TravelingMorgansBlog

May 2012 update for the Traveling Morgans

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:32:51 +0000

We are still working at Jellystone Hill Country campground. I am sure it is the last job we will take that involves nothing but cleaning.
We do not plan on traveling until this fall.

We have been doing a lot of work to get our truck and trailer to the point we want them for future travels.
Our 1999 truck now has has a 2012 paint job and a heavy duty transmission cooler with a fan.
Our trailer has new brakes and an electric awning.
We have added a solar powered fan to keep air flowing over the refrigerator coils.

We have also been working through health issues. Nothing major, but it has slowed us down.

We have spent a little time exploring the Texas Hill Country, and those experiences and pictures will be on the web site in time.
The wildflowers in the Hill Country were wonderful this spring, and we got to travel the Willow City Loop, famous for the wildflowers.
We also spent a little time in the Fredericksburg TX area and Pedernales Falls State Park.

The TravelingMorgans.Com web site has several new sections and updates.

Pages Added:
Nebraska Overview http://tavelingmorgans.com/NE/ includes information on the Oregon Trail Landmarks in Nebraska.
Nebraska Recommendations are at http://tavelingmorgans.com/NE/NE-recommended.shtml.
Our 2011 travels pages has finally been finished at http://tavelingmorgans.com/TM-Year/2011.shtml

Updated pages and additions:
Some of the South Dakota pages have been updated, including:
Badlands National Park     http://tavelingmorgans.com/SD/BadlandsNP.shtml
Iron Mountain Road       http://tavelingmorgans.com/SD/IronMtnRd.shtml
California Main Pages              http://tavelingmorgans.com/CA/
Our main page                        http://travelingmorgans.com

An Amazon Affiliate Menu has been added to make it easy for our family and friends to use TravelingMorgans.Com to place Amazon orders and to make it easier to get to our recommendations.

We are hoping income from Amazon orders — and page sponsorship on our web site — will make it possible for us to travel more and work less.
We know it is hard to remember to go to http://travelingmorgans.com when placing an Amazon order.
Even those who really like the idea of helping us at no cost to themselves mention how hard it is to remember.
In the last three months there has not been much ordering through our web site.
What can we do to make this easier? The Amazon Associates menu is one thing we have done.
What else can we do that will be of service to you?

We do plan to expand our Amazon Product recommendations, and with that actually add more value for those placing orders through http://TravelingMorgans.Com
The Amazon Associates menu tab will take you to the recommendation categories quickly.

We are considering adding recommendations from YOU. Would you like to see this? Is it a good idea or a bad one?
If you think it is a good idea, let us know of items you would like to see recommended. Write up what you would like to say.
I will set the recommendations on a test page and send the link to you to review.

Please let us know how things are going in YOUR world.
Where are you going to be this summer and fall?
What are you doing?
Is it possible for us to get together this fall?

We really want to stay in touch.

April 2012 update for the Traveling Morgans

admin — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:31:54 +0000

This is normally the time we send out a newsletter with our travel plans for the spring and information about a summer job.
This year we plan to stay put for the summer in Texas.
Spring has been a busy time for the Traveling Morgans.
We have been getting our truck and trailer refurbished and making plans.

We are currently working in the Texas Hill Country at the Jellystone on Canyon Lake.
It could be hot this summer for folks like us that are used to summers in the Yellowstone area or working in mountains.

We also are finding ourselves in the position of possibly being able to travel without working our way around the country once this commitment ends

We are going to try to make ends meet with the income coming in from retirement and perhaps a little from our web site.

Some of our contacts and friends have asked how they can help us.
We don’t want gifts, but we have something that may interest some of you.

We have become an Amazon Affiliate.
We have been pleased at how well Amazon has treated us as customers — all disputes have been resolved quickly.
Generally the prices are quite competitive — in fact they are often the best around.
With Amazon we can make recommendations of particular products and help others with our experience. We like that.

If you go to our web site, you will still find hundreds of pages and thousands of pictures from our travels. The site keeps growing that way.
You will also see an AMAZON AFFILIATE button on our drop-down menus.
Place your mouse over AMAZON AFFILIATE and the menu drops down.
You will see ENTER AMAZON PORTAL NOW, plus AMAZON OVERVIEW (where we discuss our affiliation and provide details and categories for Amazon products where we have recommendations.

