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Stampede Tour - On the Road Click HERE to search through a list of past subjects. Click HERE to find a specific month and year.
We’re spending some time at our home base, Show Low, AZ…For anyone who doesn’t know where Show Low is located; it’s about three hours north of Phoenix at 6,500 feet. We’re staying at our favorite RV park, Fool Hollow Lake. To show you what we’re experiencing, I’ve recycled a couple of pictures from an earlier stay.
Yesterday we drove from El Paso, TX to Show Low, AZ. It was about a 400 mile trip. Because Dakota didn’t feel that he could drive the whole trip, and since Sunny chooses not to drive while pulling Monte, Jake volunteered. And he did a great job too. We were a little concerned, because Jake’s driver’s license has been revoked…Too many speeding tickets.
While there we looked for arrowheads. Although Dakota looked diligently, he found none. The second picture is of Scott and Allie, along with Dakota and Sunny. We’ve spent close to two weeks at Ft. Stockton, TX. You may be asking, “Where’s Ft. Stockton? Look it up. The area is rich in Old West history…Judge Roy Bean, Buffalo Soldiers and the great camel experiment. The first picture is one of the restored buildings of Ft. Stockton, and the second is of their great museum.
We’re still in Texas. Right now we’re between Midland and Odessa. The park is called the Oilfield RV Park. And without oilfield trade they Recently we purchased an American Flag and display to put out in front of Monty. It has an arm that most people place a placard with their name on it. We placed a container to put copies of Chronicle of the Old West in it. Because of the signage on Hoss, we have people coming to our door to ask about Chronicle of the Old West. This gets them the information without knocking. Incidentally, notice that the flag is limp with no wind at all. According to the weather people we’re to get a 50 to 60 mph winds. Will let you know if we survive. When we started on our Stampede Tour we chose a timeline of two years. As an investment and future home we purchased a three bedroom, three bath townhouse. Our objective was to rent it while on the road. The townhouse was completed a year ago last June, and was actually rented for a year before it was complete. The renters moved out in June, at the end of their lease. We put it back on the market with the idea that if it didn’t rent by August, we would move our furniture into the townhouse, and over the next six months spend more time in Show Low, AZ. Well, about a week ago the townhouse was leased for another year. That means for another year our home is Monte and we’ll continue our travels. And, we’re very happy about it.
When you have a Spartanistic operation like we do, you do business wherever you can. Here’s Dakota taking a phone order at the Coffeeville, Kansas graveyard where the Dalton Gang is buried. This is one of the most unusual offices any business can have.
We just left Tulsa, OK where we attended the At the Saturday night Grand Banquet Dakota did a little auctioneering. The people were sure generous. Everything went for more than fair market value…Some went for up to three times their market value.
We’re presently in Arlington, TX…That’s in the Dallas – Fort Worth area. Our grandchildren’s Sunday school teacher and his daughter both Their mother (Kym) suggested they raise some money by selling lemonade. So, they made a lemonade stand and sold lemonade one day last week. How much did they raise? A total of $1,314.67. We’re so proud of our grandchildren and the many people who bought the most expensive lemonade they will ever purchase.
We’ve been staying at the Oasis RV in Amarillo, TX for the last couple of weeks. The stay has been noted by the winds. The whole time we’ve been here, the winds have been from strong to very strong. The RV park is owned by two brothers…Chris and Thomas. In the picture to the right, if you look at the top of the sign you’ll see an orange form within a cage. That is a tent. To raise money for the elderly, Thomas spent three weeks up there. They did well too…They are two wild and crazy guys.
We’re presently in Amarillo, Texas. One of the strangest things we’ve seen in a while was when we walked out of a fast food restaurant at lunch and saw two Mallard Ducks playing in casual water that had accumulated from the previous night’s rain. The unusual part of it was that the water was in the middle of a shopping area, with cars and people everywhere…Where’s my shotgun?
