The Grand Circle

Summary, highlights & conclusions

48 days, 9 States and 7006 miles (11.200 km) just going from point “A” to “B”. Altogether with the sightseeing’s and day trips along the way we (Rupert) drove 8926 Miles (14280 km). 

That was our route - going clockwise

It took me some time to finally (kinda) relax and get used to our new "life-style". It is hard to keep everything up the way I am used to (I trust I will again shortly) and I often drove myself crazy. It’s a mixed feeling being home. While on the road I don’t worry about the daily stuff. And there will be a time where we will do it again. Maybe for longer, maybe for a very long time. Get rid off all worldly possessions and just go.

We did see so much in a very short time. Like I mentioned earlier this was not a vacation, it was a trip. As of right now everything is still a bit blurry. Little by little it will come back when we will look at all those massive amounts of pictures I took. And we will be amazed once more of all the things we’ve seen and done. 

The Grand Circle - we have covered pretty much all of it

We have formed new opinions and confirmed old ones. We do agree that we are not “people” people . We liked it a lot being alone on the road and with no crowds at sites. I have to (still) learn to understand what the word “historic” means in terms of America. That’s why we skipped a few things. Coming from a place with a lot of history, we are a bit “spoiled”, one could say. There will be places where we will go back to, though. There will be books to be read and the internet will be searched in order to get more information that some place seems to lack (or we were not satisfied with).

For those of you that were wondering about Dicker and how he was doing on that trip;

He ate well...

..he slept like a baby.....

.....made sure to know all the hiding places

.....and he was always watching us. Making sure we were there. Such a good "Kater" - our Dicker. He never puked or did his business anywhere else than in his box. We are so glad we took him along. And we believe; so was he. Although - he is not adventurous - just looked out through the screen and had NO interest in going out. We tried, he hated the harness and turned right around and went back inside.

My favorite highlight were the Antelope Canyon, Arizona and the drive we did through the San Juan Skyway and all the other things. Not to forget the Cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde, and, and, and.  Besides the sites where the Native Americans come from, St. Augustine in Florida is the “most” historic place. So many things we saw, a lot of things to see and do. Thanks to my loving hubby, he showed me what he always wanted to show me; go out West in a motor home! Love you, man!

This blog was mainly for us. For those of you that followed: Thank you. We hope you enjoyed coming along. It’s been a pleasure having you. Maybe we will see you for the next trip - where ever that might be.

All in all; A once in a life time travel.

Ta-ta

It's over

One more day in St. Augustine, where we visited some of the sites we wanted to re-visit. Memorial Monday. The Memorial Church was already closed on Sunday. Guess what, the Memorial Church was closed on Memorial Day as well. As were most churches I wanted to go inside. Go figure. I was disappointed. We meandered in some small streets out side the beaten path where we found a nice little restaurant. Lunch was delicious. After  having re-gained some of our strength we did one more shopping trip to stock up on our provision so I don't have to go shopping at home immediately.

410 miles - we have made good time and arrived back home in the afternoon.

Dicker was not sure what had happened. He was in a "big house" running loose. After a few nibbles it did not took him long to find the cat door and out he was. Sitting under the car, all big-eyed and scarred. Rupert coaxed him out and he was brought in, again. After a short while he settled in and he was finally home, too. We had nice surprise awaiting for us as we settled with a well deserved cocktail in our hands on the deck;

Mitzi-Katzi was there. Meowing and demanding pets.

We were pretty sure she would be gone by the time we were back. And Wanda would for sure not let us know while we are on the road. Wanda, you did great being a step mama, thank you!

After sleeping in we started out slow. I cleaned some of the trailer out, washed, dried and put away most of the clothing we had, way too much by the way. Rupert made a trip to the post office and came back with one of these huge crates. Gladly there were not many bills in them. But within the day we filled our weekly batch of paper that goes towards recycling. The living room table is filled with all the goodies we "collected" during this trip. I have got some great additions for my heart collection.

I got that near Bryce Canyon

Yup, that's me (my ;-) ) the "prickly heart".

Half of the sofa is covered with all the maps and information on all the cities and sites we have been to. Waiting to be sorted out. Although knowing me hubby, most of it will find its way into a safe place. Because!

In the afternoon we settled in front of the computer. Rupert wanted to read all the posts that I have written on this trip. (And yes, I did notice all the typos) Can you believe it; some of the things we could not remember (at once). Like the one time when it rained cats and dogs while in a rest area before NO, or that he treated me to Olive Garden. Little things, but still. Tomorrow we'll hook up the camera to the TV and look at all the pictures. (That will keep us busy). Talking about TV; We brought the dish receiver with us, figuring we will watch "some" TV during those weeks. HA - we turned it on only twice. And we were often wondering about our fellow campers, with their huge antennas and/or one or sometimes even two dish bowls sitting on their "yard". It was only "us" that were sitting in "our yard". Well, one has to have the priorities straight.To this effect....

Ta-ta

It's coming to an end

Last stop on our trip is St. Augustine, Fl. Normally we had planed going straight home from Nashville. This little detour is a prolonging of the beginning of the end. We had an overnight-er in Perry, GA. Park and sleep. Like I have mentioned before, GA was a forest of billboards along the highway. Not pretty.

White man's littering along the highway!

Sunday (5/25) we did the touristy thing and hopped on the Trolly Tour. Old Town was packed with people, enjoying the weather and the holiday weekend. St. Augustine, founded in 1565 and being the oldest town in the United States, is more like what we associate with being historic. The Spanish influence is undeniable and very charming. Flagler did an awesome job with building the most impressive structures like the former hotel "Ponce de Leon" which now is a college.

Flagler College

The former Hotel Alcazar is equally impressive and houses a museum. One can step back in time and admire the Villa Zorayda (also a Museum) The architecture is a 1/10th scale replica of a portion of the Alhambra Palace in Granada/Spain.

Villa Zorayda

Memorial Presbyterian Church

 Flagler had this Church build in 1889 as a memorial to his daughter. It had been build in one year in order to be ready for her one-year-anniversary. Can you imagine how many people worked on it? Flagler had also build another jail. 1 1/2 miles outside of town, as to not to disrupt the tranquility of this expensive hotels and their clientele. A night at the Ponce de Leon Hotel was to be had for $30 a night (that's in 1897 $). But you could not just stay there for a night. It had to be booked for the whole winter season.

The jail tour was very interesting.

And of course Rupert got picked to demonstrate "The Bird Cage" After being put into it the cage would be hoisted up a tree for all people to see.

After all this walking and taking it all in we rested in a little Spanish restaurant on the balcony. Watching people go by with their goody-bags and watching a guy who gave himself a "hair-burn".

He would twist some hair and when he felt it was too long, he would just burn it off with his cigaret.

Ta-ta

Nashville is not over, yet

By 7 PM yesterday (Thursday) Rupert was all flustered. "We did not see the the Parthenon in Nashville." OK!!!  (leave it to Rupert to find something very few folks know about- think about it, others go to Honky-Tonks, we go to get an education on Greek history first,-in Nashville TN - go figure) Off we go, 14 miles were we just (so it seems) came from. Time travel, once again.We "went" to "Athens - Greece" and saw the Pantheon before it got destroyed in 1687 by the Ottoman (now called Turkey).

A full size replica of the Pantheon (Athens)

Its construction (the original one) began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power. The Parthenon  in Nashville, TN is a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens. It was built in 1897 as part of the TN Centennial Exposition. The Centennial Park is a great location/park. Unfortunately the building itself was closed to a private party (graduation). Well, the museum inside would have been closed anyway, so no harm. Before the lights came on (to shoot this pic) we cruised around the neighborhood. That's a place we could move to. Very nice and well kept. We really liked Nashville.

On Friday we drove towards GA. Sniff.....beginning of the end..(of your trip),sniff, sniff. We survived the mayhem of Atlanta during rush-hour-holiday-weekend. At some point we have made 9 miles in 30 minutes. I REALLY dislike Atlanta. Worst night mare experience I ever had was in Atlanta at the airport. EVER!!!

If you are interested in the story, here it goes; before coming to the US, permanently, I spend 3 month here. I went back home and 6 weeks later I was back. Scheduled to go on a cruise with my now hubby and his sister and (now brother in in law). Arriving in Atlanta I was called into the customs office at the immigration. The officer (nice guy) asked my all kinds of questions. Where do you come from, what do you do, you have been here not so long ago-why are you back- what are you doing at home (meaning work wise) and so forth. I was so dumb-founded I could not speak English anymore. I already saw myself in a plane heading back to Germany. I said in German: I'm here to take a cruise..bla- bla-bla..(which was true). Then his guy just looked at me with his arctic blue eyes  and said in perfect German: "Enjoy you stay Lady." WHAT?!?!the %(*&^(*^ ---That's what I associate with Atlanta. Nevertheless....here I am. That's my story and I am sticking to it. (because it's true).

Downtown Atlanta

As we were driving through GA we did not see many signs we have seen in the past about "being saved by..., or how you can be saved. by....", nor did we see any billboards that said "pimps, hoe or john - 5 to life"; we have seen them before, that I was waiting for to take a picture off. Now all you can see are ads for truck stops and adult stores - hm.  Maybe GA has grown up. I doubt it, but who knows. :-)

While I am sitting here and writing hubby is sleeping. I really have to give him credit, he did all the driving while I was "the proverbial-back-seat-driver". Do this- do that. He is a Saint, I have to give him that. Just a few more days before we are back to where it all began. I will keep you posted.

Ta-ta

Honky Tonk & Rock and Roll

The other way around. Rock and Roll in Memphis and Honky-Tonk in Nashville. Tuesday we drove to Memphis and camped right on the Mighty Mississippi River. Late afternoon we payed Beale Street a visit. Just three blocks with a lot of bars and some live music. The tour guide book said one must see the "pyramid". We figured it would house a museum or something important. Far wrong. It was a Brass Pro Shop, not quite finished, yet. But it looked nice from across the river.

Walking up and down the "famous" Beale Street did not take long. Like I said, only three blocks long. The best musicians were on the street, where we lingered a bit to listen.

This guy was pretty good.

That's the only concession for "The King" so NO, we did not visit Graceland.

Beale Street at dusk.

Memphis (Beale Street) is like Key West. They blocked the roads off and police was present everywhere. And we did see a lot of cameras all over the place. Gives you an idea what it was like. And I would not got into the parking garage where we were parked by myself at night time. Bummer.

Wednesday we came to Nashville and set up right next to The Music Village and The Grand ol' Opry. Needless to say that we did not take a tour, let alone spent $21 just to PARK the truck there. Instead we went for dinner. And that was AWESOME; elk patties, frog legs, gator bites, wild hog sausages and wild game stew with campfire potatoes. Yummy.

Yup - that's already in Nashville.

10 miles from our base is Germantown and Downtown. Of course we had to make a loop through

this little area. Nothing fancy. 

Add caption

I would say that Nashville has the best downtown I have seen so far. Broadway with its old red brick buildings and not far behind some modern skyscrapers. And they all blend perfectly together. Well done.

In the front is the old Customs House, a red brick church left of it and a very modern tower.

A lot of bars and Honky-Tonk. Happy hour starts in most places at 11 (that's AM) and all of them had live bands playing.We had lunch in one of them.

Party everywhere

I can't believe that Key West hadn't picked up on that idea. Pretty cool, having a "designated driver", all he does is steer, everybody else pedals to propel this "rolling bar" down the street, neat - cruising around town AND drinking. Back to base we are just doing - nothing. Lunch has spoiled dinner for us. If we should decide to go eat, I guess it will be same outfit as yesterday. And I can get my fixin' on "the wild stuff".

Ta-ta

Heavens in the sky & Trail of Tears (Oklahoma)

 We got a lot of information at the Welcome Center as we entered Oklahoma. The guy there was very knowledgeable and informative on what to do and see. Oklahoma, Indian Nations (the State with most Indian Triebes) and it's story of the Trail of Tears. So on Sunday we drove the scenic route 100 & 10 north towards Har-Ber Village near Grove. HARvey & BERnice Jones collected and preserved historical items in this pioneer-era village and history museum. The village is located on the shores of Grand Lake o' the Cherokees. What a place. It puts a lot of museums to shame. An absolute "must see", if you are every in these neck of the woods.

HARvey & BERnice Jones

An old gas pump

Look at this master piece of a jukebox

 The drive was scenic. It reminded me a lot of "my area" in Germany. After all that vast land we have seen the last days it was a benefaction for my eyes to see the many different colors of green, the grass and fruits on the fields swaying in the wind. Spring has finally arrived and all is in full bloom. I guess I really miss the change of the season. 

all green - love it

 The roads were twisty and windy (curvy) and up and down the hills. At some point it was so bad we were both doing those funny sounds the pig in the (car insurance I believe) commercial were doing. Weeeee---weeee--weeee, as we were going down hill. We laughed our butts off.

Some were steep and deep as a roller coast (not this one)

On Monday we drove to Tahlequah and the Cherokee Heritage Museum were we did the tour that showed the "Pre-Contact" era between Indians and Europeans That was pretty good. We've learned a lot.

