Colorado Springs and RVSEF Conference

We made it!  2,206 miles in 9 days. That is not our norm.  We prefer to take about a month for that distance.  But everything fell into place, and as you've seen we made sure to have some fun along the way as well.  I added up our expenses ... spending roughly $2,000 all totaled.  $1,200 in diesel fuel, $200 in campground fees, and $600 in RV service and entertainment.
Our goal was this RVSEF Lifestyle, Education, and Safety conference.  It's the same conference that we've done a couple times before in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  We're teaching a few classes, but it's a very small conference so there's no stress at all.  And, take a look at where we are!

That's Pikes Peak in the background (I think)

And, here's our parking spot.

We're just in the parking lot of the conference facility, so there are no hookups.  We're giving our generator a workout, and learning that our inverter works pretty well.  We're here for 5 nights.  I'm not sure we've ever dry-camped that long before, and certainly not for a looong time.  It's good practice!

This is the conference group, just getting to know each other. Some have been RVing for a while, some haven't even bought their RV yet.  They come here to learn what they need to know - driving classes, electrical system classes, water system classes, lifestyle classes, and technology classes-that's us!

There are some real industry experts here, and Jim enjoyed taking a couple of electrical classes with Gary Bunzer, the RV Doctor.  Linda and Howard Payne of RV-Dreams are also here.  We follow their adventures and have been especially envious of their recent exploration of Utah's parks.

And no RV safety conference is complete without Mac the Fire Guy!

We're here for a couple more days, then on to Denver and a visit with Diane and Andy .. and Elizabeth!

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Capulin Volcano National Monument, New Mexico

This was pure serendipity.  We're on our way to Colorado Springs, Colorado.  On our route thru northeast New Mexico, we used our Passport America app on our smartphone to find a place to park the RV for the night. We found Capulin RV Park, and it was delightful.  We got hooked up to their 50 amp electric service, put our slides out, and settled in. We had seen a sign for Capulin Volcano National Monument and had no idea what it was, but the owners at the park said it was very worthwhile, so we determined to make the short, 3 mile trip to the park in the morning.

We stopped at the visitor's center and watched the short video - we love to get the overview that way.  We also bought a new annual National Parks pass for $80. We plan to see a lot of National Parks this summer, and wanted to be ready!  We also splurged and bought the $8 passport, a little book that lists all the national park properties and gives you a place to stamp a page for every property you visit.

Then we drove up to the top of the Volcano and took the mile loop walk around the rim.  At over 6,000 feet and uphill, we were really huffing and puffing, but OH THE VIEWS!

 

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Sunrise in Texas, Sunset in New Mexico

There’s nothing better than travel for taking lots of pictures.  I’ve had so much fun these last few days!  I store my pictures by the month, and already so far in May I have 286 pictures.  I only upload my best ones to my Picasa Web Albums and there are 75 photos there.
WE spent our last night in Texas in Vernon at an RV park called Rock’n A!  Their brand looks like the letter A with a base like a rocking chair.  Fun.
So, here was the view from our bedroom window the next morning:

Sunrise in Texas

I took several shots.  Here’s a collage where I put together two in a panorama.  Click on it to see a larger size.

Then we got on the road.  We would be going thru Amarillo that day and I couldn’t get the song, “Amarillo by Morning” out of my head.  I really wanted to hear it!  So, using my smartphone, I googled for Amarillo by Morning and discovered that it’s by George Strait.  So then I launched Pandora internet radio and asked for a George Strait station.  Lastly I activated the Bluetooth connection to the dashboard radio (a new radio that Jim recently installed) and, within minutes I was singing along to Amarillo by Morning!
After we got tired of country music, I switched my smartphone over to the Kindle book reader and read aloud for both Jim and me to enjoy.  We’re reading the latest book in the Big Lake series written by our friend, Nick Russell.  Big Lake Blizzard is his fourth who-dunnit in the series and we’re really getting to know all the characters.  It’s such a fun and easy read – .  See all the books by Nick on Amazon.
We stopped to refuel in Amarillo, then zoomed right thru on I-40 barely catching a glimpse of the Cadillac Ranch along side the highway.  Then we headed north on a smaller, scenic highway.

