Day 7 – 1952 miles … Cowboys, vastness, and unhappy people

We start the day early, leaving the Wal-Mart parking lot before everyone is awake. Our destination is the famous western town of Dodge City, about 80 miles down the road. This is a pleasant and simple drive, as the roads are unbelievably straight and in good condition. We arrive in Dodge in time for a hearty (read, not good for your heart) breakfast at a family diner on Wyatt Earp Blvd.

Dodge City was and still is a cattle town, there are thousands and I’m not exaggerating, upon thousands of heads of cattle here. Large acreages of pens, full of cattle waiting to become my tasty dinner :).

We find great parking at the Boot Hill Museum, which is a recreation of the town main street in it’s western glory. The town, complete with actors isn’t large, but offers a great glimpse of what life back then would have been.

We hear that the Sherriff is looking for some deputies, so the girls demonstrate the needed skills, running (for cover), hoping on one foot (in case the other is shot off), moseying (looking mean, so  that no one dares mess with you) and posing (like moseying, but stationary). Each girl passes with no issues, they take the oath and are pinned with their silver star.

We then get the news that there is a can-can dancer at the saloon and she is giving lessons … who says you cannot be a deputy and a dancer. All girls on stage, they learn the steps and perform for us. Kate,  naturally, takes to this and the piano player asks if she’ll come back later for a show :) … Kate wants to wear the costume if she is to perform again :).

As high noon approaches, we get wind of some unrest near the saloon … you see, the problem with the cowboys, is they come into town, get all liquored up and want to fight … luckily there is an ordinance that says no guns north of the train tracks … but there aren’t enough lawmen (lawgirls) around to enforce this at all times.

The friendly fist fight turns bad and 5 people lay shot on the ground … apparently, there isn’t much need for paperwork and the discussion quickly turns to who will have to dig the holes.

The girls (and Jack) found the fist fight interesting, but when the first shot was fired … Genna and Jack broke into instant crying and Jaci headed for the hills :) … Kate sought refuge behind others (smart girl).

We headed west out of Dodge (love writing that) on the Santa Fe trail. This took us through more cattle country and eventually through the South East corner of Colorado on a very lonely road that cuts through the Navajo Grasslands. Wow … the views of nothing, for miles, upon miles on either side of our road was impressive and something that will stick with me for a lifetime. We stopped by the roadside to take some pictures, and walk into the grasslands … until the near 100F temperature and 6000ft elevation got to us … Ok, we got about 200ft from the motor home.

We passed through the town of Trinidad, Colorado and headed for the Trinidad Lake State Park, which was about 5 miles further west and at an elevation of almost 7000ft.

Now we’ve met many people so far, and the further west we got, the more “friendly” they seem to have gotten, always a smile, quick with a “hello” or a “good morning”. So, our encounter with the girl working at the state park was, to say the least, different.

We pull into the parking lot at the welcome center to the park, all 7 of us get out (we’ve been in the RV for 7 hrs), I make it to the door first with Genna and Jaci … I walk in, make eye contact with her … she says, “I’ll be with you when I’m finished with this person.”, her face and eyes say … “I hate you, why are you here.”

I quietly wait for our turn, I explain that we are looking for a site for the night, have a 30ft RV and need something preferably flat. She looks perturbed, at my “demand”, and proceeds to explain that they have sites; 5, 8, 24, 27, 53, 57, 61, … available. I ask for a recommendation, explaining that this is our first time and the numbers don’t mean much to us. Her face and eyes say, “Why are you alive, if I could throw you out, I would.”, she vocalized, one word … “24”. I ask, will I fit there … oh my gosh, the look I was given, explaining it requires a change in ratings for this writing. She now has to look at a chart in front of her, which has all the sites, the size they can accommodate and whether they are level or not. I can also see the chart … it says 30ft, not level for #24, NOT is highlighted! … she says we’ll fit … I now really dislike her.

