Category Archives: Tours

Satellites and Trains

We’ve been enjoying our stay at Griff’s Valley View RV Park in Altoona – near Des Moines, Iowa. The park is super clean and well-maintained and it’s also very quiet – both day and night. Now that we’re west of the Mississippi, it was time to reset our DISH Network satellite antenna to the western arc.

DISH Network broadcasts from clusters of satellites in different locations. They have multiple satellites in each location – some are for redundancy and others are used for various channels, pay-per-view and High Definition. I don’t know for sure how many satellites they use. The main television broadcast satellites are located at a longitude of 110 degrees west and 119 degrees west. Additional satellites are at 129 degrees west and 61.5 degrees west. The 61.5 degree satellites are for the eastern arc. The western and eastern arc overlap in the midwest.

When we’re in the northeast, we cannot receive a signal from 129. We have to locate satellites at 61.5 degrees. Our Winegard Road Trip satellite antenna has to be reconfigured to locate 61.5. This is done with DIP (dual-inline package) switches on the unit. There are eight DIP switches. By opening or closing various switches, the motherboard for the antenna is reconfigured. Anyway, while we were in the northeast, I set up the satellite antenna for 61.5 degrees – DISH eastern arc. Now I had to reset it to the western arc – 110, 119 and 129 degrees. It entailed climbing on the roof, removed the antenna dome cover and configuring the switch. Not a big deal.

Satellite antenna controller

Tuesday afternoon Donna and I rode the Spyder to Bondurant – a small town a few miles away from here. We went to the Reclaimed Rails Brewery. They have some good beer brewed onsite in their 15-barrel system and the finish work of the interior of the pub is unique.

The have reclaimed and repurposed wood and corrugated tin for the finish work. The bar top surface was cut out of an old trailer they found in Branson, Missouri. The bar was trimmed with a cove taken from an old train depot. The ceiling was lined with corrugated tin they found on an old barn in Minnesota. The table tops on the deck were made from the lids of old oak bourbon barrels. It was all nicely done – I wish I’d taken some photos.

After we came home, Donna whipped up seared scallops with a jalapeno vinaigrette and sweet potato spinach hash for dinner.

Seared scallops and sweet potato hash

Thursday morning Donna was getting ready to head out on the Chichaqua Valley Trail on her bike when she found a problem with our door. Our door had a check lever that stops it from opening more than 90 degrees. The check lever has a pawl that locks the lever in place, holding the door in the open position. To close the door, you have to release the pawl with either the inside or the outside door handle. The door wasn’t locking in place – it was swinging about in the breeze.

I was afraid the pawl was broken. This can happen if someone unfamiliar with the door mechanism tries to force the door closed without releasing the pawl with the door handle. We haven’t had any visitors lately, but it could have been damaged at an earlier time. I got the ladder out of the trailer and inspected it. The pawl wasn’t broken – it was sticking in the open position.

Door check lever pawl

The pawl is spring-loaded and is operated by a cable attached to the door lock mechanism in the door. I pushed the pawl into the locked position and it seemed fine. I released the pawl with the handle, then closed and opened the door. The pawl didn’t catch on the door check lever. I inspected everything and didn’t find anything broken, so I cleaned and lubed the cable and the pawl rod. It’s working nicely now. Job done.

Door panel removed to expose lock mechanism

Donna rode up the bike trail past Valeria and back – about 26 miles – and got home before it was too hot out. After lunch, we took the Spyder north on US65 and rode through the little village of Valeria and continued east for a few miles until we found Trainland USA. Trainland USA is a museum/display featuring Lionel “O” gauge model trains and accessories.

It was conceived and built by Red Atwood and many friends. He began collecting Lionel trains in 1961. He eventually built a 2600-square-foot building to display trains and accessories – including model trains dating back to 1916.

It has 4,000 feet of track, 35,000 hand-cut ties and 120 automatic switches. The display is set up to depict train activity across the country. You take a walking tour that begins with a diorama of Grand Central in New York, then follow along as the dioramas take you through the southern states to the west coast, up the coast and back to Omaha. I shot a few pictures, but the lighting was challenging and I was shooting through glass, so the pictures aren’t the sharpest.

 

On the way back, we made another stop at Reclaimed Rails Brewery for a cold one. I really enjoyed their red lager. Last night, Donna prepared tortilla-crusted tilapia for a dinner – always a favorite.

Tortilla-crusted tilapia with a dollop of salsa and green beans

The weather had been warm – in the low to mid 80s and breezy. Today will be the start of a heat wave. The forecast calls for a high of 97 degrees and the weekend will continue to have highs of 90 or greater. Tomorrow we plan to go to the farmers’ market in downtown Des Moines – rated one of the best in the country.

 

Happenings in Lincoln Land

After three straight travel days, it felt good to get up on Sunday with no real plans. I watched the German Formula One Grand Prix and relaxed with a book most of the day. Donna went for a walk and explored Lincoln Park. Springfield, Illinois was the home of Abraham Lincoln for 24 years – the only house he ever owned was here.

Several rigs pulled into the fairgrounds on Sunday – most of the were specialized trailers that held horses in the rear compartment and had living quarters in the front half – kind of like a toy hauler for horses instead of motorcycles or ATVs. We wondered why so many of these units showed up. We thought maybe they were early arrivals for the Illinois State Fair which opens on August 10st.

Horse trailers with living quarters

I set up the Weber Q and grilled herbed chicken thighs Sunday evening. Again, it felt good to be back on what is a more normal routine for us. Donna baked a sweet potato and served seasoned chili beans plus sauteed baby kale and spinach for the side dishes.

Grilled chicken, baked beans, sweet potato and spinach

Monday morning we headed downtown to Iles Park where they have pickleball courts. We found eight courts and a number of people playing. As with most of our pickleball experiences, the people were friendly and welcomed us to join them. The outdoor courts had great playing surfaces and most of the players were experienced. We played for two hours and really enjoyed it.

Pickleball courts at Iles Park

We spent the afternoon recovering and watched more rigs pull into the fairgrounds. A travel trailer set up in the site next to us. They guy told us he was setting it up for his daughter – she was here to compete in the horse show. This was news to us -, we didn’t know there was a horse show scheduled at the fairgrounds this week. But that explained all the horse trailer/campers!

Monday night Donna manned the grill and grilled skewered shrimp which she served over pasta alfredo with green peas.

Grilled shrimp over pasta with green peas

Tuesday morning we were back at the pickleball courts.  The temperature hit 80 degrees on Sunday and each day after that was hotter than the last. Tuesday the high was 86 degrees and it was already warm and humid when we played in the morning. I quit after six games – I was feeling the heat and ran out of energy.

