Well fans, our walk-about came to an end yesterday at about 3:00 p.m.

After a wonderful visit with Janet in N Carolina we meandered along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia.  We had stops in Fancy Gap, Dixie Caverns and Crabtree Falls before we stopped for two nights in Wintergreen.  We visited with Ellen & Sam, the same couple who hosted us on our very first night on the road way back when.

We stopped for one night in Falling Waters W Virginia and our final night was spent in Pine Grove Furnace State park.  We visited Roadside America, just west of Allentown.  A magnificent miniature city that was 70 years in the making, by one man!

We covered more the 11,500 miles over 105 days, with stops in more than 20 states.  What a wonderful adventure.  We hope that you have enjoyed following our progress.  Tune in in the fall for our next chapter.

Happy Trails.

J&A

Visiting Janet Roman & Jaime in Hickory, NC.  No new pics just yet…’puter problems.

After Nashville, we went south to the Fall Creek Falls State Park.  A nice quiet camp.  A good long walk then lounged around a river.  Friday saw a beautiful sunny morning before our long drive to Pigeon Forge- Dollywood!  Up & down the foothills of the Great Smoky Moutains.  At Pigeon Falls they were having the Annual Muscle Car Rally…just made for terrific traffic jams.

We had a lovely hike in the Smokys..Grotto Falls and another Hard Rock Cafe for pins.

Can anyone explain why Gatlinburg is … ?

See ya soon.

J&A 

Tax day…file & smile.

We are in Nashville, TN, Music City USA.

After Kansas City we drove across Missouri to St Louis. On the way we stopped at Nostalgia Ville and scored two genuine, original Pink Flamingoes to keep Her Pinkness Company. We arrived at the Rt 66 St Louis KOA pretty late and settled in. Heavy rain overnight so a lazy morning. We visited the Missouri Botanical Gardens. A great tropical rain forest in the Climatron. A tour at the Gateway Arch followed. No ride on the tram, too windy & rainy. On to Hard Rock Cafe for more pins!

On Friday, we headed south and crossed the swollen Mississippi on a ferry…that’s the photo de jour. Camped at the Trail of Tears State Park. That’s a story for all Americans, to be shamed.

We’re on to the Grand Ole Opry tonight, so, more later.

J&A

p.s. we are about to turn north for the final push home…ETA Tuesday, 4/29, 3 p.m. +/-

We had a wonderful visit with the Penny family in Denver and then skipped down to Colorado Springs to visit Tim & Sarah Yount.  We finally turned east across Kansas.

We spent three nights in Salina KS. Another serendipitous stay: it turns out that just south of Salina is the town of Lindsborg, know as “Little Sweden”.  Founded in 1868 by a group of 250 Swedes led by Pastor Olaf Olsson the town was a great place to spend the  day.  On Saturday, we visited a Bison farm and then watched Kansas U. in the Final Four.   Sunday, Andrea attended the Swedish Lutheran Church in Lindsborg before we started our long drive across the other half of Kansas.

We camped three nights just outside Kansas City, MO not far from Harry Truman’s home town of Independence.  On Monday we toured the Acadia Steamboat Museum and the Truman Library & Museum.  We had a late night at the local sports bar as we watched Kansas U. in their tough fought victory.

Tuesday we went back to downtown KC for a barbeque lunch at Arthur Bryant’s and a tour of the Museum of Jazz at 18th & Vine.  Dinner and cool jazz at Jardine’s. The weather has been quite cool, windy and lots of rain.  The photo is of the leading edge of a storm that hit Monday night.

Cheers!

J&A

We made it! The world’s largest ball of twine, in Cawker City KS, a long way from….

While in Alamosa CO we toured the Colorado Gator Farm. Way back in Florida, Andrea was pleased to catch a glimpse of Gators. Here we find a few dozen of them in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Seems that they had imported a few Gators to serve as garbage disposals for a fish farm and the buggers thrived! A wild place. Later on 3/26 we spent the afternoon at on outdoor pool…really. While drilling for natural gas in the early 1970’s they struck an underground spring. Water at 110F +. So the pool is open year round and the water is a soothing 99F.

On Thursday we toured the Great Sand Dunes NP. Yet another oddity in the San Luis Valley. The wind pushes stone from the San Juan Mtns across the valley, breaking it into pieces. It builds up at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo into sand dunes as much as 750ft high! Needless to say, it was too windy for us to venture far.

Friday was a long drive to Denver to visit the Penny family. We crossed the Culebra Range at the N La Veta Pass, 9,413ft. As we reached the summit we climbed above the cloud layer into dense fog. Temps went from 20 at dawn, to 59 at the base of the range to 27 at the summit to 60 at the eastern base, all in about 60 miles. A rather “white knuckle” ride.

Arrived in Denver for a three night stay in time to get downtown to the Hard Rock cafe to add some pins to Andrea’s vest. A long day.

Cheers from Kansas!

J&A

April is here!  The final month of our expedition.

We spent three nights in Cortez, CO.  There is a funky brew pub there where we had Saturday night dinner.  We traveled to Durango Sunday morning so Andrea could attend Easter service, then we toured the town.  Pretty busy even on Easter Sunday, lots of shops for tourists.  John Wayne is alive and well here as well as in Monument Valley.

On Monday, we toured Mesa Verde National Park.  Today’s photo is of a cliff dwelling, about 150 feet above to valley floor, dating from about 1250AD.  Tuesday was a long travel day.   We were headed to Alamosa, CO, with another stop in Durango for a noontime Bach harpsicord concert at a small church.  Then the long climb over Wolf Creek Pass in the San Juan Mountains - the Continental Divide - 10,865ft.  We followd the Rio Grande all the way down.

