Sand Dunes and Trains

The Great Sand Dunes National Park is only a half hour away from the campground where we were staying. Back when we were in a big RV and towed a little car, we would have made a morning or afternoon visit using the car. That is the only drawback about traveling in this little RV, we don't tow a car. If we want to drive somewhere we have to break camp and drive the RV. Admittedly, there's not much to it, no jacks or slides to bring in. We just turn the front seats around back into driving configuration, wash dishes and put them away, unplug from electric, and go. That may only take 5 minutes, BUT, it's the thought that counts. The thought that we're pulling up stakes and moving on. It just feels silly, once we're on the road it feels like we should keep going, not return to the RV park. It's a very different mind-set from having a towed car to take on excursions. We find that we stay at locations for shorter times, and just move on when we want to see something else. I think 5 days is the longest we've stayed anywhere in the Roadtrek - other than when we're working at RV rallies.

Anyway, when we left, we made the Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park our first stop. Weird to have what looks like Death Valley, or the Sahara, up in the Colorado mountains. But that's what it is. It's actually the mountains, acting as a barrier, that makes the sand build up into these giant dunes.

Kids, of all ages, were having fun on sand sleds sliding down these mountains of sand. We didn't do it. Sliding down would be fun, but first you had to climb up! And, it was hot. We were there in the afternoon and the sand was over 100 degrees.

Trains

Just another half hour down the road is the town of Alamosa, Colorado. We made a reservation for a train ride there. When we decided not to go to Durango - that also meant we wouldn't be doing the train ride that has long been on our list from Durango to Silverton. When we consulted Roadtrippers for things to do in this area - the Rio Grande Scenic Railway became a Must Do.

It was an all day trip, complete with a meal and bar. Our tickets showed seat assignments of 19A and 19B. When we found our seats, we saw that they were being used as the bar. Hey! They got our number, right? I guess we missed the announcement that said it was open seating.

We were free to move around throughout the train. One was completely open air - great for photos.

One of the train cars was called Mardi Gras. Notice the words, Illinois Central, at the top?
This is the train car where the song, City of New Orleans, was written. How cool!

Riding on the city of New Orleans

Illinois Central, Monday morning rail

Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders

Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail ... more

We went to that car to have lunch. Very nice.

There was a major forest fire along the route just a few weeks ago. Wow.

When we got back to Alamosa, we looked for a place to park by the Post Office. We had our absentee ballots, and other mail, forwarded to General Delivery here.

The post office was on a quiet street and the library was right on the corner with a nice parking lot. We slept there, picked up our mail in the morning, and left.

Where to? This was one of those delightful dilemmas! We really didn't know where we wanted to go. In 2 weeks, we had to be in Shawnee, Oklahoma, but there were a few different paths we could take. Straight south on back roads into New Mexico, where there were some hot springs, or on better roads in Colorado over to I-25 and to Capulin Volcano where we've been before. We almost left it up to the Van to decide :-) ... when we got to the intersection, which way would it turn?
The deciding factor ended up being the information that those hot springs were only 97 degrees. That's not a hot springs! Let's stick to better roads, and hopefully better Internet then.

Colorado it is - for at least another day or two.

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Architecture Cruise Around Manhattan

Our friend Dee told us about this New York City Architecture Cruise. 
We had a day between teaching gigs at Senior Planet in the city and this was a great way to relax and learn more ourselves.

It was a perfect September afternoon for a boat ride.

We were welcomed aboard the gorgeous 1920's themed yacht Manhattan II and cast off for our nearly three-hour tour. 

Our captain gave us the required Coast Guard safety briefing and turned us over to our fantastically knowledgeable guide, Joseph Lengeling, a member of the American Institute of Architects. He kept up an entertaining narration for the entire circumnavigation of the island of Manhattan. 

We were amazed at his expertise about old and new skyscrapers, architects names and dates, residential architecture, bridges, Art Deco and Beaux Arts styles as well as waterfront parks and infrastructure through the years. He told stories of history, biography, design and current events with an enthusiasm that showed his love of the subject. All without notes!

We had great views the entire tour. We took lots of pictures and met some nice folks.

We circumnavigated Manhattan!

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge (George Washington Bridge)

We were treated to a complimentary beer, wine, or champagne and enjoyed some tasty snacks provided by the fine crew of two. 

You can't beat this tour for value. 5-Stars! Highly recommended. We'll be back.

Here is a link to more of our pictures. Enjoy!

