July/August/September/October

Here's a map of the second half of our 2024 Summer out-West trip. 23 stops! 

We visited the "Scabland" again for the third time....us amateur geologists cannot get enough of the place. In case you've not heard of the greatest flood in US history, here's our blog entry that describes it.

https://stricksretirement.blogspot.com/2020/06/glacial-lake-missoula-montana.html

This is Dry Lake. It was formed by the flood coming over from the upper left. You can see the yellow circle that shows a car down at the bottom to show the immense scale.

We spent an entire month at one stop in July. Libby, Montana. One of our all-time favorite RV campgrounds. Not much to do there expect to relax, do some home projects and be lazy.

I did say "relaxing" didn't I? This is during one of our kayak paddles on a nearby lake.

Our "front yard" view where we sat every morning and had our coffee

Kootenai Falls.....spectacular!

Then, in August, we started on the road again. First stop: Glacier National Park, both east and west sides.

 

We stopped at Cheyenne, Wyoming for a week to poke around. Great weather and some drinks.

And a couple of extra photos of our journey....

Wonderful 4-night stay in Shelby, Montana. It was so nice to see some horizons after a month in the forest of NW Montana.

This used to be the greatest sheep gathering place for shipping to the east in the west at one time. Neat little town. Population: 177.

And we weren't without our troubles....

Look! Our right door came off one day when I went to open it!

 

This is how we had to keep it refrigerated until I could fix it. Fortunately, I found a local guy that instructed me on how to rivet and weld/glue the latch back together. (we also have an extra frig "downstairs" where we stashed some food so it wouldn't spoil). Gotta love traveling !

 

Okay...there are just too many photos and stops worth showing but you're probably getting worn out now just looking at all these photos. I'll do another one later. Enjoy for now! 

Thank you for following us. It's a blast!

steve/kim/katie

TX, NM, CO, UT,

 Those initials are for the next part of our summer journey. Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah.

We are in Soap Lake, Washington for 2 weeks to visit the "Scablands"

Here's some highlights of our trip up to this point:

AMARILLO BOTANICAL GARDENS

Small but beautiful gardens in Amarillo. One of the best we've seen. Spent over 2 hours taking photos and enjoying the different parts of the garden.

Gorgeous Columbine display at the entrance.

Common Morning-Glory

Fishtail Palm Tree that was located in the indoor tropical part of the garden.

CHACO CANYON RUINS

We were here years ago but the last visit, we were stopped by the roads being washed away. This year, we got to get back here. Pueblo Bonito is the most thoroughly investigated and celebrated cultural site in Chaco Canyon. Planned and constructed in stages between AD 850 to AD 1150 by ancestral Puebloan peoples, this was the center of the Chacoan world.  More than 600 rooms towered four and five stories above the valley floor, covering 3 acres.

Present day aerial image.

Image showing how it became after construction years and years ago.

Notice the rock face that tumbled down to the upper left.

Here's what it looks like present day while walking through.

Original wall construction

Imagine placing each and every one of these rocks?

MESA VERDE

Even after coming here for five times, it's still amazing that people built and lived in these cliff dwellings.

MONUMENT VALLEY

Even though we've been here twice before, and swore we wouldn't take photos this time, we still took so many photos. It's difficult to only put in a few here. The place is just too gorgeous! 

Kayaking in the desert?

The clouds were magnificent this day

The dirt road is the best way to see the park. It's 17 miles and the worst road we've ever been on. It's gotten worse over the years. Potholes, side-to-side bumps...had to go 5 mph part of the way. But...it's was worth it.

More wonderful clouds

GOOSENECKS STATE PARK

This is an amazing view of three "goosenecks" on the San Juan River. It's over 1,000 feet to the river surface.

Don't get too close to the edge. It's over 1,000 feet down!

Okay....the rest of these highlights will have to wait until next blog entry.....too many fantastic sights to share.

VALLEY OF THE GODS

GOBLINS STATE PARK

CAPITOL REEF

BURNS TRAIL ROAD

HIGHWAY 12

DRUMHELLER CHANNELS (SCABLANDS)

KAYAKING

We trust you enjoyed this one. We sure are having a ball in our 13th year of RV travelling.

Steve/Kim/Katie

Florida, Alabama, Louisiana

We left Florida April 19th on our latest trip, this one going out west for the summer/early fall. This is going to be 6-7 months of adventure! Here's our journey so far.

We are currently west of Fort Worth, Texas for 4 nights to see the Zoo, the Botanical Gardens and, most of all.....to eat Texas BBQ !!

From the top going clock-wise, we have a half-eaten pork rib, in the upper right - pickled red onions and below that is the apple coleslaw, then... three more ribs, sausage, brisket with BBQ sauce, then pickled cucumbers and red potato salad. 
Oh, and there's an interested party looking in from the left.

...not sure what Katie is thinking...you can make up your own caption for her, but the food is absolutely delicious! And we still have Friday and Saturday to try two more BBQ places. And we're hiding the weight scale for a few days.

We stayed at Ocala for one night, then, on the way to Tallahassee the next night, we stopped at the Forest Capital Museum State Park for a visit to an original Florida Cracker House. Those old settlers sure had to work from sunup to sundown. Imagine building all these building from scratch? Nice stop.

Walk Around the Homestead | Florida State Parks

This is the museum which has many exhibits all about the forest/lumber industry back in the day. VERY interesting.

Excellent diorama depicting the early turpentine business.

Model scale of the cracker house and all its outlying buildings, all of which had a specific purpose, like chicken coop, outhouse, wood, etc. All had to be built by hand.

Pine needle walkway leading to the main house where the family lived. The state moved this house from its original location to here for the museum.

After taking two days to get used to travelling again in Tallahassee, we headed down south to see the Possum Monument at Wausau, Florida but, unfortunately, there was a lot of construction so we couldn't even stop. But, for those who are saying, "What the heck is a Possum Monument"? Here's a link and a couple of photos.

A tribute to the furry local heroes who helped get residents through many tough times.

Possum Monument – Wausau, Florida - Atlas Obscura

Then, down to the Gulf to see the Choctaw Beach hopefully to put our feet in the water. 

We forgot to take any photos but here, on the left, is where we parked the coach so we could see the water. It was a nice place to take a break. I couldn't resist so I took off my shoes and waded into the water up to my shins. Then I went over to the dock to help Kim and Katie off the beach and sliced open my big toe on the coral. Ouch. It's taken all this time to heal. 

Alabama. We love this RV spot because they rent us a hot tub that we can sit in at 103 degrees whenever we want! We just hung around, did not see anything. Worked on inside coach projects...getting it ready for our trip. Relaxing.

See the hot tub to the right of the passenger door? We were in it constantly.

This gentle lake is our "front yard" view.

Last entry: We've stayed at Cajun Palms many, many times over the years. As a matter of fact, this is where we wintered over our first two years of travel. This time, we decided to book a covered site. Good thing we did, because a big ol' storm came through, lightning, thunder and everything. But we were protected. 

All covered up

We had the place to ourselves for the first 4 days.

Kim made some fabulous deviled eggs that disappeared instantly!

We'll post some more detailed visits to Poverty Point, a 10,000-year-old Indian settlement in Louisiana and other spots but, for now, this will keep you informed as to our progress. 

We're sure thankful that you all are following us.

Kim/Steve/Katie