Eureka Springs, Missouri

Christ of the Ozarks

Cresent Hotel, circa 1886

Fireplace in Lobby of the Cresent 

We arrived in Eureka Springs about 6 pm and got settled in for the night.  It rained during the night and was cloudy and rainy the next morning but out we went.  We drove to see the Christ of the Ozarks at the Passion Play Park.  The Passion Play had closed its performances until next May.  We then drove on a scenic drive up 62 North and then 182 where we made stops at the Thorncrown Chapel, Beaver Lake and the Golden Gate Bridge.  The drive was beautiful with the leaves turning close to their peak colors.  The Chapel is made of solid glass, framed in wood.  We arrived back in town for lunch at the Main Street Cafe.  After lunch, we drove Spring Street, a historic loop in downtown Eureka Springs and the Cresent Hotel, c. 1886.

Golden Gate Bridge

ThornCrown Chapel




                     

Beaver Lake

Branson, Missouri

City view of Branson, Missouri

We left Dallas on Thursday, October 24 en route to Branson.   The 470 mile trip was broken into two days with an overnighter in Fort Smith, Arkansas at the local Walmart.  Our plans were to arrive in Branson sometime after lunch and catch an afternoon show but fate had other plans.  Approximately 30 miles south of Branson, we blew a radiator hose and the engine alarms went off.  In examining the issue, I also discover that our radiator reservoir was cracked in two places and leaking coolant also.  Losing coolant had been an issue since purchase of this vehicle in 2009.  It looked as if the entire reservoir was deteriorating.  With the help of a local state trooper and a local service tech, the hose was spliced and now the tank was an issue.  I had some JB Weld that I mixed and set on the cracks and this held until I got to Branson.  The heat was keeping the JB Weld from adhering  for any extended period of time.  The first night we all went to the Pierce Arrow Show.  It was a great show with a terrific comedian. The next morning  while having breakfast at the KOA, I met and  shared the problem with the owners.   They told me of a RV surplus salvage yard that was over 100 miles away near Joplan, (Cowald RV Parts).  Jerry Grace called them and had them on the hunt for a replacement reservoir while I was still looking at patching the old tank for a short haul.  About noon they called and found a replacement and by 5:30pm I had picked up the part and Jerry and I had the new tank in place.   that night we watched the Auburn -Florida Atlantic game with the Graces and Rutherfords.  Susan made some terrific Sante Fe Soup.  Sunday we rode to Table Rock Lake and had lunch at Dave's BBQ at the Branson Landing and then returned back to the park for the afternoon.  That night we went to the Clay Cooper Show.  Everyone enjoyed it!  Great entertainment!  Today we will be heading to Eureka Springs, Ark. until Wednesday.  But first we are going to catch one more show this afternoon.....The Six!  Six was a great show.  It was 6 brothers

that sung without any music.  they make all the sounds of drums, and backup music and they had perfect harmony.  A great family show!

Clay Cooper

                                     

Table Rock Lake

Fort Worth-Stockyards

The Auburn Faithful

Today we traveled to Old Fort Worth, where the Stockyards are located.  Texas became a major cattle state after the Civil War and Fort Worth became the stopover for cattle drives that were going to Witchita and Kansas City to provide beef to the East.  Cattle, Sheep and Hogs were brought in as Armour and Swift located packing plants at Fort Worth.  During World War I the place became a major supplier of mules and horses for the US and European countries.  Today this area is a tourist attraction that still has a simulated cattle drive downtown of Texas Longhorns.  We had lunch at Joe Garcia's Mexican Restaurant.  The food was excellent!  This is one of two places that Bush, 43, comes to eat while in the area.  The restaurant is the oldest in Fort Worth and has several acres of beautiful courtyards,  I recommend eating in the Courtyard.

Joe Garcia's Courtyard

Stockyard Hotel

Cattle Drive

Dallas

We left College Station about 9 am Sunday after the game and the Graces and Rutherfords along with us drove to Dallas to stay three nights at the Treetop Carefree RV resort in Arlington.  While here we visited the AT&T Stadium (Cowboy Stadium), Southfork Ranch (TV series Dallas) and the George W Bush Presidential Library and the Dallas Book Depository and Knoll where JFK was assassinated.  These visits took two full days.

