The Next Adventure

On the drive from Dallas to Denver, I took a break by camping at the Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Canyon, near Amarillo TX. Another great experience! There are several campgrounds in the park, all located on the floor of the canyon. The ranger station at the park entrance was closed by the time I arrived at 4:30pm. Fortunately I had pre-registered and printed the permit to put on Millie's dash. I stopped by the visitor center which had an interpretative exhibit and windows to view the canyon walls and floor below. The drive down the 10% grade switchbacks may be harrowing for some big rigs, but not an issue for Millie. The decision to select the Juniper Campground was spot on: although located near the end of the park road, the 18 sites were more widely spaced and private than the other campgrounds. There were modern restrooms and showers (4th photo below) in the campground. It was cloudy, cold and very windy that evening, so I cooked dinner on the induction stove top, show...

This will be my last post for this part of the journey. I checked out of the Cowhide Cove Campground in the morning to head towards Allen, Texas to visit with my brother and his family. Started out early and had plenty of time to make the 4 hour trip. After a few miles on the route, I remembered that a ranger at the campground had told me about the Jonquil Festival in the town of Washington, AR this weekend. I stopped at the side of the road, checked the town's location which was in the direction I was heading. Put in the new location in Google Maps and off I went. I arrived at the Historic Washington State Park and the Jonquil Festival at 9:30 am, and was directed to a parking lot ($5 parking fee) by a park ranger. The line of cars waiting to get in was starting to build when I walked over to the Festival area. I started with the visitor center which is located in the 1874 Hempstead Courthouse, staffed by two lovely ladies dressed in costume who agreed to pose for a ...

The sun peeked out this morning and I was able to catch the sunrise on my phone from within Millie. But it was soon obscured by clouds; the rest of the day was cloudy, cold and windy. I did not think the weather was conducive to diamond hunting which was what I had planned for the day. Since I could not think of anything else better to do, I drove out to the Crater of Diamonds State Park after breakfast with the intention of checking out the visitor center. When I got to the State Park's parking lot, it was almost full! I had to park in the overflow lot. A lot of families with children were loading up wagons with shovels, sifting trays, pails, etc. to go diamond hunting despite the weather. I would be a wimp if I did not follow suit, so I put on extra layers of clothes, my winter jacket and boots, went into the visitor center and paid the $10 fee to enter the mine field. The photo above is one of two sheds for wet shifting where soil dug up by a visitor and hauled from th...