Day Sixteen

Today was a day of two halves.

The first half we did stuff, the second half, we didn't.

First of all, I missed the thunderstorm we apparently had in the night. I slept through it, Ann didn't.

Next, we did the extra washing and drying, before heading out.

First port of call, was the Jack Sisemore Traveland RV Museum. http://www.rvmuseum.net/

Jack Sisemore ran a simple gas station, before buying a RV (Recreational Vehicle, for those out of the loop (Basically a motorised caravan)) and hiring it out. He did this so he could use it when he wanted to. He ended up with about six of them. and eventually started a proper RV business in 1974. About 25 years ago, the company decided to set up a museum about RVs. It is based at their normal showroom.

We rocked up and went in. You say to the receptionist that you would like to see the museum and she takes you out the back to it. It is free to look around. It works through the ages of RVs and caravans, with examples they have collected over the years.

1923 - Model T Ford base

Also had a lot of Harley Davidsons

A classic Airstream trailer



The actual one used in the Robin Williams film RV: Runaway Vacation

We spent a fair amount of time looking around them all. You could go inside some of them and see how they were laid out. Eventually, we wandered back to the main building ready to leave. Ann then said to the receptionist that she wanted to look at a modern day RV, as the latest date was late 70s in the museum. The lady said the showroom is just through there, you can get in them and have a look. So we went and had a nose about. We liked the one that cost $90,000.

We eventually left with dreams of owning one and made our way to the second stop.

It was the American Quarter Horse Museum http://www.aqha.com/museum - Nope, me neither!

Ann had seen it, so decided it was worth a look. It actually cost money to get in, unlike the RV museum. It was a very nice building, big and spacious. As for the actual exhibits, it was pretty dull. If you like American Quarter horses, then this is the place for you. If not, best to avoid it.

I do now know what a quarter horse is. My initial idea that they were very small horses was wrong. In fact, they are good at running a quarter of a mile. That is it. They have they're own museum!

This was part of it.

Best bit about it as far as I was concerned.

Anyway, we looked about and then left.

Next we headed to the actual Route 66 that passes through Amarillo. There is a small section that is still older looking, original buildings, etc. We went and had a look with thoughts of parking up and exploring, but to be honest there wasn't much to see. We drove up and back, took a couple of photos, but that was about it.

Get your kicks...

We decided to head back to the hotel for lunch. We ate some more of the stuff we bought last night whilst deciding what to this afternoon and evening. We searched for something exciting to do, but could find absolutely nothing. Amarillo seems a bit dull.

Eventually, we decided to do nothing. We stayed in. Ann had a swim. We ate the last of the food for dinner and watched films on TV.

Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe. I have noticed that people don't seem to know how to get to all these places - Is this the way to Amarillo? Do you know the way to Sante Fe?


Talking Horse Watch - High

Moose Watch - Low

States Visited - 13

Day Fifteen

The good news was the only train noise last night was at 1am and I was still up at that point, so no harm done. Slept better than the previous night. Forgot to mention yesterday that the shower is great if you are four foot tall.

Saw the news that a 9 year old kid died at the baseball tournament in Wichita that I mentioned. He'd got hit by a player having a practice swing with a bat. Felt glum. Wondered how the poor lad who accidently hit him will ever get over it.

Had breakfast, then packed up again. Filled up with fuel and then got the hell outta Dodge. Travelled south west. We are finding interesting ways to pass the time on the journey's. K-Mullet is definitely a favourite, as this clip shows.

Also saw lots of wind farms. Slightly bigger than UK ones.

Barack's speech in action

We crossed into Oklahoma just south of Liberal, headed through the panhandle, before entering the Texas panhandle just north of Perryton. Stopped at Perryton for lunch. Went and got a Subway and found somewhere quiet down the road to eat it.

Arrived at Amarillo about 4pm. Checked in to the Holiday Inn Express and Suites. Went up to our room. It is very nice. The suite part isn't exactly a kitchen, more just a sink, microwave and fridge, but the air con works properly and there is no railroad or road nearby. We spent the late afternoon doing some laundry, the first time since we've been here. Washed a load of stuff and tumbled dried the stuff we could. The rest is now littered around the room drying. Have more to do tomorrow.

For dinner, Ann said she wanted to not eat out as we have done so for nearly every meal since we've been here, so we decided to go to Walmart and buy some food and to prepare it back in the 'kitchen'.  Whilst there we saw Michael Jackson or at least some woman in a face mask. Slightly weird to wear one in a supermarket. We also looked at cheap shoes as we need some for later in the trip. Ann managed to get into a conversation with a woman about our trip whilst sorting her shoes out. Ann then tried to make me buy women's shoes for myself.

Headed back and made dinner. It was great. Ann has just watched a reality show called 'My Giant Life', but now has Casino Royale on.

