Thursday, October 24, 2013

Lebanon to Home--October 23, 2013

A gusty 16 mph WNW cross tailwind blew us to Knoxville today.  As we crested the Cumberland Plateau at Crossville, we finally saw some Fall colors.  Because it was overcast, though, the hues were not very vibrant.  We will have traveled over 6600 miles and used almost 700 gallons of fuel in our 37-day journey (not counting the nearly 300 miles and unknown amounts of fuel on the three Hawaiian Islands which we drove).  It has truly been a memorable adventure.  I hope y'all have enjoyed our blogs.  Blessings and bye for now!
Ann and Dave

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Little Rock AFB FAMCAMP to Lebanon, TN--October 22, 2013

As we left  Arkansas and crossed the Mississippi River at Memphis it was appropriate that we were listening to the Elvis station, Channel 19, on our Sirius Radio.  




From elevation 337 feet in the Mississippi Delta we climbed some gentle hills to Nashville's 597 foot elevation.  We were surprised how much cotton is grown in western Tennessee.  There were many large fields yet to be harvested.  


Memphis skyline and the Mighty Mississippi River

As we have crossed these last three states, the only real autumnal color we have seen in the bright reds of the sumac.  That has been a disappointment.  We surmise it is because it has just not gotten cold enough yet to send the message to the trees.  As we crossed into central Tennessee we at least did see a few oaks that appear to be trying to change color.  In general though most trees remain very green or have turned brown.  What do prognosticators say a wet summer predicts for Fall color?

We will be home tomorrow afternoon, two days earlier than originally planned but health problems have necessitated David making a doctor appointment Thursday afternoon.  And at our ages, we're ready to be home again.  



Welcome to Tennessee!!!!


Oklahoma City to Little Rock AFB FAMCAMP-October 21, 2013

David successfully got RBII’s oil changed and filled his gas tank with fuel at $2.979 at a Circle K in Oklahoma City.  That’s the lowest price we have paid for fuel!!  Our highest was $4.35/gal in Hawaii.  After a complimentary blueberry muffin and coffee courtesy of the camp, we headed across the remainder of Oklahoma to our stopping point tonight at Little Rock Air Force Base FAMCAMP.  It only costs us $12/night to camp here as a transient.  The concrete pads are very level--guess the Air Force knows how to make level surfaces!!  This is the C-130 center of excellence for training its crews. 

Our route today was so tree-lined we can’t tell you much about crops.  The terrain begins to look much more familiar.  It was also overcast for the first time with occasional sprinkles except for a minute of hard rain while we were at a rest stop having lunch in Jay.  We’d had lots of lightning and thunder in OK City last night but very little rain.  It looks like we are chasing a cold front.  Looking at the weather forecast Tennessee is in for some of the coldest weather of the season starting Thursday. 

Today we spend our second day in the same time zone--CDT.  It was very confusing in Arizona and New Mexico because they are both mountain time, but Arizona doesn’t use daylight saving time, so it was really Pacific daylight saving time!!  The ipad seemed able to adjust to where we were but the MacBook is still confused.

No photos today due to limited visibility. 

Monday, October 21, 2013

Santa Rosa to Oklahoma City--October 20, 2013

We were on the road by 7:08 AM, a record for departure on this eastward trek.  We had spent the night at a campground with an Old Route 66 address.  It was a clear, crisp night, but above freezing.  All the stars shining so brilliantly reminded us of a safari we took once in Africa which departed camp in late afternoon to observe night activities.  We stopped for a “sundowner” rite which involved snacks and the beverages we’d signed up for ahead of time.  Then the guide got out his “blunderbuster” and said he would “protect” us from predators as he walked us to an area a few meters from the safari vehicle.  He then explained the night sky including the Southern Cross, only visible in the southern hemisphere, and many other constellations.  At Santa Rosa, NM we didn’t see the southern cross, but the milky way, big dipper and full moon were equally spectacular.



