Ruidoso 2, NM

Ruidoso Downs horse race track.  Billy the Kid Casino, restaurant and bar are under the stands.

You know what comes with horses?  Flies.  Beaucoup - as in a whole bunch.  We moved from our first campsite cuz the place was crawling with 'em.  Second location where we are now is better but there are still plenty - less the KIAs: my trusty fly swatter and I are a deadly duo but we're badly outnumbered.  We booked 5 nights here and that will be plenty.
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We had planned to tour several neat places in southeast AZ but high temps and August monsoons put us off.  So we're headed to another neat place that's been on our hit list: Prescott.  Elevation there is 5400' and high temps are in the mid 80s.  Perfect!  That will likely be our last stop before we head for the barn.  If we really like it, we may stay in Prescott for some time cuz LHC average highs are 106 in August.

The Hubbard Museum of the American West, an affiliate of the Smithsonian, is here.  Larger than life horse sculptures of the major breeds are staged on the museum grounds, plus this pair of fighting stallions at the entrance.
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Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War is part of the colorful history of this area.  The Kid's home was Lincoln, NM, for many years the most lawless, deadliest place in the country.  President Hayes called the road through Lincoln 'the most dangerous street in America'.  Don't take your guns to town, Bill.  Oh ..... another thing, Bill: when you're in the saloon, order whiskey, not sarsaparilla.

Ruidoso, NM

These 3 pix are of Lake Dardanelle S P, OK.  Great setting and view but too damned hot and humid to enjoy it.  Cower inside the EDGE with A/C on max.

We’re back in the high dry country and it feels great!  We'll take a break of 5-7 days after many hot sticky days on the road through PA, VA, WV, TN, AR, OK, and TX.  We didn’t spend more than one night in any one place since we left Gettysburg, never unhooked, never went out for dinner.  So, going out tonight!

Dozens of discarded spray paint cans litter the area.

Staged shot.  I picked up an empty can of paint.

Above pix are of Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo.  I thought it was an old whorehouse-museum when we saw it on the map - like Chicken Ranch in the movie.  But no, it’s 10 Cadillacs planted nose down in a field back in the early 70s.  I’d seen pix of it, don’t recall when or where.  They’re hardly recognizable as Caddies anymore, having long since become a venue for spray-paint messages and bizarre art.  Still, it gets lots of visitors - including us.

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Trish wanted to drive through Roswell to see the many alien-themed signs and such.  She took several pix; I didn’t take any cuz I was driving, didn’t think they’d be blog-worthy in any case.  Your garden variety Roswell alien sign has them looking like the aliens in Close Encounters: green, hairless, delicate, large slanted oval eyes.
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We picked Ruidoso cuz of its high altitude.  We weren’t aware that there’s a major horse racing track here, Ruidoso Downs, and also a large winter ski area.  It’s an odd mix of chic and hoity-toity alternating with poor and shabby, with not much in the middle.

Foss S P, Foss, OK

It was 109 degrees when we pulled in at 4 PM, park ranger said the temps were 10-15 degrees above normal and had been for 30 days.  We’re thankful we’re just passing through - also that the humidity is much lower than we’ve seen in several weeks.
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Signs we saw along the AR/OK drive:
In Arkansas.

            1.  Toad Suck Park.  About damn time, too; haven’t had a good toad suck for God knows how long,

            2.  Pig Trail Park.  Oink, grunt and snort if you’re a Razorback.  It’s a popular ride with Harley riders for obvious reasons.  Oh, it’s not obvious?  Harleys - or Harley drivers, not sure which -are sometimes referred to as hogs because of the Harley Owners Group (HOG).  Some would say there are other similarities. 

            3.  Pig Out Palace.  Don’t know but assume it’s a restaurant.  Yeah, I can do that.

In Oklahoma.

            1.  Pottawattamie.  Gotta look on backlog of blog posts: weren’t these guys in Iowa or Maine or somewhere?  What are they doing down here?  And why did they come for cripes sakes?  This place sucks.  Just ask the toads.