We’re presently in Amarillo, TX and staying in a very nice new RV park. Since it is new there isn’t much in the way of trees or other tall vegetation…which might be a good thing. This part of Texas is flat, flat, flat. There’s a wind that blows all day, but over the last few days, starting about 6:00 in the evening the wind fan is cranked up to high. The sky in the west becomes black and a storm with rain and some hail comes in until about 9:00. Then, everything is quiet. The owners do a tornado watch. They have a siren that will go off if something is coming…I believe they are conscientious, because one of the owners lives in a RV about four spaces from ours.
We’re presently in Amarillo, Texas, and last night we got a deluxe Texas Panhandle storm. As it turned dark we could see black clouds on the horizon. Then, just before midnight there was so much lightning that the sky was more often light than dark. While the lightning was in full force, the rain mixed with hail came on. Although Monte, our Montana fifth-wheel’s skin is fiberglass, it sounded as if we were inside a drum. After an hour or more, the storm moved on. This morning the sun is peaking through the clouds. The day promises to be a humid, hot one. We’ve had a bit of an environmental shock over the last week. A week ago we were in Show Low, AZ among the pine trees at 6,500. Over the last few days we’ve been in Albuquerque in what would be called the high desert. The first picture is our view as we looked out the window of Monte our RV when we were in Show Low. The second picture is what we’re presently seeing.   Our friend Jan Gray who lives in Big Bear, California has a neat looking Icelandic Pony that she enters in horse shows. Over the last weekend Jan and Hali Thor (the horse’s name) won three blue ribbons.  Incidentally, Jan has a ribbon tree in her house that contains all of Hali Thor’s ribbons. There’s three more for the tree. While in Williams, Arizona we had dinner and spent an evening at Wild West Junction. After a great dinner, the entertainment started off with a short concert by a Union Civil War band. Then, there was the mandatory Old West shootout.
Finally, it was time for the main act, “The Midnight Howlers”. This is a local group of four high school age kids who are unbelievable performers. They play several of their own songs as well as classic Johnny Cash and Elvis songs.  We highly recommend spending an evening there if you’re in the Grand Canyon area. Anyone familiar with our newspaper or weekly radio show knows that we promote “Living The Code.” We’ve not only established precepts to live by, we encourage people to commit to living by those precepts. And to remind them of their commitment, we send them certificates suitable for framing. Recently, the children in the Carl Albert State College Choctaw Headstart class requested “Living The Code” certificates. The picture is of that class proudly displaying their certificates.
While at the Big Bear Wild West Story Fest Dakota tried something new in his story telling. He portrayed an 1869 Texas cattleman getting ready to take a cattle drive to Kansas. The audience was the cowboys who had just signed up for the drive. Dakota gave them an orientation on what’s expected of them and what they should expect on the drive. It went over very well. Several people commented that they actually felt they were getting ready for a three month drive.
The picture is of Dakota in his 1800’s attire getting them orientated. We just spent the weekend at the Wild West Story Fest in Big Bear, California. Dakota was one of the performers and the MC of the Saturday evening banquet. It was an absolute ball. The committee and volunteers that put it on were wonderful. And the attendees were gracious. The only problem was that it took place outdoors, and even though Memorial Day weekend is the kickoff for the summer, the temperature stayed below 40 degrees. As you can see, most everybody bundled up. The picture is of the performers and event chairperson. Left to right: Andy Nelson, Yvonne Hollenbeck, Gary Robertson, chairperson, Liz Harris and Dakota.  Click HERE to search through a list of past subjects. Or you can click on a particular month:
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While in Ft. Stockton, Brad Newton, our guide during our stay there, took us to the Upsidedown T Ranch. It comprises of 53 sections and is owned by Scott and Allie Ferman. 
probably wouldn’t exist.
Wild West History Association’s First Annual Roundup. It was a grand time. We got to renew old acquaintances and meet some new people.
have just come down with different forms of leukemia. When their mom explained it to them, our grandchildren (Kaine age 8 and Quinn age 5) said they wanted to give them some of their money to help with the cost.
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