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Orlando and Disney

One of our goals in staying at the Thousand Trails Orlando park was to get some more use out of our Disney pass that we bought in the fall. We heard that the Flower and Garden Festival was on so I figured there would be some good photo ops.

 

 

This next picture was taken with Jim’s new Galaxy Note3 phone.  What a cool feature!  Picture in Picture.  It uses both the front and the rear cameras on the phone at the same time!

After visiting a few attractions at Epcot and getting our fill of delicious food at the International food stands around the World Showcase, we decided to take advantage of the park-hopping feature of our passes and head over to Animal Kingdom for the rest of the day.  We really enjoy the Safari ride there.

 

I had my camera on the action setting for these shots and snapped 3 or 4 of each animal.  Later, in looking at all the pictures that had been auto-backed up to my Google+ account, I saw that the “Auto-Awesome” feature had taken some of those animal sequences and turned them into animated .gifs!  How funny.

We ended the day with the roller coaster ride called Everest Expedition.  I’m not much of a roller coaster fan, but this one is fun.

More pictures on our March photo album.

Oregon Maritime and Harvest Host Farm

Our two weeks at the Seaside Thousand Trails park was almost over and we hadn’t been up to Astoria and the Maritime museum.  On our last afternoon, we decided to fix that.  We lucked out and had gorgeous weather.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Maritime Museum, even though we only had one hour to see it since it was so late in the day.  Both Jim and I love history – so this is our kind of place.  I had a vague idea that there was a place called the Graveyard of the Pacific, but I thought it referred to the Japanese boats sunk at Truk lagoon.  Turns out it refers to this area of coastline in the Pacific Northwest, including the mouth of the Columbia river.  The area where the massive water flow of the Columbia River meets the unyielding power of the Pacific Ocean is referred to as a Bar.  The waves in the Columbia River Bar can reach 40 feet, and according to the Columbia River Bar Pilots Ass’n, it is one of the most dangerous and challenging navigated stretches of water in the world.  The video they show of big ships being battered by the waves, leaves no doubt why there are over 2,000 wrecks in this area!

Jim has a friend who was in the Coast Guard, so he knew about there being a training school here for rescue.  Jim loves to drive boats, but when I asked if he’d like to drive this one he said, “NO WAY!”

 

Outside of the museum we could see several different types of boats.  Coast Guard, a LightBoat, and even a Paddlewheeler that takes passengers on a 7 night Columbia River Cruise.

 

Just thinking about the people working those rescue missions wore us out and gave us a mighty thirst.  Luckily, the Fort George Brewery was an easy 2 block walk from the museum!

 

Such beautiful views along the Oregon Coast!

 

When we left Thousand Trails, we checked our Harvest Hosts listing hoping to find a farm to visit this time (we’re well stocked for wine at the moment.)  We found one just south of Portland – less than a 2 hour drive away – perfect!  That even gave us time to have one more soak in the hot tub before we left

Here’s what our parking spot looked like.

And, there were plenty of driveways to take a nice walk in the evening - past the Christmas Tree part of the farm.  We also enjoyed getting to know the locals!

There’s no hookups when we’ve stayed at wineries and farms.  We figure it’s good practice to be sure our generator is still working, and we understand our 12 volt system.  Everything worked great.  Since it was just south of Portland, we even had good 4G internet, and even broadcast TV.  We did have a problem with the hotspot feature on our phones however, I sure hope it’s not permanent, but we’re worried that FoxFi may have been banned by Verizon.  Here’s the message we’re getting:

Ruh-Roh

Luckily we have good Wi-Fi in this park, so we’re not worrying about it … yet.  We’re staying at Phoenix RV park tonight in Salem, Oregon.  We also stayed here 9 years ago when we worked for Coach Connect and Jim helped install the Wi-Fi here.  It’s been thru several re-installations since.  Here’s the post from 2004: first post, second post, third post.

Wi-Fi Wow

We have good Wi-Fi Internet here in Lake Farm Park in Madison, Wisconsin.  That’s not so unusual in itself, but this is the 6th RV park in a row that has good Wi-Fi Internet.

