Trod Bogs Sadly – Oddstray's Blog

May 15, 2016

Santa Elena Canyon, from Big Bend National Park, TX

Those huge cliffs are in Mexico.  The grassy foreground is in the US.  Not visible at the base of the cliffs is the Rio Grande.  The Santa Elena River runs through that gorge.

Boat ramp into the Rio Grande, Big Bend National Park, TX

The “border” referred to is an imaginary line that runs up the middle of the Rio Grande.

We need a wall!!!!! </sarcasm>

The mule’s ears, Big Bend National Park, TX

😮   in a parking lot in Big Bend National Park, TX

Slot canyon in Big Bend Ranch State Park, near Big Bend National Park, TX

The bugs are huge in Terlingua, TX

Moody skies at Study Butte, TX

May 13, 2016

Enter a caption competition

Fate Bell Shelter, Seminole Canyon State Park, Comstock, TX

Pictographs at the Fate Bell Shelter site

Pictograph or vandalism?  At the Fate Bell Shelter site.

May 10, 2016

Mission San Jose, San Antonio, TX

We started here since this mission was just around the corner from where we were staying.

Mission Concepcion, San Antonio, TX

Mission San Antonio de Valero (yes, it’s the Alamo), San Antonio, TX

Who the heck put that mission in the center of town? It wasn’t that way in the movie!!!

Detail of a tile/stone arch (don’t remember which mission had this), San Antonio, TX

Mission Espada, San Antonio, TX

Mission Espada, San Antonio, TX

The Espada aquaduct, San Antonio, TX

Still in use, all these years later.

Mission San Juan, San Antonio, TX

Mission San Juan, San Antonio, TX

Mission San Jose, San Antonio, TX

Mission San Jose, San Antonio, TX

Mission San Jose, San Antonio, TX

May 7, 2016

Lake Martin,  near Atchafalaya, LA

Here we watched as an overweight couple climbed into a canoe and launched themselves into the lake.

Only to immediately capsize. The fella was most eager to retrieve their supplies, the gal was most eager to avoid being eaten by an alligator!. Anyhow, we helped her out of there and carried on with our hike. As we ambled back, they were just re-launching. More grit than we.

On the trail around Lake Martin, near Atchafalaya, LA

Louisiana is a swamp.

A typical cabin of the cajuns at Vermillionville, Lafayette, LA

From  here, we decided to stay south and head westward towards Big Bend National Park.

May 5, 2016

No pics here.  We stayed overnight at the RV park of one of the many casinos built along the river in Mississippi.

May 4, 2016

Beale Street turned into a movie set, Memphis, TN

This was particularly wild as we had just shown up on Beale Street, and there was a ’30’s’ movie set right there. We ambled around out of camera shot for a while listening to tires screeching and gunshots. Then had lunch.

Self-declared ‘institution’ on Beale Street, Memphis, TN

Waiting impatiently to tour Sun Studios, Memphis, TN

My, that was coolio. Going around the studio where all my favorite childhood performers got their start. From Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Charlie Feathers, Ray Harris, Warren Smith and Charlie Rich to Jerry Lee Lewis. We even got to behold the very microphone that Elvis was purported to use on his very first recording. It was the classic Shure ribbon microphone that made your voice sound deeper.

Then we went to the Stax studio museum. Performers there  included Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas, William Bell, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Eddie Floyd, the Bar-Kays and  Albert King. A very different mix than Sun. Refreshingly different.

Archeological mound (Mississippi Mound Builder) at Chuckalissa Indian Village, near Memphis, TN

We stayed at T O Fuller State Park, which has an interesting history. It was the first African American campground in TN (and even to this day seems to have African American Rangers) created under  ‘Jim Crow’ era stuff. We don’t know whether this was the case when it was created, but the local sewage plant makes it stink to high deities. Other than the odor, it’s a lovely park.

