Rocky Mountain High!

For the last couple of days we have been camping at the Mountain Air Ranch near Denver. The altitude there is about 7,000 feet and for folks like us, who normally live 13 feet above sea level, everything is difficult. Climbing a flight or two of stairs brings back memories of how I felt after running a mile. Even the easy things, tying your shoes, zipping up the sleeping bag, or rolling over in bed will cause you to gasp an extra breath or two. We did get to rest up around the pool, and improve our tans. I even read half a novel. Enough rest. Back to the hard work of vacationing.

Today we drove to visit some old friends, Terry and Ann Lucius, who live in Evergreen, CO. We just missed Terry, who was flying a big jet to Japan. I hope we can visit with him on our way back from Utah. Terry loved flying more than anything when he was young, maybe still does. He worked his way through college but every spare cent went toward renting airplanes and I had many fun hours flying with him. He eventually got into the D.C. Air National Guard where he was paid to fly F-4 Phantom Jets and F-16s. This was just like dying and going to heaven in Terry's mind. Now he has graduated to flying the big planes to London, Hong Kong, Japan, etc. I guess that would be the top of the food chain for a pilot. They live in a beautiful house, in a beautiful setting, but the feature I will remember forever is the toilet; or should I say TOTO Washlet C100! This thing is just to cool for words so here is a picture and the web address: http://www.totousa.com/Default.aspx?tabid=110 I'm afraid to look up the cost because I want one and suspect I can't afford it, but damn it's cool!

Ann, after 20 years, looks unnaturally like she did in 1989. Still beautiful and fit. She sells real estate now, but used to be a dietitian for the Air Force. Maybe there is something to eating right and exercising. The Colorado thing might play into it too. It seems everyone here is a fitness buff. As we cruise through the beautiful mountains, bicycles inhabit every section of road. In some places they seem to outnumber the cars. And these aren't your garden variety Walmart bikes, nooo. These are super sophisticated, carbon or aluminum exotics. Heck, even the stretchy outfits, toe clip shoes, fancy shirts and hats would cost more than my old Schwinn. One guy we talked to was on a 15 pound, carbon fiber beauty, the cost? Between $12 and $16k! These people take their cycling seriously!

The motorcycle ride today can only be described as scenic overload. Everywhere you look the land is beautiful, dramatic, awe inspiring, breath taking; underline breath taking... Maybe the oxygen deprivation plays into it but I now really understand the John Denver lyrics to Rocky Mountain High. The air is so thin you can get light headed and it makes me think the birds here must take steroids to be able to get aloft. We spend lots of time today above the tree line and could have had a snowball fight if I'd been a quicker thinker as we passed many patches of snow that have still not melted and I'm writing this on July 12! Athletes train at these lofty heights to improve their performance at normal altitudes. Over a period of time you will develop more hemoglobin in your blood so you can get oxygen better to your cells. They say that after acclimating to life here, you feel super strong when you return to sea level. I'm shopping for my cape.

Tonight we are stopped in Leadville, a town known for its silver mining history and thin air. (Click on any picture to see it at full resolution.) Our hotel is just over 10,000 feet and the air is thin and dry. They have bragging rights to things like, "2 Mile High Liquor", an adult beverage supplier whose name must be unique in the world. The town is the real thing when it comes to mining. There are buildings, equipment, mine shafts, and all kinds of mine related debris everywhere. The town is now on the edge of some good ski resorts so it mostly mines the silver from tourists pockets today.

We found a nice restaurant with a very simple theme. They only serve one thing; a small fillet Mignon, salad, and baked potato for $7.95. OK, on Friday and Saturday you can also get prime rib, but aside from beverages and choice of two deserts, that's it. It's a formula that works. We joined the crowd at 4:50 PM waiting for 5 O'clock door opening and it filled up quickly. We were satisfied and happy when we left and I actually felt the effect of one Bud Lite! Oxygen deprivation again. One ice cream cone and I'm calling it a night.

Miner's Museum and more scenic overload tomorrow.

Livin' Large!

