Sunday, April 28, 2024

Ooh La La – Paris and Diamonds too!

The Eiffel Tower - Texas style!

Bet you weren’t expecting a detour to Paris, France. Well, no worries, because there wasn’t one, but we did go to Paris, Texas! Why? Because over 300 incredibly fun and sometimes crazy RV’ers were descending on the town for the eclipse. The event was hosted by the Xscapers, a group within the Escapees RV Club that I’ve mentioned before. We attended the Escapade, the Escapees annual rally, last year in Tucson and loved the Xscapers’ energy. Technically, the group was created for younger working-age RVer’s, but they welcomed us older boomers and are open to all. These folks know how throw a party, with activities throughout the day and entertainment every evening. We opted to see the eclipse with friends and family at Stillhouse Hollow Lake but didn’t want to miss out on ALL the fun.

We're squeezed in tight, but close to all the action.

We arrived on Tuesday, 4/9, after a long and difficult drive through some truly nasty weather. The Xscapers’ convergence was held at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds and even though we were joining the party late, they were super accommodating and led us to our reserved spot, parking us nose to tail with Bob and Carole. We even made it in time for the evening’s entertainment. Lance Battalion covers 80-90’s hard rock in addition to some original tunes. It was a great way to end the day.

Lance Battalion.

We had a rainy coach day on Wednesday. There were activities throughout the day, but we were most interested in the evening entertainment. The Status Crowes are a favorite of the Escapees and it’s easy to see why. Chuck and Michelle bill themselves as the ultimate all-request acoustic jukebox duo. And they are amazing! Lots of audience participation and even Raney got to attend part of the show, although she didn’t sing along. Lol.

This was our third time hearing the Status Crowes.
Every show is different and all of them are excellent.

This was Raney's second Status Crowes concert. Lol. 

Lucky for us the weather cleared and we had a sunny day for a group bike ride on Thursday, taking the Trail de Paris to several of the town’s best known landmarks. We stopped at the Eiffel Tower, a scale model of the tower in Paris, France although at 65 feet in height it’s about one-sixteenth the size of the original. The red Stetson cowboy hat was added to increase the height to make it taller than the one built in Paris, Tennessee. Lol.

Cyclists converge for the group ride.

We loved the paved trail, and this is Texas so it was flat. Lol. 

That's a sketchy crowd. 😏

Probably my only chance to visit the Eiffel Tower. Lol.

Next to the Eiffel Tower was the Veterans Memorial Museum. There were displays of military equipment and a Cobra helicopter, we well as memorials to local men and women killed in service. Then we rode to the downtown square where we all opted for a Sundae in Paris before riding back.

Veterans Memorial.

Downtown Paris.

A Sundae in Paris - Yum!

In the evening, we were treated to J’s Dueling Pianos. I’d never attended anything quite like it – part musical entertainment, part sing-along, part comedy show.

J's Dueling Pianos - another fun evening!

The pups were not neglected either. The fairgrounds had a 3-acre dog park and the kids enjoyed several runabouts. Many Xscapers travel with their furry families and we had fun watching some expert frisbee catchers and ball fetchers. We got a kick out of two huskies hanging out the window also watching and looking like they were judging the performance. Lol.

A three acre dog park - wow!

Frisbee dog was great, but the judges don't look impressed. 😄

On Friday we went into town for lunch at 107, a well-reviewed restaurant that also had a decent selection of Texas craft beer. We fell in love with the key lime sour, but it’s nearly impossible to find in stores. Bob was thrilled to score a few cans to-go from the bar. He also picked up one can of a pineapple pickle beer, let’s just say they can’t all be winners. Lol.

The key lime sour was a hit. The pineapple pickle? Not so much. Lol. 

At 5pm we dressed up in our best Island attire and headed to center field for a Caribbean Happy Hour. In typical Xscapers fashion it was a low-key and festive event where everyone contributed dishes and drinks. We had a lovely time socializing and sampling lots of great food and beverages. Let’s just say rum punch was featured frequently. Lol.

