Driving Home

 

On Thursday, August 5, we left Chama, NM, and began our trip home.  Driving south from Chama on US 84 (which also goes through Irene’s home town, Valdosta, GA) we had fantastic views including more of the colorful rocks and cliffs which we’d seen in other places in the state. New Mexico truly is the Land of Enchantment.

George announced that our trip home would be an adventure – not just heading for home – and he planned our stops along the way with that objective. We spent the first night in Tucumcari, NM, with a view of a mesa and dramatic sunset out the window of the coach.

The next day we passed a very large large wind turbine farm near Weatherford OK.  The blades were turning gracefully generating power.  Interestingly, I Googled the name of the town to find info about the wind turbines and learned that Weatherford Wind Energy Center, which is spread across more than 5000 acres, is owned and operated by Florida Power and Light Energy.

Red Rock Canyon State Park near Hinton, OK, (west of Little Rock) was our destination the second day.  While not as dramatic or large as Palo Duro Canyon in Texas where we stopped heading west, it did have interesting  red sandstone canyon walls, and was also a nice campground.  We explored the park by bicycle in the late afternoon when it was a little cooler.

On our third night “on the road,” we parked alongside the Arkansas River at a Corps of Engineer campground called Toad Suck Ferry CG.  (No, I didn’t make that up!)  Our campsite was near the dam, and the lock was across the river.  On the other side of the coach was a very old tree with a huge trunk.  In spite of the heat and humidity, George bicycled around the campground.  After being in arid New Mexico for 3 weeks, we really felt the humidity!  As we left Sunday morning, we saw coal barges in the lock.

As we drove east on Sunday, we crossed the Mississippi River and shortly afterwards left I-40 which we had followed most of the trip.  We enjoyed seeing the green rolling hills and lots of trees.  Our last night on the road was at a National Forest campground, Corinth Recreation Area west of Cullman, AL, a first rate campground  with full hookups in a very woodsy setting.  We were surrounded by trees with no other RV’ers in view – a quiet, peaceful setting.

Now we’re back home in Rome, having had a great trip.  We saw lots of beautiful sights, ate lots of good New Mexico cuisine, and enjoyed traveling with our friends George and Jan.