            2.  Kickapoo.  Ever read the cartoon strip ‘Lil Abner’?  They often talked about Kickapoo Joy Juice in the comic strip.  I thought the Kickapoo name was made up, turns out it’s a real Native American tribe.  I was sorely tempted to stop and ask them to fill my water bottle with Joy Juice.  Back to ‘Lil Abner’, I thought Moonbeam McSwine was HOT.  Never mind that she slept with the hogs; hot is hot.

            3.  Roman Nose Park.  A memorial to Jimmy Durante?

            4.  Chisholm Trail & Garth Brooks Blvd.  These two signs were back to back along the freeway, near OK City.  We’re talking major time warp here.

            5.  Last but not least, a sign on OK City outskirts stating that the shopping cart was invented in OK.  Holy crap!  I envision a fantastic new theme park in OKs future, rivaling Branson, and Dollyville: Shopping Cartville!!!  There’ll be a 5-star hotel in the shape of a shopping cart, shopping cart drag races, shopping cart roller coasters, shopping cart loading contests (separate prizes for highest, widest and heaviest), shopping cart demolition derbies, huge shopping carts that seat 6 tourists - pulled by Clydesdales (eat your heart out Budweiser).  The possibilities are endless!

Natchez Trace S P, Lexington, TN

We’re at Pin Oak Campground on Pin Oak Lake.  It’s a totally awesome campground with full hookups overlooking the lake.  Hard to believe there’s hardly anybody here!  There’s nobody at all in our loop besides us; it’s just us the trees and the lake, so welcome after the many recent sardinesque private campgrounds. 
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Pin oak: ever heard of ‘em?  I never had so looked in my Audubon Field Guide tree book.  Pin is short for chinkapin, a type of oak that grows only in the southeast, so named because the leaves resemble those of the chinkapin tree - never heard of that either.  Several species of oak have leaves of that shape, an elongated toothed oval that bears no resemblance to the traditionally shaped leaves of my prior acquaintance.
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On more reflection, maybe I have heard of pin oak, and maybe you have also.  Think on it for a minute: does it ring any bells?  How about if we add a ‘y’, making it pin oaky, does that help?
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Got it?  No?  Okay, here’s the last clue: add an ‘o’ after the y.
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That’s right!  Pinocchio!  Now we know what he was made of and how he got his name.  No, no - no need to thank me.  I consider it an honor, broadening the knowledge of the masses.  Hey, somebody’s gotta do it.
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Pix below are of our campground, with Trish giving Ranger his 3rd haircut with the new doggie clipper.  She gets a little braver each time, takes a little more hair off, hoping to help the Dude Dog keep his cool.

There was an armadillo rooting around in the grass when I went outside this morning.  Funny little critters, they are, with their waddling, hopping gait.  This guy (gal?) came to within 10’ of me; either it never realized I was there or just didn’t care.  They’re a lot like opossums, just add body armor.

Near Knoxville, TN

When we were planning this trip, we knew we'd be in the hot and humid when we reached this part of the country.  We didn't really intend to see or do much here although spending 2-3 days in Nashville was a possibility.  Trish is into country music big time, has been to Nashville; I'm less into the music, haven't been to Nashville, and have no great desire to visit now.  

So, we had a summit meeting 2 nights ago.  Subject: how long are we going to spend in the hot and humid, and are we stopping in Nashville?  Consensus: as little time as possible; 2nd answer, no.  We're hauling ass back to the southwest.  We'll tour the high country of NM and AZ where it will be considerably cooler and a hell of a lot dryer.

We'll be heading southwest on I-40, with overnights in TN, AR and OK.  AR and OK are on my permanent shit list for personal reasons.  Many readers already know why; if you don't, but want to, let me know: maybe I'll do a blog post on it.  Anyway, I didn't want to set foot in either state again - never, ever, no freakin' way, ain't gonna happen, forgettaboutit.  But, an alternate route makes no sense so I'll have to grin and bear it.  Okay, I'll bear it.  Grinning, however, is absolutely out of the question.  Sneer, maybe. 