I tell her I prefer a level site, she looks ready to commit genocide. I suggest that I would take site 57, she says one word … “fine.”. As she completes the paperwork, a very uncomfortable silence develops … I, against better judgment ask … “Been a busy day?”, in my best friendly voice … one word, “YES.” I get the permit, thank her … she says “Have a nice day.”, she means “Hope your RV explodes with you in it.” … we leave … I make a mental note to come back and bother her later :)

We find our site … now, South East Colorado at 7000ft, is basically a dirt pile with scrub brush, rocks and cactus. The girls are determined to have bonfire … which gives me the opportunity to go back and visit miss friendly :). I request 2 bundles of wood (I only need 1, but wanted her to make 2 trips) … I truly feel sorry for whomever she is going home to for the evening.

I put my trusty leatherman to use (I’m an outdoorsman now) and widdle some kindling, as there is nothing around that would burn and Michelle has forbidden me to use gasoline. The girls watch the fire for 10 minutes, head out for a walk at night and call it an evening by 10P …

Our first night in the mountains.

Day 6 – 1570 miles … Cherokees and a long drive

We love the idea that Wal-Mart has done, that allows us to stop for the night at any Wal-Mart store in the country. I’m not sure who told me, nor where I read it … but you see many RVers stopped for the night in their parking lots. We have used these in previous trips as well … when we are making miles and it is after 8P we stop at them rather then campgrounds. We usually spend the night, get up early and drive on … very nice, cheap, convenient and safer than the side of the road.

From the Wal-Mart we drove about 6 miles to the Cherokee National Heritage Museum, this was our entire reason to detour to Tahlequah. We have for the last 4 days been roughly following the “Trail of Tears” … if you know little about this, I encourage you to read about it … this trail ends in Tahlequah. The Cherokee museum is fairly expansive … it has a recreation (and working) Cherokee village from the 1600’s, and a exhibit building. The building has a permanent section that tells the story of the forced relocation (Trail of Tears) and the other half set aside for other (revolving) exhibits – the one there now had a focus on the Cherokee language.

I found the museum very moving, not sure why … but left very sad … hard for me to believe what we as humans are able to do to each other … this was beyond what the kids would grasp, but they found it interesting to see the pictures and listen to the spoken Cherokee language.

The highlight, for sure was the tour of the village. A Cherokee, in traditional dress led the tour, took about an hour and covered a typical village that would have been home to 100+ people. Within the village were another 10+ “actors”, all Cherokee, “living” the life … the only spoiler was when we saw one with a iPhone :)

We all learned many things, 3 stuck out for me; 1. The woman of the tribe are the ones that own all the property, the man hunt and protect. 2. Each family has 2 homes a summer home (large, square and flat roof) and a winter home (small, igloo shaped). The winter home was for sleeping only and was easy to keep warm. 3. Cherokee had blow guns! Made out of river cane, with darts that could shoot 50yrds. They used these to hunt for birds, rabbit, squirrels and other small game.

I’d recommend the experience … had a great deal to offer, at many levels. We packed up around 2P and headed out for a long day of driving.

“Making miles” is not hard on the RV, even with the kids … the key is to be packed and have enough activities for them to do along the way. Our RV has 4 places for things to occur; the sofa, the table, the upstairs and the back. So, the kids take turns reading, playing video games, watching TV, painting, doing puzzles, playing games. Several of the cabinets in the RV are dedicated to crafts and games … I think based on proportions, we have dedicated about 30% of available space to “things to do while driving”. We also carry more games on the outside storage areas, which allow us to “trade-out” things every couple of days to keep everything fresh.

We also try to stop along the way for 30 to 45 minute distractions, sometimes for ice cream, sometimes at a visitor center and sometimes for shopping. As we neared Tulsa, I saw a massive “Bass Pro Shop” – Outdoor World and pulled over for a “distraction”. 

Now, I must confess, I have been having trouble dealing with my inadequacy. Since the second day, I have felt, somehow, not a full man. At every truck stop and at every campground, this feeling kept reinforcing itself. I was sure that Outdoor World would help me cure this. You see, the problem, in a nutshell, I had no knife … all the campers had knives, all the truckers had knives … I had, well, a cell phone. While this is probably a better tool for the city, out here, a man is not defined by his cell phone, but by the blade he has strapped to his side.

