Category: USTravel

Family, Friends, Food, and Carillon Park in Dayton, Ohio
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Family, Friends, Food, and Carillon Park in Dayton, Ohio

twosnatravels4 Comments

We couldn’t journey to Ohio without visiting some family. In Dayton, that’s my niece Laura and her husband Mike. As hosts, of course, they were busy thinking up fun stuff to do and places to eat.

Our stay here was at Wright Patterson Air Base. The family camp was tucked behind the airfield, which meant a journey of a few miles just to get around it. While driving, Cal would happily identify the various military airplanes sitting on the tarmac. I was looking in the opposite direction, keeping my eyes peeled for groundhogs. On our first trip through the base, I saw a fat groundhog waddling through one of the expansive lawns in the distance. And then more, at least one on every trip around. All that grass makes for fat groundhogs.

Photo by Jessa Leigh on Pexels.com

Mike and Laura asked us what we’d like to see in Dayton. With apologies to the city, I had forgotten there was anything to see in Dayton. I did know that just outside of the air base there is a huge air museum, which Cal has been to. I’d forgotten that this is where the Wright Brothers had lived and developed the first airplane.

That history is woven into Carillon Historical Park, which we enjoyed visiting in the afternoon of Memorial Day.

The carillon was gifted by the founders of the park, a couple by the name of Edward and Edith Deeds. It has 57 bells on a 151-foot tower. It’s the first thing you see when driving up to park, which contains a lot of buildings small, large, historical and not, containing aspects of Dayton’s history. Its focus is mainly transportation. Besides all that to see, it’s a lovely place to stroll through on a sunny Memorial Day afternoon.

Cal, Mike, Laura and I at Carillon Park

I enjoyed refreshing what I knew about the Wright Brothers. There is a replica here of their bicycle shop, circa 1895-1897. I did not get pictures of it, but I did get a picture of these bicycles in a separate little building. They are from the same era.

The brothers were working on another small project in their spare time, however. In 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, they took the first famous flight of an airplane they had invented. Dayton gets the credit, though, for the development and testing of their airplane at Huffman Field.

Orville Wright himself designed this room displaying their 1905 airplane. He wanted the plane sitting below ground level so that visitors could see it from above.

This plane was resurrected from Kitty Hawk, where it had been left in pieces. It was the first “flying machine” that could take off repeatedly, fly for a small length of time, and land undamaged. All important things for getting off the ground and back!

There are other things to look at too. The sights ranged from an eagle in a nest high in a tree, a building focusing on the big 1913 flood, a carousel with 32 icons from Dayton’s history, Ohio’s first taven, and many trains and streetcars such as this one:

I remembered learning about the Ohio-Erie Canal when I was a child, so I was excited to see this little piece of it. A bonus was getting the park train in the background of my picture of it.

There is even a covered bridge, although it goes nowhere and has no water underneath. It was moved here from near Bellbrook, Ohio.

We could choose a song for the carillon to play before leaving the park. I chose “Pachelbel’s Canon in D.” It was pretty, but hardly recognizable.

A trip to an Irish pub in downtown Dayton capped off this day. I had shepherd’s pie with a Guinness. But it was just one good meal among many that we had with Laura and Mike. Who knew that Dayton was such a foodie city? We had pizza, salads and beer at Old Scratch Pizza (two beers in one week when I haven’t had even one since I don’t know when!) and another dinner at a place called Rip Rap which was a bar and grill. The whole idea behind this dinner is walking behind the restaurant to a “shake shack” of the same name behind it afterwards. I was sorry that I was not hungrier for the delicious ice cream, and that it was a cool and windy evening.

In contrast to the beautiful weather we had for our time at Carillon Park, the following day was rainy. A perfect day to go visiting.

I spent thirteen of my childhood years living in three different Ohio towns. One of those towns was Marysville, where I had a good high school friend named Karen. We’d lost touch after I’d moved, but she found me again on Facebook. She and her husband now live near Urbana, not far from Dayton, and we spent a great afternoon visiting with them.

Karen and Brett in front of Karen’s “she-shed”. Karen painted the barn quilt on the door.

A great lunch was had with them in Urbana at Las Palmas. More good food! It was good to catch up on all the years that have rolled by during my visit with Karen.

We went two different ways though the lush green countryside driving to and from their house. Our scenic drive was hilly with lots of woods in view, small old towns that are hardly towns anymore, old houses and barns.

There was one more important stop to make near Dayton. Laura took us to visit her Mom and our sister-in-law Mary Jo. I first met Mary Jo before my fifth birthday and was the flower girl in her wedding to my brother Wayne. She is happily settling into a new apartment.

All good things must come to an end, however, and all too soon our good times in Dayton were done. Time to roll down the road to a new spot!

Next time: a slice of heaven in Hocking Hills

Puttering Around in Paducah, and Other Kentucky Treasures
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Puttering Around in Paducah, and Other Kentucky Treasures

twosnatravels8 Comments

Leaving southern Missouri and heading east, our route took us over two rivers – the Mississippi and the Ohio, one right after the other. When we weren’t on bridges, we were on an elevated roadway. This was a surprise as we’ve crossed both rivers many times, but never in such quick succession.

Both bridges were old, and very narrow. Cal had to pull in the truck mirrors. I suppose the road crews want to save their upgrades for the major bridges over interstates.

White knuckle time whenever a truck blew by!

When we used to travel from St. Louis, the rest area at Paducah was a break from the interstate on our way south. The Whitehaven Kentucky Welcome Center is actually a distinctive post civil war era mansion. On one trip, my youngest daughter and I had checked out the upper floors. This was my first time to see the town, though, and I don’t know how it is I hadn’t been here sooner. Especially with someone who enjoys shopping!

