Category Archives: Tours

Gettysburg

I unloaded the scooter after posting to the blog yesterday. Donna went out for a walk while I was at it. When Donna returned, we rode the scooter from Artillery Ridge Camping Resort to Historic Gettysburg.

On the way to town, we rode through the Gettysburg National Military Park, then we stopped at the battlefield on the east side of Baltimore Pike. The battlefield is a park with monuments, statues and restored cannons from the Civil War. Most of the area is preserved with fence lines and fields much as they were in 1863.

Major General Oliver O. Howard Memorial

Major General Winfield Scott Hancock

Donna overlooking part of the battlefield

We left the scooter in the free parking lot at the Gettysburg Tour Center. You can buy a ticket and take bus tours of the various battlefields and monuments there. Donna and I aren’t into organized group tours. We may miss some of the sights, but we prefer to move at our own pace and decide where to spend our time.

We walked past the Jennie Wade House. Jennie Wade was the only direct civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg when a stray bullet struck her while she was in the kitchen making biscuits for soldiers. She was 20 years old.

We continued walking and went to see the Gettysburg Diorama. It’s in an old building on Steinwehr Avenue. It was hot and humid out, but we enjoyed walking through the quaint old village. Although the area is geared toward tourists, it still has the small village feel.

We had free tickets for the diorama courtesy of the campground. The owners of Artillery Ridge Camping Resort also happen to own the Gettysburg Diorama and a few other attractions in town. The Gettysburg Diorama is the largest military diorama in the country. We arrived just in time for the 11am show. I took a few pictures before the show began.

The diorama recreates the town and surrounding 6,000 acres as it appeared during the battle in July 1863. It contains over 20,000 hand-painted soldiers, horses, cannons and buildings. For the show, we sat in a small three-row bleacher along with a few other people. The show has light and sound effects and video displays as a narrator takes you through the events of July 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 1863 which comprised the Battle of Gettysburg. The narrative was comprehensive, describing the ebb and flow of the fight. There were more than 46,000 casualties including nearly 8,000 killed in the three-day battle.

After the 20-minute show, we walked back up the street to the Dobbin House for lunch. This is the oldest standing structure in Gettysburg. It was built by Reverend Alexander Dobbin in 1776. Today it houses a tavern serving lunch in the spring cellar and a dinner restaurant upstairs. We had lunch in the tavern. Donna had a French onion soup and spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. I had a reuben sandwich washed down with IPA from Troegs Brewery in nearby Hershey, Pennsylvania. The IPA was excellent – citrusy and spicy.

Dobbin House

One of many historical markers on the street

We walked around a little more, then made our way back to the scooter. On the way home, I first stopped at a pizza restaurant to buy Yuengling beer. Yuengling traditional lager is a low alcohol (4.4% ABV) beer brewed in the pre-prohibition style. Yuengling is America’s oldest brewery. Here in Pennsylvania, they have weird alcohol laws. You can buy beer at a distributor, but you must buy a case at a time. Anything less than a case can only be bought at a restaurant that has a beer license. Grocery stores only have watered down 3.2% ABV beer.

We made another stop past the campground at a vegetable and fruit stand and bought fresh corn on the cob that they said was just picked two hours earlier. We also bought some really juicy plums and peaches.

When we came back to our site, Donna headed for the pool. She didn’t make it far before she heard thunder and returned to the coach as it started raining.

Roomy uphill site 422

We hung out inside and read. For dinner, I dodged a couple of showers and grilled sausage and corn on the cob. Donna served it with sauteed asparagus, peppers and onions with grated parmesan cheese.

Sausage, corn and asparagus plate

I need to get busy and load the scooter. Today we’ll move about 80 miles to Cherry Hill Park in College Park, Maryland – just north of Washington D.C. I’m hoping my youngest daughter, Shauna, can join us for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we’ll take the train into DC and have a look around. We’ve been to all of the big monuments before, so we may take in the Newseum this time.

Indian Lake

After posting to the blog and doing a few chores, I loaded Donna’s bike in the back of Tommy’s truck and we piled in yesterday. We drove through Warrensburg up US9 to NY28. We followed NY28 which runs along the upper Hudson River up to Indian Lake, a distance of about 45 miles (map). By the time we got there, after making a stop at the train station in North River, it was noon.

The plan was to drop off Donna and her bicycle at Indian Lake and she would cycle back to the Lake George Escape campground. We decided to find lunch before she made the ride back. We ended up at the Indian Lake Restaurant and Tavern. The place has an interesting history dating back to the 1800s when the bar was located in Princeton, New Jersey. In the 1930s, the bar was going to be demolished as Palmer Square was being constructed. The bar was bought, disassembled and reassembled at Indian Lake.

Bar history – click to enlarge

Donna waiting for lunch at the bar

Donna ordered a tandoori naan bread pizza with cheese, artichoke and chicken. I had the fish sandwich. The food was excellent! I paired my sandwich with a locally brewed IPA from Paradox Brewery in Schroon Lake called Beaver Bite IPA. It was average at best. I’m still searching for a locally brewed IPA in the east that matches the flavorful offerings of West Coast-style IPA.

Beaver Bite IPA on tap

We dropped Donna off outside of town at 1:15pm and she started her ride back. Her route would take her back through North River and Wevertown before she headed down US9 to Warrensburg. I expected her to ride for about three hours.