As the girls went to look at hats and shoes, Jack and I headed to the hunting section … I was determined to get a knife and all the needed items of an outdoorsman. I pushed my cart, as I knew, lots of gear would be needed. Waterproof matches, need those. Hatchet, need that. Camo hat, can make do without. Tactical flashlight, need that, maybe 2. 5 inch bowie knife with compass on the handle (ala Rambo) … ooh … My phone has GPS, so I chose the model without the compass. Outdoor chairs, a luxury, but I put 5 in the cart (for the girls of course). Iron skillet, hmmm, will check with Michelle. Leatherman multitool … a little girly, but I put one in. I was starting to feel like a man, Jack and I even grunted a little … Then the girls found us.

Michelle, went through my cart … I got to keep the leatherman and the chairs, tactical flashlights were replaced by kid flashlights and a lantern (I got to choose that) … while, I’ll say we compromised, that feeling had come back a little … my consolation, the leatherman has a 2.5” locking blade … it would have to do … I will have to compensate … will download survival software to my phone.

Several more miles later, we pulled into the Wal-Mart in Pratt, Kansas around 1130P for the night.

Day 5 – 1230 miles … our first hike, laundry, repairs and attrition

Most of us slept in and we had a real slow start to the day … after all, we are on vacation. The weather in Arkansas is perfect, not typical for this time of year, but we’re not complaining. The evening drops to low 70s and the daytime is in the 80s, low humidity and a cooling breeze. Typically, it would be in the 90s and lots of humidity.

I did my writing outside on the picnic table, Jack next to me in his seat, the others running around. Every person walking by said good morning and a few stopped to chat … I miss this type of community feeling. The entire troop headed in waves to the “bath house” for showers. While our motor home has a shower, it is smaller than most closets … let’s put it this way, when I dropped the soap, I had to step out to pick it up … small.

We also were treated to a family of skunks who did not seem bothered by us or the other campers. They were all young, and we made extra effort to stay away from them … all we needed, a skunk sprayed child and an enclosed space for 18 days :)

We packed up, and headed for our first hike of the trip. Petit Jean has some great hikes and some great vistas. Our destination was a 1 mile hike down into a valley and back up to see a waterfall. Everyone did great, I had Jack in a front carrier and Genna walked the entire way, scrambling up and down rocks.

We stopped at an outlook for a quick, and late lunch (around 2P) and then headed to Fayetteville … about 3 hrs away. On our way into town, we drove through the University of Arkansas grounds, so that Kelly could see what an American University looks like … Razorback stadium is impressive by any account, but the most interesting things where the fraternity and sorority houses, she wanted to know if it was really like in the movies :)

We invaded Liz’s house around 530P and took over her laundry room, living room and bathroom. We’re packed and planned for 4-5 days … meaning, we have enough clothes to last that amount of time, and we then need to stop to do laundry. This keeps the amount of packing down and ensure there is some room left for people. Apparently, everyone had run out of clothes, except me … and I only packed for 2 days … not sure what that says about me … I must be more frugal.

While laundry finished and the kids played, I decided to try to repair our awning. Now, our motor home came equipped with the typical rental toolkit, ours had a oil rag … that’s it. Liz’s tool selection although vast by comparison consisted of a hammer, a couple of small screwdrivers and a crescent wrench, plus she had a step ladder. Zach came out to help and I had flashes of being a little kid, helping and holding things for my dad, as he worked … was for me very rewarding and sentimental. Surprisingly, I managed to repair the entire unit, a metal clip that holds the awning to the leg was bent into a pretzel, but the hammer, and some wood helped me hammer it back into place. I hammered out a couple of dents … and you cannot tell we had an incident … there is a broken casting, but I will order a new one and have it waiting for me upon return.

