April 10 thru 16, 2024, Stillwater, Oklahoma

Long ago, I visited Stillwater, OK, for business and remembered it being a nice college town. Joani's research found plenty to see there so she booked us a week in Wildwood Acres Campground. It was only 299 miles from Steve's place. I fought powerful headwinds most of the way. One heavy gust actually made the coach downshift just like we were going up a hill.

In particular, I wanted to revisit Eskimo Joes. I think it has grown in the last 30 years. Joe has multiple parking lots along the street and we barely found an open spot.

The "sweet pepper bacon cheese fries" were recommended and they did not disappoint! I had the Fire burger as well laced with habanero peppers and an excellent spicy wing sauce.

The restaurant goes through 6000 pounds of potatoes a week thanks to the popularity of their signature fries.

Another day, we dined with Eskimo Joe's cousin, Mexico Joe. Yet another excellent meal and now we have to start thinking about returning to some sensible eating.

We visited the Oklahoma State University campus a couple of times to stroll around. It was very pretty and almost deserted. The lack of students led me to believe the classes were over.

We visited the OSU Botanic Garden. I had the sense they were just getting started and it will be growing in the coming years. Of course, not a lot was in bloom this time of year. There was a garden resident who politely slithered across our path 

The G&M body shop in Stillwater must be owned by a Transformers fan. He had a replica of Optimus Prime at his east side shop and Bumblebee at his west side shop. They were each impressive, I guessed at least 20 feet tall, and obviously took a significant amount of time to build based on the detail we saw.

 

We spent one day in Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and the Oklahoma Railway Museum we wanted to see were both closed on Monday. The Myriad Botanical Gardens were open and quite nice. It was overcast and cool so we spent most of our time inside. Curbside parking was limited to 2 hours, but we could have easily spent twice that amount of time admiring the gardens.

Inside the Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory were some of the most wild and wonderful flowering plants we have seen in a while.

We included a few of our favorites...

There are 28,000 varieties of orchids.

This is my favorite goofy orchid center.

I see an eagle in the center of this one! Can you see the reflections in the drop of water?

This one seems to have laser beam eyes.

Plumeria 'Orange KLS'

Dogbane Family Apocynaceae

Several days we noticed Woody the Woodpecker right outside our window attacking a colony of crickets under an old tree stump. I was able to sneak a few shots of him between bites.

The wind ruffled his normally swept-back crown feathers

On our last day, we visited the OSU Art Gallery. It was small and had only been open for 10 years and had rotating exhibits. Kerry and C. Betty Davis had collected 67 works of African American art on a postman's salary over 35 years. They owned a modest home in Atlanta, Georgia that housed the collection: "They happily sacrificed material goods and comforts in order to surround themselves with the drawings, paintings, prints, and sculptures they loved."

OSU students watched our every move as we viewed the artwork. I think they were noting our reaction to the individual pieces or maybe they were making sure we didn't touch anything. The torn paper collage below was my favorite. The oil on canvas below that was Joani's favorite.

Alvin D. Loving, Jr. (b. 1935-2005)

Crotch of Fire, 1980

Torn Paper Collage

Stefanie Jackson (b. 1957)

Exodus, 2007-08

Oil on canvas

Monday, April 8, 2024, Total Solar Eclipse, Bluff Dale, TX

Steve and I studied Google Maps and an eclipse website to find an appropriate site to view the big event. The ranch was close but at 99.98% totality, I wanted more. It would have been about a 2-hour drive to the centerline and 4+ minutes of totality, but the clouds were threatening so we might not have seen anything. That was not worth the gamble so we found a much closer location (30-minute drive) that gave us 1.5 minutes of totality. It was a large parking area outside Glenn Cemetery on the outskirts of Bluff Dale. The news led us to believe there would be wall-to-wall people everywhere for the eclipse so we were pleasantly surprised to find we were alone at our selected site.

We drove the last 3/4 mile on a dirt road. It was secluded and ideal.

The cemetery proved to be an interesting diversion while waiting for the moon and sun to align.

The parking area also provided us with some beautiful shade under a large live oak tree.

We were fortunate that the clouds cooperated and gave us clear views throughout the entirety of the eclipse. I replaced the telescope tube with my camera on the tracking mount. I mounted a mylar filter on the Sony a7iv and 600mm lens using a 3-D printed part my son, Jon designed. It was serendipitous that it fit both my telescope and the telephoto lens.

I used a remote app on the phone to control exposures on the camera and I took a lot of exposures! (700+)

I could not be more thrilled when I saw the solar prominences during totality - I was not expecting that with my basic mylar filter. Some of us simply chilled in the shade and marveled at the neat effect of the crescent solar disc imaged through the pinholes between the tree leaves.

I love the pinhole effect during an eclipse. 

Totality ended around 2:00 and we were hungry. Just a few miles down the road in Stephenville was Hard Eight BBQ, a place Steve had wanted to try. It was fantastic!

Angie treated us to great BBQ! It was memorable.

I would have to say the day could not have been more perfect.

Saturday, April 6, 2024, Steve & Angie's Ranch

It was easy to get back on the road since we left the car on the dolly. A quick stop to empty the holding tanks and we were off. The Texas winds were pretty stiff. I estimated 20 to 30 mile-per-hour gusts and, of course, they were targeting the passenger side of the coach. We filled up at a Flying J for $3.05/gal – significantly less than Arizona prices.