As we drove back, Tommy took a detour at Thirteenth Lake Road. We drove a few miles, then turned into the Siamese Pond Wilderness Area. It covers more than 100,000 acres and, like all designated wilderness areas, prohibits motor vehicles. We made a short hike down to Thirteenth Lake and had a look around.

Thirteenth Lake in the Siamese Pond Wilderness Area

On the way in, before we hit the wilderness boundary, we passed the Barton Garnet Mine. They offer tours of one of the largest garnet mines in the world. They’ve been mining garnet in the area since 1878. The mine tours started in 1933 and you are able to find and keep garnet stones you find on the tour. Garnet is the January birthstone and the state stone of New York.

When we came back onto NY28, we were almost to North River when we saw Donna cycling up ahead. I was really surprised to see her that far from her starting point. She had some long downhill stretches and was making good time.

We stopped at Oscar’s Adirondack Smoke House where I bought two racks of uncooked baby back ribs. I plan to cook them on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill on Thursday evening.

After Tommy and I returned to the campground, I went out and explored the place. Around 3:20pm, my phone rang. It was Donna. She was in Warrensburg and said she just rode past the Top Foods store and didn’t remember seeing it when we drove through earlier. I told her she was on track and would see her turn at Horicon Street by the Chinese restaurant a little ways down the road. She made it home about 25 minutes later.

Last night, Donna prepared turkey burgers with special sauce – a recipe she got from Karin Von Kay. Donna met Karin when we were in Des Moines and they exchanged several recipes. The special sauce had an Asian flavor profile. I put a grill mat on the Traeger and cooked the burgers. Linda joined us for dinner. She put pretzel rolls on her grill and toasted them. The turkey burgers with special sauce were outstanding.

Turkey burger with special sauce on pretzel roll

This morning, Ozark woke us up by walking over us. She would walk over the top of Donna, then stretch and reach over to me before walking up my belly and onto my chest. She gently bites and chews my fingers. I think it’s her way of saying it’s time to get up and feed me and pet me.

Yesterday’s temperature reached 83 degrees. The forecast calls for highs in the upper 70s over the next couple of days before we reach the 80s again. I don’t have a plan for today. There are a few chores I should do and maybe I’ll get my mountain bike out and kick around.

Lake George Village

It was mostly cloudy and very warm yesterday – the temperature didn’t hit the expected 90 degrees, but it was close. Donna got her power walk in early. In the afternoon, she and I rode the scooter to Lake George Village.

The village of about 3,500 people is located on the southwestern tip of Lake George. Lake George is a long, narrow lake. It’s 32 miles long (oriented north-south) and only two miles wide at its widest point. In 1646, a French priest, Isaac Jogues, named the lake “Lac du Saint Sacrement” (Lake of the Blessed Sacrament). In 1755, General William Johnson renamed it Lake George in honor of King George.

Today the village is fueled by tourism. There are many resorts along the lake and shops and restaurants. I was surprised by the number of people out on the streets on a cloudy Monday afternoon. Most of the lakefront property is private and the only public access on the south end seems to be the public beach and waterfront park in the village.

Parking in the village isn’t free unless you are a patron of one of the restaurants. The restaurant lots have attendants to ensure that only restaurant customers park there. Everywhere else, including parking on the street, has a fee. For a short stay, metered parking can be had for 25 cents per 15 minutes. All-day parking lots run up to $10.

People on Beach Street in the village

Beach Road runs along the waterfront through Lake George Battlefield Park. On the west end of Beach Road, a number of shops and eateries are located across the street from the lake.

View to the northeast from Beach Street

The Lake George Steamboat Company is located on Beach Street. They operate sightseeing cruises on the lake with old-fashioned paddle wheel boats.

Docks along Beach Street – paddle wheel steamer in the background

We barely had a chance to look around when raindrops started falling. I looked at the weather radar app on my smartphone and it looked ominous. A large cell was west of us and it looked like we could have a wet ride home if we didn’t hustle out of there.

We donned our helmets and rode back up US9 five miles to Schroon River Road and back to the Lake George Escape Campground. Wouldn’t you know it, the skies cleared as we rode home. The storm cell had moved quickly to the east of us with only a few raindrops hitting the ground. I’m about as good as any weather guesser – I guessed wrong.

Later we joined Linda and Tommy for dinner. Linda made pulled pork in her crock pot. Donna added black beans and brown rice and I grilled zucchini with lemon salt. A delicious meal. The pulled pork had the right amount of spice and was so tender. Donna served some coconut mango ice cream for dessert that she whipped up in her Vitamix.

Pulled pork, black beans and rice with grilled zucchini

Today we should have another cloudy day with the temperature a little cooler. There’s a chance of a thunder shower in the afternoon. We’ll see what the day brings.

Secret Caverns

On Friday morning, Donna and I rode the scooter down Caverns Road, aptly named as Secret Caverns and Howes Caverns are located along this road. This area of upstate New York, north of the Catskills Mountains, has a number of caves. Intrepid spelunkers can explore on their own, but beginners are best advised to tour one of the commercial caverns.