We started the day by driving to the beautiful River Walk in Pueblo, Colorado. Where we decided we could still make it to Pike's Peak and take advantage of the good weather. There are a couple of choices to get to the summit. You can drive the dusty, dangerous, mostly paved road, or take a cog train. We checked out the railway and decided this was the safe and smarter way to the top without damaging the bike. It takes an hour to get to the top. You have an hour there to shop, take pictures and freeze your ass off, then another hour to descend. The scenery is breathtaking but so is the altitude. I doubt I could do anything more strenuous than take pictures and walk around a bit. Theresa fared worse, posing exhausted her. We were not the only ones affected by the altitude, the cashier at the souvenir stand wore and EMS shirt and had a stethoscope around his neck. I asked if he used it often; he said yes. To make us feel even more wimpy a hiker, Dr. Thomas Jagger, strode onto the train looking like like he could race it to the bottom and win! He had just walked up the mountain in about 5 1/2 hours, and wasn't even breathing hard! He had a really cool gizmo in his backpack, a pulse ox sensor that clipped onto your finger like an electronic clothespin on steroids. We all had fun documenting what horrible shape we were in. At 13,000 feet Theresa scored a 78 vs. Tom's 92. To be fair, we live at 13 feet above sea level in Naples, Tom lives at about 6,500 feet, so I figure Theresa spotted him 6,487 feet.

We are here one week too early for the Pike's Peak Hill Climb. See http://www.ppihc.com/ for details of an automotive event that is just scary to believe. Imagine snaking up to the 14,010 foot summit in 10 minutes and 1 second in a purpose built race car. No guardrails! Maybe we will have to hang around a few extra days to see this craziness.

At the top and on the way down we experienced a weather phenomena called virga. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virga for a better explanation, but the short story is that rain can fall and re-evaporate before it hits the ground. We saw what looked like a cloudburst but it dissapeared a few thousand feet below us. Cool. To finish on Pikes Peak weather, it averages 30 degrees cooler at the top of the cog rail than the bottom, but we came from Pueblo today with 103 on the thermometer on Interstate 25, to what felt like 40 degrees at the summit. Now that's what I call a chilling contrast.

On the way down the mountain we talked to a passenger who booked a 3.5 star room for $52 using http://www.hotwire.com/ . When we got back into town I fired up the notebook on a sidewalk bench and checked for myself. We have been paying about $52 for Motel 6, to $89 for Super 8. Her suggestion was worth investigating. Hotwire offered a 4 star resort for $67! There are strings attached with Hotwire, for instance you don't know the name of the hotel until you accept, but gambler that I am, I pushed the button and was directed to the beautiful 4 star Cheyenne Mountain Resort. Motel 6 it ain't!

This full featured resort backs up to Cheyenne Mountain of NORAD fame. From the bowels of this hollowed out giant rock, the Air Force could dictate which cities would disappear if the cold war ever became hot. They ran Space Command from there too. See http://www.ppihc.com/ for the Wikipedia data dump on it's history and future.

There were a couple of extra fees, like $12 tax and a $15 "resort fee" which got us amenities like golf, saunas, pools, indoor or outdoor tennis, Internet, (which I'm using now), and may other bennies. We had become so accustomed to living large that by dinnertime we splurged and ate in the big, on property, restaurant. We opted for the $18 salad, soup, and desert buffet. We figured, (Obama style), that we had already blown today's travel budget so badly, why stop there. I expect the pain in my wallet will ease when I settle into my pillow top mattress and enjoy the silence of no freight trains running outside my window. Total damage will still be under $150 for a very nice experience. I think I'm going to love Hotwire.

If you don't see an update for a couple of days we will be camping near Denver.

Blinded By the Light!

We traveled west into Colorado until about 7 PM but the sun was in my eyes and the limited visibility wasn't worth the risk so we stopped at a Super 8 Motel in La Junta for the night. Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and maybe more tomorrow.

If Vernon and Shawn are reading the blog, "thanks for the brakes!". The bike is running well and I'm stopping with much less drama. Theresa and I no longer have to slide our feet to gain additional friction when going downhill. Nice job guys. If anyone reading this blog ever needs mechanical work, I give Clark Motorsports, http://www.clarkmotorsports.com/ two thumbs and two cool feet up!

Kansas and Eastern Colorado are pretty plain as driving sights go. we have seen enough of oil pump jacks, grain elevators, silos and such but we were amazed by a sight in Lamar, Colorado. The Colorado Beef Feed Lot was something to behold. From a distance it appeared to be a huge black patch on the land but when you get close you recognize the darkness as tens of thousands of cows. Probably enough beef to supply McDonalds worldwide for months. The feed lots were packed and extended down Route 50 for well over a mile. The depth from the highway is probably more than half a mile. An up close photograph would not tell the story of the size of this place so I snipped from a satellite image to illustrate the incredible size of the project. I recon the dark half circle at the left of the photo is under a mile in diameter and all of the black property to the right of that circle is high density cows.

