This drone, a DJI Mini2 is equipped with GPS and with the help of Google Maps, theoretically a person should be able to go to the crash site and recover it. Unfortunaly, it landed in a fenced area around a large pond. The gate key to this area was controlled by the management company of the shopping center. So, after searching for forty-five minutes around the circumference of this area with no luck I was off to find the management company.
Don, the man in charge of construction and facilities services was more than happy to let me in and even help me search but we had no luck. We concluded that it must have ended up it the pond. After explaining this story to Barbara, she insisted we go back and look one more time. To my amazement she walked almost directly to where the drone was and spotted it in a bush. Unfortunaly the bush was on the other side of the fence. A call to Don and he was right back to let us in.
We retrieved the drone, and it was in perfect shape. It is hard to believe these things can take such abuse, but I am sure glad they can! It is nice to be flying again.
We began our trip August 10th the destination San Diego California
to attend our godson, Ernie’s wedding, August 24th. Our first stop was Cap
Rock State
Park in Quitaque,
Texas. Cap Rock is home to the largest bison herd in
Texas and
they have free range to the entire park.
They visit the campgrounds very up close around sun rise and sun set for
grazing. They are large beautiful
animals that are not the least bit shy to people or vehicles.
One of our favorite stops when we cross into New Mexico from Texas is
the Route 66 casino in Albuquerque. It is a great RV park because it has
something each of us enjoys. Vegas likes
to play ball in the dog park as well as run free in the large open areas. Lonnie is entertained playing craps in the
casino and I enjoy sitting outside in the shade admiring the open vastness of the
area and reading. Plus the casino food
is very tasty with lots of choices giving me a break from meal preparations.
The drive from Albuquerque to
Cottonwood Arizona
is a long and hot. We stopped at Meteor
Crater which is just east of Flagstaff. The crater was created some 50,000 years ago
by a huge iron-nickel meteorite estimated to have been about 150 feet across
with an explosive force greater than 20 million tons of TNT. Needless to say it is one big hole in the
ground – the crater is 700 feet deep and over 4,000 feet across. An interesting fact is in 1964 the Apollo
astronauts trained there to help them understand and collect samples for their
mission to the moon. We spent a couple
of days at the Thousand Trails RV resort in Cottonwood
which is just west of Sedona. The
mornings and evenings had welcoming cool weather but by 9:30am the temperature
started rising and kept going until it reached 108. We were able to enjoy hiking the hills and
river early in the mornings.
California
brought welcomed cooler temperatures. We
stayed a few days at one of our favorite spots, Mount San Jacinto
near Idyllwild at another Thousand Trails property. It’s the mountain that buts against Palm Springs and Palm Desert. The morning temperatures were in the low 50’s
and afternoon in the 80’s. What a
welcome relief from Texas and Arizona. We delighted in hiking the numerous trails available
in the refreshing air and in the afternoon we enjoyed sitting under the tall
pines taking in the views. Vegas had fun
running free on the trails and playing the extremely large pine cones.
By now we are getting closer to the wedding date, so start
heading to San Diego. We stopped for a night in Pala at the Pala
Casino and RV Park, then off the next morning to San Diego.
In San Diego we stayed the first night at
Campland on Mission
Bay. It is advertised as a family-friendly fun for
everyone and they are right about that.
It was packed with families having fun before school starts. It was a blast seeing all the kids roaming
free on their bikes, skate boards, skates, and all other fun toys – lot’s of
activity. That evening, August 23 there
was a very entertaining party for Ernie and Lynsey at the Hotel LaJolla. We took an Uber to and from which worked out
great. When we arrived back at Campland there was a live band playing and sat
outside sharing a double scoop of butter pecan ice cream taking in the music
and the people. The wedding venue was
the Scripps center located on La Jolla
beach. Ernie arranged for reserved
parking for our RV in the Scripps parking lot which is open to the public on
weekends. We spent the day overlooking
the ocean and watching the numerous surfers enjoying the waves and at night
slept to the sound of the rolling waves.