Howe Caverns is located on a large, well-developed property with a motel, gift shop and outdoor activities. It has an elevator that drops you 156 feet into the earth and the tour includes a boat ride on an underground river. It’s the second most visited attraction in New York State after Niagara Falls. In 1928, another cavern was found nearby. Roger Mallery was working as an engineer developing Howes Cavern at the time. He purchased the newly found cavern up the road and called it Secret Caverns and began to develop it.

Secret Caverns is doesn’t have the huge manicured lawns and buildings found at Howes. It’s a little off-beat and funky. We opted to visit Secret Caverns. Donna had been to Howes before, but this was her first trip to Secret Caverns.

Secret Caverns is still owned by the Mallery family. Being privately owned, they set the rules and the rules are pretty loose. You take the tour with a guide. The guide tells corny jokes and also gives interesting facts. The guide also operates the lighting – turning lights on as you make your way down and turning lights off behind the group.

The first part of the descent into the earth is on steps either cut into the rock or cast from concrete. Water drips from the ceiling in many areas and the steps are mostly wet – along with the hand rail. You’re allowed to touch the walls and take all the pictures you want on this tour.

At the bottom of the 103 steps, the cavern floor becomes a narrow trail that slowly descends. The overhead clearance is low at times, I’m only 5′ 9″ and I had to duck to get through some sections. It’s also narrow enough in places to make your shoulders hunch. The temperature inside the cavern is a constant 50 degrees year ’round.

I won’t try to explain all of the pictures – hopefully they capture some of the feeling in the cave.

Entrance

Cave entry

Calcite flowstone

Narrow passage

100-foot waterfall at the bottom

At the bottom of the cave, there’s a 100-foot waterfall. A subterranean stream empties into the cave. It’s warmer by the waterfall as the water hasn’t cooled as much as the water that seeps through the stone. It’s also very humid by the falls. The waterfall forms a shallow pool before it seeps into the Cobleskill and Schoharie creeks.

On the way back up, the guide stopped us about halfway and turned out the lights. It’s total darkness without artificial light. You can’t see your hand in front of your face! The last part of the tour was climbing up 103 wet steps to exit. It was fun and I recommend the tour.

Afterwards, Donna and I rode through the Howes Cavern property but didn’t stop. It was crowded – it’s a popular place. From there we rode to the Caverns Palace Restaurant and met up with Donna’s parents for lunch. The food was good and it was a great opportunity to visit with Duke and Lorraine before we pulled out of the area.

I spent most of the afternoon packing the trailer and stowing the windshield covers and tire covers. I also checked tire pressures. I drained the water from our fresh water tank. I had filled it at Addison Oaks in Michigan where the water is hard and had lots of iron along with other minerals. I had filtered the water, but the naturally soft water here is so much better. I refilled the tank with 100 gallons of fresh water.

Some people don’t travel with a full fresh water tank – they don’t want the weight. I prefer to have the tank full and the holding tanks empty. You never know what might come up on the road. If you’re stranded or stuck somewhere, plenty of fresh water, holding tank capacity and diesel fuel all come in handy.

I grilled wild salmon on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill for dinner along with sliced red onions wrapped in aluminum foil. Donna served the caramelized onions over the salmon. I’m still learning how to use this grill and unfortunately I overcooked the salmon.

Caramelized red onions on grilled salmon

On Saturday morning, after a brief thundershower, we pulled out of our site and hit the dump station. We made our way up to Amsterdam, New York and headed east on NY29. We drove through back country roads and found a Walmart that allows overnight parking in Queensbury.

Today we’ll make the 20-mile drive to the Lake George Escape campground and meet up with Donna’s sister Linda and her husband Tommy.

Cat Call

We rode the scooter back to the College of the Ozarks yesterday – I wrote about our visit there last weekend in this post. We wanted to see some things that weren’t open on the weekend.

First, we stopped at the tractor museum. The College of the Ozarks has an agriculture program, so a museum with farm tractors and other implements is fitting. The displays are housed in an air-conditioned building with three rooms. They have farm tractors from the early 1900s up to a tractor that was used by the school in the 1990s.

The first successful farm tractor in the U.S. was built by Charles W. Hart and Charles H. Parr in Charles City, Iowa. I don’t know if the name of the city has anything to do with their given names. In 1903, they built 15 farm tractors with two-cylinder gasoline engines.

The early tractors had steel wheels with cleats for traction. Around 1930, lugged rubber pneumatic tires for tractors were developed and retro-fitted on some tractors. These tires proved to be better – they offered better traction and fuel savings. They didn’t ruin pavement where the steel cleats would punch holes. And they could be used to cultivate around trees without damaging the roots. By 1932, tractors were coming from the factory with rubber tires. Instead of giving a blow-by-blow account of the museum, I’ll post pictures.

1929 Hart Parr

1930 Rumely

1919 Wallis

Farmall

John Deere

Oliver Row Crop 77

1954 Chevrolet truck used by the college

After I had enough of the tractor display, we went to the Edwards Mill building. This is a working old-fashioned mill that stone-grinds grains.

Donna by the water wheel that powers the mill

Mill stones that were used for 100 years

Click to enlarge

The main floor of the Edwards Mill is a store. They sell a variety of stone ground flour, sausage, jerky and jellies made on campus. They also have books and a few other items. Upstairs, they have a weaving room with looms of all sizes.

