San Antonio, Texas. I will admit that John really didn’t want to come here. He said that after being here for basic training in 1963 when he entered the Air Force, he didn’t want to come back. But after looking at a lot of pictures of the River Walk, I wanted to visit. So he did it for me. And it is just one of the many reasons I love him. He tries to please me and he does!
Needless to say but I will- it is quite warm. We have been in the 100+ degrees weather for awhile, but there has been no humidity. San Antonio sits in a bowl surrounded by the hill country so there IS humidity.
Our visit to the Alamo was most interesting. I had not realized the final battle was on my birthday, March 6th. We were not allowed to take any pictures inside. Fortunately, most of the tour was inside and it was air conditioned. We added the audio to our tour and that allowed us to go into the exhibition hall. A lot of historical artifacts were encased here.
They are doing moisture studies, because they are trying to find ways of keeping the walls from deteriorating.
After our visit to the Alamo, we began a two mile trek to get the tickets for our River Cruise. We walked down to the river walk where I thought we could get our tickets. The online instructions were to print your vouchers and take them to this specific place to get your tickets. We kept looking at maps and asking people for directions and we kept going around in circles until we finally discovered where the River Center was. Would you believe it was right next to the Menger Hotel where we had breakfast and not on the River Walk at all? But that was just to get the vouchers printed. We had to go to another place to get the actual tickets. That was down tbd block and across the street. That meant more walking.
When we finally got our tickets, I discovered that not only did I have river cruise tickets, I had tickets for the Buckhorn Museum / Texas Ranger Museum and the Hop on Hop off bus. It was 3:00 pm by them so we were ready to go back to the MOTORHOME.
John had made reservations for us at The Chart House restaurant which is at the top of the Tower of The Americas. It was built for the 1968 World’s Fair. It is a revolving restaurant and the meal was fabulous.
The next day, we started off with the Hop on hop off bus tour. It was a double decker bus. Only the lower level was air conditioned so we chose to sit there. Guess what? It quit working. We got off where the Buckhorn Museum was. This building is a combination saloon, grill, arcade room, and the two museums. Buckhorn started collecting all kinds of antlers and animal heads to decorate the walls of his Saloon. (Right now John is aggravating me about supper and I have told him I want to catch up on this blog,)

When we went into the Texas Ranger Museum, the first part was definitely some history and exhibits about the rangers. But then there were all sorts of exhibits about the unusual- Ripley’s Believe It Or Not exhibits and circus exhibits and then back to frontier exhibits.
Then down to the Riverwalk We had a nice lunch by the river and watched people and ducks.
After lunch, we walked to get on the river cruise. Our guide was comical and knowledgeable. I’m sure it is beautiful at night with all the lights, but I don’t think you could have the same fantastic views of the buildings.
We only walked two miles on this day.

in front of the Alamo

We entered our 13th state – Texas. The name of the campground is Hilltop RV Park. The owners have tried to contrast the stark white ground with colorful metal Texan yard art. Even the metal storage building was painted to look like a cowboy place.
The historic area of Fort Stockton had signs you could read from your car so you knew what each building was. It isn’t a large town. There are also many areas that have dormitory type buildings. The oil industry is large here so there are workers who are only here during the week.
I had not thought about it, but there are many roadrunners around here. There is a big roadrunner statue downtown.

We left Pendaries, New Mexico and drove to Carlsbad, New Mexico. The office building has the same design as KOA campgrounds. In fact, when I checked in the lady told me that the previous manager was now the manager at the KOA where we stayed in Laramie, Wyoming.
New Mexico seems to be all rock. We did learn about a new land form – hog’s backs. They are like hills but the sides are kind of sharp. Very short trees on the banks of the hills.
This is also an area where they have pistachios. And we passed through Roswell, New Mexico where there were supposedly aliens.
We took the pups to Sitting Bull Falls. To get there, we drove to the bottom of a canyon. There were many signs warning about flooding waters and to not drive through them.
It wasn’t a bad walk to a platform where we could see water falling from the top. There were swimmers in the pool at the bottom. They were picnic tables along the way that were heavily shaded. There was a big difference in the temperature in the shade.
Carlsbad does have some nice restaurants. We were not here long enough to do everything there was to do but we did enjoy our stay.