The wedding was fantastic and Ernie and Lynsey were the perfect
couple. The venue was beautiful and
every detail was planned perfectly. We
had a fabulous time and it was very heart warming to participate in their
day.
The return trip to Austin took
us through Utah where we stopped at Zion and Bryce
Canyon National
Parks. Zion was pretty but Bryce Canyon
was outstanding. It is full of fiery
colors and endless vistas with fairy tale castle-like rock formations known as
“hoodoos”. We camped in the park and
walked the trail to view Sunrise
and Sunset Point as well as Inspiration Point rather than taking the shuttle
service they offer so we could take Vegas with us. We rode horses on an hour and a half trail
ride down to the bottom of the canyon.
My horse was Red River and let’s just
say he was less than enthusiastic to be taking the trip, but it was quite
thrilling riding the horse as he walked the narrow and steep ledges down to the
base floor. There is also an 18 mile
scenic drive which offers several amazing views. One of our favorites was the Natural Bridge view which looks like a fiery red
castle sitting atop a bridge connecting to the other side of the
landscape. If you have not been, you
have to go see this place it is spectacular.
Homeward bound now, basically just following our path back
take through New Mexico and Texas.
We did make a quick stop at the Four Corners. It is where 4 states intersect, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona. We had a foot in all four states at once.
A great trip, every day was an adventure and so much fun but
it is also nice to be home.
It’s time for another Unity Travel
adventure. This trip will take us from
our home in Austin, Texas
to Niagara Falls, Canada with several stops along the
way. We started out on this adventure on
June 11, 2019 with our first stop in Bossier City,
LA then Fort Smith,
Arkansas, from there a stop over in Fayetteville to visit
Lonnie’s brother, Dan and sister-in-law Barbara. We had a wonderful visit over lunch catching
up since our last visit. We were off to St.
Louis, MO to view the
Arch Gateway. We stayed at the Casino
Queen RV park which is located at one of the Metro stops making it very
convenient to catching the train to the Arch. It’s a lovely walk from the Metro
stop through the inner city community garden. The Arch rises 630 feet high and is a bold monument
to the pioneering spirit. We took the
tram ride inside the Arch to the top of America’s
tallest man-made monument for a spectacular view of the city and the Mississippi River and up to 30 miles beyond. We stopped on the walk back at a great little
coffee shop, sat outdoors enjoying coffee, tea and muffins overlooking the park
before catching the Metro back
Life is good
On to Elkhart,
Indiana for the real purpose for
this trip to get hydraulic jacks that automatically level the coach with a
touch of a bottom. YEAH! No more trying
to get the RV leveled with blocks anymore. We love ‘em, love ‘em , love ‘em and
highly recomend them if you haven’t got them. While there we walked around
impressive Notre Dame the campus and enjoyed walking around the St. Joseph
river in Central Park, South Bend. The park is very attractive and a great place
if you have children or a dog that need a good time outdoors.
We crossed into Canada on the 18th from Detroit, Michigan. The customs agents searched the coach from top to bottom, not finding anything that concerned them off we went. Luckily no problems getting our sweet Vegas, boxer dog, across the border. We took hwy 401 for a short distance before we cut off to Essex for a stop to exchange money and grab some lunch. We drove mostly back roads getting a good view of the country side and the small communities along the way. I have to mention what a difference from the industrial U.S. side to the agricultural open land directly across the border in Canada. We were amazed at the tidiness and impressiveness of everyone’s home. We virtually saw no shabby homes or lawns. We stopped for the night at Long Point State Park in Norfolk County. I am sure it must be a lovely park but they had such an abundance of rain the park was flooded. The sites were wet, sandy and swarming with mosquitoes. We left as early as possible the next morning for Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls,
Canada,
Thursday, June 19th. We are
staying at Scott’s Good Sam’s RV park located on Lundy Road. The WeGo bus stops across from RV park and excellent
way to navigate around town and to the Falls.
