Still in Branson

The “Patsy Cline and Friends” show was for the most part terrific. The band was tight , they were talented, and the singer, C.J Newsom, at about 30 years old, could really belt out the tunes. But there was just one glaring problem with the show. About every 20 minutes or so a “so-called” comedian would come on stage and spew forth total nonsense, completely ruining the momentum and mood of the evening. This is a town that thrives on musical productions. They should have producers that know what works and what doesn’t.

Imagine  a few Patsy Cline classics, culminating in Sweet Dreams, and then this;

This young lady and the band have more than enough talent to carry the show by themselves, they really didn't need the annoyance, in my opinion.  Yet sadly, a small percentage of the audience found him hilarious. I guess in this town, you need to have something for everyone.

We took another trip on the river yesterday, downstream this time. Gorgeous day and it was warm. We went about 6 miles, almost to the dam.

We were under the trestle just as the train went by overhead.

We saw some wildlife.

And you just have to see the guard dogs. These guys were "on the job" at the park in Branson

We did another 300+ miles today and we're just east of St. Louis.

Branson, not so bad after all

Actually we’re quite enjoying ourselves here. So much that we extended our stay by a couple of days.

Branson does have it’s cheesy side though. Tourist traps (fudge, souvenirs, t-shirts etc. etc.), fast food restaurants, and “over-the –hill” performers. Even google has trouble difficulty getting the scoop on some of the headliners here.

“Tribute“ acts abound. I always thought you had to, well, have passed on, to earn a tribute act. Not here. Did Neil Diamond die? I don’t think so, but there’s a show here that pays tribute to the great performer he once was.

About as close as you’ll get to Dolly Parton in Branson is “Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede”. Her name is on the billboard, but you won’t find her in the show. (not that we went to that one).

We did an amazing sightseeing trip by train yesterday. The train takes you on a 2 hour trip through the Ozarks, trestles, tunnels and all.  And this is no ordinary train. It is a beautifully restored 1951 diesel locomotive (same age as me) pulling several stainless steel coaches, two of which even had an observation dome.

 A trestle from the dome car.

Entering a  3700 ft long tunnel.

Today we put the boat in Lake Taneycomo which runs through the town. I say it “runs” because it seems a lot more like a river to me. A few hundred yards wide and 20 or so miles long.  But around here they insist it is a lake so who am I to argue. Incidently, before it was called Lake Taneycomo, it was called THE WHITE RIVER! I rest my case.

I took this picture of Branson Landing and the fountain at the centre of it. They spent 7.5 million on the fountain. We haven’t seen it in action yet but apparently it has  very powerful water jets, as a fountain should, but it also has great balls of fire shooting from the black tubes you see in the picture. And they didn’t stop there. They have an incredible light show as well and it’s all set to music.

The landing is an outdoor mall with about a mile of shops, including Bass Pro. It's a short walk from the RV Park.

Bass Pro also has a great restaurant on the water called, oddly enough, The White River Fish House. See, there it is again. We ate there a few nights ago. To start, we split the alligator bites appetiser. Spicy and delicious.

Tonight we are taking in a show, a tribute show, but this performer has earner her tributes. Patsy Cline. I have a feeling this one will be miles ahead of the Elvis tribute we saw last fall in Nashville.

Will let you know.

And then there was RAIN

The drive from Monahans Sandhills was very windy. At one point we heard a loud bang and a flapping noise. It sounded a lot like a flat tire (without the handling problems) but when we stopped to check it out it turned out that the wind had started to unroll the awning. We must have looked hilarious, struggling with the billowing sail trying to get it rolled up again. But we persevered and got it put away. Note to self: always lock the awning mechanism before travelling.

After very large day of 370 miles we rolled into the rollback headquarters of Fort Worth, a Walmart Superstore.  We did a little shopping , found some smoked salmon  (yes, at Walmart, and they had capers too). We had lox on a bagel for dinner, one of my favorite meals.  All your basic  food groups….except bacon……hmmmmm. 

