Sedona, AZ and Saguaro National Park

10/26/19 to 10/29/19 - Williams, AZ to Camp Verde, AZ (83 miles) stayed 3 nights at Distant Drums RV Park
10/29/19 to 11/5/19 - Camp Verde, AZ to Tucson, AZ (218 miles) stayed one week at Diamond J RV Park

High Desert to Low Desert

In the short drive from Williams to the Sedona area, we descended from 7600 feet to 3300 feet, thankfully.  Bill is really effected by altitude.  And as much as he complains about the humidity in South Texas, he cannot deal with humidity in the single digits.  And don’t get him started on the dust!  So, now we know, we could not retire permanently to the desert.

But there is a stark beauty about the desert.  Everything here has to work to survive, and is ready to defend itself with prickles and thorns.  You don’t dare accidentally brush up against anything out here.  And if you walk slowly and quietly, life reveals itself to you.

We stayed at a park near Sedona called Distant Drums, very near the Montezuma Castle National Monument.  This cliff dwelling has 5 floors and about 45 rooms.  It was built by the Sinagua people between 1100 and 1425 AD.  I love these ancient ruins and can imagine life along the creek, protected by the canyon, growing crops among the cottonwood trees.

Of course, there’s a Native American casino here, too, called Cliff Castle Casino.  This one was really well done.  Along with an attached hotel and conference center, they had a play room for kids, where they were safely supervised, a video game arcade for older kids, a full bowling alley, and Johnny Rockets, and best of all,  smoke free area to play slots.  Again, I’m not much of a player, but when the park gives you free play and a free shuttle, and you get more free play when you join their player’s club, it’s a nice way to spend an afternoon, especially when it’s too hot to be outside.

My favorite part was the drive to Sedona called the Red Rock Scenic Byway.  There were beautiful formations along the 30 minute drive and places to get out and walk/hike, if you had a day pass, which someone was kind enough to share as they were leaving.  The first time we drove to Sedona was on a Sunday, and it was packed!  We drove through town, didn’t find a place to park, and left.  We came back the next day and had a lovely time walking through shops and galleries without the huge crowd.  I understand the attraction, but wouldn’t want to live there on the weekends.
 

Somewhere on the drive between Camp Verde and Tucson, we began to see Saguaro cacti dotted throughout the landscape.  In Tuscan, they are like the trees of the desert, filling the rolling hills.  People landscape with them and form boundaries between properties, they are that prevalent.

We spent a whole week in Tuscon.  The first night I reconnected with a friend I haven’t seen since our first trip around the US. Then, we visited her in Portland, OR.  Now, she lives in Tuscon with her son’s family playing grandma to her grand babies.  It was fun to catch up, but kinda weird to start the conversation, “So, what have you been up to for the last 18 years?” We ate great Mexican food in a trendy downtown restaurant and chatted for hours.

The park we stayed at had trails winding around the back of their property.  They even gave me a map to help navigate, but I got lost once.  It was a little scary to not be able to see the RV and not know which way to go, and look for snakes, and scorpions, and tarantulas, and coyotes, and try to get back before the sun was totally gone! The sunset was amazing though.

We also drove through the Saguaro National Park.  There is such a variety of plant life that sustains the animals that live there.  I could tell that they had just bloomed after a recent rain, but I was too late to see them.  That would be gorgeous to see the desert in bloom.  Did you know that the saguaros don’t start growing arms until they’re over 70 years old?!

The Grand Canyon

10/21/19 to 10/26/19 - Las Vegas, NV to Williams, AZ (223 miles) 5 nights, stayed at the Grand Canyon Railroad RV Park.

Get your kicks on Route 66!

With a name like the Grand Canyon Railroad RV Park, you’d better expect that you’re going to be staying near active railroad tracks.  Williams, AZ was the last town on Route 66 that was bypassed by Interstate 40 in 1984, and still retains that nostalgic charm with a train depot, neon signs, motels and diners.  When you stay in Williams, you can take the day trip on the train to the Grand Canyon.  Those who went said it was entertaining.  There was historical information from the conductor and a staged train robbery - something for everyone.

We chose to drive the 60 miles, and got there much faster, so we could enjoy more time at the park.  It was a perfect day, and the crowds were very small - so much better than coming in the summer with sweltering heat and being packed in like sardines.  We had a picnic lunch and strolled along the Rim Trail at the Village.  It’s amazing!  You would think that it would get boring fast, but every view is a little different, especially as the light changes throughout the day. We met a couple who had taken the train up and stayed the night in the historic El Tovar hotel, so they could see the night sky.  That would be cool!  Fun fact - the El Tovar is the hotel that Chevy Chase robbed in the original “Vacation” movie.  We took a picture from the viewpoint just outside where he ran up to his wife, paused for two seconds to take in the view, and ran off.

 I love the architecture around the Village! Many buildings were designed by a female architect named Mary Colter in the early 1900s resulting from her relationship with Fred Harvey and the Santa Fe Railroad (a whole other story that would make a great middle-grade novel).  Her work helped define the Southwest style.  We got to go in and explore several of these organic-looking structures, like the Hopi House and Lookout Studio.  I also saw a gorgeous art exhibit at the Kolb studio.  I had a hard time framing photos to capture the essence of the place.  I don’t know how they were able to catch it in paintings.  They ranged from realistic to abstract, and the colors were beautiful!

Before we left, we drove to the Grand Canyon Visitor Center and Mather Point to the east of the Village.  This entire area was just reopened after after a massive renovation, and was VERY nice.  The crowds were definitely bigger and people were making questionable choices about where to stand to take their selfies.  There’s actually a book for sale in the gift shop called, “Death in the Grand Canyon.”  We played it safe and still got some good shots 😁

We easily filled our days walking down Main Street in Williams, window shopping and trying out the restaurants.  I got the feeling that places like this are dying off and it made me want to slow down and pay closer attention.  This is definitely a place we could come back to again, if it hasn’t disappeared.  

Lost Vegas

10/15/19 - 10/21/19 Leeds, UT to Las Vegas, NV (130 miles) stayed 6 nights at Hitchin’ Post RV Park, $38/night

Vegas, baby!

