Yellowstone...We bear all on this one

Bubbling minerals from beneath Yellowstone's surface

It's May 29th, 2012, and we are driving from Themopolis,WY. now, trying to beat those feisty and harried TOURISTS into Yellowstone! The race was on. We are taking the Southern route in, through The Grand Teton National Park, and up, because the East entrance was still closed due to heavy snow from the previous few days. Harvey's wheels were burning up the road so fast, we both were reminded of our first (and the newbiest of newbie) long trip on
to San Fransisco three years ago. Dallas to Marin County in about four days. What were we thinking? Driving as if possessed by the ghost of Evel Knievel. When we first layed eyes on The Tetons, we just came back to our good senses and remembered why we RV...and we slooowwwed down to bask in the amazing sight out our left windows. Mary Ann said, "We are coming back over here for a closer and longer visit." The rest of the drive up into Yellowstone was awe inspiring too. There were tall trees, beautiful lakes, and the mountains seemed to be closing in with every mile. Our first night in Yellowstone was at a park that has no hook ups (for you non RV'ers, electricity, water, sewer connection) at all. You're totally using all your internal systems, and it was wonderful. We were parked near the big lake and there were great views all around. We had dinner, took a little hike, and read a bit, then turned out the lights early for our first day of seeing the park. Goodnight.......WHOA! What was that bump?

Mama Grizzly print (measured
 more than 10 inches)
on Harvey's door....WHOA!

We both felt something shake Harvey just as we were falling asleep. It stopped, so we continued into the dream state. The next morning, I opened the door and noticed a print on it,  a bear print. A BIG print..from a BIG bear! We reported it to a ranger, and he said they'd like to see the picture. A mama Grizzly had been seen around the camp but, so far, had not tried to make any contact. Well, we decided to leave it alone, but here's the proof. 

Other than that excitement, we did see more bears...from afar. Some cubs were spotted playing near the road near us, we saw lots of Buffalo and Elk, and toured all corners of the park for the next three days. After the first night, we moved to an RV sight that does have all the amenities. We should have stayed where we started out. This RV park was four times more expensive, very cramped, and not nearly as scenic. By the way, I wouldn't say we had the place to ourselves, but it was not very crowded at that early part of the season, and our rush to get there was unfounded. Yellowstone is huge, unique, and quite beautiful. Would we visit again? Maybe, but only after we'd seen all the others national parks.

On the Road to Yellowstone..Spring/Summer 2012

Mt. Rushmore at night

After another quick stop in Omaha, we stayed basically along the same route that Lewis and Clark took, up the Missouri River basin through Nebraska and then a left in Sioux City,Iowa to pick up Interstate 80 and then toward South Dakota. It's now mid May 2012, and our next overnight stop was a little detour off I-80 to South Dakota's capital city of Pierre. We noticed an RV parking area right on the banks of the Missouri before you drive over the bridge into the town center. There was no one else there but after checking around, we found a space that actually had electricity and water that worked and we hooked up. After making dinner at home, we drove into town and looked at all the cozy little houses, the state capital building and offices, and saw the little movie theater with a nice sized crowd waiting in line to buy tickets. Of course this was our chance to interact with the locals so we got in line and went to the movies. It's a small town so we saw nobody texting in the theater, no one talked loud when the show began, nearly everyone smiled, and a few of them even said "hi", probably wondering who we were. We notice that sort of thing a lot in small towns we visit. We're still not used to it either, coming from the big city. There is a difference. It's a little perk for being on the road...like going back in time. Anyway, the next morning, after looking around at the park near our camp and reading the signs about the Lewis and Clark Expedition camping there too, over 200 years ago, we headed back toward I-80 to pick up our trek west to Rapid City.
We made our next major stop in Rapid City, after a night in Wall, SD to visit the famous Wall Drug. This place has been around with highway signs on I-80 since the 1930's. Some folks think it a tourist trap, but we found it fun and worth the stop. It covers about a third of the little town center, offers 5 cent coffee and handmade donuts in the morning, and, well there's so much stuff about it on the web, you can look for yourself http://www.walldrug.com/t-history.aspx/ .
Rapid city is a good sized town of around 70,000 and is the gateway to Mount Rushmore and The Black Hills. Our visits (twice, once during the day and also at night!) were awe inspiring...better than the pictures you see! We took a day trip to The Badlands National Park and did a little hiking, and spent quite a bit of time exploring the revitalized downtown in Rapid City. There are neat restaurants (best one we stopped in was Tallys Silver Spoon http://tallyssilverspoon.com/#f07/custom_plain),