Two of the looms in the weaving room

Our next stop was the Dobyns restaurant at the Keeter Center on campus. We didn’t have reservations and the wait would be 30 minutes or more. We were hungry, so we took a quick look around the beautiful Adirondack-style building and left.

We had lunch at the Brunch Club by the Harter House store on the way home. I ordered their Chinese lunch special – General’s chicken. It was a mistake. Donna enjoyed her catfish, but we were left wishing we would have waited at Dobyns. Donna bought groceries at Harter House, including two bacon-wrapped filet mignons for dinner.

When I was grilling chicken the other night, a cat appeared under our coach. The cat was very skittish and wary. It was also skinny. When I approached, it ran off and hid under our neighbor’s coach. I broke off a couple of chunks of grilled chicken and tossed them in the grass near the cat. It waited until I was back inside our coach before it came out to eat the chicken.

Last night, as I was grilling the filets, the cat appeared again. This time I knelt down and clicked my tongue softly. The cat approached me and let me pet it. I came inside and had Donna open a can of tuna. She put about half the can of tuna on a paper plate. I went back outside and the cat approached me again. I put the plate down and the cat scarfed the tuna quickly.

Cat visitor dining on tuna

While I grilled the filets, Donna gave the cat a little milk for dessert. The filets came out great. I also grilled fresh corn on the cob to go with the steak. I like to soak the corn in the husk for about 20 minutes before I put it on the grill. Some people say this isn’t necessary, but I do it to keep the husk from burning and it also steams the corn inside the husk. The bacon-wrapped filets and fresh corn on the cob were outstanding.

Bacon-wrapped filet mignon hot off the grill

While we ate, our new feline friend hung around. She rubbed up against our legs as we dined and then laid next to the table to take a snooze.

After dinner – nap time

We’ll head back over to the College of the Ozarks for the farmers’ market this morning. Hopefully we’ll beat the rain in the forecast. Thunderstorms are a certainty by this afternoon according to the weather guessers.

Table Rock Dam

Turkey Creek RV Village is located near the mouth of Turkey Creek where it flows into Lake Taneycomo. Lake Taneycomo was formed when a dam (Powersite Dam) was built on the White River near Forsyth, Missouri in 1913. The name Taneycomo came from its location – Taney County, MO. The lake resembles a river although it is in fact a reservoir.

In 1958, Table Rock Dam was completed upstream from Branson and Table Rock Lake was formed. Cold water running through turbines to generate electricity from deep in Table Rock Lake changed the character of Lake Taneycomo. Near the Table Rock Dam, the water in Lake Taneycomo runs fast and the temperature is in the 40s. As you travel down Lake Taneycomo, the current slows, the depth increases and temperature rises.

Spillway at Table Rock Dam

Last week’s heavy rainfall has the spillways at Table Rock Dam releasing water at a rate of 20,000 cubic feet per second. By regulating the flow from Table Rock Lake in coordination with water released at Powersite Dam, flooding along Lake Taneycomo is controlled.

Water running cold and fast near Table Rock Dam – the sign warns of sudden increases in flow.

Donna and I rode the scooter up to Table Rock Lake yesterday and explored. Our first stop was at a part of Table Rock State Park, just below the dam where I shot the two photos above. The dam is 6,423 feet long and stands 252 feet above the stream bed (943 feet above mean sea level).

We scootered across the dam and went to the Shepard of the Hills Fish Hatchery. The Shepard of the Hills Fish Hatchery raises 800,000 trout per year and they’re released into local waterways, making Lake Taneycomo a trout fishing destination. The state record brown trout was caught here.

Touring the hatchery is free. They have guided tours several times per day. Donna and I opted for a self-guided tour of the facility. We started inside the air-conditioned building. The heat and humidity outside was oppressive at 90 degrees. They have an aquarium display with various trout sub-species in all sizes.

Trout aquarium

This guy was a lunker – I’d love to hook something like this!

We went outside and walked along the raceways full of fish. I’ve been to hatcheries before, but I don’t recall ever seeing this many fish.

The raceways were covered with mesh to protect the fish from herons and other birds of prey. Although I saw people lifting the mesh along the edge to take pictures, I didn’t do that because there were signs prohibiting it. I shot photos through the mesh. They have fish food dispensing machines – a quarter gives you a handful of pellets. The fish are conditioned to receiving handouts and swim en masse toward people by the raceway.

Young trout

Small trout expecting me to feed them

We found a raceway filled with brood stock ranging from three to 13 pounds. These fish are kept for a few years to lay and fertilize eggs. Some of them breed in the spring, others in the fall. I bought a couple of handfuls of pellets and the big trout went wild when I threw fish food pellets into their raceway.

Large breeders in a feeding frenzy

We’d been out in the sun long enough so we returned to the air-conditioned building. We found another room there with terrariums filled with more local wildlife. They had turtles, snakes and frogs. There were also taxidermy displays.

Trout are not native to Missouri but have been in the lakes and rivers here since their introduction in the 1880s. After cooling off inside, we got back on the scooter and backtracked to the Chateau on the Lake – a resort hotel and spa overlooking Table Rock Lake.

Entrance to Chateau on the Lake

We took a look around and continued back to the dam. We stopped again at the Branson Belle. The Branson Belle is a showboat offering lunch and dinner cruises on Table Rock Lake. The two-and-half-hour cruise includes lunch or dinner plus a variety show. Cost is about $70 per person.