After relaxing and recovering, we rode the Spyder down by the Old Capitol District to Obed and Isaac’s Microbrewery. We had a couple of beers brewed onsite and dinner. I had a local favorite called The Horseshoe – it’s an open-face sandwich made with thick toast, choice of meat, a cheese sauce and fries. I had the house made corned beef. Donna ordered the Kitchen Sink Pie – basically a shepherd’s pie.

The Horseshoe

I brought about a third of my meal home for consumption later – it was too much to eat in one sitting.

From there we rode to Lincoln’s Tomb. On Tuesday evenings they have a ceremony there which includes soldiers dressed in Civil War era uniforms. They lower and retire the flag every week. Spectators can enter a drawing and the lucky winner is presented with the American flag.

Lincoln’s Tomb

Front view of Lincoln’s tomb

Before lowering the flag, the soldiers fired a salute from Civil War period rifles.

Salute

We were ready for the firing of the rifles, but once the flag was lowered we were surprised by the loud boom of a cannon being fired!

We skipped pickleball this morning. We needed a rest day – my right foot is sore along the fifth metacarpal. I fractured the metacarpal between my little toe and heel about 20 years ago and it seems to be flaring up.

At lunch time, we went up to the horse stables and arena area to see what was going on. The participants are mostly girls involved in 4H. They compete in several events separated by age group. The brick stable buildings date back to 1901 and are in great condition. We saw some of the participants practicing and exercising their steeds.

Exercise arena

We walked to another arena where they were competing in an event that simulates trail riding and demonstrating control while completing tasks like retrieving mail from a mailbox or backing the horse into a tight space and opening a gate then closing it from horseback after riding through. It was interesting to watch.

Backing the horse into a tight space

These two sisters competed in different age groups. Girl in the foreground was in the eight-to-nine-year-old group

This girl likes blue – right down to her cowboy boots

We had lunch at a concession stand, then I wanted to get a look at the grandstand area. This is where the Springfield Mile track is. The Springfield Mile is an oval dirt track one mile long. It hosts horse harness racing and also dirt track motorcycle racing.

The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) held the first AMA National event here in 1937. Later, it became the crown jewel of the AMA Grand National Championship. In the 1960s, guys like Dick Mann, Cal Rayborn and Mert Lawwill chased the championship while driving across the country with their motorcycles and tools packed in panel vans. Back then, to be crowned Grand National Champion, you had to accumulate points at various national events across the country – both road racing and dirt track racing.

Front straight and turn 1 at the Springfield Mile

Final turn and beginning of the front straight

The dirt track events on a mile course like this were fast and took a lot of courage. They would accelerate to over 100 mph on the straights and pitch the bike sideways, counter-steering through the turns without brakes. I was happy I had to opportunity to go up in the grandstand and imagine the moments back in the day.

The City of Springfield quit allowing the AMA to hold their event here after hooligans created trouble in 1966. In 1981, the city agreed to hold an event and it went so well, they’ve been back racing here as a national event since then.

We’ve booked an additional day here at the fairgrounds and will stay until Sunday. The weather forecast calls for it to become slightly cooler with highs in the upper 70s and a chance of some showers over the weekend. Hopefully the showers hold off and we can attend a few more events.

 

 

Wooden Boats and the Fourth of July

Monday afternoon Donna and I rode the Spyder to Brooklin (not to be confused with Brooklyn), about 14 miles from Little Deer Isle. We went to have a look around and visit the WoodenBoat School. The school was established 38 years ago by the publisher of WoodenBoat magazine. It’s located on a 64-acre waterfront campus. They have a variety of courses for beginner, intermediate and advanced woodworkers and boat builders.

WoodenBoat School – Brooklin, Maine

At the WoodenBoat Store, we were told we were free to wander around the campus as long as we didn’t enter or disrupt any active classes. We saw a couple of finished boats and several works in progress.

Finished small boats

Beautiful workmanship

This little sailboat was offered for $900

Some of the courses are all about woodworking and the tools used. Other classes teach marine diesel mechanics and then there are seamanship courses.

Bending wood to make a rib

Putting it all together

Another finished hull

Brooklin is a small village with a general store, a couple of boutique-type shops, a public library and a small cafe. It was an interesting way to spend a nice, sunny afternoon. Of course, I couldn’t leave the WoodenBoat store without a T-shirt to go along with the Tarpon Crew T-shirt Roger gave me.

Finished row boat near the water

Fog was rolling into the reach and I thought we might be in for a cold ride home. As we rode west through Sedgewick though, all was clear and there wasn’t any fog on Little Deer Isle.

While we were out, Sandra and Roger picked up more lobster. We just can’t get enough.

Another pile of lobster

I learned a little more about Maine lobstah. We’ve been getting soft shell lobster. The adult male lobsters shed their shell annually – it’s called molting – and females molt every other year. A new, larger shell is formed and it takes time to fully harden. The soft shell lobsters are easily cracked – I’ve been shelling them with my fingers – and the meat is not as firm or full as a fully hardened shell lobster – a soft shell lobster contains a higher percentage of water. Hard shell lobsters need tools to crack the shell and the meat fills the shell.

I also learned about the lobster pound on Conary Cove I wrote about in my last post. They aren’t actually raising lobsters there. Lobsters are held in the pound for a couple of reasons. For one thing, there’s been a glut of lobster on the market. At this time of year, supply exceeds demand. Also, a large percentage of the catch at this time of year is soft shell which has a lower market price. To counter this, lobsters are held in the pound and grow into their new shells which are hard by the fall. The market price for lobster generally goes up later in the year. The lobster pound is a way to hold lobsters to keep prices stable and generate income year-round.

While Donna and I are getting our fill of lobster, Roger and Russ wanted me to smoke more babyback ribs. Tuesday I rode to Blue Hill to buy ribs, but the store there only had one small rack and it was frozen hard as a rock. So I headed on to Ellsworth – about a 30-mile ride from Little Deer Isle. I found a couple of large racks of ribs at the Walmart store there.

We had a large dinner party – Roger and Georgia, their son Jeff and his two young daughters, Roger’s sister Sandra, neighbor Russ, his dad George and his son Zach plus Donna and I. Georgia put out sloppy joes for the kids and I cut up the ribs into portions of two bones – they were meaty and it worked out fine – most of us got two servings.  Russ also brought – wait for it – lobsters! We had quite a feast.

George has a 1919 Ford Model T – we’ll it’s really Russ’ car now as George gifted it to him. George bought it the same year Russ was born from the original owner! Donna went for ride in the old car Tuesday afternoon.