Moose Watch - Even lower than ever

States Visited - 13

Day Fourteen

Oh, what a night!

Cannot believe the night we had. Must be the most disturbed night's sleep that we've ever had. Firstly the air con doesn't seem to work properly. The room was just about cool enough but the system does not get it anywhere near the temperature you want. When it does come on, it makes an absolute racket. Then the road noise is loud as there is an old crappy window and a wooden door out onto the balcony, neither of which block any sound.

If that wasn't bad enough, at precisely 4am a train went by and as there is a level crossing across the street it blew its horn constantly as it approached. Check out yesterday's video to see how loud that it is. Another train went by later on.

At 6am the bloke next door decided to have a natter as loud as he possibly could. Plus a load of motorcycles started up early and revved about a bit.

All in all, a bit of a sleeping disaster. Needless to say our efforts to get up early, fell by the wayside.

When we did get up, we headed down to breakfast, which turned out to be fairly poor as well. Just a real lack of anything.

We won't be leaving positive feedback on Tripadvisor.

Eventually, we were ready to go out.

First stop was the Sante Fe trail. We headed about seven miles west of Dodge. Back in the day the trail passed by here, lots of people transporting stuff in wagons, etc. What is now there is the marks in the ground left by all the wagon wheels over the years. These are called wagon ruts.

http://www.nps.gov/safe/learn/historyculture/exhibits_dodge_city_ruts.htm

There are a few boards at the site telling you about things. We wandered along the constructed path to see the ruts. You can just about make them out, but the signage isn't that helpful as it doesn't actually show you where the are. When you look on Google earth, they are easily visible, but from the ground it is much harder to see.



Rut the hell?

The ruts can be seen right in the middle of the above picture, on the far greener hill. You might have to click on it to see it better.

We stayed for a bit before heading back to Dodge.

Next stop was the Boot Hill Museum http://www.boothill.org/.

The museum is built next to the original Dodge City Boot Hill cemetery, hence the name. Cemeteries got the name Boot Hill as they normally housed people who had died with their boots on, either having been murdered or hanged, rather than having a natural death.

The museum had exhibits about the area, including the Native Americans who were here before the Westerners turned up. We spent time looking at everything. Saw a buffalo.

Good bison

Next we headed out to the reconstruction of Front Street from circa the 1870s to watch this.

It was fairly enjoyable, although at times they did seem to get a little confused with what was going on. We had to sit in the sun to watch. It was midday, hence it was very hot. I could feel the sweat dripping as we watched. Ann took some action shots.

Good shooting, Tex

When the show finished we headed across the street into the buildings. Each one is laid out like the original would have been. Got a drink and a cookie in the café. Cooled off. Ann had sarsaparilla.

Henry Miller was as busy as a fizzy sarsaparilla

Next, Ann made go next door against my will. Then she made me do something else against my will. This picture is the result.

Oh dear

When we had finished looking around, we headed back to the car. We then did a bit of a drive around town having a general nose about.

For lunch we decided to go here.

https://www.sonicdrivein.com/

We didn't  know how it worked so we just drove in! Pressed a button. Ordered some food. Waited. Didn't know what happened next. We presumed that someone would bring our food out and take payment, but we weren't sure. As time passed we started to get nervous that we had got it all wrong, but eventually our fears were relieved when someone turned up with our food. We ate it, it was good.

Headed back to the hotel for a while, before we headed out later on.

Nipped to the IHOP next door for a quick dinner, before we headed to our main event, the Dodge City Round Up Rodeo.

We'd been to a rodeo before in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, during our first trip five years ago. But this was Dodge, cowtown, the home of the wild frontier. This rodeo seemed much bigger. We arrived about 15 minutes before it started. Got tickets and got in.

Some woman sang the Star Spangled Banner and then it was action stations.

First up was the bare back riding.

Next was the steer wrestling.

Team roping followed.

Then the tie down roping.

Saddle bronc riding. Pretty much the same as the bare back riding, so won't show that.

Then the women's barrel racing.

Then finally, the big tamale, bull riding.

It was a fabulous night. We both immensely enjoyed it. Glad we made the effort to go again. Once if was over we headed back, stopping off at the garage opposite the hotel to get some supplies.

It's been a really good day, considering how badly it started. Hoping for a quieter night tonight!

Buffalo Seen - 1

Moose watch - Low

States Visited - 11

Day Thirteen

Having been up to 1.30am, we decided to make the most of staying in a very nice hotel by sleeping a lot. Didn't go down for breakfast until gone 9.30am. Not much noteworthy happened during breakfast apart from me leaning on the edge of our table, which tipped it slightly, which in turn made a small jar of flowers and glass beads fall on the floor, causing the entire place to turn around and stare.