We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived in the old downtown area. Old buildings have been lovingly restored. There are shops, art galleries, restaurants, museums, and twenty blocks of this area are on the National Resister of Historic Places.

Even the old market hall has been transformed and divided into new purposes. One of those is the Market House Theatre and another space has the William Clark Market House Museum.

William Clark? Yes, that William Clark, from the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In 1827, some years after that little trip, he purchased 37,000 acres here for $5.00. He laid out the town as it would be, named it Paducah after Western Indians he had met on his trip, and set this spot as the town’s public market.

We’d found a great place for lunch as soon as we arrived. It was Kirchhoff’s Bakery, and we’d had delicious gyros on their bakery-made pita bread. In the museum, we learned that it had been there since 1873, passed down in the family from one generation to another.

After visiting the museum, Cal had to step back over to the bakery to buy an assortment of their cookies.

An old pharmacy that was closing its doors donated their shelves and intricate woodwork to the museum. That provided the backdrop to this little space crammed with memories of the town’s history.

Sitting at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio rivers, Paducah’s history of is that of being a busy port. Then the rail industry came into existence. Factories, foundries, and dry dock facilities were built.

We walked along the riverfront and watched this boat push several barges along the Ohio.

But to me, none of that was quite as interesting as what I learned almost as soon as we started walking around the town. In 2013, Paducah was designated as a UNESCO Creative City for “the City’s important role in the connectivity of cultures through creativity”.

Evidence of this is right there on the waterfront, as the flood wall is covered in murals.

Time moved forward as I strolled along the murals. Here is another of the market building. I like how the little boy is just on the edge of the picture.

But I had another reason for visiting Paducah. The National Quilt Museum is here. On my way to visit, I stopped to admire this statue. With a bit of artistic license, it portrays Clark and his dog Seaman, and those who helped him and Lewis on their journey. Interestingly, the sign near the statue notes that Clark paid $20.00 for Seaman, but only $5.00 for Paducah.

I truly admired the artistry of the quilts in the museum. Some of the most intricate ones were hand sewn. I can’t imagine doing all that work by hand. Others, just as beautiful, were machine sewn and some were a combination of the two.

This quilt looked like a painting when I stepped away from it, and the windows seemed to glow with light:

There were many miniatures. Which is your favorite?

The picture below does not adequately show how this quilt shimmered with beads. It depicts scenes from the Hobbit. The featured picture for this blog post is a close-up of Smaug sitting on his hoard of gold.

Of course, there were plenty of more traditional quilts too.

I was inspired by the quilt museum. Down the road, I have found and purchased a learn-to-quilt kit. I have no machine so it will be handsewn, but it makes a potholder, a coaster, and small mat. I think it’s geared for children, so maybe it will be easy. Well, that’s what it assures me on the package. But oh no—another project to save for another time!

On our way out of the great state of Kentucky, we needed an overnight stop. This being the start of Memorial weekend, it was not an easy find. The Ft. Knox military family camp had a spot for us. It sits outside the gate and feels like a state park. We had to make sure we drove by the United States Bullion Depository. According to Wikipedia, it holds 147.3 million ounces of gold bullion. That’s over half of the gold that the government holds.

The government is not shy about saying what this building is. It sits right off the main road on “Bullion Boulevard”. You can bet there’s some heavy security, though.

Sunset glow at Ft. Knox Family Camp’s fishing lake

Next time – friends, family and sights in Dayton

An Oasis in Greenville, Missouri
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An Oasis in Greenville, Missouri

twosnatravels4 Comments

Our last Missouri stop was in Old Greenville, a Corps of Engineers park that thankfully has not been shut for budget cuts. It is a place where folks come from not far away to get out of the house, relax, and walk or ride their bikes. During the week the crowd is mostly older folks and many have three-wheeled ebikes to go visiting their friends. Besides that, though, the place is full not only of beauty but of historical interest.

Two friends of mine, who don’t know each other, recommended this park to me. When that happens, I for sure want to find out what it’s all about.

Heavily wooded Old Greenville lies in the southeastern part of the state, just northwest of Lake Wappapello and on the edge of the Ozark Hills. There is a river nearby, the St. Francis.

And therein lies its problem: it floods.

So many times, in fact, that the town was actually moved two miles away after a dam was built in1940. The dam created Lake Wappapello and fixed a lot of problems for everyone else, but made things worse for Greenville. This park still floods. My friend Betty and her husband Dan were not able to stay here in April as they’d planned because it was flooded. The campground was not reopened until just a week or two before our arrival.

On the walking/biking trail that leads out of the park under Route 67, you can see all the levels of flooding that this area has endured before and after the existence of the dam:

In a stroke of genius planning, the town site is still here, and the campground was mostly built around its edges.

Signboards told stories as I walked along the old sidewalks. The picture above shows the foundation of J. Arthur Davis’s car dealership. Around 1929, a Whippet, which is a model of car I’ve never heard of, sold for $600.00.

And here is the courthouse. It wasn’t terribly old when it had to be taken down. A grainy old photograph shows the old steps that still exist.

Another grainy photograph sums up the town’s watery history.

Other things happened in Greenville going back further in time. Indians first used the river here for a crossing. And in a sad chapter in our history, in 1838, more Indians crossed during their forced march west on the Trail of Tears. In its early settlement, before bridges were built, a family by the name of Bettis ran a ferry. Folks who crossed the river could then board stagecoaches north to St. Louis or south to Cape Girardeau.

There were Civil War skirmishes in this area, with a Union and a Confederate leader conducting raids on each other over several years. Since Missouri was split they were both from this state. The men simply returned to their respective counties and led quiet lives after the war.

The cemetery has been left with some graves, five of them being unknown confederate soldiers.