We drove east on I-40 into the rising sun.  There was no way David could adjust the visors on our F-150 to shade the glare until we were beyond Tucumcari.  It was there we began to see agriculture again.  Humongous fields of sorghum, soybeans, already harvested corn and wheat and cotton continued into the Texas panhandle.  There were also hundreds of hectares of winter wheat in green rows of seedlings poking their noses out of the ground.  Wind turbines twirled for miles and miles, too, proving that Texas is energy diversified!



Trees along the road were a welcome sight as we entered Texas.


If any of you have ever read the Jack Reacher novels, you know he is somewhat of a mathematical savant. His internal clock gets him up after however many hours of sleep he permits himself and he comes up with all sorts of trivial mathematical data.  Well, David, our resident math-inclined traveler, noted as we got on the road this morning that we would cross milepost 347 in New Mexico at the same time our GPS said we had 347 miles to our turn in Oklahoma City.  And he did this as we were getting started!!!

I-40 is a generally straight shot west to east through Texas and Oklahoma.  In Texas we noted several types of surface to the road, depending on the county.  We drove on smooth concrete, a phenomenon RVers will find unusual.  We joked about the ones who laid the concrete in Texas were likely not members of the Concrete Workers of America (Texas is NOT a union state!).  Around the Chicago freeway there is a sign proudly announcing the concrete roads were constructed by the Concrete Workers of America, and it is very bouncy which sets up a nauseating harmonic between a tow vehicle and trailer.  There were also surfaces on I-40 in Texas which were very black, sparkly and noisy.  We wondered if they used old ground up tires to make that surface.  There were also sections of standard asphalt.

Winds also became a factor as we entered Oklahoma.  They were out of the south, so a crosswind as we traveled east.  They were not as bad as the winds we’d experienced in Kansas on our westward trek, but at 16-28 mph, they required a firm grip on the wheel and slower speed.  In both Texas and Oklahoma the speed is 75 mph and most truckers were going that speed.  There are roads in southern Texas where the speed limit is 85!

We selected a campground in Oklahoma City because of its proximity to a Ford dealer.  Tomorrow RBII will get an oil change.  We are over 5100 miles on this trek and the internal computer tells us there is 25% oil life left.  




Sunday, October 20, 2013

Santa Rosa--October 19, 2013

t was 21.6 degrees this morning!  Chilly hookup (truck to trailer!) to get us out of Flagstaff.  It was more of the flat, dry countryside with low mountains off in the distance.  We gradually lost about 2500 feet over the course of the day.  It wasn't until we got into New Mexico that we saw a bit of variance to the terrain.  The speed limit remained at 75 and we must admit we pushed the limit.  The road was excellent and we soon discovered the construction we had anticipated was not happening on Saturday, a factor we had not considered.  You lose track of what day of the week it is when you have been on the road as long as we have.

It was going so well that we decided to push further than Albuquerque, so this blog comes to you from  historic Santa Rosa, NM.  According to the AAA guidebook, Santa Rosa, elevation 4,599 feet, was established during the days of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado's visit to the area in1540.  While it is semi desert, it has artesian springs which scuba divers find useful for practice.

We are staying at the Santa Rosa Campground on Historic Route 66!  It is breezy with westerly winds, which we both appreciated as they gave us a nice tailwind.

This blog is coming from our iPad as the wifi connection is too slow and we did not have many photo ops today.  Tomorrow will be a long day as we push to Oklahoma City so on Monday we can get an oil change for RBII who has gone over 5100 miles on this trip!

Friday, October 18, 2013

Sedona, AZ, Friday, October 18, 2013

We awoke to 24 degrees F this morning, but thanks to our excellent propane furnace, the electric heater for stand by and the electric blanket, we were toasty warm.  We both showered in plentiful, hot water, which is sometimes a precious commodity (although usually not at a KOA).  

We decided to explore the Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona rather than going north to the Grand Canyon.  Oak Creek Canyon drops 3000 feet over 20 miles of winding twisting, but good, road.  David did an outstanding job of driving while Ann took many, many pix of the incredible rock formations and the beginnings of fall colors.  There were a few maples which were in spectacular orange-red dress.  



