Met Up With Peacock's In OK

We had the distinct pleasure of seeing Tom and Liz Peacock the a nice KOA park in Oklahoma City a week or so ago.  We went our to a local Indian Casino for a meal and try our hands a bit at gaming.  I was fortunate enough to end up a bit ahead on the slot machines.  In this particular casino if you win a jackpot the machine bings and bongs for 15 minutes handing out 25 cents at a time.  So my last jackpot of maybe 25 bucks took 10 minutes to collect.

I don't have any pictures of our adventure at the Indian casino, but Tom did send me this picture of their rig outside the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina a few days later.

They also met up with Ken and Jean in Ashland within a few days of this photo.

Right after seeing the Peacock's in OK City we went to Amarillo and ate at

And we saw the famous Cadillac Ranch

My steak at the Big Texas was Big and good.  But once past these two attractions what we will remember most about Amarillo was 50+ mpg winds and torrential rains.  Enough so some wet got past our front slide seals and we had a wet carpet for a few days.

We then went to New Mexico.  Albuquerque was a good visit.  No rain and no strong winds.

We then went to the area around Holbrook and some more high desert attractions.

The above pictures are Homolovi Ruins, Little Painted Desert, and La Posada Hotel in Winslow.

We have been in the Presott area for a few days and are going to be back home in a few days.  That is a few days early.

Our Trip So Far

The last post I talked about how I preferred Denver and west to what is east of that in the USA.  It is now about 3 weeks later and I want to enlarge on that.  Almost all of the weather we had east of Denver and back to Ohio was soggy, muggy, flat, and unpleasant.  The people we visited on that part of the trip was a lot of fun.  We went to Chicago.  That is Barbara in the foreground.

Went to a wedding in Ohio

 Saw the motor home hall of fame in Indiana

Went underground in Missouri

Saw and went up the Arch

I actually hit many / most of the 70 mph balls thrown at me.

Barbara and I bought cheese in Amish Country

And we made friends with a Spanish water dog.

We are now back west in Albuqueque NM and it is not raining.  Back home in the West.

Does A Different USA Start At Denver

My father who was a natural born traveler always said "The best part of the USA is Denver and West".  He was born in Los Angeles.  I was born in San Francisco and I agree with him.  But what happens at Denver to make the western parts of the USA different than the eastern?

The change that takes place at Denver is that you come out of the Rocky Mountains and go into the Great Plains.  A bit after you cross the 100th parallel the rain is more reliable and it becomes greener.  You get States like Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio which are nice enough places with lots of people but almost no drama in the scenery at all.  There is no Arches or Canyonland in Ohio.  You do get lots of green small lakes like the one we are camped at now.  But you cannot see past the trees opposite the lake.  Few long distance vistas.  Even in the eastern mountains they are almost entirely covered in dense forest.  So driving down a highway in Maryland looks like driving down a highway in Ohio.  You have a road and trees on either side.

I also like the deserts.  There are no deserts in the east.  If it does not rain once a week it is declared a drought.  Automatic lawn sprinklers are slow sellers here.

There are plenty of nice places to go back here.  I loved visiting Annapolis in the spring.  Bucks County PA when the bushes and trees are blooming.  The village of Newtown PA is completely in bloom the first week in April.  And George Washington did sleep there.  New England becomes a blase with color in October.  Vermont is a wonderful small place to visit and see the small villages.  Or ski or fly fish.  And there are very nice beaches in Florida.  A great seafood in New Orleans.  I have been to all those places and still think the west is by far the more interesting place to live.