1919 Model T

George planned to drive the car in the Fourth of July Independence Day Parade in the village of Deer Isle. This morning, Donna and I rode the Spyder over to the village to watch the parade. By chance, we ran into Kate, the person we met Sunday at Conary Cove. She was there with her partner Tom. We stood with them in the shade of a tree and watched the parade. They have a different theme every year for the parade and this year’s theme was children’s books.

Start of the parade

Grand marshalls

The grand marshalls were Sally and Jane McCloskey – daughters of Robert McCloskey, a famous author and illustrator of children’s books. Robert was a resident of Deer Isle until he passed in 2003.

After I shot the picture above, the cars in the background caught my eye. I crossed the street during a break in the parade and shot a photo of them.

French vehicles

On the right is a Citroen 2CV (deux chevaux-vapeur) . These were popular for decades due to their low cost. They were built in France from 1948 to 1988. On the left is a Citroen H van. These were front wheel-drive commercial vehicles built from 1947 to 1981 in France and Belgium. The body panels are corrugated steel. The owner of the vehicles is in the photo with the wide brim hat. He told me, “The French copied no one and no one copies the French!”

The parade was definitely old-time small-town America. They had the community band set up on the grass to play music as the parade came by.

Community band

We enjoyed the parade for about half an hour and also enjoyed talking with Tom and Kate. We saw Russ’ Vespa parked near the village, but didn’t run into him. Roger and Sandra drove to Portland to pick up Sandra’s grandsons and will be back later this afternoon. Georgia took advantage of an empty house for a little quiet time.

It’s already over 80 degrees out at noon and the temperature will probably reach 90 degrees this afternoon. Donna’s hoping to take a boat ride on Russ’ 21-foot Whaler. I might go along too – but I also have to start packing and organizing the trailer. We plan to leave Little Deer Isle tomorrow and head down to Scarborough where we’ll spend the night before going back to Bennington, Vermont.

 

 

Buck’s Harbor and Castine

I smoked babyback ribs on Sunday and Roger’s neighbor Russ and his son Zack joined the four of us for dinner. Over dinner, Russ invited Donna and I to go out on his boat for a tour out to Buck’s Harbor on Monday. We enthusiastically accepted the invitation.

The weather here can be fickle. It rained Sunday night and we woke up to a cold, cloudy morning with a few rain drops and sustained 20mph winds with higher gusts. It felt like a wintry day in San Diego with a high temperature of about 60 degrees. The wind whipped the water and it was very choppy. This ruled out the boat tour for the day. Instead we had a low-key day hanging out – I mostly read my Kindle. Roger had to fly out of Portland early Tuesday morning to handle some business back in Albuquerque and he left around midnight to make the drive to the Portland airport. He drove his pickup truck and left us the keys to his Subaru Forrester – thanks, Roger! Georgia stayed here in their house, but she said she would not be going anywhere.

Sunset Monday evening

The sun sets slowly this far north. I can sit and watch the sky slowly turn to different shades of pastel colors for about an hour.

We had blue skies and warmer weather on Tuesday. Around 10:30am, Russ stopped by and asked if we were up for the boat ride. He had his little Boston Whaler docked at the float on the end of his pier. The little Whaler is a flat bottom 13-foot boat with a 40hp outboard motor. He has a larger Boston Whaler, a 21-foot V-hull, but he hasn’t put it in the water yet this year.

We cruised to the northwest end of Eggemoggin Reach to Buck’s Harbor. Buck’s Harbor is a protected cove off of Penobscot Bay. A heart shaped island called Harbor Island is at the mouth of the cove, making this harbor a great shelter from stormy weather.

Entering Buck’s Harbor – Harbor Island on the left, Buck’s Harbor Marina on the right

Anchorage in Buck’s Harbor – lobsterman’s tiny shed on a float in the harbor

We docked the boat at the yacht club and went ashore. We walked up to the Buck’s Harbor Market where Russ bought a sandwich while Donna and I looked around.

Russ and Donna at Buck’s Harbor Market

There are binoculars mounted on a metal post in front of the yacht club. I scanned the bay and watched the sailboats while Russ had his sandwich on the porch and Donna kept him company.

View of Buck’s Harbor from the yacht club

Russ steered the boat past the west side of Harbor Island into bigger water. It wasn’t as smooth of a ride as we had in the reach and harbor.

Another float with lobster pots stored in the harbor

We headed out to look for seals. We found them on Thrumcap Ledge – a small rocky island. The seals here are wary of humans and become skittish if you approach too closely. We kept our distance but a few of them dove into the water as we went by.

It’s hard to see, but there are seals on the rocks

From there, we came back toward the west end of Little Deer Island and cruised past the lighthouse on Pumpkin Island. This lighthouse is no longer used for navigation and is a privately owned home now.

Pumpkin Island lighthouse from the west

Lighthouse from the back side

We made our way back through the reach on the northside of Little Deer Isle. There are some beautiful waterfront properties along the way.

Waterfront home on LDI

Our coach is nestled in some trees facing the reach.

Can you spot our coach in the lower center? Our trailer is between the coach and house,

It was fun boat tour – thanks, Russ!

We had a quick lunch, then Donna and I headed out in Roger’s car. We drove to the town of Castine. It’s about 10 miles from where we are as the crow flies, but around here none of the roads will take you straight to your destination. The jagged coastline means most roads arc in loops around inlets. Our route took us north and west to Penobscot, then we headed south to Castine – about 25 miles and a 40-minute drive.

Castine, Maine is one of the oldest communities in North America – continuously occupied since the early 1600s. It was a settlement of France, Holland and England. It’s now the home of the Maine Maritime Academy, established in 1941. The Maine Maritime Academy is a public college of engineering and one of six maritime training colleges in the USA – around 900 students are enrolled.

We walked through the waterfront and around the old downtown district. A sailing ship came into the dock while we were there. It was the Guildive – a 56-foot vintage wooden yacht that’s now an excursion boat that takes up to six passengers out for two-hour cruises .

Guildive

We drove to the southwest point of Castine where the Dyce Head Lighthouse is located. This is an active navigation point that was built in 1828. The town of Castine owns the property, but they rent the home out at the lighthouse. We aren’t sure if the tenants are lighthouse groundskeepers or not, but it is a private residence.

Dyce Head lighthouse

Last evening, we joined Georgia on the patio for hors d’oeuvres and a drink. I grilled green chile turkey burgers that Donna made up for our dinner and we all had a small bowl of fish chowder we picked up on our outing. It was a pleasant way to end a great day.

