White Post Lane to Texas Road Trip on Scenic Byways

Preliminary

Our friends mentioned in mid-summer that they would be in Texas for a few days in 3rd week of October. Wondered if we would like to join them for a few days exploring San Antonio and Austin. On reflection, we thought that we should be able to cobble together an interesting road trip there and back. We were in!

We already had the Alpine Club of Canada Guides Ball event booked at Lake Louise on October 14, my friend Peter Amann was to be honoured that evening as Patron. Therefore we could leave no earlier than October 15. We landed on the rough idea to head east to the Black Hills of South Dakota and then south to Texas, seeing whatever might be interesting along the way. We would return farther west hoping to pass a few other new places including Santa Fe and Taos. We booked a Chris Hillman/Herb Peterson concert in Park City Utah on October 28. This created some bookends to work from.

The Guides Ball at Chateau Lake Louise was a delightful event. Having packed for the road trip we drove to Lake Louise with our friend Keith midday on Saturday, October 14.  In the afternoon Peter provided an excellent slide presentation of his time in the mountains over the last 40 years and later, after a very delicious dinner, made a great keynote address. Was a fun event, caught up with a few folks had not seen in awhile as well as met a few new. A good warm up event in advance of a 16 day road trip through 12 of the greatest states the US has to offer.
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Day 1: White Post Lane to Hardin Montana

We got an early start from White Post Lane, rolled out the gate in our 2002 VW Eurovan by 7AM. Plan was to get to Billings Montana area before dark. Skies were clear, road conditions and weather excellent. A good start.

Milk River Solar Site

First stop (well not including Lethbridge Starbucks) was at the proposed Medicine Line Renewables solar site just south of Milk River. The Crested Wheatgrass regrowth has been reasonable since harvest in July. In spring we did a cleanup and over 20 carcass parts, mostly coyote, were removed. As well,  No Trespassing and No Dumping signs were installed, which amazingly have not yet been removed and no obvious signs of new carcasses having been disposed of there! Seems disposal at the local transfer station either is too costly or too far to drive.

Sweetgrass Border

The Sweetgrass Hills were in clear view and beckoning us on to the United States of America.
 
A short drive had us to the Sweetgrass border and an uneventful entry into the Great State of Montana. Game on!

Sweetgrass Hills from US Hwy 2

 We headed east from Shelby on US Hwy 2, Northern Montana is largely wide open largely flat pasture and farm land. Not surprisingly much like Southeast Alberta.  The Sweetgrass Hills dominate the landscape with the odd grain elevator and small town erupting from the prairie. Truly Big Sky Country.

Fort Belknap Water Tower

We turned south on Montana Hwy 66 at Fort Belknap Agency. Immediately south of town there is a stunning art display on the area water tower. Later investigation showed the mural to be the centre piece of a project to improve the quality of water to acceptable standards. The Fort Belknap Indian Reservation (yes this is correct, they are not called First Nations in The US) is home to the Aaniiih and Nakoda tribes. You can read about the Fort Belknap water system improvement project at the link below. A great story.

Ft Belnap Water is life project

Many more hours of driving, over the Missouri River, past the Little Rock Mountains and Billings had us arrive at Grand View campground in Hardin Montana. Didn't notice the view as being particularly special, but it was getting near dark so time to stop driving after almost 1000 kms. One of the guests was standing in for the owner at the office. She apologized for the mess and smell and mentioned there had been a fire . Wasn't exactly sure what the rate for our vehicle might be so we settled on $30. The office was full of boxes and random stuff piled everywhere. She told us the fire happened from an electrical incident last December.... seems the insurance company had yet to settle and wasn't being cooperative.... apparently that kept the owner from tidying up..... go figure. It turned out to be a decent camping location, flat, hot showers, reasonably quiet... what more can you ask for?


 Day 2: Hardin Montana to Custer State Park South Dakota

Little Big Horn Battle Field
Fortified with coffee from the Hot Shot Espresso shack just off  I90 (why aren't there any of these in Canada?) we headed southeast for 20 minutes to the Little Bighorn Battle Field National Monument located a few miles south at junction of I90 and US 212.

Little Bighorn Indian Memorial

We figured this time it was worth taking the time to stop and have a look.(Had passed by twice before without stopping). My prior knowledge of the battle at Little Big Horn was from a Disney film Tonka shown on TV in the 1960's and the lyrics of  a Johnny Horton song, neither of which I remember well. The film presentation at the visitors center was excellent as are artifacts preserved there.The Little Big Horn Battle Field remains a major icon in the history of the United States. The battle on June 25/26 1876, although a victory for the Natives on the battlefield, was the beginning of the end for American Indians controlling their land and way of life. Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer (He was a General in Civil War) split his forces (597 Soldiers and Officers)  one to directly attack, the other, including himself, was to sneak around the back of the Native encampment and kidnap women and children as negotiating material. The strategy didn't work out well for him. Custer underestimated the numbers of the Indian warriors and their motivation to fight and chose to attack immediately rather than wait a couple days for 2 other columns of soldiers that were headed to same location as planned by the US military. The Indians were defending their way of life, the Cavalry were professional soldiers/mercenaries just doing a job. Custer's entire group was wiped out, the other 7th Cavalry group also sustained losses, Custer and 257 other 7th Calvary soldiers/officers died in the battle. Native American deaths are variously reported as somewhere between 36 and 300 natives. Numerous other Indians and Soldiers were wounded.

"Last Stand Hill" with Little Bighorn 7th cavalry Obelisk

Custer was there as part of a government strategy to pick a fight to provide an excuse for the United States to force the Indians onto smaller reserves, and in particular, wrest control of the Black Hills of South Dakota from the Sioux. Less than 10 years prior to the Little Bighorn battle, by the Treaty of Fort Laramie, the US government had set aside the Black Hills for "exclusive" use by the Sioux. Significant commercial gold deposits had recently been discovered on Sioux land near what is now the town of Deadwood, at the north end of the Black Hills. Greed is a powerful thing, white miners had already moved in. The US government was not prepared to honour its prior written agreement whereby the Sioux owned the Black Hills. The Little Bighorn battle is often referred to as "Custer's Last Stand" in fact it was actually the Indian's Last Stand. Within a year of the Native warriors "victory", the United States government, using overwhelming military strength, unilaterally forced the Sioux to cede the Black Hills and required all Indians to move to reservations. Crazy Horse surrendered, Sitting Bull escaped to Canada.... that war was over... Over 100 years later the US supreme court ruled in 1980 that the fifth amendment was violated when Black Hills were taken. They awarded the Sioux $106MM, which the Sioux rejected, they want the land back, not money. In 2009 Obama said of the natives "you will not be forgotten while I am in the White House" apparently he forgot he said that, among many other things. Empty promises of  "hope and change" from the empty suit president Obama showed himself to be. As recently as 2012 a UN report stated the Black Hills and other lands should be returned to the Natives....the legal battle continues....

Custer National Cemetery

Interestingly, Custer is buried at West Point, New York but has a National Cemetery named after him at the Montana battlefield. The officers of the 7th Calvary that died at Little Big Horn were, other than one, disinterred and reburied elsewhere, the enlisted men were not afforded the same privilege and their remains reside on the battlefield. The cemetery at Little Big Horn could be selected by US servicemen as their last resting place until they stopped taking new reservations for Custer National Cemetery in 1978..... enough said.

Devils Tower

Looking east at Devils Tower

While traveling across Montana on US212, bent on getting to South Dakota, we noticed a sign to Devils Tower. We continued for several kilometers before deciding we would go back and detour through Wyoming and take in Devils Tower prior to entering South Dakota. Only added maybe 25 miles to the trip but well worth the diversion. The tower is an amazing igneous intrusion that rises some 867 feet out of the plains. It is apparently a popular climbing objective, highly technical it would seem. The area around it is a National Monument complete with Visitor Center and Campground.

Hobo Spider

Hobo Spider rearing up

 The Monument is home to an unusually large and aggressive spider, at least it is where we come from. Elaine noticed this creature on the path and fled the scene quickly. The spider was quite aggressive rearing up when approached. Didn't actually seem to be able to jump, but none the less made itself appear to be a force to be reckoned with.

Research appears to identify it as a Hobo Spider. Likely a female based on size. Apparently a European transplant that arrived in early 1900's at Seattle, seems it has done well in colonizing America.

Prairie Dog Town

There is a significant Prairie Dog town on the plains below east flank of Devils Tower. A member of the Marmot family, these rodents are larger than the Gophers that we see in Alberta(usually squashed on the highway). They are very social creatures that reside in "towns" that span many acres and with multiple family groups. There was a gentleman from Colorado camped there taking photos of the Prairie Dogs in the day and star swirls at night. In younger years he was a climbing guide in South America, we traded stories of climbing in Ecuador. Now afflicted with MS, he spends his time traveling in the US and taking photos of things he finds interesting. Nothing holding him back, still lots of good reasons to get up in the morning.