Having helped clear up the mess and finished breakfast we went back to the room for a while. We weren't in any rush, so mooched about for a bit.

Eventually we checked out and loaded the car ready to move on again.

Headed west on US400 again. Passed through a couple of places, Pratt and Greensburg, which Paul had given me a heads up about. He and Helen had seen two tornadoes in Pratt in 2008, and Greensburg had been completely destroyed by a tornado in 2007.

The only other interesting thing about the journey was that we decided to play a game of cat and mouse with a train. First of all we passed it whilst driving, so then decided to pull over and watch it pass.

Well done if you watched all two and a half minutes of that. We then decided that we wanted to take some still photos of it as well, so we got ahead of it again and pulled over. Then having done that, we did it again.

Choo choo

The driver must have thought we were mental. Eventually we gave up on the game as we stopped to buy drinks. We saw it go past and let it drift off into the distance.

We headed onward and soon reached our destination, Dodge City. We checked into the hotel and proceeded to do nothing as we were both tired. We spent the time watching TV and planning our day tomorrow. It is the first time since Dayton that we will be staying somewhere for two nights, so decided to sort our plans out ready.

Went out for dinner at the IHOP right next to the hotel. It was better than the last one we ate in a few days ago.

Back now and planning to have an early night as we have plenty to do tomorrow. Ann is currently watching a program about murderers.


Train watch - High

Moose Watch - Low

States Visited - 11

Day Twelve

Having a suite not just a room meant we felt like we should spend more time in it, so this morning we didn't rush. Watched a bit of cricket. Headed downstairs for breakfast after nine. It was the cleanest, nicest hotel breakfast we've had. Nice dining room, everything neat and clean, helpful staff. It was definitely a fair reflection of the hotel as a whole.

After breakfast went back to the room and watched Root and Bell knock off the final thirty runs to win the test match. That made it about time to leave, so we packed up and checked out.

Before we left we googled the cheapest fuel in Joplin, so made our way there. Passed part of the area devastated by the tornado in 2011. It seems to have been rebuilt successfully although there are still areas which have been cleared but not rebuilt.

Having left Joplin, we headed into Kansas and followed US Highway 400 the entire way to Wichita.

We stopped for lunch at Augusta. We desperately searched the town looking for an old fashioned diner, but to no avail. We even found the old part of town, but still not a sign of what we were looking for.

The old part of town

Eventually we had to make do with Subway. By this stage we were fairly close to our destination, so just cracked on. Arrived at the hotel around 3.30pm. We are staying here:

http://wichita.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html

Ann had requested a high up room, and we got one. 15th floor, with a view of the river.

I saw the Arkansas....river

She also chose free parking as an option when booking, so that has paid off too. You have to use your room key to get in the car park, so we went and stuck the car away having unloaded.

Hotel seems quite busy with sporty people as there is some sort of baseball marathon going on at the stadium just across the river. Something like a 48 hour baseballathon with lots of teams playing.

We hung around the room for while. Ann did some three way Skyping with moderate success. By this time it was about 5pm. Ann had planned for us to visit Old Cowtown, a museum thing/recreation about the old days, but it shut at 5pm so we couldn't go there.

Instead we searched the web for somewhere to eat and then headed out.

Ended up going here for dinner. http://www.jimmiesdiner.com/

It was old school with a soda fountain and everything. Walked in, it had two or three tables worth of people already there. Got seated by a batty old greeter. Had our drink order taken. We both went for proper old fashioned milkshakes. Got given some iced water whilst we waited. Had our food order taken. Another batty waitress said it might be a little while due to the other people who arrived not long before us. When she had gone, I had a look around the diner. Counted at least fifty empty seats. Said to Ann how do they cope when it is properly busy??

Food arrived, we started eating. Still no sign of our milkshakes. Every time the batty old waitress came over she kept saying your milkshakes will be done in a minute. Got a little soul destroying. Eventually they turned up. They were worth the wait. It was like having a dessert as they were so thick.

We paid up and then headed to our evening activity. It was not far from the restaurant so worked out ok. We weren't sure how early to get there, so ended up arriving a good hour early. At least it meant we got the best choice of spots.

This was our destination. http://starlitefun.com/

Friday night at the......

As you can see we went to a drive in movie theatre. We parked centrally about halfway back, so we got the best view. We were originally confused, as all those who had arrived before us had parked facing away from the screen. We realised that they were all planning to sit in their back of their trucks to watch. We parked facing forward.

Went to the concession stand to get some drinks and then headed back to the car. It was still very warm out, so we kept the engine on so the air con was cool. You had two choices for audio, you could go with the old hook on the window speaker or tune your radio in to the frequency. We went for the latter as it would have better sound quality.