The Branson Belle viewed from a covered deck

While we were there, we saw the ubiquitous Ride the Ducks amphibious tour vehicles. These vehicles offer tour rides throughout the area including a splash into Table Rock Lake.

Ride the Duck tour vehicles

Amphibious tour vehicle in Table Rock Lake

We made a stop on the way home – Donna bought a few groceries and I bought fender washers at Lowes. Back home, I installed the fender washers to complete the air conditioner shroud replacement. It was hot on the roof! By then it was beer-thirty and I called it a day.

The Texas Mosey

The weather on Friday was a mixed bag, but we didn’t have any of the heavy rains that we had the night before. The precipitation was mostly a light mist drizzling down. Every once in a while, the sun would break through for a few minutes. Of course, every time I stepped outside, raindrops would start falling.

The water level in Turkey Creek receded throughout the day, although the woods along the bank here at Turkey Creek RV Village remain flooded. The ground is so saturated that I’ve had to re-level the coach a few times. Even though I put 12″ square pads under the foot of the jacks on the left side of the coach where it’s low, the pads are sinking into the ground.

Donna did her usual power walk on Friday. I spent a lot of time on Friday dealing with a vendor that shipped new air conditioner shrouds for our rooftop air conditioners. When I tracked the packages, it showed delivery was refused and the packages were going back to the shipper. It’s a long story that I will tell you about later.

On Saturday morning, Donna and I rode the scooter to Branson for the weekly farmers’ market. I rode to the intersection at Pacific Street and Business 65 where the market was supposed to be. No sign of an open air farmers’ market. We asked a delivery guy on the street about the market – he said it hasn’t been there for months. I guess they need to update their web page.

Since we were out and about, we decided to ride back through Hollister and head west to the College of the Ozarks. The College of the Ozarks is located on a beautiful, 16-acre campus at Point Lookout. We scootered through the campus and saw a few buildings that we want to return to. One of them is a tractor and farm implement museum. Since it was Saturday, the museum was closed. I’m a gearhead, but it isn’t just racing machinery that fascinates me. I like old tractors, trucks and trains too.

The College of the Ozarks is a Christian liberal arts school. It charges no tuition for full-time students. Instead, it has a work program for students which requires 15 hours of work at on-campus work stations per week plus two 40-hour work weeks during breaks. Approximately 1,500 students attend the college which is staffed by a faculty of about 90. It awards Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. It was originally called the School of the Ozarks. In 1973, the Wall Street Journal dubbed it “Hard Work U” and the nickname stuck. In 1990, the name was changed to College of the Ozarks.

We rode around the campus trying to find the Point Lookout view. The signage was confusing, but a student gave us directions. We parked the scooter at the Williams Memorial Chapel on campus and walked out to the viewpoint.

Williams Memorial Chapel

We followed the walkway behind the chapel. The viewpoint was a rocky outcropping with a metal railing. Parts of it were wet and slippery from runoff. The rocky point had natural steps as well as carved steps leading down and away from the sidewalk. The last step down is a long one – we had to sit on the step and hop down. Getting back up wasn’t too hard – we grabbed the rail and pulled ourselves up the giant step.

Lake Taneycomo east of Point Lookout

Home and boat docks directly below Point Lookout

Homes and boat docks directly below Point Lookout

Lake Taneycomo west of Point Lookout

It was getting hot out – humid and nearly 90 degrees. We were working up a sweat just walking. When we were in Texas, we noticed most of the locals tended to walk very slowly. We also saw that in Memphis and again around here. We came to the conclusion that when it’s this hot and humid, you don’t perspire as much if you move slowly. We adopted the Texas mosey and walked slowly back to the chapel.

We went inside the chapel and checked out the beautiful stained glass before we continued on the scooter. We rode south, then turned west on MO165. This road winds its way to Table Rock State Park and the dam at Table Rock Lake. On the way, we stopped at a roadside viewpoint and saw the dam. The spillways were releasing a surprising amount of water. With that much water flowing out of Table Rock Lake, it’s a wonder that the flood waters downstream are receding.

We rode across the dam, then turned back and stopped at the visitor center.

Table Rock Lake viewed from the visitor center

Donna talked to the park ranger about hiking in the area and picked up some maps. We’ll return on a weekday and hike along the lake. We also want to visit the fish hatchery.

On the way back, we stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant called El Patio. We were curious about the quality of Mexican cuisine in this area. We know that when we get to the upper midwest, it’s hard to find good Mexican restaurants. Donna commented that she hadn’t seen any people of Mexican descent in the area. They were all at El Patio! We took that as a good sign.

I ordered a chicken taquito and enchilada plate from the lunch menu. Donna had two fish tacos. My plate was a little bland, but Donna said the fish tacos were great. The fish filet was fried then chopped into small pieces and blended with pico de gallo. Different than most fish tacos, but tasty. As we were leaving, Donna noticed a sign at the reception desk – El Patio was voted “Best Mexican restaurant” in 2014 and has a 5-star rating on TripAdvisor.

Later we rode over to the Bass Pro Shops store at Branson Landing. I wanted to find new flip flops. My current flip flops are great. They’re anatomically shaped with super arch support and are really comfortable. But I’ve worn them almost every day for the past year and I want to have a backup pair.

