Saguaro Lake Paddleboat Tour--'06-'07

Saguaro Lake Tour on the Desert Belle

This winter we didn't put our sailboat (Albion) in the water in Mexico. We decided to work in the Phoenix, Arizona area as a tour boat captain, and ticket taker, to get the days needed to renew my captains license. The owners of the Desert Belle Paddleboat asked us to work for them and we accepted. The duration of this position was from October 1, 2006 through May 5th, 2007.


This is a representation of the 90 minute tour on Saguaro Lake, Arizona, aboard the Desert Belle Paddleboat (http://www.desertbelle.com/). Most of these pictures were taken by me (Captain Brent O. Forsberg) and the narration below is basically that given during the cruise about the features on the lake and presented here with photos.



TONTO NATIONAL FOREST;

When you came up to Saguaro Lake today, you entered the Tonto National Forest, about 3 million acres in size, and for perspective, that’s 2 1/2 times the size of the Grand Canyon. The forest has a wide variety of habitat from middle desert to high alpine mountains. And Saguaro Lake also has a wide variety of habitat including the canyon, marshes, and the Sonoran Desert habitat.The Salt River, that you are on, has four lakes on it. They can be remembered by the acronym SCAR for Saguaro, Canyon, Apache, and Roosevelt Lakes. The dam for Roosevelt Lake was dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1911, predating Arizona’s statehood by almost a year.These lakes were created between 1907 and 1930 by the Bureau of Reclamation and a coalition of farmers called the Salt River Project, now a local utility. They were created for the purpose of flood control and agricultural water storage.

STEWARD MOUNTAIN DAM:

Saguaro Lake was the last lake of the chain to be formed in 1930 with the completion of the Stewart Mountain Dam, the concrete structure you see ahead of us and slightly to your right (starboard). The dam is 1260’ long, 207’ high, the current water depth at the dam is about 95’, and there is a small 13,000 kw water turbine in the dam for power generation. Saguaro Lake is 10 miles long, has 22.5 miles of shoreline and has a surface area of about 1200 acres. The maximum depth is 120’ deep, and you are at an elevation of 1526’. The Salt River , as well as over 90% of the land in Arizona, slopes in a SW direction towards Yuma and drains into the Colorado River

FOUR PEAKS:

The first feature I want to call to your attention is the mountain range off to your left (port) that you see in the distance. This is the Mazatzal Mountain range and the four major peaks you see are called the “Four Peaks” and includes a 60,000 acre wilderness area, also called the “Four Peaks” Wilderness Area.Those peaks are about 20 miles away and are at an elevation of 7700’. This is one of the older mountain ranges in the area at 1700 million years. The peaks are made of quartzite and are resting upon granite. The 2nd largest amethyst mine in the US is locate on the mountain between the third and fourth peaks (from the left) and was once owned by the Tiffany Co. of New York City. There is also a large black pear population that lives in the mountain range.

TEDDY BEAR RIDGE:

Speaking of bears, if you’ll look ahead and slightly to your right, you’ll see a rock outcropping on the ridgeline. To some people, it looks a little like the head of a teddy bear. You can see its left ear sticking up, its nose is pointing at us, and there are two slits for eyes. This is called Teddy Bear Ridge. So if we don’t see any other wildlife...that’s probably going to be it!

LAVA CLIFFS:

The cliffs to our right (starboard) are called “The Lava Cliffs”; however, this isn’t lava in the truest form, but a kind of fine grained granite. The predominate geology of the area is volcanic; consisting of lava, volcanic ash, and granite. And granite is intruded Magma, or does not get exposed to air. It slowly cools, partially crystallizes, and then turns quite hard.The black streaks you see on the face of the cliffs are evidence of past water flows. When it rains, which is a relatively rare event here, since we only average 7.5” per year, much of the water is runoff, but some percolates into the ground to leach out minerals such as manganese and iron oxide, which are then deposited as the black streaks. Geologists call this “desert varnish”The green patches you see on the rocks (also yellow or reddish) are a plant called lichen, a combination of algae and fungi living in close association. The organic acids produced by the lichen break down the rock, eventually to soil, so other plants can gain a foothold. This is normally a good thing unless you operate a National Park that depends on the rock formations….like Mt. Rushmore. There, they have to periodically clean the lichen from the rock faces or they will deteriorate faster than normal.

WILDLIFE:

There is considerable wildlife associated with Saguaro Lake. The canyon to our right, Willow Springs Canyon, is a known nesting area for the American Bald Eagle. We normally see some on almost every trip, so you may want to keep a sharp eye, and you may see them sitting on the rock ledges, or flying from ridge to ridge. Other birds we have seen on previous trips include Great Blue Herons, Green Herons, Belted Kingfishers, Osprey, Turkey Vultures, several Grebes, and of course that black bird with a white bill, the American Coot. By the way, the black birds with a brownish head and breast you saw in the ticket area, asking for handouts, were Great-tailed Grackles. I have a bird book with me, so you may want to look up a bird, or you can just ask me and I’ll take a guess at it! That guess, though, comes with a little experience since I spent 30 years with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.Now as we come around this corner, one of the best pictures that you can take (in my humble opinion) is looking up the canyon at the Four Peaks.