President Reagan in front of Tallys Silver Spoon

shops, and park areas all around, and the town has a very good and active feel, even at night. There are statues of the presidents scattered all over downtown, with lots of benches to sit and pass the time at a bit slower pace than the big city (here we go again). Next, it's on to Sheridan, Wyoming, another surprisingly cool little city. This place has lots of uptown vibe also, especially for a much smaller population center (around 17,000). Sheridan's city center boasts lots of good eateries and coffee places (if you're there, check out Red Velvet http://www.facebook.com/RedVelvetBakeryAndTapas). We even walked in to one eating place and noticed the baked goods for sale in their little bakery section. We asked if they could bake us some fresh bread (we were having a tough time finding some REAL bread, without any funny stuff in it!!) and they did. We picked it up the next morning, and they told us they baked two loaves for us. It was still warm. Need we say any more? After exploring downtown, it was time for another day trip. This time to The Bighorn National Forest. This drive takes you through some of the most scenic and diverse land that we visited in the gorgeous State of Wyoming. No photos can do it justice, and the main attraction was our first Moose sighting! We were driving back towards home and there he (or she) was, just standing in a field, not too far off the road. Another traveler stopped, walked over to us and looked quizzically..."Is that a........M? "Yep! We both replied at the same time." We stared a few moments and then back on our way. He looked almost out of place to us. It could almost have been an Elephant or Giraffe. We've seen several more since, but that first one was really neat. After a week in Sheridan and getting to really know the place, it was finally time to start moving closer to Yellowstone. We wanted to get there before the big tourist rush because we'd heard the stories of rush hour like traffic.

The drive between Sheridan and Thermopolis, with a short stop in the cool little town of Buffalo, was harrowing. Harvey had no problem climbing the 10,000 foot pass with Smarty in tow, but near the top we ran into a rain, wind, and snow storm that was blowing good sized rocks (one about 10 inches diameter) on to the road. They were falling off the sides of the steep cliffs and besides the fact that we were on a narrow, two lane winding road, chiseled along the mountain, there was nowhere to go except over the cliff. We did make it through with a sigh of relief.

Downtown Buffalo,Wy

 Soon after that, we reached Thermopolis, Wyoming, to visit the mineral baths. This was a very fun place to spend a night or two. Besides their quaint little downtown area with  a couple of good restaurants, the state park mineral baths are locally famous and terrific. To be fair to all and to follow the wishes of the Indian tribes in the area who lent the land, everyone gets 20 minutes in the water. Not sure if they're as therapeutic as some think, but it sure feels terrific to soak in 104 degree mineral water for awhile. While relaxing in the hot water, we were disrupted by a scene straight out of one of the Chevy Chase Vacation movies! A family from Wisconsin all jumped into the pool at the same time, announcing.."We're goin' to Yellowstone and all have to be back in the car and dried off in 30 minutes!! We can drive two more hours before stopping again. HURRY!!!" Whew, our leisurely trip towards Yellowstone suddenly notched way up into another gear. Gotta beat those tourists!!!!!!!!!!!! We managed to calm ourselves down, but did leave the next morning and dead-headed straight to Yellowstone.

RV Technology.."This is not your Grandpa's motorhome!"

Wilson Cell Phone Amplifier

  One of the main reasons we decided to become "homeless by choice" last year is that we felt the communications technology had finally progressed enough that we could run our businesses and stay in touch to the point where it would feel somewhat seamless from sitting at the traditional office setup. Although there have been a few glitches along the way, our bet was correct. From time to time we'll break from our usual travelogue to go into the geek prone world of high tech devices we have onboard that have enabled us to do what we do.