As it got dark, Ann suggested that we turn the engine off and open the windows so we could experience it the old way. I pointed out that it was still fairly warm out and that we would die like puppies trapped in a hot car, so air con was best.

I got overruled.

We watched Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. By the end it was baking hot in the car. Ann said she was fine. There were two more films on that we could stay and watch, but seeing as it was already 11.30pm, the next one was Antman followed by something else just as rubbish, we decided not to.

We headed on back to the hotel. Got to our room to look at the city at night. Looks good, but hard to take a picture of.

Best we could get

Ann is currently still awake, despite the fact it is 1am. I think the diet Pepsi she had at the drive in might be keeping her awake.

Batty waitresses seen - 2

Moose watch - low

States visited - 11

Day Eleven

I will apologise before I start for the lack of anything remotely interesting in today's blog.

We had breakfast in the hotel and then got on our way. We drove up out of Arkansas and into Missouri. We arrived at Joplin. We stopped twice. Once in a rest area and once for lunch at a Subway.

That pretty much sums up the day. We've since been out for dinner at Denny's. It was fine.

We are staying at Homewood Suites by Hilton. Our room has a kitchen, a lounge and the bedroom and bathroom. Ann is now watching Independence Day.

To make up for this completely unentertaining blog, here are some pictures of things from our journey.

Tunnel

Plane

Scary Bus



Gorilla with fireworks

As you can see, a highly entertaining day.

And here is a video of our room.

Moose Watch - Low

States visited - 11

Day Ten

Another day, another journey. Had breakfast in the hotel and watched the news. It had about the dentist who shot the lion. There is now a tribute to the dead lion outside his dental practice. They showed it, it was just some toy lions. Apparently he has done it before with a bear. Enough said. It wasn't the main news though, that was Tom Brady getting a four match NFL ban.

We left Greenville and won't miss it. Nothing particularly wrong with it, just not a place to spend any time.

Not far from the edge of the city, we crossed the Mississippi River for the second time in our lives. The first time was on our original trip in 2010, when we were much further north. As we crossed Ol' Man River we also moved into Arkansas.

After just 17 miles, we veered off course and took a 40 mile round trip south to tick another box. When we got there we saw this.

Sign

It meant we could cross Louisiana off our list of states we've been to. Didn't stay there long, didn't go any further in.

Getting back on our actual route, we headed north west up into Arkansas. We stopped for fuel and to get supplies. As we left the gas station, Ann asked me whether I had seen the woman's chest. I felt this was a trick question with no possible right answer. Anyway, it turns out that apparently this woman had a hairy chest. I could safely say I hadn't noticed.

We then found a nice place to stop, on a small dirt track next to a railroad. Ann got all David Bailey, although the heat made it difficult to stand outside for too long. Also watched some more crop dusting going on.

A very corny photo

We hoped to see a train go past but we only saw two of these cheeky things.



I don't even know what it is

We carried on driving and then as we passed through a small town called Sheridan, we saw a little place called Brew Heaven Café. We decided to pull over and grab lunch as it had gone 1.30pm. Glad we did. It was shutting at 2pm, so there weren't many people in it. When we sat down, a guy sat eating, I think he was called Mickey Redneck, recommended the pork chops. He seemed slightly annoyed later that we had ignored his advice. We decided that it looked like a very trendy place in London, polished concrete floor, old style furniture, bare old walls. Probably would cost you £10 for a coffee if it was.

Shabby Chic

We ate, it was very nice and then later had a long chat with the people left in there about what we were doing. They tried to persuade us to go to the local museum whilst we were in town. We were terribly British and accepted the leaflet they gave us and said we'd check it out. Then, when we got in the car, we drove away.

We headed onward, watching the outside temperature gauge get higher and higher, eventually topping out at 102.

We reached our destination of Hot Springs around mid afternoon. We checked in, sat around for a bit (I watched Ashes highlights), before heading out.

We went to play our first mini golf of the holiday at the Pirate's Cove.

There were two 18 hole courses to choose from, so we picked the difficult one. It showed in our scores. It was a par 42 course.

Final scores were:

Roffe - 59
Knightley - 52

It was still burning hot, to the point that we were both sweating buckets by the time we finished. Luckily there was a gas station next door, so we ran into the shop to cool down when we had finished. Bought some drinks and then sat in the car finishing our cool off.

We then went for a drive around the area, crossing over Lake Hamilton before heading back into downtown Hot Springs. Thought you might like to know that Hot Springs was the boyhood home of Bill Clinton and the birthplace of Billy Bob Thornton. Maybe you didn't want to know that.

We stopped for dinner at the Dixie Café, http://dixiecafe.com/, where we were served by Misty and saw the funniest male hairstyle, before heading back to the hotel.

Bears seen - 0

Moose Watch - low

States Visited - 10