart announcing, “You have arrived!”. DH and I looked at each other. He asked me, “So what just happened?”. I replied that I didn’t know yet but one thing I DID know was that the Walmart parking lot was certainly NOT the Cottonwood RV Park.

We proceeded to poke along Hwy 160 before I spied a hidden billboard announcing the campground we were looking for. We pulled in and set up. I found myself very disappointed in this particular choice of campground. The website had showed a river flowing by which gave me the impression that there would be the peaceful sound of such lulling me to sleep tonight. This campground is nothing more than a gravel parking lot with hookups, picnic tables, and a shade tree or two. There is no playground or pool for the kiddos either. On the plus side, the bathrooms and showers are exceptionally clean.

I also did not see a fire ring. I find that I miss the “roughing it” atmosphere I grew up with but hesitate to give up my comfort in the travel trailer. We haven’t built a single campfire on this trip.

After we got set up, I sent The Teen off to the shower. Upon his return, I decide to attempt a couple of more geocaches while DH finished up some work reports. Before doing so, however, I want to locate the Diamond Circle Melodrama where we have tickets for the evening show “The Spoilers”. Once that little chore was accomplished, we set out for the geocaches.

This little quest took me and the kiddos into the Greenmount Cemetery. What a beautiful place to rest! It’s old and very picturesque. As we were driving through in our attempt to find the coordinates, a doe and her fawn appeared right in front of us. They casually meandered through the cemetery as if that’s where they belong instead of in a nice quiet meadow in the valley. As soon as they disappeared, a buck in velvet showed up. Who knew that so much wildlife could be seen in a cemetery?

Once we had our fill of picture taking, we resumed our quest for the cache. The GPSr led me back to the cemetery gates, where I left The Teen & the girls in the truck while I climbed among sage bushes and cacti on the side of a fairly steep slope. I got to the coordinates and looked all around, nearly giving up before spotting it. As I reached for it, a small iguana looking lizard jumped out right on top of it! It scared me to death, but what concerned me a little more was that this lizard looked just like one of those made up bearded dragons (a.k.a. yellow spotted lizard) in the movie “Holes” only a little smaller!

I took a stick to move the critter and proceeded to claim my find. With that done, we moved on to another at a tiny local park. Got this one claimed, played around at the park, and walked along the banks of the Animas River. The sound of the water flowing over smooth round stones is the most peaceful sound in the world. It literally “washes” your worries away. I took a moment to meditate and looked at my cell phone for the time. As I predicted, it was time to head back to the camp for a quick dinner and to freshen up for our evening at the Melodrama.

We got packed up to enjoy a story about corrupt politicians trying to cheat a couple of hard working miners out of their cherished yellow rocks. The play was cute but the most fun was the audience participation. We had to Boo the villains, Cheer the heroes, and Awww the sweet heroine the hero was in love with.

At the end of the show, the accompanist “sound man”, entertained the audience with “The Maple Leaf Rag”, “The Entertainer”, and “The Bumblebee Boogie”. Nathaniel Powers is quite the accomplished musician, never once looking at the sheet music in front of him; instead keeping an ever watchful eye on and interacting with the audience. Wow!

As the cast came out for their finale bows I realized how tired we were from traveling all day. I suggested to DH that it was time to call it a night. We took the opportunity to leave even though there was more entertainment on the program. Kangaroo had fallen asleep in my arms and was becoming a bit too heavy for me to continue holding her.

The weather was so nice and cool that when we got back to the camper, we opened the windows and turned off the air conditioner. We all got dressed for bed and the kiddos passed right out! Once I went to bed, that was it for me. I was out before my head hit the pillow.

2008 Vacation: Day 2

We woke up very early, before sunrise, to get an early jump on our 10 - 11 hour drive to Durango, CO. As I was getting my girls dressed and ready to ride, I heard DH exclaim with a choice word or two. It was soon revealed that as we slept soundly, a rear tire on our “trusty steed” had deflated, greeting us with a flat tire this morning. So, we start the day with a delay. I continued to prepare for the drive, dressing the girls and packing daypacks. As DH was finishing up with changing the tire, I was admiring the rising sunshine as it turned the horizon to various shades of yellow, orange, red, and auburn.

DH soon announced, “Let’s roll!” and off we went. We stopped at a gas station to air up the spare tire. Feeling confident that we were in good shape as far as the tires go, I managed to talk DH into stopping for some virtual geocaches in the small town of Quanah, TX. As we drove through, DH commented that Quanah looked like a ghost town….and indeed it did. The only modern looking building I saw was the town square. Even the town cemetery looked like it had been there for some time.

Quanah, TX is named for Quanah Parker, last chief of the Comanches. He was the son of Chief Peta Nokona and Cynthia Ann Parker-Naduah. The memorial reads:

"Quanah Parker, man of vision, fought against all odds to save the Comanche
way of life. Then he fought to survive and prosper in a white man’s world.
His mother, a white woman captured by Indians at the age of nine, was raised a
Comanche.

When Quanah was a young boy, Cynthia Ann was recaptured against her will by Texas Rangers on the Pease River in 1860. He never saw her again.

As a warrior, Quanah showed great bravery leading Indian forces especially
in the battle of Adobe Walls. He was never routed and never captured, facing the
encroaching civilization of the white man, he chose to lay down his shield and
arms in the spring of 1875 at Fort Sill, OK. As he approached the Fort, he
dismounted and turned his horse loose, saying, “There goes the spirit of the
Comanche.” However, Quanah was never defeated.

Acknowledged as a leader by the Comanches and Whites alike, he became a
tribal judge, cattleman, spokesman to Washington, and friend of President
Theodore Roosevelt. The town of Quanah was named for him. In 1890,on a visit
to Quanah, he pronounced his blessing on the town he called, “My Town”.