We say a tearful good bye to Zachary, as he leaves us and drive out towards Oklahoma. The 65 mile drive to Tahlequah takes about 2 hrs, as the entire drive is scenic, winding and cuts through some small towns … unfortunately, it’s also 11P at night and totally dark. We stop at the Tahlequah Wal-Mart for the night around 1A.

Day 4 – 948 miles … A king, very natural and discoveries

We started this morning, having to deal with the “awning incident”. Now, our motor home, a Sunseeker 2900 LTD is one of the entry level motor homes (think THE entry level). This isn’t bad and honestly the unit is serving us very well. It is optimized for a budget buyer, so it doesn’t have some of the features of other more expensive models. For instance, our motor home doesn’t have any slides. These are sections of the RV that extend to the side when you are parked … basically, adding much more room inside. The other thing this model doesn’t have is a ladder to get to the roof.

While at first getting to the roof did not seem a priority at the beginning of our trip, now it was a necessity. Our awning “leg” was bent all the way back and is sitting on the roof. The roof for the unit is about 11ft above the ground … hmmm … I had a “wand” that is 6 ft long, which is used for the awning, so I could use it to reach the top … but I couldn’t. So … the dilemma; pull the “leg” down with the wand, which would cause it to fall to the ground and potentially tear up the side of the RV … or … stand on a 50 gal drum being used by the truck stop, for trash that was half full … hmmm …

As I wrestled the trash can to the side of the unit, a large number of truckers started gathering outside the nearby building for what they thought was the upcoming show … apparently, the news had spread at the truck stop … “idiot in an RV, come watch”. As I started to practice my balancing on the rim of the trash can, I heard Michelle say over her laughter … “we’ve lost the damage deposit anyway". Why is it she has to be the voice of reason … I pulled on the leg with the wand … and it came “gently” down, now dangling on the side. The crowd had now dispersed, disappointed that the “wife” had come out to spoil the show. Using some zip ties (these are as valuable as duct tape for repairs), I secured are now broken awning. Of to fill the fuel tank (paid at the pump, so I wouldn’t have to show my face inside) and then for our day.

We got to Graceland around 1030A and parked in the back. I’ve driven through Memphis dozens of times and have spent many days in this city, but I’d never made the pilgrimage to Elvis’ house. We bought our tickets for the platinum package … mansion, car collection, airplane tours.

  I’m always impressed by the power of music and how fanatical and devoted fans can be … while I enjoy his music, I’m not the typical fan that was here.  Graceland is, as it should be (I guess) a snapshot in time … it was frozen in 1976. To me, this was the most interesting part of the experience. I enjoyed the state-of-the art kitchen from 1976, the security cameras of the era, the shag carpets, the suede chairs, etc. The car collection was Ok, I guess impressive for 1976, but not really exotic by any stretch. The airplanes I found interesting, while the Jetstar (think corporate jet) was as expected, Elvis had a 96 passenger (ex-Delta) jet converted for personal use … “Hound Dog One” was cool to walk through, his pride was a quadraphonic 8 track system installed on the plane :) … I wonder what will become of Graceland in 20 yrs???? Kate has listened to Elvis often, but didn’t get the attraction … now when she found out his daughter was married to Michael Jackson … she became more interested … funny huh?

From Memphis, we headed towards Fayetteville … our plan was to find a park along the way to stop for the evening, have a slow night and most importantly a bonfire (the bonfire request started on Day 2 and hadn’t stopped). Some research and some recommendations took use to Petit Jean State Park, about 15 miles from I40, near Russellville, AR.

Arkansas is not the “Natural State” out of coincidence, as we get off the highway, cross the Arkansas river and make our way up a mountain, the beauty of this state (at least this part) was evident … wow. Petit Jean is a great park, on top of the mountain, with a lake, in the trees with hiking trails everywhere. This park has a lodge, restaurant, pool, great sites … and seemed empty, although many of the sites had campers on them. Again, wow … truly a great setting.

We picked spot #14 on the A campground, this is a full-service site, meaning we had water, electricity and sewer. We got settled, bought some wood and went for a nice walk to the playground. On our way back we climbed rocks down by the creek.