SHIP ROCK:

On our left, you can see a rock in the middle of the channel. It is called Ship Rock. To some, this has the appearance of an old sailing ship with all the sails up. But it’s actually the core of an extinct volcano. When it stopped erupting, the lava inside cooled and plugged the opening. Over many years, the softer material surrounding the vent has been slowly eroding away.Today, it’s used as a navigation aid for the boaters. There is a battery powered flashing beacon on top and 2 reflectors down near the water line. When one of those fast, high powered boats come around the corner pulling a skier and not paying attention, they sometimes hit this rock. And at that time we have to temporarily rename the rock “ShipWRECK Rock”.


SAGUAROS ON HILLSIDE:

On the hillside in this cove is a good stand of saguaro cactus, the lake namesake. This is the largest cactus in the US, found only within the Sonoran Desert of the American SW and parts of Mexico. And they are only found below the 3500’ elevation because they are susceptible to freezing. With all that water inside, they will burst open like a frozen pop can and eventually die.It is a very slow growing cactus…only 1 inch per year. And to get started, they need the protection of a “nurse plant” for shade and moisture.They can live more than 250 years and can get as tall as 60’ although the average is 30-40’. After a very wet winter, some of them may weigh as much as 10 tons, soaking up as much as 200 gallons during a storm. They have a shallow root system, but maintain their balance by wrapping their roots around subsurface rocks. They also use their branches, or arms, for balance.They start to form those branches between 65 and 75 years of age and are at least 40 years old before they start producing flowers. The white, waxy flower, which opens between mid April through the end of May, is the state flower of Arizona. The flowers open only at night, remain open through the following afternoon and then close for good. They are pollinated by birds during the day, and by Longnose Bats at night.Sometimes you may see holes in some of the larger saguaros. They were created by woodpeckers and flickers, and then may be used by other birds when abandoned. The temperature inside one of these cavities is normally 15 degrees cooler than the outside temperature. That is quite an advantage on a hot Arizona summer day.

SAGUARO LAKE MARSHES:


Again, Saguaro Lake has a wide variety of habitat. We've gone through the canyon, and now we are entering the marsh habitat. This type of habitat will have a larger variety of waterfowl associated with it. The cove off to our right is a good fishing area protected from fast boat wakes.There are many sport fish in Saguaro lake that include: Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Yellow Bass, Channel Catfish, Walleye Pike, Crappie, Bluegill, Sunfish, Shad, and the Arizona Game & Fish Department stocks Rainbow and Brown Trout during the winter months. I know the fishing is pretty good since I see lots of boats up there, I just don't know how the "catching" is!

BAGLEY FLATS CAMPGROUND:

The boat dock on the right marks the location of Bagley Flats Campground, a facility built and maintained by the US Forest Service for the pleasure of the boating public on Saguaro Lake.The campground includes picnic benches, barbecue pits, rock lined fire pits, a natural com-post-ing restroom, and an emergency telephone system.Camping is permitted along the shores of Saguaro Lake, however, at this campground you have the advantage of boat only campers. There are no roads to this campground. And the dock allows you to tie your boat for the night and have it floating the next morning rather than finding it high and dry at other shoreline locations after they lower the lake level.However, the disadvantages of camping on the lake, even here, include the Diamond-back Rattlesnake and the Bark Scorpion. Two critters you don't want crawling in bed with you!Bagley Flats marks the halfway point of our cruise today. We have gone 5 miles and the lake continues another 5 miles to the Mormon Flats Dam that holds back Canyon Lake. However, due to the narrowness of the canyon and the limited maneuverability of the Desert Belle, the Forest Service requests that we turn around here.

CRESTED SAGUARO:

However, I will go another couple hundred yards, up to that buoy, to show you a very unusual feature here on Saguaro Lake, the Crested Saguaro. Look to your right, about 2:00 when we get up there and you will see a Saguaro with a fan shaped top. It is caused by a damaged growing tip, and rather than forming branches, it forms that crested shape. And that only happens in one out of 200,000 saguaro.


ROCKS OPPOSITE CAMPGROUND:

As we make our slow turn-around, please keep an eye on the rocks across the lake. On previous tours, we have seen Desert Bighorn Sheep on those rocks. Other wildlife we’ve seen at one point or another during our tours include: Mule deer, Javelina, Coyote, Coati, Bobcat, Fox, and Mountain Lions.


SALT RIVER NAME:

You may have wondered how the Salt River got its name since it is fresh water. Well, back in the 16th century, some Spanish explorers were...I guess, exploring...and found salt deposits along the banks. So they called the river Rio Salado, which means “river of salt”.The Salt River has its origin up in the White Mountains on Arizona’s eastern border with New Mexico, and is formed by the joining of the White River and the Black River. Now, call me crazy, but if the White River & Black River came together, I’ld call the resulting stream the “Grey River”! Or at least the “Salt & Pepper River”.

PRICKLY PEAR & CHOLLA CACTUS:

Now we'll head down the Sonoran Desert side of the lake and point out some representative vegetation. Between these large Saguaro cacti, we see a smaller cactus with large flat fleshy pads and large spines. These are Prickly Pear Cacti. There are a dozen varieties of Prickly Pear, and the ones without those large spines are the Beavertail Cactus variety. These varieties are available commercially as jams and jellies, and in restraurant salads.On the open hillside just beyond them you can see another small cactus that is fuzzy-looking. Well, they are anything but fuzzy, although they are called Teddy Bear Cholla. There are 20 species of Cholla and they can be identified their segmented stems and branches, and they all have sheaths over their needles. So if you're carefull, which apparently I wasn't, you can grab one of those needles and pull that sheath off. But you may get stuck by the adjacent spines and when those sheaths break off in your finger, the resulting pain is a lot worse and lasts a lot longer than a normal cactus spine prick.....trust me on that!

SPIDER ROCK:

The rock on the right is known as Spider Rock. If you look on the face of the rock, you’ll see a lacy pattern that looks like cobwebs to some people. It’s actually an example of another type of volcanic formation called "tuff”, which is solidified volcanic ash. This is brecciated ash tuff, meaning the original tuff was broken into angular fragments in a process of folding. Then the fragments were glued together again, over time, as water percolated through the fragments. But you can call them "cobwebs"!The mountains surrounding the lake are called the Gold Mountains. They were the result of volcanic activity from the Superstition Mountains just to the Southwest of here, and are about 15 to 35 million years old. Geologically, that’s a very young formation, since the Four Peaks behind us are 1700 million years old.

BARREL CACTUS:

On the hillside here, you can see a few saguaros and a smaller cactus that looks like a young saguaro. These are actually Barrel Cacti. They can be identified by their cylinder-shaped body, and their reddish hue due to their needles. At a closer look their needles are curved like fish hooks and flat in profile, whereas saguaro needles are straight and round.They are also one of the largest cacti in the Southwest, growing from 5’ to 11’ tall and live up to 130 years. You may see them leaning over and think they are getting heavy or are damaged. But like other plants they grow toward the sun. These cacti, however, always grow toward the south to avoid exposure to the sun, or sunburn. And because of this trait, they are also known as the “compass cactus”.

SAGUARO LAKE TREES;

As we work our way back down the canyon, the lower slope along here, and growing on the rock ahead, you can see a light green shrub with green stems and branches. This is the Palo Verde, or “green stick” in Spanish, and is the Arizona State tree. Yeah, they call those “trees” around here! Since they are drought deciduous, or shed their leaves during extended dry spells, they rely on their green stems and branches to carry on the energy-producing process of photosynthesis. And this tree is also used quite extensively for landscaping and highway beautification projects.There are two other trees I would like to point out along this shoreline. The large tree near the waterline here, is a Mesquite tree. It’s upper branches, or newer growth, are reddish brown in color and have a zigzag pattern. It belongs to the Pea Family, producing long pods, and has a root system that is wide-spreading and deep-reaching, sometimes reaching 150' to 200’ below the surface. The larger tree behind this tree with gray stems & branches, and whose leaves are a darker green with denser foliage, is the Ironwood Tree. This is also a member of the Pea Family. The wood of this tree is very popular for those decorative carvings you see at every wide spot in the road, and is so dense and heavy that if a branch is thrown into the lake, it will sink. These trees are also one the longest lived species in the Sonoran Desert, living up to 1500 years.Now nearly home, we head out of the canyon into the main part of the lake again.

BUTCHER JONES BEACH RECREATION AREA:

Off to the right, up at the end of the cove is the Butcher Jones Beach Recreation Area, a popular day-use-only site built and maintained by the US Forest Service.It has a nice sandy beach for swimming that is protected from boats and a fishing dock that is handicapped accessible. There are also picnic sites with barbecues, about 10 miles of hiking trails, some of which follow the banks of the lake, and 4WD roads which can take suitable vehicles back to beach areas we passed earlier.You can get to this site by taking the road outside our parking area (the Bush Highway), go north about 1 mile, and turn right at the sign.The Butcher Jones Recreation Area was named after Dr. William J. Jones who was a surgeon in the area. Now how he acquired the nickname “Butcher”, we don't know, and we aren't asking!