The Black Hills Deadwood and Keystone

Deadwood SD

Keystone SD

We entered the Black Hills National Forest at Spearfish SD. Took the scenic drive through Spearfish Canyon, very lovely with the aspen leaves brilliant yellow. The canyon has numerous vacation homes and lodges/hotels to accommodate the summer visitors. The drive takes you to Deadwood SD, a gold mining town turned tourist destination. Deadwood is a town of 1200 residents with 3 dozen casinos, a mini Las Vegas. Many restored historic buildings line the streets from its past glory days as a gold town. Not much to that as Joyce my mother-in-law would often say.

From Deadwood we headed south toward Mount Rushmore National Monument. This took us through the town of Keystone, the gateway to Mount Rushmore. Keystone is loaded with numerous attractions for the visitors who come to look at 60 foot tall images of dead presidents carved in a mountain. Water park, alpine slides, aerial adventure park, you name it, it's here to occupy the time of visitors to Mount Rushmore (and extract money from their wallets) before and after the obligatory visit to view the revered leaders rock images.

Mount Rushmore

Profile of Washington

Mt. Rushmore

Once through,unscathed by the amazing commercial money extractor at Keystone, we arrive at the Rushmore Monument itself. It was getting late in the day, the attendants at the cash wickets had gone home and we were spared the $10 fee for parking. We had to fend for ourselves to locate appropriate parking, after 3 times around the parking lot we were charmed to park in the bus parking lot next to the visitor center.

Stone Mountain, Georgia

The Monument is truly an amazing place. Much larger than life, before us were images of Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln. Finished in 1941 it took some 400 men, 14 years to realize Sculptor Gutzon Borglums dream. Close to 3 million visitors come to South Dakota each year to view the Monument. Some of the American visitors

Black Hills Goat?

we observed, appeared very emotional on viewing the face carvings. Not sure if it's patriotism driven or just the scale of the development that chokes them up. Amazingly, there is a similar mountain carving in the American South, although much less publicized, honoring Confederate hero's Jackson, Lee and Davis and their favourite horses. It is located at Stone Mountain in Georgia. In the new politically correct, revisionist historical world, this stone marvel may have to be re-carved back into a plain old mountain, or like Angelina's, Billy Bob tattoo be over-carved with different images. On a future trip we may have to add a visit to Georgia to see this wonder along with a pilgrimage to the Georgia Guidestones.
On exiting the parking area a mountain goat was grazing curbside. Who knew that Rocky Mountain Goats inhabited the Black Hills of South Dakota?

Sylvan Lake Lodge

Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill

Sylvan Lodge Bar

With darkness falling we drove the last 15 miles to Sylvan Lake Lodge in Custer State Park to spend the night. The Lodge was built in the 1930's, above the lake, to replace a previous incarnation that burned down. Not terribly modern, the room we had could use an updating. The dining room is a lovely rustic room with large fireplace and high ceiling, good service and the food was excellent. On the wall was a photo of Sitting Bull with Buffalo Bill from the happier days when they did the Wild West Show. Not sure of its significance to the Lodge, but an interesting historical photo.

Sylvan Lodge Bar

Fittingly I suppose, the Lodge bar area is adorned with the heads, fronts and even an entire body of all the game animals that roam the Black Hills. Elk, deer, antelope, sheep, goat and a pheasant are proudly displayed to contemplate with a beverage.





Day 3: Sylvan Lake SD to Scottsbluff Nebraska

Black Elk Peak

Sylvan Lake

The Black Hills are an isolated mountainous uplift with about 90% located in South Dakota the rest in the Wyoming, Devils Tower area. Who knew there were 7000+ foot peaks on the plains? The highest peak in the uplift was re-named Black Elk Peak in 2016 after an early 20th century Lakota Sioux healer. It was previously named Haney Peak, after a US general who had massacred the Sioux in the 19th century Indian "wars". The Sioux had called it Hiŋháŋ Káǧa which translates to Owl Maker, as they believe some of the rocks look like owls. While not supported by all, Black Elk was proposed by some Sioux and accepted by the naming commission and the State of South Dakota. We were up before dawn, paid the entry fee to park in Custer State Park arriving at Sylvan Lake Picnic area trail head just as the sun came up on the rocks across the lake. Appeared that a wedding was to occur later in the day, chairs were set out already for the event at this spectacular location.

Black Elk Peak from Little Devils Tower

There are 2 trail heads for Black Elk Peak at this parking area. We decided to do a counter clockwise loop and take in Little Devils Tower and the Cathedral Spires on way to Black Elk summit. The trails were built, in the 1930's by Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps(CCC). These trails are not just improved animal paths like many in Canada tend to be. These trials are surveyed and engineered. Steady grades, liberal use of dynamite by the builders to keep the grades steady and regular maintenance make these trails a pleasure to walk on. We took what we thought to be a very short side trip to Little Devils Tower. It was not only longer but  required some minor scrambling to find ourselves on the peak. A fine view in all directions and at 6980 feet, almost as tall as the objective.

Cathedral Spires

Cathedral Spires

We retraced our steps and carried on the main trail to the Cathedral Spires. The spires are awesome looking granite pinnacles forming ridges above us. No need for much of a side trip as the trail passes nearby many of the features.
From the spires Black Elk Peak is maybe a 30 minute walk. We met only 1 person on the way up, a gentleman from Minot ND who travels here in fall every year to hike the many miles of great trails. He was very surprised to see us, apparently, at least on the walks he was on, few others do the same.

The Great Plains

As we approached the east ridge, the Great Plains came into view, don't think we could actually see the 100th Meridian from there as its about 330kms to the east, but we could certainly see the Great Plains... close enough I guess.

Trail Builders Finest Work

Summit Observation Tower

 A few switchbacks later and we can see the summit fire lookout tower. An amazing lighthouse like structure at the very summit of the mountain. A hitching rail is available about 100 m from the summit to leave your horse. George Armstrong Custer was among the first to ascend Black Elk Peak, it is said that he tried to ride his horse all the way to the top and almost got there. An excellent horseman it would seem.
The final summit block is ascended by first a steel and stone spiral staircase from which a lovely stone path leads to the door of the fire tower.

 A plaque near the summit credits the CCC for constructing the tower and notes that "the peak is the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Pyrenees". May be true if you only consider the US and Atlantic Ocean, peaks further east in the Andes, Central America, Mexico and even Canada (Ellesmere Island) far exceed the 2207m height of Black Elk.

Inside the Summit Tower

Top of South Dakota

The view from the summit is a fine 360 degrees that, it is said, you can see 4 states from on a clear day. Wyoming maybe, but a long 5 iron to Nebraska and Montana....

Many Prayer Flags graced the summit area

The fire tower is no longer in use and I'm sure was a cold inhospitable place to reside. It was fitted with power and a water supply was created to serve it... but still...

Black Elk Peak and all the Black Hills are considered sacred by Native Americans. Many prayer flags were draped on trees, some of them many metres off the ground, a testimony to the strength of their beliefs.
The descent was via Trail 9 which is a more direct route back to Sylvan Lake. We encountered over 50 people ascending including a large school group, I can imagine this is a busy walk in the summer. The round trip was 4:45 minutes, a great walk if you happen to be in the area. There are many great trails in the Black Hills including 2 trails over 100 miles in length, (Centennial and Mickelson trails), much to explore.

With still a lot of driving to do before dark, the Crazy Horse Memorial mountain carving was calling.

Crazy Horse

Not much to say about this one other than don't waste your money. I asked Elaine if this was enough as we were driving up to the fee gates and could see the mountain. I could still pull a u-turn and move on. Answer was no, so went to the gate on a 4 lane divided highway, at the ticket area the gentleman told me it was $12/each and gave us tickets with a 2017 price of $11 printed on them. He notice our dream catcher on the rearview mirror and asked if I was part Native American, I said no, but a Native American had parted with it. We parked and went into the elaborate visitors center which houses many artifacts with some maybe even relating to Crazy Horse.
A great business though, more than twice as expensive as Rushmore, incomplete after 68 years, no apparent work being done and why bother? They are making good money without much effort. More money spent on parking area, Visitors Center, Theatre etc than the carving. It took 14 years with pre-WWII equipment to carve Mount Rushmore, in nearly 5 times as long, the Crazyhorse sculptors have a partial face and a hole in a rock. I will give you that the face, at 87 feet is almost half again the Rushmore presidents, but there are 4 of them. This project will never be done. The family of the original sculptor runs the foundation and no doubt do well at it. Save your money go to the water park or anywhere else.

Bike Grave Yard Pringle  SD

Pringle SD Bike "sculpture"

Having saved time by not watching the 22 minute video at Crazy Horse but taking advantage of the $24 washroom break, there may still be time to get to CarHenge near Alliance Nebraska, before dark. We headed south on US 385, through Custer SD and stopped at Pringle SD for a gas and a Subway sub to go. On leaving Pringle we noticed a large collection of bicycles piled just off the highway. Had to stop and have a look. At least as good as Crazy Horse and probably closer to being finished, and free if you ignore the donation box. Back out onto US385 we soon passed Wind Cave National Park. Many Buffalo and Prairie Dogs roaming freely within the Park.The tours of the caves were over for the day so will leave that for another time.

Passing through Nebraska on US385 one sees extensive agriculture operations, its the 4th largest agri-business state by output. Irrigated corn appears to be the major crop and there are numerous beef cattle feedlots and pig barns. Irrigation pivots were invented in nearby Colorado, however they were perfected in Nebraska. The 4 major pivot manufacturers are all based in Nebraska.

CarHenge Alliance Nebraska

Having been to Stonehenge we naturally had to see this marvel of Nebraska. Built in 1987, it's a close replica of the original Stonehenge except it's made of old automobile bodies since there were few large stones close by in Nebraska to standup. The sign says it only took 7 days to construct! A full 999 years and 51 weeks faster than the original. Admission is free, they will take donations of course. T-shirts are available at the concession however it was closed when we were there. Appeared they may be developing a camping area adjacent. Might have stayed if it was open as we were there at around 6PM. There are gatherings there on June 21, probably not quite the scale as at StoneHenge

June 21 at Carhenge copied from "the internet"

but likely a better chance to see the sun. Maybe worth a visit if passing by.
CarHenge was on the path of the Great American Eclipse this past August 21, 2017. About 4000 people showed up to enjoy 2 minutes and 30 seconds of totality there. A link to the compelling ABC coverage of the eclipse is linked below. CarHenge definitely a lot busier than Terreton, Idaho where we observed the eclipse, might have been 100 people at Terreton in the Mormon Church parking lot including us enjoying a most spectacular natural phenomenon.

CarHenge 2017 Eclipse Festival

It was still over an hour's drive to Scottsbluff NE. where we hoped to find a campground. We arrived at Scottsbluff after dark and found the campground was closed for the season (as were many campgrounds north of Kansas). We took advantage of the hospitality of the local Walmart parking lot. Safe as it gets, and 24 hour groceries, beer, washrooms etc nearby and free.

Day 4 Scottsbluff Nebraska to Garden City Kansas

Scotts Bluff Area

Chimney Rock Nebraska

Up before dawn, important Walmart re-provisioning complete, we headed out on a 50km side trip to Chimney Rock National Historic Site. A pillar rearing out of pasture land, like a lonely hoodoo, it was a major landmark on the Oregon Trail. If you happen to be driving by, worth a look out the window. Not worth a hour of your life to make a special trip. From historical photos it has lost significant height in last 100 years or so, maybe won't be around that much longer.

City of Scottsbluff 

Tunnel Through Scotts Bluff

Another fine CCC Trail

On the Oregon Trail

The City of Scottsbluff is named for a landscape feature a few miles to the southwest. Scotts Bluff rises 800 feet above the plains and was deemed significant enough to impart National Monument status, it was another major landmark on the Oregon Trail. Replica covered wagons are maintained by the Monument on what was once the Oregon trail. The CCC was also hard at work here in the 1930's, built a trail to the top including a tunnel that was developed as a test for tunnels to be built for an automobile road to the summit. A very pleasant 1.5 hour/3.5 mile round trip walk takes you up through and to the top of the Bluff where you find the road parking area. We didn't drive up but sounds pretty cool with 3 tunnels to navigate. From the Monument we head back to the town of Scottsbluff to refuel. While refueling the station attendant seeing the Alberta plate approaches me, we chat a bit, says he's been to Canada few times, did some fishing in Saskatchewan. He asks me if I know the O'Connors who run a fishing camp near La Ronge. Amazingly, had to tell him I did not.

Colorado and Kansas
The day was ticking on and we hoped to get to Dodge City by nightfall. We traveled south on US385 into Colorado, lunch at Sterling CO, then on to Kansas. Again much agricultural operations, cattle, dairy, pigs, corn, more irrigation crops. One can pass the time counting the spans/towers on the pivots, I think 18 was the most we saw. A pivot of this size can irrigate a section of land (1 square mile/640 acres)!

It was getting near dark when we arrived at Garden City, Kansas. We decided not to carry on to  Dodge City, even though getting out the next day had a nice ring to it. Instead we had a look at the campgrounds at Garden City. The one at north end of town was across from a massive feedlot, so gave that a miss. We choose the one in the south industrial area as was not as obviously in proximity to cattle operations, however once spudded in the wind did bring the scent our way. It was also close to a large ethanol plant that produces over 3500 bbls/day. It seems a lot of the agricultural products are turned into ethanol and streamed to the energy market. A government plot to make their friends wealthy by arbitraging food into fuel and to make it more challenging to keep automotive and small engines running properly.

Day 5 Garden City Kansas to Abilene Texas

Sorghum

Got out of Garden City early and on the road south to Oklahoma and Texas. Had first noticed a crop that was unfamiliar to us growing in Nebraska, and then pretty much all of Kansas... rusty colored flower, plants up to 5 feet tall. The magic of the internet and handheld technology quickly identified the crop as Sorghum. It's a major crop, nearly 7 million acres planted in US in 2016. Yield of  almost 500 million bushels! This introduced plant from Africa uses water very efficiently, very drought tolerant, in some cases was planted in corners of irrigated fields that pivots don't reach.  While Sorghum has some food industry uses, it is mostly used as animal feed and not surprisingly for ethanol production.

Feed Lot Operation South Kansas

Of course the animal feed has to be consumed. Beef cattle are a huge business in the area, some 6 million cattle reside in each of Nebraska and Kansas, 4 million each in South Dakota and Oklahoma and 11 million in Texas. Kansas alone has $18 billion annual revenue from agriculture, 2/3 of which is from livestock. We passed numerous feedlots similar to and including the one pictured. As can be seen from red dots on green area of map above, a lot of feed lots near Garden City / Dodge. By comparison Canada has about 12 million beef cattle of which 5 million are in Alberta.  Alberta by comparison is 3 times as large as Kansas and has a 30% larger human population.

Wind Turbine blade on the move

Oklahoma Wind Turbines

Wind power is also large in Kansas. After Texas it has the best wind potential in the United States. There are 5000 MW of wind capacity in Kansas out of a total 15000 MW generating capacity. Wind provides 25% of Kansas annual electrical energy (coal and nuclear the rest). Numerous turbine blades were heading north on US385 amidst the many windfarms in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Cotton

The panhandle of Oklahoma is only 35 miles wide and is crowded with wind turbines. Finally, less than an hour out of Kansas, we arrive in Texas.

More of the same can be seen along the highway, a few more oil and gas facilities in North Texas than farther north, similar intensive agriculture, they have even more feed lots than Kansas. And a new crop, didn't see any further north, cotton. Texas is the largest producing cotton state and cotton, is second behind beef in annual revenues for Texas commodities. I suppose not surprisingly most is exported cottonis exported to be made into products elsewhere with cheaper labour.

More of the same as we continue on to Abilene, Texas. The town didn't appear particularly pretty as I thought it was described as in a country song from the '60s.Turns out the song was about Abilene, Kansas, which we did not see.... maybe another time? We found a decent campground south of town at Abilene State Park to park for the night. The Cedar Grove area had a nice ring to it, we started to set up then noticed we were accompanied by the sound of a large electrical motor. Inspection found a pumphouse nearby. Relocation to the even more delicious sounding Pecan Grove found us an excellent overnight location.


Day 6 Abilene State Park to San Antonio Texas

Roof cap

The drive from Abilene to San Antonio was more of the same, maybe a few less pumpjacks, but no less agriculture. It was a tough morning for the Van, first a truck tossed up a big rock and put a major chip with ensuing large cracks in the windshield. Then, not long after, a truck passed and the turbulence ripped the front corners of the luggage rack/roof cap. The gasket was flapping on the window making a horrible noise and the cap was threatening to detach completely.

516 East Ashby

Tools out, 8 bolts removed and we had a new passenger in the cab (and no doubt $1k in repairs when home). After lunch at a park in Comfort TX., where folks were busy setting up for craft fair, we got on Interstate 10 for last 50 miles into San Antonio, as usual many trucks, and very heavy traffic due to interchange construction. Slow going.....

San Antonio
San Antonio seems like a big city, and I guess it is with over 2MM people in the Metro area. Many freeway ramps to navigate on our way to the inner city rental accommodation. We arrive without incident mid afternoon. There we met up with our friends.

Artistic facility

The location at 516 East Ashby was a modern townhome (built 2013) great location with 2 huge master suites. This excellent inner city accommodation had been arranged through the magic of the internet.

It was a short trip to HEB (local version of Superstore) to get sufficient supplies for a few days..... they end up lasting a week.

Mobile Cigar Lounge

We relax awhile from the long drive and later head out to sample the famous Texas BBQ at a place called the Smoke Shack. A very pleasant walk to Smoke Shack from East Ashby, past a park area near the zoo on apparently safe streets. Even passed a place with a cigar smoking room. Fincks Cigar shop where folks can(and were) enjoying "worlds finest cigars"(if there is such a thing) at an outside smoking area. Three locations in San Antonio, and online too! Apparently cigars are big in San Antonio, a Fincks competitor, Club Humidor, has a shop that boasts a room that replicates Winston Churchill's library, as well it sports a mobile unit for those too busy to come to the club.... Who knew! We didn't partake, but interesting to observe different cultural customs.

