Speaking of places to visit… I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on

physical activity anymore… plus I’m afraid of heights.

Tues, June 2 It’s funny how you think you’ve been somewhere before but you’re almost sure you haven’t. (Maybe it’s a “senior citizen thing.) We both felt that way when we arrived at LeFleur State Park in Jackson, MS last evening. When we drove out of camp this morning we suddenly recognized our surroundings – we had been in this same park once, and visited neighboring museums within a few blocks of the park. Hmmmm. Maybe we are starting to lose it! Our driving for the day was from Jackson, MS to Shreveport, Louisiana in the northwest corner of LA. Being interstate highway the miles ticked by quickly and Sally entertained us by reading from our current Nevada Barr murder mystery. We read at least one Barr novel each summer while traveling. Along the way we stopped for lunch at the Ameristar Casino in Vicksburg, MS along the banks of the Mississippi River. We have found that buffets at casinos serve excellent food at very reasonable prices if you’re holding a “player’s club card”. These cost nothing and require you bring a photo ID into the casino to receive such a card. With many days of rainfall in Texas we found that campgrounds were often full with no vacancies as Texans in flood areas took their RVs and drove to campgrounds to avoid flooding. We were abel to secure a site at the Bossier City, LA K.O.A. campground.

Wed, June 3 Leaving Shreveport, LA this morning we spent two hours touring the Norton Art Museum in Shreveport. The museum not only has a superb variety of art on display, it also has superb gardens behind the art museum (see at right >). After about 10 minutes of walking the grounds we decided we had been here several years ago. Inside the art museum it took us longer to recollect its familiarity, which we finally attributed to its changing exhibits. The Norton Art Museum had items ranging from paintings to glass objects, sculpture to firearms, and so much more in between. Its western art collection, with many items by Remington, is spectacular. If you’re in the Shreveport area its worth spending time visiting the Norton Art Museum.A quick lunch stop at the Olive Garden in Shreveport broke up our trip and we spent

the next several hours driving to Dallas and then on to the Fort Worth, TX area where we visited J u d y a n d L a r r y Ryckman, friends from Buffalo. Judy was the Maid of Honor at our wedding over 48 years ago. After we moved to Florida from Buffalo they moved to Texas where Larry worked in the airlines industry. After some 40 years of Christmas letters and phone calls we finally reconnected two years ago when we traveled through Texas. Enjoying their company we again wanted to connect so we stopped for a few days to enjoy their hospitality.

Summer Trip

2015

#4: June 2 – 

June 11, 2015

Contest Winners AnnouncedIn issue #2 we posted the photo you see at the left end of the ‘banner’ above. Pictured is a Kinner B5 airplane engine and its propellor, plus a silver-colored contraption surrounding the engine with pipes coming out of it. At that time we asked readers to identify the purpose of this shroud or device affixed to the engine. We had two very intelligent aviation-savvy readers who sent back the identical response: the engine’s exhaust feeds a turbine inside the device and it recovers enough power to run the accessories on the airplane. This power recovery turbine probably turns at the actual crankshaft RPM. Congratulations to our winners: Dick Picard and Bill Lamb. They will each receive a compact washer-dryer combination suitable for use in their camper, automobile or motorcycle. Photo of this ‘device’ in next issue !

Thurs, June 4 Today was our first full day in North Richmond Hills, TX visiting our friends Judy and Larry. Traveling in two vehicles we all drove to downtown Fort Worth to watch the “cattle drive” in the Fort Worth Stockyards section of town. This historic several blocks of town has become a tourist attraction with shoppes and at least two museums. Two times a day cowboys in their traditional attire drive a small heard of Texas longhorn cattle through the streets for several blocks. This event lasts about 5-7 minutes but it’s very impressive – the cattle lumber along while the lead cowboy calls out some unintelligible verbiage that keeps the cattle moving forward as he commands. After the ‘big cattle drive’ we toured a Texas museum with all kinds of interesting memorabilia. We then looked into another museum across the street but chose to move on to the multitude of shoppes whispering to us to enter and view their unparalleled assortment of tourist souvenirs. After about an hour of shoppe hopping we all decided to go to lunch at Golden Corral, which was a real treat. Larry and Judy chose to return home, just a few miles from the restaurant, while we searched, in vain, to find an estate sale whose sign we saw earlier in transit. We ended up searching for treasures in a nearby thrift store, but returned to the Ryckman residence empty handed. The cattle drive was really fun and inspired us to visit other tourist attractions tomorrow.

