It's Not About The Destination - It's About The Journey !

I can’t emphasize enough just how beautiful New Mexico is.  I think it took me twice as long to drive through the Northeast corner, than it should have, because I stopped so many times to take pictures.  Yes, it seems flat and endless, but somewhere in all of that wide open space there emerges a timeless beauty.  The first picture below is my favorite from the trip so far.  I was driving down a back road and out in the middle of a field was this house.  It looked so forlorn and abandoned that I had to stop.  My imagination replayed what it would have looked like so many years ago, with whitewashed siding and the front door swung wide open to let the prairie breeze in.  A handful of kids running around outside and a couple hound dogs lazily napping in the cool dirt under the back door.  I’m almost certain that someone had moved it to its current location, as there where no signs of a driveway or path leading to it.  All in all though, it whispers a story of long ago, when life didn’t rush by in a 45 MPH zone.

The closer to Colorado I got the more mountains began to appear on the horizon, I stopped at a couple turn outs, to snap some pictures.  At one particular stop I caught a glimpse of movement way down under some trees.  I was able to zoom in with my camera and saw a bunch of turkeys making their way into the pines.

Authors Note:  In the above pictures that show part of my Jeep, I was actually stopped and taking the picture out my driver and passenger side windows……  Just in case you were wondering….lol

Having spent quite a bit of time in southern New Mexico, I guess I took for granted just how beautiful this state is.  After leaving Amarillo, heading for Colorado, I skirted the corner of New Mexico and took a little detour to swing by a volcano.

Capulin Volcano National Monument, was a cool little stop on my way north.  I stopped at the Welcome Center, and my new National Parks Pass came in handy.  It was about a 2 mile drive up and around to the top.  The air was kind of hazy and there were thunder storms off to the south and west so, although I could see for quite a ways, I can only imagine how much better it would be on a clear day.  Due to the impending rain headed my way I decided to forgo the trail that leads around the rim, and chose to hike down into the middle of the volcano.  It was a nice easy paved trail, with lots of rocks and bushes for snakes and creepy crawly things just waiting to pounce out at me, (well, at least that is what my imagination told me).  If you have ever been to an inactive volcano, that has lain dormant for more than 60,000 years, you will know that although it is very cool, there isn’t much to look at once you are down there, in the center.  It actually looks as if someone backed a truck loaded with black volcanic rock to the edge of a giant hole and dumped it.  I guess I was hoping for more of the movie version which included a hole with hot molten lava and steam escaping from the earths crust. If you are passing through North Eastern New Mexico and see the signs for the volcano, check it out, it was pretty interesting.

P.S.  I hope at least one person gets the title joke…..

Well, not exactly morning, but I did make it there my mid afternoon.  Of course, the first time that I decide to save some cash and camp at a KOA, it would have to rain like crazy.  So, off I went to see the town. Well, maybe not the whole town, but a couple stops worked just fine.  First on the list was The American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum.  Wow ! !  Just the building is awesome, hardly anyone there, so I wandered around and had a good time learning about the history of the Quarter Horse.  It was still raining when I finished up there, so I drove down the road to The Big Texan Steak Ranch.  The place was busy even at 4 in the afternoon.  There was a gentleman up on the stage doing his best to put away the 72 oz. steak and all the trimmings.  Yea, he didn’t finish.  That’s a whole lot of food.  I decided to forgo the steak challenge and had the chicken fried chicken.   Yummy…. Back to the KOA with a full belly, and the slightest rays of sunshine coming through the clouds.  I parked the Jeepster, and arranged my bed for the night.  Sleeping in the back of my Jeep isn’t nearly as comfortable on the old back as it may sound.  So early the next morning, I was up and on the road, aching back and all.  No trip through Amarillo would be complete without a stop at Cadillac Ranch.  Oh, did I mention that it had rained the night before, yeah, so trekking out to the middle of a corn field to look at ten Cadillacs buried nose down in the dirt, was just a bit muddy.  I slipped on my boots, and walked out, only to find that there was a huge mud puddle that encompassed the entire area.  So, I didn’t get a chance to spray paint my name on the cars, but it was pretty funny watching all of the other people try to make it out there without getting mud on their nice white sneakers.  And the 30 bikers that pulled up and stood there trying to decide if they wanted to get their leathers dirty.   Headed for Colorado and whatever the road holds…. stay tuned ! !