Caribbean Happy Hour.

Happy Campers dressed in our Island finest. 

Saturday was our last full day in Paris. We started off with an incredible potluck brunch. The amount of food was staggering! Again, we enjoyed chatting with new folks and stuffing our faces. To work off a few of those calories (looking at you, homemade pecan cinnamon roll!) we hopped back on the bikes. Bob and Carole hooked up their trailer so Ruby could go along. Sadly, Raney outgrew her trailer a long time ago, so our pups had to hang out at the RV. Rog opted to stay behind to give them some time to chill on the patio and then run the pupwagon through the carwash. It was a perfect day for a ride, and we started off following the same route we’d done on the group ride. I won’t say we got lost, but we did see a lot of new territory and ended up doing about 15 miles.

Ruby goes for a ride.

We got to see new parts of the trail.

Our final evening’s entertainment was the much-loved and highly anticipated Silent Disco! We were introduced to Silent Disco at the Escapade in Tucson. Another favorite of the Xscapers and for good reason, it is a total blast. This time they added a bouncy house for the adults and yes we did. Too much fun! While we were enjoying the music we also saw a Starlink satellite launch. They were visible against the night sky like a string of pearls high overhead. Not something you see every day!

Silent Disco is such a blast!

Do you have any idea how long it's been since we've played in a bouncy house?
Me neither. Lol.

Can you see the string of Starlink satellites? 
Without them, I wouldn't be making this blog post!

While we were sad to leave the Xscapers behind, we were super excited about our next destination. We arrived at Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro, AR on Sunday, 4/14. Crater of Diamonds is the only place in the U.S. where you can search for diamonds and you get to KEEP whatever you find! How cool is that? Visitors search a 37-acre field, the eroded surface of a volcanic crater, for a variety of rocks, minerals, and gemstones – diamond, amethyst, garnet, jasper, agate, quartz, and more naturally occur here. Three colors of diamonds are found in the park white, brown, and yellow. Park staff provide diamond mining demonstrations and will identify any rocks and minerals you find.

Diamonds aside, this park is a real gem.

You can find white, yellow, and brown diamonds here. (Online photo)

We watched a demonstration by a park ranger on how to wet sift for diamonds. You gather up a bucket of dirt and then sift it in a large water trough through two sizes of screens. After swishing for several minutes, the heavy diamonds and other crystals go to the bottom. When you flip the screen’s contents upside-down onto the table, they are right on top (or will be if you’re lucky!).

The Ranger provided a helpful demonstration,
and we got to see rough diamonds found in the park (top right).

So, do folks really find diamonds? Yes, they do! About 600 diamonds a year are found in the park. Did I find any? Nope. Although at least one lucky person found a ¼ carat diamond the day we were searching. The park keeps a running tally and more than 35,000 diamonds have been found by park visitors since the Crater of Diamonds state park opened in 1972. Among the most famous diamonds found at the crater are the 40.23-carat Uncle Sam (1924), the largest diamond ever unearthed in the U.S.; the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight (1975); the 15.33-carat Star of Arkansas (1956); and the 8.52-carat Esperanza (2015).

Uncle Sam Diamond
(Wikipedia photo)

In 1997, a local resident found a 3.03 carat diamond and sent it to New York for cutting. The resulting 1.09 carat gemstone was certified by the American Gem Society as perfect (ideal cut, colorless, and flawless). Gems of that quality are extremely rare; it is literally one in a billion! The diamond was set in a ring which was purchased by the State of Arkansas with private donations to be permanently displayed the park.

The perfect Strawn-Wagner diamond is one in a billion!

While we came up empty handed in the diamond department, we did find calcite, barite, some agates, and lots of jasper. I’ll tumble the agates and jasper (shiny rocks!), so it wasn’t a wasted effort. It was certainly a unique and fun way to spend a day. And for those interested, it cost $15 to prospect all day long and you can either rent equipment from the park or bring your own. Considering you may leave with a one in a billion diamond – that’s a deal!