Motorola Photon with it's HDMI output

  When I look at the roof on Harvey, sometimes I think people must think we work for some spy agency, what with all the antennas up there. The main component of our communication setup is, of course, our cell phones. At the moment (this stuff changes quickly), we both use Motorola Photon Android Smartphones. What? We don't have Iphones?? How could that be? The fact is that for us, where often our phones are the only means we have to be in contact, these very highly sophisticated devices fit the bill best. They are most computer like when they need to be, and they seem more compatible with PC oriented programs than Apple products (still). A quick example is that when we mentioned that to subscribe to this blog you need to hit the "atom" button on the left column of this page, a friend emailed back and said when he clicked the button it took him to the wrong place. We finally determined that it was due to his Iphone incompatibility. (We've since fixed this by simplifying the subscription link on the newly designed sight you're looking at).The radio part of the Motorola phones tends to be a little more powerful than many others too. This is really important to us since we spend a lot of time off the map ( I'm writing this from Victor, Idaho, about fifteen miles west, through the ten thousand foot pass, near Jackson Hole, Wyoming), Oh, did I mention that the phone also has a wireless Bluetooth keyboard that connects to it and turns it into an actual minicomputer? Sometimes a little extra power is needed to connect a call or get data. For this, we have a Wilson signal booster installed. This takes the weakest cell signal and amplifies it when we are really way out of range. This little device has come in handy more than once. The only problem with it is that you have to be standing in a certain area of the coach where it's antenna is located for it to work properly. It's better than no phone at all though!
 Back to the Photon phone for a minute. This little black case does way more than let us talk and send emails. When it's plugged into it's dock in the front of Harvey, a built in HDMI connection sends it's a/v signal to the big screen tv and allows us to watch Netflix and other programming over the internet, over our phone. Because this phone uses the Sprint network there are no excessive data or roaming charges (even when we're off network). Right now in Idaho, we are roaming on Verizon, but there are no extra charges..sort of. If you need more info about this, let us know.

Watching Netflix on the big screen with the Photon dock

  Besides the fact that the coach has four computers aboard, one that runs the whole house music and tv operations for the screens and speakers in the livingroom and the bedroom, a mini projector for watching movies, etc. on a 65" screen 

Toshiba mini projector mounted on the livingroom wall

with a Bluetooth audio setup, and Roku players, for even more tv options, connected to both tv's, the front of Harvey is also equipped with a Blue Ray player for our travelling dvd collection (you know, we are foreign movie fanatics!) for when we're really offline and have no internet connection at all. There are some innovations on Harvey that have nothing to do with any of that! In the kitchen, we have installed two induction cook tops over our usual propane ones . We feel that induction cooking is the wave of the future for RV's, boats, and especially regular stick houses. If you're not yet familiar, we'll explain more in the next RV Tech article.....gotta run now. Time to catch a movie.

 

Catching Up Pt 2/FL,ALA,TN Spr 2012

John Travolta's Ocala, FL. home

It's the end of February 2012, and we're beginning our climb north from Central Florida, except we both got really busy with our businesses and the weather reports just a few miles up the road sounded as if Old Man Winter were still in charge. So we decided to head back over to the Bushnell area. It's located basically at the top of a triangle made up of Orlando at the second point and Tampa at the third, and it's a really neat place to hang out. It's about a thirty five minute drive down to Orlando and forty five or so to Tampa. It's very close to some of the most beautiful parts of Florida in our opinion, horse country. The town of Ocala, where John Travolta lives inside his famous airport home compound (read this, then come back) http://www.jumbolair.com/Architectual%20Digest.htm is also very close by, as well as the city of The Villages, about a twenty minute drive. The Villages was a total surprise to us. We thought it was another version of the Sun City style retirement areas...you know, rows of houses, dance lessons at 2, shuffleboard at 4, the typical place for those of a certain age. What we saw instead was a very well planned mixed use city (fastest growing metro area in the U.S.!) that evidently appeals to people of all ages. Of course there are lots of seniors there (it is Florida, after all. They're everywhere!), but we also noticed lots of younger folks and kids too. You may know it because of the Golf Cars.

Smarty (he's the big one) & Golf Cars in The Villages, FL.

