Addition to Hot Springs

Yes the water in the Reo Grande was colder much colder about 52 degrees F , I couldn't feel my legs  as soon as i got in the water. This is a great little town and it is named after the radio show. There was a contest in the late 40 to find a town in the USA that would change it's name to Truth or Consequences to celebrate the 10 years on the air, quite a few places applied and a town called Hot Springs NM was chosen.
   There are quite a few hot spring places here we only went to the one, we will have more photos from the Gila Widerness ( one of my favorite places)
   The van has been running well, cruising at 65 mph except for these 20 mile long hills , they kill that poor van , there is no way to keep the speed up, but thats OK it's all good ( Ben I can hear you talking )
 I'll try and upload some videos soon
 

First Hot Spring Adventure.. Still in New Mexico

As i wait for my webinar to start in 20mins, i thought I'd do a quick post of our first Hot Spring stop on the trip..
It's in the 90s here, it's hot and dry. We are loving it! Our first hot spring experience was just for an hour, it was spectacular, on the Rio Grand (Jerry actually went into the Rio Grand, it was much cooler then the Hot Springs!). The conversations around Hot Springs are, about people who have just come out of the Desert for a "visioning", which means they went into the desert for 4 days with just a jug of water.

We are heading to Gila Wildness this afternoon, more Hot Springs, which we can stay at long, we're going find camping there, and then go to the Cliff Dwelling there too! Jerry tried to see the Cliff Dwelling and those Hot Springs when he was out this way 6 year ago, but, they were flooded, since we already experienced a flood this trip, i hope we're ok! I have been hearing Fire warnings, lets hope there aren't any forest fires, the tornado only lasted 20mins..

Historic Route 66

They did an amazing job on the movie Cars, as Historic Route 66 was just like the movie.  (sad to say in some cases..) Route 66 parallels Hwy 40, so, we would, where we could, pop off and buy our Gas and Coffee from places on Route 66.  

There were many classic restaurants, motels, gas stations, tire stores.. some running some abandoned, some you couldn’t really tell.  Route 66 isn’t maintained all the way through either, it ends on either side of little towns.  There were many old abandoned cars in the background, many looked like the type of car “doc” in the movie drove, and you see pick-up trucks like “Mater” some working and some not so much.  As you look around from Route 66 you see the Hwy 40 with everyone on it rushing by, nothing else around at all, but the little strip of what was once a buzzing Route 66, but around you is all desert, as far as the eye can see, you even see red flat lands in the distance.  Here the grass isn’t green anymore, it’s more like hay, with tons of what look like mesquite trees and funny cacti trees, there is a railroad which is also parallels hwy 40 and Route 66 where it exists. Vast land New Mexico is.... 

Tornado hits our camp site while in New Mexico!

I’m still not sure if the reason we were the very only people camped at a New Mexico State park last night was because of the Tornado which hit us. We survived without a scratch, just a lot of sand everywhere, thought we were going to lose the top of the van, but, Jerry’s quick actions saved her & us.
Well, we arrived, it was beautiful, warm sunny and not busy at all! Just one boat on the lake water skiing, that was it. We were all in heaven. This was classified as primitive camping, as there wasn’t any electric nor running water, which is fine with us, as we travel prepare. Jerry found us a flat part of the beach to camp on, it even had a nice cement picnic table. Duke and I explored the rocks and water and started taking pictures of flowers. Then we found a place to go for a run, so, we came back and changed for our run. I know it was clear and just after 6pm, as I promised to be back for 7:15pm. We went for our run, into the desert, enjoyed seeing a big river dam, bunnies, lizards, cool flowers. So, when we got back around 7:15, we said we’d be gone for a 5mins to just go take some quick pictures.. the sun was just starting to go down. I couldn’t figure out where all the flowers went.. (I figured it out in the morning, when they were all back.. desert flowers close at night.. this city person didn’t know that!).

So, we took our pictures, can came back an hour later, as I lost track of time, to a very different sky over the water, a cloud had formed so quickly, and I had never seen a cloud that thick and at the far end of the cloud it had what seemed like cloud drapes slowly lowering in whips.  I took a ton of pictures of that, as the drapes of clouds on the sides, made for a great frame for photos.. so, we sat down and ate the BBQ (which maybe I should have come back in 5mins like is said..) everything was soo good! I took pictures of Jerry during dinner, as the clouds were so unusual.   Then, the winds picked up, I’m glad it waited till we were finished eating, I wasn’t going to let that steak & asparagus go to waste!

First the water changed, from calm to white caps right away, didn’t know a reservoir of water could do that! Sand started being whipped around, tumble weeds starting flying by.. we got Duke in the van first, then the digital equipment.  That’s when Jerry saw the top of the Van starting to bend in the wind.. he quickly went inside, while I ran around in circles trying to grab plates from flying around.. he said the pipes in the van which push the top up were bending almost 5 inches to right, he was certain for a few moments there while struggling against the wind to pull it down, that we were going to lose the top of the van..  we were quickly safe in the van, with rain coming down hard, thunder and lightening somewhere where far off.  I don’t think from start to finish it lasted more then 20mins.