Bill was so excited to gamble in Vegas that I encouraged him to book six nights to thoroughly get it out of his system.  I don’t get the same thrill, but I go for moral support.  We stayed in North Las Vegas, behind barbed-wire fence and near Nellis AFB.  They run sorties every morning about 10 am.  There are always four jet fighters in the squad, and they roar right over our heads.  When I’m outside walking, it’s very cool.  When Bill’s inside sleeping,  not so much.  They loop round and round before landing, maybe practicing “touch and goes”.  There’s a pool, nice laundry facilities, a workout room and a nice restaurant at the Hitchin’ Post, so inside the compound, we’re set.  However, to get to the Strip, we have to drive south on Las Vegas Blvd, past Fremont Street and the Neon Boneyard, through a not-so-desirable part of town.  If you’ve never stayed off the Strip, you’ve never see this part of Las Vegas - trashy with lots of homeless.

The last time we came to Vegas, we were lured by a player’s club with a free night’s stay and inexpensive dinner.  This time, we could barely find free parking.  There are a few hotels that still provide it, but you have to research and map out where it is before you go.  Then, be prepared to walk.  We parked at The Venetian, and enjoyed walking through the Canal Shops, watching the gondolas float past and listening to the gondoliers sing.  We found the casino and Bill gambled a little, then we walked out on the Strip for about five miles, going through Ceaser’s Palace, gambling there, and reaching Bellagio just in time to see the dancing water show.  It took us so long to wind through the crowds outside, that we actually got to see the show twice, set to different music. The Strip is great for people watching, and they get weirder as the night progresses.  We enjoyed driving down the Strip, to see the neon signs.  Even Denny’s, McDonalds, and CVS have blinged-out neon signs.

One of the places I really wanted to visit was the Neon Boneyard, where all old neon signs go to die.  They are working to expand the exhibit in a nearby museum, but for now, it’s outside, about a block away from Fremont.  Unfortunately, there was a brand new Tim Burton exhibit opening the night we arrived, called “Lost Vegas”.  In order to get tickets, I would have to purchase them online a month in advance, ugh!  I saw a little from the road!

We did visit Fremont Street twice, once during the day, and once at night.  The street is enclosed by a vaulted video screen ceiling.  Even during the day, it lights up and plays music,  but it’s really spectacular at night.  We had to pay $20 to park, of course, but the bands playing along the street were free.  We stopped and listened to an 80s cover band for a while.  There was also a very loud heavy metal band playing down the way that we stayed away from.  Shops, restaurants and casinos line both sides of the street and there are multiple zip lines that run the length of the ceiling.  There are also street performers stationed along the street.  They rent a spot in a red circle painted on the floor for a certain amount of time, and pose as a statue,  do card tricks, play music, dance, or entice people to take pictures with them in their costumes for a price.  Some were dressed like the band members from KISS, some as Vegas showgirls, some had on very little.  It was quite a sight.  Bill made his final donations in a casino, and we had breakfast for dinner at Denny’s.  I’m relearning that he does not like crowds, loud noises, or walking long distances, so by the end of the week, we’d had our fill.  We’re looking forward to space and quiet.

If you go, consider taking in the Mob Museum or Zappos factory tour.  They were highly recommended.

Zion National Park

10/11/19 - 10/12/19 - Ogden,UT to Fillmore, UT (178 miles) stayed one night at Wagons West RV Park, $36.00

10/12/19 to 10/15/19 - Fillmore, UT to Leeds, UT (145 miles) stayed 3 nights at Leeds RV and Motel, $35/night.

Disneyland in the Desert

We were happy to find a tiny RV park about 30 minutes from Zion National Park to use as a base camp.  There are closer options, and camping in the park, but you have to book much earlier in the year. Zion is the fourth most visited National Park with over 4 million visitors each year.  As a matter of fact, we’re hitting number one, two and four on this trip - the Great Smoky Mountains with over 11million, the Grand Canyon with over 6 million, and this one.  As you can imagine, the lines to get in and park are quite long.  Zion doesn’t allow any cars past the museum, and highly suggests you park in the town just outside the park and ride the free shuttle in if you arrive after 10am.  What they don’t tell you is that you can pay up to $30 to park.

We parked inside near the Visitors Center after circling the parking lot for some time, and queued up for the shuttle that takes you on a 45 minute loop to nine stops around the park.  It was just like Disney, working our way through turnstiles and switchbacks and interesting people-watching.  There were many foreign languages spoken and after about 30 minutes, we got on a bus.

 The park is very accessible with many paved walking trails.  The buses had large picture windows and sky lights across the roof, so you can see quite a lot from the bus.  One stop, Weeping Rock, was completely closed, because they had a recent rock slide that made the trails and stop unusable.  But people were lined up to get their timed passes to climb Angels Landing, a very narrow ridge across the top of the left side of the canyon. And others rented waterproof boots, waders and walking sticks to walk The Narrows, where the canyon gets very narrow, of course.  It’s something like a slot canyon, and is prone to flash floods. The entire walk is in the river, which can be very cold, even in the summer.

We decided to ride the whole loop first, then get off at places that looked interesting. We had packed a lunch, so got off near the river and walked a while on a trail, until we found a quiet spot where we could hear the river.  Then, we got back on, and drove all the way to the last stop and walked the trail until it reached the water at the Narrows.  I’m not a fan of cold or wet, so we turned back.

The canyon is beautiful.  You can really see how the tectonic plates were thrust up at odd angles, and the layers of multi-colored sedimentary rock that have been exposed by wind and rain.  I was surprised at how small the park is, but was impressed by the organization and cleanliness.  Well done NPS.  We’re looking forward to the Grand Canyon.  

Pipe organs and Fall Foliage

10/5/19 - 10/7/19 - Boise, ID To Heyburn, ID (168 miles) 2 hours and 22 minutes, stayed 3 nights at Heyburn Riverside RV Park, $72.90

10/8/19 - 10/10/19 - Heyburn, ID. To Ogden, UT (145 miles) stayed 3 nights at Century Mobile Home and RV Park, $127.94

Salt Lake City, UT

We’re quickly headed South, yet are encountering cool/cold weather.  Seems winter is coming early this year.  The best part about these cold days is that the leaves are changing!  I’ve read that Utah is having an exceptional year for Fall foliage and I can’t wait to see it!  

Bill found in his research that the LDS Church offers free organ recitals every day in Temple Square. We can’t go in the temple because we’re not Mormon, but we can go in the Tabernacle. So for the one full day we’re here, we’re going downtown for a meal and concert.  Parking is great, because they hosted the Winter Olympics here a few years back.  And they have all the amenities completely surrounding Temple Square, sort of how the Alamo is smack in the middle of downtown San Antonio and seems so out-of-place.  The young people are very friendly and inviting and willing to share their witness and listen to other’s opinions on faith.  I don’t know much about LDS, but they do represent themselves well.  

The organ we heard had over 11,000 pipes, not all visible. Before the organist began playing, she demonstrated the acoustics in the building by dropping three pins and a nail. You could hear all of them clearly without the aid of microphones. She also told us about the pieces she’d selected, the last being from Symphony Gothique, which had many minor notes and sounded very Halloween-y.  The finale “pulled out all the stops” to really show us what the organ was capable of. It was great!  It made me think of how much Bill’s dad would have loved it.

At lunch, I munched on a burger and watched snow flurries out the window.  On our drive back north, the skies cleared and we decided to take the recommended tour through the canyon to look at leaves.  WOW!  What an awesome day!

Social Butterflies, part 3

9/30/19 - 10/2/19 - Portland, OR to Hermiston, OR (188 miles) two nights at Pioneer RV Park, $25/night.
10/2/19 to 10/4/19 - Hermiston, OR to Boise, ID (250 miles) four nights in Tim and Penny’s garage! Free!

Boise, Idaho

We backtracked through Oregon and Idaho to visit some new friends Who live in a beautiful home near Boise.  We met Tim and Penny at Red Bay, AL while waiting to get warranty work done at Tiffin. This is where the #rvlifestyle really becomes apparent.  In a normal life, you meet neighbors and co-workers and might be just acquaintances for years.  When you travel in an RV, you make friends fast, and if they’re full timers, you usually have a lot in common. At least among Tiffin owners, the men are VERY knowledgeable about their rigs and can spend HOURS talking about minute details of TPMSs or generators or tow packages.  The women can hold their own, too, don’t get me wrong, but many like me, have hobbies on the road to keep them busy while the men play with their RVs.  At Tiffin, everyone spends their days sitting and waiting their turn to get into a service bay - and hang out together talking about where they’ve been, their mishaps and sharing advice.  Bill EATS THIS UP.  I get bored quickly.

This is the case with Tim and Penny.  They have a bigger, nicer diesel rig, but tolerate their gasoline-guzzling baby brother well.  Each home in their neighborhood has a garage space big enough for a motorhome with slides extended and full hookups!  They invited us to come stay in their garage and we accepted.  So Bill and Tim talked and Penny and I shared our creative crafts.  She is a quilter and knitter and dabbles some in crochet.  I am just learning crochet and had my illustrations to show, so we talked a lot about materials and projects, families and adventures with our husbands.

Boise has a cute downtown.  Tim and Penny were gracious hosts and showed us the area on foot.  Immediately I found an outdoor venue called the Freak Alley Gallery,  created entirely by street artists.  I’m sure the art changes often, but what a great way to show of your street art talents in a more acceptable way.  There was a high school architecture class on a field trip.  It made me miss my students a little.

There’s also a thriving Basque community here.  These are a persecuted minority from Spain who are great shepherds, and found a home here in Idaho.  There are restaurants and cultural activities, a museum and school to teach students how to speak Basque. the docents were so enthusiastic to share their knowledge with us!

I loved this stop!  Again, great food, company and conversation.  But I know I’m an introvert, because three weeks of visiting and I’m ready to rest.  I found a bumper sticker I should have gotten for Bill that read, “I hate days when I have to get up and go places!”  While we’ve really enjoyed our time with friends and family, were looking forward to some down time.  So this is what retirement in like, huh.

Social Butterflies, part 2

9/24/19 - 9/25/19 - Post Falls, ID to Hermiston, OR (199 miles) one night at Pioneer RV Park, $25
9/25/19 - 9/30/19 - Hermiston, OR to Portland, OR (188 miles) 5 nights at Columbia River RV Park, $45/night

Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA

To get from one brother to the next, we cut diagonally through Southeast Washington, and followed the Columbia River to Portland on the Oregon side.  Even though my brother, Chris, and family live in Washington, it’s really a suburb of Portland, and we found an affordable RV Park in Oregon, just across the river.  Unfortunately, this park was in a light industrial part of town, near the airport, trucking depots and railroad.  We got the tri fecta - planes, trains and automobiles!  Not only that, but the Air National Guard is based at the airport, so every morning up to five fighter jets took off bright and early right over our heads (except on the weekend)!

The Washington side of the metroplex is very nice.  There are only two bridges that cross the Columbia River and there’s shopping on the islands in between.  They can get very busy.   But once you get there, it’s clean and well-planned.  There’s a big farm on the way to Chris’s house, with pick your own offerings, but we refrained (I have yet to get my pumpkin!).  We spent a great weekend with Chris and his family, watching a very short soccer game that was called because of the weather (I wanted to see Audrey score a goal!)  and a Cowboys football game on TV, and lots of good food!

I really wanted to like Portland.  I’ve watched a few episodes of “Portlandia”, and I remember from our last visit that the city is zoned weird and the road system is crazy, so I expected it to be quirky.  We decided to be tourists one day and tried to drive downtown to walk around and pick up a dozen Voodoo Doughnuts (as seen on TV).  The highway traffic was always congested, even in the middle of the day, but the multiple bike, light rail, and bus lanes downtown kept us guessing as to which lane we would be in.  We circled Voodoo Doughnuts three times and never found a place to park - which turned out to be okay.  The homeless population there made the area questionable at best.  It was lunch time, so the Full Gospel Mission had a line down and around the block.

Please understand, I know there will always be homeless people in every city we go to.  I am sensitive to their needs.  But Portland seems to have taken it to the extreme. They seem to have accepted it (ignored it?) and allowed it to such a level that there are tent camps along the rivers and broken-down cars and RVs parked on the side of the roads despite the signs that say, “No Overnight Parking.”  I don’t pretend to know the answer, but it looks like these folks need help, and are not getting it.  Some will argue that they don’t want it, but I can’t imagine wanting to raise your children this way.  What about Portland attracts so many to this area?  It’s very sad.

Social Butterflies

9/13 to 9/15/19 - Hermosa,SD to Sheridan, WY (264 miles) two nights at Peter D’s RV Park, $37 CASH per night.
9/15 to 9/16/19 - Sheridan, WY to Reed Point, MT (187 miles) one night at Old West RV Park, $36
9/16 - 9/17/19 - Reed Point, MT to Garrison, MT (216 miles) two nights at Riverfront RV Park, $33/night
9/17 to 9/24/19 - Garrison, MT to Post Falls, ID (244 miles) seven nights at Coeur d’Alene RV resort, $248 for the week.

Hello, Strangers!