It was a good thing it was a 45 minute walk to Smoke Shack. We needed both the to and from walk to remove a few of the calories consumed. Delicious BBQ, ribs, pulled pork, brisket almost as good as Dave's..... Texas BBQ indeed lives up to quality and quantity.

Day 7 San Antonio Texas

River Walk

Street Musicians Entertain

River tours were a big attraction

After 6 days of driving with distances up to 1000 kms/day, the Van stays parked today.

San Antonio's top attraction is the River Walk, appropriately it is along the San Antonio River. The basis of the river walk was flood control, however creative architecture produced a delightful urban space along 5 miles of river in downtown San Antonio. 

The Donald in Wax

Camouflaged

A dam and a series of gates maintain water levels and control flooding, a lock allows boats to travel its length. Along the River Walk there are 15 miles of pathways that access historic sites, numerous shops, restaurants, and of course bars. 

Pearl Brewery District

Great place to hang

A fun place to wander about, much people watching and a high potential for retail therapy were the primary activities. Many interesting sites and folks to observe, all seemingly enjoying the late October sunshine and 30C temperatures. Even the Donald was present, albeit in wax, at Tussaud's/Ripleys across the street from the Alamo.

Texas cuisine can be very filling

In addition to the 2 legged folks to observe, there are also a number of  other creatures that call this river environment home. There were a number of turtles, one even looked like a soft shell version, hadn't seen one of those since I had one a pet in the 1960's

Wild Goose?

A goose lounged lazily in a  reflecting pool. Very beautiful....I expect it made a good living posing for photos......

River Wildlife

Despite the no feeding warnings many fish also inhabit the waterways. They appear to be a species that we used to call suckers back in the 60's. Probably not an acceptable language in which to describe a species in 2017? Possibly harassment.....?

Sidewalk Art

Wedding Photos on the River Walk

We found the staircase up to the street with the Alamo Mission Historical Site. The lineup to the Alamo mission was at least an hour long so we walked through a museum housing many artifacts from the siege and battle at The Alamo in 1836. Another battle lost, but foreshadowed a war to be won.We saw a number of abandoned bicycles chained to posts and racks. Probably no significance other than too difficult to remove the lock. Bicycle parts however seemed easily removed.

Interchange Art below I35

Crossing under I35 had some cool fish art hanging from under the deck. Way more pleasing than piles of I beams with rocks holding them down. Nenshi take note. Just north of I35, adjacent to Pearl Brewery district, we encountered a wedding photo shoot on the pathway. A radiant bride enjoying her moment. Awesome. A malted beverage was enjoyed at a Pearl District bar, it provides sufficient Dutch Courage to properly address retail therapy in The Pearl District shops. Treasures in arms we head back to East Ashby.

Taqueria Chapala Jalisco

A nearby Tex/Mex restaurant was located about a 10 minute walk away. Not on the Riverwalk and probably a good thing, the Taqueria Chapala Jalisco has great service, very delicious and authentic food at very reasonable prices. mmmm.... the burrito was delicious...
A pleasant return walk found us able to window shop, a fortunately closed until Monday, Allens Antique/Flower Shop. Kept us from ending up with a pair of 4 foot metal cranes sculptures to accompany us back to Canada. We returned to 516 East Ashby and enjoyed a front yard fire in the supplied Chiminea with some wood we had picked up at HEB. Lovely night to sit out, warm temperatures, not much homesickness.

Day 8  San Antonio to Austin Texas

Kreuz Market

A short travel day will get us to Austin for the 2nd part of our Texas city adventures. We are out of accommodation and on the road early. Breakfast will be on the fly.
On the way out we pass the Taqueria visited the previous evening and there is a Tim Horton's size lineup at the drive through to pick up Tex-Mex breakfast. I am sure it would have been excellent.
With only one minor mistake in taking a wrong exit, and maybe a 3 mile round trip to get back to the correct exit, we are on I10 on  the way to Austin via Lockhart. Lockhart is said to have the best BBQ in Texas. A guide by Aaron Franklin (Austin BBQ joint owner and noted reviewer of Texas BBQ) suggested that Kreuz Market in Lockhart, Texas had great BBQ. We found the location just off Texas Hwy183, the sign on the side door where we parked said closed Sunday? What OH NO!? We could see folks inside so went to the other door, it was open as was the restaurant.


Lockhart
OK it's 11 AM Sunday, we now will have a breakfast of BBQ and fixings. Brisket, sausages, pork chop, beans, sauerkraut.... a full on breakfast. Wash it down with an Orange "Soda" .... wasn't too early for beer, but.....
Food was very good, maybe not quite up to the Smoke Shack but still very, very delicious. It was decently busy considering it was Sunday before noon. Families, couples, soldiers, Texans very much enjoy their BBQ.

Trader Joe's Bagel Spice

From there we wandered Texas backroads. A few missed turns in the quest to make a quick stop at Trader Joe's to replenish beverage supplies and pick up "only in America" Bagel spice for an eager Calgary user. Successfully completed, we headed to the heart of Austin to our accommodation on South Congress Avenue.

Austin

Allens Boots Loft

Allens Boots Loft

Austin is not as big a city as San Antonio and it is the Capital of Texas. The freeways were very manageable, as were roadways to the inner city.

We arrive at Allens Boots with minimal navigation issues, it's a cowboy boot store which has an upstairs loft in the back that will be our accommodation for the next 2 days.

What a cool place, 2 good sized master bedrooms with en-suites, incredible kitchen/living room.We relax for the afternoon and allow the BBQ to turn into a couple extra pounds around the middle.

HeyBale @ Continental Club

HEYBALE at Continental Club

Austin is a music town, calls itself "The Live Music Capital of the World" (I guess Music City and Blues City were already taken). They claim there are close to 200 live venues as well as Austin City Limits and SXSW. Maybe it's true? Elaine found that HEYBALE was playing at the Continental Club, a couple of blocks away. Hadn't heard of them but sounded like a plan. Rolling Stone rates the Continental Club in the top ten in US! We walk over for 6:00, the show starts at 7:00. An $8/person cover is paid and we are in. Supposedly a capacity of 300, maybe 100 there this night. The band starts setting up, not exactly a youthful group. The piano player shuffles over to his keyboards assisted by a walker? Dave and I roll our eyes. And then they start playing.... hadn't heard of them before but they were awesome. They have been playing together as HEYBALE for over 15 years, Earl Poole Ball the piano player has been playing HonkyTonk piano since 1955, he played on Gram Parsons International Submarine Band Album in 1967 then on the Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo in 1968. Played 20 years on the road with Johnny Cash. The guitar player, Redd Volkaert from BC, has played Telecaster with just about every big country music name. Both Earl and Redd were on their game this night both playing and singing. As well Dallas Wayne was singing/ playing bass this particular night with Tom Lewis on drums. You knew you were in the presence of greatness.... and the band were just there playing, singing and having lots of fun, just happy to be there.

And then there were the dancers.... wow, it was like they were part of the show. For additional entertainment the ladies were rating the dancers. There were 3 main couples which were assigned nicknames: The Cowboy, The Bouncers and The Travelers based on their dancing style. It didn't take long for 'The Cowboy' to be declared the most entertaining to watch, that guy knew how to dance, his various partners just had to follow his lead....

It seemed the band and the dancers were as one, each assisting the other in the performance. They played for 2 1/2 hours.... what can I say, a fine performance by all, was great to be there.

Can check out a  sample of one their Continental Club performances on YouTube

HEYBALE at Continental Club

Home Slice Pizza

Watching and listening to the band play great music and the folks dance their brains out worked up a significant hunger. Thirst had been quenched at the Continental, but food is not on the menu there.

We wandered down the street, excitedly went into the HopDoddy Burger Bar, very pleased that the lineup that we had seen earlier was gone. We went in and hung around a few minutes and were then informed that it was 9 minutes after 10 and they closed at 10.... 😭😭😭😭, and that's their normal hours. Sad, dejected and still hungry we crossed the street and located the Home Slice Pizza nearby. In short order an enormous pizza graced the table.... and of course some more beer to assist in consumption. The pizza and beer were excellent.... a fine way to cap off a delightful Austin evening.

Day 9 Austin Texas

Grooming Studio (not for cats)

It was a late night, and we felt going out for brunch more practical than cooking breakfast. We found a spot about a 1/2 hour walk away (and about a 1/2 hour wait) "Snooze an A.M. Eatery" is very popular, excellent fare to start the day

Planet K

From Snooze we walked north into downtown to see the famous 6th Street club area. A airplane tail was sticking out of the side of a building? Turns out it's a pop culture center, sells Hemp/CBD(Cannabidiol) products, supposedly good for you and as close as one can get to legal pot in Texas. There also seemed to be a bit of an obsession in the advertising of personal grooming and 
body enhancements. I guess as Canadians we are shielded from this kind of in your face roadside adverts....

The Colorado River runs through Austin. No not the one that actually has its head waters in Colorado and sometimes still flows a bit of water into Mexico and the Sea of Cortez. No, Texans have their own Colorado river that rises in Texas and flows into Gulf of Mexico. The longest river entirely in Texas. It's a nice feature in downtown Austin, footbridges cross at S Lamar, a footpath network follows the shoreline, many walkers and joggers were enjoying the warmth of the noon sun.