Fri, June 5 It was another day of adventure with some unexpected but much appreciated surprises. Wednesday, while driving into Fort Worth, we saw a road sign announcing a church yard sale, so we made that location our first venue for the day. Though items covered a 50-car parking lot we found only a few things that caught our attention enough to open our wallets. Following the yard sale we drove to a professionally-run estate sale, which means the house’s contents are being sold due to the death of the owner or the residents’ transfer to a nursing home or similar residence. Though professionally-run estate sales often result in a wide variety of items for sale, our experience has shown that prices are significantly higher than those offered at family-run estate sales. This sale echoed our observations, yet we found several items to be worth our cash. Larry and Judy drove to this location and joined us in searching for bargains. Following that we drove in separate vehicles to the DFW Elite Toy Museum, a free museum listed in the AAA TravelGuide book. What we found was a neat office & warehouse building on a city street lined with warehouses. Upon entering an employee greeted us, invited us to do a self-tour of the multi-room museum, and informed us that we could utilize digital audio devices that provided narration for many of the exhibits: enter the number next to the item and listen to an audio explanation of the toy on display. What we found was three rooms full of toys from several eras… and the diversity of toys was amazing. The majority of toys were models of automobiles in varying levels of size and detail ranging from Matchbox-size models to handmade, aluminum-bodied models of race cars that were about 28”-30” in length and probably cost a few thousand dollars to fabricate. Some of you may be old enough to remember the Adams Family TV show and the “Thing” that was a hand that made gestures to the viewers. The museum has one of these remotely operated hands. Another oddity of sorts were the “models” of various devices that salesmen would carry to prospective clients for preview, such as an operating model of a device that lowered caskets into graves at a cemetery. Or the model of a road-scraping device used to remove worn pavement prior to re-surfacing a highway. Well, I could go on and on but suffice it to say the DFW Elite Toy Museum has to be one of the finest museum collections we have ever seen, and we encourage you to visit this museum if you’re ever in the Fort Worth area. Realize this is a private collection on display where a few of the rooms are not climate controlled, but you can easily dismiss this mild inconvenience for the excellence of the collection, PLUS the owner had several real cars in one of the rooms: a brand-new, limited-production all-electric BMW sports coupe and a Ferrari sports car. (DFW Elite Toy Museum, 5940 Eden Drive, Haltom City, Texas, 76117-6121, 817-834-3625; call ahead to confirm days & hours of operation; free admission during our visit.)

Hand of the ‘Thing’ from Addams Family TV show

Working scale model of Ferrari race car chassis

Just of 3+ rooms in DFW Toy Museum, Ft Worth

Control is black box in back

Leaving the toy museum Larry and Judy traveled back home while Sally and I drove to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens and did an hour-long, self-guided walking tour followed by a trip to a thrift store near the Ryckman residence from which we all went to a sumptuous supper at Don Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant courtesy of Larry & Judy. The food was terrific and we thoroughly enjoyed our conversation over supper. Literally ‘stuffed’, we went home to shower and hit the sack; we were worn out. (Forth Worth Botanic Gardens, 3220 Botanic Gardens Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107, 817-871-7686; no charge for gardens; fee for Japanese Gardens and conservatory.)

Sat, June 6 We arose still stuffed from our supper at Don Pablo’s and reminded ourselves we would seek out another such restaurant in this chain to enjoy a similar meal. We spent the majority of the day at Trader’s Village in nearby Grand Prairie, TX, one of their three locations in Texas. This is one of the largest flea markets we have ever visited; it’s HUGE. We spent FOUR

HOURS walking the premises and we think we didn’t see it all. With temps in the mid-to upper-90s we balanced our walking between booths in the open air with those under cover of shade. We actually only bought two items: a shaved ice treat and a cell phone holster. Was it worth 4 hours of walking in such high heat? Sure! We had a lot of fun! There was so much to see and experience, like a parade, beauty pageant and celebration of the Philippines’ Independence Day by people of Filipino heritage. On our way home we stopped at Harbor Freight where I bought a much-needed electronics meter that was on sale. It’s these types of ‘surprises’ that make our summer trips so enjoyable. Back at the Ryckman residence I cooled off in their pool while Sally conversed with me from the pool deck. What a way to end a terrific day! (above-right: Funny scene at flea market – I see a battery-driven toy car with little girl inside riding through the crowd, but the girl is looking over at pavement. Surely someone will get hit, but she goes around them every time. Then I see her father using a remote control to determine direction. Ha ha! Dad just bought her a sun umbrella and is trying to find a way to attach it to her little car. Nice.)

