DEPARTURE DATE.....NOVEMBER 15/08

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
Looks like November 15th will be our launch date for this year. Kelly's place of employment, Deerpark Lodge, will be closing for the winter during the week of November 10th to 14th. Deerpark will be open the previous week-end for Bayfield's annual & final big event of the season, called, Christmas In Bayfield. It's a popular week-end with people coming from near & far. All the shops are open & there is a Saturday morning parade through town. We will head out of town the following week-end. I generally like to leave early on a Saturday morning because it gives us a 2 day head start on a lot of rush hour traffic nonsense south of the border. We'll cross into the States at Port Huron (& probably get pulled over for an agriculture check again) & follow I-69 down through Flint & Lansing. Into the State of Indiana & through Fort Wayne stopping somewhere north of Indianapolis for the first night. We'll do Indy bright & early Sunday morning & then head southwest on I-70 to Effingham. From there it's I-57 south to Missouri where we'll pick up I-55 into Arkansas. Just west of Memphis, Tennessee we'll pick up I-40 & that begins our true journey west, sliding through places like Little Rock & Texarkana. Texarkana launches us into the big State of Texas & from there we'll pick our way north of Dallas through Sherman & Gainesville until we pick up highway # 380 somewhere around Jacksboro. Once we're on # 380 it's a quiet straight line level drive to just west of Roswell, New Mexico whereupon we'll slip up & over the southern end of the Rocky mountains. We came home this way last year & found it an easy mountain drive compared to Denver for example. No big scary stuff!! Would like to stop at White Sands National Monument near Alamogordo this time & have a look around. Over another small mountain range & we'll be in Las Cruces, New Mexico. From here it's anybody's guess where we'll go because the rush is over & we'll just go wherever feels right, whenever we feel were ready. Most likely will head up into the Silver City area for starters. As I read this all over, it looks good on paper but as some reader's already know, we don't always stick to the paper. I remember one time near Joplin, Missouri we were heading west with a rough travel plan in mind & at the last minute I decided to take a different route & wheeled us off the Interstate heading south & that little venture eventually landed us lost on some twisting back roads in the Ozark mountains. That was an interesting afternoon to say the least. We were driving a small Class C on that trip. Another time I figured out another quick last minute short cut in my head & landed us in the Boston Mountain range in Arkansas huffing & puffing our truck & fifth wheel at the time up & over the long graded mountain tops. Another nail biter for awhile but did get to see some great scenery again. Every twist & turn is a new adventure & if we keep that foremost in our minds we sort of get along just fine in our travels.

I will call the above, travel Plan A. Depending on what happens with the screwy economy right now, we may be forced to revert to Plan B in the end. That would be a gas saving shorter trip into Texas & the Big Hill Country or Big Bend National Park area. YOU DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT PLAN C!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The photos I've included to-day are mushrooms growing all around us in our little pine forest here. It's been a damp year & we've had a lot of rain lately so I figure that is why there are so many this year. Don't know what kind they are but they sure do look pretty. Some of the them are sorta like Pizza's on stems.........