Yep, almost everyone there has one...not a Golf Cart, a Golf Car. They look like little BMW's, Mustangs, Jeeps, some have their local football team paint jobs, all different styles to keep them unique to the owner. There have been lots of national news stories on this, and we're told by our friends (and resident RV experts) Linda and Craig in Michigan that The Villages runs ads everywhere on local tv to attract new buyers, mostly from the Midwest and Eastern parts of the U.S. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qrpq5A-KAoA  The place is built around two major town centers (soon to be three). There are shops and restaurants, theaters, walking spaces, water features, and golf courses and tennis courts all around. Everyday at 5pm there's a happy hour with live music, food and drinks, dancing, and visiting with neighbors in each of the centers. It reminded us of Italy. Of course if you run out of things to keep you busy there, you can always drive in to Tampa or Orlando in no time.
As the weather finally started to warm a little, we began moving slowly back along the Gulf Coast. We stopped again in Destin at a great state run RV park..right on the beach. The town of Fairhope was beckoning us back, so we hugged the coastline and headed west, back to the Eastern Shore of Alabama. This time we decided that we'd just live there for a month so we hooked up at another great little RV park where the Southern charm oozes. We started revisiting some eateries we'd already discovered like Pinzone's Italian in downtown, where they serve very authentic dishes in a lovely bistro like indoor/outdoor setting. Another favorite, actually the place that became our hangout when we needed breaks from working, is Jessie's in the tiny town of Magnolia Springs. Jessie's makes you feel like you're back 75 years ago in the Deep South. It's a charming white frame building where there's an everything made from scratch bakery/deli on one side of the building. Townsfolk gather there for morning coffee and breakfast. On the other side is a full service restaurant and bar. The food and service are 4 star! Lots of people from all over have retired in Fairhope, and one of the other attractions to the area is the high quality of very available health care. We took advantage and got dental and medical checkups, and the service was top notch. Living for a month in March was very easy there, and the time flew by, but the open road beckoned. During the winter we had pretty much planned to head north to New England, but the allure of The West and all the places there we had not yet been was too strong, so we redirected through the Deep South, and, as we left Alabama, headed into Mississippi to Tupelo, birthplace of The King........Elvis!! (click on this for extra mood while reading this

M A & Little Elvis in Tupelo

section ( http://www.shoutcast.com/radio/Elvis ) Just writing about this makes me crave a peanut butter and banana sandwich, with a side of Bologna and ketchup!!! You may now get up from your computer to take a break and go make one for yourself...and bring back a Pepsi and some burnt bacon with grape jelly to eat later. Anyway, Tupelo is a really nice little town. It's a little larger than we expected. Lots of big box stores, nice homes, parks, and even a little traffic on the main drags. But then...there is the birthplace of The King. The town leaders have put some thought into the area and made it very accessible and the small museum and grounds are very well kept and even classy. It was definitely worth a stop. While in Tupelo, we took a side trip over to Oxford, Mississippi, home of Old Miss, another very pretty Southern town. With it's tree lined streets, big old Southern style homes, large town square with shops and upscale eateries, it looks like something from the minds of one of the many novelists who call it home (including John Grisham). From Tupelo, we kept heading north to revisit one of our favorite RV parks that sits right on the bank of the Mississippi River in Memphis. We can see the barge and boat traffic constantly moving up and down the river from our dining room window in Harvey. One of the highlights of this Memphis visit were an afternoon at the Stax Records Museum ( http://www.staxmuseum.com/video-images/videos/view/rufus-thomas-tribute-video). Anyone interested in music from the golden era of the Sixties and Seventies would love this place. They have recreated the feel of the Memphis Sound, which in my mind, is right up there with Motown. Sam and Dave, Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T and the MG's, Rufus Thomas, and on and on. A must see for music fans, and as important as a visit to Sun Records. The other highlight was our trip to Gibson's Donuts! Memphis is filled with iconic places...Graceland, BB Kings and Dyers on Beale Street, The Peabody Hotel and their famous ducks, all of the other BBQ joints, and Gibson's is one more. Google it and you'll see the pages of stories and accolades that have been written about it before we got there. We walked in a little after the morning rush and looked into the cases of fresh donuts. The selection alone would make you think right off this is no Dunkin' Donuts!

As you know, we are picky eaters, so we pick our splurges carefully. This place is not to be missed if a trip to Memphis is in your future. A cheerful fellow behind the counter noticed us oogling and asked (he already knew we were newbies), "First time here?" Mary Ann replied to the affirmative, and he began to explain all the little nuances about their donuts. I pointed to a cream filled beauty and before I could finish my sentence, he was off to the kitchen area...said he'd be right back. In a minute or two he came out with a double stuffed, fresh from the back, honkin' huge custard cream over-filled donut that looked like it would tip the scales over. He said, with a big grin, "wanted you to have the best, since it's your first time in!" Then he helped M A pick out of a couple of gorgeous choice winners too. Turns out, even though all the staff behind the counter looked to be very helpful, the owner is on premises and knows just about everyone who walks through the door and engages them in conversation regularly. For a donut shop, it's a rather large place, with tables where the locals take a seat and Don greets most of them by name with a joke or a quip. We visit so many little places in our travels, where you walk in and sometimes feel like you're interrupting the employees. This place is the opposite. Not only are the donuts about as perfect as they can be, the owner takes pride in the back and front of his operation. He came over to see how they were and sat down at our booth next to Mary Ann. We chatted small talk for awhile and when he was satisfied that we were happy, started moving around the place to visit with the regulars. There is something to the stereotype of Southern Hospitality, and Don typifies it. We have mentioned more than a few times, "Wonder what's going on at Gibson's in Memphis this morning..." Guess we'll just have to wait for our next trip back South to find out. Don will probably act like he remembers us (especially when I ask him to repeat his double stuffed custard routine!) even if he doesn't. That's just the way he is...and it ain't bad! By the way our stop there was on the way to stock up provisions at the local Whole Foods. The rest of the day we lived on organic carrots and celery...something's gotta give somewhere.

We pulled out of Memphis and headed for fast stops, first in Branson and then on to Kansas City. Kansas City was a major food stopping point for two reasons. First, there are Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Second, we were heading up to parts unknown from there, and our refrigerator needed to be overflowing with good stuff. Besides a short stop in Omaha to get Smarty re-tired (new shoes!!), Kansas City was the last larger place we planned to be for awhile. We visited The Plaza, met up with Ed and Pat's friends, Gary and Lana and son, Scott, took in a movie or two, got Harvey serviced at a gigantic Ford truck service center in North Kansas City, and headed up I-29 towards Omaha. Oh, almost forgot. We showed the Kansas City Doll Hospital to our travelling Teddy Bears, Bobby and his bear, Mr. Baby. The hospital's motto is.."We've NEVER lost a patient!" Scared the hell out of both of them when we told them that this is where they'd be sent if their arm, leg, or eyes or other parts fell out! They've been very quiet since....Next up, The Dakota Badlands, awesome Wyoming, and beautiful Idaho! Stay tuned.

Catching up...Part 1 AZ to FL Fall 2011

Tombstone,Arizona

 Since it's been such a long time since the last post, a bit of catching up is in order! By the way, this is being written on Memorial Day Saturday 2012, from Sheridan, Wyoming, a beautiful small town at the foothills of The Big Horn Mountains. The temperature is a balmy 44 degrees, and it's snowing all around us. On May 15th, 2012 we celebrated our first year of living and working and traveling in our RV. You might think from the last post that we never left the West after visiting Gallup. Well, that is not exactly the case! We are in Sheridan after more than a 4,000 mile trek from the Southwest last fall to South Florida and then back through the Gulf Coast and the Midwest to our present location. Here are some highlights of those travels.

Don & Greta in Flag

 We left Gallup, New Mexico in the fall of 2011 and headed to spend some time in Northern and Central Arizona. Munds Park is a small village about 17 miles south of Flagstaff. We spent almost a whole month there and left because it........started snowing...in September! While there, we spent lots of time in Flagstaff, had our bikes refitted with new tires, drank coffee at the great little bar in the old Hotel Monte Vista, visited with our friends Don and Greta (on the right here,who drove up I-17 a couple of times from Scottsdale to get out of the heat), hiked the Cococino Mountains behind our RV park, and drove over to Sedona a couple of times (one visit there brought us in touch with my college roommate, Bruce and his wife, Marsha from New Jersey. They were visiting with their kids in Phoenix and drove up to see us too!). We also made an encore trip over to the Grand Canyon for a little hiking. When the snow started falling, we packed up and traveled about 40 miles downhill to Camp Verde, Arizona, which is a little closer to Sedona and especially one of our favorite new towns anywhere, Cottonwood. With it's active retail climate and very cool little original downtown area, Cottonwood became our new go-to spot (at the expense of visits to Sedona). Don and Greta even did drives to meet us there too. One day we all drove up to the old mining town of Jerome, which is literally hanging off the edge of a mountain, and had a great time looking in all the little shops and walking the historic downtown. As the weather cooled, we kept creeping down to lower altitudes and wound up back in Scottsdale for more hangin' out with our buddies. In October, we finally began to head East for our eventual landing for the deep winter months in Miami with brother Ed and sister (in-law) Pat. We stopped for several days in Tucson, then rolled on through Tombstone, back through New Mexico to Las Cruces/El Paso, stopped at Balmorhea State Park in West Texas, and kept tracking South by East along I-10 towards San Antonio.