IF and ONLY IF you are interested, use this way to place orders with Amazon. We will collect a small finders fee. Prices will not increase or we would not be affiliates.

Except for how you get to Amazon, nothing changes for you.

We have product recommendations aimed at RVers and we want to help people to learn what we learned. We would rather you buy them through our site, of course, but we would rather you get them some other way if you find a better price or for any other reason you have.

The recommendations will expand, and we will not talk about them much in newsletters.

Now for those who want to know, here is what has changed on the web site in late 2011 and 2012

The Amazon Overview http://travelingmorgans.com/a/amz.shtml

There are some GREAT pictures that have been added:
California Overview         http://travelingmorgans.com/CA/
Yosemite with MOVIES    http://travelingmorgans.com/CA/Yosemite-NP-Intro.shtml
Sequoia and Kings Canyon    http://travelingmorgans.com/CA/Sequoia-KC-NP-Intro.shtml
2010 Travels                    http://travelingmorgans.com/TM-Year/2010.shtml
2011 Travels (not finished)    http://travelingmorgans.com/TM-Year/2011.shtml

Black Hills of South Dakota with links to MANY things in that area, such as Crazy Horse (great video), Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore
and that wonderful Iron Mountain Road http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/BlackHills.shtml

We will try to send out letters once a month, just to stay in touch.
Once October comes, our adventures will increase even more.

We relish seeing the natural scenic wonders of our country.
We relish meeting with friends even more, and have passed up wonders to meet with friends.

Please let us know what is going on in your life.
We would love to make plans to meet up with you as we travel.

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

Vikings in Oklahoma before 1100AD?

admin — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 22:12:26 +0000

Heavener OK has a Runestone. It was apparently carved by Vikings hundreds of years before Columbus sailed. The interpretations vary. The date 11-Nov-1012 was an early interpretation. GLOMEDAL (Valley of Glome) is the more recently accepted interpretation, with an estimated carving date before 900AD. Other Runestones have been found in the area. A book called In Plain Site has other examples.

If you are in Eastern Oklahoma, stop in Heavener and see what may be the oldest carving in the United States that was not carved by a Native American.

One of the best full hook up campsites we have stayed at is a National Forest Service Campground near Heavener OK at Cedar Lake.

Flint Hills of Kansas and Unspoiled Prairie

admin — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 22:05:39 +0000

The Flint Hills of Kansas are beautiful and have the reputation of being the best preserved prairie in the United States.To my way of thinking, Custer State Park in South Dakota, with its herd of 1500 buffalo (bison) is a better example of preserved high prairie at this time.

Driving a 4WD through a herd is a unique experience, especially when your little dog starts barking at them from the “safety” of her car seat.

Missouri River in the middle of South Dakota

admin — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:52:05 +0000

The Missouri River cuts South Dakota in two from North to South. South Dakotans refer to themselves as West River or East River. This is as good a definition of where the west begins as it gets. The climate gets drier after you cross the river going west.

The Door Trail, Badlands NP, SD

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 04:29:06 +0000

When you go to the Badlands NP in SD, walk the DOOR trail (wheel chair accessible). When you go through the door, you will believe you have landed on another world.

Black Hills to Heavener OK to San Antonio TX

admin — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 04:02:11 +0000

We are now leaving our beloved Black Hills. Great place for quality time. We will go to the Badlands, then head for eastern OK near Heavener. We will report on the not well know Heavener Stone and Winding Stair Mountain. Then to the San Antonio area about Oct 12.

Second Picture Travel Trailer on its side wast of Winnemucca NV on I80

admin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 06:58:10 +0000

Leaving California and East to South Dakota Part 1

admin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 06:54:37 +0000

We left Grass Valley CA on Labor Day. The climb up the Sierra Nevada with a transmission with temperature was tough. We had to stop twice to let the tranny cool.

At exit 4 on I 80 in Nevada, we went to stop at Boomtown Casino. Since we wanted to put out our slides, the guard had us go to the KOA next door and park in row H. The services were turned off, the site was short, but the price was free. There were good places to walk the dogs.

On Tuesday November 6 we saw a travel trailer overturned on east bound I80 east of Winamucca NV. Traffic stopped and held us up along with many others. He should have had a Hensley Arrow.

We drove on to Elko NV and stayed at Walmart.