It was Chammie’s turn to drive!

Pendaries RV Park Pendaries, New Mexico

John has not been able to cook outside since before Kansas. It has just been too windy. The weather was so nice, we even ate outside. This is our 12th state and we have been gone 10 weeks.
For our morning adventure, we took the pups with us. We took a ride into the country side. There were lots of Adobe buildings that were falling down and family cemeteries. They were very colorful and used lots of rocks that are very plentiful in the area.
Without the pups, we drove to Angel Fire which is a ski area. We had a nice dinner in a restaurant that was decorated for Christmas.
We didn’t get a picture, but we were on a very curvy, narrow road that had no center line. It wound back and forth up the mountain and low and behold, here comes a Dollar General eighteen wheeler. John stopped but he kept coming! When he finally stopped, our front left fender was under his trailer. There was not much room on our right side, but John was able to ease around his back. It was so scary!

These horses were across the road from each other.

June 1-5, 2021

Circle the Wagons RV Park. To me, this Park is charming. It is in La Veta, Colorado. Our campground was right by the river.
The surrounding country is beautiful. In Cucara, there is a delightful cafe called the Dog Grill and Bar. Pups are definitely welcome and we met many breeds.

Highway 12 is known as the Highway of Legends. The Legends are the natural outcropping on this Highway. They are amazing.
Took the pups to a groomer and ran errands while we waited for them.

We ate a couple of mornings at a place called The Corner Cafe. The owner and cook had a temper, but the place was very clean and the food was good. The second morning he wore a t shirt that said “Anger Speaks!”

On our last day, we ate at a restaurant named Alys. I had a stuffed trout ( with the head on) and John had a huge rack of lamb. The restaurant was a complete surprise!

JUNE 5 – JUNE 8, 2021

Pendaries RV Park – Rociada, New Mexico Our 12TH state!

Nice campground – hilly, rocky, with Ponderosa Pines. In the 50s in the morning and warming up during the day.
We did a lot of riding looking at Adobe buildings and family cemeteries on the property of the family’s ranch.

John had not been able to cook outside since before Kansas because of the wind. He fixed us a wonderful breakfast. The pups were willing to assist him.
John and I decided to go Angel Fire which is a Ski Area. On the way, we stopped at a Grist Mill in Mora. A historic foundation is restoring it to become a community center. We then took a narrow road that WAS paved but had no center stripe. It was a winding road up the mountain. Coming around a curve, we were greeted by a Dollar General 18 wheeler. I don’t think he was supposed to be on that road. When we both came to a standstill, our front left fender was UNDER his left rear trailer. To our right was straight down the side of the mountain. John was able to move to the right just a little and ease around him. God was truly with us.
We ate a late lunch- early dinner in a cute restaurant that was decorated for Christmas on the inside. Then headed back to the campground.
Riding through the countryside, we, of course, saw all sorts of animals, farms, and topography. The picture below is one of my favorite.

As we leave this campground, we have been gone 10 weeks.

We left Laramie, Wyoming and entered Colorado at 10:45 Mountain Standard Time.. It was a pretty apprehensive drive because we were going up in elevation and the roads were curvy. But, we arrived safely at the Cripple Creek Hospitality House and RV Park. Gorgeous views of the mountains all around us.
The town was saved by the opening of casinos in the early 60s. The gold mines had shut down except for a big one in Victor, CO. It is still going today and is quite profitable. We played in at least five different casinos and we hardly touched the surface.

We had a fantastic tour of the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine. If you have read my previous blogs, you read about the salt mine in Kansas that was 650 ft down. This mine is 1000 feet down. And where the salt mine had huge rooms, this one was a narrow passageway. Steve was a fantastic tour guide and knew what he was talking bout because he is a second generation miner and loves his job.