It has been three weeks since I’ve blogged!  But I have a good excuse. We have been visiting friends and family in three different locations around the Pacific Northwest - my brother’s family in Coeur d’Alene, ID, another brother’s family in Vancouver, WA, and a couple we met when we were having warranty work done at Tiffin in July, Tim and Penny Haney in Boise, ID.  We hadn’t been to the this area of the country since our last trip around the US about 18 years ago.  I had never seen my brothers’ homes, and it it was great to visit and have tour guides show us around their area, eat some great food, and have lively conversations.  Plus, they know all the best out-of-the-way places to go.

I’m going to write this blog in several sections, so no one post gets too long.

As you can see, we made our way as quickly through Wyoming and Montana as possible.  Cold weather is upon us soon, and we need to get back south before a hard freeze. I’m a Texas girl, and need my sunshine.

Coeur d’Alene

My parents have been host-camping in Northern Idaho for years, always bragging about the beauty of the region.  They weren’t wrong.  After we got through two tricky mountain passes, we came over a hill and saw the idyllic setting of the city nestled snuggly between mountains and Lake Coeur d’Alene. It’s a huge glacial lake with fingers that spread out in all directions.  This is a tourist destination for outdoor enthusiasts and IronMan participants with a great downtown and lots of parks and walking trails. I was thrilled to see that the leaves were just beginning to change. It made my morning walks extra special.

My brother, Shawn, and his wife, Kim, were gracious hosts.  They pointed us towards things to do during the week while they were working, and they fed us and showed us around town on the weekend.  They have a lovely house on an acre lot with a garden that backs up to a mountain.  I had wanted to pick apples while I was there, and Kim has 3 different kinds of apple trees in her garden. We combined them with cherries I picked in WI for an awesome pie. Very tasty.  Thank you, Shawn and Kim, for making my birthday on the road special!

Saturday, we drove north to Sand Point, also on a glacial lake, to hang out at the beach on a sunny afternoon and watch the sailboats glide by.  The water was too cold for me, but their daughter, Abby, rolled up her jeans and waded in.  Brrr!  We ate Mexican food for lunch. I have to say, I wasn’t expecting much, but Joel’s surprised us all.  Then we took a drive to Farragut State Park to see where Mom and Dad hung out. The park adjoins deepwater lake Pend Oreille.  During WWII, it was used as a Naval training base.  Even today, the Navy maintains a submarine research center, called the Acoustic Research Detachment.  Mom loved working in the museum there.

Rugged, Beautiful South Dakota

9/4 - 9/5/2019 - Welcome, MN to Plankinton, SD, (202 miles), 1 night at Hill’s RV Park, $25
9/5 - 9/8/2019 - Plankinton, SD to Interior, SD, (188 miles), 3 nights at Badlands Motel and Campground, $36.90/day
9/8 - 9/12/2019 - Interior, SD to Hermosa, SD, (84 miles), 4 nights at Heartland RV Park, $22/day

18 years ago, the last time we came to South Dakota, there was a giant sandstorm the first night we stayed in the Badlands, and there was a forest fire in the Black Hills.  I was surprised Bill even agreed to try it again.

This year, they’ve had the wettest summer in years, so no drought.  The daytime highs ranged from 90 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and the nights were cool and refreshing.  The Badlands are forever changing, depending on the time of day and the weather. Around each curve there was a new view to discover of the formations.  Sometimes they leaned toward a warm color palette with layers of reds, beiges and ochre.  Sometime the light pulled out the purples and grays.

One day, we took the 67- mile scenic drive through the park, stopping frequently to explore the overlooks and trails.  Up on Hwy 90, we had to visit Wall Drugstore.  It’s a fun tourist trap - a block long maze of stores, restaurants and oddities.  They advertise along the highway with billboards at every exit.  Their claim to fame is “free ice water”.  As we were finishing the loop, we saw a 10ft tall concrete prairie dog advertising that you could feed them.  So we did.  We bought bags of raw peanuts from the souvenir shop and carefully walked into the field, trying not to step in a hole or on a rodent.  The prairie dogs closest to the store were obese and eager to be fed.  They ran right up to us, wagged their tail and chattered until we fed them.  The ones at the far end of the field were much slimmer and shyer, but they could still be coaxed out of their holes.  Before we knew it we were surrounded!

That’s really all there is to the Badlands, so we moved to the Black Hills, about 88 miles away.  Bill was most interested in seeing Mt. Rushmore, so we drove through the cute little town of Keystone (think Keystone XL pipeline) and paid to park at Mt. Rushmore before we realized that a huge portion of the park is being renovated.  You couldn’t get close.  There was one very long trail that you could walk to get to the base and that was it.  Of course the cafe and ice cream parlor were still open.  FYI - to get better views of the presidents, take the Norbeck Scenic Byway that connects Rushmore to Custer State Park along Iron Mountain Road.  It was designed with overlooks and carved tunnels that frame the sculpture.  It’s a great drive with lots of “S” curves, wooden bridges and switchbacks that reminded us of the Runaway Mine Train at Disney.  We drove it twice.  We also took the 61-mile scenic drive through Custer State Park, and thankfully got to see some of their 1300 bison up close.  They are North America’s largest land mammals.  This time, we stayed in our car.

All-in-all it was a much better visit.  I’m so impressed by the variety of biomes in one state, from the other-worldly sedimentary formations of the Badlands, to the lush National Grassland, to the forested granite Black Hills.  As we left South Dakota, we even caught a glimpse of snow-capped mountains, our next adventure on our journey to the Pacific Ocean.  Wish us luck!

Laying low in Minnesota

8/28 - 9/4/2019 - Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin  to Welcome, Minnesota (288 miles) 7 nights at Checker RV Park, $155.50 for the week.

We stayed the week in Welcome, MN, only a few miles from the Iowa border, to wait out the Labor Day weekend.  It’s a small park, surrounded by, surprise, corn fields, alternating with soy beans.  The days were cool and the nights were downright chilly for this Texas girl.

Bill is a huge fan of the Little House on the Prairie TV series and we were only an hour and a half from Walnut Grove.  So we took a lovely drive through the corn fields and farms to the tiny town.  Really all that’s there is the railroad, a restaurant called Nellies, which doesn’t look at all like the one on the show, a post office, bank and the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum.

