Miami

We are still in Miami. It was their long weekend and we had to stay here as all the camping spaces in the keys were booked. So we toured the city and went to the Miami Zoo. It is a really nice zoo with animals that are not in cages but rather out in open spaces. They have an aerial tram which you can ride on around the whole park and see everything or you can rent bicycles or walk. We chose the tram and walking. Had a lovely day as there is lots of shade and as usual it was very hot. Karina, you would be quite at home here. I didn’t know there was so much Spanish spoken here. We got a chance to practice our Spanish just buying groceries as they tell you the price in Spanish. Poor Ed went into a dollar store and when they said Dos Trece he had to figure out what they meant. (That is $2.13 for those of you that don’t know). It was so funny to see the look on his face and then watch his mind go into gear. It is all part of our funny memories of our travels. There are lots of Mexican restaurants here too.  Ed just checked and says that we have travelled about 8500 km since we have left home. That is about half way so lots more driving to do. Good thing he is a retired bus driver as I have not driven at all. Maybe I will give it a go if the lanes are wide and there is no traffic. Ha! There are no shoulders at the side of the road a lot of the time and I don’t feel comfortable with driving a bus that is so wide and takes up most of the lane. We are off to the Florida Keys today. There is supposed to be great snorkelling and scuba diving there. Adios Amigos!

Tampa Florida

We have travelled South through central Florida. The highway wound its way through forested and pastoral countryside and historic communities. Now we are camped south of Tampa Florida at a State Park. We are under a canopy of moss draped live oaks and mangrove trees. We went for a canoe ride this morning down an inlet which is right outside our door permitting visitors to explore the park’s remarkable wilderness. It was so peaceful and quiet. We can certainly tell that we have finally reached south Florida. I can feel I am in a swamp, what with the vegetation and the water and all the different critters. Also many Red Cardinals here and they are so very bright and pretty. We are on the Gulf Coast. No sign of any oil. But I am NOT going swimming here. (see picture). We met some nice people who live on the Florida Keys and they gave us some information. Looking forward to seeing all that the Everglades have to offer.   

Thursday – May 26 – Today we took a tram tour into the everglades. This park features a wealth of vegetation and wildlife Saw lots of alligators and different types of birds. There are very large blue herons here. We thought the ones we have at home were big but these are huge. The land is very flat and swampy. Met a nice couple from Germany who are also travelling. The tour had people from all over the world. Very few were actually from the US. Tonight we are in Miami. We will be staying here for a few days as it is the US Memorial Day weekend and everything is booked. There is a lot to see and do here and the campground is quite deluxe. Off for a swim now. More later …….

Florida

We are now in Florida. Again the terrain has changed. We drove miles and miles along a divided highway with trees on both sides and cut grass and trees in the middle. It was quite flat and though at first we appreciated the beauty after a while it got quite boring. The trees are some type of pine but they are completely bare about 2/3 of the way up before there are needles. They look extremely dry and ready for a forest fire any minute. I guess because it is so hot here that is the way they grow. Where are the palm trees?
We hope to reach the gulf coast tomorrow. Guess we will just watch tv tonight. Missed the Canucks game today as we have finally got to Eastern Standard time and the game was early. But Yeah they won again!!
By the way Drew and Jenna you are with me every night. I have your fan beside my bed!! Gotta go now and have another shower. Only way to keep cool.
Arlys

NashvilleTennesee

We had to go through flooded areas to get to Nashville. But the roads were clear. That is why we went all the way to St. Louis so that we could cross the Mississippi River safely. (See picture)Made it to the largest country music town in the US. We took a city tour and the operator showed a lot of interesting sites, where they record the music,etc and also the homes of many of the country music stars. The homes are very large as expected but they sit on land with horses grazing and look actually quite homey. It is nice as the music stars raise their familes here and are sited at the supermarkets, home depot, etc and just treated like regular folks. The city isn't all that large really and it was very nice here. We of course went to the Grand Ole Opry and saw several singers. I don't really know who they were as we are not country music fans but we enjoyed the experience and just the fact to be in this famous place. It was something to see as they just finished refurbishing it after having a huge flood a year ago in which the whole bottom floor and the stage were under 4 ft of water. They have done an amazing job of fixing it all up like it used to be. The building is actually the second Grand Ole Opry as they outgrew the original site. But they saved a piece of the original floor of the first building and have installed it in the new stage floor. So the artists feel very honored to be standing on a piece of flooring where so many famous performers before them stood. 