So, besides going to a Garth Brooks concert,  Tulsa and Red Rock Canyon, I had a great time while I was in Oklahoma.  I went to the IFYR in Shawnee, caught a couple barrel races at the Lazy E and in Pawhuska, but mostly spent time with friends.

On Saturday the 29th of July a group of former CLSS folks got together at Stanly Draper Lake Marina for a Burger Burn.  I saw friends I hadn’t seen since before I retired, almost 9 years ago.  There were folks from all different career fields and even some that had been stationed there well before my time.  We all laughed and talked and enjoyed each others company.  It was a real family reunion, done with a Touch of CLaSS.

Although I didn’t get pictures of everyone that I did get to see and all that I had the chance to do, I want to say thanks to everyone.  I had a great time.  A very special Thank You to Terry and Jerry Leach for letting me hang my hat in their horse trailer LQ’s for almost a month.  You guys are amazing and I love you so much.

Just a short 2 hr. drive west of Oklahoma City is a hidden little gem, Red Rock Canyon State Park.  It’s free for day use and proved to be a nice place for a couple quick hikes.  My friend Desiree and I took a drive a couple weeks ago and landed there.  The weather was great and the canyon was pretty cool.  There are two trails for hiking, neither of them very long nor strenuous but it fit the bill.  Walking along the trail, I’m thinking about what it must have looked like back when the cattle drives were prevalent in these parts, as well as the Indians that had roamed the area.  Desiree on the other hand kept telling me what a great place to stage a horror movie….. WTH ! ! Yeah, like my imagination isn’t crazy enough, let’s go ahead and through some zombie’s or Leatherface in the mix.  Hilarious.  A stop at Swadley’s BBQ on the way home and all was right with the world again.

Headed up to Tulsa OK last week with my friend Desiree for some sightseeing.  Our first stop was the Tulsa Botanic Gardens.  The weather forecast predicted a great day, not too hot with a few clouds to keep it cool.  Well, what it really meant was that, it was going to be great weather as long as we were in the car driving.  As soon as we pulled in the parking lot, it started to sprinkle, but we thought “oh this won’t last long”, so we went ahead and paid the admission and headed out into the gardens. Yep, we were wrong, the entire time we were there, it rained.  Not a down pour, but enough to get us a bit soggy walking around.  The place was pretty cool, and since we were just about the only people there, we could take our time and look at all the trees and flowers.  I believe we had more fun in the Children’s Garden than any other part.  All in all, it was still a very pretty place.  After grabbing some lunch at Andolini’s Pizzeria, which by the way, is probably some of the best pizza I have ever had, we headed over to The Golden Driller.  I had seen pictures of this statue and wanted to see it in person.  It’s a 75′ statue of an oil worker.  That’s it, just a giant statue in front of the Tulsa Expo Center.  A few miles away was another Off the Beaten Path stop that I had read about online, the Center of The Universe.  It’s a strange acoustic phenomenon in the middle of a pedestrian bridge off of N. Boston Ave. by the old Union Train Depot.  So, you stand on this concrete circle and speak and for some unknown reason, your voice echoes back at you louder than the sound you made.  People outside of the circle can’t hear the echo, but you sure can.  Checked off, weird sound circle, on my bucket list and jumped back in the car.  With my, by now, exceptional navigational skills, I guided us to our next stop.  The Blue Whale of Catoosa !  Now who hasn’t seen pictures of the famous Route 66 that didn’t include a picture of the blue whale.  Yep, just as exciting as it sounds.  Apparently, a man built the thing for his wife for their 34th wedding anniversary in 1972.  Did not know that giant fiberglass blue whale was for 34 years of wedded bliss.  The lady that ran the gift shop, insisted on telling us the entire love story.  It was actually a pretty good story.  Snapped, the obligatory Route 66 pictures and down the road we headed, taking Route 66 back towards OKC.  Just outside of Arcadia, on the side of the road, (and yes you will miss it if you are not looking), we stopped for a second to grab a photo of “Baby Blue”,  a silhouette cutout of “The Blue Whale of Catoosa” that someone has put up next to their farm pond.  The gift shop lady had told us about it and said to make sure we took a picture.  Not wanting to upset the Roadside Attraction gods, we did as we were told and braved the traffic to pull to the side of the road, so I could lean out and grab a shot.  A few more miles brought us to the Round Barn, at 5:08 pm. which closed at 5:00.  Oh well, I had been there before, so a couple clicks on the iPhone and on our way again.  The next stop was Pop’s, not an old Route 66 stop but definitely a stop to make.  More than 700 different flavors of soda with a burger joint thrown in for fun.  Just about every flavor of soda you can think of, from the typical Orange, Grape, Cherry and Root Beer, to crazy stuff like Ranch Dressing, Bacon, even Sweet Corn Soda.  Of course, I grabbed a 6-pack holder and filled it with my personal picks, Grape Nehi, Orange Crush, RC cola, Saranac Root Beer, Orange Creamsicle, and just for the heck of it, a Blue Whale of Catoosa Cream Soda.  None of that off the wall crazy stuff for this kid.  All in all it was a great day.  We had fun where ever we went and we definitely got our kicks on Old Route 66.