His epitaph reads:
“Resting here until day breaks and shadows fall and darkness
disappears is Quanah Parker, Last Chief of the Comanches” Circa 1845 -1911"

Moving on, at about 8:00 a.m., we spotted a little hole in the wall truck stop for breakfast. Dutch’s Restaurant had the ambiance of a diner from times gone by. In fact, it seemed to be stuck in time. My family was the youngest set there. Everyone else were elderly folks who had obviously been up working in gardens or something for several hours already.

Seated a couple of tables over from us were three older looking cowboys. They just sat there, saying nothing to anyone. They just sat and stared. I found myself wondering if they were even alive or just well crafted mannequins placed there to give the impression of additional customers. Suddenly, one would lift his coffee cup to sip his brew and slowly put it back down. They all seemed lost in thought. I began to get the feeling that I might be sitting in Stepford! Our breakfast was served and consisted of a pancake and bacon for each of the kids, a HUMONGOUS breakfast burrito for DH, and a plate of 2 eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, & 2 of the biggest homemade biscuits I’d ever laid my eyes on.

This picture shows a Dolly Williams seeder. A geocache was hidden in this little heritage museum in Vega, TX. If you ever go that way, be sure to pull off the highway and visit this place. Admission is free.

We were doing so well on time, it looked like we’d be pulling into Durango, CO by 8:30 p.m. We were getting excited, riding along listening to our Road Trip songs, admiring the changing landscape when the truck began a mysterious shake. DH pulled off the road and walked around the truck and travel trailer to check all the tires. Seeming satisfied that all was well, he got back behind the wheel and we took off again. About 15 minutes later, the shaking gets worse. I turned to DH and asked if he was sure he’d tightened the lug nuts good on the spare tire that he put on the truck this morning. He assured me he had. I looked into the passenger side door mirror, and said, “Well, this tire over here is looking a little wobbly” to which he responded, “It’s fi.....” BOOM! He hadn’t finished the word “fine” when the tire in question exploded!

Anyone who has ever experienced a blowout, knows the tire is ruined beyond repair, shredded, kaput. My husband does an excellent job of pulling the truck and trailer off the road to the shoulder. He then proceeds to remove the “dead” tire. Now, remember, the blown up tire is the spare. The other flat tire that we had earlier in the day now becomes the spare. My ingenious husband had a can of “Fix A Flat” that he pulled out of some mysterious orifice and proceeded to put that into Tire #1. It was just enough to get us to a little service station just off of Old Route 66, about a mile from our present location.

We arrived there and an older gentlemen appears. My husband explains that we need another tire and a plug kit to repair Tire #1. The gentlemen fixed us up with the requested materials and off we go. Again. Doing a little mathematics, my husband determines that we aren’t going to make it to Durango, CO today, as badly as I wanted to. We had intended to stop at Coronado Campground in Bernalillo, NM just long enough for a geocache. As it happened, this little State Park had RV hookups. DH made the decision to stop here for the night with plans to rise early and resume our travels to Durango, CO.

Upon our arrival at this campground, Little Bird & Kangaroo were thrilled to spy a playground. However, I was more than a little concerned to see the playground surrounded by cacti! As predicted, it didn’t take long for my girls to discover cacti thorns. Apparently, they thought the surrounding sand was much like the Biloxi beaches we had recently visited and had attempted to run through it without their shoes on. The sand was full of thorns. :(

After some doctoring and tear wiping, we microwaved some precooked frozen spaghetti, followed by baths and some much desired sleep. It had been a long day and we were looking forward to more experiences. I leave you with a view from our campsite. The water you see in the picture is the Rio Grande!

2008 Vacation: Day 1

After a week or so of prepping for our first family vacation, we finally left our home at 5:30 a.m. Here's the route we're taking. Shortly thereafter, we were quite hungry for some breakfast. I had great plans to prepare some breakfast sandwiches for the road, but I ultimately failed at getting that chore completed in time. DH told me we’d be fine without breakfast for a couple of hours while we consumed some mileage. Eventually, we were forced to make a fuel stop. As it happened, there was a Cracker Barrel restaurant just next door to the gas station. Therefore, we ate breakfast there, fulfilling our need for something in our tummies. Returning to the road, I mentioned to DH that I had planned on stopping for some geocaches along the route. I had every intention of completing my first one in Greenwood, LA, just west of Shreveport. However, it seems that Maggie (my trusty Magellan GPSr) made an error in the route thus cancelling my find. :(

We proceeded on through Dallas/Fort Worth, TX. As we entered the city limits, a certain theme song was reverbing through my head. I decided at that point to burn another CD with that particular song on it for my next trek through the area….whenever that might be.

After another fuel stop, we finally made it to the Rocking “A” RV Park in Vernon, TX. There wasn’t much to the place, several RV spaces and few shade trees. They did, however, have a pool and playground for the kiddos. Also on the positive side, it was next door to a 24 hour Walmart... a fact that attracted me to make reservations at this RV park...just in case we’d forgotten to pack anything.

After setting up the camper, it was time for something to eat. I was starving. We’d had that huge breakfast earlier in the day and made snacks & sandwiches at a fuel stop. We were quite hungry now for dinner. During prep week, I had pre-cooked several meals and froze them. I am so glad that I had done so. Our frozen Chicken N Dumplin’s were very yummy and “hit the spot”. Makes for super - easy cleanup too! Just pop that Ziploc bag into the microwave and serve dinner on paper plates. Then it was time for some sleep. We planned to get up early for our second day of driving to our destination at Durango, CO!