South through California, Oct. 2012

October, 2012
Leaving Oregon we traveled south through California stopping at Maxwell to visit friends we'd met at Diamond Lake.  Virgil took us out to the rice fields to see how rice is havested.  Rice cultivation began in California during the Gold Rush when Chinese laborers immigrated into California and began growing rice for their own use.  Commercial production began in 1912 in Richvale and by 2006 California produced the 2nd largest crop in the US, second only to Arkansas.  The rice fields are concentrated in 6 counties north of Sacramento.

Rice was not the only thing we found near Maxwell.  They raise many varieties of fruits and vegetables including watermellon oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit and pommegrantes as well as olives and almonds.

Ginny and Virgil were excellent hosts, showing us the area around Maxwell as well as providing a place to park the RV for a few days.  Thanks Ginny and Virgil!!  See you next summer in Diamond Lake.

Pacific Northwest

July found us back in the Pacific Northwest. Here we were hiking to Tokatee Falls in Oregon.

Mt. Bailey, on Diamond Lake has always been a favorite place to take walks with the dog. 

Crater Lake in the foreground with Mt. Bailey in the distance on the left and Mt. Thielson on the right.  Diamond Lake is located between Bailey and Thielson.  Our rv park is on the slope of Mt. Thielson, known as the "lightning rod" of the Cascades.

Wild Horse Sanctuary, Hot Springs, SD

On Monday, June 11 we drove to the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary south of Hot Springs, SD.  In 1988, Dayton Hyde purchased 11,000 acres of land to give captured horses a place to live and run free.  The visitor's center was once the homestead of the original owners of this ranch.

To provide a good home to every horse requires good grass management and means they have to limit the population to the forage available.  In order to do that they set a goal of zero population increase.  The stallions were separated from the mares and PZP was used on the others.  Locating all the stallions on the rough terrain was a challenge.  Either there were virgin births this season or there is a mystery stallion somewhere!  They ended up with a dozen foals this spring.                       

The mare in the middle has a rare "medicine hat" coat pattern.  Note the brown on the top of her head  and the brown on her chest. She would have been highly desired by Indian chiefs.                            

This is the beautiful "Don Juan" a Sulphur Mustang Stallion, one of almost 60 rare Spanish Sulphur, Kiger, and Sorraia mustangs which were thought to be descendants of horses brought by the early explorers of the Americas.  If you click on the picture to enlarge it you will be able to see the "zebra stripes" on his legs.                                                                                                             

The Cheyenne River runs through the ranch and provides precious water for the horses.  This area was used in the movie Hidalgo as were other areas of the ranch.  Also visible on the prairies sod are scars left by stage coaches and wagons from the Sidney or Cheyenne to the Deadwood Trail.                                                   

 All too quickly our tour was over and it was time to head back towards Custer.  We stopped at a small state park picnic area and shared our lunch with John, a new friend we met at our campground.

 

To learn more please visit www.spanishmustangspirit.com

South Dakota Summer, 2012

This is our "home" for part of the summer.  Nice campsight, huh??   Bill cooked Campfire stew in the cast iron pot for us.  Bill, friends John, Judy and Guy.

Took a ride "somewhere" in southwest South Dakota.  We were headed to Pringle via back roads but almost ended up in Wyoming.  Drove over 60 miles on dirt roads, some very narrow.

The scenery was gorgeous, right out of the old west!

We ran across a herd of longhorns and this lone Aryshire calf.  Isn't he cute??

This band of mares were very productive this year as each one had a foal.  They were so pretty.  After several hours we finally found a main road and knew where we were and headed home.  What a beautiful day for a drive.



Oz Museum, Wamego, KS April 27, 2012

         The Oz Museum, Wamego, KS

                 Aprill 27, 2012
After arriving in Manhattan, KS we took a drive to Wamego with Bill's brother Jim and wife, Laura to visit the Oz Museum. Frank Baum was the author of the beloved Oz books.
 Although the Wizard of Oz was not filmed in Kansas, there is a wonderful museum consisting of one man's private collection of Oz memorabilia, one of the largest in the world.