Other graves dating mostly from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s told stories of short lives and lost children. And there was this, on a weathered old tree. When was it carved?

A bike trail leads through the woods to current-day Greenville, and yes, they did receive a brand-new courthouse. It stands behind the Statue of Liberty war memorial shown here.

Perhaps more importantly, Trail’s End Coffee and Cafe is right across the street from the courthouse. Jason and Jordan own this shop and Jason is Greenville’s mayor. Before we had even introduced ourselves, Jordan was preparing s’more pancake bites for us: still-warm bits of pancake with marshmallow creme and chocolate chips with whipped cream on top. And this was after we’d shared a blueberry muffin! She is so nice and the treat was delectable. We returned the next day for lunch.

Jordan, Cal, and those awesome pancake bites

Back at our campsite, we had one corner of the campground loop all to ourselves for one full day until someone came into the site behind us. Even then, it felt very private. I suppose that the only negative was that we had no TV, no phone service, and no Wi-Fi. This reality served to make us appreciate the interlude even more; we found plenty to do. It was a good excuse to head down to Trail’s End on our bikes to get some connectivity, and we never moved the truck in three days.

Who can complain when the only thing to do is to watch a woodpecker at work?

With thanks to my friends Kris and Betty for all their recommendations. Betty has a blog: chambersontheroad.com, and has also written an ebook called “RVing with Bikes” which you can find on Amazon.

Next time – over the rivers to Paducah

Of Bikes and Books in Windsor and Mansfield, MO
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Of Bikes and Books in Windsor and Mansfield, MO

twosnatravels6 Comments

We have quite the adventures with our Garmin, and humanize it by calling it a “she”.  After Lake Shawnee, she had all kinds of ideas on how to get us to Windsor, Missouri.  We had already decided on a route to get there, but we do value her opinion. When she keeps trying to turn us around for missing her turns, I get nervous. What does she know that we don’t? I look at the low bridges listed in the Rand McNally Trucker’s Atlas that we have. I double and triple check the route.  On more than one occasion, she’s had good reason to make numerous attempts to get us to mind her.

She finally settled down for the last forty miles or so, but I sat with that map on my lap the whole way.  We did pick a pretty good route, for humans.

For us, there are two reasons to visit Windsor, and they both have to do with bike riding.  They are the Rock Island Trail and the Katy Trail, both rails-to-trails Missouri state parks.  Years ago, we rode the entire 275 mile Katy trail round trip over a period of years.  Windsor was one of our overnight stops, in one of Kim’s Cabins.

“Two roads diverged in a wood”… we took both, the Katy on the left and the Rock on the right, on two different days
Another view: the Katy above on an old rail bridge and the Rock Island below

This time, we stayed in Farrington City Park.  There is a layout of 8 RV spaces plus room for tent campers looking for a night’s stop off the bike trails.  It is woodsy and secluded and was mostly empty when we were there. Although there is a narrow spur road that goes in front of it, there were no more cars on the road than would be in a campground.  The road T’s  off further down, and one can go uphill to the left to get to the trail or right to go into the park.  Occasionally, there would be a clip- clop of hooves on that road, which meant that some Amish were coming by their horse and buggy.

The Windsor trailhead is prettily landscaped, with its own caboose.

We broke ourselves in gently on the Katy since we hadn’t ridden for a period of some seven months or so. Our ride stretched from Windsor to Calhoun, the next trailhead and a distance of fourteen miles round trip.

Ready, set, go!

This part of the trail is totally wooded with few road intersections. There are interesting bridges along the way:

This mural was on the side of an old building in Calhoun:

We rode around Windsor a bit after that, catching up on Windsor news with Kim at her cabins, and visiting with the locals at the Wagon Wheel restaurant.  I think they were a bit bemused to see us riding up on our bikes for lunch.

On a snowy day in December, 2016, we were on hand for the grand opening of the Rock Island Trail in Pleasant Hill, Missouri by then-governor Jay Nixon. 47.5 miles opened from there to Windsor, where it intersects with the Katy. 144 miles eastward are still in development.  Despite my high hopes, no other portions of the trail have opened since then, save for a couple of one-or-two mile sections further east.

On the Rock Island I had expected open prairie, but the trail defied expectations.  Like the Katy, woods and trail ran for the ten miles to Leeton like a ribbon of green amid farms and pasture land.  It was so pretty.  It ran just a little rougher than the Katy, and there were more intersections, but these were mostly gravel farm roads.  We give it a thumbs up.  I guess I won’t be trying to do the whole Rock Island trail, but that’s OK.

So, our total mileage count for the two days was 32.

We could walk in any direction for the evenings we were there, but Farrington Park itself was a favorite.

The lake and a pretty decoration at Farrington Park

Our Rving neighbors gave us a tip about an Amish wholesale store just outside of town. Before leaving, we purchased a loaf of freshly made bread, eggs for half the current price at the grocery, a small apple pie and some fresh vegetables, among other things. We looked at all the things the Amish might purchase:  bulk spices and sauce mixes, all kinds of stainless steel kitchenware, an aisle full of canning supplies and jars, racks of puzzles and shelves of religious greeting cards, and these: fifty-pound sacks of grain and sugar.

Moving down the road…

When connecting the dots between our Missouri destinations, I was elated to see that Mansfield and “Laura I. Wilder RV Park” was on our route for an overnight stay.  The truck would stay hooked up to the trailer, but no matter: I could simply walk across the road to the museum and house. That’s what I did as soon as we were set up for the night.

Laura I. Wilder wrote a whole series of “Little House” books for young children.  You may be familiar with the “Little House on the Prairie” TV show from years back.  For me it was all about the books, and I reread the series many times.  As an adult I’ve read all the non-fiction stories about her and her family.