To service an operation that big takes railroad trains, and lots of them. I'm sure the track in front of our hotel service many other facilities, but the stream of 90+ car trains has been nearly non-stop all evening. I'd say 4 and hour and it's 12:53 PM as I write this!

The Colorado Tourist Information Center was great! First, there were three lovely ladies who lavished their well informed attention on us. Theresa got to grind corn into cornmeal, the hard way... stone tools.

I got to see a wind turbine propeller up close. This GE Blade was about 50 yards long and it is only half as large as some!

They also had a very well preserved steam locomotive. I may never pass a Tourist information Center again.

Gettin' Outta Dodge!

Theresa and I are sitting in Clark Motorsports, Garden City, Kansas while Vernon and Shawn wrestle with the big rear wheel on our bike. The braking performance had deteriorated over the last few thousand miles and with the Rockies in front of us I wasn't wanting anything that was not at 10/10ths performance. This is also a good time for an oil change and some TLC to all the nuts and bolts that can be reached on the lift.

We enjoyed our visit to Dodge City and hope to get to Canon City, Colorado by dark.

On the road this morning we passed some guys on bicycles who were riding from Virginia to California! Made me feel a bit wimpy. We paced one of them and asked about their ride. It seems they are raising money for medical research. Parkinson's, and such. Very noble. I wish riding the motorcycle would get me into that kind of shape. Alas, the work of sitting and turning the radio knobs, with occasional adjustments to the cruise control just won't burn many calories. I did wash the bike a few days ago. Maybe that burned off enough calories to offset one Pepsi, but I doubt it. Calories are hard to burn. I'll be curious at the end of our ride so see a net gain or loss in my weight. I do intend to loose a few pounds on the trip but good food and beer keep getting in my way. Darn!

Oklahoma to Kansas

We started the day thinking the drive would be a tough one. After all, we were deep in the boonies of Oklahoma and had a long drive to Dodge City Kansas in 95 degree heat. We saw more oil pump jacks than we knew existed. It turned out to be enjoyable anyway. We found a good breakfast at Mel's Diner in Fairview. A town of just over 2,000 with big wide streets and the smallest movie theater we've ever seen. We stopped and talked about guns for a while at the local gun shop. I suspect a high percentage of the people here carry firearms. There are advertisements for concealed carry classes, and the lack of crime supports my theory. As a retired cop I can say with some authority, "when seconds count, the police are only minutes away". A population that can defend itself, is well defended. After some enjoyable conversation with the shop owner, himself an expert marksman and local peace officer, we drove into the Gloss Mountains.

These mountains were a very unexpected pleasure. They are known as Red Messas, the Glass Mountains, or more often the Gloss Mountains, they look like they just shouldn't be there. The land is flat to gently rolling for hundreds of miles, then suddenly there is a wall of red, lifted out of the landscape like a big red flat top hair-do. The best explanation I found for the geology is at http://www.okmajordev.org/gloss%20mountain%20state%20park.htm . The messas have large seams of gypsum and are laced with with a crystal called selenite. The cartographer who named the messas apparently misunderstood the thick accent of one of the surveyors who exclaimed "It sure looks like Glaws". I could forgive anyone for making gloss or glass out of that.

We have all seen grain elevators and silos before but never like this. The sheer volume of wheat, corn, and whatever else they put in these things is staggering. I think you could fill an entire train with some of the larger ones. Now I understand why this is the breadbasket of the country.

Cattle likewise, is produced on a massive scale. We approached a huge dark section of land and from several miles away could not figure out what had darkened the land in this way. When we got closer, we could see that is was a feed lot, where cattle by the thousands were fed, sorted, auctioned and transported to the rendering plants. Those plants were also massive, spawning additional whole industries to dispose of what is not beef at the end of the process. This economy of scale is why less than 3% of our population can feed us all.

We also saw more oil pump jack than we knew existed. Wikipedia explains how they work better than I can. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpjack if you like mechanics and hydraulics.

