Ha, ha, ya'all had to change your clocks for daylight savings time. Well we did not. We crossed the time line from central to mountain which compensated for the change thus no change needed. We will have to pay for this when we get to AZ and Cal.
Today we drove from Dallas Tx to Carlsbad NM via I20, Hwys 87 and 186. We had seen a few oil wells in Tx on the other side of Dallas, but today once off I20 many more were seen. See the sample picture below. There was also a rather large gathering of wind chargers in an area about 20 miles long. I guess the wind chargers generate the electricity to run the motors on the oil wells. We also saw some refineries, so you get one stop shopping in that area.
We got to Carlsbad before dark and it was about 75 outside so took a walk at their river front park and then took a drive to the Living Desert State Park knowing it would be closed. The road there led us on a high hill overlooking the city and an observation point. There were some interesting homes up on the top of that hill and that is the second picture.
We are spending the night in Carlsbad and tomorrow will go to Carlsbad caverns and Guadalupe Mtns to end up in Las Cruces NM for the night.

Tx Oil Well

House on a hill in Carlsbad NM

Made it to Dallas

Today we drove (307 mi) from Little Rock Ar to Dallas Tx. Actually to a suburb in north Dallas called Farmers Branch. When we got in the weather was sunny and about 65 and we were early enough that we had time with no planned activity so we fired up Google to look for some sort of park to go enjoy the nice weather. The Farmers Branch Historical Park came up and was very close so we went there. The facility was open to walk around, but the buildings were all closed. The park is about 22 acres large with several buildings. See photos below. They are doing a nice job keeping all the buildings in good shape and makes a nice display.

This weekend is the start of daylight savings time and we are not sure how to deal with it other than just ignore the change. By the end of tomorrow we should be in Mountain time zone. Normally our watches would be 1 hr ahead, but with the change they make we will be ok. Then soon we will be heading to Az where they never change and we will be messed up again.
Tomorrow we are driving (487 mi) across the rest of Tx to Carlsbad NM. That will be a long haul so closing this thing to go get rested for tomorrow.

Trip to Little Rock Fri

Arkansas State Capital

Marble construction inside the capital


Clinton Presidential Center Presidential gift display

Front of Clinton Presidential Center

Today we drove (173 mi) from Branson to Little Rock Ar. We traveled down hwy 65 and this went through one town that claimed it was the heart of the Ozarks. It was easy to believe that statement. The road is quite curvy and hilly. You climb up a large hill to coast down another and repeat the process. This drive would be much more picturesque later when the trees have leaves. Every where you can see is hills covered with trees. They are still in winter garb and only the evergreens (about 5% of the population) are showing green at this time. There are several little houses along the road. From the condition of the buildings it is hard to tell for the most part if someone is living in them. It seems that they must not ever have a large item garbage pick up day in this area. Many of the houses had their front yards cluttered with stuff that must have been accumulating for several years. Front porches were magnets for "stuff". I doubt if this area has broad band connections either. Reminded me of the movie Deliverance.

In Little Rock we first visited the Clinton Presidential Center. Then we drove to the Arkansas State Capital and walked around in that building. I have never seen so much marble in one place. I cannot imagine how they made all the pieces fit together when they build the capital. It was built between 1899 and 1915. Maybe the 16 years of constructin answers my question.

After reviewing that and waiting for all the emergency trucks to clear the area we went down to the Arkansas Museum of Discovery. This building was the first capital of Arkansas (sometimes refered to as Old State House) and now has been made into the Museum of Arkansas. Nancy was interested in the dresses from all the governor's wives and I visited with a guard about what he refereed to as a "hangin judge" from around 1872. They had pictures of 6 bad guys that this judge took out in one day. Apparently lots of money was not spend on appeals.

Tonight we are tucked away in Little Rock and tomorrow will drive (307 mi) to Arlington Tx (between Dallas and Fort Worth Tx).

I get a kick out of everyone referring to "ya'all" do this or that around here. I am sure as soon as we say a word we blow our cover that we are not locals.

Branson Mo Thur

Thrashing trout trying to catch a single pellet of food.