Green Light Social

The footbridge took us across into the downtown area. It was a short walk to the 6th Street strip area. Evidence abounded that this was a party area. The GreenLight Social suggested that we "Come Early, Stay Late, Get lucky". With its name coming from a prohibition era symbols, what could possibly go wrong?
There was a clear message everywhere that folks should be consuming alcohol. As it was past noon and we were thirsty from breakfast we felt compliance was in order. We stopped at Bikinis Sports Bar and Grill to quench our thirst. The venue definitely lived up to its name with bikini clad, cowboy boot wearing young ladies serving up smiles, skin and refreshments. 6th Street looks to be an interesting area, if ever back in Austin will have to explore further.

My Heritage Boots

Further along we find more stripped bicycles gracing South Congress Avenue. Must be a bylaw restraining clean up crews from removing these in Texas.

I had not had the opportunity to partake in significant retail therapy thus far and felt the need to catch up. Texas is famous for great cowboy boots, I had heard of a place called Heritage Boots on South Congress that had an excellent selection. Indeed it was true and after trying on several, I found a pair that I would make my own. Enough retail therapy for the entire trip, and more. The sales lady cautioned us not to take pictures or touch the boots. Seems they have an issue with groups of folks coming in (stags/stagettes) wanting to fondle the boots and get pictures taken with racks of boots. Sadly we did not get to witness any

Do No Harm (Take No Shit)

groups gratuitously fondling or photographing the boots, nor did we partake. I'm sure it would have been fun (watching or participating).
Further explorations on South Congress revealed even more oddities but I managed to keep my wallet in my pocket.

Peterson Brothers

The evening found us back at the Continental Club, tonight the Peterson Brothers were the 6:30 act. These are 2 young guys, 20 and 17 who can play their instruments with the best of them. Accompanied by a drummer who should never do another solo, they have talent but wasn't particularly to my taste.

Hopdoddy Burger

Maybe clubs are like restaurants and one should never visit them 2 days running.We are out before 10 and head over to the Hopdoddy Burger Bar. We are not to be denied tonight! A waiter-less format where one follows a kind of cafeteria line and your order is taken while in line by staff with a tablet. You get to the end and pay, take a number and they bring it to your table. A pretty average burger, maybe mildly disappointing, fries were pretty tasty though....




Day 10 Austin Texas to Guadalupe National Park

We are up early, bid our friends adieu as they head back to Houston, and are on the road before dawn. It's a long way across Texas, about a 500 mile day ahead of us. We hope to be within striking distance of Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico before we bed down for the night. We saw a number of tall fluted towers along the way, wondered what kind of odd cell tower or government listening device they might be.
Turns out they are modern water towers, maybe also used for other purposes, but apparently simple cost effective places to store water in a warm climate.
Once we are west of San Angelo pumpjacks became a common roadside ornament.

 West Texas
 There is a lot of oil in West Texas. Texas oil production the last 3 years has averaged 3.0-3.5 Million bbls/d, the entire US produces 9.5MM bbls/d. Tight oil technology has greatly enhanced Texas oil productivity. Most recent stats show the Permian Basin alone produces about 2 MMbbls/d. This is more than double 2012 and over 20% of entire US production!

Truck Traffic

 The Permian basin covers about 75000 sq miles of West Texas and New Mexico. Comparatively, that is about same area as all of South Dakota or 30% of Alberta. A massive land area, flatter than piss in a pan, mostly scrub brush and grasses, not as barren as Arizona, but not exactly farmland either. A few towns but mostly just cattle, pumpjacks and oil/gas facilities.

 There is a huge oil boom happening in west Texas. The number of trucks on the roads moving oil and equipment was incredible.

One of Many Roadside Drilling Rigs

Roadside Flares

There are nearly 400 Rigs drilling for oil today in the Permian Basin, up from 150 in mid 2016, but lower than the 550 prior to the 2015 price collapse. Almost all are development wells targeting oil, with 90% horizontal. The business has changed. Pretty much zero exploration drilling occurring. Risk of not finding oil is zero, now execution risk in drilling, completing and producing the product defines the business. The old oil industry expected 1 of 10 exploration wells would be successful and maybe 80% of development wells. The world has changed, clearly these guys are making decent cash at $50US/bbl. Things not quite as rosy in Alberta where there are 152 rigs drilling now. A lot easier to get the oil to markets from Texas than Alberta.

With the success in oil drilling comes the downside of not dealing with the natural gas in some cases, other than flaring it. I do not understand why regulators such as the Texas Railroad Commission and the Alberta AER allow significant volumes of natural gas to be flared. In West Texas the number of flares was amazing, maybe because its easier to see them with no trees to hide behind. A recent report says that in 2016 over 50 MMcfd of gas was being vented/flared in the Texas Permian Basin, more than 80 MMcfd in all of Texas. No doubt with the increased drilling activity the amount of gas flared is increasing. Alberta by comparison, produces 3.2 MMbbls/d, about the same volume as Texas, and  about 75 MMcfd was flared/vented in 2015 when last stats are available, also about the same. Seems like such a waste when the gas should be conserved somehow. Regulations should not allow material amounts of gas to be flared. The cost of conservation of gas should be tied to the economics of oil production. No oil production unless gas is conserved. Regulators pretend this is happening, but clearly it is not the case. Regulations should require power generation from waste gas where practical and power companies should be required to take the power at suitable prices. This would go a long way in making this waste go away. With 3 phase power lines in close proximity to flares (as pictured above) really no excuse to waste this energy by flaring.

Gas Compressors

Oil Facilities under Construction

Large Inch Pipeline Construction

We passed through Midland and Odessa Texas where much of the activity is based. Very busy places. With the new drilling and increased production comes construction activity to move the oil to market.  We passed many new facilities under construction as well as pipelines being installed. We had opportunity to observe pipeline construction close up along US285 as we waited nearly an hour for our turn to get past a road construction site. Once through that delay we headed for Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We found a decent camping spot at Pine Creek Campground near the park's visitor center. Perfectly flat like a parking lot should be.

Day 11  Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas
 to Santa Fe, New Mexico

 Guadalupe Peak

Sunrise over West Texas

We didn't know they existed when we left Austin yesterday, today we found ourselves at the foot of the Guadalupe Mountains. The highest point in these mountains, and in Texas, is Guadalupe Peak. Its summit was a mere 4.2 mile walk (one way) from our campsite. The top of Texas! We had to go.

Guadalupe Peak Texas High Point 8750 feet

As we hoped to also see Carlsbad Caverns and arrive at Santa Fe New Mexico by nightfall, an early start was necessary. Not exactly an "alpine start"  we locate the trailhead and are on our way by 6:20 (with headlamps). On October 25, sunrise is at 7:05 in this part of the mountain time zone. We enjoyed a view of dancing natural gas flares on the skyline as we wandered up the excellently constructed CCC legacy trail. The flares dimmed and vanished and we were treated to an awesome sunrise.

As mentioned earlier the trails constructed by the CCC in the 1930's are outstanding. They are certainly the greatest legacy of President Franklin Roosevelt and possibly any president. (certainly none of the recent ones have accomplished anything to write home about). If any president's image should be carved into a mountain it should be Franklin Roosevelt, his polices made access to the mountains of the United States possible.

In a little over 2 hours we are at the summit. Again we find a hitching post close to the top,

Crop Circles in Salt Basin

I guess folks actually ride horses all the way up! From the summit we are treated to another fine 360 view, can almost see Austin on a clear day... well maybe Odessa. There is a monument on the summit, a stainless steel obelisk. This 3 sided oddity seems to be a commercial advertisement for American Airlines. One face of obelisk has a plaque with an inscription "Dedicated to the airmen who, like the stage drivers before them, who challenged the elements through this pass.... which resulted in a vast system of airline transport known as American Airlines". A second face is devoted solely to the American Airlines logo of the day, and the third has a United States Post Office Department Pony Express Logo. Only in America....

Satellite View Salt Basin

To the west of the peak is the Salt Basin at the foot of the Guadalupe range, surprisingly we see a couple of green irrigation crop circles nearby. A look with binoculars shows many others farther west at a place called Dell City. There is no apparent river or other surface source of water? Turns out the irrigation water comes from wells drilled into an aquifer associated with the fossilized Permian age Capitan Reef that also makes up the Guadalupe Mountains. The aquifer was discovered in the 1940's when wildcatters were exploring for oil in the area. Disappointment no doubt for the oil explorers, but new opportunity for farmers. The existing irrigation wells were developed over a period from  the late 1940's until 1973. Very handy water source at depths of 100 - 200 feet. Initially flood irrigation was employed to grow cotton and other crops such as vegetables, melons etc. Now the fields are almost exclusively planted in alfalfa, the water is sprayed on the land using irrigation pivots upwards of 1/2 a mile long. Cattle feed is a big business in Texas.