Today we expect the temperature to reach the low 70s. We plan to drive over to Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island – the locals pronounce it dessert like a post meal goody, not desert like it’s spelled. Although Bar Harbor is about 20 miles due east of us as the crow flies, we’re not crows and will have to follow another looping route to get there – about 48 miles and over an hour’s drive. The forecast calls for a 100% chance of rain tomorrow, so we haven’t made any further plans.

Buffalo Trace

Our week in Nashville flew by. We pulled out of Grand Ole RV Park Thursday morning and were on the road by 9:15am. Our route took us up I-65 to Elizabethtown where we cut east on the Bluegrass Highway. The road surfaces were good. There were a lot of tractor-trailer rigs on I-65 heading to and from Louisville. Southern Kentucky has a lot of brown signs on I-65 indicating points of interest – mostly parks with caverns and museums. Apparently the limestone in the area is conducive to the formation of caves.

We stopped at the Pilot Travel Center at exit 86 on I-65 before we hit the Blugrass Highway. I topped up the tank with 60 gallons of diesel. Fuel prices have been on the rise and I paid $3.11/gallon. Our next stop was at Walmart on US127 in Lawrenceburg. Donna went in to get a couple of thigs while I ordered a Subway sandwich for a late lunch. I had a mishap in the parking lot there. Although the parking lot didn’t have trees, which are my usual obstacle in Walmart lots, this one had concrete islands with high curbs at the end of each row. I picked what looked to be the widest opening and went for it. There was a metal stop sign right at the edge of the island. I scraped the trailer on the edge of the stop sign. Arrgh!

We made our way to the Still Waters Campground. Check-in was a little different. No computers. The owners live onsite and do everything the old fashioned way – hand written receipts and journal entries. The guy that took us to our site (on a riding mower!) brought us in from the wrong direction – there was no way I would be able to back the trailer into the site. He had me loop around on the lawn and enter the site from the rear – making it a pull-through. Before I could get all the way in, a branch had to removed from one the trees lining the site. We were finally ready to set up around 3:30pm.

Donna made a quick and easy meal for dinner – just the thing on a travel day. She made a skillet meal of sweet Italian chicken sausage, cherry tomatoes, and asparagus and served it over whole wheat penne and pesto. It was a savory, hearty meal.

Skillet Italian chicken sausage with tomatoes and asparagus

On Friday morning, I got the Spyder out and we rode into town to the Buffalo Trace Distillery. We arrived just in time for the 9am tour. I had read about their tours online – they have five different tours. The Trace Tour runs every hour from 9am to 4pm Monday through Saturday, noon to 3pm on Sunday. Their site says “walk-ins welcome, no reservation required.” It’s a tour that gives background on making bourbon and the history of the distillery. It includes walks through barrel-aging warehouses and one of the bottling operations.

The other four tours are more specific to a certain aspect of the distillery. I wanted to take the Hard Hat Tour which takes you through the mash and distillation process. But, I didn’t notice that all of the tours except the Trace Tour require reservations. By the time I realized it on Thursday, they were all booked. All of the tours are free.

This distillery has the distinction of being the oldest continuously running distillery in America. The distillery was built by Harrison Blanton in 1812. The Prohibition era from 1920 to 1933 closed all but a few distilleries. Buffalo Trace Distillery was known as the George T. Stagg Distillery at the time and was granted an exemption to distill whiskey for medicinal purposes. During prohibition, pharmacies carried small amounts of whiskey which could only be obtained with a doctor’s prescription. Thus the distillery never shut down.

The distillery is on the bank of the Kentucky River and the property is beautiful with manicured lawns, gardens and brick buildings dating back to the 1800s. The rest of this post is photo-heavy – I took lots of pictures at the distillery.

Donna at the visitor center and gift shop

An old pot still used for small experimental batches – I know someone who’d like to have this

One of several barrel-aging warehouses – barrel elevator at the top floor

An interesting thing I learned is why barrels are… well, barrel-shaped. When filled with whiskey, the barrels weigh about 550 pounds. If the barrels were made with straight sides like a 55-gallon drum, they would be hard to handle and maneuver around. With the barrel shape and convex sides, when the barrel is on its side, it only has a small contact area. It can easily be spun or turned. If the barrel is rolled onto a track – much like a narrow-gauge train track – it will roll along and follow the track. That’s how they transport barrels from building to building here. The tracks have a slight slope to let gravity roll the barrel from one building to the next.  They also have elevators to raise the barrels to different floors of the buildings.

Barrel Crossing

Buffalo Trace distills a number of whiskey brands. The interesting thing is they only have three grain bill recipes for their bourbon. Grain bill number one is used for Buffalo Trace Bourbon and Eagle Rare and a few others. The difference between Buffalo Trace Bourbon and Eagle Rare comes from the amount of time it’s aged and the placement of the barrel during aging. Whiskeys that are bottled young are aged in the top floors of the barrel buildings where the temperature fluctuation is the greatest. More expensive whiskeys are aged on the lower floors and closer to the center of the building. The actual recipes are secret, but I’ve heard grain bill number one is 70% corn, about 15% rye and the balance barley. Grain bill number two is also corn, rye and barley but in different percentages – it’s used to make Blanton’s. Grain bill number three is used to make Pappy Van Winkle’s  and is corn, wheat and barley.

The barrels have bar codes and information stamped on them. This one was filled in May of 2014

This barrel has been aging since May of 2007 – probably a third of the contents have evaporated by now

This barrel contains an experimental recipe

As the barrels age, some evaporation occurs. Water escapes as the water molecules are small enough to pass through the wood barrel through osmosis. The alcohol molecules are larger and remain in the barrel. So the percentage of alcohol in the barrel increases over time.

Next we went to one of the bottling stations

The premium whiskeys produced by Buffalo Trace are bottled and labeled by hand. The barrel of whisky is dumped into a trough. A sample is taken to determine the alcohol content of the barrel. Water is added to reach the desired alcohol content, then the whiskey flows to the bottler.

Filling bottles of Blanton’s Single Barrel whiskey

You can thank the Blanton’s brand for creating the popular single-barrel whiskey niche. They started it in 1984 and now it’s the craze. Most bourbons are made by blending several different barrels of whiskey together to create a consistent flavor profile. Each bottle of Blantons is filled with whiskey from a single barrel. The label has the barrel number hand written along with warehouse designation and storage rick on the label. It also has the date the barrel was dumped.

Capping Blanton’s by hand

Applying the labels

Bagging and boxing Blanton’s

They had two lines bottling Blanton’s. One of the women working the line told me they box 350 cases per shift, six bottles to a case. That’s 2,100 bottles per line and they run two shifts per day – 8,400 bottles. They can’t keep up with demand though. The problem comes from aging. Who knew nine years ago that the single-barrel Blanton’s would become so popular? If they had a crystal ball, they would have made more of it back then so it would be good to go now.

