TravelingMorgansBlog Working our way around the contiguous 48 states in our RV.

Traveled to Sierra Crest today Sierraville to Truckee. Beautiful, lots of melting snow and waterfalls. Trainsheds are different.

The Traveling Morgans had a successful spring trip to our job for the summer season.

We started from Rockport Texas on the Gulf of Mexico.
We went through San Marcos Texas and the Texas Hill Country, the Llano Estacado (usually translated staked plain, but more properly palisaded plain).  Then in one interesting day tackled the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico, the White Sands Desert and  Organ Mountains, ending in Las Cruces NM. We spent 3 days checking for possible winter jobs for next year and concluded there was not a place that would be good for ourselves and our dogs.

The next leg of the journey was to Albuquerque NM and on I-40 into Arizona. We stopped at Meteor Crater to see a first for us — a mile wide hole caused by a meteor. What a mess a meteor could make of a city today! The winds at the crater were unbelievable, probably a force 3 hurricane equivalent.

We traveled up near Hoover Dam on our way to Pahrump NM and the Escapees Nevada park, where the search for next winter’s job was much better. We have 3 solid prospects including one in Las Vegas. There is so much to see in that area (not even including Las Vegas) that we hope one of the 3 pans out for us.

Our drive then took us over Death Valley Road back to I-15 and on to Barstow CA and Bakersfield CA, and then to the area near Sequoia National Park. We only had one day in the park when a weather change made it necessary for us to move on.

Our last real stop before the end of this trip was in Coarsegold CA at the Sierra Escapees Park, which is probably the most beautiful long term stay campground we have ever seen. The highlight was two days in Yosemite National Park, which is near by. The snow still had most roads closed, even in April.

Larry has made a few changes to the web site. Most notably a link to the FACEBOOK page and a chance to follow us on Twitter.

If you want to contact us via FACEBOOK go to http://facebook,.com/travelingmorgans

To get to our twitter feed, try http://www.twitter.com/TravelingMorgan (note no S on the end,  TravelingMorgans was one letter too long for a Twitter Feed name).

To see our blog, go to https://blog.travelingmorgans.com

The main web site is still http://travelingmorgans.com and it now has over 100 pages and over 3000 photographs from our travels.

Larry is currently finishing the 2010 travels page  at http://travelingmorgans.com/TM-Year/2010.shtml
and starting the 2011 page at http://travelingmorgans.com/TM-Year/2011.shtml. The later is where the pictures from Yosemite and Sequoia and our other stops will be posted.

For those who do not know Escapees is an RV club designed originally for those who live in an RV all the time and now also for those who live extensively in an RV or are thinking about this lifestyle we enjoy so much.

You can get more information at http://www.escapees.com and we are always glad to talk to anyone about this lifestyle.

We are now in California’s Gold country at Grass Valley CA and will explore this area while we work here for the summer.

Please keep in touch and contact us if you will be in this area.

Living in an RV means many things. We change our yard quite frequently and find many things we do not need. For example, there will be no TV this summer. We are constantly seeing new things and meeting new people. The high cost of fuel is a problem and many Full Time RVers are not moving as much as usual this year.

You really have to LIKE your partner to make this life work. It is like living on a small island.

Yes, we sold our stick house several years ago and now have a home on wheels.

We REALLY downsized and got rid of most of our “stuff”.

The stress level has gone way down.

Anyone in Northern California this summer? Glad to meet with you if you are.

Yosemite was beautiful and wonderful, even with many areas closed. We saw enough to know we want to go back with a lot more time. We will be moving on to the Sacramento area, and then to our summer job near Grass Valley. Pictures will be posted on http://travelingmorgans.com when I have time to get them right.

We got to visit Sierra and Kings Canyon National Parks briefly. We saw enough to know we want to come back. Snow drifts over the top of the visitor center in April was a surprise. The General Sherman Tree (worlds largest) was well worth the effort to climb to 7000 feet (in our truck).

We are now in Coarsegold CA and will get to Yosemite when the rain stops.

A collection of recent tweets @travelingmorgan

Three possible jobs for next winter in Pahrump and Las Vegas. Hope one comes true by Fall. Hope we can work this area to see the beautiful mountains and deserts around Las Vegas

Made it over Death Valley Road and Tehachapi Pass to Bakersfield CA.

Went into Sequoia National Park saw Worlds Tallest Tree. Snow taller than the top of my pickup at 7000 feet, but the roads were cleared. WOW

We are now in Pahrump NV, just over the mountain from Las Vegas.
Snow covered Mt. Charleston (over 1200 feet) is visible from our site.

