Almost back in the heart of Texas, Marshall, Tx–June 26, 2012

I am having problems with posting this blog…I took out the three photos, will see if it posts without them.

Well, it did post, then I went into blogger online and added the three photos, but could not figure out how to crop the photos down.  I sure hope I can get the Live Writer to post photos.

This morning while we were getting ready to leave, we were not alone.  This toad was loaded with lots and lots of plants.

It is watermelon pickin’ time in this area.  Passed with trailer full of them, also was another trailer stopped along the road selling them.

Today we crossed the Texas state border at Texarkana.  The song sang by Credence Clearwater Revival, Cotton Fields, kept creeping into my mind.  Also the New Christy Minstrels sang this same song with gusto.
COTTON FIELDS (Huddie Ledbetter)
CHORUS1:
When I was a little bitty baby
My mama would rock me in the cradle,
In them old cotton fields back home;
CHORUS2:
It was down in Louisiana,
Just about a mile from Texarkana,
In them old cotton fields back home.
CHORUS3:
Oh, when them cotton bolls get rotten
You can't pick very much cotton,
In them old cotton fields back home.

Tomorrow a 150 mile jaunt to Livingston, our home for the next month.

North Little Rock, Arkansas, June 24-25, 2012

You say, “what is Bob doing outside looking up with his hands’ on his hips”.  Well just check out his blog here for his story, it is close to what actually happened. By the way, recently he has been duplicating his blog in a blogger format to make it easier to receive comments, so you can check out the blogger version here.

The Downtown Riverside RV Park is located in North Little Rock, we have full hookups, well we could, as the hookups for us are on the passenger side.  We just hooked up to the 50 amp as our stay here is only two nights. We also are receiving the Passport America Park rate of $11.50 per night.

The RV park is very close to this pedestrian bridge and the bridge is very close to the William Clinton Presidential Library, so off we went.  Also with it being 100+ degrees a cool place to visit sounded wonderful.

Below shows the displays of each of this year’s as president.  In the white binders they list his daily schedule, hour by hour.  Hummm… wonder what his schedule says for his encounters with Monica.

This was not a high water mark, just a unique way of showing off some old motors.

I really enjoyed the Historic Arkansas Museum.  They treated the artifacts as pieces of art.

The sewing machine stitched Confederate uniforms.

This is a Homespun Dress.

 
I have one of these 4-H signs (even kept it when we cleaned out our house). This one below was in the museum.  So what does that make me?  I was in 4-H for eight years, so I knew the pledge very well. 
"I pledge my head to clearer thinking,
My heart to greater loyalty,
My hands to larger service,
and my health to better living,
for my club, my community, my country, and my world."

And now a few words from our infamous presidential candidate, Bobbarooni.

Tomorrow heading towards Livingston Texas with an overnight stop near Marshall TX.
For the month on July we will be volunteering with the Escapees RV Club’s Care Center.  We were to arrive three days early so we can ‘shadow’ another volunteer so we can get our on the job training.

Van Buren, Arkansas, June 22-23, 2012

Today we added a new state to us while traveling in the RV.  It wasn’t too long after we arrived at the RV park that Bob was securing the State of Arkansas to our US map.

Finding the RV park today was a visual challenge.  The GPS said to turn left but we saw no other signage…until I noticed the sign with our side broken out, but being able to read the letters backward for the folks coming the other direction, we turned left and there was the park. Overland RV Park, a little weathered but with full hookups, 50 Amp for $29/night.

Our visit on Saturday to Fort Smith was highlighted with a ranger program with live re-enactors firing a 12 pound canon.

The ranger described what each person’s job was when they worked as a team to fire the canon.  Very well done demonstration.

This is the trap door of the six man gallows at Fort Smith of the Western District of Arkansas over which Judge Isaac Parker presided.  He sentenced 160 people (4 women) to hang, only 79 men were hanged.

This was in the mid 1890’s.  Times have not changed, offenders are still being able to escape of legal technicalities.

Bob in the original prison, with mats and blankets on the floor.