Email sent to Traveling Morgans Mailing List:– Traveling Morgans End of Summer and Fall Travel Plans

admin — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 10:49:34 +0000

Our summer in the California Gold Country has been in a remote area.

Getting out to see things has been harder than usual.

We got to Lake Tahoe and Donner Summit, plus various other sites in
the Gold Country, and the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento.

On our way here, we got to Meteor Crater AZ, Sequoia National Park,
and Yosemite National Park.

It will take some time to get these pictures and movies organized,
then selected for Web Pages.

We are planning to leave Sept 6.

Our plan is to head east on I-80 to Cheyenne Wyoming, then detour to
the Black Hills and take care of some personal business.

From South Dakota, we will head for Schirtz TX, just north of San
Antonio.

We will be working in the activities department of Stone Creek
Resort.

Since the resort does not offer enough hours for pay to meet our
needs, we will need to work other jobs.

Due to the number of hours Phyllis and I have had to work to make
ends meet, our real reason for traveling — to see and report the
natural and scenic wonders of this great country — has been running
behind. Also running behind has been the web site itself. I now have
3 winters and 2 summers worth of material that has not yet made it
to the web site.

This is besides material from travels before we became workampers.

Again, the primary cause has been the amount of time we have to
spend working for pay and the amount of time we have to spend trying
to find jobs.

To attempt to at least partially solve this problem, we have entered
into an associate program with Amazon.com

We have been pleased with how Amazon has handled customer service
issues for us in the last 6 years, and they now have a wide variety
of products at good prices.

Amazon also allows us only to advertize particular products we do
believe in and to have complete control over all advertising on our
site.

The way it works is this: You go to http://travelingmorgans.com
and click on any of our links to AMAZON. You may be purchasing one
of our RECOMMENDED items, or you may be purchasing any other item.
Most of the items on the AMAZON web site will earn us a small
advertising commission.

If you were going to purchase on AMAZON anyway, this is a free way
to help support TRAVELINGMORGANS.COM and help us to bring
you information about the natural scenic wonders of the 48
contiguous states. DO NOT DO THIS IF IT CAUSES YOU ANY ISSUES.

To just use us as a portal products you know you want to buy on
Amazon go to http://travelingmorgans.com
and scroll down to the bottom of that main page. Click on the word
AMAZON and make your purchases. We will receive a small percentage
of most of the purchases as an advertising fee.

To see products we recommend, go to http://travelingmorgans.com/a/
(or you can use the RECOMMENDED button on any of our pages).

The recommendations will be increasing. We only recommend products
we use and believe in.

In the case of some electronics, the exact product we use is no
longer available and so we recommend the product we would buy if our
electronics were to die tomorrow.

We also specify the product we actually use.

Besides the great changes in RECOMMENDED, we have also finally
finished our 2010 page.

http://travelingmorgans.com/TM-Year/2010.shtml

We also have a lot of information on 2011

http://travelingmorgans.com/TM-Year/2011.shtml

Our section on SOUTH DAKOTA, especially the very thorough part on
the Black Hills, is now complete.

http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/

and

http://travelingmorgans.com/SD/BlackHills.shtml

We have added a page with RV LINKS

http://travelingmorgans.com/TM-Main/TM-RV-Links.shtml

We have begun a section on California, but it is still very rough
and will not be fully available for some time.

http://travelingmorgans.com/CA/

http://travelingmorgans.com
now has over 100 pages and thousands of pictures, all taken from our
personal visits.

None of the natural scenic wonder pages have any advertising at all.

Only the single link on the home page, and pages in our RECOMMENDED
section and our RV LINKS page have any advertising at all, and most
of the RECOMMENDATIONS are not ones where we receive any financial
compensation. They are just restaurants with good food, good service
and (usually) reasonable prices; campgrounds were you get good
value, and places that provide some sort of service that delivered
good value. Anything providing any monetary compensation is clearly
identified.

I do not intend to talk about the cost of running this web site
again.

I really dislike talking about finances.

But since we have changed our policy from NO ADVERTISING to LIMITED
ADVERTISING, we wanted to advise our friends.

Does it happen that you will be somewhere along our fall travel path
that we mentioned above?

Or anywhere close to that?

We do go out of our way to meet friends. Look at our 2010 page for
an example.