So we headed out on April 10th for Moab. Our pace is 250
miles a
day. We went over the river and through the woods the first
day
to the Campgrounds
at Barnes Crossing
in Tupelo, MS. This is a pleasant campground reasonably convenient
to the highway, shopping at Barnes Crossing and Cracker Barrel.
Our second night was at Toad
Suck Ferry Corps of Engineers Park in Conway, AR.
They raved about this place on RV
Park Reviews. And of course I had to go there just to say I'd
been to Toad Suck Ferry.
Our third day brought us to Oklahoma
City. We planned a few days rest at Tinker
AFB
FamCamp. They didn't take reservations and were full.
We
were offered dry camping until a space freed up but it seemed too hot
to be several days without air conditioning. I didn't have a backup
plan and we leaped before looking. Briscoes
wasn't
that bad, but it wasn't that good either. Camille said it
looked like some people came to camp in the 40s and never left.
Briscoes has joined the Parkview RV Park in Fort Stockton, TX
as
the least attractive places we've stayed. The thing is there
was
no real alternative within miles and miles of the Parkview.
There
were lots of alternatives in OKC.
We did the OKC
National Memorial and Bricktown.
The Memorial was very moving and certainly a must see if you
are
in OKC. There were no photographs allowed inside the Memorial
exhibits. Bricktown was pleasant. And of course we stocked up
at
the PX, Commissary and Class 6.
From OKC it was a two day run to Taos
with an overnight at the AOK
RV Park
in Amarillo, TX. On the second day we stopped in Las Vegas, NM for road
information and lunch. We both had tacos at Charlies Spic and
Span.
They were the best tacos we've ever had and one of the
culinary
highlights of the trip.
One of the reasons I wanted to stop for a while at Taos
was the Enchanted
Circle. Reading my Scenic Drives in NM, I learned about
Cimerron and we decided to add that to the tour.
We didn't realize that the Philmont Scout Ranch
is near Cimerron.
We had a long enjoyable visit with the gentleman at the
Cimerron Visitors Center and a good hamburger at the place across the
way. We played tourist in
and around
Taos, including the Taos
Pueblo and lunch at Orlandos, another culinary highlight of
the trip.
One of the places around Taos was the Taos
Gore Bridge.
Once again we marveled at the stupidity of our fellow
tourists. If
you want to stop and look at the bridge and gorge you just stop and
look. Never mind that it's a major east west US Highway.
Off to Durango.
It was a beautiful drive, stopping at a couple of overlooks
that
had been plowed only at the entrance so we had to back out.
Delightful lunch at Pasagola Springs.
These guys checked in ahead of us at Alpen Rose
and were set up before we
got parked.
Alpen Rose taken from the little train.
We had an enjoyable visit and they told us all about the Million
Dollar Highway (part of the San
Juan Skyway), especially Red Hill Pass
where you look down 2 thousand feet on one side and up two thousand
feet on the other.
Did that. It was awesome.
Especially between Silverton and Ouray where they had to put
in a
snow shed to keep cars from being thrown off the road in avalanches.
And of course we rode
the
little train.
Both of these were things I've read about for years and wanted
to do.
Onward to Utah