We stayed the night after getting the nod from the Walmart security guy. Always nice to know someone is looking out for you while you sleep.

It had been 25 days since we started our trip (not counting Toronto to Austin) and we had not seen a drop of rain. All good things must come to an end.  This is what I woke up to on Sunday morning and it was minutes away.

I decided we should wait it out and then realized we might be there for days, given the forecast. So we made a run for it.

We had to pass through Dallas, a spider-web of highways, in the driving rain. We left at 7:30 AM wondering if we’d made the right decision. Luckily there is very little traffic because it was Sunday morning. I don’t know if Dallas just has poor drainage or if this was an unusual amount of rain, but by 8:00 the underpasses were starting to fill with water, causing traffic to slow, or stop. We used Google maps with the traffic enabled to see where the worst places were, and took alternate highways to avoid the tie-ups. Since the rain had just started and was forecast to get worse through the day, a flooded underpass could bring us to a halt for hours. It took almost 2 hours to get through Dallas. We saw numerous accidents where a car or truck had hit deep water and lost control. The unit, weighing 29,000 pounds handled the puddles nicely, but we really had to slow down for some of the deeper ones.

Tonight  is our second night in a beautiful State Park in Oklahoma. Arrowhead State Park.  It’s just outside the town of “Canadian, OK”.  (OK, aye) I’m sitting under the awning and its raining.  It’s cool and damp but toasty here, thanks to our recently acquired Propane Campfire.  I never thought I would give in to the convenience of something like this over the real thing, but this thing rocks! Hook it up to the 20 pounder and “click”.... Campfire!  And, you can use it during a campfire ban (which is about all of Texas right now, maybe not so much here).

One more day here and then …..Branson. I’m not too sure what to expect here but “tourist trap” would be at the top of the list. But if we don’t go there, we’ll never know.

Terlingua, TX

Terlingua. Where to begin?
Terlingua started as a mining town in the 1880's. The mineral that was mined was quicksilver, or mercury. In the early 1900's the demand for quicksilver waned and the town fell upon hard times. This was reversed in 1917 when demand suddenly returned, due to the influenza epidemic (thermometers use quicksilver), the same epidemic that ended World War 1.

What does Terlingua have today that makes it so special?

Exotic cars.

Old timers outside the General Store (notice the bottled refreshments, 11:00 AM)

Fine dining at the Starlight Theatre. 

This used to be a theatre until a storm took the roof off about 25 years ago, hence the name. It was later converted to a restaurant and holds a Certificate of Excellence from Trip Advisor. The #1 spot in town.

Some funky bar stools....HOT chick!

And the horses a$$

And last but not least, wild west hotel accommodations, cheap!

It seems the deeper I dig into this town the stranger it gets.
Have a look at Wikipedia's page on Terlingua.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terlingua,_Texas

Or if you have a lot of time to kill, this one is a must read...

http://www.outsideonline.com/1922521/murder-terlingua-texas

A couple of excerpts from the above, if I may;

"Half the town is drunker than snot 24 hours a day"

"Census takers, like all government workers, have a tricky time in Terlingua; in 2000, a woman collecting census data was bitten by a resident’s pet javelina and reportedly quit on the spot"

Speaking of Javelinas, I had hoped to get a picture of this abundant resident of the area. As it turns out we didn't see a single one until we were driving out of the park. Once again I was too slow on the draw with my camera, so I ripped this picture off the internet.



Although they resemble a pig, they are actually more closely related to the hippopotamus. And they do bite!

OK, that about does it for Terlingua. We won't forget this place any time soon.

A couple of shots from the drive today, heading north out of Big Bend.

Tonight we are staying at Monahans Sandhills State Park.

I know what you're thinking, they're at the beach again. Well, sorry to disappoint but the nearest large body of water is 500 miles away and there certainly is no water here. Just sand. Lots of it in huge dunes.

They rent saucers so you can do this......

Big push tomorrow to get some miles behind us, we will probably stay at a Walmart.

