What Happens in Vegas...

Had a really nice Valentine's weekend trip to Las Vegas last weekend. My old friend Neil from college days got married - three times a charm!  Las Vegas is outrageous - pretty much what I expected.  Also took a side trip to the Grand Canyon-my original destinaiton.  FYI - total mileage for RV trip was 5,628!









Last Leg



Day 1



Camped at a reststop somewhere in the W. Virginia mountains last night.  The cats and I will be returning to the farm, aptly named Sojourner's Rest, this afternoon.  Thank you all so much for traveling with me. I have enjoyed having your company, suggestions, encouragement and well wishes.

It seems fitting to finish this journal as it began - with a quote from John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, in Search of America:




By Week 2


When I was a very young age and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch.  When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age.  In middle age, I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked… In other words, I don’t improve; in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable.

 

You're Doing Fine Oklahoma



FROM LEFT: Kathy, Bruce, nephew Brent, his wife Allison,

neice Sarah with grand nephew Max (cutie pie), Me and neice Jenny.



This house was damaged beyond restoration, but the owner
loved it, so Bruce's firm took it apart stone by stone,
and is recreating the exterior (and completely updating
the interior) with salvaged/matched materials.

What a nice visit with the OK Gardners!  Tulsa was my 'Gateway to the Southwest,' as I stopped there twice - last Tuesday on my way to Texas, and then again Monday on my way back east.  My brother Bruce and wife Kathy served as my tour guides, and I had a brief chance to see some sights, including one of Gardner Construction's works in progress, was treated to an awesome Hideaway Pizza dinner and was sent off with some of 'Tulsa's Own' from Marshall Brewing Company before heading east.  Thanks guys for all the Tulsa hospitality... Oklahoma's OK! 









The Wonder of You

Granceland Drive-By.  Took a good nap today so gonna keep going... this sojourner misses home.

Trail of Tears

Fort Smith National Historic Site on the Arkansas River: Yet another history lesson I must have slept through, but one that seems to me so very important to understand in light of what is going on around the world today.  It is hard for me to imagine that this was US. policy right around the time that my house back in NJ was built. 

"And is it supposed that the wandering savage has a stronger attachment to his home than the settled, civilized Christian? Is it more afflicting to him to leave the graves of his fathers than it is to our brothers and children? Rightly considered, the policy of the General Government toward the red man is not only liberal, but generous. He is unwilling to submit to the laws of the States and mingle with their population. To save him from this alternative, or perhaps utter annihilation, the General Government kindly offers him a new home, and proposes to pay the whole expense of his removal and settlement.

From President Andrew Jackson's second annual message, 1830

Texas Heartland

Here's a few of my favorite pics from my travels on Sunday from San Antonio to Caprock Canyons State Park.

Fredricksburg, TX - a German settlement

These little oil rigs dotted the landscape


 

Caprock Canyons - where the High Plains meets the Rolling Plains






Caprock Canyons State Park Tonight

Drove through the heart of Texas today. Heading east towards Tulsa, OK for a re-visit tomorrow.

Remember the Alamo?

Me neither... Arrived in San Antonio Friday afternoon with no idea what this town was like, and - WOW - what a treat!  Stayed at a campground on the bus route, so I could leave the rig and explore for a few days. First of all, the Riverwalk is so cool.  The boat ride ($8.25) does a great job of orienting you to this below-street-level WPA era marvel.  Having no recollection of what happened at the Alamo (other than we lost), I did the IMAX movie before visiting the site.  Had a great margarita at the Naked Iguana Lounge at the Rio Rio Cantina on the Riverwalk. Then, got my hair done (long overdue!) and stepped out for a little two-stepping at the Cowboys Dancehall.  Opted not to ride the bull, as my physical therapist (lower back issues) would not approve.  Looks like the weather will cooperate for the journey back east.  Or, I suppose I could follow the immortal words of Davy Crocket when he was not re-elected to Congress in 1835:  "You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas."