On the Road Again

Bailey's RV Resort and Campground, Seneca, Kansas. Photo by Dana Jones.

I took off yesterday — May 26, 2022 — with Emma (my trusty Rpod camper for those of you who haven't met her yet) to drive to Columbus, Ohio, for the Quilt Surface Design Symposium. It was smooth sailing through eastern Colorado and western Kansas. I love Highway 36. The 65 mph speed limit is perfect for cruising with Emma in tow. We made no quilt-shop stops as we had 600+ miles to cover.

Emma had a facelift for the trip. Her braking system is repaired, the lock on her storage area is smoother than it's ever been, her cracked storage shelf has been reinforced, she has a top-of-the-line metal shower head that delivers the best water pressure ever, and perhaps best of all, she has a new, electric tongue jack. No more cranking after a full day of driving!

At left, Emma at Tin Cup RV Campground,

central Illinois near Lake in the Hills

Forest Preserve.

Not familiar with the term tongue jack? Neither was I until I got Emma a few years ago. It's a support for the front end of the camper that's part of the hitch. You raise and lower it to hitch to the tow vehicle and use it to level the camper front to back, which is helpful in keeping you from rolling out of bed because the camper is pitched forward or background. I used to have a hand crank. Now I just push a button. Cool!

Emma has a few repairs to go. Join me in hoping her door doesn't come off or refuse to close on this trip. When we get home, she'll have a new door and new blinds waiting to be installed.

I have to do a big shout out to Jefe's Mobile RV Service. Jeff Ramos, owner of this super company that comes to you — even when you live in the mountains — is beyond competent. I don't think he travels cross country to repair RVs but he does have a good size service area in Colorado so if you're a Coloradan, check out his website for your use and to recommend to others.

BTW: Emma's new door will have a window in it!

Crossroads Quilting in Cameron, Missouri, is just a minute south of Highway 36.

So What About Quilting?

While there was no time for quilt shop stops on Day 1, today I squeezed in two: Crossroads Quilting in Cameron, Missouri, and Cuts & Bolts in Chillicothe, Missouri. My purchases weren't too exciting: Some solids (I'm building my solid stash) and a bolt of PFD (prepared for dyeing) Bella white by Moda. I always enjoy seeing what shops in various places carry. Crossroads is a shop I've visited a few times before. It is an interesting maze of rooms that seems to go on and on. It was my first stop at Cuts & Bolts, which had a similar layout and lots of solids to choose out.

At Crossroads Quilting, I picked up a copy of Vintage Notions by Amy Barickman. It says it's "an inspirational guide to needlework, cooking sewing, fashion and fun." The back cover says the book was inspired by the wisdom of Mary Brooks Picken, a pioneer in the domestic arts. How could I pass it up? You'll have to wait to see if I recommend it as I first will finish reading Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over by Nell Painter. That's my homework for the independent study I will do with Michael James at the Quilt Surface Design Symposium next week. I'm a few chapters in and finding it a good read.

At Home in the Prairie

I grew up playing in tall-grass prairie, a landscape that speaks to me like no other place. A few days in the lush, green spring prairie so full of dew you think it rained over night restores my soul.

More Blogs to Come

I'm not sure when I'll blog again but it will be soon. I'm on the road into June. I'll be at QSDS for two weeks. The first seven days is independent study with Michael James. Then I'll spend five days silk screening with Pat Pauly. Talk about restoring my soul!

Before I head back West, I'll spend a bit of time at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, one of a dozen national parks still on my bucket list to visit.

I won't go straight back to Colorado but rather swing south to Belen, New Mexico, for the celebration of 50 years since Judy Chicago and Miriam Shapiro brought women artists to the world's attention with Womanhouse. Wo/Manhouse 2022 will be June 18. The event will include exhibition of a portion of the International Honor Quilt. More on this later.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Following the Dotted Line

Author's Note: Some of you who are reading this know that I am by profession a journalist. I sought to share the story of my Road Trip mainly through photos and a few words. Today I've written more. My head was so filled with ideas as I drove, I decided to share some of those albeit a bit randomly. Experts say blogs can wander. Hmmm.... I'm to sure but ramble I have here. Read what interests you and leave the rest.