So, when your Oklahoma bestie texts and asks if you would like to go see Garth Brooks, you say “Uhmmm, hell yeah!”……. Friday couldn’t get here  fast enough.  We headed for downtown OKC around 6 pm.  With one show at 7 and another at 10:30 we knew that parking would be a crazy mess.  Not wanting to get caught up in the traffic headache that would be exiting after the last performance we chose to park about 6 blocks away and hoof it on down to Chesapeake Arena.  We stopped by the Sheraton hotel to grab a bite to each and some much needed adult beverages before staking out our place in the ever growing line.  At 9:00 exactly we had found the end of the line and claimed our position, for the next 2 1/2 hours.  Holy hot and humid wait ! ! ! Temps that day had topped out in the high 90’s and humidity was pretty dang high, the brick and concrete held tight to the residual heat, making even leaning on the side of the building similar to sitting in an oven.  We passed the time people watching, (there were examples from every genre), and being subjected to listening to some of the weirdest conversations I’ve ever heard.  At 11:00 the line surged forward about 12 feet and then came to an abrupt halt, for what seemed like forever.  A security guard did come to the side door and say that the first concert had started late, so that was the reason for the delay.  Just as the line started moving again, a couple fire trucks pulled up followed by an ambulance.  It seems that the heat and parking lot partying had started taking its toll.  We witnessed an older gentleman being carried into a side door when a security guard noticed that his family was trying to hold him up.  Once inside the arena, the bottled water seemed to be the drink of choice for some and beer the hearty concert goer…. I made it to my seat at 11:57 and looking around, I couldn’t believe how great a view we had.  Garth hit the stage shortly after and from that moment on it was non-stop energy.  It was an amazing show!  The only time that Garth seemed to take a break was when Trisha Yearwood took the stage for a few songs.  At 2:30 the band exited the stage and Garth went center stage with his guitar and sang.  There were too many high points throughout the evening to list, but one of the best was when Garth noticed a sign in the audience that read “My husband is a musician because of you”.  Garth asked the lady’s name and then turned to the husband and asked what did he play.  The guy stated that he played guitar and sang in a band.  Well with that there was nothing Garth could do but invite him up on stage and hand him a guitar.  The guy took the stage and sang not a Garth Brooks song, but An Empty Glass by the Randy Rogers Band.  The Chesapeake Arena went crazy for this guy.  After he finished, Garth joined him for a song, and then thanked him and told him to enjoy the rest of the concert.  Oh by the way, keep the guitar….. What ! ! You could have knocked the him over with a feather, the look on the guys face was absolutely priceless.  The concert ended at 3:00 and we pulled into the driveway at 4 am…. It took forever to fall asleep and after only about 3 hours of sleep I woke up humming “I’ve got friends in low places”….. Hands down the best concert I have ever been to, and I’m not a huge Garth fan.  His energy is magically transferred to the audience and his up close and personal exchanges with the fans make it easy to see why he has been named Entertainer of the Year time after time.