This part of the country is known for its windy conditions and we were treated to another unusual sight soon after entering Kansas; a wind farm. When you approach these giants, they, like mountains, appear much closer that they really are. In this collection, I guess there were about 200 of these machines. Each one probably costs a million or two and each machine looked like it was about 400 feet tall with blades of maybe 200 feet long. That is a big machine! I hear they can put out between 1 and 3 megawatts each! They are expensive but environmentally friendly. I don't know what a kilowatt hour costs from a wind farm but I'll bet it's high. Green or not, Ted Kennedy did not want them in his back yard. He said it would kill birds. I guess the life of a Kansas bird is worth less than a bird neighboring the Kennedy compound.

We arrived at Dodge City Kansas in time to shop, rest, and see the Boot Hill Museum and Front Street. For a very reasonable $25 they fed us both a very tasty and large dinner, then down past the replica town storefronts where a group of costumed gunslingers re-enacted a typical wild west bar fight and shootout. It seemed very realistic and reminded me of some of my days on the police department. See gunfighters and former gunfighters below:

Tomorrow we will try to get some miles done before it gets too hot. I hear we are facing another 100 plus day. By afternoon we should be at cooler Colorado altitudes... more then.

Getting Our Kicks On Route 66!

A difficult Internet connection at our July 4th and 5th Campsite allowed us to veg out. We watched fireworks, went to a dance, and laid poolside perfecting our tans. It seems a conspiracy of standing, riding, walking, and medicine is making my legs and feet swell. I figured a couple of lazy days were in order and Dr. Scafuri is adjusting my medicine to help mitigate the problem. Ahhh, relaxation. Sweet!

This morning we packed up and headed down historic Route 66 to Oklahoma City. 66 is considered the "Mother Road" and it certainly has it's share of history. Today we had fun checking out the many strange signs, shops and sights from the saddle of the Honda.

We stopped in a dozen or more places and enjoyed everyone we met. Maybe most of all a couple of random GIs we saw shopping at Outdoor World. Our sleeping bags, although new and in perfect condition, were not very comfortable; maybe it's my size. We decided to give them away to the two soldiers, just back from Afghanistan, and bought ourselves some new, larger bags. They accepted the gift graciously and we felt a bit of a glow that we could do a small thing for them who have done big, difficult things for us.

More sightseeing...

After the new sleeping bags were stowed in the camper we visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. This was one of the most emotion provoking experiences we've had in a long time. The museum starts you at the time just before the blast, then re-creates the sights, narratives, and turmoil of the event when a rented Ryder truck full of explosives detonates in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killing 168 innocent people. There are many moments in the telling of the story when you just can't keep a dry eye. In the lawn, where the building stood, are 168 chairs. Then you notice some of the chairs are small, about half size, representing the kids killed in the day care center. That realization hit me like a punch in the gut. The names of the perpetrators of this senseless act should be lost to history so I will not say them here, referring to them only as shitheads. Shithead number one was put to death, while number two was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. I figure they got off about 168 times too light.

More sightseeing... Bricktown, the Capitol Building, the Cowboy Museum, then we pointed the Gold Wing in the direction of Colorado stopping in Kingfisher, Oklahoma for tonight's rest. Tomorrow, Kansas, the by the weekend we will be high in the Colorado Rockies.

Birthday Washing

For 50,113 miles of faithful service our trusty Gold Wing earned $2 worth of high pressure washing today. It had not seen any TLC since June in Houston and it was a bit embarrassing to be among 10,000 beautiful, spotless machines with a thousand miles of dirt and grime on mine. I was starting to feel like the biker from hell in Raising Arizona. She did clean up very nicely though and as an additional reward for good service I will award her a waxing with the latest high tech products, a treatment of windshield cleaning, and a spa like day of rest for the 4th of July.


For those interested in the type of bike we ride, she is a 1993 Honda Gold Wing, GL1500. She was the top fashion model of the motorcycling world in '93 but at 16 is beginning to show her age. Nevertheless, she has aged very gracefully and has never uttered a single mechanical complaint. I use Mobile 1 Synthetic Oil whenever it looks tired and dirty. A Honda mechanic told me they can go 8,000 miles on regular oil, and more on synthetics but I err on the side of caution changing at around 5,000 mile intervals. I'm running on Metzler tires now but might switch to Michelins next time. It is the most near perfect machine I've ever owned. On the highway, a Gold Wing stands alone at the top of the motorcycle food chain. With 96 horsepower, this old bike would be competitive with most fast cars, corvettes and the like at a drag strip, but that is not the reason for the power. It is to accelerate quickly and gracefully, up any hill, pulling any load, in near silence, so as to not disturb the high fidelity music playing inside your helmet. Theresa has fallen asleep in the very cushy back seat which is more like an easy chair, armrests included. Raucous, it's not. Comfortable? Yes. The newer 1800 cc versions are even faster, quieter, and more comfortable.