Now, I’m not as familiar with the show.  I watched it when I was a kid, but Bill used to watch it while eating lunch, when I was teaching. I thought I might read the books to get caught up, and just couldn’t get through Little House in the Big Woods.  So I did some research and found that Pa moved his family, a lot!  They lived on “the prairie” in Kansas in the early 1870s when Laura was very young.  They moved to Plum Creek and lived in a dirt dugout home near Walnut Grove in the mid-1870s.  After three years of  crop failure, they moved again in the late 1870s to De Smet, South Dakota.  That’s as far as I got.  I love that so many young girls cut their teeth on these books that are based on Laura’s life, and are essentially early reader historical fiction - my favorite genre.

We’ve gotten to where we like Pick Your Own places, and Bill really wanted to pick some corn - because it was all around us.  Now, being from Texas,  you don’t trespass because you might get shot.  So Bill found Timberlake orchard that had just opened for the season the day before. When we visited, they didn’t have a lot of apples yet, so we asked the owner if he had any corn to pick.  He did!  He walked with us and answered all our city slicker questions.  Here’s what we found.  Corn and soy beans are not just grown for human consumption, like vegetable oil, edemame and corn flakes.  Over 50% is sold to foreign countries.  Lots of corn is used to feed livestock.  Lots of both are used for biofuel.  There was a Valero plant just across the road that filled never-ending train tankards that ran all hours of the day and night (what is it with RV parks and railroads!).  BTW- like the cherries in Door County, everything is about two weeks late coming in.  The farmers were waiting for a few more warm days before they harvested.

I love that our country is not all concrete and glass and some places are still in tune with the earth and the seasons.  These are the things you don’t see when you live in urban areas.  For this stop, I’m using my farmers market find as my regional foods.  Here’s a look at what we got from the bounty of Minnesota.

Summer Squash Soup

This is not a local food.  I just had a hankering for this soup.  I picked up a bunch of squash from the Farmers Market in Eau Claire and knew exactly what it wanted to do with it.  Mom used to make it from memory and would never write down the recipe.  Audrey finally got it on paper after making it with her.  It’s a great way to use yellow squash or zucchini or both.    

Gram’s Squash Soup

3 cups sliced yellow squash - 1 1/2 inch slices

1-2 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 cups milk

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Seasoned croutons to garnish

Melt butter in large pot.  Add chopped onion and cook until onions are clear.  Add squash and broth.  Cook until tender (about 15 minutes).  After squash is tender, mash slightly.  Add milk and stir.  Add grated cheese.  Stir until cheese is melted.  Serve with croutons or extra cheese.  

SO...MUCH...CORN!

August 17 - 21 - Sister Bay to Bowler, WI (133 miles) - stayed 4 nights at Mohican North Star Campground
August 21 - 28 - Bowler to Eau Claire, WI (139 miles) - stayed 7 nights at Eagle Ridge Campground
August 28 - September 9 - Eau Claire, WI to Welcome, MN (233 miles) - stayed 7 nights at Checkers Welcome Campground

Labor Day, last Summer Holiday, whew!

When we left Door County, we knew we were up against a holiday.  It’s very hard to find a place to stay on a holiday weekend.  And, we spent quite a bit on our last RV park, so we were looking to tighten our belt and stay closer to budget.  We are able to do that in two ways.  First, we joined Passport America for $40.  There are many campgrounds that offer stays at up to half price if you are a member.  Some are very strict about which and how many days you can get it, but it’s worth working with the restrictions.  Second, we slowed down and started staying a week at a time.  Weekly rates are also much more affordable than nightly.  Once we secure our spot for Labor Day weekend, we started looking toward getting across the Plain States to the Pacific Northwest before the weather gets cold and we go back to San Antonio for Thanksgiving.  But let’s take a moment and look back.

Wisconsin is lovely. We stayed at our second casino.  They usually have nice, inexpensive campgrounds and offer enticements to get you to gamble.  Bill enjoyed that.  Each day, we got $10 of free play on the slots, and Tuesday was Senior Day (50 years old and older).  Eek!  We qualified for Senior Day!  We actually made money, believe it or not, on the Wheel of Fortune slot machine that was enough to pay for our stay.  Score!

Our second stay in Wisconsin was between Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls, home of Leinenkugel brewery.  I’m not a beer drinker, and Bill doesn’t drink at all, but I do like their summer shandy. And for the $10 admission, you got to sample 5 of their beers. So, we took the tour and established that, I don’t like most beer, but I do like the flavored ones.  I really enjoyed the Berry Weiss and Grapefruit Shandy.  They even mixed the berry Weiss and summer shandy to make a berry lemonade.  Yum! I worked hard to drink both our samples, but didn’t quite make it.  I bought some summer squash at Eau Claire’s farmers market and made some summer squash soup.  Thanks, Christina, for the recipe.  I’ll put it in the next post.

But mostly, I was struck by the farms.  Everywhere you could fit a field, there was corn!  I did a little research and learned that farmhouses are painted white because it’s a symbol of purity and cleanliness.  The barns are traditionally painted red because orange-ish linseed oil was mixed with rust to preserve the wood and protect against mold and fungus.

In this area, there are about 50 Amish communities.  Every once in a while we’d spot an Amish family shopping at Walmart, or visiting the city park.  It was a little surreal. You could tell which farms were Amish by the colorful shirts and black trousers drying in the clothesline’s outside.  And almost all the barns had barn quilts (hex signs), an Amish tradition that originally was a 6 (sects) -pointed star to promote fertility and prosperity.  All the farmers and shop keepers picked up on the tradition and made their own. They even have a fundraiser bike ride around the area to view them all - their version of street art!  If I had more space, I’d be making my own, I’m so taken with them.  They’re beautiful bright-colored spots in an otherwise very green space.

Life is a 7-pound Bowl of Cherries

It was hard to narrow down favorite local cuisine in Door County.  They are famous for their fish boil, a dinner theater of sorts, where the boil the fish, onion and potatoes outside, with a big flourish of fire at the end, before you go in to eat it.  Many places had this dinner available, but none of the reviews was outstanding.  I imagine it’s like a shrimp or crawfish boil.  But we didn’t try it.

So many restaurants offered a Friday night fish fry.  I did try this one.  Th fish is fresh from the lake - sturgeon or trout, perch or whitefish.  It was very good, but I’ve had fried fish before.

There is a huge Swedish influence in the area, so we headed to Al Johnson’s the first night. Gotta have Swedish meatballs and see the goats grazing on the roof.  I only saw one goat the entire week we were there.  The meatballs were good, but heavy and salty.

And don’t get me started on the ice cream!