The home where she lived for most of her adult life with her husband, Almanzo, was turned into a museum only months following her death. I’ve already visited twice in earlier years, but the museum building is new since the last time.  There’s a short eight-minute video and then when you walk into the museum you see Pa’s fiddle.

Pa’s fiddle, an object that was a large figure in all of Laura’s books.

It’s great to see all the family memorabilia, but I enjoyed walking through her house the most.  I think about all the years that she and Almanzo shared here.  There are the things Almanzo carved – lamps and tables, and home updates to accommodate things like the purchase of a new refrigerator. He even made a latch hook rug. 

In a foreshadowing of things to come for us, Laura liked the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and wanted the living room to have aspects of his design. It took 17 years to complete all the rooms in the house, and this room was last.

I could see the desk where Laura wrote the books and the table where she would open all the pieces of mail that arrived daily when the books were published.

Laura’s desk, where she wrote all of her books

These days, Laura’s books and the times she lived in are controversial. There have been books written that suggest her daughter Rose had a heavy hand in editing or even co-writing, and books that call into question the reality of the books, all of Pa’s pioneering and moving the family around, and even some racial overtones. Laura did not mean for the books to be non-fiction. And they speak to another time and era, as well as what was known and accepted in that era.

Being the only person showing up, for the 3:30 tour, I had the curator to myself for Laura’s home. We talked of many things, but not these issues. I had gotten sidetracked on another topic: counted cross stitch.

This is part of a pattern for a picture Laura made, which I saw in the museum. In the house, I found the picture, called Knights and Castles:

I fell in love with the picture and asked the curator about it. She herself had found the pattern in the attic just two years ago. It was in a box of old newspapers, tucked in a folder. Until then, the origin of the picture had been a mystery. Laura had sent away for the kit offered in the 1936 Woman’s Home Companion magazine for $1.00. The curator was elated about her find. I went back to the museum and took multiple photos of the pattern. It’s repetitive and in only two colors so I believe I can re-create it. Will I ever? That remains to be seen.

“It’s not the things you have that make you happy. It’s love and kindness and just helping each other and just being plain good.”–Laura Ingalls Wilder

Next time – moving on to Greenville, Missouri

Home in Denver, Colorado
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Home in Denver, Colorado

twosnatravels4 Comments

When spring comes around, all roads lead to Denver. That is because a big part of our family is here – our daughter, their wife and children. I see that I haven’t written a lot about these times since the first summer we were here, and now we have spent four summers.

I really wish sometimes that we could settle into one RV park and stay there, but Denver isn’t blessed with good commercial RV parks. In the state parks one can only stay two weeks. So we stay at the two state parks nearby and rotate through the summer. I’ve come to look forward to these times because each one has its merits.

It’s funny to say that a state park feels like home, but Cherry Creek is that for me. It’s nestled smack dab in suburban Denver, an oasis in the city. Yet, deer welcome us back almost every time we come in for the first time.

We are close to our family at Cherry Creek, and are often called to babysit or otherwise help out. We might have the kids over for some outdoor play time, or the whole family for dinner. I can visit with my friends on Monday mornings if we’re not busy. We try to cram in dentist or doctor visits while here. In between the busyness, I get my daily steps in with two favored walks.

One of them is a walk through the campground to a trail that goes down along the beach. Over the winter they had erected a brand new bath house, along with this sign:

It’s fun to imagine what the view ahead would have been like without the lake!

This view is on the far side of my beach walk. You can see that the waterfront is covered with weed growth. Until last year, I could walk along here all summer to see a lot of shore birds at the far end. A flood in 2023 raised the lake level and now I have to wait until fall, when the water recedes and opens enough sand to walk on.

When that finally happened last fall, I was so excited to finally walk all the way back to visit my bird friends.

The other walk is along the dam to the marina, although if the day is hot I don’t make it that far. It’s a four mile round trip, and I’ve started to push myself farther. One day, I think, I will walk all the way around the lake. Or maybe not.

Along the dam trail, I enjoy watching the egrets, ducks, and pelicans along the shoreline. In August, flowers begin to bloom.

When our two weeks at Cherry Creek are up, we move over to Chatfield. Here we are about a half-hour’s drive from our family, and it’s possible for busyness to still reign over a stay here. We try not to have to make too many trips into town, though, because we relish time to just enjoy a bit of the back-to-nature feel of this park.

In July, we had some excitement during our stay. We could see the smoke from a forest fire over one of the distant peaks from our site. Helicopters flew overhead constantly, getting water from the lake and dumping it on the peak to wet it down. Luckily, it never advanced to our side of the mountain.

At Chatfield, we can ride bikes around the park’s trail. In late September it had cooled down enough to head out on the north side, up on top of the dam for a spectacular view of the city of Denver–

and discover a whole new area on the other side of the dam. There’s a huge dog park, with a place to wash your pups after they’re done romping around the small lake there.

The bike trail went out of the park and onto shaded trails in the cottonwoods alongside the Platte River, and finally to Breckenridge Brewery for a fine, refreshing lunch. Yes, food did follow the beer.

Every year, when the nights get chilly and the calendar rolls over to November, we are on the road going south. But not this past year. At the beginning of October, we put the RV in storage and moved into an AirBnb apartment for a seven month stay. I wanted to care for our newest grandbaby two days a week so she wouldn’t be in day care for all five days, and that was very fine with her parents.

Our apartment is in an old, refurbished building in an suburb of Denver which bumps right up to the city and is only ten minutes from our family. It has a small-town feel which includes a downtown where the old buildings have been converted to restaurants and small shops. The old post office is still in use and on the National Register of Historic Buildings. We can walk there and, best of all, there are more restaurants just steps away from our apartment.