It was around 8P when we got back to the site, Michelle started on dinner and I, with the help of 4 kids, prepared for the fire. My fire starting skills, have included siphoning gas from the car to act as “kindling”, but I was lacking a hose … so Zach stepped in and orchestrated the girls to gather pine needles and little sticks. This took some time, as Genna, while grasping the concept, didn’t grasp the quantity … so 3 pine needles at a time, took a great deal of time. Zach built a teepee, paper on bottom, pine needles, small sticks, then the wood we bought. I lit the paper … and we had fire!

Now the reason for a bonfire, was not the fire itself, but to act as a backdrop to the marshmallow roasting. We had all gathered “roasting sticks”, prepped them and where set. Kate, Zach and Jaci, all did their roasting (think playing with fire), as I don’t think they ate more than one, yet the bag was almost gone. Genna came out a little later (she’d been playing inside), and demanded to roast her “mashmellow”, she’d already eaten a few out of the bag.

I “bait” her stick (a long one for safety), she watches her brother and sisters, I explain that she holds the marshmallow over the fire, then pulls it out and eats it. Now, not all my plans are well thought through … while a long stick does keep her away from the fire, it does pose a potential problem.

She puts the marshmallow in the fire, it lights, she pulls it out, sees fire, and starts waving her stick, 3 ft long, with a ball of fire on the end. She’s no dummy, she’s not going to eat that. So she swings it around and starts chasing me with it. I can tell you from experience getting to a 2 yr old, with a ball of fire at the end of a 3 ft stick is not easy. Michelle and Kelly are laughing hysterically, which only gets her to chase me further … Genna, has discovered fire and it is powerful! Definitely, not good.

Day 3 - 748 miles ... A cave, a waterfall, memory lane and a traffic incident

It was very nice to start the morning slowly, this is in contrast to our "truck stop" mornings, which has us quickly transition from sleeping mode to travel mode. The motor home, has dinette, a sofa, and overhead bed and a bed in the rear. For sleep mode, the dinette table drops down for a bed ... this is the one that Genna usually sleeps in. Abuelo spent some time before we left creating some railings for this to ensure that no one falls out. The sofa is a "jack knife" bed ... think futon. This opens up for another sleeping spot ... Kelly's "room". The overhead bed is setup with most of the kids clothes, stuffed toys and general storage. In travel mode, this keeps the pillows, sheets and blankets.

Our destination for the morning was Ruby Cave. This is an attraction at Lookout Mountain, which cats its shadow on Chattanooga. It was a great drive (and only 6 miles) to the place ... great, in the sense, that it was a winding road with some switchbacks ... very impressive views and very pretty countryside. We made Ruby Cave around 1030A, ahead of a couple of tour buses. You enter and exit Ruby cave through a gift shop (couldn't help myself) ... Ok, the gift shop has an elevator that takes you down 260 ft into a cave. You then walk about .5 mile further into the mountain, putting you about 1200ft inside of Lookout Mountain. The cave is mainly limestone, and has some nice formations ...

I always have a love / hate relationship with commercial things like this ... the entire cave walk is paved, has great lighting, good backgound music and significant guard rails. Many of the formations have been named for you (fish, alligator, dragon's foot, bacon, steak and potatoes, chips, etc... these are all actual names). While you are warned at the beginning that this is a strenous mile walk and you shuld be in good

shape, our tour group had people with canes and some that tested the weight limit of the elevator.

Our tour guide, Mavis, loved to refer to herself in the third person (if Mavis can do this, you can do this) - she apparently was full of wisdom. Unfortunately, what Mavis lacked in eloquence, she made up in volume. As we would near a formation, she would yell ... "Above your head, to the right, bacon.". Since the tour was single file and probably spread out 150ft, she would repeat this, over and over and over and over and over again, loudly and with a nails on blackboard tone. About half way in the cave, I was convinced I could lead us out (follow the path), and where the body could be stashed ... who would notice one less person coming back.

