GOING TO CALIFORNIA – WANDERING WHYTES

We decided to drive cross country to Joshua Tree National Park in California. We planned on taking approx. 6 weeks so this was going to be our longest Blaze trip by miles and time.

This is our route west. We visited a combination of old favorites and new to us locations. It is getting harder and harder to find places we have not previously visited.

LINCOLN STATE PARK, INDIANA

This area was the boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln. It was established in 1932 to honor Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks. His sister Sarah is buried in the 1,747 acre park.

The first site we picked was too small for the van so we moved to another one. We had plenty of choices since there was only one other camper.

Lincoln lived in Indiana from the ages of 7 to 21 years old. This shows his height during the corresponding years. He was 6″ 4″ and was the tallest president (so far).

Lincoln’s closed left hand symbolizes his desire to hold the Union together, and his open right hand symbolizes his desire for a strong, positive, postwar reconciliation with the South
Will Clark, Sculptor

This is his boyhood cabin, the original stones are in the state park museum.

REELFOOT LAKE STATE PARK, TENNESSEE

We met our friends here for 2 nights. They own the white Ford truck and Escape trailer. They have a lot more room than we do.

Like a lot of other refuges this is a protected area for migrating birds but hunting is allowed. We checked out this bird blind, Sammy is sticking his nose out from under the tarp.

MOUNT MAGAZINE STATE PARK, ARKANSAS

We liked the camping here, big private sites and lots of trails. There was only one other camper so it was also very quiet. When we checked in the ranger said we reserved the best site in the park. It was nice but there were plenty of good one’s.

Sammy got another high point. He now has 2 but he got this one at the age of 98.

Link to all of the US high points if you want to hit them all.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/lists/the-highest-places-in-america

We both like views of endless mountains.

GREAT PLAINS STATE PARK, OKLAHOMA

The place was packed! Hard to tell but the weather turned nasty: windy, cold, rain. Yuck

Leann is dressed for the crappy weather.

Red sky at night sailor delight, not so much.

WICHITA MOUNTAINS NATIONAL WILDLIDE REFUGE

We did a day trip here from our camp site in Great Plains. This should be a national park: great scenery and hiking with the added bonus of a free-range bison herd. After a long day of hiking, Leann made Thai Peanut Chicken with coconut rice for dinner. It was awesome. The weather has been cold and windy, so dinner was in the van.

We drove to the top of Mt. Scott to get the lay of the land

Bison are impressive animals, up to 2000 pounds, can run 35 mph, have a vertical jump of 6 feet and are strong swimmers

THE NARROWS TRAIL

An awesome hike in Oklahoma? Yes

Weird weather day, sun, rain, sleet and big snowflakes

PALO DURO STATE PARK, TEXAS

It rained before we got to the park and our site was a low spot. By the time we arrived the mud had dried but we camped in the dirt, hard to tell pavement from the dirt.

There is a lot of hiking trails in the park and biking would also be good.

The campground had a nice bird blind and Leann took advantage

BOSQUE DEL APACHE WILDLIFE REFUGE

Today we had a 7 plus hour drive plus a stop in Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge. The refuge was worth the stop. We saw a pack of javelina and Leann saw 2 new birds: Canvasback Duck and Mississippi Kite. The scenery was also nice.

Javelina, there was “squadron” of 10 or so. I looked it up and a pack of Javelina is called a squadron. who knew?

CABALLO LAKE STATE PARK, NEW MEXICO

Things went south when we headed to Caballo. It was late and getting dark and the GPS routed us to this ranch road that we quickly realized was wrong. We tried again and ended up on a dead end road that ended in a lake. Third time was the charm and we finally made it to the campground but struggled to find our site since it was pitch black and nothing was labeled. I was holding my headlight out the window trying to see site numbers and some animal ran in front of the van. Leann was telling me to shine the light at the animal. I calmly told her (LOL) that I could not drive and shine my headlight in 2 different directions. Deep breaths We did finally find it, but our neighbors were ass holes. We were trying to enjoy popcorn outside since it was a warm night. Their little crappy dogs barked for 30 minutes. The camp host was next door and did nothing except sit in their trailer and watch TV. We finally got tired of the dogs and moved to another site.

We were very happy to leave Caballo Lake and will not go back, ever.

KARTCHNER CAVERNS STATE PARK, ARIZONA

We did chores on the way to Kartchner Caverns: laundry, groceries and I was able to get the first layer of dirt off Blaze.

COTTONWOOD SADDLE TRAIL

We passed a family of 4 and the father made a comment that they stopped a lot to take pictures. I don’t think he liked being passed by a couple of old farts

CAVERNS BIG ROOM TOUR

There are 4 tours available at Kartchner: big room, rotunda, helmet & headlamp and the photo tour. The only tour with available spots was the big room so we booked that one.

We were not allowed to take pictures (only on the photo tour) so I do not have anything to show.

The story of the cave’s discovery and protection is a good one.

htts://azstateparks.com/kartchner/explore/park-history

ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT, ARIZONA

Leann really wanted to come back, I reluctantly said OK and was glad I did. Last time we were in a tent and I do not remember the campground being this nice. Maybe they upgraded since our last visit.

Lots of climbing but this was a spectacular hike.

Leann on the first part of the climb, it kept getting steeper.

What goes up, must go down. This section was fairly steep.

Leann by an Organ Pipe Cactus, you can see how they got the name.

This is the back wall of our shelter, with the sun outlining a tree. I thought it looked like a Japanese print.

We hiked to the red tanks. Leann said it would be shorter to hike back on the road……NOPE. Longest hike of the trip.

This looks like and animal climbing a cactus to get a bow, at least to me.

This is a pack rat nest. There was a sign in the bathrooms to keep your hoods raised. Apparently the rats like to build nests on the engines and can cause lots of damage. I never knew that pack rats were an actual animal and not just a human that can’t get rid of anything.

Image from the net so you can see the troublemakers.

Sammy is “helping” us take down the shelter.

Parks we will visit again
- Mount Magazine (plus adjacent state parks)
- Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge
- Palo Duro State Park (take the bikes)
- Kartchner Caverns State Park (more cave tours)
- Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (no shortcuts)

next stop Joshua Tree National Park…….

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