Not far away is a small park that has sprouted several of these beautiful mushrooms.

We can have a number of different walks when the weather is fine. We can take our life in our hands to cross a busy road where there are natural areas with paths and multi-million-dollar homes set back from narrow, winding lanes with views of the mountains. In the other direction, homes from every era of the 1900’s line the streets of neighborhoods that go on forever. Cozy 1930’s bungalows sit alongside ranch styles from the 1950’s and 1960’s. Many have been remodeled and given a fresh look. In between, someone may have built a new contemporary home. There is a whole neighborhood of mid-century modern homes, many of which look like Frank Lloyd Wright himself had overseen their construction.

Early in the fall, the other reason we are here revealed itself: our daughter-in-law has breast cancer, and her treatment regimen stretches for a year. We are so happy to be here for them. Yes, there are some very long days, especially when I babysit my grandbaby and am needed to stay for dinner and bedtime, but there have been a lot of rewarding times with the children. We are here for sick days, but we are also here for fun trips around town on weekends and school holidays.

Here are our two oldest at a park, pretending to roast marshmallows over a fire. Yum!

We are not used to winter anymore, so having cold and snow has been different. On most snow days, we can’t luxuriate in just looking out the window: there are things to do and we have to go out. It’s better that way, anyway.

Blogging time has been sorely diminished, but I’m still not hurting for blog material. I can pull out of my pocket any number of adventures we’ve had for that. And, there are only two more months left in our AirBnb stay. Although our hearts are here, with our family, we are also looking forward to moving back into our RV. These months have taught us that our happy place is on the road. Trips out are already planned, but the road always circles back to Denver.

Next time…visiting the mountains southwest of Colorado Springs

A National Monument, a State Park, and Dinosaurs in Western Colorado
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A National Monument, a State Park, and Dinosaurs in Western Colorado

twosnatravels4 Comments

As we crossed over the border into Colorado from Utah, we were ready for a little break. James M. Robb State Park seemed like the place to put down the RV jacks for a few days. It sits just off of I-70 in the small town of Fruita.

Actually, it was a little too close to I-70 for a state park – I could see vehicles on the freeway in the distance in one direction, although I couldn’t hear them. And if I peered hard through the trees I could see – what?? It was the distinctive red of a Dairy Queen sign. That was too tempting. On our first evening, we walked through the campground and right out the front gate to have a little ice cream after supper.

Still, our site was pretty and there were pleasant walking paths in the park. It was a welcome improvement over some of the RV parks we’d overnighted in on our journey east. The park borders the Colorado River, which was full of gushing snow melt.

Behind us, we could see the towering cliffs of Colorado National Monument. We drove to the park for a visit. It’s only a couple of miles from the state park, but a world away. The road to the entrance wound up and up, with some rock formations, a couple of tunnels, and then…wow! We arrived on top of a huge canyon with rocks in formations and colors, pinon and juniper trees, and many viewpoints from which to see them. Rim Rock Road, which goes through the park and was built by the CCC, travels on top of mesas with plenty of switchbacks.

The scene was so different from what we were now seeing that it felt like a hidden surprise.

Desert varnish painted some of the cliffs in multi-colored stripes.

There was a different view around every turn–

–and ancient junipers stretched out their long and gnarled limbs.

We had come into the park just before the visitors center opened, so that was our last stop. They had a great movie about the formation of the canyon and its rocks eons ago.

Dairy Queen wasn’t the only establishment in walking distance from the state park. As we’d driven back and forth, I’d seen a building called Dinosaur Journey Museum. It is part of the Museum of Western Colorado, just down the road in Grand Junction. I walked down to it from our campsite to check it out.

It turns out that this area has been rich in fossil finds. It’s called “the Jurassic Badlands” with hard sandstone ledges called “the Morrison Formation”.

There’s even a dinosaur named after the area. This is a life-size model of Fruitadens, one of the smallest dinosaurs in the world.

There are larger dinosaurs here, too. This is Dryosaurus Altus, which lived during the late Jurassic period. It’s still considered to be a small dinosaur!

I learned many things here, among them the fact that the state of Colorado has the largest track site of late Jurassic dinosaurs anywhere in North America. It is 350 miles away on the eastern side of the state, in La Junta. I appreciated the fact that this was not a kid attraction and that everything was presented factually. There was even an interesting movie to watch.

There are working labs here which could be seen through windows, with a multitude of shelves containing fossils. One of those windows can be seen here, behind this picture of an upside-down Apatosaurus pelvis.

There was one more thing to do while we were at James M. Robb, and that was to ride our bikes. This town is working hard on having a network of bike trails. Actually, the full name of this park is James M. Robb Colorado River State Park, and it boasts that there are five ecological areas in separated parks: Fruita on the west end, where we were; Connected Lakes, Colorado River Wildlife Area, Corn Lake, and Island Acres on the east end. We did not have time to explore the other areas and opted instead to head back west on our ride.

The trail started out prettily enough, along the river, but then it swung alongside the highway with little shade. I think it’s great to build bike trails, but I wish planners would consider proximity to busy roads. I suppose it comes down to land availability. My lone picture from this very hot ride was from something called “Wakezone Park.” People could waterski on a lake without a boat through a system of cables and pulleys. It looked like fun.

I caught this person on top of an incline. It looks like she is stopped on the incline, but she was actually going full speed.

The day was sunny and very hot. I thought Cal was in a hurry to get back to our site, but as we came back into town he suddenly veered onto a left turnoff instead of going directly back. I was perplexed until I discovered the reason for the detour: he’d seen a sign for Ace Hardware, one of his favorite stores, and needed to make a purchase. I was impressed that he was able to spot it, but I suppose it would have been the same for me if it had been a craft store or antique mall sign!