SUNSET CLIFFS:

The cliffs ahead of us are the Sunset Cliffs, another example of the volcanic formation of tuff. This is called “welded tuff” formed by volcanic ash from the Superstition Mountains that was so hot when it was deposited that it fused together. This example is about 300 feet thick. If you want to know why they call them the Sunset Cliffs, just come down to the Lakeshore Restaurant for dinner, along about sun down, and watch the sun set on those cliffs. With the right atmospheric conditions, the sight is just awesome.The mountain ahead of us and above the restaurant is Stewart Mountain, that the dam was named after. Stewart was a rancher in the area, and as far as we know, he didn't have a nickname.

SAGUARO DEL NORTE RECREATION SITE:

To our right is the Saguaro Del Norte Recreation Site, another site developed by the US Forest Service for public use. This site has 2 boat launching ramps, picnic areas, fishing docks which are handicap accessible, and swimming areas. This area, under the Sunset Cliffs, is all open 24 hours a days, 7 days a week.

EDITORIAL:

Now the bad news! To park here, or the Butcher Jones site, you need a parking permit. They used to sell them at the booth outside our parking area, but now you have to go back into Mesa to a Circle K or Big 5 Sporting Good store, or down the Bee-Line Highway across from the Casino, to purchase your permit. You can tune to the Forest Service information station, 1610 AM, for details, and there is also a small sign by the Forest Service booth with the purchase locations. Just thought I would give you a heads-up before you got here and wanted to park and have a picnic or do some hiking, and then realized you would have to make a long round trip for a parking permit. The buildling with the brown roof in front of the boat is the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office and First Aid Station.On the left is the Saguaro Lake Marina that we passed on the way out. It has slips for 400 boats ranging in length from 24 to 50 feet. And they have a full service machine shop, and ship’s stores for fuel, fishing supplies, and boat rentals.And of course above our dock is the Lakeshore Restaurant, consistently voted one of the best places in the Phoenix area for outside dinning . It’s open 7 days a week for breakfast & lunch, and 5 nights a week (Wed – Sun) for dinner.

SALUTATION:

Well, on behalf of the management of the Desert Belle, I want to thank you all for sailing with us today. We hope you enjoyed the tour. If you did we want you to tell your friends, and if you didn't we'd rather you kept your opinion to yourself! No, actually we want to here that too, so we can improve the trip as much as possible. Remember, the Desert Belle is available for charters, and the Lakeshore Restaurant is available for catering those charters. Just pick up a brochure and visit our web site or give us a call for more information.Make sure you pick all your valuables. Anything you leave, I get to keep! I would appreciate it if everybody would remain seated as we dock the Desert Belle, attach the lines, and put the ramp back to the boat. On occasion, we make a hard landing and we don't want to through anybody overboard.As we make our approach, you can listen to "Arizona" by Rex Allen Jr. which is the Arizona State song.

Thank you again for coming!

Log 12: Route 66 in '06

Log of Albion (and other travels)

These are e-mails and letters sent back to family and friends from our trip on Route 66 from Chicago, IL to Santa Monica, CA with friends in two RV's. So it was on to Chicago first!

7/17/06: Our Great American Road Trip

We are embarking on “our great American road trip” heading back to Minnesota before returning west on historic Route 66. We will be keeping our family and friends informed of our whereabouts by sending periodic updates of our travels. We recognize that some of you may not be interested in our journey so if you would prefer not to receive these e-mails, just drop us a reply to this one, and let us know….we won’t bore you with our further updates. It’s now day three of our travels and we have made it all the way to Fort Bridger, Wyoming….having gotten on our way a day ahead of our scheduled departure on Tuesday, 7/10. Rain was predicted for the Portland area later that day and who wants to start an adventure in the rain. A quick stop for breakfast in Cascade Locks served to remind us to check out the parking lot before pulling in. We had to unhook the car to turn around in the limited space! How soon we forget about that tow behind us! Today was what our friends, John and Janet Neal, refer to as a 2 x 2 day---no more than 200 miles and off the road by 2 p.m. We stopped for the day at the casino in Pendleton. Wednesday was an uneventful, but certainly not a 2 x 2 day. Six hours on the road got us to the Wal-Mart in Jerome, Idaho. But today there’s something to write home about! We did leave earlier than Molly usually prefers. Brent has promised me an easy trip and he knows I get cranky when he has the motor running before I have my teeth brushed. But today, we were up and on the road by 7 am. After a fuel stop a few miles down the road in Twin Falls, we continued on and stopped for breakfast just across the Utah border in Snowville. Saw Mollie’s Café and knew we had to try it. It’s quite a colorful spot and so is Mollie herself! It appears Mollie may be spending a good deal of dollars on products to keep her looking as young as she once was, and that may be money spent in vain, but she’s a friendly old gal and serves up pretty good home cooked type meals. Our destination for the day was Fort Bridger, Wyoming. We have no cell phone or internet service at our park here, but needed to make some phone calls for reservations for the next few days, so drove into the next little community of Mt. View. While Brent handled the reservation calls, I browsed the local quilt shop and found some nice projects for Christmas for our girls. Back in Fort Bridger, we toured the historic fort site, well worth the $2/person price of admission. It is well preserved or restored in some cases. It was a major stopping and supply station for most of the covered wagon trails west. We really enjoyed it. In the next week we will be heading towards Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands of South Dakota. We will get this sent once we are in an internet service area sometime tomorrow. Along the way we will send more updates now and then, not every day and hopefully much shorter than this one, but often enough to let you know where we are and how we are doing. Once again, if you aren’t interested, just let us know.