The Falls are absolutely breathtakingly awesome. There are three falls, the America’s, Bridal, and Horseshoe
Falls. We took the Horn
Blower River Boat ride that takes you directly to the bottom of each falls.
Even with the poncho on you get a little wet, but it is fabulous fun, very
memorable, and I highly recommend it. Other
activities included the Journey behind the falls and lunch on the patio at Table
Rock House Restaurant the food was average but the view priceless.
The White Water Walk is along the Niagara
River where the water from the 3 falls is force into a narrow gorge. The rapids reach up to 14 feet high strictly
due to the volume of water and not due to rocks under the surface.
Indianapolis, Indiana to the see
the Harness Races at Harrah’s Hossier
Casino, then to the Indianapolis
Speed Way also known as the Brickyard, famous for
the Indianapolis
500 race. We toured the museum showing the
evolution of racing cars, drivers and equipment dating back to the early 1900’s
to modern day formula one. There was
also a Corvette show with hundreds of cars from all time periods and some
racing on the track. We spent the night
at the Indiana State Fair Grounds campgrounds
We are now homeward via part of the Mississippi Blues trail
from St. Louis, through Mississippi
and Louisiana.
We just got back from Tampa where we boon-docked for two nights at the Tampa RV show. This show is unbelievably large and a great place to boon-dock. We met up with six other LTV Unity Owners and had a blast boon-docking.
The next night we boon docked at Bass Pro shops and had dinner at the restaurant.
We have been grounded in Austin for the last few months. Doctors’ appointments and the passing of Barbara’s brother Rick have kept us close to home. Fortunately, we were able to make one short trip to Oklahoma for a rally of Texoma Travelers LTV RV’s (a travel club that we joined). The rally was at WinStar Casino just across the Red River from Texas. We like these rallies and are looking forward to the next one in Louisiana.
Some people may call us crazy to go camping in 100 plus degree weather, but here at Emma Long Park we are camped at the water’s edge with large shade trees surrounding us. So, even though it is definitely hot the breeze off the lake and the shade of trees makes it most pleasurable for most of the day. Lonnie and Vegas have enjoyed tubing in the lake and we have all found this time most relaxing. The evenings are spent sitting lake side sipping on a refreshing gin and fresca watching the boats cruise by.
Each morning we have taken Vegas to Turkey Creek for a 3 mile hike. The trails are located about one mile from the park. Turkey Creek is a dog friendly off-leash area which Vegas has thoroughly enjoyed running free and splashing in and out of the creek. Her enthusiastic joy is something to behold – one has to be a boxer owner to know what this looks like.
Since it’s so hot we want to keep the outside cooking to minimum amount of time so I brought along my Sous Vide. Sous Vide is a cooking tool that heats water to a specified temperature then holds it at that temperature to cook food that is sealed in a food saver bag. The food will fully cook with little to no effort to the exact desired doneness. Once cooked then I quickly sear the meat, about one to two minutes per side and then dinner is done with the least amount of heat or mess. Great, you should try one.
We left beautiful Estes Park hoping to spend a few nights back at Golden Gate Canyon State Park but unfortunately all the sites where booked. Well, it’s all part of the adventure, so we continued on to Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs. We stayed there a couple of days and enjoyed hiking the Garden of the Gods and took a day trip to the Manitou Indian cliff dwellings. The afternoon temperatures were reaching a 100 degrees which is most unusual for this area. So we decided to go to Red River New Mexico where the temperatures are a high in the low 80’s. We checked the fire situation in New Mexico and all seemed fine for that area so we departed for our favorite campground along the Red River. When we pulled up at the campground the National Forest Service had just closed it for precautionary reasons. Evidently the day before a careless camper caused a forest fire in the Gila Forest and New Mexico was shutting down all the National campgrounds. Again, it’s all part of the adventure – onward to Albuquerque. There is a RV park we like their called Route 66, because it is located on the original famous Route 66 through New Mexico. Also, the RV park is located within a short walking distance to the Route 66 Casino.