Back on the road, we had one more stop before arriving in Denver: another state park, Rifle Gap. Unlike James M. Robb, this park is set a few miles away from the highway.

We explored Rifle Gap and the surrounding area couple of years ago. Now it provides a restful mountain overnight on our eastward journeys back to Denver.

Next time: our Denver life

Note: although I am writing this during the winter of 2025, the trip actually occurred in June 2024.

The Loneliest Road and I-70 Through Nevada and Utah
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The Loneliest Road and I-70 Through Nevada and Utah

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Sitting on the border of Nevada and Utah, Great Basin is one of the least-visited national parks because of its remoteness. It sits right off of State Route 50 (the Loneliest Road) near Baker, Nevada. We parked for two nights so that we could visit it.

Looking through the museum in the visitor center, I learned something that was fascinating. An area that covers almost the entire state of Nevada and west to the Wasatch Mountains in Utah is a huge basin. Water comes in the form of rainwater and snowmelt and flows through the streams and rivers, but never leaves the basin. Sort of like the milk at the bottom of your cereal bowl. The National Park is but a tiny microcosm of it.

Some of the Basin’s moisture has dripped into Lehman Cave, a feature of the park that we were able to get a tour for.

Every cave that we’ve visited has one or two things that differentiate it from any other. Lehman has 1,107 “cave turnips”. Only a dozen caves have them world wide, and they date back to the Ice Age. A cave turnip is a stalactite with a bulge in it. There are two of them in the picture below; can you spot them?

Out of the cave, we drove up the scenic drive, stopping at a couple of view points. Here was a flip side of the view that we had been seeing for the last couple of days.

At Mather Overlook, we could see another basin, this one carved out by a glacier.

We topped out at 9,886 elevation on Wheeler Peak, although it was not the tippy-top of the mountain. The road ended here, and we stopped for a little hike.

Melting snow created a wonderland of waterfalls and rushing streams. The sound of flowing water and the chirping of the birds made a nice backdrop for a lawn chair lunch.

Although this is a smaller national park, it is nice not to have all the crowds of the more dramatic parks we have been to.

Back at our RV, we admired the clashing fronts happening in the sky – dark clouds rolling in but still blue to the west, from which we had come. There was intermittent wind and splashes of rain. It was a relief from the heat.

Also looking west–the official Lonely Road sign.

I wandered around in the desert a bit.

In the morning, we drove about a second before we were in Utah and Mountain Time.

And still, the road went on.

The western side of Utah was prettier than I thought it would be. We climbed up a pass and went down into a rocky gorge. Then, there was something that looked to be a huge dry lake covered with sand, or maybe it was a salt bed, and it went on for miles.

I looked at my paper Utah map, and it was noted there as Sevier Lake (Dry).

We climbed out of the Wasatch mountains, and we were out of the Great Basin. Our stay for the night was an RV park in Salina, Utah. The only thing memorable about this park was that the owner kept a huge flock of chickens, and she gave us a complimentary dozen eggs in several colors. Today, I’m not sure if she wouldn’t have charged us for them, because they are pure gold!

Highway 50 ended here, and we were now on Interstate 70. Route 66 may be called “The Mother Road”, but to me, I-70 is the Mother Road. I’ve either lived a large portion of my life not far from this highway, or I’ve driven on it through many states countless times to vacation or visit family. I think, though, that this was only the second time we’d been on it at its western origination.

Interstate 70, looking like ribbons through cut rock, is on the upper left of this picture

We were now entering a spectacular area with towering rock monuments, rock pillars and canyon vistas. It was almost as good as going through the Utah national parks. Actually, Arches National Park is somewhere to the south of this view. There was even a turnoff, Salt Wash Scenic area, to take in the view and enjoy a picnic lunch.

The parking lot was packed and I felt really happy that this stop off was here. It gives people a small taste of the state’s wonders, even if all they can do is zip through it.

Next time – a few days in Western Colorado

Note: although I am writing this during the winter of 2025, the trip actually occurred in June 2024.

Traveling the Loneliest Road
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Traveling the Loneliest Road

twosnatravels4 Comments

In 1986 a Life magazine article dubbed Highway 50 in Nevada “The Loneliest Road in America”. It’s a pretty desolate stretch of two-lane highway, with miles between services. The pictures I’ve seen of the scenery along the roadway looked intriguing and I always thought it would be fun to ride it to see what it’s all about. “Desolate” is a word that in my language means “enticing”.

Cal is the driver of our journey and after looking at the map, he thought the drive would be OK. It’s a truck route, after all. So we headed east on 50 from Nevada’s western side at Washoe Lake State Park. There was nothing lonely about it for the first 60 miles or so. Construction and lane closures caused line-ups and slowed traffic, especially in some small towns we passed. Finally, we left everyone behind. The view was of salt and sand, pretty mountain scenery as we went up and down passes, a large flooded lake. We saw horses and a pronghorn antelope.

Along this stretch of road people had used rocks to leave their mark on the salt flats
Color contrasts on the desert floor and hills of sand

I had read ahead of time to look for a sign that said “BAR” in big red letters. Like a desert mirage, it soon appeared.

This was to be our lunch stop since this place has a reputation for delicious juicy hamburgers.

Middlegate was so named back in the 1860’s for Overland stagecoach trail that was cut through the mountains. Huge rocks on either side of the blasted trail formed the “gates”. This was a stagecoach and freight station until the early 1900’s, and for a brief time it was also a Pony Express stop. The hamburgers here lived up to their reputation.

After lunch, the road went on.