Sedona, elevation 4400 feet, was named for the wife of the founder, T. Carl Schnebly, who wanted to name it Schnebly Station or Oak Creek Crossing, but the post office told him those names were too long for a cancellation stamp (from the AAA Tour Book).  The original settlers of the Sedona region, however, were the Southern Sinagua people (Spanish for without water) who built homes in the rocks as early as AD 1130-1300.  The largest dwellings are the Palatki and Honanki, the latter which we visited after browsing the town.  

Sedona is famous as the home of several vortexes, specific fields that emit energy upward from the earth.  There are said to be three energy types: electrical (masculine), magnetic (feminine) and electromagnetic (neutral) which energize and inspire.  Numerous shops are devoted to rocks and other art objects, books and spiritualists who seek to help customers become energized!













David drove us out to the Honanki  settlement which is south of Sedona.  To get there you must travel a Forest Service Road of gravel and rocks.  It was an hour long 10-mile trek.  
Beautiful yellow wildflowers abounded on the hillsides.
 We were a bit disappointed by the lack of pictographs which we'd been led to believe we would see.  Perhaps some of them were covered up by the grafitti of ignorant, inconsiderate tourists .  The Forest Service has uncovered about 10 rooms set under the cliff overhang.  It reminded Ann of the homes described in the books in The Clan of the Cave Bear series. 


The Geico gecko visited, too!

On the left is a formation named Thunder Mountain.  Nearest the road is a formation locals call the coffee pot rock!

 
We thought the rocks to the right looked like elephants!

Instead of having to climb back through the Oak Creek Canyon we took the AZ 179 route back to I-17.  Getting the 15 miles from Sedona to I-17, we drove around ten roundabouts!!! Arizonans love roundabouts.  The climb back up the 3000 feet to Flagstaff was much gentler and David commented it was great to be able to use cruise control on the truck.  In Flagstaff we drove on a short section of Rte 66 (can still see the two guys cruisin' 66 in their corvette).

Get your kicks on Rte 66!

 
Full moon risin'


Tomorrow it's on to Albuquerque.


Thursday, October 17, 2013

Edwards AFB to Flagstaff, AZ-October 17, 2013

The NASA test facility at Edwards AFB.  Note the tan flat area in background on which flight testing can be done.
Today was a transition day out of California into Arizona.  Again vast vistas of dry scrub and distant mountains treated our eyes.  At one point Ann commented that the hazy distant mountains could be called the Smokies of the West!  From an elevation of about 2200 feet at Edwards AFB we climbed to over 7000 feet here at the KOA in Flagstaff, AZ.  As we left we saw a big NASA aircraft and the facility they operate as a tenant at Edwards.  Edwards is a research and test facility which NASA likely uses for the same purpose.  There is a huge flat tract of land for lengthy take off and landings. 

As we headed eastward on I-40 we again noted trains.  (We saw no trains in Hawaii!).  The tracks again followed the interstate.  This one had no caboose!

 And the road went through ups and downs, mostly ups!  And what spectacular vistas with mountain peaks exceeding 7-12,000 feet!

 As we crossed the border at Needles, we also crossed the Colorado River.  This River is the cause of much fighting and controversy over who has the right to its waters.  




Nearing Flagstaff, the ascents became steeper and the nice increase in gas mileage we'd had on the flatlands was diminished.  We'll sleep at 7,000+ elevation tonight and we didn't even bother to hook up the water overnight as we were warned to disconnect it overnight for the freezing temps!  Never camped in temps below freezing before--virgin experience.  


Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Wednesday, October 16 Edwards AFB, CA

There were a "gazillion' turbines on the hillsides off CA-12.
After a magnificent night of sleep, we had a leisurely (for us) departure from Travis FAMCAMP at 8:40 AM.  First we encountered construction on our route to I-5 S.  We were entertained, however, by the largest wind turbine "farm" we have ever seen, off CA-12 near Fairfield.  It makes the turbine farm, north of Indianapolis on I-65, pale by comparison. We estimated over 300 turbines were stretched over a 2-3 mile area.  We mused about how much electricity they sell to the local grid.

