Out of the smoke and into adventure

http://campillosmithtrip2017.blogspot.com/2017/09/out-of-smoke-and-into-adventure.html

Hello my blog readers! I seem to have lost my original blog and have only been able to recover this first post. If anyone who has been reading the blog via email has any of the other past post titles or partial text that would be extremely helpful. Please just email me any information. I do have all the photos so I will have to reconstruct the text again. :(

Out of the smoke and into adventure

Sept. 8, 2017

Out of the smoke and into adventure! And we're on our way. Okay, we hit the road a lot later than we anticipated so our first day ended in Klamath Falls. Scott's great grandmother, grandmother and great Aunt Gladys used to live here so it's a bit strange not having anyone to visit in this town. However, we were greeted by blue skies-- a very welcomed sight-- and breathable air. Klamath Lake seems bluer than I remember, and a scraggle of birds of various degrees (and I don't mean the squirrely college types) skimmed and dipped about. Found a motel on the edge of town--and no we didn't have a reservation. All is well after a little Happy Hour and watching a bit of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.





Duck fans converge in Lakeview, OR: where it's a small world! Why is it that anytime we've traveled to Lakeview, we've discovered not only Oregon's version of Mayberry-- but also a place where we've encountered people we know or strangers who know people we …

Reconstructing blog as best I can. sorry under construction. Posting photos again first then will look for text.

Pony Express

Station

Eureka

Great Basin National Park

Southern Utah State University

Bryce Canyon National Park

St. George, Utah

Dinosaur tracks

ZION National Park below

Monument Valley below

Mesa Verde

DURANGO, Colorado below

SANTA FE, New Mexico

Beckers in Amarillo

Palo Duero

Abilene with Maddy Campillo

LBJ Ranch

Springfield, ILLINOIS

Chicago

OCTOBER travels:

Some recent information 

Atlanta with Scott's brother Duncan and his wife Laura:

Group shot: Linda, Scott, Duncan and Laura

Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta

Kennesaw Mountain Civil War battlefield, Scott walking

Group photo at Kennesaw Mountain

view from Kennesaw Mountain

Lunch with my bestest friend Stacy Waterbury Miller in Commerce, GA

Running into Liane Rui (high school friend Elbert Tsu's wife) and her mother in Atlanta at 6 a.m. waiting for Megabus.

Smoky Mountains with our friend Sue!

 Cantilevered barn in Cade Cove community

Old Lawson House

Methodist Church in Cade Cove,

A group of men were playing guitars and singing hymns when we got there. It was really cool.

Crazy Nashville, TN! It was fun but a little wild for us-- lots of people and a little like Disneyland. Guess some locals call is Nashvillevegas when you're downtown.

Bill Monroe and friend

Reyman Theater, former home of the Grand Ol' Opry

Nashville Public Library, which is a Carnegie Library with an entire Civil Rights room.

Loved Memphis, Tenn., got to go back!

Memphis, Tenn. Loved the feel of this town. Very friendly people, lots of history and good music. Went to the Ernest Withers Museum and Gallery, very powerful photographs. Unfortunately, the Civil Rights Museum was closed for the day, and the street was blocked off for an important meeting. We skipped Graceland as we were only in town for a day. Want to come back and spend more time.

October, 20th--Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock, Arkansas. Beautiful, serene waterfront along Arkansas River. Started off at the Marketplace, walked to Pres. Clinton Library, along waterfront and onto old railroad bridge that crosses river. Also took a trolley tour of downtown, and then I went to Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, and I'm going to post those photos separately.

Little Rock Central High School. The park ranger was kind enough to let me stay a half hour past closing because I was the only one in there. I saw some amazing footage and heard some poignant interviews. Also was able to go in the high school as it was late in the day and guess where I visited first-- the library of course. English teachers were finishing up a meeting so the library was still open, and I was able to chat with the current librarian, Stella. The library is incredibly spacious with a collection of 25,000 plus books for 2,500 students. And lots of computers as well. It was a great visit and an amazing day.

Current librarian at Little Rock Central H.S., Stella Cunningham.

From Little Rock to Alamogordo, N.M.

Overnight in Dallas-- at this point we were traveling by Megabus from Little Rock to Dallas to Austin, Tex. In Austin, we stayed with my Campillo cousins Fred, Chris and Charlie who so kindly kept our car while we traveled around to our city destinations. We are now glad to be back to our car and maintaining our own schedule. Having to travel via bus schedule then finding places to stay in locations where we had never been before turned out to be a bit of a challenge-- and also finding transportation from the bus stop to our accommodations made us a little road weary altogether. Below are a few photos from Dallas, Austin and then Alamogordo. 

Dallas above

LBJ Library and Museum in Austin. We went through the museum, which was really interesting particularly the phone conversation recordings.

Thank you Fred, Chris and Charlie for your hospitality!

Return trip to LBJ Ranch...

LBJ Ranch, Johnson City. We went back to the ranch because we didn't go through the house the first time, and I really wanted to see it. I'm so glad we made the trip again as it was worth it particularly after going to the LBJ Library and Museum. It's such a serene setting, and the house is not ostentatious at all-- very comfortable. Couldn't take photos inside house and didn't have my phone so will have to upload photos from camera, which I will do soon and post. 

LBJ Ranch is still a working ranch, and cows are on the sides of the road as you drive through.

One of LBJ's classic cars from his collection

LBJ jukebox

LBJ House with view of the Pernia's River

View from the house veranda. Many meetings with political leaders took place under the tree.

Amphibious car that President Johnson loved to drive people around in and then surprise them by going into the river without them realizing it could drive both on land and water.

After visiting LBJ Ranch spent the night in Ozona, Tex. 

Then we drove to Las Cruces, New Mexico with a lunch stop in Van Horn, Tex., kind of a ghost town. We had really delicious Mexican food at Chuy's (photo below) where they had the John Madden Haul of Fame. We never did figure out the connection except perhaps the owner was a Madden fan or maybe he stopped by on one of his road trips as apparently he didn't fly to games. We bought new tires for the Crown Vic in Las Cruces, and we really liked the feel of the town. We stayed close to New Mexico State University. We drove through the downtown, and it seemed to be a much smaller version of Santa Fe in some respects.

Lunch stop in Van Horn, Texas

Van Horn, Texas in photos above

Alamogordo, New Mexico visit with our good friend Bill Powell!

Our dear friend Bill took us on an amazing tour of southern New Mexico in the area around Alamogordo. We traveled from Alamogordo to Tularosa to Three Rivers Petroglyphs Site to Carrizozo then east to Capitan then to Lincoln (Billy the Kid country) to Hondo to San Patricio and Ruidoso to Mescalero to Tularosa-- 190 miles total. Saw a lot of country from desert to pines. Also went to the Peter Hurd Gallery and museum.

Then the next day we went hiking in Dog Canyon at the Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, and saw Frenchy's cabin. In the mid-1880s, a Frenchman named Francois-Jean "Frenchy" Rochas started homesteading at the mouth of Dog Canyon. He built a rock cabin and raised cattle and sheep.

Below are some photos:

Scott and Bill 

Hike at Dog Canyon

Petroglyphs

View from Hubbard Museum

From Alamogordo, We made a quick trip to California

We left Alamogordo on Saturday, Oct. 28th and went to Silver City, NM, an artsy college town with a lot of history that we really liked. The next day we took a leisurely drive to Green Valley, Arizona, where has a friend who owns a winter home there and lives in Portland, OR, most of the year. We enjoyed seeing the area, which is mainly retirement homes filled with snowbirds. Liked the community and recreational feeling of the town, which is just south of Tucson. On Monday, we traveled from Green Valley to El Centro, CA where we spent the night. We made it to Carlsbad for Halloween and had a good visit with my Aunt Madeline. We walked into Carlsbad By-the-Sea retirement community's Halloween party and had a fun time with a great dinner.

Photos below:

Silver City 

Silver City building

Neighborhood street by Western New Mexico University

After Silver City, we traveled to Green Valley, Arizona, which is about a half hour south of Tucson. It's very much a retirement resort with all the amenities of places for every type of sport you can think of, and nicely groomed homes and surroundings. Liked the atmosphere, and the real estate prices are amazingly affordable. No we are not thinking about moving there or buying a winter home, but it is a nice place to visit-- and we would like to go back for a longer period of time.

Sunset in El Centro, CA

Surprise Halloween party in Carlsbad, CA

We went to visit my Aunt Madeline at her retirement community, Carlsbad By-the-Sea and walked into a huge Halloween party. It quite festive and many of the residents went all out with their costumes so it was a very fun evening with a great dinner and visit with my aunt.

Carlsbad by-the-sea residents in costumes

Library Linda meets Where's Waldo

From Carlsbad to Morro Bay with delightful weather

From Carlsbad we traveled up the coast to Morro Bay on the first of November. We experienced perfect weather and found a great little motel: The Fireside Inn with inexpensive rooms within walking distance from the beach. We walked around town and went shopping in some of the little thrift shops. We had a nice dinner, sitting outside and watched the sunset. We really liked Morro Bay, but unfortunately the real estate is not affordable. I had been to Morro Bay years ago when I lived in S. Cal. so I was happy to see that it still had its charm.

Morro Bay to Chico to San Francisco

Took Scott's mom Donna out for lunch while we were in Chico. She is doing really well and seems happy in her own little house with the beautiful view. Thanks to Matt and Wendy for accommodating us for several days for a nice visit before we started our trek home.

With Paul and Brenda Schultz on their balcony with a view of San Francisco in background. West Portal, San Francisco.

Statue at house in St. Francis Woods, San Francisco at night

View of Lake Shasta nearing sunset

We're HOME and yes still talking to each other although also enjoying our time to be independent!!