This inlaid table top consists of 22 kinds of wood and 5273 pieces.  Designed and built by Darren Fundenburger of Lyons, KS, it won 1st place and Best of Show at the 2006 Kansas State Fair.

I never realized there was so much memorabilia from the Wizard of Oz!  The yellow brick road lead past may displays including the Munchkins, Scarecrow, Wicked Witch, Flying Monkey, and other artifacts.

Jim and Laura with the Tin Man, one of many lifesize displays.

More beloved characters from Oz.

We had a hardy lunch at a little cafe in Wamego, we headed to the Historical Museum for our next adventure.

Catching Up !

Hello again, from Aransas Pass, Texas, on the Gulf Coast. I can't believe it is March already! We are enjoying a quiet winter season, some walks on the beach, fresh shrimp, and the sunshine. Don't much care for the humidity, though.

We visited the Fulton Mansion , about 15 miles north of us in Rockport/Fulton area. Rising above Aransas Bay and surrounded by stately oaks and palm trees it must have appeared incredible in 1877 with its mansard roof and ornate trim work. For its time, this home was progressive, luxurious and rare in this part of Texas.

Today, it offers a glimpse into the life of an affluent family in the late 1800s living is this grand Victorian villa called Oakhurst.

The unique construction of the mansion is shown in this picture. Pine boards were staggered horizontally on top of each other for strength to withstand the hurricanes from the Gulf of Mexico. Just think of the huge amounts of lumber that had to be shipped in to build this grand old lady.

We drove to Kingsville again, this time to tour the famous King Ranch. This is the stable near the main house. You aren't permitted to tour the house or even get off the bus so I couldn't get a picture of it, but it was stunning!

Isn't this an impressive longhorn? The King ranch is most noted for developing the Santa Gertudis breed of cattle and also produced the first registered American Quarter Horse.

Today the King Ranch sprawls across 825,000 acres of South Texas land, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. As the home to 50,000 cattle and 350 Quarter Horses, King Ranch is one of the largest ranches in the world today.

This is Alberto Trevino, known as "LoLo". A 5th generation King Ranch hand, he has lived on the King Ranch all of his life and had many interesting stories to tell. Mexican cowboys were offered jobs and homes to come work on the ranch in the 1800s. The ranch had its own schools, stores, and churches.

This is the true American West!

Conner Museum, Kingsville, TX Dec. 3, 2011

We sold the little RV that we had taken to Alaska and delivered it to Kingsville, TX for the new owners. While in Kingsville we visited the Conner Museum on the campus of Texas A & M University of Kingsville.

One of the most interesting areas was the "Hall of Horns", the lifetime collection of Graves Peeler. Peeler collected trophy game animals from all over North America. Included in the collection are 4 Boone and Crockett Mule Deer.



Also in the collection were elk, moose, big horn sheep, stone sheep, caribou, antelope, mountain goats and bears. Here is a good comparison of the grizzly bear and the brown bear. Notice the wide fore head of the grizzly on the left. Peeler was also one of the men responsible for saving the Texas longhorn cattle from extinction.

The Collared Peccary, or locally know as the Javelina, are the only native, wild, pig-like animal found in the United States. There are called Javelina for their razor-sharp tusk, Spanish for javelin or spear. Ranging from 35 to 60 pounds and 20 to 24 inches tall, they have poor hearing but good eye sight. Their typical diet includes agave and prickly pear cactus.

This kitchen display from circa 1880-1900 included a Hoosier Cabinet, manufactured in Greencastle, Indiana where my sister-in-law lives. Also note the wooden barrel wringer washing machine on the right.

Another display depicted a different kind of kitchen, the chuckwagon, a much needed piece of equipment used to feed the cowboys on their long trail drives or just tending cattle on the huge ranges of Texas. It carried everything needed to feed the hungry hands, all condensed into a very small space.

The museum also contained animals, birds and snakes native to Texas, a large display of barbed wire and branding irons used to identify the cattle that roamed the ranges of south east Texas. It was a very interesting and I'm glad we took the time to stop and visit.