"That's Too bad."

Tiki RV Park, St Ignace, MI.  Trish reserved a electric/water site here months ago, was told to check back to see if a full hookup site became available. 

She called 3 days ago.  "Who?  Our computer is down, can't help you now."

She called again 2 days ago.  "Who?  Oh yeah, Roberts.  Yes, we do have a full hookup drive-thru site you can have.

Pulled into the park, entered the office, old dingbat behind the counter, "Who?" 

Trish said, "I was told there was a full hookup drive-thru site for us." 

Dingbat: "That's too bad.  You're going to be in site 55.  It's a back-in"

So, here we are in site 55.  It's okay, has full hook.

RVers always prefer drive-thru sites because maneuvering into a back-in can be a bitch: trees, posts, rocks, other vehicles and RVs frequently make backing in a real challenge.

Some businesses succeed in spite of themselves - including this one.  If there were good alternatives to Tiki, I'd have told them in no uncertain terms where to shove their 'that's too bad' attitude.

Kitch-iti-Kipi

No, that's not a typo.  It's the Indian name for Big Spring, a freshwater spring that gushes out of the pool bottom at 10,000 gallons a minute.  It's in Palms Book State Park, near Manistique, MI.

This raft takes people out to where the water boils up at the bottom of the pond.  It's propelled by a 4' wheel you turn by hand, takes about 10 minutes to get above the outflow location.  Trish and I were the only ones on it, the folks in this shot were the next bunch.

Looking straight down at the outflows through 40' of clear water.  The fish are trout, huge buggers.

The lighter colored areas on the bottom mark where the water flows up through the sand. 

They resemble large pots of boiling, sandy water.

Our idyllic campground at Indian Lake State Park.

Rochester, MN

Soldier's Field in Rochester, MN, is possibly the most impressive 

memorial and military tribute outside of Washington D C.

Below, holding the bad news telegram.

The families of Vietnam KIAs were notified personally by stateside military personnel.

One of my duties when I returned from Vietnam was to assist widows and parents 

with funeral arrangements, military honor guard, insurance, and other military benefits.

The day after the notification, I'd call and make an appointment to visit them in their homes to work out the details.  Later, I would attend the funeral service, supervise the honor guard, and present the survivors with the US flag that had been draped over the coffin. 

A sad, sobering task.

The outside of the round tribute wall has scenes from several wars including Vietnam.  The 2 sentences below the images eloquently explain why most combat veterans don't talk about the details of their time in hell.  I'm no exception, have never talked about it much.  I did write a book about it, though.  That was a good thing to do, helped me deal with some of the demons.

Sioux Falls

Yes, Virginia, there is a water falls in Sioux Falls and it's spectacular.  The water flows down numerous steps over a considerable distance, several hundred feet.  There's wonderful public park areas on both sides of the falls

Quite an impressive display of sculpture in the heart of downtown.

Didn't pay much attention to the actual titles, named these three myself.

The one is obviously a Polecat.

I dubbed this one Anorexia.

Artie didn't like posing alongside Robo Cat.  

Notice he's leaning as far away as he possibly can.

Carhenge

It's near Alliance, NE and is modeled closely after the considerably older (by about 10,000 years) Stonehenge in Great Britain.  Can't help but grin as you stroll around the ....uh, sculpture?  Junkyard?   Gonna go with sculpture, wouldn't bother stopping for a junkyard.

Junkyard dog?  Artie would be offended.  

Doesn't even think he's a dog, much less the junkyard variety.

The website in case you're interested in the back story: http://carhenge.com/

Scotts Bluff N M

Scotts Bluff Nat'l Monument is near Chimney Rock.  Both are near the North Platte River, and the pioneer trails (Oregon, California, Mormon, Pony Express).  Chimney Rock is a state historic sight, the Bluff is federal.

Oxen were the tow vehicles of choice on the pioneer trails.

You can drive to the top of the Bluff, quite a view.  

There are several trails to the top as well.

Chimney Rock

Chimney Rock

Picture taken from the visitor center.

The shape reminds me of The Spire in Dublin, Ireland, a tall aluminum needle, known affectionately as The Stiffy at the Liffey; also, The Erection at the Intersection.  Irish folks like to give things nicknames, especially lewd nicknames.  The well-endowed bronze statue of Molly Malone - also in Dublin - is another example: The Tart With the Cart, The Trollop With the Scallop, The Dish With the Fish, The Flirt With the Skirt.

Got lost in the moment there, sorry, must be the Irish in me.

C-Rock was perhaps the most significant milestone on the Oregon Trail, as it marked the completion of the first third of the journey.  We visited the Rock a couple days ago. 

Back in the Dirt

We don't typically make reservations for one-nighters when we're RVing.  We call our first choice campground when we start driving in the AM, see if there's room at the inn - or in our case, the campground.  We're usually lucky but sometimes not.  Yesterday was a not.

Original choice a was a motel/CG in Fort Morgan, CO: full up.

Next option down the road was Brush, CO, a municipal park: full up.

Next option was a piss-ant 'campground' in someone's back yard, near Sterling, CO, gave 'em a call: "Yeah, we have a space for you, 50 amp, no water or sewer, back in the dirt."  Back in the dirt?  What the hell, let's go for it.

So, here we are, back in the dirt.  $42/night.  Don't care about the cost, any port in a storm.  Got power so all appliances work.  Only one night.  Cool and dry in our RV, A/C on.  Life is good.

Artie tucked himself in by the fireplace yesterday morning, one ear sticking straight up.

Dwan Light Sanctuary

Located on the campus of UWC-USA*, near Las Vegas, NM, the Sanctuary opened in 1996.  It serves as '...a refuge from the hectic pace of daily living.'  So, it's a place to meditate, become one with everything, whatever - wu-wu stuff that's of little interest to Trish and me.

We were intrigued though, so we visited the place.  It has 2 huge window walls with large prisms set at various angles.  The ceiling has additional prisms.  One at a time please: only one person/couple/group is allowed inside at any given time.  We were told at the welcome center that if anyone knocked on the door while we were inside, to just ignore them.

*UWC-USA: United World College-USA is one of 17 campuses located on 5 continents.  Students, ages 16-19, from about 75 countries attend this 2-year residential school.  The schools' objective is "...to use education as a force to build bridges between people and cultures.'  A downright noble and commendable goal, say I.

The Montezuma Castle is the main campus building.  It was originally a luxury hotel, built in 1881.  I've stayed in worse places.

The Other Las Vegas

Above: 10' wood carving of a Campesino, historic Plaza Hotel in background.

Several scenes from the TV series Longmire were shot in this area.

Below: a typical tourist in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel.

Las Vegas, NM population is 13K, much smaller than it's infamous sister city.  We spent a couple nights there, a breather after 3 days on the road and overnight stops in Flagstaff and Sky City, NM.

Las Vegas is a Spanish word (duh!) meaning 'the meadows' - which is appropriate for the NM city.  It was once appropriate for the NV city, too.  It had many artesian wells and green areas when it was named in 1821 by Spanish explorers.

The highlight of our stop was our neighbor, Dot, pictured below.  Baaaaaaaaa!  We've seen lots of odd stuff on our travels but Dot takes the cake.  Owner has a sheep farm, said Dot was a twin, had to be bottle fed, was too young to leave behind when they started their trip in March. 

March?  Holy crap!  Crap being the key word.  Three months of living in a small RV with a sheep!  Don't even want to think about what that rig smells like inside.