Our stop for the night was in Austin, Nevada. Summer weather had finally caught up to us, and it was hot. I had thought that after parking we might explore this tiny town, but we were perched on a cliffside and nothing looked inviting enough to cause us to want to sweat. The RV park was advertised as being next to a city park, which it would have been if not for the hill. We did walk down the road a bit to peer in the windows of this old general merchandise store, opened in 1863, which happily has been turned into a library.

Here was our first sighting of the invasion of the Mormon crickets. There weren’t a lot of them as they marched off to the side of our RV. At first I was fascinated, but in the morning I was happy to put Austin behind us. As we drove, we saw hordes of them crossing the roadway in places, staining the entire roadway red where they had been smashed.

**Fun fact – Mormon crickets are actually shield-backed katydids. They received their nickname after they destroyed the early crops of the Mormon settlers.

Not too long after leaving Austin, Cal discovered that the rubber seal around our RV door was flapping. He stopped and made a five-minute fix. That was enough time for me to hop out and take some pictures, and I noticed that the desert floor was alive with the movement of the crickets in a steady stream, north to south. Where were they going? They aren’t visible in this picture but trust me, they were there. I’m happy to report that this was the last sighting.

In Ely, Nevada, we stopped for a picnic lunch in the city park, and the sight and smell of the green grass was intoxicating. In the other direction from this view, some folks were engaged in a dog obedience class that provided us some entertainment. The far end of the park had a small duck pond.

A glimpse of a mural can just be seen in the back of the photo above. There was another mural across the street, depicting explorers and visitors to Lehmann Cave in Great Basin National Park. Altogether, there are more than twenty murals in this town.

I would have loved a closer look at Ely’s downtown and to hunt for more murals, but it was hot and we were still on the move.

Our drive today involved ascending more mountain passes, descending through junipers and pinion pines, and back down to fragrant sage deserts. More jaw-dropping scenery.

From a great distance, we saw a road snaking impossibly up a mountain side. Were we really going to have to go up there? Relief: as we got closer, our road revealed itself: no, we were happily going to veer off to the side. This turned out to be the backside of Great Basin National Park.

At the end of the day, we stopped for the night just inside the Nevada-Utah border. We had been generally trouble-free for a long time. But after arriving we discovered that a road-striping truck had splashed yellow paint on the lower front of the RV. To add to that mess, it was covered with red sticky Mormon cricket goo. Inside the RV our fire extinguisher had come off the wall, rolled under a strip of molding, and in the process of opening the slide, had pulled the strip off the wall.

Trouble comes in threes. Some tubing under the bathroom faucet had leaked and flooded the basement. Cal kept his good humor and everything was cleaned and repaired. It’s a good thing this doesn’t happen often!

Storm clouds at sunset in Baker, Nevada

In 2024 (or 2025), would State Route 50 in Nevada still be considered the loneliest road in America? It’s probably debatable, but I do know that it provided us with a lot of grand vistas and new sights on our journey through it.

Next time – we visit Great Basin National Park

Note: although I am writing this during the winter of 2025, the trip actually occurred in June 2024.

So Much To Do In Virginia City, Nevada
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So Much To Do In Virginia City, Nevada

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Silver! The Comstock Lode was discovered in Virginia City in 1859, and the boom was on. It was the first major silver deposit found in the United States. Mines opened and the town grew to a population of around 25,000 ten years later. The growth in this town is what led the state of Nevada to statehood.

It had been a while since we’d ridden a train, so upon our arrival here we decided to take a ride on the diesel-powered Virginia and Truckee Railroad to start our day.

The train was originally built to haul the ore out of the Comstock Lode Mines, as well as other building materials and supplies, and went all the way to Carson City. Now it hauls tourists on a round-trip venture down to Gold Hill, a tiny town where the first of the silver lode was mined.

Our conductor and guide shared names of the mines and some of their stories as we rode.

You can see the train tracks just above this long-gone silver mine
The town of Gold Hill was so named because gold is what was found here first.

After riding the train, we wandered along the boardwalk through town.

If for some crazy reason you didn’t find anything of interest to see in Virginia City, you could at least wander into the candy shops and have a treat. Your favorite must be in here somewhere!

Mark Twain had a job as a newspaper reporter in the 1860’s. He wrote about his Nevada years in the book “Roughin’ It”. There is a museum dedicated to his time here, but it is being reconstructed.

Of course, in a town such as Virginia City, there are several mine tours that one could take in while visiting. We wandered into the Ponderosa Saloon, and a tour of Best and Belcher mine is available (for a fee, of course) once you walk straight back past the bar. Who could resist?

A hapless miner displays various drilling tools in the Best and Belcher Mine.

This mine was dug for gold, but it was not profitable. Not, that is, until the present-day owners of the Ponderosa realized that this shaft entrance was steps from their saloon. We enjoyed this informative 25 minute tour.

Not that we are saloon hoppers by any means, but down the street at the Silver Queen saloon, we could see a 16 foot Queen made out of 3,261 silver dollars. This lady weighs 210 pounds and the coins are all Virginia City silver. There is a wedding chapel in the Silver Queen too, in case you want to get married after you see her.

I also liked this tribute to Mark Twain inside the saloon. Samuel Clemens used the pen name of Mark Twain for the first time when he lived and worked here.

We visited two other places in Virginia City. The first was St. Mary in the Mountains, Nevada’s oldest Catholic church. The number of Irish immigrants working the mines necessitated its original construction. It outgrew that one and a new building burned down during a huge fire that decimated the town. The church was rebuilt with bricks in 1864.

Looking from the nave to the entrance of St. Mary’s in the Mountains

Our train conductor had touted the museum in its basement, and also the fact that they sell wine down there. We couldn’t figure out what happened to the wine, but the paintings in the wine cellar were splendid. The museum held many ecclesiastical treasures.