Rog and Bob wet sift in the water troughs...

...while Carole searches for treasure.

We also tried wet sifting in the runoff. No luck, but still fun!

How did the only active diamond mine in the US become a state park? Its history is long and colorful. In 1906 John Wesley Huddleston found some bright pebbles on his land. He took them to the bank in Murfreesboro. He’d found two diamonds, a white diamond that was over 2 ½ carats and a smaller yellow diamond. The bank president sent them to a jeweler who pronounced them gem-quality. Huddleston sold his land to a group of investors for $36,000.

Once word got out, Millard Mauney, who owned the adjacent property, also started looking for and finding diamonds. The area was soon flooded with people hoping to strike it rich. Mauney set up a washing trommel in 1907 and allowed others to prospect for half the value of any finds. In 1909, diamond hunting excursions were offered to the public. For fifty cents tourists could search for diamonds, have an ice cream, and listen to a sales pitch to buy nearby property. Mauney also instituted the policy of “finders, keepers”.  

Then in 1918, an 8-carat diamond was found and attention turned back to commercial mining. Over the years, several companies have attempted to commercially mine the diamonds, but were never profitable. The land was purchased by the State of Arkansas in 1972 for a state park.  

Rog checks out one of the old commerical washing troughs.

Scales and magnifiers to assess the gems.

One gem that we did find was the Crater of Diamonds campground. It was no diamond in the rough either! Huge, level, shaded spaces, full hook-ups, a nice trail with a parcourse, and everything was spotless and well maintained. We were super impressed! We took the pups for walks on the trail and, of course, Riley had to take a dunk in the Little Missouri River.

There was a lot to like about Crater of Diamonds campground!

The Little Missouri River Trail.

The trail was a definite hit with the pups!

Riley tries to talk Ruby into joining him in the river. 

We also drove into town to explore. Murfreesboro is tiny with a few shops to peruse. But we spent more time at the laundromat that anywhere else in town. Lol.

Don't you think we look the part? 

Bustling downtown Murfreesboro. Lol.

We just added two new states to our map – Oklahoma and Arkansas. Our next stop will check another national park off our list. Can you guess which one?



Thursday, April 18, 2024

Celestial Magic!

 

The total solar eclipse. April 8, 2024.
Taken from Stillhouse Hollow Lake, TX.

Spoiler alert: Murphy tried and failed to foil our plans for the eclipse! It was touch and go for a bit, but we persevered, and it was incredible.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, on Sunday, 4/7, the weather was perfect for taking the pontoon out onto Stillhouse Hollow Lake. After their very challenging week, Randi and Jose opted for a leisurely morning and we headed to boat ramp around noon. Jose’s parents opted to stay at the hotel to rest and meet us later for dinner.  

Now I want to give Randi some serious props. Launching that ginormous pontoon boat is an acquired skill and both she and Jose are still climbing the learning curve. With the water levels so low, the boat ramp was steeply pitched and at least 40 yards long. Randi opted to back the boat and trailer down the ramp, while Jose handled getting the boat off the trailer once they were in the water. Girlfriend backed that monster like a boss! Speaking from experience, (I cannot back anything in a straight line to save my life) that is no easy task.

Backin' it like a boss, you go girl!

Another consequence of the low water levels, the pier was high and dry. Which meant there was no easy way on/off the boat and no way we could bring the pups along. We launched with Jose, Rog and I, and Bob and Carole in the boat. Jose backed off the trailer and then pulled in close to shore. Once Randi had parked the truck and trailer, she had to hike back down the ramp, wade to the boat, and scramble aboard.  Finally, we were ready to roll and Captain Jose took us around the lake.

Perfect day on the lake.

See all those smiles?