The real attraction to the area is the orchards, both cherry and apple.  Since they’d had cool weather, the cherries were about two weeks late, and we arrived just in time to pick our own, literally, with days to spare before the shakers moved into shake the trees.  There were two pick-your-own farms near us, along with Seaquist Farms, one of the largest producers in the area.  These are tart cherries, Montmorency and Balaton, the kind used in cherry pie fillings and juices.  And oh, what pies they make!  We bought a cherry pie from Seaquist the first day, and munched on it all week.  There were SO MANY cherries! I had to pick some.

When we arrived, we were given a bucket and told to head to the back of the orchard.  We were a little discouraged by the amount of cherries in the front trees.  They were high and hard to reach.  But as we got lost in the orchard, we found trees so heavy with fruit, the branches dropped towards the ground.  We only picked one pound the first day, thinking that would be enough.  But the late season fruit was so sweet, I needed more.

We went back the next day to find the orchard was closed, expecting the shaking machines to arrive any time.  So we headed down the road to the next one, and picked six more pounds of cherries.  It’s hard to stop.  They are so bright, gorgeous red, and the next tree has even more!  I think we controlled ourselves pretty well considering.

I kept the very best, choice cherries for my morning oatmeal, which is like eating cherry crisp for breakfast, and got the rest pitted and in the freezer quickly.  Now I have a problem.  How will I use these precious fruits?  Anyone have a favorite recipe?  I want it to be special, the best cherries dessert ever, so I can make room in the freezer for apple season!

Door County, WI

8/6 - 8/10/19 St. Ignace to Iron Mountain, MI - 190 miles ( 3 hours, 18 min) Summer Breeze Campground, stayed 4 nights
8/10 - 8/17/19 Iron Mountain, MI To Ellison Bay, WI - 162 miles (2 hours, 50 min) Hy-Land Court RV Park, stayed 7 nights

The Thrill of Discovery!  

One of the difficulties of living on the road is that everything is always new.  You can’t put yourself on autopilot, because you don’t know where the Walmart or grocery store, or drugstore, or salon is already. You always have to be on alert and searching for what you need.  There is no routine.  But one of the great thrills of living on the road is everything is new, and you get to discover places you didn’t know existed - like Door County.  Bill just happened upon it when he was watching a YouTube video from another traveling couple’s vlog.  We bypassed Traverse City, where I wanted to go for cherries, so was excited to learn about this place.

Door County, WI  is the thumb of Wisconsin, a peninsula that sticks out into Lake Michigan.  We had to take a detour from our planned route across the plains to come here, but it was so worth it.  Each small village that you pass through - Sturgeon Bay, Bailey’s Harbor, Egg Harbor, Ephraim, Sister Bay - have a thriving art scene with shops, galleries, open air concerts and dramas - all set against the backdrop of a lake or bay.  Since their season is short, they make the best of it.

I knew we would have a good stay when we finally arrived at our park (a whole story within itself) and were immediately greeted by other Open Roaders (its kind of a Tiffin cult). They introduced us to others and invited us to an evening concert in Egg Harbor to hear Skerryvore, a band from Scotland.  With a beautiful sunset, good food and company, and this amazing band that had guitars, flutes, violins, an accordion and two rocking bagpipes, I was hooked!  Check them out on YouTube or Spotify.  They are GOOD.  I love pub-style folk music that rocks.

The rest of the week, we explored the villages, went to scenic overlooks, enjoyed sunsets, picked tart cherries, ate out with our new friends, saw another concert, and just soaked in the beauty.  When the sun went down, the nights got cool.  The humidity and the bugs were not bad, though locals claimed they could be awful.

We drove to the tip of the peninsula to watch the ferries go across Devil’s Door to Washington Island.  This treacherous strait gave the county its name.  There are several lighthouses on the island.  We tried to visit Cana Lighthouse.  There used to be a narrow walking path to the island it sits on, but the lake level has risen by 5 feet, so the only way to get across was on a wagon, pulled by a tractor, through crashing waves.  When we arrived, the “big” tractor had gotten stuck halfway across, almost dumping the passengers into the lake.  They had to be rescued and pulled the rest of the way across by the “little” tractor while the first tractor’s driver waded through waist-deep water, trying to fix the problem.  They decided to cut their losses for the day, and concentrate on bringing the remaining people from the island, so we didn’t get across.  I think we made out well, but no lighthouse.

Wisconsin is know as America’s dairy land, so we had to indulge in some ice cream at Wilson’s, more than once. And our park was just across the street from the largest cherry farm on the island.  We bought a pie, and ate as many cherry-filled things as possible. Bill got tired of it.  I still haven’t (see the next post).

This is one place we want to come back to.  There’s so much more to see and do.  Next time we’ll stay a month!

Pasties with a short “a”

The regional food we discovered for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan are “Pasties”!  They are meat-filled hand pies surrounded by a flaky crust, similar to chicken pot pie.  I had mine at the Driftwood overlooking the Harbor in St. Ignace with a side of gravy for dunking.  They only had beef and potato.  But I have seen advertised chicken, fish, and veggie pasties.  Some of them are larger than a child’s head. Comfort food on the go!

Mackinac island and Mini Heaven

7/31/19 - 8/1/19 - Monroe, MI to West Branch, MI (190 miles) 2 hours 48 min, stay one night
8/1/19 - 8/6/19 - West Branch, MI to St. Ignace, MI (132 miles) 1 hour 56 min, stayed 5 nights at Tiki RV Park - nice view of Lake Huron!



Yooper! (The nickname for a person who lives in the Upper Peninsula.)

Just across the Mackinac bridge, on the shores of Lake Huron, lies a summer village called St. Ignace.  Their tourist season is only 6 months long.  The rest of the year is too cold!  But what a beautiful town!  This is what I had hoped to find in Harbortown.  There was always a cool breeze off the water and there were so many varieties of gorgeous flowers planted in every tiny flower bed and median.  They have a picturesque harbor and light house.  They make good use of their time in the sun with farmers markets, live music and fireworks every week.  AND we accidentally stumbled on the weekend when they were trying to break the world record for largest Mini rally in the world, called “Mini on the Mack”.  They estimated there were over 1300 minis in town.  Unfortunately, we heard in a local shop, that they didn’t make it.  “If only everyone who showed up had registered!”  Maybe next year.  I’m a HUGE fan (I had one in England).  Here are a few stand outs...