7/18/06: Road Trip part two

There’s just not a lot to write home about crossing Wyoming and the western part of Nebraska. Along the way, we have shared the road with hundreds (maybe thousands) of bikers, many of whom are no doubt en route to the huge annual biker gathering in Sturgis, SD in early August. We’ve gained a lot of respect for our pioneer forefathers who kept going once they got this far. There must have been some really good promises of the green fertile valleys awaiting them across the mountains and plains. In Wyoming we saw lots of antelope, one even right outside our RV in the park in Rawlins. Nebraska’s claim to fame apparently is Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluff, two national monuments memorializing the landmarks the pioneers recognized as signposts marking 1/3 of their journey completed and a reminder of the treacherous mountains that lie ahead of them. Since we’ve crossed the Oregon Trail several times now, we purchased a DVD on the historic trail.We camped in a nice economical RV park down by the river in Scottsbluff. We actually met another couple from Oregon in the Wal-mart parking lot and they were heading for this park down by the river. It turned out to be a great alternative to our planned night in the Wal-mart parking lot and allowed us to have air conditioning for some relief from the 100+ degree heat wave sweeping across the mid-west. During the night, we had a terrific windstorm that kept us awake for several hours. We were quite pleased to be in the RV and not at anchor somewhere in our boat!We are now in the Black Hills area of South Dakota near Mt. Rushmore. The area has changed dramatically from what we remember, having been here years ago. At that time, we had made a whirlwind trip here and back to Oregon in a week and didn’t have nearly enough time to see much besides the Presidential Monument. Neither of us remembers there being nearly so much commercial development in the area, but as with everything, things change. There are many caves in the area. Our priority has been to tour the two that are managed by the national park systems Wind Cave and Jewel Cave) rather than the more commercially developed private ones. These are two of the longest and most complex caves in the world. Other than Mt. Rushmore itself, probably the highlight so far has been touring the actual paleontological dig of the recently discovered (1974) Mammoth Site near Hot Springs. Work continues on the carving of the Crazy Horse Monument and perhaps someday it will be completed. There are so many things to see here, we decided to stay in our Coast to Coast membership RV park for 5 nights. Tomorrow we will probably do Deadwood, another site that we visited several years ago and may again be surprised by the changes. We are still on schedule to meet up with cruising/RV friends in upper Minnesota on or about July 26th.More later as we move forward on our road trip.

7/23/06: Mitchell South Dakota

We finally finished touring the Black Hills and have moved on to the Badlands National Park. In addition to the points of interest mentioned in our last update, we toured Deadwood and then spent a day driving through the lower section of the Badlands N.P. to Wounded Knee. We did some study on the internet before our trip because we were aware that not much development has taken place to identify the site. A hand painted sign at the site of the Black Foot massacre and a mass grave at the top of the hill are the only evidence of the American tragedy in December of 1890. It was the last soldier/Indian conflict and ended the traditional Indian lifestyle.Deadwood, as expected, has become a Disneyland of commercialism. Most of the old rebuilt buildings are still there after several fires in the early years, but most are gift shops and casinos. The saloon where Wild Bill Hickock was shot (holding a poker hand of aces and eights) is still there, and has now turned back into a bar. When we were there many years ago it was a studio for old-time dress-up photos.On our way to our park near the Badlands N.P., we were told we HAD to stop at the Wall Drug Store in Wall, S.D. And yes, it was worth the stop. It is an attraction in itself. If you can't find something, you can always find it at the Wall Drug. We spent a couple hours there exploring and had some home-made pie ala mode…..and yes, bought a few gifts. Yesterday, we drove the loop road through the Badlands after watching the obligatory video at the visitor center. This country is a must see for the beautiful sandstone sculptures. Today, we broke camp again and headed East to Mitchell, S.D. After dinner, we went by the Corn Palace and took some more pictures. Now a few more stops and we will be in Winton, MN at our friends Will and Joann’s for a nice visit and the annual Blueberry Festival.