Once we got on I-5 S it was clear sailing or should we say driving.  It was a cloudless, blue-skyed,  beautiful day starting at 47 degrees F in Fairfield and going up to the mid-80s by 3 PM before we hit the mountains.  We drove through the San Joaquin Valley most of the day on excellent hiway without wind!  The greatest challenge was to keep RB II from exceeding 60 MPH as the speed limit for vehicles 3 axles-and-over is 55 MPH.  

This is truly the bread basket of America.  Between acres and acres of dry, yellow grassland on which sheep and cattle were grazing, were large tracts of fruit and nut trees, flowers (looked like knock-out roses from the road), and sod, all under irrigation by California's aqueduct systems. Many of the creek and river beds were dry!   There were numerous signs lamenting the laws limiting water rights.  (Google western states water rights for more information.)

There were "gazillions" more turbines near Tehachapi, but these varied in size and had bases which were triangular, the first of this kind we had ever seen.  Again there must have been over 200 stretching across both sides of CA-58.
We started the day at 15 feet elevation at Fairfield and climbed to over 4000 feet (over a 15 mile stretch) at Tehachapi and will spend the night here at Edwards AFB FAMCAMP at about 2000 feet.  Last night in Fairfield it was about 75 when we went to bed with the fan on and windows wide open  During the night it chilled down fast and at 2 AM we were both cold; Ann got up and put the comforter on the bed and we both turned on our electric blanket's controls!  It was 47 when we woke up.  So we expect out here in the desert it will get just as cold or colder.  Both locations are quite dry, but the Edwards desert is probably drier


We are camping tonight at Edwards Air Force Base, a research facility where much aviation history has been made.  We had dinner in the trailer as the sun set:  baked tilapia, asparagus, rice and salad with Ann's Mom's homemade sweet/sour dressing.  As we stepped out of the trailer to take a walk, a coyote rambled past the campground.  It was followed shortly by an evening jogger.


Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Tuesday, October 15

No you didn't miss a day, we did!  Yesterday morning we got to the check-in station at Hickam AFB only to learn the 5:30 AM flight had been delayed due to mechanical problems.  It was scheduled to fly at 8:30 PM  TENTATIVELY.  We have played the space-available game enough now to know we could not rely on that time holding either and we were up against the time deadline we have set to be home by October 25.  So we surfed the web for fares to Oakland and booked a flight at 9:40 PM (yes, a red-eye special) and just hung out reading and casual bird observing until it was time to turn in our rental car and sit in the Honolulu Airport.  It rained off and on, too, but then that is not unusual in Hawaii.  

We arranged for the same shuttle to meet us at Oakland Airport at 8:30 AM local time and we were dropped at the place where we had stored Jay and RBII.  There was thankfully room for us at the Travis FAMCAMP where we are now ensconced for the night trying to re-acquaint our bodies with local time.  Ann did a commissary run to re-load the refrig.  Tomorrow we start our trek eastward via the southern route through Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee. 

Sunday, October 13

National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific


                                                                   








Today we focused more on birding as neither of us was especially interested in “touristy” stuff.  We headed out to the Punch Bowl Cemetery--the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.  It provides an awesome view of Honolulu and Diamond Head.  The “punchbowl” was formed some 75,000 to 100,000 years ago by secondary volcanic activity.  Its Hawaiian name is Puowaina, which translates “Hill of Sacrifice”.  It is quite a dramatic setting and there are 23 Medal of Honorees buried here.  Photo- journalist Ernie Pyle is also buried here.  There are nearly 40,000 graves in this cemetery.  There were supposed to be some specialty birds here, but again, not at this time of the year.  Most of what we saw were red-vented bulbuls which we had seen earlier at our breakfast at the Wilbur and Orville Wright Cafe on Hickam AFB overlooking the ocean. 