Road Trip, not "Off Road" Trip

Well, the off roading didn't go very well. The plan was to take "The Old Maverick Road" to Santa Elena Canyon (10 miles) and then the scenic paved road back (30 miles). A loop, so to speak.
After about 2 miles of relentless washboard we turned around. Even at 5 mph it was unbearable. We wasted about an hour on this error in judgement, and then had to do the 30 mile trip twice.

The canyon is amazing. The Rio Grand runs through it and the canyon walls tower 1500 feet above the river. There is a 1 mile hiking trail that goes into the canyon, which we walked (and climbed). There was no mention that the trail also had several hundred feet of vertical. 

Here is the Santa Elena canyon close up.

And from a few miles away.

Throughout this area you can often see mounds of white material. It looks white clay.

But it's not clay. They are deposits of volcanic ash from millions of years ago.

Lots going on here in the geology department.

In the construction department, we thought we would leave Texas with a little Canadiana. There are no Inukshuks in Texas........ until now. Even if they don't get it, Canadians will. Maybe we'll start something...

We put this little guy together in short order on the side of Route 170. Building materials are not a problem here.

Tomorrow we leave Lajitas. We really love this place and will be back. This will be the furthest (farthest?) west we will go on this trip. So I guess, technically, we are heading home. Hmmmm.

I have one more thing to share with you on the Lajitas area. Terlingua. A resurrected ghost town. We went there today. Eclectic doesn't even begin to describe it.
I will tell you all about it the next time we have WiFi.

More Big Bend

It's spring. The desert is in bloom. Well, sort of, you have to really look for them.

The "campground with plug ins" was fine. Not as picturesque as the previous one but we don't spend a lot of the daytime there anyway. The AC was nice to have again.

We drove to Chisos Mountain Basin where there is a lodge by the same name. The basin is in the centre of a small (20 miles across) mountain range. It's a strange experience going from cactus to pine trees in the space of a few miles. Bears and mountain lions inhabit this "cooler" area. We didn't see any. 

We haven't seen a lot of wildlife at all for that matter. Roadrunners are plentiful though, beep, beep. I hope to get a picture of a Javelina (hav-ah-lee-na), they are supposedly abundant here.  

The Chisos mountains were formed several hundred million years ago by numerous volcanoes. You can still see the core where the molten lava has solidified. Must be hard stuff to still be around after that long. The highest peak rises to 7800 feet. 

It is said that geologists can't decide whether Big Bend is a geologist's paradise or nightmare. There is so much going on with rock formations it boggles the mind. Here's an example.

We did a little hiking yesterday. We discovered an interesting phenomenon here. Wherever the trail comes close to the river you will find a small display of trinkets or souvenirs. The Mexicans place these things along the trails, with a tin for the money. It works on the honour system. They come by periodically, probably at night and collect.  

You can often see them across the river, watching. The park discourages visitors from buying this stuff as it is considered contraband. And if the "shop owner" is caught on the US side, he goes to jail. Border Patrol vehicles are everywhere here.

The wind in this area is very unpredictable and strong. It was blowing hard on Sunday when we arrived and then diminished. That night it came up again in serious gusts. But that didn't compare to last night. Wow! Again very strong, starting at midnight and gusting to at least 40 mph. I'm starting to understand why nobody puts out their awnings here.

Its a little cooler today, a nice change. We moved again today, about 60 miles, to a little town called Lajitas, which is just outside the western end of the park. Found a great RV park called Maverick Ranch. It's part of a quaint (golf) resort which looks like an old western town. It has a pool, restaurant, bar and a bakery and much more. And it has easy access to some of the attractions of Big Bend's western side.

We took a short drive along the river this afternoon. We found a dried up creek bed called "Contrabando Creek", which we followed to the Rio Grande, 40 yards away, and of course, Mexico on the other bank. It is only 30 feet wide here and only inches deep. I guess that is how Contrabando Creek got it's name. 

 You won't believe what we've got planned for tomorrow. The CR-V is going off roading....