At the end of the half mile walk, is the crowning jewel of the Ruby Cave ... a large room that is 30ft wide and about 300 ft tall. From the roof of this room, a waterfall.

Wow, impressive ... and, as you would expect, heavily lit, great music, and very commercialized ... regardless, was very nice to see it. We

returned to the elevator the same way we came, we this time, took the rear, instead of the head of the group ... which meant less of Mavis :)

Our next destination held some great sentimental value for Michelle and took us through some beautiful countryside in Tennessee. Around 430P we arrived in Watertown, TN. This is a small town a little more than an hour east of Nashville. Watertown, is where Michelle's mom is from and where her grandparents lived. It was interesting to watch the waves of emotions go through Michelle's face as we got closer and we entered the town. She guided us to her grandparents house and told stories about the people who lived in the houses around there ... Jaci kept as

king, "Who lives there?", "Do you know that person?" ... which was somewhat amusing. We circled the neighbourhood a couple of times ... and since our damage deposit was likely lost, the trees hitting our roof couldn't make much of a difference.

We headed to the town square, stopped in the library, where wee saw pictures of her grandfather in one of the town

history books (he was mayor and a banker). We visited a bridge that has a plaque that bears their names (that would be George Washington Griffith and Lucy Griffith) and stopped for some ice cream and a little shop. We wanted to walk in the bank, but it was closed ... but the "archives" building was open and we thumbed through some pictures and stories. Memories are such powerful things ... I hope that this trip makes some as strong as the ones I saw in Michelle.

From Watertown, we headed to Lebanon, which is about 30 minutes away ... took me a while to get the information into my GPS, as Michelle kept saying "Lebnon" ... I kept saying, there is no "Lebnon" ... she pointed it out on the map ... "Lebanon" ... hmmm

In Lebnon, we visited "Aunt Cile", this is Michelle's mom's aunt ... we found her house easly, and pulled into the driveway with our "rig". We had a wonderful visit and met her daughters, Cathy and Sherrie. Although our visit was short, we got some great pictures and I know it meant a great deal to Michelle. I am very glad we made this detour.

A stop for pizza, and a transtition to sleep mode ... then off to Hwy 40 and Memphis.

Within an hour of dinner, the kids are sleeping, Michelle is in the back with the babies and Kelly is in her "room" on facebook. I, have the road to myself (Ok, trucks everywhere) and am so impressed by the qaulity of this highway (so far, Tennnesee has the best roads). The surface is smooth and the ride is excellent. Somewhere along the way, we come across the paving crew that maintains this highway. They narrow the highway to one lane, using that large 50 gal sized drums.

Well ... my story is that they narrowed too much ... but a few of the Tennessee "drums" are no longer standing, not sure what I clipped them with, but I could see these poor things being flung to the side. To be fair, and in my defense, my other option was the concrete barrier, and yes, I know we had lost our damage deposit, but we still have 20 days in this thing. Apparently, these "drums" are able to communicate somehow, because in a couple of miles, one of them jumped out in front of us. Now, I cannnot tell you if it was in anger, in revenge for his brothers, as a martyr or if he was just suicidal ... but this thing did try to get me. We hit him hard (I think he was heavier than the others), a loud bang, a small "hop" from the rear axle, a swerve and his essence was gone. I am not ashamed to say, I was shaken by this :). About 10 minutes later, Michelle appears from the rear to inform me that there is a banging come from the outside somewhere ... hmmm ... not good.

We stopped shortly after at a truck stop ... Travel America for the night, about 70 miles from Memphis. I walk around the RV looking underneath for the victim ... but find nothing ... hmmm ... I check again, thoroughly ... nothing ... then I notice something "swinging" on the side of the unit. Apparently, the loss of drum life was not for nothing ... it took out one of the braces for our awning unit ... ugghh ... These things are clever ... because, our damage deposit does not cover damage to the awning .... ahhh ... this is getting to be an expensive trip ... the stats are not good ... 3 days, 2 with damage.