At The Grand Canyon

 Once reaching San Antonio (well almost...the quaint, historic little town near San Antonio, Boerne), we put down anchor for around a week, long enough for still another visit, this time with close Dallas friends, Bunny and Ivan. They had come down for business, and we waited for them to finish so we could see them. Halloween night we hung out in the Riverwalk area, we visited The Alamo again to see Mary Ann's ancestor's names on the plaques all over it, and went to Earl Abel's and a few other terrific San Antonio eateries. Then we headed to Houston, but not before a quick stop in Sealy TX for a total Harvey tire change (those are six big honkin' tires ya'll!). About 2 hours and we were on our way...and Harvey had some fine new shoes!! A quick stay near downtown Houston and a Sunday night in Rice Village (always a favorite area for us) and then on to Louisiana.
 Our next stop was off I-10 finally because we wanted to stay along the River Road, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The Poche Plantation is a neat RV park in Convent Louisiana on the grounds of a old plantation. The current house dates back to 1867. There we based ourselves for a trip in Smarty to Baton Rouge to tour the river town and many (stopped counting, actually) trips to a little crossing in the road called Sorrento, La. to The Coffee House. If you are a fan of beignets and Cafe Au lait, this place is worth the way off the road trip. Best ever...even better than Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans! Period.

All the sidewalks in Fairhope look
like this...

Two short trips into New Orleans, mostly to eat at places like Mothers, Central Grocery, and Cafe Du Monde, and we headed over along the Gulf towards an area we'd only heard snips of info on, Fairhope, Alabama. After turning south past Mobile, we drove down Old Highway 98 through one small town after the next in the area known as The Eastern Shore. We intended to stay overnight and ended up spending 3 weeks there. Fairhope has already been discovered by many travelers before us! There are plates from everywhere. We met folks from back East, the Midwest, Texas, just about everywhere. 

Monkeying around on Las Olas Blvd, Ft Lauderdale

It's an idyllic little town that looks like some designer from Disney went there to make it look real...only it is real! Enough said. We hope it doesn't catch on any more than it already has for fear it might disappear as we know it. Next, on along the Gulf into Florida. We spent a few nights in Destin, then to Bushnell in Central Florida. We took Harvey to a terrific RV indoor storage facility near Orlando, unloaded him, and drove Smarty and a rental car to Miami to stay with Pat and Eddie from Christmas to the end of February. We took alot of our cooking supplies with us and had fun preparing meals for the four of us, drove down to the upper keys for Stone Crabs, searched for new Latin restaurants, hung out on Lincoln Road at the Nespresso Store (we're addicted to the stuff!) and the Florida outpost of the NYC burger institution, The Shake Shak (addicted to those too!). We took Ed and Pat's boat out a few times, set up their new 83" 3D TV for them, and just had a great time visiting with family for almost two months.

Ed & Pat on Miami Beach with us

 At the end of February, it was time to get back on the road and restart our amazing American Odyssey. We left Ed and Pat and went back up to Orlando to get Harvey out of the kennel. After a couple of visits to Whole Foods, Publix, Penzeys Spices, and a few other merchants, we were stocked back up and ready to roll again. Part 2 of the catch up will head us back up the Florida Peninsula...stay tuned.