8/2/06: Adult Summer Camp

After the Badlands, we were happy to see the green trees of Minnesota. It started to look a lot more like Oregon, especially when it rained! A terrific thunder and lightning storm moved right over the top of us….we think we know rain in Oregon, but this was something else. It was like adult summer camp once we all got together in Minnesota. Our friends, Dan and Cathy and Horst and Bea were traveling from Wisconsin as we were heading up through Minnesota and we managed to be at our planned meeting place within fifteen minutes of each other. Will and Joann were there to lead us all back into the woods to their summer home on the lake. It was like adult summer camp and I am sure the neighbors thought Will had gone into the RV park business with us all camped in his front yard. The girls did their best to keep the local economy booming with several shopping forays. The big event was the Blueberry Festival and while it was unseasonably hot and crowded, they managed to see it all, twice! The days were filled with lots to eat and drink and great times with good friends. On Sunday, we, along with Dan and Cathy bid the others farewell and headed off towards the Chicago area to start our Route 66 trip. In Wisconsin, we stopped for a night to visit with cruising friends of Dan and Cathy’s. Their air-conditioned home was a welcomed respite from the unseasonably high temperatures we are finding everywhere. We are now in the Chicago area having a chance to meet Cathy’s family and having a guided tour of the windy city. Route 66 starts here. So the adventure begins!

8/8/06: Chicago and beyond......

Chicago….not nearly enough time to do and see everything, even though we tried….guess we will have to come back another time. We toured Chicago via the free trolley that runs during the summer months and spent extra hours visiting the tall ships, Millennium Park, Navy Pier, and the Art Institute. Thanks to my sister JoAnn, I had an idea of some of the highlights in the Institute that we shouldn’t miss in our limited time there. We also had a chance to see parts of Indiana and Michigan for a few days while visiting with some of Cathy’s and Dan’s family.Fortunately, the hot weather has moved on and we have been quite comfortable lately. Not only were we dealing with record high temps in the area, but here in the mid-west, they have this stuff called humidity. Back in the northwest we call that much moisture rain, but umbrellas don't help much here!We drove the first 50 or so miles of Route 66 out of Chicago to our camping spot in Joliet, but today our tour started officially traveling down to Bloomington, IL. We confess to a few wrong turns along the way, but all in all, we are having a great time seeing the old icons of the “Mother Road”. To be continued……………

8/14/06: Branson, Missouri

After traveling across Illinois and most of Missouri, we are taking a few days off with a side trip to Branson, MO. In Bloomington, Illinois, we sampled Beer Nuts at the only place in the world they are made; in Funk's Grove, Gladis Funk saw us coming and opened early so we could try her wonderful maple “sirup” (syrup); and no route 66 trip would be complete in Springfield without Cozy Dog (aka corn dogs) where they were invented. In Springfield, one is hard pressed to find anything not related to Abraham Lincoln. We toured his home and visited the cemetery where he and most of his family is buried. But the real highlight in Springfield was the opportunity to tour a Frank Lloyd Wright house; the unique Dana-Thomas House. Later that day we also toured the now closed Route 66 Chain of Rocks Bridge across the Mississippi River with the distinctive curve halfway across.In St. Louis, it was mandatory that we tour the Anheuser Busch Brewery. Have to say, those Clydesdales have pretty fancy digs and hospitality room is pretty nice too! Later that day we made connections with cruiser/RV friends, Tom and Kathy Edwards, who joined us for a memorable evening at the Luna Cafe, an apparent route 66 icon, once reported to be a hangout for Al Capone and fellow gangsters. Today it is a favorite watering hole of the locals. What they lacked in teeth, they made up for in hospitality. It was “free hot wings” night and then we were foolish enough to take the owners advice and order tacos, which were gigantic. We will never forget our time at the Luna!Coincidentally, the next day we all managed to meet up in town to tour the St. Louis Arch. Tom and Kathy were traveling from the west and we came from the east and we entered the parking garage at exactly the same time! It was a gray morning, so we put off our trip to the top of the arch until after the sun broke through for better viewing. The park has some excellent displays as well as movies on the construction of the arch and Lewis and Clarks’ journey west. It was great to see Tom and Kathy again as we had not seen them since we were in Mazatlan earlier this spring. After lunch, we said goodbye as they were headed to the old courthouse and we were looking for Ulysses S. Grant's home. We were misled to Grant’s Farm which was a rip-off, but we did finally find his hard-to-see home across the street. One more “must do” stop on route 66 was Ted Drew's Frozen Custard. I counted it as dinner and a fine dinner it was--hot fudge raspberry sundae!On our way south and west of St. Louis, we stopped at the Meremec Caverns. They have some of the most impressive formations we have seen in any caves here. At the winery in St. James, we encountered a first. The wine bottles were all lined up and we were told to taste as many as we wanted and pour our own! In Branson, we are taking some time to relax and catch our breath while we take in some shows and exhibits.