I didn’t find the flip flops I wanted but I did find shorts on sale for $18. I bought two pairs and will retire an old pair. Donna found new sports sunglasses that she liked and I bought them as well.

We also stopped at Macadoodles. I was surprised to find a gal at a table in the store serving whiskey samples. In most states, this wouldn’t be legal, but Missouri has loose alcohol laws. She was serving Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey and Jack Daniels Tennessee Fire. I sampled both. The Tennessee Honey had a maple-like flavor and I wasn’t too keen on it. The Tennessee Fire was cinnamon-infused bourbon and it was great! Much smoother than Fireball whiskey. I bought a bottle to add to the liquor cabinet.

Tennessee Fire

Today I have a project to attend to. I’ll get up on the roof and clear the debris that’s been shedding off the mimosa tree. Then I’ll replace the air conditioner shrouds. Once that task is done, I’ll watch the Formula 1 Grand Prix from Austria.

Gibson Tour

Donna went out for a Sunday morning bike ride at 8:30am trying to beat the heat. She wasn’t entirely successful. By the time she returned from her 26-mile ride at 10:30am, the temperature had risen well into the 80s with high humidity.

I grilled a couple of salmon burgers that we bought at HEB in Rockport, Texas and froze for later consumption. We have two more in the freezer. We had them for lunch on onion ciabatta rolls. I wrote about the fresh salmon burgers from HEB in this post.

After lunch, I rode the scooter to Memphis via the I-55 bridge. I followed Riverside Drive to Beale Street and found my way to Lt George W Lee Avenue where the Gibson guitar factory and retail store is located. Parking is problematic in this area. I had no choice but to pay $5 to park in the Gibson lot.

Gibson retail entrance

Gibson guitars are made at four factories in three locations – Memphis is where they make the semi-hollow body and hollow body guitars. My ES339 was made here. In Nashville, Gibson USA makes the solid body guitars. Also in Nashville, the Gibson custom shop makes special guitars – my Les Paul 1960 reissue G0 was made there. In Bozeman, Montana, Gibson makes acoustic guitars – my L130 acoustic guitar was made there.

Orville Gibson founded the company at the end of the 19th century to make mandolins. The company was headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan and built guitars there until guitar production moved to Gibson USA in Nashville in 1974. The Kalamazoo plant continued operation as a custom shop until it closed in 1984 and the Nashville custom shop opened.

The tour cost $10. About 20 people were in the tour group. All tours for the weekend were sold out. They give six tours daily, Monday through Saturday from 11am to 4pm. On Sunday, they have five tours starting at noon. Our tour lasted about an hour and we walked through the entire production area. We saw how the process works from beginning to end. There’s very little automation – almost everything is carried out by hand. Each guitar takes about four weeks to to finish and they complete about 65 guitars per day here. There are several inspections during the process. About 4% of the production is scrapped due to flaws. The final finishing process is all done by hand. The guitars are painted with a nitro-cellulose finish by painters using spray guns. The last step is polishing the finish on buffing wheels. Polishing is a three-step process with increasingly finer compounds used to achieve the final lustre.

My tour ticket

It was a very interesting tour for me. I was surprised by the diverse people in our group. We had older folks and young people. We had families. Most of the people in the tour weren’t very knowledgeable about guitars – I wondered what enticed them to take the tour. I think most of them didn’t really understand what the tour guide was talking about some of the time – like when he explained the installation of truss rods or how the binding is applied.

After the tour, I walked to Beale Street a block away. It was fairly quiet as it was Sunday afternoon. I saw two bands playing – one was jamming loudly in the court where we saw the Australian guitarist on Friday night. I cooled off with a cold Wiseacre Ananda IPA at BB King’s Club. While I was at it, I checked the Statelines app (from Technomadia) on my smartphone and saw that alcohol is not sold in Arkansas on Sunday. I needed to get some beer, so I decided to stop at a store in Memphis where alcohol sales are legal on Sunday after noon. I saw a funny sign as I was walking down Beale Street.

So true

My map showed a market a couple of blocks away on Vance Street, so I scootered over there. Wow, what a difference two blocks makes in the neighborhood. The gentrified Beale Street is world away from Vance Street. The neighborhood was reminiscent of Beale Street back in the ’70s. I found of photo of Beale Street taken in 1974 on this site.

Beale Street at Third Ave circa 1974

I went into the market and made my purchase quickly. I wasn’t comfortable in this neighborhood. The people loitering on the curb outside the store looked rough. I rode back home to Tom Sawyer’s RV Park.

I was inspired to practice guitar while Donna was outside reading a book. Later, we took a walk together through the park. This RV park has very few long-term visitors. It seems like most people use it as an overnight stopping point or maybe a weekend getaway. Unlike most parks, we haven’t seen the usual weekend influx of campers or the Sunday afternoon exodus back to the workaday world. Instead, people seem to come and in and out in a fairly equal exchange. Over the four nights that we’ve been here, we’ve had four different RVs in the site across from us.

One of the rigs that’s been here since we arrived is an old GMC bus converted to an RV. A lot of the bus conversions I see are a little rough looking, but I’m always intrigued by them. Converting an old bus into an RV is a lot of work. It’s invariably a labor of love to make it into your own vision of what an RV should be.