SouthFork

Southfork Drive

The Auburn Faithful at the Bush Library

Book Depository & grassy Knoll

Cowboy Stadium

On the 50 yard line

Auburn 45 - Texas A&M 41

After the Game

45 - 41  Auburn Wins

Auburn was a two touchdown underdog going into the game with Texas A&M.  The atmosphere was electric, the SEC's  top rushing offense (Auburn) going against the SEC's top passing offense and top quarterback.  Many thought the win would come down to who had the football last, but that would prove not to be the case.  Johnny Manzel(football) got the ball back with 1:19 left on the clock, almost the same amount of time that he had to seal the come from behind win against Ole Miss the week before.  He took the Aggie offense down the field to the 18 yard line with about 40 sec left on the clock, but two sacks by Auburn, the final one by Dee Ford for a 22 yard loss sealed the game with Auburn taking possession on downs, while the clock ran down.  Auburn only led in the game twice, but like many Auburn teams in the past, this team never quit and gave up, they kept fight to regain the lead iwth a minute, nineteen seconds left.  they have overcome all odds and had no respect going into the first game of the year.  Many still do not respect or believe in this team.  The Coaches poll still has A&M ranked three spots higher than Auburn after this win.  Auburn has two more road games with Arkansas and Tennessee and then back home to face Georgia and Alabama.   It is going to be an interesting finish.

A&M Cadet Corp Marching to Game

Memorial Student Center

Corp Marching Band

Auburn celebrating after the Win

Texas A&M at College Station, Texas

A&M Campus

Memorial to Students who died at the 1999 Bonfire

I am late posting the trip to A&M, but I certainly want to share the wonderful memories that we captured at College Station.  I am going to post the Auburn win in a separate post so as to refrain strictly to the week before and the wonderful way that the A&M people treated us and the rich tradition that this University has.  Some University fan bases think of tradition strictly in terms of football and their wins and losses, but A&M is not only rich in that but in the military tradition of this fine institution.  There was so much of this place that reminded me of Auburn and its traditions.  Like Auburn, they are also a Land Grant University.  Like Auburn, their student body is very conservation, displaying the kind of values that Cecil Kilgore and Gus Kennedy passed down to their children.  I did not see any tattoos and piercing on the students.  Like the Auburn Student body, they were friendly to the opponents, welcoming us and wishing us luck.  I have also seen this at Auburn many times and the opposing fan base just stared at the welcoming party.  We arrived in Bryan, a sister city to College Station, on Monday before the game.  The Rutherfords joined us on the same afternoon with the Graces coming in on Tuesday afternoon.   The others in the MH club, Martins, Standards, Goodwins, and Lamberts joined us on campus on Thursday.  We found a great place to eat called Sodalaks (Beefmaster).  We went back three other times that week, but the second time we visited, we met some Aggies about our age that gave us a real welcome and told us of the history and tradition of the Aggies.   They invited us to a sports talk show at The Tap the following day. We met them there where we were treated Royally.  Dee and Don, took us on campus, spending the afternoon with us, giving us a tour of the campus.  It is rich in tradition and very beautiful. The Memorial Student Center is a huge student center where you have to remove your hat upon entering.   It is a typical student center with a food court and bookstore, but its distinction is they have a wall with the names of every A&M alumni that gave their life serving this country and the date of their death and the name of the conflict in which they gave the ultimate sacrifice.  Also, seven of their alumni were medal of honor recipients and there is a beautiful  wall with a likeness of them and a depiction of their act of bravery for winning the medal and a display of their medal.  It was very moving to read the heroic acts of these young men.  Someday I hope that my 4 grandsons will have the opportunity to visit this campus.  On Friday we visited the George H. W. Bush Library, the 41st President of the U.S.  This Library was very moving with the service that he had given to his country and his love for it and his family.  The game was on Saturday, but that is for another Post.