They produce 18 different spirits at Buffalo Trace. One of them is Pappy Van Winkle’s. For many bourbon connoisseurs, 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle’s is the holy grail. They only bottle and release it once a year in November. People pay crazy prices for it and often have to be drawn through a lottery to obtain a bottle.

Some of the different liquors made here

Bottle on the right is the Holy Grail – 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle’s

They have a special place to commemorate every millionth barrel filled since prohibition. Right now barrel number seven million is aging in this place of honor.

The glass wall made the photo ghostly

The tour ended around 10:30am with a complimentary tasting. I tried the White Dog which is basically moonshine – it’s liquor that hasn’t been barrel-aged. It was awful. Then I had Eagle Rare in my right hand and Buffalo Trace Bourbon in my left hand for a comparison taste. Both are superb. We finished with a chocolate bourbon ball with a pecan on top and a shot of bourbon cream with a dash of root beer. Delicious.

Before we left, we dropped some cash in the gift shop. We bought chocolate bourbon balls, Buffalo Trace bourbon and I had to grab a bottle of Blanton’s Single Barrel. It’s way pricier than I would usually spend on bourbon, but I got caught up in the hype.

My bottle of Blanton’s – barrel dumped May 16, 2018 from barrel number 178, warehouse H rick number 30

Of course, I had to add a Buffalo Trace T-shirt while I was at it.

Later in the afternoon, I got the Sea Eagle kayak out and we rolled it down to Elkhorn Creek on the kayak carrier. Donna paddled up the slow moving creek and had a look around. I saw a water snake as we were launching the kayak – harmless. And Donna didn’t see anything scary other than a couple of cows drinking from the muddy river.

Donna on Elkhorn Creek

Donna prepared another quick and easy meal last night. She made a new dish she’s calling Skillet Taco Turkey & Black Beans with Cauliflower Rice. Healthy and scrumptious.

Skillet taco turkey dish

Tomorrow is Donna’s birthday. We are postponing her usual birthday dinner out due to the lack of a suitable restaurant open on Sunday in the area. We’ll probably find something in Lexington in a few days. We’re booked here through Tuesday. Hopefully the weather holds out, but the forecast calls for a strong possibility of thunder showers today and tomorrow.

 

Tabasco and Rice

Yesterday Donna and I headed out on the Spyder. We left Betty’s RV Park in Abbeville, Louisiana around 9:30am and rode to Avery Island outside of New Iberia. The route took us out LA14 through Delcambre – which I’m told is pronouned Dell-come by the locals, rhymes with welcome. Seems like a lot of letters to spell Delcome and it’s certainly not the French pronunciation you might expect.

Anyway, the shortest route from Abbeville to Avery Island took us through a lot of turns on narrow parish roads, but we found our way. Our destination was the McIhenny Company’s Tabasco plant for a tour of the facility where they make the iconic Tabasco hot sauce. I’ve been a Tabasco user for nearly 50 years.

A self-guided tour of the plant costs $5.50 for adults – military discounts are given. The walking tour starts in a small museum and takes you through five different buildings to observe the process of making the sauce – from growing the peppers to shipping the product.

Sign on the walkway to building two

We saw a small greenhouse with a variety of pepper plants. Tabasco peppers are a variety of chili pepper – capsicum frutescens.

Tabasco peppers

Habanero peppers

Jalapeno peppers

The peppers are picked by hand. The pickers compare the color of the pepper to the color of a red stick they carry to ensure uniform ripeness.

The peppers are crushed and put into oak barrels. The barrels are used whiskey barrels that are re-purposed. The coopers at McIhenny scrape the charred interior of the barrel to expose clean oak, then they remove the iron bands and replace them with stainless steel bands. The crushed peppers with a little salt added are put into the barrels to age for three years. The tops of the barrels are covered in salt to prevent bacteria from entering. By the way – Avery Island is a salt dome! The air was heavy with a pungent odor at the barrel aging buildings.

Freshly filled barrels ready for aging

After about three years, the contents of each barrel is tasted. If approved, it goes to the next step where seeds and skins are removed. Then the contents are put into a large vat where it is blended with pure distilled vinegar for two to three weeks. The hot sauce aroma was evident in the blending building.

Blending vats

The bottling process was similar to what we’ve seen in beer breweries. It’s mostly automated, but people are on station to operate the machinery and provide quality control. Once the bottles are filled, a digital camera reads the bottle to ensure it’s filled to the proper level before capping.

Filling bottles

Checking and capping

Labelled and ready for packing

They had an electronic counter with a digital display showing the number of bottles produced. At 11am, it was over 184,000 for the day and quickly counting upwards.

Donna peeking around a giant Tabasco display bottle

At the end of the tour, we visited the gift store where we sampled jalapeno ice cream. Donna bought a bottle of the standard red Tabasco and a bottle of the green sauce for $2 each.  You can buy Tabasco sauce by the gallon at the store here! The self-guided tour had a number of informational kiosks and video presentations. I thought it was worth the time.

We skipped the driving tour of the Avery Island gardens and headed into New Iberia for lunch. A cafe was recommended by Betty – the Bon Creole Cafe. She told us they had the best shrimp Po’ Boys around. A Po’ Boy is a Louisiana standard – it’s a sandwich made of a hoagie roll stuffed with fried seafood – usually shrimp, crawfish or oysters. It can be made with beef as well. We ordered a full shrimp Po’ Boy and split it. It was more than enough for two people. I added a couple of dashes of Tabasco to mine.

Shrimp Po’ Boy with lettuce, tomato and sauce

It was short ride from there to the Conrad Rice Mill – the oldest independently owned rice mill still in operation in the U.S. It was built by Phillip Conrad in 1912. He named his company Konriko (Conrad Rice Company with Ks substituting the Cs for trademark purposes).

The leading rice producing states in the country are Arkansas followed by California, Louisiana and Texas. The mill wasn’t operating Thursday afternoon so we skipped the guided tour and just watched a video and did some shopping instead. Konriko also owns the brand Hol-Grain which makes a line of crackers. Donna loves them and bought a box of their brown rice crackers. Did you know that brown rice and white rice are the same thing, just processed differently? Brown rice has the hull with bran intact while white rice has the hull and bran polished off. Donna also bought a couple of pounds of wild pecan rice.

Donna’s spoils from the day out

It’s been warm, humid and windy here. Today the forecast calls for a high in the mid 80s. As I type this at 9am, it’s 73 degrees with 93% humidity. We’re debating our weekend plans. We’re hoping to go to the crawfish festival in Breaux Bridge.