Big Bend

The plan was to take 3 days to drive to Big Bend since it was just under 600 miles from the Gulf. We did it in 2 days of hard driving, 310 mile to Broke Mill RV Park in Del Rio, where we stayed 2 days, and then 275 mile to Big Bend.

Del Rio turned out to be a great place to "stock up" before Big Bend. Best of all they have a Rudy's Texas BBQ. Remember Rudy's? We loaded up on BBQ turkey, a sausage link, back ribs, and brisket. 

The drive to the park was not a pleasure, but the scenery was spectacular.

It was very windy, especially in some of the canyons. The road was narrow and the last 50 miles in the park had a 45 mph speed limit. A long day.

And it was HOT! (sorry, not trying to be a jerk, for those back home). When we arrived at the campground the thermometer read 37C. This campground has no power or water hook-ups, so we ran the generator for several hours so the air conditioner could keep the inside of the unit bearable.
Today we move to a campground which has power hook-ups. Tara will be pleased. She doesn't like the heat.

Our spot here is less than 20 yards from the Rio Grande and maybe 60 yards from Mexico. There is a little village on the Mexican side, Boquillas. For a few dollars a man will row you across the river, then you have a choice of transportation into the village. Pick-up truck, donkey or walk, truck costing the most. Here you can see the Rio Grande and Boquillas in the background.

And this is the taxi stand. I had to zoom way in for this shot as they were some distance away. There are a couple of restaurants the village but based on the looks of the place we didn't go across.

   
Gotta go. Internet is limited here. Will update when I can.

Padre Island

What a great place! Unfortunately this is our fourth and last day here.

We have been staying at Mustang Island State Park, which is on Padre Island. It's a fairly basic camp-ground with water, electricity and washrooms/showers. You can drive several miles on the beach and just pick out a spot to sit and relax, swim, fish or whatever.

This afternoon we drove about 15 miles south to Padre Island National Seashore which is a National Park. Here you can drive a long way on the beach, over 50 miles actually. For the first 5 miles four wheel drive is recommended. After that you may need more serious equipment, like large tires and more ground clearance and probably a winch.

In this park you can park your RV right on the beach. The permit is just a few dollars a day. There was everything from pup tents to big fifth wheels.

We drove south a couple of miles and had a long stretch of beach all to ourselves. Other than a few bits of seaweed scattered about, this beach is immaculately clean.

Tonight we drove about 15 miles to Port Aransas which is at the north end of the island. Had dinner in a nice little place overlooking the marina.

There's nothing like a "million dollar view" while you're having dinner. The sunset was nice too.

Tomorrow we head inland towards Big Bend National Park. I 
expect Big Bend will be about as close as you can get to the complete opposite of Padre Island. (except maybe, both have an abundance of sand)
We're planning to take 2 days to get there as it's almost 600 miles.

Making our way to the beach

Well, it turns out the Arroyo Colorado isn't really a gulch at all but rather a pretty substantial river. We stayed for 3 days at Hummingbird Cove RV park, a nice quiet place, once again "in the middle of nowhere", Texas.
They had docks on the river so we took the boat for a spin.

As you can see, this "gulch" won't be drying up any time soon. The water is brackish. It leads to the gulf, or actually, the bay between South Padre Island and the mainland.
It was about 10 miles from the park to the gulf and we made it about half way before turning back. We tried to explore several of the small channels running off the river and met bottom each time, only a few feet in.

Lots of big birds along the river.

The park was also only about an hour drive from South Padre Island. We checked out the RV campground just off the beach there. Not very appealing. More like a parking lot.

We also drove north into the park. They actually plow this road.

Looks a bit like home in February....or April, he, he.

It was a bit cool and windy. Tara had a riot running in the dunes.

Today we are in Mustang Island State Park near Corpus Christi. This is the place we had to re-schedule due to storm damage. Its all back to normal now and it's a great place.
The beach is spectacular and you can drive for miles on it.

Tara had a long walk on the beach.

Life is good, right Tara?.