State Park |
Margery Aukstikalnis 7/24/07: Creative imaginations impress us. We saw a green farm tractor on the edge of a field, built of hay bales - mostly rectangles spray painted green - with the huge round ones painted black for wheels; NEAT! Cabella's was Jack's preferred stop of the trip. We bought shoes, clothes, and supplies and left happy until we found we were boxed in by an inconsiderate person who parked right in front of us, making a very difficult departure. Her (?) license plate read "STILL 28". I asked "Is that her age or IQ?" Jack's driving skills paid off, and he was able to wiggle our way out without damage. And by the way, I didn't assume the driver was female because of her stupidity; the car had stuffed animals, a makeup case and other girlish items in it. Our next stop, after finding six RV parks "full up," was a remote area in Missouri. SO remote we traveled 6 miles of dirt road with trees hanging everywhere, which scratched up all sides of our brand new RV. By the time we got there, Jack was so upset he wouldn't even stay the night. We happened upon a nearly empty RV park on the way back to the highway and were able to unwind, "shake it off", and hose the thick dust off the RV and car. Missouri is among my three least favorite states so far. People sure are different there. The "I'm from "Missouri, show me" state seems more like "You aren't one of us, I don't trust you". But we enjoyed the dozens of killdeer scurrying in the park, and the roads and signs got better from here on. Three days later, Jack thinks he can rub out most of the scratches on the RV himself. So we arrived at Lake Eufaula State Park in Checotah, OK Sunday. For you Merle Haggard fans, we are just south of Muskogee (an OKE from...). And here we still are. This lake has over 600 miles of shoreline. I'm nearly recovered from my cold. There are great blue heron, mallard ducks, scissor tailed flycatchers, bluebirds, and my favorite, the mockingbird. The locusts bring the trees to life with their buzzing. I bought a handful of OKE cookbooks and songbooks, and we are heading to the nature center today. It's hot, humid, and the houseflies BITE! We were apprehensive at first, witnessing along the way all the flooding and damage from all the recent heavy rains. We called ahead and found the Marina and boat ramp were closed but the park was still open, albeit still damaged from the severe winter ice storms. But we love it here so much, I had to quickly change the subject when Jack started talking real estate. It is a place we will surely return to, many times. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we sadly will leave this gorgeous place, and head for another OK State park in the Southwest corner of Oklahoma. Oklahoma claims not to be outdone in the beauty of their state parks, and so far, we agree! |
State Park |
Margery Aukstikalnis 7/27/07: Yes, the second Oke park, "Great Plains" in Mountain Park, OK, was equally as beautiful. A huge lake, somewhat swollen from recent rains, nestled in rolling hills of lush green. Birds were abundant as was their food, the bugs. But we got more pictures than bites this time, and Jack got lots of walking in while I rested. We stayed two days, jotting notes for future trips. With only three stops left, we chose this one with WIFI and laundry facilities in Wolfforth, TX, just outside Lubbock. It would have been the perfect spot were it not for the cracked windshield we inherited in Paducah a couple hours before we landed. YUP. ANOTHER WINDSHIELD. That's three in three years! And this one brandy new! We really do love our new rig. Our hearts sunk when we heard the crack, crack as two stones from the truck passing by hit our glass. We were doing 70 mph heading south, and he about the same heading north, so we never got a chance to see who he was, so we pay the $500 deductible, again. Things come in threes? I hope so, I don't ever want to see #4.!! We hope to wait until AZ to have it fixed, so we can get the pets home and secure first. But here we are, laundry done, and thanks to WIFI our monthly bills are paid. It's a beautiful day and we will be in New Mexico tomorrow. We probably won't have anymore internet access until we get home, which will be sometime between Monday and Thursday, depending on how we feel and how the monsoons are behaving. It's nice to have the flexibility of choice. And now Jack is abed with the onset of the same bug I have had all week. I promised myself I would keep these letters cheerful and optimistic this trip, but boy it's hard. Honestly, we ARE enjoying ourselves ---- just not every minute. By the way, I forgot last letter to tell you Lake Eufaula, with all the rains is 9 feet 1 inch above normal level. Imagine what that would do to Laurel Lake or Comet Pond shoreline homes! We've seen three deer on the road side