8/21/06: Oklahoma City....where the wind comes sweeping down the plain

Branson, Mo afforded lots to do and see, and although we tried, we couldn't do it all. At the new Titanic Museum everyone is given a passport with the name of an actual passenger and you get to find out if you survived or not. Brent, Cathy and I did, but Dan didn't make it. We enjoyed the museum but there is never enough time to read and take in everything. The only show we saw was Jim Stafford who we remember from the old Smothers Brothers Show. Had never heard of most of the others, but then it is the off season, so there aren't too many big names here right now. We tried to see the American Presidents Museum but it has moved several times and didn't seem quite ready for visitors when we finally did find it. Cathy and I did our best to shop ‘til we dropped at all the outlet malls and quilt shops. Five days in Branson was a nice respite with a view from our RV park and not being on the road every day, but finally it was time to move on and get going. Kansas has just a short section of Route 66 crossing the southeast corner of the state. In Baxter Springs, Kansas, we happened upon a nice County Park next to the river to camp in, but nobody ever showed up to collect the night fee so it was quite a bargain. Few of us think of Kansas for its Civil War sites, but apparently there are about 13 sites in this little corner of the state. Or so they say; the locals don't seem to know anything about it. Brent and Dan went looking for a map they had read was available and nobody seemed to know anything about it, not the Chamber of Commerce, not City Hall, and not the local Route 66 icon cafe. Finally someone suggested they check with the police department who also were in the dark about it all, but summoned a lady to come open up the museum and there they finally got the map. Of course, much of it seemed to be in error and they found only some of the sites!Entering Oklahoma, we parked the RVs and drove the car over some of the "ribbon roads” some very narrow original sections (8 feet wide) of the Route 66. We’re glad to have some very good guides advising us not to take the RVs over these sections. The Will Rogers Museum in Claremore was a very impressive display, but again, not nearly enough time to see it all. We would have liked to spend the whole afternoon there.We stopped for the night at the Tulsa Elks Club and were welcomed by a very friendly group preparing a Hawaiian luau for the membership that night. They asked us back later after the sold out event for a free dinner of all the leftovers. Later that night a tremendous thunder and lightning storm roared through the area. Several strikes were very close and must have hit the parking lot we were in because it set off all the car alarms and knocked out one of our air conditioning units. In this 100+ heat, that’s serious. We were lucky to get an appointment at Camping World the next day here in Oklahoma City. There are several things we want to see here so don't mind stopping for a couple days. Again, we're staying at a very friendly Elks club with hookups, right near town....and more thunder & lightning!!!

8/30/06: Half-way and more!

We spent a couple nights at the Oklahoma City Elks to get the RV into Camping world for the A/C repair. The stop allowed for a visit to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and Museum, very impressive. The next day was a mostly freeway day as the actual route 66 is a very narrow frontage road right along side the freeway. We stopped at the General Thomas P. Stafford Air and Space Museum. It is on his old property in Weatherford, OK and we thought it would be a quick look, but it turned out to be a real find. The museum houses much of the memorabilia of his life as a fighter pilot and astronaut as well as lots from the NASA space program. General Stafford’s mother came to Oklahoma in a covered wagon and lived to see her son fly to the moon. The three-time astronaut still lives nearby and frequents the museum often. He had been there only days earlier along with some Russian Cosmonauts he had once flown with.
We were a little disappointed with the National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, OK as there wasn’t much actual Route 66 stuff, but the entire Elk City Museum campus was well laid out. We finished the day on the Oklahoma/Texas border in Texola. As we continued on into Texas, it was again mostly a freeway drive as the route follows along on the very narrow frontage roads alongside or is actually Rt 66. Dan and Cathy’s new refrigerator was giving them problems so we stopped in Amarillo at the Elks for two nights for repairs again. We took some time to see the infamous Cadillac Ranch they do strange things here in Texas. Several models of Cadillac buried nose down out in a field become the object of extensive graffiti painting. Finally we reached the halfway point with a lunch stop at the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, TX. This quaint little spot was the inspiration for the café depicted in the recent Disney film Cars. Several of the employees were invited to attend and given the royal red carpet treatment at the premier of the film. We enjoyed hearing all about it from the very informative owner, Fran. We ended the day with a stop at the Tumcumcari Elks enjoying the evening meal there. Our next stop was in Santa Fe, NM. on the old pre-1932 Rt 66 alignment, once again at the Elks. It seems we are making our way across country via the Elks. Many of the clubs have RV facilities for members and we are taking advantage of them whenever possible. Santa Fe is a beautiful town where among the many upscale shopping areas, one can also find the oldest church, oldest Government building, and highest State Capitol in the nation. Leaving there the next day, we encountered problems with our starting batteries. High fuel prices have not been our only major expense of the trip, but we felt fortunate to find a Freightliner shop just down the road from our next stop in Albuquerque. Early the next morning, we got brand new power and were on the road once again. We left Route 66 for a side trip along a scenic route past The Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano, and stopping at El Morro National Monument. Here Inscription Rock is the site of many early travelers leaving their names carved into the sandstone rock monolith. Many dates are from the early 1600’s when the Spaniards occupied the area. After an overnight stop in Gallup, NM we traveled off Route 66 again to the Canyon De Chelly National Monument in Northern Arizona. While the canyons here are not as massive as the Copper Canyon in Mexico, or our own Grand Canyon, the scenery certainly rivals both. There are far fewer tourists here and it makes exploring and seeing the numerous ancient Indian ruins a rewarding experience. Since there was so much to see, we spent another two nights here, and Brent got to hike the 2.5 miles to the bottom of the canyon and back, at one point, to view some of the ruins up close.

