May 29, 2016

Geronimo!

Friday morning it was finally time to head to the ranch! I stopped first to vacuum out my car to clear out the detritus from spending a week inside. I also stopped and bought a sunshade at Wal-Mart since I knew my car would be baking all summer. Finally we headed west! I had tried to warn my parents how remote the road out to the ranch was but I think they were still surprised. The terrain varies a lot in the 90 miles between T or C and the ranch. We made it in safely and were greeted warmly by Meris and Seth. Seth took Mom and Dad out on tour to show them the place. I'm glad they finally got to see it and envision where I would be spending the summer. After three hugs from Mom, they headed back to town and I got to unpacking. Not for long though as it was time to ride! There were two new horses that needed a test drive so we did a quick ride out. It was great to be back in the saddle again!
Overlook
Elk cow and cow cow
Sunday we had our first guests in so we started out slow on Monday by doing a morning and afternoon ride. After that, it was on to all day picnic rides.

Dwelling Canyon
 In the past, I hadn't been able to ride as far out so it was really nice to be seeing some views for the first time and experiencing it alongside the guests. At the first picnic spot there was a nice swimming hole but it was only in the 70s so I didn't jump in.
Swimming hole
Carp
 I went up on the rocks to spot the carp Meris was telling us about. The creek is so shallow and narrow that it was amazing to see a 3 ft carp and several catfish in this little swimming hole. We saw some great wildlife the rest of the week as well. Several elk, including one bull with an impressive rack , a couple coyotes, turkeys, quail, a great horned owl, and numerous birds. Also bear and mountain lion tracks! I was pretty saddle sore after spending 6 days in the saddle but I expected that after being a desk jockey for the past 5 years.
Pretty clouds

May 20, 2016

Lake Meredith and Alibates Flint Quarries


We spent the night in Borger, TX. It is right down the road from Lake Meredith which is a National Recreation Area. It was pretty cloudy and rainy so we couldn't see much. Apparently the water levels were at historic lows in the past decade and all recreation was pretty much closed but the water is rising again and people are starting to come back. We meandered around the shore line on our way to the Alibates Flint Quarries. We went into the visitor center right when it opened at 9am and were greeted warmly. They had a great video and a small exhibit documenting the people and geology of the area. We had a tour at 10 and the visitor center had some nice couches to wait on while we chatted with the rangers. Luckily the rain cleared out so we could still do our tour. Because the quarries are protected, the only access is through a tour. You start off in a big van that takes you up to a trailhead where you then hike a half mile up a mesa. The ranger was great and explained a lot of the edible plants, the wildlife, and the unique geology of the area that led to it being famous for its flint. There are over 700 quarries found in the area that is protected by the park service and we got to explore a couple. While you can't take anything from the tour, the visitor center does have a pile of flint that you are free to pick through and take.

We had stuck to National Park Sites the whole trip but my uncle and aunt told us we had to stop at The Big Texan in Amarillo. It is the home of the 72 oz steak challenge where if you eat a 72 oz steak in an hour then its free. Many have tried and failed but the current record holder ate THREE in TWENTY minutes! It was a 120 lb woman. I can't even fathom that. Nobody was attempting the challenge when we were there. I enjoyed a delicious buffalo burger.
The place was quite kitschy and touristy but it was a nice place to fill up before we made the drive into New Mexico. I was so excited to see the mountains looming in the distance. It has been too long since I've seen the Rockies. We made it to ABQ at 4:30 and Dad picked up his rental car and we caravaned down to Truth or Consquences. Our motel was quite cute in that in the lobby there was an old fat dog eating her dinner, in the backyard there were chickens, and in front of one of the rooms was a long term guest who was grilling his dinner outside his door. There was a nice picnic area where we sat and watched the sun set over the mountains. 