The world is changing however. In 2016 the city of El Paso, about 100 miles away, purchased some 44000+ acres of ranch land at Dell City thus giving them access to nearly all the area water rights. El Paso Water utility paid $116 million for the roughly 60 square miles of irrigable desert lands. And this isn't even sweet potable water. Salinity ranges between 1000 -5000mg/l, fairly brackish. The long term plan is to pipe the water to El Paso for city use to support urban growth. In the short term, El Paso will rent the lands out for continued farm/ranch activities. As the city grows and the water is diverted  and treated/diluted for urban use, the lush fields will be reclaimed by the desert.


We saw no one on way up, although there was a tent at the backcountry campsite 3 miles in. On the return trip we encountered many others hikers, including the backcountry campers, a young man doing an overnight bushwhack over the summit and beyond and a geologist eager to tell me that we were standing on the Permian reef. We we all very much enjoying the hot sunny late October day while experiencing this fabulous trek to the highest point of Texas.


Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

It's a short drive from the Guadalupe Mountains to Carlsbad Caverns. In a bit over 30 minutes after leaving Guadalupe park, we are at the Carlsbad Caverns visitor center.
A friend had told me if I was ever anywhere near Carlsbad,  I had to stop and see the caverns. He liked them so much he visited them a second time. After he experienced a disappointing trip to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky(a little north of Nashville) he immediately drove the 1200+ miles over to Carlsbad, New Mexico to make it right and see proper caverns.

While Guadalupe Mountain National Park showcases the surface features of the Capitan Reef, Carlsbad Caverns National Park is focused on subsurface features of the reef. The caverns of course reside inside the limestone reef.
The 1.25 mile Natural Entrance Trail from surface will slowly introduce you to the underground environment, or for those looking for instant gratification, there is an elevator that can get you down the 750 vertical feet to the caverns in 2 minutes. Our time was short,  2 minutes vs 1 hour... hmm, we took the lift.

A Ranger greets us at the elevator door and provides a short orientation as to acceptable behavior once in the caverns. Suffice to say that acceptable activities are pretty much restricted to staying on the path, speaking softly, and touching nothing but the railings.

The Big Room

On exiting the elevator we find ourselves at the concession area, in case we needed to replenish energy supplies prior to venturing further down into the bowels of the planet. We choose to wander directly down the paved path toward the Big Room. The Big Room does not disappoint, a truly amazing space, it covers an area of over 8 acres, the roof rises to over 250 feet at highest point. We find ourselves in a wonderland of Speleothems. That's a fancy name used by Speleologists to described cave formations. (who knew there were speleologists!). A handy all encompassing word for those of us that can't remember the difference between a stalagmite, stalactite and at least a dozen other named cave features.

More Speleothems

Speleothems

Most caves on the planet(over 90%) are formed by the slow process of dissolution of the limestone by weak carbonic acid created from seeping surface water. The Carlsbad Caverns are different in that they are formed by dissolution of the rock by sulphuric acid. The much stronger H2SO4 acid is formed by a combination of seeping H2S ( related to nearby hydrocarbon deposits) mixing with oxygen in the water table. This process apparently creates much bigger caves in shorter time frames than the more prevalent cave forming process.

Columns

The pathway is over 1 mile long and is accessible for scooters/wheelchairs etc. in the main areas. You can even take a service dog. It's not a busy day, we see maybe a dozen other folks as we stroll through the Caverns. 

Not resident in this Cave

 It felt kind of odd down there while navigating these dimly lit pathways. You really have no idea where you are in relation to anything or anywhere, you are hoping that the path will eventually lead back to the elevator area. In the back of the mind there is some uncertainty, maybe it's all a sick joke and you will end up wandering aimlessly until you are exhausted..... But no, it's a loop trail and we end up back at the elevator area and another Ranger assists in finding the door to the elevator that will take us to the surface.

Many folks get frightened just at the prospect of going into a cave. According to Ranger that debriefed us on our way out, those folks with claustrophobic tendencies usually don't even go down the elevator, and if for some reason they do, they come back up immediately... rarely do they have freakout incidents in the caverns.

Yet More Speleothems

Back to the surface, we exit into an area that is not the gift shop.... and we are able to get out the main doors without having to visit a gift shop.  Very unusual, apparently some marketing training is required by park management .

We exit the park and head back toward the main highway. Consider getting fuel at White City near the junction with US62, but the price is about $1/gallon more than normal, as well the place reeked of gasoline fumes, apparently someone spilled a significant quantity of fuel recently. We carry on.

Back on US62 we head north toward Santa Fe. We are still in Permian Basin oil country, we happen pass an oil battery with an very large flare of high liquid content natural gas. In consultation with my long time completions expert Roy, who has made many flares happen, we figure the volume to be some 4-5MMcf of gas. That's a lot of fuel, 1 days volume from this flare is enough to heat more 50 homes in Alberta for a year, probably 1000 in Texas.
Check out a short video clip at link below, the roar in the background is from the flare.

Roadside Flare New Mexico

Its a long drive to Santa Fe from Carlsbad. We leave the desert and get into grazing and irrigation land farther north. The Van reaches a mileage milestone along the way, this video clip captures the excitement of the moment.

Van turns 100,000

 A little further on near Vaughn, we pass 18 foot tall cowboy cutouts who appear to be having a gunfight across the divided highway US285. Turns out they are only arguing.

The art is by a gentleman named John Cerney, out of Monterey CA. He has done a number of these including a couple for the Alberta Beef Producers Raised Right promotion in 2008. These were placed in Airdrie and Longview. Very cool stuff.

The sun had set and night was falling as we reached Santa Fe. We had a room booked at the Hotel Santa Fe hotel, near the downtown area. They have a White Buffalo suite that I figured I had to stay in. I had fond memories of staying at the White Buffalo Club in Jackson in 2016 after a 5 day Tetons Crest hike. The Hotel Santa Fe is an excellent facility, native North American owned well appointed with local art and artifacts, the room, while not quite Jackson, did not disappoint. We enjoyed "complimentary" beer and appetizers at the Hacienda lounge prior to a fine dinner at the onsite Amaya restaurant. All good, if in Santa Fe the Hacienda at the Santa Fe hotel is a good spot to bed down.

Day 12 Santa Fe and Taos New Mexico

Santa Fe

Santa Fe Plaza

New Mexico Museum of Art

Artisan Market Santa Fe Plaza

We slept later this morning, enjoyed the continental breakfast in the Hacienda lounge before heading out to explore downtown Santa Fe. Fortified with Starbucks coffee we spend a couple hours wandering the streets of Old Town Santa Fe. Its a crisp sunny fall morning, for a town 7000' above see level temperatures of 5C going up to 15C are pretty fine at this time of year. The streets and shops are quiet, the summer visitors are long gone. There are maybe 2 dozen artisans flogging their wares on the north side of the Plaza. Jewelry, carvings, all kind of trinkets that no one really needs. However we found a few things we wanted and made a purchase.

The buildings have different architecture than anywhere else I've been. Much earth tone adobe construction, very unique. There are also no highrise buildings of any significant height in Santa Fe, apparently by regulation. There are 5 hotels that range from 49 to 61 feet high (4/5 floors), the State Capitol is 6th highest at 37 feet/3 floors. No big sleek architecturally barren glass high rises to drop windows 51 floors/700 feet to the sidewalks/roadways below, disrupting transit service and scaring pedestrians.

Red Chile Ristras

F150 load of Chile Ristras

Fall is chile harvest season in New Mexico. The state produces some 80 tons of red chiles annually. To dry the chiles the pods are strung up and hung out. A cool decoration for shops and houses, uniquely New Mexico.


Taos

Roy

Taos is not far from Santa Fe, maybe an hour and a half max, even with the current construction occurring to install a pipeline in the road. Early afternoon finds us exploring Taos Plaza in the Taos Historical District. It has that "Banff" carnival feel to it,  bring us money, take some of this crap away. We dutifully inspect

Clint

various antique, souvenir and clothing shops. In one store we were greeted by excellent cardboard cutouts of Roy Rogers and Clint Eastwood, eerily trapped in their images of decades ago. Somehow nothing jumped out at us screaming to get in the Van. More success was had at the grocery store where salsa, chips and beverages were obtained.

Enchanted Circle

The 80+ mile Enchanted Circle drive appeared to be the most interesting thing to do around Taos, and hey, otherwise we would drive less than 100 miles today. Not wanting to withdraw suddenly from excessive driving days, we headed out on the counter clockwise version of the Enchanted Circle, mostly hoping to just find a campsite.

Very lovely country, will have to go back in summer to hike some of the local mountains. Appeared to be trails to the top of several peaks over 12000 feet that would make for good walking. Today though, not much going on, ski areas not open yet, summer activities a distant memory. And we really had no time to actually do anything other than look out the window.
The roads are good, very curvy on south side so not a fast drive. It takes us a couple of hours to get around the loop and confirm that the campsites were all shuttered for the season.

Rio Grande Norte National Monument

Taos Sunset

Red River Canyon

An attendant at the visitor center in Taos had told us that camping might be available at Rio Grande Norte National Monument, close to 360 degrees around the Enchanted Circle, a bit northwest of Taos. It was getting late and the sun was near to setting. If this didn't pan out may have to head back in search of the Taos Walmart.