We are looking for work for the winter of 2011-12

To update our travels,  we left from the Texas Coastal Bend (Rockport), and stopped at the edge of the hill country (San Marcos TX) for medical treatment.

In the next three days we crossed the Hill Country, the barren Llano Estacado (Staked Plain or Pallisaded Plain), and two sets of mountains separated by a desert (White Sands and Organ Mountains, were the last).

We found Las Cruces NM would not have a winter job & place to stay for us.

We then headed up the Rio Grande River valley (I-25) to Albuquerque, crossed the Painted Desert to Winslow AZ.

We saw where the earth was shaken by a 150 foot meteor at Meteor Crater. It made an impressive impact.

The next overnight was Kingman AZ, then past Hoover Dam into Nevada on the nifty new Hoover Dam bypass and on to Pahrump NV and a week of job searching.

The whole of the SD section of the website is now in production status.
Wind Cave National Park
http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/WindCaveNP.shtml
and the Mammoth Dig
http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/MammothDig.shtml
are the latest to be added.
The Black Hills overview
http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/BlackHills.shtml
was updated.
Expect more to be added from time to time as I think of improvements, but the essentials are in good shape.

More  from California and our next update.

I am looking for an Android App that will make it easy to update our blog(https://blog.travelingmorgans.com), Twitter, and Facebook all at once. Write if you know of something.

You are welcome to follow us on Twitter (TravelingMorgan) and Facebook (travelingmorgans with no space) as well as our main site http://travelingmorgans.com

Our trip last fall from South Dakota to Texas was just a straight run, with the exception of a detour to visit our friends Ava, Sebastian (Bash) and Eric in Lawton OK. We parked in their backyard by backing through a gate less than 9 feet wide. Pictures will be on our web site in the near future. That was the toughest parking we have done.

A stop in San Marcos TX allowed us to have medical treatment and visit friends there.

We have spent the winter in Rockport TX.
The last part of 2010 included wonderful experiences on the Texas Gulf Coast, including a visit from our son.

Just as the visit by our daughters in the Fall of 2010 was the highlight of our time in the Black Hills — allowing us to see things through their eyes as they saw them for the first time, our son’s visit was the highlight of our time on the Texas Gulf Coast for the very same reason.

Padre Island National Seashore is not something to be missed.

The Whooping Cranes at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge are also a national treasure. The best was to see them is by boat, either the very good trip on the Wharf Cat or the excellent Skimmer piloted by bird expert and author Tommy Moore.

Most pictures are not yet posted. This winter found multiple computer failures so picture posting and web site development was significantly slowed.

What has been posted on the web site is mainly South Dakota.
I have just finished updating all of the Custer State Park pages.

Introduction  — http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/CusterSP.shtml
Wildlife      — http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/CusterSP-Wildlife.shtml
Sylvan Lake   — http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/CusterSP-Sylvan.shtml
Needles Hiway — http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/CusterSP-Needles.shtml
Mt Coolidge   — http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/CusterSP-MtCool.shtml

Other pages completed since last summer include
SD Intro       — http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/index.shtml
SD Recommended — http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/SD-recommended.shtml
Badlands NP    — http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/BadlandsNP.shtml
Sheep Mt Table — http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/SheepMtnTable-BNP.shtml
Black Hills    — http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/BlackHills.shtml
Mt. Rushmore   — http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/MtRushmore.shtml
Iron Mt. Road  — http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/IronMtnRd.shtml
Crazy Horse, including the excellent NIGHT BLAST video
— http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/CrazyHorse.shtml

Items yet to be completed from 2010:
Wind Cave NP in SD
Mammoth Dig in Hot Springs SD
Texas Items, including Coastal Bend and Palo Duro Canyon (also see 2009).
2010 Travels Page is started but needs completion
— http://travelingmorgans.com/TM-Year/2010.shtml

There is a LOT of 2009 yet to go up, including movies of Yellowstone Geysers. Some of the pictures of wildlife can be found on the 2009 page.
— http://travelingmorgans.com/TM-Year/2009.shtml

Our planned trip to California is mapped on the new 2011 page
— http://travelingmorgans.com/TM-Year/2011.shtml

TravelingMorgans.com now has over 100 pages and thousands of pictures.

Please contact us via email if you would like to meet with us on our Spring 2011 travels or during the Summer in California.

You can always contact us via the CONTACT US page.
— http://travelingmorgans.com/TM-Main/TM-ContactUs.shtml

—

Larry of The Traveling Morgans
http://travelingmorgans.com
Phyllis, Larry, with dogs Roscoe, Harpo