happy father's day to me...

on saturday, june 19, we traveled to jefferson in ashe county, nc to pick up the newest member of our family, "ranger". and what a great father's day this turned out to be! nancy and i took ranger to asheville on sunday to check out the petsmart and find ranger a new collar and leash, since he is a little guy (only 11 pounds). since this little guy had us up before the rooster on sunday morning, we decided to have brunch downtown at carmel's at the grove arcade, which is a dog-friendly restaurant (if you are eating outside). well, ranger was a hit with all the passers-by and barked some smack to a few dogs that passed by with their owners, as well. as you all can tell by this edition of the blog, it has also changed a bit, as i have added to the title of the blog and added the two new puppies to the header. to bring y'all up to date, today nancy was working on piecing together quilt pieces for a new doggie quilt for ranger when he decided to supervise and crawled up on the bed to take a look. he proceeded to lay on the quilt pieces and the rest, as they say, is history...

back from out west...check out the new puppy...

okay, we have been back from our long trip out west about a week and i have started searching for a new little buddy. we'll never forget loki and all the joy he brought to our hearts, but we just want to bring more joy to another homeless puppy. anyway, i started looking online with pet adoption agencies, like the humane society and found several jack russell mixes that are as cute as they can be. i called about one, a jack russell/corgi mix and no one got back to me, so i checked on a second one, a jack russell/chihuahua mix. well, i got all excited (as did nancy) about this little guy, who is about 11 lbs. we set up the adoption and are all ready to go pick him up north of boone, nc on saturday morning. then, surprise-of-all-surprises, i got a call back about the corgi mix and nancy really thinks he is too cute! so we are setting up the adoption of a second homeless little guy. we paid the adoption fees and are just waiting to hear back about a pick up time and date. now, we will be the proud parents of "ranger", the 11-lb. jack russell/chihuahua mix, and "harley", the jack russell/corgi mix puppy in kentucky. so, check them both out and see if you all agree that they are not the cutest two puppies you have seen lately!...

viking runestone mini-movie...

as promised a few days ago, i am posting the edited mini-movie i took while hiking down the ravine to the heavener runestone in heavener, oklahoma. i took the mini-movie with my iphone, using an app called, "ivideo camera". anyway, the runestone is about 12-feet tall and about 9-feet wide (at the base) and contains viking runes. when i tried posting it a few days ago, the link-up to google, and subsequently to blogger, was failing miserably. that is also why there was no new post while we were in checotah, ok. but, hey, google provides the "blogger" to us free, so why complain. it is up probably 99.5% of the time, so i feel very fortunate that google provides this free service to users. i apologize for the quality, as i had to compress the movie because it was awfully large, like 200mb. please enjoy the heavener runestone mini-movie...

oh, lord, we're stuck in kudzu again...

well, we made it home last night, but i was too tired from driving the last six weeks to do the blog. so, here i am 24-hours later. the final leg of the trip home was uneventful, to say the least. we spent the last night (monday) at the koa in crossville, tn (about halfway between nashville and knoxville). this koa was, by far, the quietest one we stayed in during our whole trip. it is about 4 miles off of i-40 on us-70, and there isn't much traffic on us-70 in this area; i guess most people would rather take the interstate to get where they are going as quickly as possible. after a rest stop in sevierville to check out the smoky mountain knifeworks (for me) and one last quilt shop, the cherry pit (for nancy), we headed for home. i was able to find some knifemaking supplies that i sorely needed to finish a couple of knives that are just screaming to be finalized and nancy found more fat quarters for making her quilts. then it was our one goal to high-tail it for home on us-70, which connects to us-25 in newport, tennessee. from newport, we always drive the "back way" home through hot springs, nc (hey, ward, hot springs, nc is not as hot as hot springs, ar; air temperature, of course!) we found that our north carolina mountains were a pretty sight to behold, as we crossed the state line. the temperature was around 78º, with 60% humidity and before we reached home it started to rain. a friend of ours said that it has been raining almost every day for 10 to 15 minutes, at least. the lush green forest shows it; i think everything has grown three-feet while we were out-of-state. but, it is great to be home, even though i am already getting restless, but i'll let nancy get her r&r for awhile before planning another trip. i think i hear the carolina coast calling to me, or was that all a dream last night?...

we've got the i-40 blues...

this was a rather long day compared with most of the traveling we have been doing since leaving california, which started after we packed up and katy (our beagle) had a short, but well-deserved roll in the grass at the west memphis koa. this koa kampground was a very nice one with hundreds of mature trees throughout the park. after our usual gas-up and breakfast on the road, we were ready for our 5 hour and 30 minute drive to crossville, tennessee. the drive on i-40 was uneventful until the last hour or so, when the traffic backed up for 8 to 10 miles just east of cookeville, tn. we had just made a pit-stop at the rest area near cookeville and about a mile after entering the interstate, the flow of traffic came to a very slow crawl. it took us 45 minutes to drive 10 miles. we found out that an 18-wheeler had veered off the interstate into a 12-foot-deep gully in the median strip that was fully wooded. we aren't sure if the trucker was hurt, but our hopes and prayers go out to the trucker and anyone else involved in the accident. at the rest stop, tennessee dot had placed a sculpture that was a very cool design, in cooperation with the arts council. and now i need to add a note from nancy to our arkansas hosts in hot springs, vilma and ward. nancy said to tell you that vilma's quilting studio was quite a sight to behold, and i might add, she has some remodeling work for me to do after we get home. honey, can't we stay out another six weeks?...

vikings in oklahoma...