Sun, June 7 It was another great day. We attended worship at Calvary Lutheran Church, just a few miles away. With Sunday School suspended for the summer, we experienced a different pre-service class – genealogy research. A member of Calvary, assisted by two others, conducted the first of three classes opened to the community on how to trace your family’s ancestry. A packet with research forms and internet sites was distributed and explained. It was very interesting and informative, and will be followed by on-screen instruction in how to trace attendees’ families. We wished we could attend the next several weeks but the road beckons us. Following the class we attended worship, which was very much like the liturgy we follow at our home church. As we had experienced two years ago when we worshipped at Calvary, the folks here are very friendly.Following worship we decided to eat a small snack as Judy was planning a large supper. We chose to each get a $1 sandwich at McDonalds. While dining I mentioned to Sally that we had eaten at this same McDonalds two years ago, and while looking at the nearby businesses out the window I spotted another thrift store so, following lunch, we drove across the street to look for treasures. Sally found me some nice cargo shorts at the first store, then noticed a Goodwill several doors down in the same plaza. Our trip there was even more productive. I purchased a pair of lightweight hiking slacks with zip-off pants legs so I could covert the pants to shorts if the weather got hot, or vice versa if it began to chill. I have a pair already but wanted another as this type of trousers run from $50-$80 a pair. These were in great condition for about $5, and a sharp pair of most-new corduroys were the same price, but the great find was… (I’ve got to build the suspense)… something we’ve been searching for for about two years, and now we found it… a mortar and pestle set! If you’re unfamiliar, this device is a heavy cup, usually ceramic or stone, with a matching cylindrical “stick” used to grind herbs for cooking. In cooking stores these run from $12 -$50 depending upon what they’re made of, but we’ve never found one in a thrift store. This one was just the size and weight we’ve been searching for and it was just $3. (Isn’t it funny the little things that’ll excite old folks!)Back at the Ryckman home, Sally did our laundry while Larry and I used a router to smooth the ends of the wooden-plank deck extending over their above-ground swimming pool. This made it more comfortable on your thighs while dangling your legs into the water. Then we looked at photos on our laptop as they had never seen photos of our earth-covered home. Supper was a terrific ziti pasta with meatballs main-dish with a delicious salad, all ala Judy. We leave in the morning to continue our travels north into Oklahoma.

Mon, June 8 We were on our way north to Oklahoma by 9:45 this morning after bidding farewell to our friends Judy & Larry Ryckman of North Richmond Hills, TX. After plotting our route we discovered we would be traveling near a new thrift store that had just opened up a few days ago. Stopping there we each purchased a pair of trousers, plus jeans and short pants for me, all in great condition for $6.01 including tax. Such a ‘bargoon’ (as my brother-in-law Jim says). Heading toward I-35 North we soon found that traffic was backed up for many miles, so we stopped for lunch hoping that traffic would lessen by the time we finished. Our buffet at the Great Wall Chinese Buffet was inexpensive and very good and, upon leaving, our GPS announced us a route parallel to the I-35 log-jam that was “the fastest route” and went north for about 30 miles. When we finally merged into I-35 traffic it was still lumbering along due to road repairs. When we entered the interstate highway we discovered the construction ended less than a quarter-mile from our entry point and whoosh, we were on our way!Reaching Lake Murray State Park (Oklahoma) we took a nice, shaded campsite on the Clear Cove loop, set up, and then drove north to Ardmore, OK to view the (free) Eliza Cruce Hall Doll Museum on permanent display at Ardmore’s Public Library (M-Th 10-8, Fri 10-6, Sat & Sun 1-5; 580-223-8290). Containing about 400 dolls, the collection was quite interesting and Sally loves miniatures, especially dolls… and access to the collection is free. On our way back to camp we took a refreshing respite at Braum’s dairy store, which is known for their really, really good ice cream products that are probably the most reasonably-priced quiescently-frozen desserts in our nation. When in Texas or Oklahoma be sure to stop in at Braum’s for ice cream or hamburgers… or any of their other high-quality food items.

Tues, June 9 ”Don’t do as I do, do as I say.” Does that comment sound familiar? Leaving last night’s campsite we headed north for a visit to the Gene Autry Oklahoma (cowboy) Museum, in Gene Autry, OK. Our new GPS has so many features it often feels as if it’s got a mind of its own… or would it be more accurate to say it’s ‘possessed’. The two-only settings for

selecting a route are •quickest, and •shortest. We’ve now determined that both choices can give you obscure routes traveling on roads that make you wonder, “Where did they dig up this route?!” The path our GPS selected had us on country roads that surprised us… but were actually nicely paved for rural roads. Finally arriving in the parking lot we both gasped… “Open Wed - Saturday” (see today’s date at left) and the hours of operation followed. “Sally, did you double-check the days of operation in your source for this museum?” “Sure. It says right here, Mon-Sat 10-5!” We always mention in our website POI listings (Points Of Interest), “Be sure to call and confirm hours of operation before traveling to a venue!” Gosh, maybe we should read it again so we don’t have to ‘taste our own medicine’.