Amazingly the Monument campgrounds are open, for $10 we get an excellent site at the El Aguaje Campground on the bench above the Red River Canyon. We shared the entire campground with the camp host and one other vehicle. Far better than driving back to Taos and setting up at Walmart. We took an evening stroll down into the Red River Canyon, great trails, but not enough time (or inclination) to venture down to the river.

Day 13 Taos New Mexico to Monument Valley Arizona/Utah

Rabbit pretending not to be there

Up early again, it's over 350 miles to Monument Valley, would like to get there in time to drive the loop today. There is light on the horizon, but not dawn yet, a rabbit is frozen in the headlights, pretending it's not there. The drive out is a clockwise loop back to the highway. We get our first glimpse of the Rio Grande, another

Rio Grande Valley

famous  river that rises in the Colorado Rockies. It cuts a  deep canyon into the landscape, the volume of the Red River enters a few miles downstream. Rio Grande Monument has hiking, mountain biking, whitewater rafting available as summer diversions, as well, slaying fish and ungulates is also allowed to round out possible "sporting" activities. We find a coffee in North Taos and head west on US64. 


Rio Grande Gorge

Rio Grande Gorge jumping off  point.

About 10 miles out of Taos we arrive at the Rio Grande gorge. The Rio Grande carves a huge scar in the surface of the earth here. We find a bridge spanning the chasm that's 565 feet above the river and over 1200 feet long.
It's an engineering marvel of a bridge built in the 1960's, with some refurbishments recently is still state of the art today. We stop for a look, always exciting to walk and look over high places. I don't know why but looking over the railing creates a chemical change in the body that makes a person uneasy.

Gorge Bridge

We weren't considering jumping, or at least didn't think we were. Apparently and sadly, many do. Over 100 in last 20 years. Not quite the Golden Gate with 39 in 2016, but for a remote location draws more than its share. Efforts have been made toward suicide prevention at the bridge, such as the call boxes with hopeful messages, maybe they need to look at the stainless steel netting similar to what is being installed at the Golden Gate. At a cost of $200MM funds for netting no doubt will be more difficult to scrape up in rural New Mexico vs San Francisco

EarthShip

Earthship

A couple miles past the Rio Grande bridge we come across a development called The Greater World Earthship Community. Oddly shaped structures constructed of recycled materials, dug into the earth with a liberal supply of solar panels. Some 60 such houses have already been built in this 160 lot subdivision located on a square mile of land west of Taos! Over a dozen are listed for sale ranging from a vacant lot for $50k and and someone's "dream home" for $1.5MM... most are in $250k range.

Typical atypical residence

The developer will build you new ones, also will assist you in building these structures in other parts of the world. Philippines, Uruguay, Easter Island many more.... apparently even one in Alberta, north of Lethbridge....

A noble vision, and at $300/hour consulting fee, no doubt rewarding for the Earthship founder.


Across New Mexico

Cell Tower Pine Tree

Settled in for the long haul, we cross New Mexico. The almost desert like terrain west of the Rio Grande gives way to higher elevation forests.

Unique Picnic table sun roof

Here they even construct cell towers that look like pine trees! Only saw this once before in Provence, France where they had a cell tower looking like a Cypress tree, it was fairly realistic. Have to say, the fake trees are very much preferable to the pipe towers we see gracing (disgracing?) churchyards and landscapes across Alberta. Give it a few years, and maybe Trudeau will apologize for letting the phone monopolies erect them?

Carson National Forest

Rafter of Turkeys on the run

The next couple hundred miles took us through Carson National Forest and onto Farmington. We crossed a 10,500 foot mountain pass, nowhere near treeline here, still deciduous trees at that elevation. Great ranch land, many cattle grazing. Even saw a "rafter"(who knew that's what a group of  these delicious birds are called!) of turkeys crossing the road along the way. We stopped at Blakes Lotaburger and split a delicious burger and shake(it's America, a meal can usually feed 2 or more). Lotaburger is pretty much a New Mexico burger place, been around longer than me, recently they celebrated 65 years flipping burgers.

Shiprock

Shiprock the town

West of Farmington we enter the Navajo Nation, the largest Indian reservation by area in the US. It's not far to Shiprock, with a little over 8000 population and it is the second largest city of the Navajo Nation. We had passed through this town about a dozen years ago, time has not made it a lot better.

Shiprock the mountain

Has to be one of the least prosperous places in America, the average house sells for $80k vs $190k US average, the average annual salary is $32k vs $59k US average. It's tough to be Native American in America.


Into the Arizona desert

US160 looking west

It's about 25 miles from Shiprock to the Arizona/New Mexico State Line where US64 ends. From there will follow US160/163 to the fabled Monument Valley. The road is straight as an arrow, surrounded by very flat terrain with the occasional interruption by buttes or spires.(Buttes are the higher, narrower ones vs lower and wider Mesa's)
This is inhospitable desert country, marginal pasture at best, maybe a few minerals to extract, a very difficult place to make a living.

Navajo Nation 27.3MW Solar facility

There is however, an abundance of sunshine. Not far south of Monument Valley we pass a recently opened 27.3MW solar farm built by the Navajo tribal utility. Located on 300 acres, it provides power for 13000 homes. A start at new economic activity for the Navajo. Earlier this year they were informed that the coal fired generation plant on the reservation not far away at Page is slated to close in 2019. A full 25 years before its expected end of useful life, not economic in the new low price natural gas world. This 2250 MW facility serves more than 1 million customers and revenue from it provides about one third of the Navajo Nation annual operating budget. With its closing some 700 jobs will disappear. A huge gap to fill. The solar farm will not replace those jobs or the lost revenue, maybe a start toward new business, but solar doesn't create many long term jobs, a facility like this might create 2 or 3 full time jobs. The war on coal has many casualties and seems those that can least afford it bear the largest burden. Maybe the 25 million gallons of water the power plant uses per day can be used to irrigate some of the surrounding desert and create a new industry. Water from Glen Canyon has been shipped to Phoenix and Tucson for years to do similar. Water rights may be the real value of the coal plant.

Monument Valley

Approaching Monument valley

Monument Valley straddles the Utah/Arizona state line. The entry is off US163 just inside Utah, a few hundred feet down the road you cross into Arizona. Not much further on is the entry gate where a $20/vehicle(up to 4 persons) fee is extracted. This gives you access to navigate the self-drive loop, or you can take a guided tour.
We chose the self drive option, a number of reasons, do at own pace, penny pinching Scottish heritage, no desire to ride in back of truck on dusty roads. The 17 mile loop road had been reported by some internet reporters as very rough, needing a 4WD. Others said they had seen sports cars on it. Yes it is indeed rough, washboard, sand, rocks, no I would not take a sports car on it unless it was a rental.There are rarely issues if driven carefully at a reasonable speed, under dry conditions, rain would be a different story.

West and East Mittens and Merrick Butte

John Ford Point

I'm not exactly sure what it is that is so compelling about the landscapes of Utah and Arizona. The red rocks, the wide open vistas, I really don't know what it us. I have visited many locations in these states, Zion, Bryce, Arches, Escalante, Grand Canyon.... they always inspire, never get old.  The scale imparts a certain awe, calming but also inspiring for the soul. Or at least it does with me.

Monument Valley was brought to the attention of the outside world by Hollywood director John Ford. He made several movies in the valley with John Wayne starring, notably, The Searchers, filmed in 1956, was named the best Western movie of all time. Mr. Ford is remembered here with an overlook named after him.

In the Spirit of the Duke Photo Op

You can even get your photograph taken  in a Duke like pose on a horse looking out at all the grandeur. Very good value at $3 for a pic on the horse at the parking lot or $5 on the horse at the point. Now compare that to Calgary prices of $40 at Spruce Meadows for a pic with a Reindeer or $26 with Santa Claus at Chinook Centre.
Monument Valley has been featured in many other movies including titles as diverse as Easy Rider, 2001 A Space Odyssey, National Lampoon Vacation,The Eiger Sanction, many others. Apparently we don't get tired of seeing on film either.

The views are truly awesome, we take about 2 hours to carefully navigate the dusty road.  The shadows are getting very long as we get back to the staging area.
Accommodation at Monument Valley can be at pretty much any level. There is a high end hotel "The View", rates $120 to $380 depending on view etc.... not unreasonable. They also have small cabins that go for $225 to $280, again depending on appointments and view.

The campground, or rather maybe it's better described as gravel parking lot with picnic tables, at $42 is not quite as reasonable. But hey it's Monument Valley. The campground does have a very nice shower/washroom facility and of course, a fabulous view during the day. One odd thing though, they don't take cash. have to pay by credit card or find somewhere else to stay.... go figure. Another 400 mile day awaits tomorrow, sleep comes early.

Day 14 Monument Valley to Park City Utah

East Mitten and Merrick Butte

Mexican Hat

We are treated to a fine sunrise as we head north out of Monument Valley on US163. We are still on roads not previously traveled by us for another couple hours. It's another 400ish mile day and we have an appointment in Park City in the evening. We soon arrive at a town on the San Juan River called Mexican Hat. Another large bridge spans the river, but this one is not as high as the Rio Grande, drowning risk for jumpers probably the bigger concern. Sort of like the Tallahatchie Bridge in the Ode to Billy Joe, maybe 20 feet off the water. Not sure what really did happen to Billy Joe, and what were they throwing into the muddy waters anyway?

