Places We've Been

I Have A Confession To Make

I have looking forward to our stay in Alabama so much. I was secretely counting the days until we could leave the Grand Canyon and get ourselves down south again. I have missed my family and friends down here so much! But I have to confess, I have really missed the food, too.

(this is my home cooked fried catfish)

We have been in Alabama for a week, and I have eaten fried catfish 5 times since I got here. I am probably going to turn into a big ol’ catfish, with a slippery skin and thin, one strand mustache hanging out by my nose quite soon. And grow gills. And if I don’t turn into a catfish I will be fatter for sure! But how can you resist that true, southern fried catfish when you see it on the menu? I have eaten it for breakfast with grits and fried eggs. For lunch with home made cole slaw and french fries. And tonight I had it for dinner, cooked at home and served with garlic new potatoes and squash casserole.

It doesn’t help that we have found the most fabulous little restaurant less than two miles from our campsite. It is located in a gas station, which is not unusual her in the south. Pleasant Valley Grocery Store is the official name of the place, but it is a little gas station with a tiny restaurant tucked inside.

They cater to the deer hunters that frequent this area, the ones who stay at the campground we are hosting. They sell candy, sodas, bread, snacks and beer. And have the best southern fried catfish I have ever put in my mouth. It came with cole slaw and home fries. FabGrandpa had the smoked barbecue pork ribs–it was the first time I have EVER heard him ask for a to go box because he couldn’t eat it all. EVER. In 18 years.

The people who run the place are so nice! They greet us each time we come in as if they have known us all their lives. Like they are so happy to see us! The second time we came in, they asked if we were going to have iced tea, and remembered that I get the unsweetened tea. The SECOND time.

They have University of Alabama memorabilia on the walls (a little bit of Auburn University stuff, too, but they definitely lean towards Alabama) There is a crockpot of boiled peanuts over on the counter, too.

They have a pretty good cup of coffee, too. I’m telling you, if you come to this area, and don’t go to this place, you are messing up! You’ll miss the best fried catfish ever in the history of the earth!

(I have not been paid to write about Pleasant Valley Restaurant. This is just my opinion, take it or leave it)

0 Shares

186 Miles

Karen · 11 Comments

That is how far it is, give or take a mile or two, across the state of Lousey-anna. I make this statement because I want to warn other “big-chested” women to make sure they have a very good, very tight, bra before driving across this state on I-20.

Every mile of the way, my ta-ta’s were tortured, my mamaries were mangled, my boobies were bruised. There was no way I would have been able to drive, as I spent the entire time with my arms crossed across my chest in an effort to protect the girls. That was an impossible task! I was never more glad to leave a state than I was when we crossed over into Mississippi. Just sayin. Get a good bra before you go through Louisiana.

0 Shares

Wichita Falls RV Park in Wichita Falls, Texas

Karen · 7 Comments

At least we waited til after the sun came up to leave Tucumcari. We saw lots of windmills and wind turbines in New Mexico. The old fashioned windmills pump water for the many cows and other agricultural uses:

And the modern wind turbines produce electricity. If you click the photo below to enlarge it you may be able to see the turbines on the ridge across this field. I counted at least 60 of them over there. They are HUGE! A sign we saw says that each one produces 1.5 megawatts of electricity. I don’t know exactly how much that is but it must be a lot.

Ok, so I looked it up for us all to know. From this website: Oregon Power Solutions:

“…How many homes can one megawatt of wind energy supply?
An average U.S. household uses about 10,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity each year. A one-megawatt wind turbine can generate between 2.4 million and 4 million kWh annually, depending on the average wind speed at the site. Therefore, a single one-megawatt wind turbine generates enough electricity to power 240 to 400 households….”

So, if there were 60 of those things, they could produce enough electricity for up to 24,000 homes. Wow!

The turbines were out in the fields, so a farmer could still use the land to ranch or grow cotton or peanuts, and also receive lease payments for a power company to put those wind turbines on their property. That is a good use of resources in my opinion.

Another thing that was amazing to me is that there was so many ranches and farms, and you could see at a glance what these people do to make a living. They grow cotton, peanuts, sorghum, and corn. We saw a peanut processing plant, cotton gins, feed lots, feed and seed silos, farm implement sales lots. I guess I lived in cities for so long I either never knew or forgot about all the agricultural occupations that existed. See how beautiful that cotton field is?

We saw flocks of geese flying south for the winter. That is also amazing to me how those birds know when the cold weather is coming, and take flight before the first snow.

We DIDN’T see any rattlesnakes, but this sign had me looking for them. This was at a rest area east of Amarillo on Hwy 287.

We stopped for the night at Wichita Falls RV Park in Wichita Falls, Texas. The guy who works in the office there can not give directions. We called him twice, and he failed to give correct directions both times. If you are going south on Hwy 287, take exit 1-A, get all the way over to the right, turn right at the first light, and stay on that road until you see the sign for the RV park. That guy had us running all over Wichita Falls pulling that trailer. It is hard to turn around when you have a 34′ trailer behind you, ya know? They weren’t making any dinner for us, either, so I made some potato salad.

And this was a little interesting: a collection of fire hydrants, each one painted a different color, at the RV park. Hmmmm……

We made about 410 miles today–not bad. Tomorrow, we head for Shreveport.