GMC bus conversion

This is a far cry from the Millenium Coach built on a Prevost chassis I showed in my last post. Speaking of Prevost chassis, we saw two more coaches built on Prevost chassis as we walked through the park. The first one was a 2011 Liberty Coach. We met the woman who owns the coach along with her husband and chatted for a while. They’ve had several coaches, including a Marathon Coach built on a Prevost chassis. She said the Liberty was the best they’ve ever owned.

I forgot to take a photo of their beautiful RV, but I snapped a shot of a Country Coach built on a Prevost XL chassis.

Country Coach Prevost XL chassis

Today the thermometer is forecast to hit 90 degrees with less humidity than we’ve had lately. There’s a 40% chance of a thundershower. I might try fishing the ponds here today.

Great Day in College Station

We saw a few sights in College Station, Texas on Tuesday. Donna and I rode the scooter down through the Texas A&M University campus to the George Bush Library and Museum. This was the first visit to a presidential library for both of us. It’s well worth the $9 admission.

Donna at the fountain in front of the George Bush Library and Museum

The library chronicles the life and times of our 41st president, George H. W. Bush. It goes back into his childhood and takes you into the new millennium. Donna was inspired to write a post here on her organizing blog after hearing something in his inaugural address from 1989. The library is not all about Bush – it also highlights newsworthy events from World War II to end of his political career and beyond. If you go, be sure to allow an hour and a half or more to see the exhibits.

Donna looking presidential in the re-creation of the oval office

Me, not so presidential

After touring the Bush Library, we rode the scooter to the Blackwater Draw Brewing Company just a couple of miles away from the library.

We sat at a table and a waiter brought us menus and ice water. Donna realized she didn’t have her glasses. She wasn’t sure if she had them at the museum and set them down at some point or maybe left them at home. She was racking her brain, then came up with the idea of looking at the photo on my phone (posted above) and sure enough, she had her glasses on when we arrived there.

We told the waiter we had to go back for her glasses. We rode back to the library and Donna went to the ticket desk. She asked if anyone had turned in any lost glasses. The girl at the counter asked Donna to describe them. The girl said, “You must be living right” and handed Donna her glasses. She was pretty relieved as these are her glasses for reading, driving and also double as her sunglasses thanks to transition lenses.

We rode back to the Blackwater Draw Brewing Company and sat at the same table we were at before. The waiter brought us water and menus again. They had five of their beers on tap, plus a selection of other Texas craft beers in bottles. I went for the RIP Smash IPA. Donna tried a Kolsch but wasn’t impressed, so she decided to stick with water. We both ordered the daily special which was oxtail tacos with a sweet and spicy pineapple-mango salsa that was very tasty.

Beer board at Blackwater Draw Brewing Co

The IPA was okay, but just okay. I haven’t been impressed with Texas IPA – it just doesn’t measure up to the west coast IPAs found in California and Oregon. I also tried the Contract Killer coffee porter. This was a winner. I’d gladly have another glass of this brew.

We rode back to the RV park via old downtown Bryan. It was pretty sleepy. We saw no need to stop.

On Wednesday morning, Donna did her exercise routine while I prepared for the road. We lit the fires and pulled out of the RV park at 9:45am. I had a couple of challenges getting out of the residential neighborhood. I had to make a couple of loops before I found intersections with streets wide enough to make the turns we needed to make to get to the highway.

We headed out of town on TX6 to Benchley, then hit TX-OSA (Old San Antonio Road). This was the worst stretch of road we’ve been on since the time we drove up US89 in northern Arizona. The road had bumps and dips that worked the suspension overtime. It also had uneven lane surfaces that had the coach rolling from side to side. Our air suspension actively adjusts to maintain ride height, but it can’t react quick enough to sudden surface irregularities like these. The first hour of driving was exhausting. The lane was narrow with no shoulder and I had to maintain concentration to keep from drifting off the road due to the poor surface.

The road eventually improved. Our route took us through Tyler then Linden, Texas which is birthplace of the great blues guitarist, T-Bone Walker (Stormy Monday). Almost all of the rivers and lakes we saw along the way were flooded. There’s no drought in this part of Texas.

I know I said in my last post that we’d be heading to Shreveport, Louisiana. As always, plans have a way of changing. Since Memphis was our next goal, we decided to take a more direct route through Arkansas. Earlier, I was worried about the possibility of tornadoes, but the weather forecast was looking favorable.

We’re doing something different going down the road that I think we only did one time before. The temperature and humidity were so unbearable when we left Rockport and again when we left Bryan that we’re driving down the road with the generator running and the front roof air conditioner on. It’s so much more comfortable.

We crossed the stateline at Texarkana and decided to park for the night at a Walmart in Texarkana, Arkansas. Today we’ll drive to Memphis and check in at the Tom Sawyer RV Resort on the Mississippi River.

Minimalist RV Meet Up

We started off with a rain shower Saturday morning. The day remained overcast and blustery all day. After lunch, I scootered Donna to her sister’s house in Point Loma. Donna’s sister, Sheila is a physical therapist. Donna’s elbow is bothering her, she has tennis elbow, triggered by playing pickleball. While Sheila treated Donna’s elbow, I dropped off packages at the UPS store and the post office.

