From the Canyon to Vegas

We arrived at the Grand Canyon Sunday afternoon in the off season and got one of the 2 last campsites left.  No electricity of course, those sites were all booked. 

Fortunately we have a propane heater because it was quite chilly at night.  And every morning Dad makes coffee on the propane stove.  He even baked corn bread in the oven one night.

The canyon of course was awesome.  The boys were appropriately impressed.  We did a lot of walking along the rim, saw the Grand Canyon railroad and the mules they use on the trail, had elk wandering through the campgrounds and went to bed tired and happy.

We have been fortunate to have been having brilliant sunshine every day but chilly temperatures and remarkably strong winds.

We headed west again yesterday morning driving in heavy sustained winds, stopped in Kingston AZ to visit the Harley dealership on the mother road and eat lunch, drove by Lake Mead, and got into Las Vegas in the late afternoon.

For the first time we are staying at a commercial RV park, the Oasis RV Resort. It is nice, clean, and convenient with power to recharge our batteries (literally). The first place we tried doesn't allow children!  We were outraged. 

After settling in we unhitched the trailer and drove through the lights of the Vegas strip. 

Of course the reason we are in Las Vegas is to see our niece Heather and her husband Jon.  She conveniently delivered her first baby yesterday, right on her due date.  We hope to see them today if they are up to visitors, and perhaps get to the Hoover Dam.

More Grand Canyon and road pics:

The Grand Canyon

No words necessary . . .

Finally in Arizona

Yesterday was another day of mostly travel.

We had a relaxing morning in Santa Rosa Lake park where the boys found several great places to have (nerf) sword fights, including the playground-with-a-view and the scenic overlook tower.

In town (tiny little town) we did laundry, fueled up the truck and got back on the road just before noon.

Stunningly beautiful countryside could be seen all across New Mexico as we have been blessed with such gorgeous sun filled days.

We got off the interstate in Grants NM, a town on old Route 66, and we think we found Radiator Springs (from the movie Cars).  They had several churches there including the Catholic one where we went to Mass.

Along our way we passed the Continental Divide, which our children can now tell you is the line that marks whether water drains into the Pacific or Atlantic ocean.

Our last stop in NM was for Mexican food in Gallup, then we drove through to Flagstaff AZ and are boondocking at the Walmart.  There are about a dozen other RV's and trucks here doing the same in spite of the signs that say No Overnight Parking. (We did ask and the young lady at the store said nobody cared.)

Today the Grand Canyon!

From MO to NM

We picked up a mascot for our trip yesterday, a resin replica of Jack, the Ingalls' brindle bulldog.

So after our visit with Susannah, we hit the road from Marshfield MO Thursday evening and got just past Tulsa OK before we decided to spend the night boondocking at a Walmart. 

It was time now to really get moving westward.  Today then we followed the path of old Route 66 across the rest of Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle into New Mexico. 

In Texas from the road we saw cows, windmills, tumbleweeds, Quonset huts, a cowboy, a stockyard, and undulating scrub brush. 

We did stop for the Cadillac ranch in Amarillo and the Midpoint Diner, which is half way along Route 66 between Chicago and Los Angeles.  The diner was just closing, but they let us look around and gave us tips on where to eat in Tucumcari, New Mexico.

After an excellent dinner at Del's restaurant we made a short but beautiful drive here to Santa Rosa Lake State Park.  It's dark now but we hope to take more pictures here in the morning.

LIW geekfest

If you are not a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder, feel free to ignore this post :-)

Dad spent the day doing minor maintenance and running errands but Mom and the boys met up with our neice Susannah for a visit to Rocky Ridge Farm.

As I (Mom) write this, we are listening to a CD of tunes that were mentioned in the Little House books recorded by a musician playing on Pa Ingalls actual fiddle!

Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield MO is the home of Laura and Almanzo for most of their lives and where she wrote all the Little House books. The white house is the main farmhouse that they built by themselves, one room at a time. It is set up as they lived there with their actual furniture. No photographs allowed indoors but I took pics of the postcards I bought showing some rooms and some pics from the museum. I was able to see and touch Laura's writing desk! Well, the sign said "Do not touch" but I couldn't help myself. :-) There were chairs built by Almanzo himself, his collection of canes which he needed after recovering from diphtheria as a young man, their very own pictures and books and everything. In the museum we saw Pa's fiddle, some of Laura's schoolwork, and manuscripts from some of the books. She had beautiful handwriting! There were also letters from Ma and Laura's sisters, clothes, books, etc. used by Laura and her family and watched a short film about her life in Mansfield with recordings of her actual voice. In the 1920's their daughter Rose built the Rock House for them on the other side of the property. It had electricity and hot and cold running water, both unusual for that time and place. They lived there for 8 years and that is where the first four Little House books were written. Then they moved back to the white farmhouse where they spent the rest of their lives, and the rest of Laura's writing was completed. It was wonderful and I can't wait until I get a chance to visit the homestead in South Dakota. (Not this trip. And definitely in a warmer month.)

We are still alive

Tornadoes and flooding overnight near St. Louis but we are south and west of the worst of it.

We did have heavy thunderstorms here all night and it's pretty darn cold but the heater on the trailer kept us cozy.  On the other hand, back home they are having an ice storm . . .

The rain has stopped now and we hope for some sun this afternoon.

Bennet Spring state park

We are still in Missouri so we can go to the Laura Ingalls Wilder home and museum tomorrow afternoon in Mansfield.  Mom is a LIW geek and plans to take lots of pictures there!

This park is famous for its trout fishing and our almost teenager hopes to take advantage of the spring right here by our campsite in the morning.

That's assuming that the weather cooperates.  Last night we needed the a/c and tonight we'll probably need the heat.  And lots of rain today and more predicted for tomorrow.