well, today started out very early, mainly because i wanted to see one of the few runestones that have been found in the united states. while looking at the map last night, i saw that us-59 connects to us-270 after going through heavener, oklahoma. i knew that heavener was the home of the heavener runestone state park. for those of you who don't know about runes, they are sort of a norse alphabet (called the futhark). in scandinavia, something like a thousand runestones have been located, but in the united states, only about 6 or 8 have ever been uncovered. one of these is the heavener runestone and the inscription translates to "glome dal" or glome's valley and it is thought to be a kind of property marker dating back to between 600 to 800 a.d. by viking explorers. even though it was starting to get really hot in heavener, we still trekked down the mountain on the trail to gaze at some viking history (i really appreciated nancy accompanying me; she was a real trooper and does not like the heat). anyway, there are a couple photos to enjoy and i'll try to upload a mini-movie showing the rock that was inscribed on in a day or so. the huge rock slab is about 8 feet wide at the base and about 10 feet tall and is housed in a protected building that was constructed by the oklahoma state park system. from there we drove to hot springs to meet some new friends, vilma and ward hawley, from hot springs village. (ward, is it hot there because of the springs or is it just hot?!) vilma and nancy are on the "connecting threads forum" online and share the joy of quilting. needless to say the wives had to go to the local quilt shop, "hickory hill quilts" (there may be just enough left for gas money to get home). ward and i enjoyed talking about man-stuff, like hunting, fishing, and stuff like that. ooh-ooh! after a late lunch, we all headed out for a tour of hot springs village with our hosts, the hawleys, where there are some great views in the ozarks! this was a great day and thanks to vilma and ward for their hospitality. we drove back to the trailer, which was sweltering—but the a/c is on once again and we are chillin'...

driving miss nancy...

driving through texas we decided to stop at shamrock, tx where we found a really cool old conoco gas station that had been converted into a office for the local chamber of commerce. i was still looking for old barns to photograph when we came to the oklahoma state line. the drive today was a total of 3.5 hours, but it took us 6.5 hours of leisurely puttin' down the asphalt ribbon. making several stops to take photos we enjoyed the local flavor across america's heartland. as we were getting close to elk city, oklahoma, we saw signs that beckoned us to visit the national route 66 museum, so there we go—off the interstate and on to route 66. if you ever get a chance to visit the museum and like a nostalgic look back at americana, this is a must see. it is not glitzy, but really a hometown look at america's "mother road". for you quilters, we saw a couple of quilts that people had made (one of which is shown here) and a miniature sewing machine collection that was donated to the museum. there was a building about transportation, a reconstructed "town", and a farm and ranch building that displayed agricultural collections and tractors. we whizzed right through, knowing that we wanted to end up in el reno, oklahoma tonight. then i found a great old dilapidated barn right along the interstate a few miles east of elk city. i took several photos with my canon xsi and one for the blog with my iphone. as we reached hydro, oklahoma, we spotted "lucille's", a famous landmark along route 66, so off we veered again to take photos. since we were only about 30 miles from el reno, we took off for our final destination for the day. it was so good to have dinner at the cherokee trading post's restaurant; we were finally back in the south and could get some sweet tea! that was the best "brain-freeze" i think i have ever enjoyed. well, i guess we got our kicks—on route 66...

amarillo by morning...

well, anyway amarillo by afternoon; it was 5:00 central daylight time when we arrived. and, yep, the time changed again so we lost an hour; we would have been here by 4:00 pm. the amarillo, texas koa is a very nice rv park—very spacious. I guess the only real drawback is that it sits adjacent to the railroad and the amarillo international airport (the tower can be seen in the very center of the photo)—two noisy neighbors. but, that's okay, because i don't think trains or planes will be going by too much during sleeping hours (i hope). it was a fairly easy 4+ hours today from santa fe, nm; pretty much the same ho-hum drive seeing the same basic landscape most of the day. of course, there are things that will really surprise you when you least expect it. as we passed by the old abandoned town of cuervo, nm (yep, i missed the turn-off and don't have any photos, argh!) we saw several old rustic buildings, some of which were about to topple over and turn to dust. i probably counted a half-dozen photo possibilities (that i missed, until next trip). another thing was that passing through cuervo, we couldn't find "josé" or the cuervo gold!? what the heck! (sorry, i just couldn't resist) anyway, the folks here in amarillo are really nice and we are enjoying the shorter driving days, although it will take us a few days longer to get back to asheville, nc. tomorrow, we will be back in el reno, oklahoma, which will bring us sad memories, but one day closer to home. so, as the sun sets here in west texas...

do you know the way to santa fe...

we do now, as that is where i-25 took us today. the drive between colorado city, co and santa fe, nm took us through some green grasslands in southern colorado into the high desert shrub, piñon pine, and juniper of northern new mexico. we were thinking of stopping in las vegas (not that one!) in new mexico and stay the night, but when we took a short break there to visit yet another western museum, we realized that we were only an hour from santa fe, so we trudged on. the wildflowers were still in bloom in southern colorado, so we enjoyed the blossoms of a native yucca plant and blue columbine (colorado's state flower). remember that, 'cause there's gonna be a test later (just kidding). i was able to take a few photos of an old abandoned homestead along i-25 to add to my collection. probably one of the coolest sights today was a small herd of antelope that was grazing alongside the interstate; well within a fenced area. and of course, no trip to santa fe would be complete without a stop for dinner in the old town section near the plaza. we parked at the la fonda hotel garage and walked to a quaint little restaurant that someone told us was local fare. nancy's blue corn tortilla beef tacos were very good and my blue corn tortilla chicken enchiladas with green chili sauce were out of this world. once again, this is your roving reporter from where the deer and antelope play (although i haven't seen the deer yet)...