Enough with the country music. We moved on to Alabama. The terraine has finally changed. It is quite flat here but with lots of trees along the highways. We have been just south of Birmingham for the last few days. Just stopped and smelled the roses (as they say). We were so lucky. They had a terrible tornado here just 3 weeks ago. There is a swath of destruction where it leveled everything. Along the highway there are many fallen huge trees and lightpost which are bent right in half. Awful to see and we feel so sorry for so many peole lost just everything. We met some nice people in our campground from New York. They gave us advice on where to go/stay etc when we head north. Everyone we meet is so friendly. It is funny because some of the locals sound just like Gomer Pyle. And everyone greets you with "How are y'all".

We are in south Alabama tonight. It is 5:30 and 35C outside. So guess we will be using the air conditioner tonight.

Missouri

Branson is a really fun place. The whole town is full of bluegrass performers. We have gone to several different live performances and enjoyed them thoroughly. It is funny that Vancouver doesn’t promote this place as a destination to visit. The town is geared up for tourism. It is a real family entertainment town. I would suggest anyone come and see it for yourself. The prices are really good. Only about $25 each to see some great country artists. Can’t get anything like it anywhere else. We stayed in a campground near a crik (creek) and when travelling went over hills and hollers (hollows). I just love the way they speak. Y’all have a good time you hear. Strange sight is all the armadillos. They are everywhere. They are a pest to the locals though. Apparently they eat bugs but dig under their houses and can destroy a place in no time. So the locals are not fond of them.

We are at Meramac State Park tonight. It is located west of St. Louis. It is really pretty here but quite wet as we had a thunderstorm last night and more rain predicted for tonight. It is a relief though to have the cooler weather and we don’t mind it at all. Hope to be able to go to the underground caverns tomorrow. I guess it depends on the weather. We stopped at a truck stop for lunch and met some nice truckers. One was from Chilliwack. They gave us some tips as to roads to take on our travels. Apparently the south is quite flooded but the main roads are fine. We are watching the weather patterns and following exactly where the flooding is happening. So we have figured out as far as Nashville and then don’t know yet which route we will be taking.

Went to the caverns and they are amazing. The caverns took thousands of years to grow and are huge. The entire cave complex stretches upward past the height of a 7 story building and extraordinary formations can be seen throughout. I don’t know how many miles wide it is but the rooms are very large. Interesting facts are that Jesse James and his gang hid out in the caves along with their horses after a robbery and escaped through a ¾ mile underground stream that runs throughout. Also during the civil war saltpeter was made from the bat droppings in the caves. They used this as gun powder for their muskets. It is easy to imagine all this happening when you visit the caves.

We then carried on to St.Louis. It is very wet and rainy here but an interesting city to visit. See the famous arch below. Off to Nashville tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing it.

Oklahoma and Arkansas

May 8 – Foss Lake, Oklahoma

We stayed at Foss Lake State Park today. It was so hot travelling (42C) so we stopped at noon at this lake and camped right on the waters edge. Really nice here but then the wind came up and it was blowing hot. Some of the campers were worried as they heard that there might be a tornado. But though it got very windy nothing happened and we just rocked and rolled in the motorhome. The state parks here have water and electricity so we enjoyed looking out of the window at the lake sitting in our air conditioned unit. The country here is beginning to change. There are more trees and rolling hills. Still quite pairie-like though.