Austin Moto GP – Day One

Our last couple of days at Lake Buchanan were low-key. I got up on the roof to check out the air conditioners. The condenser coils were dirty so I cleaned them but I could’t find any faults in the wiring. I’m not sure why we had trouble with erratic operation earlier. Donna took a few hikes in the area and we fished from the park piers. The fishing wasn’t so good – the wind whipped up large swells on the lake and the water was turbid. I landed one catfish.

I should mention that Lake Buchanan was formed when a dam was built on the Colorado River in 1939. That’s right, Colorado River. This name confused me at first. When I think of the Colorado River I think of the river that flows west of the continental divide through Lake Powell and on to the Grand Canyon, Lake Mead, Lake Havasu and so on down to the Gulf of California. But, there’s another Colorado River (Texas) that flows from Dawson County generally southeast for about 860 miles, then empties into the Gulf of Mexico. I’m always learning something new on the road.

We pulled out Thursday morning around 10:30am. We followed a couple of numbered ranch roads that had light traffic and smooth pavement south to TX71. This highway took us east. Our first stop was at Bee Cave where I had scouted out the Specs Fine Food and Liquor on Google Earth. It looked to have easy access and ample parking. I restocked the beer supply and bought a bottle of Scotch there and we were back on our way.

Our next stop was Walmart for some provisions. In many parts of Texas, a frontage or service road runs parallel to the highway. These roads are generally one way on each side of the highway with numerous ramps to enter or exit the highway. At times this confuses Nally – our RV specific GPS. Civilian GPS units aren’t totally location accurate – they can have a tolerance of several yards. At times Nally would advise me to prepare for a right turn when I actually needed to go left ahead. I figured out that the GPS had me on the highway, not the service road and was advising me to exit the highway right, then go left from the service road. Confusing for sure since I was already on the service road. This made me miss our Walmart stop.

We drove on to the Pilot Travel Center in Mustang Ridge and topped up the fuel tank. We’ll be on generator power for the next few days at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) race track and I wanted a full fuel tank. When we arrived at the track, we had a few issues with the signage. We went the long way around the track but never saw lot N where we had dry camping reservations.

After finding a place to get our rig turned around, we backtracked and saw the entrance. Coming from our original direction, the sign and entrance was hidden behind a large tree. We found a site and dropped our trailer, then set up. The sites are not at all level, but we have easy access to the track.

Donna and I went for a walk to check out the track and find our grandstand seats.

Fast S section

Turn two – workers walking the track to check for debris

It was windy but the temperature was pleasant. We rode the Spyder to a nearby grocery store/Mexican market and picked up a few items.

Friday morning action started with the free practice sessions. We were trackside a little after 9am for the Moto 3 free practice (FP) 1. Moto 3 is the entry into international motorcycle road racing. The bikes are single cylinder 250cc machines. They’re very lightweight, the racing is close and drafting on the straights is key. Riders must move up or leave the class by the age of 28.

Next up was Moto GP FP 1. Moto GP is the pinnacle of the sport. The bikes are 1000cc and make around 250 horsepower. They’re very sophisticated and extremely fast. The most popular Moto GP rider is nine-time World Champion, Valentino Rossi – The Doctor is his nickname.

Marc Marquez – the villain of the Argentina round enters turn 16

The Doctor coming up on a slower rider at 16

The day was overcast and the wind made it feel colder than the mid 60s the thermometer showed. Before lunch, Donna went back to the coach for a warmer jacket and brought one back for me.

We had lunch at the track and walked around between the 45-minute sessions. We left around 3pm during the Moto 2 FP 2. Moto 2 is the second level of international motorcycle road racing and feature 600cc motorcycles with identical engines, but different chassis manufacturers. Honda supplies the engines.

Back at the coach, I read for a bit and took a short nap. We went back to the track for a pit walk open to premium pass holders – we had it and an invitation. The pit walk was very loosely organized. We wandered the pits and took a gander at the bikes and watched some of the teams preparing for Saturday. At the Repsol Honda garage, the mechanics had repaired Marc Marquez’s bike – he took a fall in FP 2. They also serviced his back-up bike and were test running them.

Honda mechanics running bikes to check for leaks and proper function

Here are a few of the bikes.

Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha

Working on Maverick Vinales’ Yamaha

Andrea Dovizioso’s Ducati

Jack Miller’s Pramac Ducati

Cal Crutchlow’s LCR Honda

Scott Redding’s Aprilia

On the pit lane – the hill into turn one in the background is much steeper than it appears

After we left the pit lane, we walked through the MotoAmerica paddock. MotoAmerica is an American National Championship road racing series. I talked to Roger Hayden – a team Yoshimura Suzuki rider and asked about the bumps on the track a lot of the riders were complaining about. He said the back straight was bumpy and a so were a few other spots, but he didn’t think it was as bad as some of the riders were saying. Of course, he’s on a production based 1000cc Superbike, not a Moto GP prototype that’s going a bit faster.

Today we have thunderstorms in the forecast. If it happens, it may create problems for some of the sessions. FP 3 is scheduled this morning then FP 4 in the afternoon followed by the qualifying sessions. If the rain floods the track, Free Practice times will be used to set the grid instead of the usual qualifying.

We’ll dress accordingly and check it out. But if we have hard rain, I’m coming back to the coach to watch it on TV!

Dynamite Town

We talk a lot about being flexible in this lifestyle. One thing we’ve learned by being flexible is that we can find something of interest no matter where we are at the time. Here in Benson, things seem really quiet and not so exciting. So, we looked for things to see and do.

Donna went for a 5-mile hike Thursday morning. There’s a water tank on a bluff to the west of the SKP Saguaro RV Park. Donna found a trail that led up the bluff.

Water tank at the southwest corner of the rv park

Once up on the bluff, she had a great view of the area and took some photos.

Trail on the bluff

View of the SKP Saguaro park and the San Pedro River Valley to the east

She saw a large coyote and a snake on her hike along with a variety of desert plants.

Large ocotillo plant

Pencil cholla cactus

View to the southwest – Apache Peak and Karchner Cavern State Park

On Friday, we rode the Spyder into town and had a look around. We had a treat at the Old Benson Ice Cream Stop. The town of Benson was founded in 1880 when the Southern Pacific Railroad came through Arizona. Benson was a shipping point for the booming mining towns to the south – such as Tombstone and Bisbee.