 

Knowing that the weekend was going to be packed, we took a ferry to Mackinac island on Friday.  There are no motorized vehicles allowed on the island, only horse-drawn wagons and bicycles. We dared not step off the sidewalk in fear of getting run over or stepping in manure.  Again, beautiful flowers, ones that don’t grow in Texas, and I’m not familiar with.  This place is like Disneyland for adults.  The island is only eight miles around, so it’s easy to bike, but we didn’t.  We strolled along the streets, looking at the houses and stopping in to taste samples at every fudge shop.  We sat outside, by the bay and had a lovely lunch, then found a spot on the beach to collect stones.

One thing we didn’t do is go to the Grand Hotel.  Last time we were here, we walked up and sat on the porch in rocking chairs and enjoyed the view.  Now, they charge $10 to get on the grounds, even if you want to have a meal at the hotel.  This is a disheartening, recurring theme that we’re finding wherever we go - many more tourist, and EVERYTHING costs money.  It’s kind of sad really.  But it reminds me of how we used to avoid weekend crowds, especially in summer, because things were just too crowded.  We’ll have to get used to doing things mid week in the off seasons.

Finally...Brendan!

7/20 - 7/21/19  Sevierville, TN  to Berea, KY, 156 miles (2 hours 37 minutes) 2 nights at OH! Kentucky Campground, $32/night
7/21 - 7/23/19 Berea, KY. to Jackson Center, OH, 226 miles (3 hours 24 minutes) 2 nights at Airstream TeraPort, $10/night
7/23 - 7/31/19 Jackson Center, OH to Monroe, MI, 123 miles (2 hours) 7 nights at Harbortown RV Resort, $350/week

Traveling, not Vacationing
We’re settling into the routine of fulltiming, now.  One thing that is difficult for me to get used to is the idea that we may not get to see or do everything we find in an area we visit.  For instance, we didn’t know we’d have to book weeks in advance to go on the factory tour at the Toyota plant in Ohio, so we were sure to book our spot immediately for the Airstream factory tour.  They have a small park for owners who are getting maintenance work done in  Jackson Center called the Teraport.  They allowed us to stay there if we arrived after 4:00 and there were spots still available.  We looked terribly out of place among all the aluminum trailers, and were the focus of some joking and conversation from other campers.  They had a parking lot where they were storing some of their older models, waiting for the museum space in the new facility that is being built down the road.  I was surprised to find that all of these RVs are airstreams.

Not that we want to replace our rig, but it was fun to see how another factory builds their product.  They rivet the walls onto the frame by hand, then the ceiling, then they set it on the chassis.  Everything else goes in through the front door.  Airstream is the classic, nostalgic spirit of RVing.  And they have a wonderful, high quality product.  It feels like you’re in a first class airplane. The designs are elegant.  Every inch of space is carefully thought out and used.  And because they still look very much the same from when they began making trailers in 1938, they are very sought after, and hold their value.

On our last night, we heard about the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, OH, Neil Armstrong’s home town.  Being the 50 anniversary of the first walk on the moon, that would have been cool to see.  Ugh!  Maybe next time.

Finally, we made it to Michigan!  We stayed south of Detroit in an RV RESORT - pool, concrete pads, fire rings and picnic tables, very nice.  This is a vacation destination in itself.  I loved seeing the families vacationing here.  Everyone had a wheeled vehicle- either a bike, scooter, 2-wheeled razor, battery powered mini car, or golf cart.  And the weekend was full of family activities.  This weekend was Princess and Pirate themed.  I just wanted to visit a Brendan.  We went to see his house and ate dinner at a local place.  Then he came to stay with us at the RV - a good test of whether he might come join us later when we get to a desirable spot.  He took us us to downtown Detroit to the GM headquarters on the waterfront and we ate lunch in Greektown. Mostly we hung out together, played games, ate outside and toasted s’mores over an open fire in the evenings.  Note to self - I love open fires; HATE the smoke.  Guess I won’t get too many s’mores.  I loved seeing the life he’s making for himself and hated to see him go home.  

Bluegrass and Moonshine and Bears, oh my!

Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Great Smoky Mountains, TN

This area is beautiful, and has so much to do.  We met up with friends, Cindy and Robert, and went back out to GSMNP and this time we saw bears up close and as personal as we could get.  At the very last cabin in Cades Cove, there was such a commotion, we knew it must be a bear sighting.  We got out with the rest of the idiots and stood about 50 yards, behind the Park Ranger who is sworn to protect us, and watched a mama and two bear cubs climb down out of the tree and run away from the throng of scary humans. 

I was sorry to be leaving, but excited to get to Brendan in. Michigan.  We’ll be there in four days!

      

Let the vacation begin!

7/8/19 - 7/10/19 - Red Bay, AL to Woodville, AL (121 miles) Parnell Creek RV Park $57/night
7/10/19 - 7/12/19 - Woodville, AL to Cleveland, TN (110 miles) Chattanooga North KOA $47/night
7/12/19 - 7/20/19 - Cleveland, TN to Sevierville, TN (116 miles) Riverside RV Park $41/night

After two full weeks in Red Bay, we finally got Pearl (the name we gave our rig in honor of our 30th wedding anniversary) in good order.  Many Tiffin owners go back every year for maintenance, so I can’t say we won’t be back, but so long!  We met some great people and learned lots about fulltiming with a motor home.  But now I feel the real vacation begins. As you can see, we’re not going very far each time we move, because we don’t have to. The only deadline we’ve given ourselves is to be back in San Antonio at Thanksgiving.

Before we head north, we wanted to spend some time in the Great Smoky Mountains.  This area is actually several small towns close together - Sevierville, Pigeon Forge (where Dollywood is located) and Gatlinburg.  Last time we were here (18 years ago) it must have been off-season.  I remember being the only ones around.  Now, sadly for the pollution it’s causing, the whole area is high density, vacation Mecca.  Similar to Branson, the Wisconsin Dells, and  Niagra Falls, this place has water parks, rollercoasters, dinner shows, Ripley’s Believe it or not, wax museums, and on and on.  You have to look really hard to see the beauty and quaintness it used to be.  I wonder if Dolly envisioned this when she started Dollywood, and if the locals appreciate it.  

It is possible to not spend too much money, except on gas and food, and have fun. We went to the Bush factory and homestead to see a tour (on video) and learn about how Bush Beans came to be.  We visited Dolly’s statue in Sevierville.  We visited the Apple Barn and ate a fried apple pie a la mode (yum!). And we visited a huge knife store, way larger than Outdoor World, with all things gun and knife related, with lots of taxidermy.  

