Flying through New Mexico to Virginia

Our Hitch Hiking Travel Bugs

It has been nearly two weeks or more since our last post.  My Mac Pro needs a new logic board which means photo editing and manipulation is a colossal pain.  I was advised at the Genius Bar in Albuquerque, NM to avoid photo editing until this faulty board could be replaced.  I've tried, really, but  I couldn't help myself.  So I've been torturing myself and backing up frequently.  We have an appointment in Maryland when we get there, but in the meantime, it's been a tedious, crash and re-crash process to load, edit, and upload photos.

GEOCACHING

Once we left Arizona, we have been on the fly, staying in states long enough to see one major attraction, finding a geocache, and moving on.  The photo above is our band of 9 geocaching travel bugs that are racking up miles as they visit caches from around the world.  Dragon has the most miles 71,000 followed by Hang a Left Hal - 61,000 miles.   The boot (Maine bound) on the left is our newest bug followed by pirate, Hal, world, tiki, gnome, vessla, and dragon.  Each of these bugs have been picked up from various places around the world...New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, Kathmandu, etc.  Each time we find a geocache www.geocaching.com, we record a visit for the bugs.

States and One+ Major Attraction

In each of the states, we would have liked to have stayed longer and to have seen more, but we were on the move.  Time is growing short before we arrive in Vermont.

New Mexico - Route 66 - Apple Store in Albuqurque and Old Town

Texas - Amarillo - 72 oz Steak House and RV Museum

Getting our Kicks on Route 66

Trying to Wolf Down a 72 oz Steak in 1 hour....Yes?  It's Free...No It's $72.00

We also enjoyed the RV Museum in Amarillo.

Loved this little KIT

Oklahoma - Roz and Russ's High School Friend Don Wedemyer and Wife Debbie

Arkansas - Little Rock and the Clinton Presidential Library

President and First Lady

Clinton's Oval Office

Tennessee - Memphis and Graceland...Elvis Lives!

One for the Money, Two For the Show, Three to Get Ready, and Go Cat Go!

Kentucky - Mammoth Caves, Creation Museum, Lincoln's Birthplace

Contrast the scientific geologic timeline with that of the Creation Museum.  Which one do you think is the fantasy?

We heard about the creation museum and as free thinkers want to see what it was about.  The museum was very sophisticated, well presented, but the content was mind numbing, dark age, idiocy.

Young Earth - Less than 5,000 years old

YES IT WOULD, YES IT HAS, and YES IT SHOULD

And Rightfully So!

The last presentation was geared for young people to be disciples and to spread the word of this fantasy and to challenge their science teachers.   It was amazing and frightening to see so many families with young children, nodding their heads and agreeing with the presentations.

Yes folks, those are dinosaurs boarding the Ark.  The Flintstones were real!

Our democracy in America depends on an educated public.  Thankfully our public schools teach students to understand their world through science and history not mythology and religious creation stories.  Support public education.

We also visited Lincoln's brith place in Kentucky.

Inside the Memorial Lincoln's Birth Place Log Cabin Resideds

Indiana - Lincoln's Boyhood Home

Lincoln's family moved to Indiana when he was a young lad.  He lived with his family in Indiana until he was a young adult and moved to Illinois to begin his political career.

Memorial on Indiana Farm where Lincoln Grew Up

Ohio - Scenic Ride along Ohio River Valley

We enjoyed our scenic drive along the Ohio River to West Virginia.  The river was brown and swollen after some late rain storms.

We are the only ones here on Father's Day

West Virginia - Webster Family

We reached West Virginia late in the day to visit our niece Sue Worrall Webster and her family in Charleston.  It was a short but sweet visit.

Lovely West Virginia Home

Roz, Kate, and Sue

Brett, Russ, and Sue

Cally and Kris

Kate and Sue

Both Kate and Kris just graduated from High School and will be off to college next year.

Virginia - Friends in Rural Retreat, Friends in Richmond

Our first stop after West Virginia was in Rural Retreat, Virginia.  Until our friends Doug and Catherine Hounshell, Berkeley Yacht Club Members and Baja Ha Ha 2009 fellow sailors, moved to Virigina for the spring and summer of each year, we had never heard of Rural Retreat, but should have.....it's the home of Russ's favorite soda....Dr. Pepper.  Yep!  It was created by Dr. Pepper at the pharmacy in Rural Retreat.

Pharmacy where Dr. Pepper brewed his legacy.

Looks a Little Like Colfax - Train Tracks and Caboose

Catherine and Doug, S/V Galetea - Baja Ha Ha 2009

After our brief visit with Catherine and Doug, we visited Montpilier, home of president James Madison,

and Monticello, home of President Thomas Jefferson.

Then we moved on to Richmond to visit more dear friends.  After too many years to count, I caught up with high school friend Shela Dean and her husband Dale in Richmond, Virginia.  Shela and I reconnected through Facebook.

Dale and Shela showed us Richmond.  We had a lot of fun.

We introduced both Catherine and Doug, and Shela and Dale to Geocaching. Hope they have as much fun with this treasure hunt game as we do.

We are now in Willimasburg, Virgnia.  I'll cover more of Virginia in our next blog.

 In the meantime, All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's.