There was some agriculture and also cattle ranches. The San Pedro River provided water. In the mid to late 1800s, the Chiricahua Apaches in the area engaged in warfare. Their most well-known leaders were Geronimo and Cochise. In 1885-1886, the American and Mexican militaries rounded up the Chiricahua and they were relocated to Florida.

Before the town was established, there was stage depot about a mile north of Benson where the Butterfield Stage Line stopped. The depot was guarded by eight soldiers. It was used as a stopover between Dragoon Pass to the east and Tucson to the west.

A smelter was built in Benson to convert silver and copper from the surrounding mines to bullion. Eventually, the overland wagons delivering the ore were replaced by a number of rail lines to the mining towns to the south. Benson became a hub city with more train traffic than Tucson!

I learned much of this history from a paper given to us at the SKP park. While were looking around in town, we wanted to stop at the Benson Museum. It closed at 2pm on Friday and we were too late, so we found the Arena Bar. It’s located on a nearly 10-acre lot on the northeast side of town and is home to a rodeo arena and several buildings. We stopped in for a cold one and found it to be a friendly place. They hold several events there. An interesting note – their liquor license allows customers to take their drinks anywhere on the property.

Arena Bar

On Saturday morning, we went back to the Benson Museum. We learned a little more history of the area including another driver of the local economy – Apache Powder Company – now called Apache Nitrogen Products, Inc.

Apache Powder Company began producing explosives – dynamite and nitroglycerin – in 1922. We were told at the museum that at one time, Apache Powder Company was the second largest producer of dynamite in the country. The explosives were mainly used by the mining industry.

Apache Powder Company display

The museum entry costs $5/person – $4 for seniors. It had a lot of items that were common from the late 1800s to about 1960. It might not have been the most exciting way to spend the day, but we enjoyed learning a little history of the area.

On Saturday evening, Donna grilled lemon-herb marinated boneless chicken thighs on the Weber Q and served it with black beans and grilled summer squash, peppers and onions. The summer squash came from a community vegetable garden here in the RV park.

Grilled lemon-herb marinated chicken and sides

This morning Donna hiked up the bluff again, returning on a different trail. Meanwhile I watched the Formula One race from Bahrain. It was an entertaining race, but it was marred by a pit lane accident involving Kimi Raikonnen and left one his pit crew with a possible leg fracture.

Later we watched the Moto GP race from Argentina. It was absolutely the craziest motorcycle race I’ve ever watched. The craziness started before the start of the race with a penalty given to 23 of the 24 riders, allowing Jack Miller to have a headstart from his pole position – he was the only one without a penalty. Marc Marquez rode like a mad man – he was fastest but he caused two crashes and was penalized twice in the race. The next Moto GP race is in Austin, Texas in two weeks. We’ll be there to see the best motorcycle racers in the world on the most sophisticated and powerful road racing motorcycles built.

This afternoon, I have to load up the trailer – we have the Weber Q out and last night I took out the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker grill to cook up Memphis style babyback ribs – a favorite. We’ll pull out tomorrow and head south through Tombstone to Desert Oasis Campground near Bisbee – a relocation of about 60 miles.

 

 

 

Stub Hub Bus

Sini let us use her car on Saturday morning to start a fun-filled weekend. Donna and I drove up to San Diego State University and picked up Lainey, our granddaughter. The next stop was in the Little Italy district downtown where we hit the farmers’ market. We browsed through the vendor stalls and made a couple of purchases. We ran into our friends, Hans and Lisa there (Metamorphosis Road).

Then we drove down the waterfront to Seaport Village. There are a number of shops, restaurants and a fresh seafood market there. We walked out on the G Street pier to check out the fresh caught fish. We found a burned wreck of a fishing vessel. I remembered reading something about a fishing boat that burned near downtown – it produced so much smoke that some businesses had to close.

The blaze started on Friday, September 30th. The 120-foot fishing boat, Norton Sound, was docked at the G Street pier when it caught fire. The boat burned for a couple of days before the fire was under control, despite the efforts of the San Diego Firefighters and Harbor Police which involved pumping 2,000 gallons of water per minute onto the boat and pier. The blaze reached a temperature of 2,500 degrees and the steel superstructure melted.

Burned and melted Norton Sound

No one was on board at the time and the cause of the fire is undetermined. The ship once belonged to the Norton Sound Seafood Company, but is now owned by three residents of Mexico. It took three days to bring the temperature on board down to 100 degrees. The boat remains docked at the G Street pier and I don’t know what the final disposition of it will be.

View of the USS Midway from the G Street pier

We had lunch at the San Diego Pier Cafe – it’s a nice cafe built on pilings right on the water.

Lainey, me and Donna at Seaport Village

We drove Lainey back to the campus and had a tour of her dormitory. It’s an interesting set-up. She shares a room with two roommates and the common area – bathroom and kitchen – is shared with five others in the suite of rooms.

On Sunday morning, I was up early. My friend, Gary Stemple, is a Chargers season ticket holder although the team has left San Diego. He invited me to join him for the game against Buffalo at the Stub Hub Center. This stadium is located on the California State University Dominguez Hills campus in Carson, California – up in Los Angeles County about 100 miles from San Diego. There are multiple facilities at the center including a velodrome, tennis arena and soccer stadium. The Chargers play in the soccer stadium.

Sunday morning sunrise behind the mesa over De Anza Cove

We met up before 7am at the Old Town Transit Center. It was a nine dollar Lyft ride from the RV park. At the transit center, we boarded a bus chartered by the 5 North Bolt company – they are a tour bus company that provides transportation to Chargers home games and they also host a tailgate party. The bus we were on was one of two buses leaving Old Town at 7:30am. There were only 15 people on our bus which could accommodate more than 50 people. We made a stop in Oceanside and picked up more passengers.

They served drinks – cocktails like Bloody Marys and mimosas and craft beer from Mike Hess Brewing in San Diego. It seemed like most of the people on the bus were season ticket holders and were regulars on the tour bus. It was fun meeting and talking to people.

Young Chargers fan on the bus

We made another stop in Costa Mesa where we picked up more people and they loaded food for the tailgate party from Hooters. The bus ride including drinks, food and a bathroom on board costs 80 dollars. We also had a fun raffle for Chargers gear in Costa Mesa.

The atmosphere at the tailgate area of Stub Hub Center was different from what I’d experienced in San Diego. At Stub Hub, they confine all of the tailgating to one fairly small area. Everyone is packed together and there were competing sound systems. Parking in the tailgate section costs $100 per event! Some of the people had elaborate bar set-ups they brought in pick-up trucks.

Thunder Alley tail gate area

5 North Bolt had a canopy and tables set with food and drinks. Everyone on the bus was given wrist bands to show for food and drink.