Yesterday we spent the day doing the driving tour through Cade’s Cove, a settlement established in 1827.  We saw mama and baby bears on the ground and in the trees, three felting deer and two turkeys.  Sorry, no photos.  The sightings were all very fleeting and difficult to see.  Oh yeah, and the story of the village was cool, too.

How did I not know about this before?

One of the best things about traveling is discovering regional food. I saw this in a restaurant after I’d ordered and vowed to find it again. I had it for breakfast at Sparks restaurant in Belmont, MS - sugar rush!  I had to find the recipe. I got this from Grandacreates.com.

Ingredients to make Grandma’s Chocolate Gravy:

• 2 Heaping Tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Flour
• 3 Cups Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 Tbsp Butter

How to make Grandma’s Chocolate Gravy:

Prepare the biscuits according to the package directions or you can make them from scratch and put them in the oven before starting your chocolate gravy.

While the biscuits are cooking, mix the cocoa powder, flour and the sugar in a skillet or pot with a whisk until well blended.

Add the milk and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.

Continue cooking until the gravy is at the desired consistency. If it’s too thick, add more milk, 1/4 cup at a time.

Remove the pan from the heat.

Add the vanilla extract and the butter and stir until everything is melted into the chocolate gravy.

Serve over hot biscuits with lots of butter. Enjoy!

Warranty Work and Repairs, Tiffin Allegro Campground, Red Bay, AL ... still

 

We knew when we set out that we needed to get back to Tiffin before our one-year warranty was up.  Since we took delivery in September, Bill has been keeping a list of small and large things that needed to be addressed - like the dead bolt on our front door broke off, the door has to be slammed to get a good seal, there’s a huge thump under the driver’s seat when we go over a bump, there’s a scratch in the bathroom window.  Stuff like that.  So, we pulled into the campground last Friday, presented our list of over 50 items, and settled in to wait.  Thankfully we stay for free, because rigs are repaired on a first-come-first-serve basis.

When I say campground, I mean parking lot, and not even well-paved.  There are lots of potholes and the spots themselves are gravel and dirt.  You cannot imagine how many OCD men can work in vane, for long hot hours, to keep their coaches clean, especially after a rainstorm.  I thought Bill was bad.  Tiffin owners call this “the pilgrimage to the mothership,” but the only thing that’s really enjoyable about this trip is meeting the people, hearing their stories, and swapping advice about their rigs.  The first Sunday we were there, one owner took it upon himself to smoke three Boston butts and invited the whole park to “bring a chair and something to share.” I get that Tiffin doesn’t want folks to get too comfortable, but we met people who had been here for three weekend.  Eek!

Originally they told us it would take a week before we could get into a bay.  They called us late Tuesday to say, “Be in bay 34 at 7 am.”  Hurray!  Each weekday morning, we got up early (I hate alarm clocks), and joined the parade to get to the correct bay on time.  We were in bay 34 for two days, moved to bay 42 for chassis work (see photo above), and tomorrow, we go to bay 24 for paint work, which is supposed to take three days.

There’s not a lot to do while you wait. I stayed in the coach for as much time as I could bear, then wandered into the lounge, which is divide between “pets” and “no pets”.  I met a woman who gave me good info on crocheting, which I’m teaching myself.  My neighbor gave me yarn, so I could start practicing.  I petted the dogs, worked a puzzle, read, worked crosswords, colored, drew, and wandered some more.

Now that we’re so close to July 4, we don’t want to leave, because campsites will the FULL!  Hopefully, all work will be done and we’ll leave  Red Bay Monday, July 8.  Whew!

Happy Summer Solstice! Vicksburg, MS to Red Bay,AL

We spent the longest day of the year traveling.

We stayed three days at Vicksburg’s Ameristar Casino  RV Park.  Casinos can have some nice parks, and if you promise to gamble a certain amount, sometimes they’re free.  Our’s was not the case, in price or quality, but we didn’t gamble either.

Instead we used our day to drive down to Natchez, MS, where there are many preserved antebellum homes that are open for tour - each one for $10-20 each.  Unfortunately, Bill’s sciatica is still bothering him such that he doesn’t want to walk much yet.  So we went to the Visitor’s Center, got a map, and drove around the town.   At the Visiter’s Center, I learned that the US outlawed buying/selling of slaves from Africa in 1808.  The slave trade continued up to the civil war because the middle-southern states provided slaves to the lower-southern states, sometimes by kidnapping, and “selling them down the river”.  This is what the movie “12 Years a Slave” is based on.  AND some freed slaves owned slaves themselves.  Such an awful part of history that has to be carefully preserved and learned from.  I loved the town - hated the history.   The homes in Natchez were the town homes of the owners whose plantations were across the river in Louisiana.

The Natchez Trace Parkway is the preservation of the road traders would use to walk back home after floating their goods down the Mississippi.  They would sell everything, including the lumber from their boats.  But, of course, robbers knew these travelers had plenty of cash.  The trip home could be treacherous.

BTW - there is an awesome National Civil War Battlefield Park in Vicksburg, which we saw with Brendan on our first trip around the US.  So, we skipped it.  Did you know there were iron-clad ships in these rivers during the civil war?  The U.S.S. Cairo was the first ship sink by a torpedo in battle.  

Hope you got some free ice cream on the longest day of the year!

Just do it! Shallow Creek RV Park, Gladewater, TX

We’ve spent this last week in East Texas, getting acclimated to our rig, and spending time with Bill’s aunt and uncle.  They are a gracious couple who love to entertain, and they live in a tiny house!  They have some acreage with a stocked pond, and some horses, dogs and a pig.  We feel like they’re kindred spirits - own less, live more!

I wanted to find a way to thank them for their hospitality, so I got out my watercolors, got over my reservations, and tried my hand at illustrating their house.  It’s important to note that I consider myself an illustrator, not a painter.  I work best with pencils, color pencils, ink and pastels, media I can control, more or less, but I want to get better at watercolor. So I think I found a good compromise.  

1. I first sketched out the image in pencil, working from a photo Bill took, cropping the image and zooming in with the iPad so I could see as many details as possible.

2. I used varying thicknesses of permanent micron pens to ink in all the important lines.

3. I masked off the house with masking tape and painted in the background of trees, pond and fields.

4. Finally, I unmasked the house and CAREFULLY painted in the details, painting over the inked lines.  In this way, it felt more like I was coloring in a drawing, and had a bit more control over the final product.  

I’m pretty pleased with the result, and it gives me confidence, and a process, to try some more.