Our Host, Dee

Bush Library

Presidents Office

International Balloon Festival, Oct.10-12, Alburquerque, NM

The drive from Durango, Co to Albuquerque, NM was through some high winds and scattered rain.  At times the wind gusts were so severe that it would push the MH across the lane.  The news that night reported gusts up to 60 mph. with the wind pushing a train off the tracks earlier that day.  It was like a sandstorm in the valley as we approached town.  We arrived around 2:30 pm and got in line with other RVs and 5th wheels to register.  We had never seen so many dry camping in one place!  Cost was $30 per night and we would learned to appreciate our location with the shuttle service to the fields the next few days.  That night we stayed at the MH and watched the fireworks show from the front of our MH.  The next morning we awoke at 4:30 am with plans to catch the shuttle to the Balloon Field by 5:30 am.  It was only a short ride to where the balloons were being blown up.  Today was the character day with over 600 balloons taking off.  The sight of it all was spectacular!  It was totally awesome!  You are in the middle of all the action, with them firing the balloons, taking them out, blowing them up,...,they are all around you!  You get to talk to the pilots, and the crew and can help assist with the pulling out their basket and unfolding the balloons.  I had hoped to put in a slide show of all the pictures of the balloons, but have been unable to create it at this time, so I will put only a few of the photos taken.  At night they have what they called a "glowdeo" which was a blowing up of the balloons and lighting them up when it is dark.  They do not take off at night but stay on the field.  It is beautiful at night.   Our plans was to stay until Sunday, the last day, but we went back the next morning(saturday) and with so many MHs wanting to leave the next day, we decided to get out that afternoon.  A good decision.  I would recommend this event to anyone.

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Mike talking to a crew member

Noah's Ark

Durango, Colorado

After leaving Moab, we traveled about half the distance to Albuquerque, NM and stopped over at Durango, Colorado.  Durango is at the foothills of the San Juan mountains and is known for its train that goes to the old western mining town of Silverton.  Silverton is about 50 miles north of Durango into the mountains.  We arrived about mid-afternoon and stayed at the Durango KOA.  The location is nearer our route than where we stayed when we were here two years ago with the Graces and Martins. We went downtown after arriving to refill our medications at the local Rite-aid and then proceeded to travel 550 north up to Silvertown.  We drove for about two hours total and the views were outstanding. The mountains had snow on top and the Aspens had the brightest gold leaves, almost florescent  in nature.  The pictures below does not do justice to the colors.  The area is predicted for a winter storm to arrive tomorrow with their first snow.  We will be driving 550 south and have to go over the mountain to leave Durango, so plans are to leave early.  We have about 200 miles to travel to Albuquerque.

Aspens in the Valley

Aspens along the Mountain Range

San Juan Mountains

Last Day at Moab

Moab at Night


The last day we were at Moab, we went to the bank and talked with a teller about any local areas of attraction and discovered a back way into Arches National Park that the locals knew about.  It was Daniel Wells Road about 12 miles North of Moab on 191.  After driving there, we determined that the off road experience would not be good for our Honda Odessey, another reason to purchase a Jeep for trips such as this.  We then drove back toward Moab and traveled a paved road, called Potash Road.   The drive  was very scenic with several pull offs.  One pull off had a trail that led to dinosaur tracks that could be seen in the rocks.  Other pull offs had the drawings of the ancients on the cliffs.   About 7 miles into the drive we came to a huge Postash plant along the edge of Canyonlands where we turned around.  On the way back we saw several cliff climbers.   That night we went out to eat at a restaurant that overlooked Moab.  The restaurant was the former home of a Uranium prospector that hit it big and became the towns first millionaire.  The food was excellent and very reasonably priced.  We awoke the next morning and went into town to get some laundry money at the bank and decided to eat breakfast at the Moab Diner.  Great breakfast and price!


 

Dinosaur Track

Jughandle Arch

Cliff Climber

LaSal Mountain Road Loop

Lasal Mountain Drive

Today we drove the Lasal mountain loop outside of Moab, Utah.  It was a beautiful drive over the mountain and back into Castle Canyon and the Colorado River.   The ecosystem changed several times every few miles on the drive. Below, pictures are displayed which will  show the differences.  The topography went from desert, to Aspen forests, to scrub forest, to snow.  Linda and I stopped to have a snowball fight.  Enjoy the pictures!