Arkansas was  nice stop after leaving my brother’s place in Alabama.  After visiting Hot Springs, I skipped back up to Little Rock to meet up with my cousin who was there on business.  With some time to kill before checking into the hotel, I found The Big Dam Bridge…. OMG !!! It was crazy….Although I’m not real fond of bridges, I made myself walk the 1.6 miles over and back.  Going over didn’t seem to bother me much, but the trip back had me looking straight ahead and down the middle of the bridge, maybe it was the 95 degree temps with very high humidity…..lol

After my adventure on the bridge I made it to my hotel in downtown Little Rock.  Valet parking only, so after grabbing everything I would need out of the Jeepster, I headed to my room for a nap.  My cousin Candy and I met for dinner in the hotel restaurant, which served a very impressive filet mignon.  We sat and talked for a few hours, catching up on our crazy relatives and talking about my adventure.  When I got back to my room for the night I had a message from the valet guys, so I headed down to see what was up with my vehicle.  For some reason they couldn’t figure out how to lock a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo….. Hilarious.  I explained that if you have the keys in your hand or pocket and touch the driver or passenger doors, the vehicle would automatically unlock.  They couldn’t didn’t want to take the chance that it would be unlocked so they left my Jeep parked out front under the entry way, in front of the valet stand so they could keep an eye on it all night.  I saw these same gentlemen drive, park and lock everything from Mercedes, Lexus a couple Audi’s and the usual array of Chevy’s, Fords, and other Dodge vehicles, without a problem.  Please tell me, my vehicle isn’t the only one that came off the assembly line with this particular locking/unlocking option…..lmao

Just a short drive from Hot Springs Arkansas, tucked away down a back road is are 210 acres run by the University of Arkansas, Garvan Woodland Gardens.  I googled things to do in Hot Springs, and amongst the usual bath houses and other touristy attractions, I found this little jewel of architectural beauty.  I arrived about an hour after they opened and even though it was hot and very humid, I enjoyed a nice relaxing couple hours just wandering the paths.  I missed out on some of the flowering plants, but there were plenty others still in bloom and the beautiful trees provided lots of shade.  There is a Fairy Garden that was really cool and provided tons of ideas on how to build my own when I finish this adventure.  Off to the side was a path that led down and around to a couple buildings, so with no timeline I meandered over to check them out.  What I found was  beautiful architecturally designed church nestled in the wood.  When I first saw it, I thought it looked familiar, and after going inside, I remembered where I had seen it before.  I had seen an episode of 19 Kids and Counting, Ben proposed to Jessa in the same little chapel.  It was more beautiful in person than on TV…..lol

Home to the original Grand Ol’ Opry show The Ryman is steeped in Nashville history.  Completed in 1892 it was originally built as a tabernacle.  It has been the setting for everything from daily church services, Russian ballet, opera singers, John Phillip Sousa’s Band, a circus, political debates, theatre and the setting for numerous memorial services.  After a short film on the history, we wandered the halls and just sat in the auditorium, imagining what it would have been like to experience all the history held within its walls.  Standing on the stage brought another round of excitement and chills as I stood there looking out into the auditorium lights.  Another great day in the city of Nashville.