“A lake the earthquake created,” is Reelfoot Lake in northwestern Tennessee. Prior to 1811 this scantily populated corner of Tennessee was a swampy area of cypress backwoods near the Mississippi River. In 1811 and 1812 several violent earthquakes shook the eastern states — the New Madrid Earthquake. It toppled houses and chimneys in Tennessee and […]
In the Fall of 2000 on our coast-to-coast tandem bicycle trip we passed the McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains of west Texas without stopping. In 2015 on our Roadtrek tour of the Southwest we stopped at this off the beaten path wonder and spent an enchanted four hours there learning about our Universe starting […]Read More
Everyone knows about Bryce Canyon National Park. It is one of the famous southern Utah Parks and known for impressive rock formations known as hoodoos. It is spectacular and is on everyone's bucket list for its beauty. Mike has written about Bryce before. He peered at the sharp-pointed rocks viewed from overlooks. But he didn't […]Read More
For anyone interested in railroading, the West has two outstanding steam train rides. We are not talking about Amtrak, whose western trips can be a different kind of adventure. If you want to ride, it will pay you to check the websites on these railroads to be sure you have the latest schedule and fares. […]Read More
Now and then somebody publishes a list of “Ten Best Scenic Roads.” Most of these lists contain Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier National Park, Montana and Cabot Trail (west side) In Nova Scotia. We'd add to the “Ten Best” Utah Highway 12. It is off the beaten path for those cruising I-15 that […]Read More
Nearly everybody who travels has heard of Zion Canyon National Park in Utah. It's in the south west corner of the state and displays one of the most spectacular, colorful vertical canyon environments in the world. Nothing “off the beaten path” about the park itself, as attested by anyone who has seen it. However, we […]Read More
Our Route 66 road trip brought us to Winslow, Arizona. This is where we started to see maps marking various prehistoric sites, too numerous to see them all. So, we gathered information about the American Indians who lived in these places. Several things struck us as never before: the diversity of culture, the ingenuity of […]Read More
Maybe you think steam trains were all the west has to offer, but you would be wrong. The Durango & Silverton RR and the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad are immensely popular steam attractions that take visitors back to the old days of mining, timbering, and frontier life. On our trip along historic Route 66 […]Read More
We return from most trips with a short list of things to do or fix. These are seldom anything to interfere with trip enjoyment, but little things to make life on the road better or more comfortable. Things like a bungee cord across the inside of the closet at latch level to prevent a stray […]Read More
Our trip to the southwest on historic Route 66 has taken us through some beautiful scenery, but in reading about the area we saw in New Mexico, some of the best lies off the beaten path. Two of those scenic gems are El Malpais (Spanish = the bad lands), a place where sharp lava meets […]Read More
On our slow Roadtrek trip southwest following Historic Route 66, we found a listing for the New Mexico Mining Museum in Grants, New Mexico – but we never found any description of the place. One lavish New Mexico booklet urged the reader to “go underground,” but gave no details. We found the modest brown sign […]Read More
“Texas' best kept secret,” said one Texas governor. He referred to “The Grand Canyon of Texas,” Palo Duro Canyon. We found it in a tourist brochure shortly before approaching Amarillo, Texas on our tour of historic Route 66. The Canyon is a state park located south of Amarillo about 24 miles south on SR 1541 […]Read More
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