We are homebound as we have some obligations next week, but wishing we could turn around and head back to Colorado.
Wow, what a fabulous little town. All the National and public campgrounds were packed so we stayed at Spruce Lake RV park. We were disappointed at first not staying in one of the campgrounds but this RV Park is nice and very convenient to everything. There are a several restaurants, a grocery store, and the free public shuttle all within a very short walking distance. If you are traveling in an RV you can find parking downtown at the visitor center and also at the Library. They do allow overnight camping but the parking spots are very limited.
We enjoyed sightseeing and walking around this beautiful town. The Scandinavian Midsummer Festival was going on celebrating the summer solstice with music, dancing, Scandinavian culture education, food, and various vendors. We also rented a jeep from Backbone Adventures to drive the very rough off-road trails on the edge of the Roosevelt Forest. Lonnie very much enjoyed driving this challenging road. The jeep literally went over boulders, sideways along the road wash-out areas and straight up and straight down — very bumpy ride — yet worth the trip. The scenery was also divine.
We have been enjoying the temperatures, highs in the 70’s and lows in the 50’s with very low humidity. This climate just makes one feel energized and want to spend as much time outside as possible. Considering our hometown, Austin, Texas temperatures in the 100’s. No wonder so many Texan’s travel to Colorado.
The park is 12,000 acres of beauty with elevations ranging from 7,600 to 10,400 feet located northwest of the city of Golden. We hiked 4.0 mile trail to Panorama Point with very scenic views north towards Rocky Mountain National Park. The trail is heavily wooded with Aspen, Lodge Pole and Ponderosa Pines with various colorful wild flowers along the path. The trail is considered moderate but there is an elevation gain of 1,043 feet – whew. I know what goes up must come down, I just don’t remember anything but climbing up, up and up some more. The hike was well worth the effort and we enjoyed it thoroughly.
The campground has large sites, lots of trees for shade on a sunny afternoon and very quiet. We found it very relaxing listening to the rustling leaves of the Aspen trees; it almost sounded like the waves gently rolling onto a beach. So enjoyable to sit outside and just take in the scenery and the sounds. This is a wonderful State Park and I would recommend it to anyone traveling this way.
There are several old mining towns within a very short driving distance to explore on short day trips from the State Park.
The elevation is 6,288 feet and finally some nice cool weather. This park is fairly new as it opened in October 2006, it was formerly the JL Ranch and it is a 5 star park and deserves every star. They have over 23 miles of hiking trails but only a few short trails where dogs are allowed. The park does offer a stunning transition from the plains to its peaks. We have a fabulous view from our site to Colorado Springs below. Up the mountain from our site is NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense).
We arrived late afternoon and the Lake Hasty RV sites where full but there was an available site at the Reservoir. It was a boondocking site but it had a beautiful view of the lake and large open area for Vegas to be able to run free. We enjoyed this stay very much.
Drove to Guymon so Lonnie could revisit his parent’s hometown. We had planned to stay at the Drive-In RV Park but it was too early to stop for the day. We did check out the park and it was pretty nice and would be a good place to stay if in that area. Oh yeah, they show movies on the weekends.
This park received its name from the numerous underground streams creating a “boiling” effect. The area surrounding the park is semi-arid climate and sparse vegetation so the park is often referred to as an oasis. It has a very pretty lake for boating and fishing, a swimming pool and many shaded RV sites. We were hiking on one of the trails and came across a fawn hidden under some brush, it was so precious, we stayed our distance so not to cause any harm.
June 13, 2018 we began on journey toward Colorado. We made a brief stop in Fort Worth to take a tour of the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Over half of the nation’s currency is produced at this facility. The tour was very interesting and there were billions of dollars being printed. To complete a note from start of the offset printing process (blank paper) to finished currency in the vault is approximately four weeks.
Our drive continued to the WinStar RV Park next to the WinStar casino. We were interested in checking out this site as our TEXHOMA LTV club will be holding their rally there in October. It was nice and will probably be a good location for the rally.
One Year of Unity 