At the Wing Ding today there was a show bike competition with many classes, 1000 cc, 1100, 1200, 1500 (like ours), 1800, Trikes, Airbrushed Paint Jobs, Custom Builds, etc. Of the hundreds of machines to be judged, I doubt there was a teaspoon of dirt among them, and there was pounds of wax, shining from every surface. We did not stay to witness the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. We had shopping to do and the clock and our stamina was running out.


One of the vendors, J&M, sponsored an evening show where a hypnotist put a stage full of people into a sleep state, then had them doing all manner of funny things. You can see from the photo that the audience was maybe 5,000 plus. Shy as I am, I was glad to not be on that stage! J&M donated some of their fine communications equipment as prizes and ended the evening with raffle that raised over $5,000 for the local Ronald McDonald House. Theresa and I did not win, but consoled ourselves, along with dozens of other Wingers at the local ice cream parlor where a tasty banana split eased our prizeless grief.


Do southerners revere the founding of our country more than the Yankees? Are they more patriotic? Or do they just like fireworks more? It seems that everywhere we go, there is a giant tent, boasting that they have the loudest, biggest, fizziest, or boomiest fireworks at the lowest price, and they all claim that they will not be undersold! The competition is fierce. If all the pent up energy of all of those tents full of firecrackers, rockets, fountains, and sparklers are released into the atmosphere tomorrow, Al Gore my go apoplectic! Surely he will find his evidence for global warming there, probably from altitude in his private jet, to gain a better view of the earth's imminent demise.


Have a safe 4th of July.

Wing Ding

Theresa and I had a beautiful, but hot, ride from Eureka Springs. We stopped at the Daisy BB Gun Museum in Rogers before crossing the boarder into Oklahoma. The display of antique to modern BB guns was fascinating as was the history of the founders of the company which made windmills back in the late 1800s. In 1888, an inventor walked into the bosses office with his newly designed gun. The owner tried it and he said, "Boy, that's a Daisy", a term of the day describing anything that was really neat. I'm glad Cucumber wasn't the popular term. I'd have felt kind of goofy as a kid shooting my Cucumber. We met a lady there named Sue, who worked years ago with Beth Higby, a friend of ours at Bentley Village. She was very excited to hear that Beth is doing well in Florida. Small world.

The Honda Gold Wing riders gather somewhere in the country every year for a huge rally called a Wing Ding. This year it is in Tulsa, Oklahoma and we expect 10,000 to attend! We arrived around 4 PM and started shopping right away. We managed to spend a couple of hundred bucks in the two hours before closing. I still have more shopping to do so we will go back tomorrow. The Wing Ding is the very best place to buy motorcycle stuff. All the vendors are there fighting for your business and we find things you'd have to travel the whole country to locate.

Between wallet purges, they offer classes on almost anything you can think of dealing with riding. Dunlop sponsors a tire and safety check, chrome thingy vendors abound, and mechanics are on hand to mount your new goodies.

We returned to the show site after dinner tonight to see the end of the light parade where several hundred, very well dressed Gold Wings, paraded around the area, led and followed by police cars. The light on the patrol cars however, could not match the lights displayed on most of the bikes. One guy drilled holes for 1,900 individual LED lights which caused his trike to stand out from a mile away. Many of the hundreds of Tulsans, seated curbside on lawn chairs, applauded and cheered his passage. In spite of the tiny current draw of each lamp, he reckoned the whole lot pulled 30 Amps so he had to run his motor, just to keep it lit up! I felt sorry for him when, at the end of the parade, the judges gigged him for one light out! One out of 1,900? Damn! I might have had to pretend I didn't see it if I were judging.

Another crafty participant, edge lit his windshield in such a way as to illuminate the scrimshaw like etchings made in the Plexiglas. It was a work of art worthy of severe road rage if any trucker ever kicks up gravel in his path. The imagination and effort expended on these bikes is amazing. Many are such perfect showpieces, I'm surprised that they ride them across the country through the hazards of rain, dust and accidents. They look like they should be delivered in velvet boxes.

Our bike crossed it 50,000th mile today. I owe it a nice bath and maybe a lube job for it's good service.