Texas road north of Amarillo

Old windmill

New Mexico

We crossed over into New Mexico and finally stopped after Jim drove a total of 356 miles.  We found a Passport America park called Capulin RV after the name of the town, and Capulin Volcano National Monument.  We took a walk at sunset time, then went home and cooked up one of my favorites … Cioppino.  Handled a little bit of email then went to bed.
It doesn’t get any better than this!

going for a walk at sunset

New Mexico Sunset

Friends in Texas

After visiting Escapees in Livingston, we wanted to visit our friend Frank Drew who lives in Waco and the new Presidential Library in Dallas.  We looked at the map and saw a Thousand Trails park that looked like it was pretty close to Waco and just a little further to Dallas.  Turned out to be double the distance it appeared (everything’s bigger in Texas!), but it still worked out great.  We always enjoy staying at a Thousand Trails park, and this one didn’t disappoint.  It’s a huge park and you’re really camping in the woods – yet they have a great hot tub and we took advantage.

 

The hot tub at Lake Whitney Thousand Trails park

Visiting Frank, was an unqualified joy!  He happened to be flying in to Dallas from a convention in Las Vegas, so we arranged to pick him up at Love Field, after our visit to the Presidential museum.  We drove him to his home in Waco.  That gave us some real quality time to catch up on the 4 years since we’ve seen him.  We spent a lot of time with Frank in our first few years on the road.  He owned Coach Connect, a company that installed Wi-Fi in RV parks.  Jim worked as customer support for the company.  The company went under, but the friendship remained.  He’s one of those friends where you pick up right where you left off even though it’s been years since you’ve talked!  We were especially happy to be able to visit now because he and his delightful wife, Beth, just had a baby girl.

Hello Claire!

Proud Daddy, happy baby

Frank and Beth are brave souls to trust their baby to be held by these two!

I don't know who is more afraid?

 

Do you blame her?

 

We were also thrilled that we got to visit with Frank Sr. at his new home in Waco.  Sorry we missed Frank’s mom, Carol – she’s visiting family in Idaho.  Next time Carol!

Presidents in Texas

We are huge fans of Presidential museums.  We have made it a point to stop at them all over the country, and have managed to visit all 12 official Presidential museums.  See this past post for a list. There are also a few presidential historic sites we’ve visited that are not part of the official system of Libraries … Teddy Roosevelt Nat’l Park in N Dakota, Lincoln museum in Illinois, Whitehouse museum in Washington, D.C.  Whenever I write a blog post about any of these, I add a label for Presidential Libraries.  Clicking on that link will show all of those posts together.

The 13th official Presidential Museum

So, when we learned that the 13th official library had just opened, and it was on our route, we had to visit the George W Bush Presidential Museum in Dallas.  This is our third Presidential museum in Texas – Lyndon Johnson in Austin, George H.W. Bush in college station and now George W in Dallas!

George W Bush Presidential Library and Museum

It was very strange to see ‘History’ displayed on events we have lived through – recently – and have our own recollections and opinions. 

A centerpiece of the Bush library was this twisted steel remnant of the World Trade Center from 9-11

I usually really like seeing history summarized.  My brain is too full as it is and can’t hold much more, so just give me the soundbites!  But, when you see the decision to invade Iraq simplified to 3 choices (1.another UN resolution, 2.Lead an invasion 3.Do nothing) you know that history isn’t that simple, there was so much more going on.  More than anything, this experience makes me question everything I’ve learned about history – the facts are always as seen thru the eyes of the presenter, and the presenter with the biggest stage wins. 

This Iraq scenario was one of the presentations in the ‘Decision Points Theatre.’ I loved the technology in the presentation, there were at least a dozen stations where the audience gets to vote on the decision, and the results are displayed on the big screen.  Then President Bush appears on the screen and explains his decision.

George W Bush tells the audience about the decision he made

In addition to a Presidential record, we have come to expect these libraries to present a slice of life in America during that president’s term.  Although it was appropriate that the terror attacks of 9/11 were portrayed as the dominant events of his term, I was disappointed that I didn’t see any presentations of the technology that emerged during this time.  Yes, we’re geeks, but I think everyone can agree that GPS, smartphones, and growing access to Internet has changed our world during these years as much or more than those terror attacks, and I think they deserve a place in the museum.

It was odd to come away from a Presidential Library visit with more negative feelings than positive.  Although it’s true that we were not fans of George W Bush, we are ardent fans of Presidential museums, it is one of our very favorite things to do on the road.  This one just felt more like a commercial for the man than a museum of his life and times.  Maybe the other ones were too and I just didn’t notice?

Lots of people had their picture taken with Bush and Bush Sr.