A beautiful art piece showing the "Trail of Tears"

Our tour guide was showing us his skills with bow and arrow

The "Council-House" where the tribes would gather

Nobody ever touched the subject of what had happened not so long ago. We were told some tribes do not accept $ 20 bills, as Jackson was one of the bad guys. I have a lot of reading and researching to do, once we are back home. And we will watch some movies that cover this issue with new found "insight". Although, we will never understand what has been done to these people, as history will always be written by the winner. 

Back at the camp Rupert did some minor improvements inside the camper while I was preparing supper.  Til then...

Ta-ta 

Heading east

Before we hit I-40 on Friday and finally going east (150 miles), we had the most “empty” drive of all. Vast voids of emptiness. Nothing, but sand and a few shrubs. Every now and then, there were a few “settlements” of broken down trailers and houses in the Reservation. This is the land the Indians were given by our illustrious government. What a godforsaken place. I guess I would start drinking, too. Oh, almost forgot. The route from Cortez to Gallup (491), were we hit I-40, was formerly route 666! I think they should have left it at that!

"Modern" dwellings in the Indian Rservation

Nothing - as far as you can see

The next 280 miles of highway were not better. New Mexico? Well, like Texas, nothing I need to see. 

Depressing

We had a nice dinner in the town of Tucumcari, nestled along the Mother Road, Route 66. We have made several attempts on Route 66. Well, it must have been nice. Now you can only see what it must have been like in the movies. It no longer exists. What a shame. On Saturday we drove 510 miles. A loong haul. The scenery did not change much in the beginning. More of nothing before it changed into farmland. Farmland that was not green, but dried out grass. And of course we saw more of some really big stuff.

Guess where that is - right, in Texas

I thought I finally would see some free roaming cattle. So much land and they are confined.

The biggest cross in the western hemisphere, just a few miles west of.....

....Pampa.

The pic is blurry, unfortunately.  I still had to post it. Pampa, what a fitting word. We have this word in Germany and it means: out in the boonies. Honestly! So, it really fits right in here.

Almost dark. We have lost an hour on our way to Gore, OK. Beautiful RV Park near Tenkiller Park.  Oklahoma! A place I already love. We got tons of information about this place. But more of this later.

Ta-ta

Cliff dwellings (Mesa Verda NP)

We decided to add another day near Mesa Verde. All we did was driving from one thing to another and take in all the things we wanted to do. So Wednesday was a day of “dolce far niente” (doing nothing). We (I) slept in. After a late breakfast we drove towards Durango to visit a guy who did “folk-art”. Neat stuff, but too big and too much money. But we got one thing that one can admire somewhere around our Tiki-Bar. We paid the Mesa Verde Visitor Center a visit and bought our tickets for tomorrow’s tour. Back at the camp we cooked some pork chops and I worked the laptop, much to Rupert’s dismay. (Rupert's comment: I really think Karyn is a cool Lady, but since she thought you to write a blog, I may have to revise my opinion, all you do is write and post!!!! )- no worries Karyn, he still likes you.

 

At least Dicker is content. He does't give us any trouble what so ever!

In the back ground you can see the mountains we drove over yesterday

one of the smaller dwellings

another one

Cliff Palace (the enchanted castle) from afar. 

150 rooms and 23 Kivas. Kivas are the round structures, believed to be ceremonial sites and for community gatherings.

Constructed continually from 1190-91 to 1260-80

It is unimaginable to picture them living in the cliffs. On the mesa top is where they did the "farming". Consisting of different kinds of corn and beans. From Yucca plants they made clothing, sandals and the much needed ropes. There are only two "paths" reaching the dwelling. Even we had to climb some ladders to visit the site.

The average age of man were 35, for women it was only the early to mid twenties. A child reaching the age of 5 years had a "good" chance for reaching adulthood.

In the deep valley below were only small game. The population was so immense at some point, there was no game any more at all. Their diet consisted  mostly of plants, no animal protein which must put into account of their life span, considering the hard life they had.

me and climbing ladders, but I did it

20 miles back, twisty, curvy and steep. We saw a lot of burnt down areas.

Lots and lots of burnt areas throughout the park

We gassed up in Cortez for our departure the next day. And we also bought some wine to take along.

That says it all :-)

And finally a last picture from our camp and the awesome view we had. The Mesa Mountain Top.

Has been a nice place

Ta-ta