We had the most beautiful sunset afterward.  Later that evening a police car drove by to see if the crazies parked on the beach during a Tornado were alright.. well, that’s one way to make sure you have an entire State Park to yourself!

In the morning, we all slept in, and then Duke and I went for another run.

Tonight we are Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  There are a number of HotSprings here, Jerry & I went to one right on the RIO Grand this evening.  We’re in a hotel because I needed a reliable high-speed wifi, as I’m doing a webinar tomorrow morning for two hours. A coaching session to folks, one in Sudbury Ontario and the other in Calgary Alberta, tomorrow’s session is on how to Leverage the Power of Facebook for their individual businesses…I’ll be remote but able to see their computer screens and help them set themselves up.. I use GoToMeeting for that, I won’t know till we get to Truth or Consequences how it’ll go.

We were on Hwy40, through New Mexico, it parallels historic Route 66.  We’ll turn south at Albuquerque, New Mexico to Hwy 25.  I’m going to do a separate Post on just Route 66, I found it so reflective of the movie Cars!

We stopped in Albuquerque for gas and to stretch Jerry & Duke’s legs.. I probably won’t be able to move, as that was the first double header run I had in a while! 

I’ll post more about the HotSprings and Route 66 later this evening.. (if it's too late..)

Sofie

OH, IL, Missouri, Arkansas & Oklahoma! Camping, food & friends!

Bubbas BBQ in Eureka Springs Arkansas.  Dinning experience number two along our journey was once again full of unexpected pleasures.  This time, we were lucky to have the two owners of Bubbas BBQ actually at Bubbas. We happened to have camped with Bob & Eleanor Bakalar Mexico two winters ago.  Jerry & Bob became friends immediately, as they talked about cooking.  Then we promised to visit them at their restaurant, Bubbas in Eureka Springs. Well, it just took us a year and a half, and we made it.  The BBQ Ribs where well worth the drive, and the greeting we received by both Bob & Eleanor (and their son) warmed our hearts.  Their town is a historic town, full of artists and dept.  The town is build on a windy ridge, all the homes seem to have backyards on a 30ft drop overlooking valleys and hills.  The town itself is beautiful and surrounding area full of woods, water and much for the outdoor nut.  Artist, good food and outdoor enthusiasts, what a wonderful combination.  We would like to plan a trip where we actually stay in Eureka Springs for a little longer then 3 hours!

Eleanor has a Gallery, we were lucky enough to be given a person tour.  LUX, on 18 White St.  in Eureka Springs.   Eleanor is an accomplished weaver and beader.  I’m sure there are technical terms for both artistic masteries, but, I saw works of art in weavers, &sculptures of beads.   She is a part of a Artist Gallery tour this weekend, and will be  a guest lecturer in the Eureka Springs School of Arts Summer Art Workshop (www.esartschool.org) conference summer 2010. I took one of the programs for the art workshops, very impressive.  She is very humble, I had no idea of the debt of her talent! Eureka Springs, Bob & Eleanor, we look forward to crossing paths again!

 

So, on route to Eureka Springs, from our last post, we stayed in Spiceville, Ohio at a FlyingJ, drove through St. Louis,  

Missouri, and then next night we were the only campers at a camp site 2 hours east of Springfield Missouri. Flying J’s are all consistent, food, showers, shop and free camping for any vehicle, big truckers to people crashing in their cars.  We pop the top of our Westy and we have our double comfy bedroom.  As it was a rainy night, the FlyJ was prefect.   

Next day was a little nicer, so we wanted a camp ground.  We found a lovely area, all in the Mark Twain Forests, on a river which was normally 3 feet deep, it was actually 12 feed deep when we were there.. if it rose three more feet, they said they’d have to evacuate the area, needless to say, we were the only ones at the camp grounds.  We sincerely hope that the river stops raising now.  At night we witnessed the most amazing thing, there were fireflies everywhere.  I’ve never experienced anything like it, it was like you were surrounded by little shooting stars.  I would just stand, the three of us, and stare in amazement. They were everywhere, we had our own 3-D avatar effects around us. Pretty special night, it was just for us.  The night was so dark and these little flies so amazing.. our video camera wasn’t able to capture it, we didn’t try the camera, we assume it wouldn’t work either.. (but, now I’m thinking it might have been a very interesting shot… oh well..)

We now driving out of Arkansas and toward New Mexico, unless of course our GPS changes her mind again.. our next destination is 18 hours away, so, we’ll have a few days of adventures on route.. I think we’ll actually get to a couple of Hot Springs now.   I do hope we spot somewhere with a trail tonight, I could so use a run in the morning.. or tonight. I think we’ll be stopping somewhere in Oklahoma State tonight.

At the time of this blog post, we're just in Tulsa, Oklahoma.. 

I'm told there will be places throughout Oklahoma where we won't have highspeed on our Verizon.. So, back on it when we can!

THANKS! That's it for now!
Sofie