Planes, Trains, Cars, Motorcycles, Horses and a Duck!

In the last 10 days we have been on more kinds of transport than at any time I can remember. My friend Bob, let me drive his amazing Maserati, then came the jets to Houston, more cars and trucks, the motorcycle, the horses, a duck in Hot Springs, and today a train!

We got to Eureka Springs, Arkansas just in time for the train ride into the mountains. For $22 each we rode in a 1923 dining car and ate Noodles Stroganoff. The trip was very enjoyable and the food delicious.

The town of Eureka Springs is one of the most quaint, scenic, and artsy places we've seen. The roads are so perfect for motorcycling there are specialty motels that cater just to bikers. Tonight we are settled into such specialty lodging. For about $50 we get to sit in front of our rooms and swap stories with a dozen other bikers, most of them on the way to the Wing Ding too. A/C, a washer and dryer, nice beds and a shower... my life is complete! A reason for our camaraderie is explained by the sign nailed to a nearby tree.

I forgot to include a photo of our encounter with a veritable flock of hummingbirds. In my whole city boy life I've seen maybe six. On Rt 7 we saw dozens and photographed them from two feet away! It's this kind of thing that make our travels so enjoyable. Hummingbirds are a very small thing but I found them fascinating and marveled for a long time at their aerobatic skills. What masters! In John Denver's song, Rocky Mountain High, he sings, "He knows he'd be a poorer man if he never saw an eagle fly". They were great lyrics. Today I feel richer for having seen hummingbirds.

Tomorrow we head to Rodgers for the Daisy BB Gun Museum and Silom Springs to visit the former home town of my police department partner, Jim Smythe. Then by late afternoon we will arrive at the Wind Ding in Tulsa.

Why We Like to Motorcycle in Arkansas

Scenic Highways aren't the only reason to ride a Motorcycle, but they are one of the best. Arkansas Route 7 is one of the best we've seen. It has a beautiful mix of hills, curves, overlooks, and quaint towns and shops to keep it interesting. The pavement is great; clean, pothole free, well marked, and just fun to navigate. There are enough foot peg dragging corners to pump a little adrenaline into your system and enough pastoral scenes to calm you down again. Nice mix. If you've never ridden a motorcycle on a road like this, I hope you can add it to your bucket list and enjoy before checking out.

After this beautiful ride, we reached Branson, Missouri by mid afternoon, found a shop selling show tickets, and got what we were looking for, a nice motel room for two nights and tickets for two top shows. The price, $150. We booked the shows, SIX, (awarded Best show 2009), and Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede.

SIX was one of the most amazing acts we have ever seen. They are six of a family of ten brothers, no sisters, who were trained to sing and compelled to practice by their father, whom we met after the show. They sound like a conventional act; Sinatra, The Coasters, The Beach boys, etc., but they have no band! While one or more of the brothers sings a song to absolute perfection, the others imitate the sounds of the appropriate instruments. The effect is a most pleasing but there is a confusing cognitive disconnect where you try to figure out how you can be hearing the instruments that aren't there! They are outstanding showmen and when the act is over and people file out of the theater, they, and several family members, stay to shake hands, talk and thank us for coming to their show. Jak, the bass singer has the most incredible low range I've ever heard, bottoming out at an impossible sounding 50 Hertz! Their genius extends to the marketing of the group and their CDs, and T-Shirts which are sold at intermission by their own wives and some of their own 19 children. Outside the theater, they park Scion XB cars, each uniquely painted with the number of the driver, 1 to 6, and the web address http://www.sixrealbrothers.com/ . Visit to hear 30 second samples of their very impressive art.

The second show, Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede was also amazing. Imagine an indoor rodeo/circus where you dine at a table in your bleacher style seats. Sounds weird, but it works. They serve you delicious biscuits, soup, roasted pork, a whole Cornish hen, corn on the cob, potato, and an apple turnover, accompanied by unlimited Pepsi, tea, or coffee; burrp. While eating this they sing a song explaining that you eat cowboy style with your fingers, "cause there ain't no silverware". It's messy, but fun, very tasty and plentiful. As you dine, a litany of impossible horse tricks bewilder you. Riders enter the dirt floor in the the center of the building at full gallop doing things that you'd think simply could not be done. How about standing in the saddle, at full speed, no reigns? Or maybe standing with one foot on the saddle of each of two galloping horses, like horse water skiing. They did dozens of unbelievable skill things and broke the tension with some very good comedy skits, a little magic, and some high precision maneuvers. In all, a worthwhile experience.