It is always great to see my cousin Steve and his wife Angie and this year our timing was right to see Texas in bloom. 

The salmon/orange flowers are "Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja)" 

It is the first time we have passed through while the "Texas Bluebonnets (lupinus texensis)" are in bloom! This variety only grows in Texas.

Another 195 miles east on I-20 brought us to their place near Weatherford, TX. I was beat from battling the winds so it felt good to get out and walk around. We set up at our usual spot away from the house. We determined previously it was ideal since it is level and the ground is solid enough to support the jacks.

The sunsets are always amazing at the ranch.

The "ranch" has no livestock but it is about 17 acres of Texas beautiful with a variety of wildflowers and cacti. They successfully cultivated a large stand of bluebonnets.

The sunset was colorful as it often is at the ranch. We're keeping our fingers crossed the skies remain clear for the big solar eclipse in a few days.

April 3 thru 5, 2024, On the Way to Steve and Angie's in Texas

Before leaving Deming, we filled the coach at $3.30/gal. That felt pretty good since it was $3.90 anywhere around Phoenix. It was a long and boring drive, 337 miles, to our planned overnight stop at the Ward County Safety Rest Stop along I-20 in Monahans, Texas.

Texas Safety Rest Stops are the best. Police have an office on the premises.

Along the way, we saw a blimp floating above the desert (too far away for a picture) and we spotted our first Tesla truck (I didn't give Joani enough of a heads-up for a close shot). It certainly was different looking!

The next day we drove another 154 miles to Lake Colorado City State Park, in Colorado City, Texas. Our makeshift window repair seemed to be traveling well - it did not need any attention.

This park will probably not be on our "must see again" list. It was mostly low scrub and cacti. 

The lake level was low and not exactly picturesque. We decided access was limited enough that we would not try the kayak. We did a bit of walking as we circled the park and realized we need a lot more to get in shape for a summer of hiking.

I set up the telescope - found and viewed the sun in about 10 minutes. Practice, practice, practice. I think I might be ready for the eclipse. I left the scope up to view the beautifully dark Texas night sky. After alignment, the Nexstar 4SE performed flawlessly finding a variety of open clusters, globulars, galaxies and, of course, Jupiter.

On our second night, a group of, I think, 6 dads and, I'm guessing 15 boys who all appeared to be around 8 to 10 years old, set up tents. The cold wind made them play harder and poke in the fire more. I'm sure they all had a blast! 

Tuesday, April 2, 2024, Back on the Road, move to Deming, NM

The Maritime Journey Begins

We finished the packing that started 3 days ago and headed out earlier than we expected. We will be on the road for more than six months this trip, so we made an effort to think of everything we might need. This was our first time in the motorhome since it was in the shop for warranty repairs and it will be the longest we have spent since we downsized. It will be a true test of the Greyhawk's capacity to support full-time Rving.

Today's trip was 285 miles to Dreamcatcher RV Park in Deming, NM. An hour from home, as I was thinking of lunch, we realized we had forgotten the last few things in the refrigerator including the chicken tenders and potato salad that had my mouth already watering. You always forget something, so if this was the worst of it we will be fine.

Another fun game while traveling is to guess “What was that noise?” We heard a new one this trip. It sounded like a huge cooler filled with ice and water suddenly poured out in the back. Clueless as to its source, Joani investigated and found the bedroom window had shattered scattering glass all over the bedroom.

It's funny how different our perceptions are! For me, it was a small bag of ice.

And, miraculously, no glass landed on the bed or beyond.

Thank goodness it didn't suck the lowered blind out the window!

We had no option but to push on to Deming. Joani checked the weather which said it would be clear for the next few days. It did not show the storm that was between us and Deming. Luckily, we were able to outrun the rain and stay dry.

It was a nail-biter for the last 20 miles. The rain passed through the west side of Deming, but our campground was on the east side.

Maybe we outran the rain, but we did not want to risk leaving it, so we quickly taped up the window using a rain poncho but it needed much more to hold up driving. 

It was not easy to maneuver the thin plastic of the poncho in the 30mph winds while on a ladder. Can you make out where the hood is?

A trip to the trusty Walmart yielded some heavy plastic, a backing board, and a roll of super sticky duct tape. To our relief, the rain was no longer a threat and the winds had died down. As we sealed up our window, we noticed the neighbor had a shattered window as well.

This may need to keep us dry for at least a month.

We will be working with Jayco to arrange warranty repair in Sioux Falls.

At least she had an explanation – a reckless RV driver bashed her mirror and window while pulling out of a gas station. While we were on a roll, we taped some plastic over her cardboard to keep it dry until it could be replaced.

Later, I noticed something did not feel right as I opened one of the cabinets. The cabinet trim had been replaced while in for warranty work, so the technician had to remount the cabinet doors. Each door had a specific location on the cabinet and you might think he would have randomly installed at least one of them in the correct place – but no!

Last year, there had been a mystery leak that caused some of the trim to swell at the floor.To fix this, they had to replace some of the cabinet facings.

He put the center door on the bottom, the bottom door on the top, and the top door in the middle. Maybe it's an easy fix but I will have to show the dealer the pictures so they know next time.

So our first day back on the road was a little bit of the same old thing sprinkled with some weirdness. I ended the night outside gazing at a beautifully clear, dark sky.