We arrived at Alamosa late in the day to nice weather, but strong winds.  Dust and wind have plagued us for the past month here in the southwest.  Alamosa was suffering through a plague of its own: somehow the municipal water system was polluted with Salmonella.  Hundreds of people were sickened.  Luckily our campground had its own well!

Chow for now!

Thursday 3/20…Spring begins!

We had a brief stay in Page, AZ, near the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. The lake was a bit low, as the dam had been opened in early March to create a flood in the Canyon.  It seemed to have helped restore some of the beaches along the canyon floor and restore some of the nutrients to the water.

We traveled to Monument Valley, a long climb out of Page. We camped at Gouldings Lodge, an historic stomping ground for John Wayne and John Ford.  We took the long jeep tour through the valley with our Navajo guide, Don.  Full moon over the desert on Good Friday.

We left the Valley for another long climb overland to Cortez CO.  Crossed the muddy, fast moving San Juan River.  There had been a lot of snow in the San Juan mountains this winter and it was just beginning to thaw.  Lake Powell should rise sustantially in the next few months.  Had a stop at the four corners so her pinkness could have a photo op.

Next stop: Cortez and the Mesa Verde National Park.

J&A

This image is Monument Valley, Utah, at dawn on 3/21.

We had a grand adventure in the Grand Canyon.  We camped in the Park, about a mile from the South Rim, in a place called Trailer Village (really…not PWT).   On Sunday, 3/16, the day started off sunny, but slid downhill from there.  Andrea went to Palm Sunday services at a community center and then we headed out to the Rim Trail.  There had been snow & sleet but the sun broke through and we walked for an hour or so before it really worked into a heavy snow.  Visibility went from many miles to about 15 ft!  So we went back to camp and hunkered in for the night.

We woke to 4″ of snow and cold.  By noon the sun was out so we went back to the Rim Trail.  Went to the westerly end, Hermit’s Rest.  This was the farthest west that our travels will take us. From now on, we are headed east and north.  On Tuesday we attended a lecture from Ranger Ron as to why there is only one Grand Canyon, as compared to “the Grand Canyon of ……. “.  Jim will be happy to give the short version of the lecture at a later date.

On Wednesday 3/19 we left the Park and headed north to the Vermillion Cliffs.  We stumbled on a cozy Lodge with “a hundred bottles of beer on the wall” and the very start of the Grand Canyon.  Just downstream of Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam we put our toes in the Colorado River, the only place for 800 miles where this was possible.

On to camp in Page AZ before the next stop: Utah and the Monument Valley!  More to follow.

Greetings!

This special image is for the 30+ Women. Her Pinkness waited until she reached the Grand Canyon, after joining us in Florida, to make her appearance.

We have been in the wilderness for the past week or so, so we have some catching up to do. We spent four nights in Sedona, a not so longer quaint town in the Oak Creek Canyon. Rampant condominiamizm. We had a very pleasant hike around Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte on Wednesday 3/12. Managed to get away from the civilization and into the wilderness. We drove up the Canyon drive on Thursday, to scope out the ascent for our departure. 2500ft over about 12 miles…will the rig make it?

Friday was a day for hiking, the real reason to be in Sedona (other than the vortex, which we do not fully understand). We tried the West Fork of Oak Creek, but the crick was high so we could not cross. We had a beautiful hike in the Secret Mountain Wilderness west of Sedona. Being Friday, we did a slappy hour pub crawl and pizza for dinner.

Saturday morning was glorious. Jim had his usual morning walk with Buddy and then took some photos of the Great Blue Herons who nest in the tall Sycamore trees in the campground. Luckily, our site was not beneath the nests! We took the Canyon drive north to Flagstaff, no worries with the climb, and had a stopover at the Sunset Crater Volcano. Who knew that this area was so “hot”? Saw some VERY old Pueblo ruins and them made the long climb from Cameron to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

We made it to the second, planned stop….the Grand Canyon! Tune in.

We heard the news that Lowes was closing…so sad.  Hopefully, we can have a Friday night reunion with all our friends when we return in early May.  Best wishes to Tom & Nancy in their next adventures!

We have passed our westernmost point and are now headed east …

J&A

The view from the Courthouse Loop Trail, south of Sedona, AZ., 3/12 @ 1:00 p.m. +/-

We left the frozen Santa Fe camp and took the scenic route along the Turquoise Trail to Albuquerque. Tried to see the Tinkertown Museum, but it was closed for the season. We had not counted on winter..the “season”. Luckily, the campgrounds have opened a day or so before we arrived.Albu. was great fun. We toured the old town Friday afternoon and had Slappy Hour and dinner at the High Noon Cafe, dating back to 1850, Billy the Kid killed nobody here either. Saturday was an easy day, more cruising through Old Town Albu.

Sunday was a long day. Andrea went to church at this beautiful place in west Albu. then the long drive to Holbrook, AZ. We crossed the Continental Divide and had lunch at the El Rancho Hotel, in Gallup, NM. The blue laws are in full force there…the whole town ( a tourist mecca) was locked up tight on a Sunday afternoon.

Monday was a glorious day… we spent the whole day touring the Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert. Beautiful!! We are at the midway point of the Walkabout…6350 miles, 7.5 weeks, 13 states, 20 campsites, 2,543 smiles, 6 wrong turns (ha!), it just gets better each day.

Gidday.

J&A