Our last stop of the day was at the old schoolhouse, renovated and turned into the Historic Fourth Ward School Museum. It’s painted into the center of the picture above, and shown below as well.

The children of immigrant miners, wealthy mineowners, town professionals, the shopkeepers, and other residents of the town crowded into this school. There were 3,000 children living here in 1875! Here’s all the facts:

This four-story, Victorian-era school building is the last of its type still in existence. Children from young elementary all the way up through high school attended here. One room was set up exactly the way it was back in the day. Yes, that’s Cal in the front row.

Here is the first grade class in the 1890’s. Note that there is only one teacher for all of these kids!

Other school rooms contain displays of Virginia City history. Here is a piece of Comstock ore:

Unexpectedly for us, we spent an entire day visiting this mining town. It is hard to compare mining towns from one to another because they all have their own history, but Virginia City had a lot of stories to tell.

Next time – we head out on a road dubbed “America’s Loneliest”

An Unexpected Day in Reno, and Horsing Around at Washoe Lake State Park Nevada
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An Unexpected Day in Reno, and Horsing Around at Washoe Lake State Park Nevada

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I didn’t have a clue what Reno would be like, but I imagined something like we’d seen in Las Vegas. Remembering our time there, we knew we didn’t want to drive our truck into the city. We took an Uber instead, and our driver was very chatty. He said that beginning twenty years ago, less people began to come to Reno. Older hotels and casinos closed, and some have been torn down, leaving empty lots. We saw some empty storefronts and boarded up casinos. He pointed out the two or three that were still good places to go. New casino resorts are here, they just aren’t being built much on the old Strip.

Downloading a walking tour of Las Vegas had been a good idea, so I did the same for Reno. I had our driver drop us off at the Reno sign. Following the walking tour, this meant that we did not walk past any casinos at all, which was fine. The Strip didn’t look enticing enough to check out. And so, this whole day was totally different than I had envisioned.

We walked through City Plaza, with the Truckee River flowing by below it.

We actually found a piece of the Irish Blarney Stone. You don’t have to go to Ireland to see it!

Tourists in Ireland go through great lengths to kiss the Blarney Stone. I guess here in Reno they thought that just rubbing it might be a better idea.

We looked at the copper-colored geodesic dome of the Performing Arts Center and took a peek inside the old Post Office. Next up was the Riverwalk area which was quiet on a Saturday morning.

We went off-tour through the beautiful city park, where people were floating down the river.

We were off the tour route and passing by the park on our way to Washoe Public House for a delicious lunch.

Back to the tour, we visited the West Street Market. I had looked forward to this, but disappointingly, it was no longer a market. Was this tour written pre-covid? I hadn’t checked the date.

Our last stop was at the beautiful Thomas Aquinas Cathedral. It has a beautiful wrap around mural in the front from the 1950’s, thought to be one of the finest works of art in America.

We had come to the end of the walking tour. Cal was tired of walking on city streets and hot concrete. He was ready to call it done, but I didn’t feel done with Reno. He took an Uber back to the RV park, and I walked back past where we’d had lunch to the Nevada Museum of Art.

At first, I was a little disappointed. It was smaller than I thought it would be, with no permanent exhibits due to construction. But an eager docent took me through an exhibit by Cannupa Hanska Luger, an artist who is of mixed Native and European ancestry, entitled “Speechless”. She made the art come alive with her interpretations of his various pieces.

It was the second exhibit that stole my heart. It displayed the art of Maynard Dixon, who lived from 1875-1946. He painted the West, including Nevada. I love the paintings that I saw, some capturing the red rocks at sunset, and immersed myself in his life and work. He really got the feel of the Nevada landscape. Dixon also illustrated in magazines and books of the day and wrote poetry.

“Mountains in Sunset Light” – Maynard Dixon
A self-portrait mural, “Welcome and Goodbye!”

The other thing that I learned about him was that he was married for a time to Dorothea Lange, a well-regarded photographer in her own right whose works I have admired. She was the mother to their two sons.

I’m sure the Reno strip would have appeared differently at night. The Riverwalk is regarded as a great place to visit and perhaps have dinner after taking in the casinos. But we did not return.

It had been a short stay at the park in Sparks, outside of Reno, and one of our nights had been out of the RV in South Lake Tahoe at a lodge. But I was happy to move on, especially since the next three nights were a grand total of 32 miles down to Washoe Lake State Park.

We had a beautiful spot here–

–with beautiful views of the Sierra Nevadas. The lake that gives the park its name was between our RV and the mountains. Scrubby hills lined with cedar trees were behind us.

All of this would be very fine, in and of itself. But the thing that makes this park extra special is the wild horse herd that lives here.

We’d seen them as we’d driven in and out of the park. One morning we drove the truck out to a trailhead to hike in order to see them closer. From the path, we watched a group of horses.

In the distance, we saw a larger group having breakfast lakeside. The two colts on the front left were frolicking and running together so they were fun to watch.

I was busy photographing them when Cal came up and said in a low voice, “You might want to turn around.” The first group was coming up right behind us on the path! They did not seem to have any fear of us, but were definitely minding their own business as they clip-clopped by.

Seeing so many horses in this gorgeous natural environment was a real treat. Afterwards, Cal drove the truck back to our spot but I opted to take a long hike back. Horses were still in view. There was a group hanging around the restrooms at the picnic area. It must be true what they say…the grass is always greener over the septic tank?

For a time, I was walking along the Washoe Lake shore, where a lone horse was doing the same.

In all, we had sighted over 60 horses on this morning.

We never know what lies around the bend on our travels. Some sights are not quite what we think they will be, but others go over and beyond our expectations. That is the surprise and the gift of the journey.

Next time – we visit Virginia City