The fish hatchery with Table Rock Dam behind it.

Thur we just wondered around Branson Mo and area and rested from the long haul yesterday.

This area is geared for many tourists traveling around in a lost fashion as they have roads color coded for easy movement around the area. The only thing missing while we were there were the tourists. This is too early for much activity, but that was good because it made it very easy to navigate the streets and nothing was busy. Nancy found out that some places closed quite early however so some shopping was canceled.



We did visit the fish hatchery where they raise trout. This hatchery is quite serious about it and they have screen cages over all of the tanks. I suspect the covers are for ground critters as well as birds as they had the lower ends sell sealed off as well. The fish were also missing the tourists. They sell you little handfuls of fish food to throw into the ponds. When you threw a few pieces in the water there was a viscous thrashing of fish bodies trying to get a pellet of food. I suspect they used more energy trying to catch what we threw in than they will get from the food we gave them.



The hatchery is just below a Table Rock Dam which is used to generate electricity, I think during peak usage periods. We did drive across the dam and visited a visitor center run by the Corps of Engineers.

This posting got entered a day late because the Internet connection that was good Wed pm was unstable (unusable) Thur pm. There are so many motel sites in the area that I suspect they are interfering with each other.

Made it to Branson

Well we drove all day and got to Branson at very close to 6pm today. Linda's Mom and sister had a very nice dinner waiting for us so that sure was a nice way to end the day.
We are now checked into the Motel and it seems to be quite adequate for our needs. The internet signal is not strong, but working fine or else you would not be reading this.
Today we had 74 degree temps after we got past St. Louis. This pm there was a fairly heavy rain storm that went through the area and there must have been quite strong storms northwest of here from what we see on TV.
Plan for tomorrow is to tour Branson and relax from the full day drive. This place seems to have gone very heavy with the tourist trap type places and apparently growing very fast from all the activity. Nancy has promised to let me go to a fish hatchery, if I allow her to go to several shopping places.
I just called up my McHenry outside/back yard camera connected to my Sling, to see that all was working ok. We could hear what sounded like several coyotes howling from out in the swamp area. Could not see them in the dark as the camera ir light only extends a few feet. Was a little chilling to hear the coyotes like that. Sorry I do not have a way to share the experience with you readers.

Here we go again 1 year later

I am making this entry just as a test to remember how to make an entry onto this blog.
2 days short of 1 year since we got home from the last trip, we are off again. Tomorrow morning we take off for parts known. The plan is to end up in Branson Mo (586 mi) tomorrow pm. Our neighbor Linda is traveling with us to Branson as her Mom and Sister live there. She will then stay a while and continue her trip via airplane to join family in Fla. We will be putzing around Branson Thur then head for Little Rock Arkansas (173 mi) to look the place over on Fri. Weather is threatening us with rain, but it should be late enough in season to not have to experience snow.
In a few days we will be in Scottsdale Az visiting Al and Jean. We just heard on the weather that the Wx in Scottsdale was 45 with rain. We checked our Wx the same moment as 46 with no rain. Are we going the right direction? I bet they do not have about 50% ground covered with snow like we do.
The level of entries into this blog during our travels is not insured. Will see how much energy we have at the end of each day.

To be continued ......... ??

Back Home

We got back home to McHenry at about 6:30 pm today. We stayed in St. Louis area last night. This am we visited our old neighbors from when we lived in St. Louis (actually Florissant, Mo.) Agnes and her son Jim are still living in the house next to the one we lived in for about 3 years. The surrounding area has changed so much due to people, business, and highway polution that it is very hard to remember how to navigate the area. As we drove around we often asked each other if this is the same town we used to live in? Of course it was 39 years ago when we left so things do change. We tried to find the Hospital where Scott was born, but could not find it. Agnes told us that it was torn down a few years ago and replaced with a different medical center. Guess it was just worn out as buildings go these days.
We will add a few more final items on the trip, but first have to see what TiVo has recorded and get caught up on a few tv reality programs.

This is the house we lived in some 39 years ago. It really does not look much different from when we lived there.