May 2011: Our Trip to Middle Earth, a.k.a. The Midwest

Well, we are off again on another RV trip. We expect to be gone about six weeks or so this time with a destination of Kansas and points beyond.

There is a family reunion and a high school reunion, both scheduled for Memorial Day weekend. I have not seen my cousins for many years and because all of us are now, “of a certain age,” this trip became a priority.

The high school reunion will be in Waterville, Kansas, and the family reunion the following day, 25 miles away in Leonardville. You will definitely need a magnifying glass to find both of those towns on the map…and if you are driving through, don’t blink!

After this wild and crazy weekend, OK, so it probably won’t exactly be wild and crazy with the 16 others who were in my graduating class, or the 25 or so relatives who have all been card-carrying Senior Citizens for quite some time, but it will be fun.  (Comparing ailments will no doubt be a hot topic of conversation!)

Next, we will spend about five days in Topeka where I lived for a lot of years, renewing old friendships.

From there, we will be heading north into South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse before dropping down to Creede, Colorado for a visit with good friends before heading back home.

Now before you write off this trip as a real snoozer, let me remind you that Don and I never have boring trips…like this morning…but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself…

Day before yesterday we were in Bishop, California and had a nice, though brief, visit with Dave and Melinda, Don’s brother and sister-in-law. We don’t see them often enough, so dinner with them was great.

The high Sierra Mountains were beautiful with the frosting of snow on them.

Our next stop, as on our November trip, was at Red Rock Canyon State Park. It is about 120 miles north of Los Angeles. It is a beautiful place, quite rustic, very desert-y with amazing cliff and rock formations. The campground gets very little use, at least it has been empty every time we have been there.

This is the Foster’s Home Away From Home.

We arrived close to noon and immediately drove over to Randsburg, a tiny (population, 80) “living ghost town” nearby where they still do a bit of gold mining.

Big Beautiful Downtown Randsburg!

The big attraction for us was the General Store with the 100-year-old soda fountain…and the BEST chocolate malts on the planet. We had been talking about those malts ever since we were here last November. We sat at the antique bar, chatted with the waitress (the same one as last year) and waited patiently. A necessity as there is no hurrying the good folks of Randsburg! 

Finally our malts arrived, enough to fill the tall glasses TWICE each. Oh Wow!!  The malts did not disappoint. On the way back to the park we discussed how many Weight Watcher points we had just consumed…and discussed possibly not be eating again for a couple days, but they were worth every cold, creamy, chocolately SLURP!

Red Rock Canyon State Park has very narrow, one-way roads lined with rocks and scratchy bushes. It is difficult to maneuver a motorhome the size of ours without getting scratches on it from the rocks and bushes. We had walked part of the road last night to make sure we could get out alright come morning.

In the evening we had a peaceful BBQ at the picnic table next to the motorhome, (so much for our earlier discussion about food) in the shadow of the beautiful cliffs, listened to the birds and called it a day, planning to head out at 8 or 9 o’clock the next morning.

That brings us to 6AM this morning when the the loud noise of trucks, cars and people talking immediately outside our bedroom window, brought me straight up.

When I peeked out the window, there were trucks and cars already parked in the road right beside us and more cars and trucks coming down the road toward us (the wrong way) completely jamming the road. Then a car drove right up into our camp space, right next to our picnic table! We had no idea who all these people were. I just hoped they are not Navy SEALs!

We quickly dressed and Don went outside to find out what in the world was going on. I mentioned to Don that this was worse than the cattle drive we got into at the start of our trip in November. At least the cows were going the same direction we were.

By this time we had figured out that there was obviously a movie or commercial shoot going on, but right in middle of our camp space? Maybe we should leave our PJ’s on and go ask if we can be extras!

Of course our main concern was how were we going to get our motorhome out of here with the road clogged with traffic and people with all sorts of equipment, including a small RV pulled up right beside us.

The first person Don spoke to (in his usual mild, diplomatic manner…uh huh!), was a “Dolly,” an electrical guy in Hollywood-speak, who was not very interested in our concerns and thought our motorhome was just part of their group. However, word quickly moved up the chain that there was an upset camper in the motorhome. 

Then Robert, the producer and director came over. He was the guy in control of the chaos that surrounded us. He said they were shooting a video about “Peace around the world through-out history.”  Robert said, “I can’t be doing a thing on peace and have you not peaceful!” ( I can’t imagine why he thought Don might not be “peaceful.”)

Robert was very professional, apologized profusely and the next thing I know, he and Don were talking about James Dean in the movie, ‘Giant,’ Robert Deniro, in Raging Bull and various acting techniques.

Somehow, the discussion turned to Don’s Nicodemus performances with Robert volunteering to possibly help Don get a new DVD filmed and produced, along with professional costumes, no less. Whoa!! What a turn-around!!!

Robert and Don

(If you will remember from our last trip, Don performed numerous times his monologue of, "The Empty Tomb," the story of Nicodemus at the cruxifiction of Christ. He is scheduled to do it twice on this trip as well, once at the church I grew up in in Topeka, and then at our friends church in Creede, Colorado.)

Next, the park ranger showed up at our door, again apologizing. The subject of Nicodemus came up once again, and she took Don’s card to give to her pastor for a possible future performance.

When we got ready to leave, they moved all their equipment and vehicles off the road and we got out with only the usual few scratches from those nasty bushes!

This afternoon we arrived in 98 degree temps in Indio, CA for the wedding of our good friends, Jim and Wilma. We will meet up with them later today and celebrate their wedding on Sunday evening.  Jim and Wilma and their romance is a very unique story for another blog posting coming soon so stay tuned.

What did I say about us never having boring trips? Don says if the rest of this journey is anything like the beginning, this will really be a memorable trip!