John, the pups, and I did some driving around back roads and saw some pretty interesting views. John kept saying he wanted to buy property that was for sale, but I told him the commute was too far!

There is a train ride in Cripple Creek where the engineer gives you a comprehensive history of gold prospecting in the area. As we went along the track, he pointed out where there were prospecting holes and where there had been mines in the past. He also described the fires in 1896 that destroyed the town and resulted in the buildings in the business district having to be made of brick instead of wood. One place he stopped was called Echo Valley. We COULD hear the echoes of the train whistles across the valley.

He referred to the descendants of the donkeys that had worked in the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine. They are allowed to roam the town and the town folks take care of them.
On Sunday, we had a surprise! Robin Blanchard and her daughter, Ashley Lucas-Lee showed up at the Hospitality House. Robin was on the way home from Hawaii and Ashley flew to Denver to meet her and drive to Cripple Creek. She had bet John she would show up so he had to pay up.

We needed to cram a lot in the short time they were going to be there, so it was casino, eat, casino, eat, casino, gold mine tour, shop, casino, eat, train ride, one hour of rest, casino, eat, and last but not least, feed the donkeys.

The only drawback to our visit to Cripple Creek was the thin air at 9494 ft altitude. They sell cans of Oxygen Boost- some have flavors. We did buy some and I think it helped John. My prescription inhaler was my best bet. I think we were acclimating about the time we had to leave.

The reason we came to Laramie, Wyoming was to visit with our high school classmate, Flew Pringle. We have been trying to do this for a few summers, but circumstances had prevented it.
This woman never stops. Flew is involved in several things with the senior citizens, a theatrical group, and the Moose Club. She kept us very busy. We even visited some of her family members while we were in Cheyenne.
Everyday there were many things to do, so that by the end of the day, we were ready for our bed. I’m just going to list them and then post some pictures. We started off with a quick tour of Laramie in the rain and slushy hail. The next day it was a jam session at the Senior Center. Flew had a friend sing “My Best Friend” for John and I. She said the song made her think of us.
There was dancing at the Moose Club and Bingo the next night. We had a private tour of the Ivanson Mansion Laramie Plains Museum which was absolutely fascinating. Shopped at the Prairie Golden Bakery. Went to the Territorial Prison where Butch Cassidy was incarcerated. ( Bill Wilson, FLEW’s husband is a brick mason and there is a picture of him working on the prison.) Made a couple of trips over the Snowy Range that had just opened up.
In front of Flew Wilson’s house are two beautiful Flowering Almonds. I took some cuttings. I hope they root.
We had a great time and met a lot of friendly people.

Paddy in the snow on the Snowy Range.

The views we saw on the Snowy Range were breathtaking.

We had never thought about snowshoes for horses before.

They finally caught up with John Vassar.

Our friend Flew Wilson.

We played tourists today. Had a light breakfast and then took a train ride at the campground where we are. The main purpose of this trip were the bison. We learned that there IS a difference between Buffalo and bison. Those in our country are Bison.
Originally, over 300,000 acres were owned by the first governor of Wyoming. Terry Bison Ranch now covers about 28,000 acres.
We got to feed the Bison and spend quite a bit of time with them. We watched a mom who had just given birth. She bathed her baby and encouraged it to stand up and finally nurse.

We passed by several bison grazing.

We went into the city of Cheyenne to eat lunch at the Luxury Diner.

Then on to the Union Pacific Train Museum.

Woke up to a foggy, wet, cold morning. Last night we ate dinner at The Senator’s Restaurant here at Terry Bison Ranch. We had the Prime Rib buffet. It was pretty good and there was entertainment.

After eating some lunch, we decided to do a little exploring. We drove into the city of Cheyenne. As a fundraiser, some places had large painted boots in front of them.

These are two peacocks that live in the campground where we are.

Happy Friday! Still leaning about the blog. We are leaving Big Springs, NE today and heading to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Where we have been the past two days is a working farm. Haven’t seen too much work going on, but I don’t how much work cows need.