California or Bust

Camp Verde, AZ

 Driving from Albuquerque to Camp Verde we noticed the motorhome's temperature was running a little high.  Worried about crossing the desert we called the Freightliner shop in Phoenix and they said to get there as soon as we could and they would squeeze us in.

They found that our hydraulic fan motor was only spinning at 900 RPMs and should be 2100 RPMs.  They did not have the part on hand and it would take 2 days to get it.  They felt if we took it easy we could make it home.

Stopped for dinner at Famous Dave's BBQ in Yuma.
Killing time hoping for the temperatures to drop.

Hiding in the shade of the old gas station in Ocotillo.

The temperatures went down and we started over the mountain for home.
I really just think Dave wanted a chance to use the new headlights.


Well, all good things must come to an end.  

What a trip!

 We had a great time, saw lots of beautiful places, met lots of nice people, ate lots of good food.

We were gone 85 nights  OR  2 months & 24 days

Took 2,310 pictures

We drove  5,146 Motorhome miles

 1,162 Jeep miles

Cheapest gas $2.23 on 04-10-18 in Tulsa, OK
Highest priced gas  $2.64 on 06-24-18 in Albuquerque, NM
Cheapest diesel  $2.51 on 04-09-18 in Oklahoma City, OK
Highest priced diesel  $2.97 on 06-26-18 in Yuma, AZ

A special "Thanks" to our great neighbor Gregg who takes care of things back home for us.

 Knowing that everything is being handled makes it easier for us to enjoy ourselves.
 Everyone we talk to on the road wishes they had a Gregg!

Albuquerque, New Mexico

The Candy Lady

Let's cook Bitches

Best TV show ever

A much overdue mexican dinner at Sadie's

McLean, Texas

Get Hooked on Barbed Wire at the Devil's Rope Museum

"Barbed wire gave us control of the land, and windmills made the land habitable"

Rope fencing was used before the invention of barbed wire

Meet "Bob Wired"

Today, more than 450 patents exist for barbed wire and more than 2,000 types and variations of barbed wire have been found

A real sharp stetson

Barbed wire neck yoke

Old school cattle guards

Medicines made for man and animal to put on their Barbed wire cuts

Hey, we carry one of these high lift jacks in the jeep

Barbed wire Crow's nest

A pack rat with wings, Crows make nests anywhere with everything.  This nest was cut from a tree near Dodge City, Kansas and contains several different types of barbed wire

Early day railroad packing requirements, when shipping a  roll of barbed wire from Illinois to California

Fence Cutter Wars

Rolls of used barbed wire destined for a smelter, compressed into a bale by recycling presses.

The original steer from the first Big Texan Steak Ranch

Anything you can do in a Cadillac you can do better in a Motorhome

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The History of Oklahoma's Oldest Continually Operated Restaurant.

Every state has its historic places and stories, but few can equal the story of Cattlemen's Steakhouse, the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Oklahoma City!

Cattlemen's Cafe opened its doors to hungry cowboys, ranchers, cattle haulers and the like in 1910.  In 1945, Cattlemen's was owned by Hank Frey, a gambler of sorts. In a smoke-filled room at the old Biltmore Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City, Frey was running out of luck and money in a dice game attended by a local rancher, Mr. Gene Wade. Frey put up Cattlemen's as the pot if Wade could roll a 'hard six,' otherwise known as two 3s. Wade put up his life savings, which was a sizable amount of money. With one roll of the dice, Gene Wade was in the restaurant business. The '33' brand on the wall of Cattlemen's Hereford Room became a well-known symbol of Wade's good fortune.

Mountain View, Arkansas

Established in the 1870s, the town of Mountain View is famous for the preservation of folk and traditional music. 

Ozark RV Park

Walking distance to the Ozark Folk Center

The custom continues today.  Once the weather gets warm, musicians join locals and play music late into the night hours outside around the town square. 

The season is from mid-April through late November.

The Ozark Folk Center is an Arkansas living history state park dedicated to preserving and presenting Ozark cultural heritage and tradition to the public.

Small world.  The second lady from the right was our entertainer one night at the RV Rally in Searcy, Arkansas back in April.