Shenandoah N P, VA

Spent one night here in the Loft Mountain campground, altitude about 3500’ so it’s a bit cooler than the lowlands.  It’s been hot and humid the last few days so this is a welcome respite.  Since we have a Golden Passport card for seniors, NP entry fees are waived and camping is $7.50, half the regular cost.  We’ve been spending $40/night and up at recent campgrounds so the savings are welcome also.

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This park was established in 1935.  Highest peaks here are a tad over 4000’; it appears that the entire park is deciduous forest.  It must be beautiful in the fall.  The park is long and skinny, the main feature being the 105-mile long Skyline Drive that runs along the uppermost ridge of the Blue Ridge Mts.
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Skyline Drive may not be the crookedest, curviest road in the world but it ranks right up there.  If it were a string and you put your left thumb on the north end and grasped the south end in your right hand and gave it a brisk tug, it would straighten right out - and the south end would then reach to the far side of Cuba.
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Old timers will recall the song Oh Shenandoah, which, prior to yesterday, was my main Shenandoah reference.  Always loved that song, so sweet and sad with its lovely lyrics and haunting melody.  The word Shenandoah itself is mightily appealing, has a soft romantic feel to it.  Who wrote it?  Nobody knows.  What’s it about?  Nobody knows.  Shenandoah and ‘the wide Missouri’ are nowhere near each other, nor is Shenandoah, IA close to the Missouri.   
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Speculation is that the song is about a woman named Shenandoah, possibly the daughter of an Indian chief, being sung by her would-be sweetheart who is ‘out west’.  Carrying it a step further, my imagination has him located on the far bank of the Missouri, the poor bugger can’t swim and he’s flat broke so doesn’t have money to take the ferry across.  Remember the song Running Bear?  Could be Oh Shenandoah was on the same theme but hopefully with a less tragic ending.

Gettysburg, PA

Soldiers National Monument located in the military cemetery on the spot where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address.

Dedication plaque of the Monument.

My infantry training included strategy, tactics, weapons placement, map reading, terrain evaluation and on and on.  There were numerous field deployment exercises in which we were given a scenario: objective, our assets, limited knowledge of enemy strength and position.  We walked the theoretical battlefield and worked up our battle plans: machine guns here, mortars there, main force dug in on the hill, reserve force covering from side hill.

Given that background, I was curious about how Gettysburg was fought, lost and won.  About 160K soldiers fought here with about 51K casualties, including 5000 rebs slaughtered in one hour - the result of the famous Pickett's Charge.  Some of the lessons of the Revolutionary War, most specifically guerilla-style warfare, were not much employed here.  Massed infantry assaults were made across open fields, straight into cannon fire and well-positioned defenders on the high ground.  No wonder there were so many deaths.

At the visitor's center, we watched an excellent film narrated by Morgan Freeman, toured the museum and viewed the cyclorama - something we didn't know existed.  Cycloramas, popular in the late 1800s, are huge circular paintings viewed from inside the circle.  The Gettysburg cylcorama is 377' long and 46' high; the viewer is on a hill in the middle of the battlefield.  Surrounding the circular viewing stand, close in, are many real battlefield artifacts positioned on what appears to be real soil.  The real stuff meshes seamlessly with the painting, making the whole extremely realistic.  Add naration, sound and light effects and you have a fantastic show complete with cannon and musket fire.  The 4 pix below are of segments of the cyclorama, followed by a plaque about its painter.

The Union officially won the battle and if they'd capitalized on that victory, may have been able to win the war shortly thereafter.  But, Union General Meade allowed Lee's army to get away so the war dragged on for 2 more years.  Lee was an excellent general but he was one of few on either side.