Gallup, New Mexico

We began heading West, towards Northern Arizona, in the beginning of September. We wanted to get to the Flagstaff area before it got too cold. But the thought of slowing down in Gallup was too overpowering. We'd been told that Gallup is the real center of the universe for the American Indian culture...not Santa Fe, Albuquerque, or even the lands near the Four Corners Region. Gallup, as we found out for ourselves, is the place where many of the Indian artists and craftspeople take their finished goods to sell to the trade. The trade, as it turns out, are the many trading posts you see in the area. Some of these places date back to the 1800's and represent the trust set up between the white settlers and the native people. The white traders are the banking system for the Indians. They sell, or sometimes even pawn, their goods to these trading post people and wait for their money from the government or any other income to replentish them. The system has been operating like this since the first white people came from the east and continues to this day. Walking into some of the trading posts is an experience that may beg more questions than answers at first. Like "where do all these old saddles come from?" Some places have hundreds of them..all lined up inside the store. Answer? The Indians pawn them every time they need extra money, and then when it comes in, they come back for the saddle! Fascinating! More fascinating is the trust built up over the years between the traders and the Indians. A whole, separate financial system exists out here. Prices for good Indian jewelry and other goods is far lower here than in Santa Fe, Scottsdale, or other fashionable places to buy it. We took a side trip to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced "DESHAY") and the Hubbell Trading Post, fairly close by, and had a tour of the area.John Hubbell was a postal employee in Albuquerque and was bored with city life. The story goes, he got on a horse, rode until he reached this remote place, settled down here and bought the newly established post in 1878. He gained the Navajo's trust and the post continued operating within the same family until 1965, when it was sold to the US government, still operating and, today, is a living museum. Many now famous Indian artists traded their creations for staples and Hubbell began to amass an amazing collection, some of which is still displayed here. The trading post looks about the same as it did a hundred years ago. you can still buy many of the same goods here as then. Although we wouldn't consider Gallup a major vacation destination, it served our purpose well, to explore the Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi areas...and afford a place for Mary Ann to add another piece of silver inlay jewelry (a beautiful ring) to her collection!

Albuquerque

• Albuquerque ( I finally learned how to spell it without looking it up, while staying here!) is a town of many hidden charms. A lot of people we know dismiss it, and when compared with much smaller neighbor Santa Fe, they ask "why bother, there's not much to do there." Hidden charms! Sometimes you have to dig down a little, and in this case it's well worth it. Downtown is very active by day and night. Areas like the Old Town, the original settlement, which dates back hundreds of years, is filled with cool shops, galleries, eateries, and walking venues. The Central Avenue area is lined with theaters, more stores, and more interesting places to eat. A couple we have sampled are The Artichoke Cafe http://artichokecafe.com/ where they do a sort of Italian leaning menu, with some really unusual choices. Much more casual, and only open during the day is The Grove http://www.thegrovecafemarket.com/ where everything is fresh, local,and very delicious. The place has a very West Coast feel. Just look at their website...and you will get hungry! Oh, and I almost forgot their english muffins. So what..english muffins? These are the english muffins to measure all others by..forever. First, they weigh about a pound each. Second, they have the most amazing flavor. They're soft and fluffy and chewy...and ggghhhhh... hard to just write about. They're needing to be experienced...in your mouth. See the picture up there. It doesn't do them justice. Enough said. These places are on Central, which is Route 66, and, as mentioned, in the historic East Downtown area. Further east, on the other side of I-25, still on Central, you'll find a lot of old original Route 66 motels and diners. This is also the area where the main campus of The University of New Mexico is located, so it can have a little bit of a funky feel in spots too. Not a bad thing, for here is where The Frontier http://www.frontierrestaurant.com/ is located. A sprawling old building houses one of Albuquerque's true dining treasures. Funky? You betcha! Walk up to one of the many order stations and tell them you want a burger, enchiladas, breakfast all day...whatever, then wait 'till they call your number. Go pick up your tray, and wow!!! You're back in school again! The place is all ambiance. The food is ok, not fine dining by any stretch, but lots of fun for just being there. It kind of reminds us of a smaller version of The Varsity in Atlanta. For some serious food, keep going east on Central until you get to Zinc Wine Bar http://www.zincabq.com/ .We've been going here for years, and it never fails us. Kevin Roessler, the managing partner, welcomes us whenever we pop in and always makes us feel at home. They have a great open kitchen, use really fresh ingredients, and the chef, Chris Pope, is usually around supervising the crew. We normally sit at their food bar so we can watch the preparation. Amazing still, how just a few people, well organized, can produce so many beautiful plates of food...all at one time! Last time there, one of the specials was Wild Halibut with heirloom rice, fava beans, sugar snap peas & braised baby red artichokes, cool sweet cherry tomato chutney. Delicious. In addition to these, there are nothing but surprisingly terrific restaurants all over town. After eating our way through the city, we spent a couple of days doing some large market shopping and personal maintenance ( M A had a day at the Aveda Salon), and we headed over to the Smart Car Dealership to outfit Smarty for the ride. Other than some normal maintenance for him too, he had his new bike hitch installed! A Smart Car with two bicycles riding on the back end! What a sight!! The next stop, after leaving the Big A....Gallup, New Mexico, and more kicks..on Route 66. Why would anyone spend a week in Gallup, New Mexico? Stay tuned right here.