Since some of these areas were not the best Verizon areas, the Wi-Fi was very much appreciated.  All of these parks had Wi-Fi that was also Free. The per night rates ranged from $16 to $35.  In case you’re traveling along this route and care about Wi-Fi, here are the specific parks:

• #14: Fairmont RV Park – next door to Fairmont Hot Springs!!
• #15: Grandview RV Park – 15 miles from Little Bighorn Batlefield Nat’l Park
• #16: Medora Campground – next door to Theodore Roosevelt Nat’l Park
• #17: Frontier Fort – by the largest Buffalo!  and it has a good bar/restaurant right on property.
• #18: St. Cloud/Clearwater RV Park
• #19: Lake Farm Park – in Madison

Oh … and here’s the largest Buffalo:

I’m way behind on my web-work, but this traveling has been fun.  It’s been 7 years now of living in a motorhome, and I still get a charge out of stopping at a rest area and making a meal.  We are truly at home, wherever we are. 

Stonehenge and Gabbing with Geeks

In our first year of travels, a blog reader noticed we were heading towards the Columbia River and suggested we stay at the Peach Beach campground.  We would enjoy camping by the river and a nice walk up a hill behind the campground.  Here’s what you find when you walk up the hill.  A full size replica of the original Stonehenge!  So surreal.  Here’s that blog post from 2004.

That was one of the first of many times that a blog reader has led us to cool stuff.  Believe me when I tell you that Every Traveler Needs a Blog!  Not only to record and share your experiences but to connect with others and learn from them as well.  So, when we knew we were going to be in Oregon again, we found a way to stop for a night at the same campground.  It was HOT, but just as beautiful as we remembered.

You have to look close, but you can see Stonehenge up on the hill, just above the RV.

Check out our ‘Gabbing with the Geeks’ which we filmed partly at the Stonehenge monument.  We also talk some about our new website at www.geeksontour.tv.

‘Doing’ Louisville

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Jim’s been here almost 3 weeks, and I’ve been here 1 week now.  We got our monthly newsletter sent out today so we figured it’s about time we saw some sights.
Churchill Downs
The famous Kentucky Derby happens the first Saturday in May right here in Louisville at Churchill Downs.  One of our neighbors here at the RV park told us that this was one of the tourist spots we should not miss.  They have several nice tours.  So we grabbed our Garmin Nuvi – found Churchill Downs and pressed ‘Go.’

Pretty impressive place.  Although they have plenty of horse-racing in the Spring and Fall.  It’s all about The Greatest Race! A tradition since 1875 – the running of a 2-minute race!

Get this on your phone | Make your own free ringtones

  See this year’s Kentucky Derby video.
We signed up for the ‘Behind the Scenes’ tour.  First stop – the jockeys’ locker room and their ‘Silk’ room.  These are all the shirts that the jockeys wear representing the owners of the horses.  This is how they fly the owners’ colors.  Pretty bright room eh?

Here are the signature Twin Spires.

And here’s a panorama of the track.  Click it to see a larger image .. then use your Back button to return.

More behind the scenes .. this is the view that the announcers get:

I think my favorite part was the large caricature paintings of all the people and horses who have been involved in the Derby throughout the years.  Here’s just a small piece of one of the murals:

And – a self-portrait of the artist:

And, having our tour guide point out some of the personalities portrayed made it all the more enjoyable
Louisville Slugger Ever since Lynne and John went to the Louisville Slugger factory, Jim has wanted a bat engraved with Geeks on Tour.  Pretty cool huh?

Now *that’s* a bat!

The number of tourists at the Louisville Slugger factory was astounding!  Tours of the factory left every 5 minutes and had at least 25 people in each.  Did you know that a major league hitter can go thru 120 bats in one season?!  There was a "rush" order on the production line for Florida Marlins short stop Hanley Ramirez.
It was an interesting neighborhood too.

Charleston, SC

I really shouldn’t title this post Charleston – we didn’t see much.  All we did was pass thru.  But, we did stop and took a water taxi ride.  Pretty cool way to spend a couple hours. 

A public area with museum, aircraft carrier exhibit, and boat tours are all located at a place called Patriots Point.  It was right on our route – so we stopped to see if there was anything we could do with just a couple hours.

Water Taxi!  Cool.

What a nice view this gave us of the bridge over Charleston Harbor.

We had a nice lunch at East Bay Deli, and walked a few blocks on Charleston’s streets.

Then we got back on the Water Taxi and finished the circle of the harbor.

 

I had wanted to take a tour of Fort Sumter - the little island in Charleston Harbor where the Civil war began. We didn't have time for that, but we did see it:

A beautiful day.  Then we continued on our way and made it to Longs, SC and the RV-Dreams rally.