May 9 – We left late today from Foss Lake and just took our time going through Oklahoma City and surrounding area. Didn’t really travel very far. We are at Shawnee, just east of Oklahoma City tonight but hope to travel a little more tomorrow. No big rush though. We just take one day at a time. Seems a little cooler tonight.  May 10 - We had a long day today outrunning a tornado. So we crossed Arkansas and are now in the Ozark Mountains. The country is so different here. High mountains but all covered in trees. The people here are so very nice. They think we have accents but we certainly know that they do. They are all very friendly as they don't see many people from BC. The countryside is just gorgeous and it is finally a little cooler. Tomorrow off the Branson Missouri.

Texas

Saturday - May 7 -

We made it to Texas. Long windy road just like the prairies. Lots of cattle and horses along the side. We are camped near Palo Duro Canyon State Park. The canyon exposes geological formations more than 250 million years old, revealing colorful stratas of red claystone, gypsum, yellow mudstone, as well as layers of limestone and sandstone. We drove 16 miles along a scenic drive that took us 1000 feet below the rim. We were planning on camping there but it was 39 degrees C at the bottom and so we left and came out of the canyon and are staying at a campground with electricity for our air conditioning and gee it is only 32 degrees here. But it is supposed to go down to 6 degrees tonight. We are definately seeing a lot of different scenery and enjoying it all. Makes us appreciate what we have back home though. As it is so hot here we are moving on to Oklahoma tomorrow. Not that long a drive as we are in the north of Texas. So lomg for now pardner as they say here.

New Mexico

Thursday - We finally made it out of Arizona and with working brakes. Yeah!! We met up with some folks from Florida and travelled together stopping at different casinos along the way. Only travelled about 150 miles. At each casino we went in and joined their free club. We managed to get $20 at one casino, dinner at another, free camping overnight, $20 free gas, two free Route 66 hats and still played around with the slot machines at their expense and walked away with another $20. So this casino thing is great. We have fun and it doesn't cost us anything and often includes the overnight camping, We are travelling along the old Route 66 so there is a lot of memorabilia and places to stop along the way. Grasslands and scrublands cover much of New Mexico, especially in the eastern and southern part of the state. The lower elevation savanna woodlands are covered by pines and junipers. The terrain has changed and we no longer see the high red rocks but rather lower rolling hills with trees. It is still very hot and dry and at times I find it hard to breathe. At least as we are at a higher elevation it cools down nicely at night making it comfortable to sleep.
Friday - Today we contined to travel across New Mexico about 200 miles. We didn't stop much as there was just miles and miles of open highwaywith Indian trinkets for sale along they way. Tonight we are in Tucumcari New Mexico. We are going for a walk now to see their wall of murals. More later.
Ed and Arlys

Sedona and Meteor Crater

We spent a couple of days in the Sedona area. Lots of flat topped red mountains. Very interesting as there were different tribes that lived in caves and built adobe type homes in the mountainside. They had to climb all the way up and down to get their water and plant gardens for food etc. We did a little hike but as we were at over 5000 ft level we got a little dizzy and couldn't climb all the way to the top. Now we are in Meteor Crater RV Park (still Arizona) and it is exactly as it sounds. Apparently they trained the astronauts for the moon in this area. It is very flat and dry and looks like the moon.  Oh well had to do laundry and as we have  air conditioning and wifi here  we are quite comfortable. More travelling tomorrow.

Still stuck

Apache Junction

While we are waiting for our brake part we are still in the Phoenix area. Now the shop is shut down until Monday. We have moved into a campsite at Apache Junction. A rich vein of history runs through this area. The Apache Trail once served as a stage coach and freight wagon route. Indians, cowboys and miners all roamed the Superstition Mountains. We took a drive today to Goldfield Ghost Town. The original buildings still stand and they have preserved the town and added actors to dress up like the people of the old west. We quite enjoyed our visit. See the pictures below. It is very hot and dry here. Sure wouldn’t want to live here permanently. It is also very hot ( 39 degrees c.)