Mexican Hat is named for an unusual physical feature a little north of town. As can  be seen in photo it is aptly named.

We stopped for breakfast at Bluff, pleasantly average place, then hunkered down for a long day on road. After Monticello we are on roads previously traveled, Moab never gets old, even on a quick drive through without finding the coffee hut, it still has much appeal. The drive from Moab to Price is through largely uninhabited desert we have traveled many times before. Green River is the highlight and I have yet to stop there. We get a coffee in Price to fortify us for the next 3 hours over the high country to Duchesne and on to Park City. This route via US191 and US40 is  over excellent highways that we have traveled previously. Fine mountain roads, giving way to agricultural lands. Google says it takes an hour longer to get from Price to Ogden, maybe in the middle of night, possibly, but not nearly the pain of driving through Salt Lake on I15. Always a pleasure to avoid the I15 through Salt Lake City.

Park City
We arrive at Park City mid afternoon. With only one miss-turn in town we find our previously booked accommodation at Treasure Mountain Inn. The Inn is very nice, not too busy in late October, can imagine it's a happening place in ski season/Sundance Festival.  We take a tour of Main Street before dining and check out the venue for tonight's concert. The Egyptian Theatre stage will host Chris Hillman, Herb Peterson and John Jorgenson tonight and we have tickets. Not much happening on October 28,  shops without customers  looking to sell overpriced pretty much everything. We managed to resist any retail therapy here. Two ladies were doing a photo shoot nearby, not sure what they were selling or buying?

Main Street Park City

Otherwise streets are empty. We head over to the Wasatch Brew Pub for a pre-dinner sampling  of Wasatch Brewery beverages.This Park City pub is the flagship Brewery store. Opened in the 1980's after a comefromaway hailing from Milwaukee bravely opened the first brewery and brewpub in Utah.

We sat at the bar and sampled a few of the 4.0% beer on tap. The Evolution Ale was very nice and the Jalapeno Cream Ale also acceptable. The Jalapeno Ale is only on tap, no bottles. We had a lively chat with the barkeep who educated us on the challenges of brewing low alcohol beer. He explained that higher alcohol content masks imperfections in taste. Utah law limits draft "beer" to 4% ABV, setting the bar high for brewers. Much harder apparently to make delicious beer at 4% ABV vs 5% or higher. Wasatch seems to have mastered it, their draft was very good.  We then headed out to find dinner - the restaurant that looked most promising after checking online reviews unfortunately turned out to be closed for October.  We found an open restaurant and headed in, should have kept looking. We shared a plate of ribs, were served the wrong potato choice and the coleslaw was forgotten. The frazzled waitress said they were understaffed. Not like it was full, maybe 4 tables occupied, more under trained or incompetent. The perils of visiting a resort town in the off-season.

We headed down the street to the Egyptian Theatre to take in the performance by the former Desert Rose band members Hillman, Pederson and Jorgenson. In 2013 we had seen Hillman/Pederson play at the Ironwood in Calgary. A fine acoustic performance in an intimate 140 seat pub venue. Was looking forward to another entertaining evening. We got to our seats and was interesting to observe the audience. Who would one expect to want to spend an evening listening to 70+ year old rockers? Old people of course. I hadn't really thought about the demographics of who might want to attend. It was all old European descent folks. Not a Black, Asian, Native American in the house. Then I was thinking, I guess that makes sense, we are in Utah, going to listen to folks play whose best years were 4 or 5 decades ago. Utah in the 1960's/70's was presumably much like Alberta, largely a white population, non-whites were mostly Native American with a few Chinese in service business. and the only black folks we saw played for the Stampeders. I recall in school in the Calgary of that era, the first person of colour in our class was a recent immigrant from Africa. How the world has changed. A few weeks later in Calgary, saw pretty much the same audience mix at a Corb Lund plays with the Philharmonic event. I guess non-white folk either have no interest in these type of events, can't afford to attend or maybe just never were exposed to this type of music and don't know what they may be missing?

The Egyptian Theatre is a standard theatre format venue with capacity of 310. Not as intimate or informal as the Ironwood. Their performance was good, all three are very accomplished musicians. They played Desert Rose, Flying Burrito Brothers, Dillards, Byrds and songs from Hillman's newly released solo album produced by Tom Petty. Unfortunately there did not seem to be a real audience connection like at the Ironwood. Maybe the 40 foot screen behind them that while not featuring a slide show of the performers in younger days, projected video images of the performance, took something away. I was afraid they might look around and be frightened by unnecessary images of who they once were. Binoculars were truly not required. Or maybe it was Hillman chewing out an audience member for talking when he should have been listening, that set a less comfortable tone. Who knows, the boys played a good show... but not a great one like at the Ironwood.

Wastach Brewpub Halloween

With the obligatory encore done, we head back out and up the street to the Wasatch Brewpub to cap off the night. It was Halloween party night in Park City (and probably everywhere in the US). Halloween is a BIG thing in the US, Americans enjoy dressing up for it. We sit down and order a beer and pizza-ette and watch the revelers. One guy was even dressed up as Brigham Young, heresy in Utah!(he had to tell us who he was)
The barkeep comes back and tells us that it's after 10 and he wasn't aware of that when he took our order, but they are actually closed. What is it with US food and drink establishments closing at 10PM? Fortunately? he was able to get our order in. The beer was still very good but the pizza wasn't so much. He asks us how the food is, not really wanting an answer. I tell him as kindly as possible, not the best I'd ever had. The guys at the next table find that to be hilarious, and the barkeep uncomfortably thanks me for my honesty.

Day 15 Park City Utah to Choteau Montana

We are out on the streets looking for coffee before 9. Went in open door of coffee shop next to hotel; found no one around, heard noise upstairs and called up, no response, not wanting to pull the shots and steam the milk ourselves, we moved on. A little further down the street we find another local non Starbucks with two workers! Testing their expertise I ask for a Flat White, which I had only recently learned was a thing, courtesy of the all knowing drilling engineer. A conference ensued between the staff as to the capability to brew this drink, the barista confidently said it was in his repertoire....wow very impressed.... In a few minutes, coffee in hand we are heading out of Park City.

It's a familiar drive out of the Salt Lake basin, through Idaho and over the Monida pass into Montana. We make the obligatory stop at the Walmart in Helena for cheap American beer. Beer in Montana (and most of the US) is typically less than 2/3  the cost of beer in Canada. Even for Canadian made beer. It's expensive to be Canadian. We consider camping another night, but the sun had set when we arrived at Choteau so we find a room at the Stage Stop Inn. A very modern facility, perfect place to spend a night heading north on US89.

There is a small bar in the hotel, beer, food and gambling can be had close to your room. We spent an hour watching a World Series game, chatting with the barmaid and with fibre optic cable installers from South Dakota who had spent more time recently in Montana than they ever cared to.

The barkeep had moved to Montana to be near her son (and babysit a lot it seemed). She was having fun helping with the rural family life of raising kids in Montana and slinging beer to make a few bucks.The fibre optic installers seemed to be in the 6th month of a 4 month project and longed to be elsewhere. They were working on a nearly $10M project to replace copper wire with fibre optic cables and get rural customers in the Choteau area high speed service. Sad for the 500 residents of Choteau though, the service is only for rural customers. Funded by federal loans with arcane restrictions... maybe they should unincorporate their town?

Day 16 Choteau Montana to White Post Lane

Duck Lake Road - MT464

In Choteau we get an excellent latte at Meraki drive through and set out for Canada. A gas stop in Browning is made to enjoy one more fill up at US fuel  prices, in this case about $0.75CDN/litre. We leave US89 here for the much more pleasant highway MT464 over to Babb and the Kinek drop ship. Plows were on the road heralding winter's arrival, maybe just for practice to move the overnight skiff that was on the road.

Maybe I mentioned it is expensive to be Canadian. This can be mitigated somewhat by purchasing online from US retailers and shipping to a point near the border for pickup. Good for obtaining some items that just aren't available in Canada and also very good for those items that are available in Canada, but at egregious prices. For example, a remote start for a Honda generator was quoted at $809CDN at Rocky Honda in Calgary, yet the same item (yes indeed, actual Honda parts) is $195US (about $250CDN) online. Expensive to be Canadian indeed! Lorraine Burns plays Santa Claus all year long to eager Canadians at her Babb Kinek outlet. Not that she gives away the service, but for $4/item(more for big stuff) it's an excellent option to avoid the outrageous costs when importing goods from the US to Canada by mail or courier. Yes, usually have to pay GST if just picking up without spending time in US, but would pay it anyway on a much greater amount if one wants instant gratification and buys in Canada.

The border crossing into Canada at Carway is uneventful. Any firearms, any alcohol/tobacco, what is the most expensive item? I honestly answer all questions concluding with most expensive item being cowboy boots.... he welcomes us to Canada, have a nice day and we are on our way...

We are home at White Post Lane mid afternoon. There are 5100+ more miles on the odometer than when we left 16 days before. A true adventure, time well wasted, as they say.....