It looked like the skies were clearing over San Diego Bay to the south but when we rode back to Mission Bay, it was still cool and cloudy. The wind was blowing with strong gusts and occasional rain drops when I tried to grill chicken for dinner. I say tried because the gusty wind blew out the flame on our grill. I’ve never had that happen with the Weber Q before. Donna had to bake the chicken in the convection oven.

On Saturday evening, I enjoyed the Detroit Red Wings playoff game in Tampa Bay. Detroit won 4-0 to take a 3-2 game lead. I’m looking forward to game six tonight.

We had clear blue skies and warmer weather yesterday for a meeting that Donna had organized. She invited members of a San Diego minimalist group to come and learn more about the full-time RV lifestyle. Unfortunately, the group leader Bruce had a family emergency and had to go out of town at the last minute. Another group member, Debbie, agreed to take the lead and shuttle in members. We ended up with five for the session, which we hosted at our site.

Donna started off by talking about downsizing and organizing and how we came to be full-time RVers. I led a more technical discussion about the different types of RVs and different approaches to the RV lifestyle. After a 40-minute discussion, Donna gave the group a tour of our coach.

From there, we walked the group through the RV park, beginning with a look at our neighbor’s fifth-wheel trailer set-up and his truck which tows it. I explained how the fifth wheel is coupled to the truck and how maneuverable it is. Then we walked to our friend Bob Schmitt’s site. I showed them how Bob’s coach is set up to haul his Harley and tow his GMC Jimmy.

We looked at the tiny MyPod trailer that I posted about previously. As we walked through the park, we identified different classes of motor homes and looked at fifth-wheel and tow-behind travel trailers.

We stopped to admire an Airstream trailer. The owners were sitting outside and we struck up a conversation. They invited the group to take a look inside. The owners were a young couple living full time in their Airstream and working in San Diego. He is a brew master at Modern Times Brewery in Point Loma.

We continued our tour with a look at another smaller travel trailer – a Casita. Again, the owner invited the group to take a look inside. I think by this time, the group was beginning to understand our statements about the sense of community among those embracing the RV lifestyle. The Casita was in the site next to Martha’s Airstream. Martha is the 77-year-old full-timer I wrote about in this post. Martha gave a tour of her rig and then we continued down the lane.

We made another stop at Karen’s 2013 Big Country fifth-wheel trailer. This is a large rig. Karen invited the group to have a look inside and see the layout. By this time, everyone had a chance to see rigs of various sizes and construction. We came back to our site and continued the discussion. We originally thought the discussion and tour would take about an hour, but we were two hours into it! The group was very enthusiastic and inspired by the tour. I think we may have inspired a couple of them to take the plunge into the RV lifestyle.

Minimalist group - Barbara, Donna, Erin, Hal, Jeanne and Debbie

Minimalist group – Barbara, Donna, Erin, Al, Jeanne and Debbie

Later, I rode the scooter to my old neighborhood. I had sent a message to Christine Brutschy Becker asking if it would be okay for me to stop by to say “hi” to her and her mother. She told me to come on over. They had a birthday party for her granddaughter, Annika, in progress and the extended family was there.

It’s been such a long time since I last saw Donna Brutschy, neither one of us could remember when it was. Chris’s son, Matthew, was a kid the last time I saw him – he’s in his mid-forties now. Chris’s daughter was a teen the last time I saw her – now she’s a beautiful mom. I also met Chris’s niece, Danielle, another beautiful mother that was just a child the last time I saw her. I met their husbands, whom I never met before and their children.

I have a lot of memories from the Brutschy’s house. When I was a teen, I spent a lot of time there and was generally treated like part of the family. One of my first memories of their place came after Howard Brutschy and I rode dirt bikes out to Rose Canyon and spent the night camped out. In the morning, we rode back to his house. His mother Donna prepared breakfast for us. She asked me if I liked my scrambled eggs wet or dry. I didn’t know how to answer – no one had ever asked me that before. I just said, “However you prepare them will be fine.”

I don’t know how the eggs were prepared. I was mesmerized over breakfast by the beauty of Howard’s younger sister, Vicki. I was 15 years old and totally infatuated. That’s just one of many memories of my teenage years at the Brutschy residence.

Matthew Becker, Donna Brutschy and me

Sheila picked us up at the RV park at 6pm. We went to Sushi Ota to celebrate her son Connor’s 11th birthday with his favorite dinner – sushi. Connor’s friend, Sam, came along. We ordered a platter of sushi and hand rolls.

Sam, Connor, Sheila and Donna

Yummy sushi platter

The sushi was excellent as usual. Sushi Ota has a well-deserved reputation for the quality of their sushi. Sheila brought a German chocolate cake for dessert. Although I don’t usually follow a meal of sushi with cake, the top-hat shaped cake was delicious as well.

Happy birthday to Connor

I finished off a very full day with a bottle of Alesmith IPA. They are one of my favorite San Diego breweries.

Great beer

Today we are back to clear skies and warm, sunny weather. I’m thinking I might break out the ladder and clean the coach. The Red Wings playoff game comes on at 4pm, then we have dinner plans with my daughter, Shauna.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Tours

Gettysburg

Indian Lake

Lake George Village

Secret Caverns

Cat Call

Table Rock Dam

The Texas Mosey

Gibson Tour

Great Day in College Station

Minimalist RV Meet Up

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