in the last three days--all alive -- that made us slow to a crawl to avoid accident. Two were big and beautiful does. Today's was a gray mule deer. Much stockier than the graceful white-tail. The rabbits are the cotton tail like back home in New England. And especially here in Texas, the roadsides are ablaze with flowers. br> Ground flowers, shrubs and trees, all blossoming a lot of blues and purples with scattered pinks, reds and yellows. It's real pretty. There was one "weed" in Oklahoma called the Poke Berry, that I'd be right proud to have growing in my yard! Deep purple berries hanging like grapes off red cupped stems on red branches and trunk, softened by green birch-like leaves. Photo OP! So that's it until we land. Thanks to those of you who wrote back. Nice to know we aren't forgotten. And Gene!! WOW! I'll read your letters several times! What a fascinating life you lead!. I savor every word. |
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Margery Aukstikalnis 8/3/07: Our last two days of the trip were beautiful. We stopped in Mayhill, NM at a camp that was at an elevation of 6600 feet. The air was so pure, clean and cool. We were packed in like sardines; in fact got the last available campsite at 12 NOON! But the folk, most from Texas, were there to relax and enjoy the mountains, and were slow paced, pleasant and quite neighborly. They didn't approach our campspace without invitation, but welcomed us like long lost friends. The next town west was Cloudcroft, at 8500 feet and is a real developed resort with skiing in the winter, dirt-biking and the like in the summer, hiking, swimming, and lots of motels, restaurants and gift shops. I'm glad we chose Mayhill. We will consider this for an occasional weekend getaway. The last day we stopped at Rodeo, NM which is only 40 miles from home, but it was 3 PM and we know what day one is like for unpacking, setting up housekeeping, and making the yard safe for the pets. The view at Rodeo was spectacular, surrounded by mountains in the distance, a huge sky painted with clouds, awesome sunset and sunrise, and flowers everywhere. The owner of the campsite, Rusty, had created a garden about 40' X 40' with an Oriental design, but filled with southwestern flowering plants. There were two pools with a "river" connecting them and an ever twining walkway throughout. At one end were two bird cages, each big enough for four adult humans to stand in. A parrot occupied one cage and a dozen other colorful birds the other. There was also a duck pond on the other side. Lots of photos, here. We were torn about going home or staying awhile, it was so beautiful. We learned a lot from Rusty about landscaping in the desert, the weather influences, and many other things. She was a joy to talk with. Jack took the car and ran home Sunday night to make sure the ground hadn't been washed away and that we would be able to get our RV into the yard. The roads he had repaired last year have held up very well. The creek was too soft to enter from the highway, but our legal access by way of the railroad bed was quite safe and passable and our back driveway in very good condition. Jack has a way with landscaping to work WITH mother nature instead of fighting her. Home at last, Monday. Oh how excited the pets were when they recognized home. All three of them were rolling on their backs in the desert stony sand. I swear they were giggling! The house showed no worse for the abandonment. We did lose function of our cordless phones, but the wall one still works. The tractor engine was filled with cacti and sticks, but had no structural damage, and the other vehicles were fine. The weeds in the lawn were green and haven't gone to seed, so Jack was able to mow them down. It should reduce the amount of "pickers" we will have to pick out of the pets and out of our clothes in the fall. On Wednesday it rained enough to get the Silver Creek running. In the morning I went shopping and the creek was dry. In the afternoon Jack yelled for me to come for a ride, and we went to the end of the railbed where the creek runs under the bridge, and it was about two or three feet deep and raging a lethal flow. The part that goes through our property, a wash or tributary, was still dry. Thursday morning, the creek was dry again except for one little puddle. Amazing. This morning a jack rabbit was digging up our lawn. He had cleared a patch about two feet by eight inches and was happily nibbling on some kind of root he found delicious. I guess he appreciated that Jack got all those plants sheered down out of his way. The hawks are soaring, many varieties of birds singing, fire ants everywhere, several snaptail lizards, and one gecko. It has showered every day since we arrived, cooling the afternoon heat. Some showers we stay out and enjoy; others bring violent thunder