Sliders from Hooters

It was a fun time and everyone was really friendly. I met a guy from up in the San Fernando Valley. I asked him how a guy from the valley became a Chargers fan. He told me his family were Raiders fans. He went to one game in Oakland and said it was scary. Then he went to a Raiders game when they played in San Diego. He said it was so much fun, the people were friendly and there were pretty women all over the stadium. That won him over as a Chargers fan.

Gary and I walked to the tennis arena where another tailgate session was in progress. To be honest, I don’t know how we got in to this party. Gary checked us in at a table near the entrance and we were given another wristband.

Gary heading down to another tailgate party

They had a group of drummers performing and of course, more beer.

Group of drummers

We met some people where we shared a table. One guy was there for his first NFL football game.

Gary with new friends from San Fernando

We finally made our way to our seats in the south end zone just before kick-off. Stub Hub Center is a relatively small venue – it seats about 27,000 people in the stadium. We were seated close to the field next to the tunnel from the locker rooms.

View from our seats at the stadium

Inexplicably, the Buffalo Bills benched their regular quarterback and started a rookie with only about 4 minutes of previous regular season playing time. The Chargers defense stymied him and intercepted five of his 14 first-half passes. At half time, the Chargers were up 37-7. The final score was a blowout – Chargers 54, Buffalo 24.

I snoozed on most of the bus ride back to Old Town. Gary and I shared a Lyft ride and I was dropped off at the Mission Bay RV Resort. I had more than my fill of fun and beer and plan to lie low today.

Riana and Bandelier

The weekend at Riana Campground at Abiquiu Lake, New Mexico was so quiet and relaxing, we ended up extending a day until Tuesday morning. They don’t allow anyone to enter the campground after 10pm, but it was always quiet by dark anyway. There were a few empty sites through the weekend. The occupied sites had a mix of RVs and even a couple of tent campers. A lot of fisherman come here on the weekend to try their luck on the lake.

These folks look like they have a comfortable set up in their Tab pull-behind trailer

On Saturday, Donna went hiking through the Corps of Engineers Park. They have a few trails and she hiked them all and ended up at the beach for a swim. She was confused to see boats there, but it turned out that Santa Fe Adaptive Sports had reserved the beach to take people with disabilities out on the lake.

View of the Abiquiu Lake beach from Donna’s hike on a trail up on a bluff

While she was out, I investigated the trouble we’ve been having with the Cummins ISL engine in our coach. I have a loss of turbocharger boost intermittently with a great loss of power and when I have boost it doesn’t seem like I have full power. Digging around in the cramped engine compartment, I found an issue that isn’t good. We have a crack in the exhaust manifold. This is allowing exhaust to leak from the manifold and reduces the flow to the turbocharger impeller. This is not an easy repair, especially with an engine shoehorned into a diesel pusher motorhome. I think there’s more than one issue with the turbo boost, but the manifold will have to replaced before any further troubleshooting can take place.

In the afternoon, we rode the Spyder to Bode’s General Store in Abiquiu and split a green chile cheeseburger. It wasn’t as good as were led to believe – we’re looking forward to a Blake’s Lotaburger green chili cheeseburger in Albuquerque. We managed to outrun the daily afternoon thundershower back to the coach.

On Sunday, I watched the Moto GP race from Monza, Italy and NFL Football. Donna was more ambitious and rode the Spyder to Ghost Ranch – about eight miles up highway 84. She wanted to hike the Chimney Rock Trail there. It was a 3-mile roundtrip with stunning vistas at the top. She enjoyed the hike so much that after having a little snack, she decided to hike the 4-mile Box Canyon Trail too. But somehow, she ended up going past the turn-around and put in a total of 10 miles of hiking. Ghost Ranch was true to its name – very few people out and about there.

Heading up the Chimney Rock Trail

Donna found a friend along the way

Top of the Chimney Rock Trail looking back toward Abiquiu Lake

Donna shot a photo of an interesting looking lizard on the trail. I can’t tell if it’s a collared lizard with a lot of yellow coloring for whatever reason or a spotted whiptail.

On Monday, Donna got into cleaning mode and went to town on the coach. She even took out the screens and cleaned them along with the windows. I straightened the trailer out and reorganized a basement compartment. I had the Spyder in the trailer by evening and watched the Monday Night Football double-header.

After a quick breakfast on Tuesday, we got an early start and headed down to White Rock – a small town near Los Alamos. In White Rock, there’s a visitor center conveniently located on the main drag. It has RV parking with 16 pull-through sites and 50amp electrical service in a dedicated RV lot. It also has a shuttle stop on the street for a free ride to Bandelier National Monument.

We arrived around 10:30am and got situated. I paid at the automated kiosk for one night – $20. We caught the 11:30am shuttle for the 25-minute ride up to the Bandelier Information Center. From 9am to 3pm daily, the only way to access Bandelier is by shuttle – this reduces the traffic and the free shuttles run every 30 minutes. Bandelier National Monument encompasses almost 34,000 acres but has only three miles of public road and 70 miles of hiking trails. We were interested in the Frijoles Canyon with the Main Loop Trail and ancient ruins including cliff dwellings.

The Main Loop Trail is mostly paved and a fairly easy hike. It does have a few steep rocky sections and to access the cliff dwellings you must climb rustic ladders. We spent nearly two hours hiking and toured the entire loop and also went up to the Alcove section – a high cliff dwelling that requires a 140-foot vertical climb – including steps and ladders to the caves. The nice thing about this place is you can actually enter many of the old caves, rooms and dwelling sites.

Ruins of ground level dwellings and food storage rooms more than 600 years old

Another view of the ruins – the hole in the ground is the foundation of a kiva – a communal meeting room

The cliffs and terrain are rugged yet beautiful

The people lived in cramped quarters – Donna in a doorway to a cliff dwelling

This dwelling was roomier – adjoining rooms in fact

If you look closely you might pick out Donna 140 feet up in the Alcove

As we made our way up the canyon, a thunder shower moved in. We could hear the thunder rumbling through the canyon and about 30 minutes later we were cooled off by a few rain drops – it was in the mid 80s.

After riding the shuttle back to our coach, we walked across the street to Smith’s Grocery. What a great location – walking distance to grocery shopping – and a short walk at that. We were back in the coach minutes before clouds rolled in for the afternoon thunder shower. We had half an hour of off-and-on rain, then the skies cleared again.

Tomorrow we’ll move on to Santa Fe for a week stay. I have an appointment in Albuquerque a week from Thursday with Rocky Mountain Cummins to get the exhaust manifold replaced. Hopefully I won’t have any surprises there.