May 18, 2016

The Midwest


Grant House
Tuesday continued with the rain in St. Louis. We headed out of the city to see the home of Ulysses S Grant. I didn't know much about him as a president and he has a pretty sad story. Apparently he never really got anything he wanted out of life and people said the only thing he was good at was war and marriage. We had a personal tour from the ranger that lasted over an hour and he gave us a lot of detail. From there we headed over to Wilsons Creek Battlefield. It cost $15 to enter which I thought was a lot for what is there but that price is good for a week and covers Pea Ridge Military park as well. We only had an hour so we did the speed tour of the visitor center and drove the auto tour route. I always have a hard time at battlefields because its so hard to envision the history there due to all the changes time has taken. They did have an original house left that a family hunkered down in while war raged around them. Their home ended up being used as a field hospital.
Wilsons Creek
Wilsons Creek
Our last national park site of the day was George Washington Carver. I had only associated him with peanuts and didn't know much about him but he had a fascinating life. I wish we had more time to spend there because he seems like a fascinating figure to learn about. The visitor center was huge with tons of information. There is also a walking trail to a statue of George and a house he was raised in.
Carver statue
Old home
Tuesday night was spent in Tulsa and on Wednesday we continued on west. I always enjoy stopping at state capitols so we made a pit stop in Oklahoma City. We wandered around the rotunda to view all the murals. After seeing so many state capitols though they all tend to look the same.


Washita River
Back on the road we went to Washita. Most of this trip has been on the highway but Washita is 28 miles off the road and we ended up having to go to a local grocery store to grab lunch. Several of the stops we had made this trip were focused on the Civil War but this site was focused on the Indian wars. Washita was where Custer launched a surprise dawn attack on the Cheyenne. The visitor center had a great film and there was a 1.5 mile trail interpretive trail around the battlefield. The sun had come back out but it was still cool. It was nice to stretch our legs. Then it was back on the rural farm roads of Oklahoma into Texas. We were surrounded by feed lots, oil wells, and natural gas pumping stations. Dad asked me at one point "you don't drive roads like this when you travel by yourself do you?" I wisely declined to answer but I think they are getting a taste for what the last 10 years of my road trip life has been like :)

May 16, 2016

The Road West

Pullman
Since I was traveling with Papa Burns, Day 1 started out at the ass crack of dawn. We were on the road by 5:15. The drive was pretty quiet until we got to Cleveland when it started to SNOW! Driving along the lakes are always an adventure. We hit Chicago after lunch and stopped at the Pullman National Monument. It's one of the newest national monuments (added in 2015). I had heard of the Pullman car and the Pulllman Porter but I didn't realize the extent of George Pullmans influence.
Pullman
He built the first model planned industrial community. His vision never really materialized thanks to the famous Pullman strike. Today they have restored a lot of the old workers homes and it is a really quaint little community. It was sunny and in the 50s so it was a great place to stretch our legs. We turned south of the lake and the landscape flattened out on our way to Bloomington, IL where we spent the night.

Lincoln Home
Old state house
New state house











The next morning we got deep in the Land of Lincoln. A couple years ago I had gone to Kentucky and seen Lincoln's boyhood home so it was nice to see his adulthood home. We took a tour and 90% of the interior was original. You could feel the history in the house. While in Springfield we decided to see the Old and New state houses as well as the final resting place of  Lincoln.
Lincoln Tomb
Lincoln Final Resting Place
After that it was time to cross the Mississippi and head into St. Louis. I was super stoked because I had never been to Missouri before so I was glad to check a new state off my list. And what an entrance to see the arch welcoming us! First, we toured the Old Courthouse and watched a documentary of the construction of the arch. It only took 2.5 years to complete. The most fascinating part was that the insurance company predicted 13 people would die during construction and no one did. This was back in the days before harnesses so people were just working 600 feet in the air with no safety gear. Eek!

The entire area around the arch is under construction and it was cloudy and rainy so it wasn't quite that scenic but I knew the good views would be up at the top. I wasn't really sure what to expect with the ride to the top but the tram cars were like little pods that were 4 foot tall and had 5 tiny seats shoved in them.It was definitely a unique ride. At the top we could see east and west and it was a heck of a view.
Tram
East view

West view

May 14, 2016

Westward Ho!

Well it's been an exciting few weeks! My friend Meris emailed me a couple weeks back and asked me to come out and work at her ranch in New Mexico this summer. She has asked me in years past and I've always said no but the timing this year just seemed right so I said yes! I am blessed to work for an amazing company that gave me a leave of absence so I even have a job to come back to. I am so happy that the stars aligned and I have a great support system in place that will allow me to head west. It's been awhile since I've been a cowgirl but this time I'm going in older and wiser. I'm back in the saddle again!