and lightening. Jack drove through two walls of rain that slowed him to a crawl, but I haven't seen that yet. Wednesday, Tucson got one of the worst storms of the century, gathering over two inches of rain in one day, which flooded all the streets and caused much damage. At least one death by drowning occurred when one of the washes (which one normally drives through daily) got flooded with a wall of water that in a blink of an eye completely covered his van and grabbed several other vehicles that people were able to escape or were rescued from. The photos and films were unbelievable. Jack is limping again, as he was injured trying to hook up his backhoe yesterday. I thought his foot was broken, but he decided to tough it out and wait and see, and he seems to be OK today. At least he can get his shoe on. The cacti are done blooming, but the fruits are ripe, ready for picking. I have to do my homework now, to see what, besides tequila, I can make with them. Every day we say, "Why do we ever leave here?" You, our dear friends and family, keep us coming back, but the environment here, rattlesnakes and all, makes it hard to leave. Come visit us! |
Cactus |
Margery Aukstikalnis August 19, 2007: Last night our Chihuahua, Buttons, was feeling the need to chew grass, so I sat outdoors in the dark "watching her back". Flashlight in hand, in case I had to leave the area of the porch light, I enjoyed watching the little white-bellied bats feasting on the bugs and moths overhead. Suddenly I remembered Gene talking about visiting his backyard in Alabama with a good strong flashlight, looking for "eyes" that reflected back at him from the woods. So I scanned the edge of our yard with my light, and behold, did find a pair of eyes staring back at me at ground level. I'll pretend it was a rabbit instead of a packrat. But then, off to my left were these HUGE eyes that quite startled me. Much too big, even, to be a cow! As I caught my breath and gathered my wits, I relaxed as I realized it was the headlights on Jack's tractor. Whew. Jack lost his tan to a sudden pallor when he came up to the passage gate in the back yard last week. He was watching behind him to make sure the dog was still tagging along when he heard the unmistakable chatter of a rattlesnake. He froze in his tracks, and slowly turned to see a beautiful six-foot Western Diamondback rattler about 15 feet from where he stood! He backed off slowly and rerouted himself and the dog. The rattler slithered off under a nearby prickly pear cactus. Since then we have learned much more about the snakes in the area, and are less afraid, but still very cautious. And speaking of prickly pear. Ours are heavily fruited and ripe right now. The perfect season for harvesting. So I went out and carefully, with knife, tongs, and bag, gathered about twenty prickly pear fruits (called tunas) to make juice. I brought them in and peeled them all, separated the seeds from the pulp and strained the seeds and mashed the pulp. Then I cooked the juice and strained it all. The result: Despite being careful as I could, I ended up with dozens of hair-like thorns in my fingers, both hands dyed red from the juice. and after chilling the juice and taking a small sip, dumped the whole thing down the drain because it tasted HORRIBLE! Yesterday's rainbow's end was about 1000 feet away, just across the creek! We opted to leave the pot of gold to the gnomes, as we enjoyed the spectacular view. And the southwestern chickadee, in his cowboy accent sings "Hey, hey! Yipadeedeedee!" |
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Deanna Murdock Currently we have no Internet hooked up, and we rarely get to the library to check email and write to people. Life's just so busy. I am at the library with Jack right now. He is having fun looking at books while I write to you guys. Gotta keep it short though; he has his therapy appointments in 30 minutes, down the street from the library. I was just sending you a thank you for Trinity's gift and birthday card. We received it OK and we appreciate it. Currently we are so busy with moving, work, and doctor appointments that I might not get around to sending out cards. So here is a big Thanks just in case those cards never make it in the mail. We stay busy from dawn to dusk, Mon. through Sun. What a life! We hope all is well over there and everyone is still happy and healthy. |
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Pam Clark It was great to once again read the Murdock Muse!! Your family is still quite busy and definitely continuing to grow. You both look in robust health, despite Nancy's knee problems. Valerie has changed jobs, it sounds like, and hair style! I am looking forward to seeing you both at my Dad's reception. All the best to you and your family. |
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