Thanks for traveling with me these past 21 days. Tomorrow I will arrive home. Can't wait to see my pups!

— Dana

Texas Highway 207. Photo open stock from Internet.

Texas Highway 207 is amazing! Heading out of Caprock Canyons State Park this morning, it looked the quickest way northwest into New Mexico and Colorado was to drive Highway 207 from Silverton, Texas, to Claude, Texas. My road atlas showed a dotted line along this 50-mile stretch. I heard my mother saying, "Now Ralph (that was my dad), do you think it's a good idea to get off the beaten path? You know what happened last time we did that."

Sorry Mom. I'm taking the dotted line. That meant turning north on 207. The first sign I saw let me know I was on the Texas Plains Trail. The terrain was flat, the road straight, the traffic nonexistent, the road surface smooth. Moving along at good clip considering I was pulling Emma, my 18-foot camper, I saw the first of what would be many windmills.

I thought: "They nailed that logo!" As someone who has been asked to create logos from time to time, I know nailing one is genius and rare. Maybe I'll be so lucky some day.

What I didn't know was what lay ahead of me on this trail. I figured it was 50 miles of cruise-control big open spaces. It was for a while but then a sign suggested I go into lower gear for the 10 percent grade ahead. I'm used to signs cautioning care on mountain roads. The state park near my home has a section of switchbacks that are a 19 percent grade. Yet I was in the middle of the plains, or so I thought.

I came around a few curves then over a rise only to find myself in the middle of a Georgia O'Keefe painting — one of the ones she did near Abiquiu of gold and red striped hills dotted with green clumps of shrubs. I was in awe of the beauty before me. Later I learned I was looking at a portion of Palo Duro Canyon. I've stayed at Palo Duro Canyon State Park on several occasions. It's gorgeous. Today's view was perhaps even more stunning than the park's vistas.

As I approached Claude, I noticed a field filled with wind turbines capturing the wind even as the smaller farm windmills have been doing for years. Making the most of the plains' winds isn't new. I thought about one of the books I listened to while driving last week. It was about a Texas family dealing with the Dust Bowl. I realized I was driving through the very part of Texas that became so inhospitable to all living things during those years.

When I'm pulling Emma, I find driving the interstates stressful. When possible, I stick with state and county highways. When towing, I rarely drive over 65 mph so I don't need the higher speed limits on the interstates. While driving off-interstate means slowing down for towns, I find out here in the West, those can be some distance apart. I enjoy seeing how folks live beyond the cities and suburbs. When going east on this road trip, I drove I-10 from south of Phoenix all the way to Florida thinking I would make more miles faster. I had to do the trip quick within the time between QuiltCon and the AQS show in Daytona Beach. It was quicker but I didn't see much.

I've taken more time for the return trip, overnighting at state parks and a national seashore. These usually require driving away from the interstate, adding some miles. I planned two-day stays at several parks. This pace has been so much more enjoyable. When I'm not clutching the steering wheel as tight as possible because interstates are often wind tunnels and passing semis, like the wind, can push my car and camper sideways, I have more time to think. I see things you don't see on the interstates.

Driving through the plains reminded me of the Illinois prairie. I lived for a few years in Mascoutah, Illinois, which sits across the Mississippi River west of St. Louis in a region of rich farmland that was once prairie for miles and miles. Having read about the tall grasses that covered the land, Charles Dickens in the mid-1800s traveled to Lebanon, a town close to Mascoutah, to see the then-famous Looking Glass Prairie. He was not impressed. He came in April when the grass was not yet tall and the wildflowers not blooming. He and his companions had to travel through low-lying swampy areas. Had he come in the late summer, he would have seen the tall grasses but he also would have encountered mosquitoes galore in those swampy areas. Remember, I lived there. I know the terrain, and I know the swampy areas of which he wrote. They have been drained some but the wetlands remain as an important part of the environment. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes also remain.

The plains of Texas are different from the prairie yet similar in their vastness and flatness except of course when a canyon suddenly appears.

Today I was struck by how many folks live impoverished. I drove through several county seats that at one time had been at the center of town squares with thriving businesses. Most of these buildings are now empty. They are often boarded up. They need of major repair or demolition. I stopped at a gas station that had hung old plastic shower curtains in place of doors to the toilet stalls. It appeared there hard once been doors but the hinges were rusted or missing.

Between Claude, Texas, and Amarillo, a sign identified the road as the Ports to Plains Corridor. Not knowing what this meant, I googled and learned the following:

The Ports-To-Plains Corridor, also known as National Highway System High Priority Corridor 38, is a highway corridor between the U.S./Mexico border at Laredo, Texas, and Denver. The reason for proposed improvements to this corridor is to expedite the transportation of goods and services from Mexico to the United States and vice versa. The corridor passes through Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma before ending in Denver.

I wonder how this corridor has functioned during the pandemic and if it is in line for federal funding under the recently passed infrastructure bill. I hope Texas will use money to repair I-10. The 800+ miles through Texas was the worst road surface I drove on this road trip.

Talking Turkey

As I said, a lot of random thoughts. A final one is yet another word on turkeys. Between South Llano River State Park and Caprock Canyons State Park is the town of Turkey. I asked the gas-station clerk the source of the town's name. She didn't know. I'm guessing it's because so many wild turkeys roost there. I suggested this. She shook her head. "I don't know much about turkeys."

The temperature had dropped from high 70s when I arrived at South Llano Stare Park on Saturday to below freezing when I headed out the next morning. It was 34 degrees when I stopped in Turkey early Sunday afternoon. I was close to Caprock Canyons State Park where I was to camp but I was getting cold feet — quite literally — and wondered if I should perhaps get a hotel room instead.

That's when I saw the sign for the Hotel Turkey. I decided to check it out. What I saw was a boarded up building so drove on to Caprock where the heater in my camper kept it nice and cozy.

Turns out the hotel has a website and Facebook page and appears to be a thriving business, which is definitely a head scratcher. I'll have to check out their chile rellenos on a future trip.

Tonight I'm in Colorado Springs at the Garden of the Gods RV Resort. I've stayed here before. It's a tad pricey for a campground though not for the Springs. And James who works the reservation and front desk is super nice. It was snowing lighting when I arrived but has stopped. Sun is projected for tomorrow between here and my mountain home four hours north and west of here so it should be smooth sailing.

Turkeys! Turkeys! Turkeys!

Turkeys at South Llano River State Park near Junction, Texas. Photo by Dana Jones©

Turkeys at last! As I headed out of South Llano River State Park, the resident turkeys must have read my blog yesterday. I said after three stays at the park, I'd yet to see them. As I exited the park, there they were. A great way to start my day.

Today was overcast with periods of drizzle. I stayed off the interstate driving through parts of western Texas new to me. Most of the drive was flat, open land with occassional small towns. It may have been the gray day, but I was struck by how depressed the towns looked. So many boarded up stores, so many rundown homes, so little traffic. The light traffic was okay by me. Within a few miles of my destination — Caprock Canyons State Park — the terrain changed. The entrance to the park was open prairie but a few miles into the park, the canyons for which it's named began to appear. Stunning red cliffs!

Caprock Canyons State Park. Photos by Dana Jones.©

There were signs everywhere to watch for bison on the road. My first drive of the park road showed evidence they'd been there but no bison in sight. That changed on my second trip down the road. A woman stopped roadside with camera alerted me there was something to see up ahead. Three bison were headed down the road, walking single file with apparent purpose.

Bison at Caprock Canyons State Park. Photo by Dana Jones.©

As I headed up a hill, setting sun in my eyes, I encountered a bison roadblock. It was a surrealistic sight as they were silhouetted against the sky.

Bragging Rights

Backing my R-Pod into campsites is challenging. Today was a tough angle. But I do need to say that Emma — yes my R-Pod has a name — and I seem to have a new understanding. My backing skills have improved leaps and bounds this trip.

Upcoming Demystifying Class: Photo to Pattern

With just two days of driving 'til I'm home, I'm thinking about upcoming quilt lectures and classes. This month's session of my "Demystifying Design for Foundation Piecing" workshop is full so I've scheduled a session in May. If you've not taken this class, consider signing up.

A photo can inspire a quilt design.

Pattern design based on photo. © by Dana Jones