From there we drove to the O`ahu Cemetery where rose-ringed parakeets nest.  We’d looked for this bird on K`auai unsuccessfully, but here we found them.  Now, we know some “purist” birders would not put this bird on their life list, but we did!!




Next David drove us to the Hale Koa Hotel on Waikiki Beach, next to the Hilton Waikiki and dined on delicious sandwiches for lunch.

This is a Military Welfare and Recreation Resort, set on some very expensive property right on the beach.  It would have been a very expensive place for us to stay and the traffic would have stressed David out!  Neither of us are “beach” people, so we did not miss staying here.  But a great lunch was provided and we had our photo taken “on the beach” albeit just a foot or so off the sidewalk!





 
Exhaustion set in and we decided to drive to the USS Arizona Memorial which fortunately is not totally dependent on the National Park Service for viewing.  We didn’t take the actual memorial tour which likely was not available but we were able to view it from the site of the USS Missouri.  The Memorial is built over the remains of some of the 1,177 crewmen who were killed on December 7, 1941.  It is an awe-inspiring memorial.




The battleship USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor.  It was Admiral Halsey's flagship during World War II

Foreground memorial to USS West Virginia, also sunk at Pearl Harbor along with the USS Arizona which is the third or furthest-viewed memorial.  To its immediate left is the memorial to the USS Tennessee, also severely damaged at Pearl Harbor, but not sunk. 

We checked on the flight we hope to be on tomorrow morning and learned there are 73 seats available.  We will report for roll call at 4:30 AM.  Regardless of how we depart here, this will be our last night in Paradise!!!  Our next communication will be from California.

O`ahu-Saturday, October 12

O`ahu, though third in size of the Hawaiian Islands, is the heart of Hawai`i. The City and County of Honolulu is the largest east-to-west in the US because it includes all of O`ahu and all of the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, except Midway.  We watched some of the morning traffic reports on TV and Honolulu’s traffic rivals LA’s.  There is supposed to be good birding on O`ahu, but there also are more introduced species here than on any of the other islands.

Today we relaxed in anticipation of going to a luau in the evening.  We used the base library to send the blogs you got yesterday.  Our quarters are hard-wired for the internet, but we don’t have the cable necessary to access.  Again our ipad worked fine with our Verizon service to download email and surf the web. 

Since neither of us had ever been to a luau, we didn’t know what to expect.  We’d read about several offered by the big Waikiki hotels, but we didn’t want to contend with that traffic after dark!  As it turned out, the one we selected was about 30 minutes from our quarters, but it was not a stressful drive. 

The Paradise Cove luau is at a private cove on the western side of O`ahu.  It includes lots of Hawaiian cultural activities before the meal.  Ann tried her hand at spear throwing.  We didn’t see anyone hit the bulls eye with the too-light, dull “broom handles”.  It was fun anyway!!  David took the canoe ride into the sunset.  Ann had a palm wreath made and we enjoyed lots of mirthful skits demonstrating native customs.  They gathered a group of men who were willing to go shirtless and wear grass skirts to do some Hawaiian male songs.   There was a demonstration of net fishing and the beautiful Hawaiian wahines welcoming the men home from the water, complete with lit torches.  Before dinner there were also many hula songs with the sensuous, fluid hips and hands of Hawaiian women and muscular, sensuous hips of the men, too. Ann tried her hand at learning to hula, but the hands and hips just wouldn’t work together!!  After dinner of fish, pork, chicken and many different salads and desserts, there was another hour of music.  It was an outstanding value and one we will treasure for a long time. 

What will the children and grandchildren think about Grampa Dave and Grannie Annie getting tatoos?!!!!

Fierce warrior wahine practices spear throwing

 Well, it finally happened--Dave is driven to paddling alone into the sunset!!!!
 And what a sunset!!
"Taken" women wear the flowers on the left.

Uncovering the pig which has roasted for more than 36 hours.