May 2, 2016

Covered bridge at Bollinger Mill State Historic Park, near Cape Girardeau, MO

The lovely ranger/park attendant gal was sitting in a window corner in the sun’s rays as it was cold inside that mill. But she was vibrant and helpful as all heck.

Bollinger Mill, near Cape Girardeau, MO

Finally got my Steak N Shake.  What a disappointment!  They used to be as good as In N Out.  Not any more.  They’ve given themselves delusions of being a fancy sit-down restaurant, and cheaped out on quality to do it.

Bridge back over the Mississippi, Cape Girardeau, MO

Another view of the bridge, Cape Girardeau, MO

A different bridge – this one crossing the Ohio from Cairo, IL

April 24, 2016.  No, we didn’t teletransport.  We stayed on Route 66 (now along I-44) through Kansas (just a tiny corner) and Missouri.  There’s not a lot of Route 66 itself left to see in Missouri.  But our route was along the northern edge of the Ozarks, and the scenery was lovely.  We stayed a night at a ‘campground’ (actually more like an RV park than many campgrounds, but along a river so still a nice place to stay) in Waynesville.

A restored service station with some period trucks, near Litchfield, IL

April 25, 2016.  We stopped at the Ariston Cafe in Litchfield, IL, according to the AAA documents believed to be the oldest Route 66 cafe still operating.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t still operating.  It was out of business and up for sale.  We also visited the very interesting Pontiac/Oakland Museum, in Pontiac, IL.

Route 66 continues eastward to downtown Chicago.  We didn’t.  Our main purp0se for coming here was to visit family living southwest of Chicago, and that’s what we did.

April 30, 2016.  Our original plan had been to head back by a northerly route.  But we’d been dodging cold winds and rain most of the way east.  To change our plan was easy – we’d head south, along the Great River Road!

April 22, 2016.  All is well.  The shower repair works.  We’re finding campgrounds to stay at.  We’re happy and exploring.

The lake was high!  Luckily this was not our site at Arcadia Lake in Edmonds, OK (near Oklahoma City)

Pops!  A diner on Route 66 east of Edmonds, OK

And this is only a small look at Pops’ pops.

The round barn at Arcadia, OK

The downstairs is a shop.  The upstairs is an event venue.

The roof, on the inside

A visitor to our campsite at Arcadia Lake, Edmonds, OK

Sunset over Arcadia Lake, Edmonds, OK

April 21, 2016.  Route 66 (coincident with I-40) cuts through the northwest corner of the Texas panhandle.  It does, though, have a don’t-miss-it attraction.  Um . . . . was this worth it?  🙂

Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, TX

This is the stickiest mud I’ve ever encountered.  We had to keep kicking it off, or it glommed on in huge amounts to our shoes!

Someone gave up.

We spent a few nights in an interesting place – Pioneer Park outside Wellington, TX.  It’s main claim to fame is that it’s where Bonnie and Clyde, fleeing the police, missed a detour and drove off an incomplete bridge.

The park serves as both a county park and a state highway rest area.  The super-friendly hostess told us they get a free spot from the county, and a small stipend from the state for maintaining the facilities.

This was also the only night our weather alarm radio kept us “entertained”.  Mostly, it was for thunderstorms with hail which were first not for us, then north of us, then south of us, then … sheesh!  The hostess, hearing the forecast of hail, showed us where they parked their car, under the bridge, on low land next to the river, where there was predicted to be heavy rain :-o.  But we followed their lead and parked our car down there, and it all ended OK.

Retrieving the car from under the bridge, near Wellington, TX.

April 22, 2016.  We drove back up to Route 66 to explore Shamrock, TX.

If this looks familiar, you’ve probably seen the animated film ‘Cars’.  Shamrock, TX

Something new added to the old Route 66 Conoco station in Shamrock, TX

This 1928 Reynolds hotel is now a very interesting local Pioneer West museum, Shamrock, TX

Part of the Pioneer West museum, Shamrock, TX