Tomorrow heading to North Little Rock, AR.

Bartlesville, OK June 18-21, 2012

Why are we in Bartlesville, well, B’ville as Bob referred to it is the corporate headquarters for Phillips Petroleum Company, the company who paid him for his services for 27 years.
We are parked in the only RV park in town, called the Riverside RV Resort & Campground.  They are a Passport America Park so our four day stay here only cost us $64.  We have 50 amps with water and a nice gravel based site, no grass or mud!  The site we are in has no sewer hookup and the park has no dump but they do offer, for free, a pump out of our tanks three times a week.  First time we have ran into this kind of situation.

Bob has fond memories through his Aunt and Uncle of Tom Mix Westerns, his Museum was located near here in Dewey.

He is the one who was to have made this canyon leap.  No one knows for sure if he did it, or if a stunt man did it, or if it was ever done at all.


This is the Nellie Johnstone #1, the first commercial oil well drilled with a cable tool drilling derrick in what will become the state of Oklahoma.  This type of cable drilling could drill about 50’ per day, this well was 1320’ deep.  This well was located in what we also know as B’ville.

Our visit to Woolaroc took an entire day.

“Frank Phillips, founder of Phillips Petroleum Company, created the Woolaroc preserve in 1925 to retain the essence of the West as he had known it before the turn of the century.”
Bob remembers coming out to Woolaroc for many dinners at the Lodge when he was visiting B’ville on business.  Frank Phillips was not a hunter, so the animal heads you see are from animals he brought to the ranch to see if they would thrive in this area.

We saw these zebras today, they are stunning animals and very curious.


The above canoe has an interesting story.

Last week I saw my first shrunken head and now on display at Woolaroc is seven of them.  I don’t want this to be a trend.

At the Mountain Man demo area I tried my hand at hatchet throwing, not so good.

And so did Bob, he was able to stick 2 out of 3 throws, see the hatchet in mid air.

This is a Cattlelo, one half Herford and one half buffalo.

Below is the modest home, just kidding, of Frank and Jane Phillips in Bartlesville.

We are heading on down the road tomorrow to Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Yoder, Ks (Hutchinson), June 15-17, 2012

With wanting to see a museum in Wichita and not being able to find an RV park there we liked, we ended up staying in Yoder, about 40 miles away.  Nice RV Park called the Hitchin Post for $20/night, full 50 amp hookup. 

The museum in Wichita that was a must see for me was the Museum of World Treasures.

Here I am touching an actual fossil of a Triceratops, something not everyone gets to do.

Here is IVAN,a T-Rex whose skeleton is 60% complete, he was just found in 2005 in North Dakota.  It is awesome to see the actual fossil and not a cast.

This museum has a little bit of lots of things. Mummies, shrunken heads, signatures of all the presidents (JFK’s handwriting was impossible to read), pitch fork from Wizard of Oz, plus lots of other items,

 

 

 

 

 

including the signature of Marilyn Monroe (on her neck).

 

 

 

 

Plus, we had an opportunity to visit with the Founder, Dr. Jon Kardatzke.  He even showed us his first antiquity item he ever purchased, a coin from Jerusalem, it was in a very worn plastic case in his pocket.  Below is our photo with the Founder with Ivan in the background.

Sunday we visited the Underground Salt Mine in nearby Hutchinson, KS.  Amazing, is the best word to use.

We were outfitted with hard hats and emergency breathers (black strap with pouch at bottom).

First we descended down 650’, then viewed various displays with an opportunity to take a train and tram ride.

Plus we were given the chance to collect our own salt from a large pile.

This two thumbed glove was found from when it was used in the 50’s.  The miners would use the glove on one hand until the thumb wore through, then move the glove to the other hand and use the other thumb until it wore out.

An underground storage company now uses 88 of the underground rooms for document storage.  Medical records, Hollywood films, county and state records are some examples of the types of records kept below.

They reassure their clients with a guarantee shown above.

Certainly a nice way to spend an afternoon.

Tomorrow we head on down the road to Bartlesville, OK.