Heading north we traveled to Pauls Valley, OK and ate lunch prior to visiting The Toy & Action Figure Museum (111 S. Chickasaw, Pauls Valley, OK; M-Th 10-5, Fri & Sat 10-7, Sun 1-5; 405-238-6300) in downtown Pauls Valley. Expecting a little mom ‘n pop display case with some GI Joes and Star Wars figures we were happily surprised to find a TREMENDOUS array of ALL kinds of action figures, plus their accompanying accessories, costumes, packaging, videos playing on monitors, and even a collection of costumes visitors could adorn and use in selfies. We found ourselves looking intently at THOUSANDS of items for more than an hour. The admission was about $6 or so for senior citizens, but would have been worth the regular price.

(Le f t ) We pu t on costumes to become two unlikely action figures Bat-Gammy (Sally) and Barbie-Man (Chris). Don’t expect to see these two in comic books or super hero movies. (Right) Most unusual action figure ever made: the side of m e a t t h a t R o c k y punched in his movie as a boxer. What kid would want a plastic model of beef?

Driving to Oklahoma CIty we were again reminded that all big cities have rush hours despite their geographic location. Our selected private campground* was $31.50 a night, higher than the state park’s $22 for seniors, but it saved us about a half-hour in travel time each way, and we’ll be in Oklahoma City for four nights. (*Council Road RV Park, 8108 SW 8th Street, OKC, OK, 405-789-2103)

Wed, June 10 Today was probably the best day of our trip (according to me, Chris). We spent almost the entire day at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. (See more details below.) From there we drove across the street to Coles Garden, a private wedding and party venue that had beautiful gardens. The folks allowed us to stroll through their 3-6 acres of gardens with waterfalls, trees, and various areas landscaped in themes. From their we drove to Braum’s Ice Cream, Dairy and Fresh Market. Still a bit full from lunch Sally got a Junior shake and I enjoyed a single (large!) scoop of ice cream in a waffle cone. Total price? $3.23 including tax. They don’t call us the Thrifty Travelers for nothing!

Thurs, June 11 Our plan for today was to visit the ‘skeleton museum’, have lunch, and maybe see two smaller venues if we had time. We also had a package to mail but that part of the plan was flawed as we ran into road construction or cordoned-off roads leading to off-limit lanes into the Will Rogers World Airport, the site of the closest post office. We finally decided to call it quits on the P.O. and make it a priority after lunch. Seeing a few signs for yard and estate sales we made a few detours in those directions with minor purchases. Thinking the ‘skeleton museum’ would be a half-hour jaunt we parked in the lot and wondered if anyone else was inside. Surprises awaited us: A) there were SEVERAL summer school groups inside, B) they were enthralled with a scavenger hunt for clues to complete puzzles about the exhibits, and C) this museum is NEAT! The Museum of Osteology (Oklahoma City) boasts being the only museum of its type in the nation exclusively devoted to skeletons. Covering two floors, the facility claims to display over 5,000 examples, which probably includes the skulls in the gift shop. Very few of the skeletons are models; almost all are real. Animals constitute the majority of those on display along with human skulls from various ‘species’ also shown. The display cases are divided by the species of animals displayed and detailed explanations of the skulls and skeletons are easily understood, even by upper-elementary school students. Sally and I were also amazed at how intense the children were in finding clues to answer the educational discovery sheets provided by the museum. We had expected to spend a half-hour or less touring but became so embroiled in the displays and details that we were engrossed for almost an hour-and-a-half. Only our stomachs reminded us of the

(Above) Just a tiny display of action figures in the Toy & Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley, OK. Worth a stop if you’re in the area.