0 Shares

Going to Alabama…

Karen · 7 Comments

Yesterday we got as far as Holbrook, Arizona. We got the trailer and truck parked at the KOA, then walked a couple blocks to a restaruant in town. It looked ok from the outside, but the food was, well, less than expected. Way less. I ordered a Mexican combo plate that had chicken enchiladas, rice and beans. The chicken tasted like it was canned, and the rest of it was worse than that. Across the road from the restaurant, there was a hair salon called “Hairlapeno’s”. We usually take pictures of things like that but, GASP! I forgot to take my camera with me. So, that opportunity was lost.

We walked back home to the trailer and called it an early night as we were both tired. About 4 a.m, FabGrandpa was whispering in my ear, “Do you think that restaurant is open for breakfast yet?” Of course he was just joking, we were not going to give them a second chance. However, he accomplished the goal of getting me out of bed and ready to go, but not before I had my customary chocolate coffee and email time.

As I am not so much a morning person, I rarely see sunrise. But since I was already up and in the truck, I did get to see this one. Way too early, I tell ya! See:

That is A.M. people. I barely had my eyes open.

New Mexico, which IS a state in case you are not aware (hehehe), is quite beautiful. Don’t let all that sunshine fool you though, it was 17 freaking degrees out there. I was freezing my hiney as we got the rig ready to go down the road!

Even though there aren’t many actual trees, there is some fall color in the landscape. I even saw a tumbleweed rolling down the interstate! Wasn’t quick enough to get a photo, but it was awesome as I have never seen one before.

We went through Albuquerque, and I have to tell ya, I have NOT missed all that traffic. We were there during the lunch rush:

I could have really done without all that. FabGrandpa accused me of pinching a hole in the seat. I hate traffic!

Lunch was at Lisa’s Truck Center. Again, I forgot to take a picture (what the heck is the matter with me today?), but the burger (without a bun, and salad without dressing) was great! The meat was six ounces hand patted and cooked on a grill.

There was lots of construction on I-40. In several places they had taken all the pavement up off of the east bound lanes, down to the dirt, and had us routed into one lane of the west bound side, with a concrete wall between us and the one lane of west bound traffic. It looked like they were rebuilding the entire road. Maybe next year it will be a smoother ride.

We made it to Tucumcari, a total of about 410 miles for the day. We stayed at the KOA in town again, and got a nice, flat site.When I went inside to register for the night, there was a delicious aroma of pot roast with potatoes and carrots. When I asked about it, they said it was for sale for dinner, so I got two plates of it. Boy was it ever good! I hope the next place we stay is cooking when I get there!

0 Shares

Goodbye, Grand Canyon!

Karen · 3 Comments

Goodbye, Grand Canyon!

Goodbye, Marble Canyon!

Goodbye, Flagstaff!

I always liked the ending to that movie, “Muriel’s Wedding”, when the girls are in the cab saying goodbye to the town of Porpoise Spit. I felt like that today, when we got in the truck and left the canyon. We have been in Arizona for 18 months, since April 2008. It feels funny to be leaving, even though I know I’ll be back here in the spring.

But, we have friends and family we want to see back east, so Alabama it is for this winter. We’ll go to visit FabGrandpa’s Mom and Dad, his brothers, our children, my Mom, and my brothers and my sister. We’ll see as many of our friends as we can squeeze in in the six months we’ll be in the south. It’ll be a grand homecoming for us, and then we’ll be gone again, to do our thing at the Grand Canyon for another season.

So long, Arizona. I’ll miss you!

0 Shares

The Sun Sets On Another Season..

Karen · 10 Comments

Today was my last full day to work at the North Rim this season. It was a beautiful day, with a cloudless sky and tempertures around 56 degrees.

As the shadows got longer, I felt a little bit sad that it is over, but happy thinking about my memories of the summer here.

It was a wonderful, almost perfect sunset, with the only clouds I saw all day turning pink, red and purple over the meadow beyond the entrance station.

What a great way to end my season!

I won’t be wearing the uniform again until next year. And so, we will be moving again soon. In about a week from now, we’ll be on way down the road.

0 Shares

Scenic Sunday

Karen · 9 Comments

I came upon this family of deer on the road to the Widforss Trailhead this week. The deer up here are wild, but they don’t seem to be as skittish as other deer as they didn’t run off as soon as they saw me. Instead, they seemed to pose for me.

For more Scenic Sunday photos, click here.

0 Shares

First Snow Day Of The Season

Karen · 14 Comments

When the alarm clock went off at 4:30 a.m., I thought I heard the soft pattering of snow on the roof of the trailer. I jumped up (OK, I slowly got up and grumped about it some) and looked out the front door to verify that it was, in fact, snow. Yep, snow. On October 7.

My duty station this morning was the entrance station. I was surprised to see the buffalo out in the meadow in the snow, because they haven’t been around in more than a month. They are usually gone back down to House Rock Valley by this time.

Sunrise over the meadow on the Kaibab Plateau. How beautiful is that?

The snow came in showers, and snowed like crazy for about a half an hour at a time. A couple of times it was coming down so hard and fast that it covered the road.

But, then, a half hour later, it was all gone again, and the sun was peeking out. The forecast high was 52, but I don’t think it got there today. That wood stove really came in handy today.

This is looking across the road from the entrance station, to the parking lot.

And here I am playing in the snow, um, er, I mean working. Isn’t that a cute outfit? I was glad when my shift was over, so I could go home, get a blanket, a cup of hot tea, and a gluten free cookie!

0 Shares