We drove a couple of laps around the downtown part of the city and give it our seal of approval if anyone is looking to us for a recommendation.

We earned our discounted passage to hotel and shows by listening to a two hour sales pitch for a "vacation ownership opportunity", (read time share). Our salesman, Dave, an ex rugby player, was a nice guy and warranted our earnest sympathy, as these "opportunities" just don't work for us. Still, we enjoyed the conversation and maybe we will see him at Fantasy Fest.

Tomorrow, we expect to enjoy some more mountain roads as we cruise westward. The Honda's odometer will break the 50k mark before noon giving cause to celebrate with icy sodas and if we see a car wash, a cleansing of two months of accumulated grit. We could use a laundry too.

Touristy Stuff

Today we indulged in all the tourist stuff we could squeeze into a 12 hour day. We started at the spa in our hotel with a soak in two big bathtubs full of the famous Hot Springs Mineral Water. Then we each had a one hour Swedish massage. Noodleish, would describe how we felt.

Then we were off to the Mid-America Science Museum. This is a hands-on place designed for kids and easily amused seniors like us. They have the world's most powerful conical Tesla Coil; 1.5 million volts. When they start this thing, lightning leaps loudly from a round electrode in the middle of its 2.5 ton steel cage and appears to be trying to escape into the audience. This made the babies cry and impressed us all. See http://www.midamericamuseum.org/tesla.htm

Here, Theresa attracts a stream of plasma with her boobs. I, like the plasma, find them attractive too.

Next we boarded a 1942 military duck. An amphibious vehicle, equally suitable for landing at Normandy or shuttling tourists between land and water.

We enjoyed the banter of our tour guide. He was a huge tattooed biker, do rag and all. His jokes and timing were perfected by multiple daily trips to Lake Hamilton where he drove this floating bus right into the water. We motored around the lake at it's top water speed of 4.5 mph and even witnessed a 30 mph top land speed run. These things were made for war, not love. He called himself Bubba our, bouncer, driver, captain, protector, and tour guide and he earned his post ride tip.

Upon our return to land and our Bath House Row starting point we finished the day with a stroll through the wax museum and a wine tasting event at the local winery. They define the words "tourist trap".

We plan to rise with the sun tomorrow and do the 250 or so miles to Branson, MO.

On the Hot and Dusty Trail

We don't like to use the Interstates as a rule, but with record high temperatures we made a dash for our air conditioned motel in Arkadelphia after stopping for a mid day movie in Texarcana. We had a bit of an intestinal scare last night. Theresa must have eaten something that didn't agree with her, or maybe it was the heat, but it appeared she might be getting sick again, as in the C. Diff. thing from 8 weeks ago. After consulting with Dr. Scafuri who was at home on his day off, (I swear we get concierge service from him), we decided to watch her for a bit before buying $1500 worth of Vancomycin. No kidding, 40, 250 MG pills cost $1500 and change at the Walmart Pharmacy. It may have been this sticker shock that compelled her sphincter to slam shut, but she has once again regained her digestive composure.

Our plan for today was to drive the scenic Route 7 to Hot Springs to procure a couple of days of pampering in America's First Resort. The Goldwing was gracefully carving turns through the mountain switchbacks when we came across a lovely stable with some very well mannered horses. We are not equestrians, but love new experiences. So, after much assurance from the sweet lady stable master, and having interviewed two kids, age 3 and 5 who had just finished their ride, we mounted our noble steeds, Rocket and Baldie. We rode a 2.5 mile trail to De Gray Lake. It was beautiful, and the horses, in spite of our total lack of equine experience, behaved very well. I was surprised to learn however, that the horses do love to eat poison ivy, so don't kiss your horse on the lips if you are sensitive.

We are now settled into the Austin. A pretty nice spa/hotel with a convention center attached. I have had great luck in picking our spots, this one is the venue for the Miss Teen Arkansas Pageant. Beautiful contestants abound, improving my tolerance for the 102 degree heat. We have appointments at 11:30AM for our "taking the waters" before our massages. The water thing is the reason for Hot Springs to be so, well, Hot. There are 47 springs here which issue 147 degree water laden with minerals that many claim have curative powers. This has created a large spa and bath house industry here. I will test these waters on my tired bones tomorrow and report to you in our next blog entry.