Outrunning bad weather, we ended up here

We fled Oklahoma like insects fleeing pesticides. Seriously, we were in Woodward, OK on Monday and it was becoming the focal point for the "major thunderstorm" moving up through the Heartland...so we did our best imitation of Canadian geese and drove like the wind south, down Hwy 34. We just didn't want to be caught in the thunder/wind/lightning/hail spectacular that arrived, apparently on Wednesday last week.

Destination: Copper Breaks State Park, outside Quanah, TX

So, as with NE and KS, we caught the narrowest 2 lane road available and drove through some pretty amazing small towns. Small like Sharon, so small I apparently did not see it as we drove through it, (pop.138*) and Vici, (pop. 699*, the Vici City Hall - circa 1939)

and Carmargo (pop. 178* )

Many of these towns are a mere 20+ miles or so between one another and are surrounded by cattle and farming ranches.

Elk City (pop. 11700*) intersects the old Route 66

Continuing down Hwy 34 to Mangum, a stopping point on one of the cattle- drive trails from Texas through OK to Abilene, KS. The photo below depicts cattle-drive life and is titled 'Up the Trail'.

 Mangum is a good sized town...(pop. approx. 3100*  and Margaret Avery, nominated for her role in The Color Purple was born here.) The mural below was on a business we passed leaving town.

We stopped in Carter (pop. 256*) for lunch....next to the town's cotton gin (which is now someone's residence) and the cotton co-op, where the photo below displays a bale of cotton and the reflection of our rig.)

We left Hwy 34 - at it's end and got onto Hwy 6 near Eldorado (pop. 446*), for the last 20 miles of Oklahoma and crossed over near the town of Quanah. Hello! Texas!

Roughly 20 miles inside the border is Copper Breaks...a lovely, quiet state park with electric/water sites, separate dry camping sites available and a equestrian area...after all it is Texas.

We were greeted by this rather impressive example of a Texas longhorn...our first sighting. I had to wonder about the stability of that rather flimsy looking fence...but so far, as of Monday when we arrived, it is the only day we have seen the herd.

The park office has a museum on site and offers a nice selection of artifacts and local area information. When available they sell "Stink Bait" - and yes I had to ask....it's a gop of goo that smells. Apparently the fish "adore" it.

This restored 'chuck wagon' is featured, as is quite a bit of the local Comanche history, given Quanah Parker was the last Chief and the town's namesake. His mother, Cynthia Ann Parker, at age 6, was kidnapped by the Comanche's, raised as one of their own and married within the tribe. My next post will be on Quanah...both the town and the Native American.

This is Big Pond, which when the water level is higher, feeds Lake Copper Breaks. Currently, due to the 3 year drought, water restrictions are in place for Quanah, Crowell and the surrounding areas.

Each camping site has a tepee shelter, with table and lantern hook. This one is closed as it appears Thor got mad and sent down a lightning bolt at some point in the not too distant past.

We are not using ours...for it is inhabited by a family of bats - really, just rodents with wings (eeuuuwww) and a village of wasp nests. So we are being good neighbors and giving them a respectful space in which to enjoy their living quarters.

I must say the night sky here is...in a word - AMAZING! No business/street/housing lights = dark, very dark night skies. We were able to photograph Venus 2 nights ago...also, the Milky Way is so close I feel as though I could reach out and touch it.

Next up....Quanah. In the meantime, thank you for reading my post...I hope you enjoy our travels as much as we do.

~ Ciao

NOTE: * denotes population number during 2010 US census.

Tour of Kartchner Caverns State Park

We arrived at our destination of Huachuca City, AZ late yesterday afternoon. The Tombstone Territories RV Resort is really nice with a large community center that offers tours, daily activities and a Friday night "JAM" session for musicians. We plan to attend that social time as we have discovered many talented musicians along the way.

Our goal today was Kartchner Caverns State Park once we got warm enough to move that is. We awoke to a record cold of about 17 degrees. It is expected to be around 10 degrees tonight....a big burrrrr for us. But I digress. Arriving at the park we were informed that had we made reservations for a tour (online or by phone) we would have saved the $6/vehicle parking fee. The Park also includes a RV camp for $25/night, hiking on designated trails (which translate to - no cross country hiking), a day picnic area and a parking lot that accommodates motor homes.

 

The visitor center is very informative and has a lot of inter-active consoles in which to discover the history of the caverns. Discovered in 1977, designated as a state park in '88 - it was opened for tours in 2003. The tours are good, if a bit on the expensive side ($22.95/pp+tax), and there are 3 different tours one can take, the longest is 1hr-45min - The Big Room tour. Groups are small and  the Big Room has an age requirement of 7 yrs old.

No cameras or cell phones are allowed so most of the photos in the "additional photo roll" are from the visitor center interpretive center...


"Fried egg" stalagmite example



Lunch in the Bat Cave Cafe was really delicious roasted red pepper/chicken quesadilla and Starbucks coffee. Desert was free, the Dichos - the Mexican take on fortune cookies and they had fortunes. Mine was "an old friend is the best mirror" and Mike's was "following the path, no one will get lost" - nice.

As we left I looked over to the small cactus garden and noticed that one of the prickly pears was hosting a bird's nest.  They also host a hummingbird trail outside the center.

 

Bird's nest in the cactus - cool.

Check out the park website :http://azstateparks.com/Parks/KACA/index.html for more information and to make reservations. Also the caverns are closed Apr 16 2011 to Oct 14, 2011 - to accommodate the 700-1000 pregnant bats to roost, give birth and raise they young. Never mind the maintenance time to clean up bat guano - park rangers have interesting jobs. Counting bats and cleaning up bat poop.

Enjoy the short video from the inter-active component of the visitor center, one of many.

Adios!