(left) Portion of 2 floors at Museum of Osteology in Okla City. (right) Compare skeleton to complete squirrel. (far right) Skeleton of King Cobra in fighting stance. Snake was over 10 feet long!

is by far my* favorite museum of any place we have yet visited in our 12 years of travel across the USA. (*Chris’ comment) We visited here a few years ago and when we knew we’d be driving through Oklahoma City, OK we just knew we had to make another visit. What makes the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum so extraordinarily special? We began our visit by walking through the beautiful and spacious gardens behind the museum buildings. Not only are the gardens lush with landscaping that echoes various regions of the West, but it’s adorned with a multitude of exceptional sculptures, plus the burial grounds of famous horses, ponies and bulls that were famous in rodeos, movies, horse racing and such. Arriving two minutes after the museum’s 10AM opening, we decided to tour the grounds early on to avoid the heat that would be building shortly. After over a half-hour of wandering the paths, streams and waterfalls we explored the Children’s building with its fabulous exhibits featuring displays aimed at youngsters but interesting to adults. Taxidermied specimens in various locations inside provided excitement for all visitors as the ‘predators’ growled or snarled when motion sensors detected audiences in close proximity.A special exhibit in a main hall had a plethora of original Western art that was part of an annual display and sale. Pieces ranged from $5,000 to $27,000 in price. Chris even got to speak to one of the artists as he wandered the hall looking at how his works were displayed while also viewing works of his contemporaries. Sally’s eye was captured by an artist whose talent lies in his expert ability to paint characters down to the individual hairs and wrinkles on their faces; the paintings looked like large photographs.We broke our gazing to enjoy a fabulous buffet lunch in the museum’s restaurant. We’d eaten here on our previous visit and remembered the excellence of food and service. We weren’t disappointed with this visit either. We were able to secure a window table overlooking the outdoor garden courtyard while being reminded of the excellence of all the food items made right on the premises. Our decision to dine before noon paid off as the restaurant quickly filled with not only museum visitors but also diners who enjoy the cuisine without having to pay the entrance fee. This is a popular spot for ‘locals’. Not only is the food and service excellent, and the desserts scrumptious, but we were taken by the courtesy of the staff – we didn’t need a meal bill, they just asked us what we had for lunch. Wow, talk about honesty and cordiality!We then spent the next several hours roaming room to room looking at what has to be the finest displays of any museum irregardless of topic. The immensity and diversification of venues is almost mind-boggling. I estimated the interior space approaching two, maybe even more, football fields in area. Displays included flat art (paintings, photos, etc.), video displays, audio clips, and a small town with multiple buildings appearing to come right out of the Old West – the sound of the train pulling into town had us almost convinced that the full-size freight car might actually steam off while we were walking down Main Street.Certainly the hit for Chris was the large display devoted to the movie and TV characters familiar to us as youth: Tom Mix, Hoppalong Cassidy, The Rifleman, Wanted Dead Or Alive, Clint Eastwood and the Spaghetti Westerns, and the list could fill another twenty lines of type. We learned the real names of our cowboy heroes, too. Dale Evans = Frances Octavia Smith; Roy Rogers = Leonard Franklin Slye; Gene Autry was actually named Orvon “Gene” Autry; Michael Ansara, who played many Native American Indian roles, was actually Lebanese; Bob Steele was born Robert Bradbury and for several years played opposite his twin brother, William; prior to being “The Rifleman”, Chuck Conners played basketball for the Boston Celtics and then played first base in major league baseball. Displays and exhibits went on and on, and every one was exceedingly well done: from cowboy saddles to the various types of bridles, rodeo categories to the stars that made rodeo famous, cowboys from various racial and ethnic groups, the roles and characteristics of cowboys from various countries, and Native American tribes and their histories, practices, culture and arts. Though we had visited the museum a few years ago we found ourselves amazed at the amount of items we either didn’t remember or that have been added in the meantime. We sauntered through the labyrinth of rooms all day long until we proceeded to the exit at 4:20PM. Just as we prepared to leave we noticed two temporary walls being rolled to storage. Wow… a

The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum

time of day, so we left the museum very pleased to have found this unusual and excellent venue. Lunch was a brand-new, not-quite-completed Golden Corral buffet with the most extensive variety of foods we’ve yet experienced. Their new emphasis is “You have a right to eat out of order!” as they now offer selected breakfast items at dinner and supper. A stop at the post office completed our day and we headed back to camp. Watch for Issue #5 in about 2-3 weeks ! ! !

huge building addition was being prepared to be opened, but not today, the ribbons across the archways were still in place. Hmmm… we’ve got to include the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum on our next trip out West. Why don’t YOU?! You won’t be disappointed, even if you’re not a huge cowboy fan.

1: Nat’l Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s gardens; 2: Courtyard we viewed while enjoying scrumptious lunch buffet; 3: Small segment of restaurant; 4: Sally ‘cooks’ big meal at the ranch house in kids’ area; 5: Cat’l rustler in action! Those cats don’t like to be corralled. 6: ‘Prosperity Junction’ is a circa 1900 Western

cattle town at dusk with saloon, church, school and other full-size structures. 7: Statue of pondering Abe Lincoln. 8: Sally & Chris are cow pokes on the Western prairie.

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