9/5/06: Ft. Mojave, AZ; one more state to go!

Highlights of the last few days include the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. Much of the Painted Desert reminded us of areas around the John Day Fossil Beds in Oregon. Then we left Route 66 once again to make a side trip to Show Low AZ, to visit cruising friends we had met in Mazatlan, Lou and Irene (Hi-Fin). They are building a house in the area and joined us for a fish fry at the Show Low Elks. The next day we made the “must do” stop in Winslow, Arizona to “take it easy and stand on the corner” as per the Eagles hit song. It is indeed a tourist stop as Dan and Cathy were barely out of their RV when a local cab driver stopped to ask if they needed directions to “the corner.” We spent that evening at Meteor Crater National Landmark—quite a big hole in the ground and an interesting museum. Route 66 leaves 1-40 at Winona and heads to Flagstaff. Although the song says “don’t forget Winona” apparently somewhere along the way someone did, because there’s nothing there to mark the spot other than an old trailer house, or else we missed it. We had lunch in Flagstaff and dessert at the “must stop and see” Snow Cap Drive In in Seligman. Then we drove the longest unbroken portion of Route 66 (Seligman - Kingman) to Peach Spings to finish the day with a tour of the Grand Canyon Caverns and spent the night all by ourselves in the their campground. Temperatures started to warm up as we headed down the valley into Kingman. Our planned stop at the Hackberry General Store (another Rt 66 icon) was thwarted when we found it inundated by a huge group of bikers (motor kind) leaving no room for a couple of RVs with tows to pull over. By the time we reached Laughlin, NV, our destination for the day, the valley was downright hot (106 degrees). Our plan to dry camp in a casino parking area was quickly abandoned for a RV park to plug in and run the A/C and enjoy some cold refreshments. Today we traveled by car back to Kingman to meet more cruising and RV friends, Wayne and Glenda (KIVA) and see the progress on their new home under construction. The trip by car was less of a challenge for the travel over the Sitgreaves Pass from Kingman to Oatman, a very curvy, hilly section of Rt. 66 not recommended for RV passages. We spent some time shopping the tourist traps in Oatman, and cooled off with a cold drink in what appears to be the last remaining liquor establishment where once there were more than twenty along main street. Other cruising/RV friends, Tom and Sue Stose, had taken us to Oatman a couple years ago and it was that trip that first inspired us to make this whole Route 66 trip. We ended our day with a great prime rib dinner back in Laughlin and tomorrow will head for California and the last few days of our trip along historic route 66!

9/8/06: Route 66 Completed!

It took three days to complete the rest of the trip across California to Santa Monica. We started out in 100+ degree heat so didn’t put in long days. Most of the way was on the old National Trails Highway (Route 66). We ended the first day in Newberry Springs at the Twin Lakes RV park. Kind of ironic since there isn’t any “springs” and only two small man-made lakes (ponds) at the park. We ended the day with another thunder and lightning storm and a bit of rain.The last day of RV-ing started out early to avoid over-heating going over the El Cajon pass. We stopped at the Route 66 museum in Barstow to drop off a note from the gift shop attendant at the Joliet Route 66 museum. But the Barstow museum was closed so we just left it in the door jam. We then stopped at the original, very first, McDonalds restaurant. in San Bernardino that is only a museum now. Oh well, lunch later! We, again, stopped at an Elks in Ontario, CA for our last stay.The last segment of the Mother Road was done in the car to avoid the Los Angeles traffic. There were few points of interest on this last leg, and nothing really to stop and tour. The end of Route 66 was located at the end of Santa Monica Blvd. and Ocean Ave. were a plaque commemorates the “Will Roger’s Highway.” Then we celebrated by walking out the Santa Monica Pier and having lunch and a toast to the end of a fine trip. The other un-offical end of Route 66 was supposed to be located at the Olympic Park a few blocks up from the pier, but we could not find any trace of a marker, an “END” banner, or even the park! So we headed back to the RV’s in Ontario and again celebrated by opening a long-chilled bottle of champagne.The trek is complete! We had a great six weeks with several side trips that added some depth to the trip, visited with friends along the way, and met new friends. Thanks for caring enough to read about our great adventure.

Brent