Sensuous male and female hula dancers

After dinner entertainment

K`auai to O`ahu October 11

Feral Chickens and young.  The feral chickens are quite beautiful.
After another sumptuous breakfast of veggies and ham omelettes, this time, we packed out and headed for Lihue and our flight at 2 PM to Oahu.  The eggs here have a very different flavor.  We don’t know if all the free rangers produce eggs which are harvested, but the eggs are more flavorful.                As we drove the 25 miles to Lihue, we encountered our first deluge rain since arriving in Hawaii.  We had some mists on the Big Island, but this was a drainage system swamper in many places.  During a break, we went to the harbor near Lihue, but again no shore birds or even gulls!  We did encounter the ever-present feral chickens and photographed the evidence of continued reproduction in the wild. 

We also saw a huge cruise ship docked at Nawiliwili Bay.  We wondered how it turned around to get out of here as the inlet was quite narrow.  This is a very protected bay with surfers and board surfing.  We thought this would be a great place for our granddaughter, Allyson, who wants to surf, to come.  Now, how do we get the financing?!  Ann had earlier walked a beach and got too close to a breaker, ending up with wet sandals and pants legs.  She was wiser with the breakers on this protected bay.  
Protected Nawiliwili Bay and surfers


 




 




The wave builds and builds and washes over the wall at Nawiliwili Beach.

Our flight arrived in Honolulu about 2:30 and by the time we had our rental car and quarters at Hickam Air Force Base, it was almost 4 PM.  We’d not had lunch, so we decided to try the Sam Choy     Restaurant which is on Hickam Harbor inside the base boundaries.  We dined outside watching planes land across the bay with Diamond Head on our left and a gorgeous purple sunset on the right.  There was a man with a youngster who looked to be less than five (wearing a life vest) on a paddle board.  When the father got the board out to a breaker, the boy stood and used his short paddle to help ride the wave.  It looked precious!!  and it was a great ending to another day in Paradise!









Saturday, October 12, 2013

Kaua'i Day Two-October 10

Lonely soldier stands watch at Fort Catherine.
Since Waimea Canyon is better viewed in the afternoon because of the sun orientation, we decided this morning to travel a bit south of Waimea to see coastal birds and sites.  We stopped first at the remnants of a Russian fort, Fort Catherine, which was established in 1817 by Russian traders to protect trade routes.  It was destroyed in the late 1800s by native Hawaiians. 


At the salt pans near Salt Pond Beach Park there is still salt produced by evaporating sea water.  Because much of this area has not had much rain, however, the pans were largely dried up.  We explored this area looking for a few shore birds, but alas there weren't any!  We were often struck by the lack of shore birds on any of the Hawaiian Islands.  It was also too late in the season to find the rose-ringed parakeets which are pests in the corn crops.  We also saw a very interesting cemetery dedicated to native Hawaiian veterans.  Some grave sites are mounded. 

There is a restaurant in Waimea known at Wranglers which has a lot of cowboy memorabilia.  We didn't get the story of why it was established here, but it serves a local dish called "kau kau" in a three-tier tin which workers used to carry their lunch in.   The meals have an Asian bent and the kimshee on the rice was very hot to Ann's taste.  Fortunately there wasn't much of it and it was readily pushed to the side.  

Tin used by early workers for meal on the job.
Three layers--teriyaki steak, rice with kimshee and breaded prawns and breaded sliced vegetables



 It was back to Waimea Canyon for afternoon birding, this time we went all the way to the end of the road (about 18 miles) which winds and twists A LOT, and climbs to over 4000 feet.  At the last lookout we could see across the misty mountains to Mount Wai'ale'ale at 5, 146 feet which has had the reputation as the wettest spot in the world with over 460 inches of rain a year.  It was in this area that we finally saw our first 'elepaio, an endemic bird similar to the wren.  Across the valley is the Napali Coast  and a Marine National Monument which is inaccessible and home to 7000 species of mammals, seabirds and fish, some not found anywhere else. 
Napali Coast

Since we'd had such a heavy lunch, we microwaved our dinner and were ready for bed again by 8 PM!

Tomorrow we fly to Oahu.