We were having a great time. The boat is huge (16-person capacity!) and went a lot faster than I expected. Until it didn’t. We were in the middle of the lake when we lost all forward thrust. WTH? Jose raised and lowered the outboard and it worked fine…for a minute. After a little troubleshooting they figured it may be the liner in the propellor shaft. It’s a sacrificial plastic piece designed to protect the shaft/gears if the propellor hits something hard. But we hadn’t hit anything. Hmmm. Lucky for us Bob has been a boat owner for many years and was able to pull the prop and confirm that indeed the liner was shredded. Double lucky for us, Jose had a spare! Triple lucky for us, the guys were able to replace the piece and after about a half hour we were back cruising the lake. Take that Murphy!!  

Emergency repairs were successfully completed! Yay!

We had a grand afternoon on the water and then Randi did her boss move again, backing down the ramp so Jose could drive the boat up onto the trailer. They make a great team. When we got back to the campsite, Jose’s parents were waiting. They had brought a feast and prepared linguica, a spicy Portuguese sausage, and carne asada. Jose's Mom also gifted us a mountain of delicious homemade tamales and our own stash of linquica sausage. The RV freezer and fridge are stuffed and we will eat like kings for weeks. What a treat!

Loading Lola back onto the trailer.
Randi and Jose make a great team.

Randi pulls her up the boat ramp.

After a fantastic meal, we had a campfire and smores for dessert. 

A lovely sunset on Stillhouse Hollow Lake.

Monday, 4/8, was the big event we had all been waiting for – the total solar eclipse. The day started off cloudy but with enough patches of blue sky to give us hope. We were all on the water by noon. Totality would begin at 1:38 pm and last 3 minutes and 46 seconds. But totality is just the highlight, what was surprising is how long the entire process takes - 2 hours and 41 minutes!

I see some blue sky!

The Captain and First Mate. 

We all got eclipse t-shirts, but Randi's was my favorite!

It was amazing to watch as the moon’s shadow slowly ate away at the sun. There was still quite a bit of cloud cover so Jose would watch for patches of sunlight on the water and navigate to those spots so we could see. Smart guy! While Jose tried to dodge the worst of the clouds, I tried to get pictures. Overall, it wasn't too bad considering my primary equipment was a cell phone with a taped-on filter, shooting from a moving boat. Lol. During totality, I grabbed my compact travel camera - no filter needed!

Bob and Carole enjoy the show.

Rog finds a quiet spot to stare at the sun.

The clouds added dramatic atmoshpere.

Jose navigated to a sunny spot and stopped to enjoy the view.

The entire process is celestial magic. Midday turned to deep dusk as the moon completely covered the sun, casting a shadow 115 miles wide over the land. Although totality is a little eerie, it is an experience not to be missed! You can remove the special eclipse glasses and safely stare directly at the sun. It was also the four minutes when we had the worst cloud cover, giving us only intermittent glimpses of totality. Still, it was super cool. Rog decided to take a dunk in the lake during totality to commemorate the event. I passed on that portion of the celebration. Lol.

As we near totality the clouds acted as filter.

Totality.
Midday turns to deep dusk as shadows cover the land.

Rog takes a celebratory dip in the lake.

Did you know that the eclipse can also effect on the weather? The temperature drops, clouds disappear, relative humidity increases, winds change, and the upper atmosphere is disturbed. We saw the temperature drop about 10° and all the clouds dissipated – so we had totally clear skies shortly after totality. Talk about timing. Ugh.

What do you think, with or without the shades? Lol

Given the potentially disastrous weather forecasts, we were pretty pleased with how everything turned out. It was fantastic to share such a memorable experience with friends and family. I was a little disappointed with the clouds that interfered with getting a clear shot of totality. So to show you what it looks like, here are two pictures of totality that I took during the 2017 solar eclipse. Rog and I drove to Oregon to see it and we were so awestruck we determined right then that we’d see the 2024 eclipse. Our next one? There aren’t any in the USA until August 2044, but there is one in Namibia in November 2030…just saying. 😉

Totality.
Clear skies in 2017.

Totality 2017.
Such a cool picture!

Yeah, we could do this again. 
Namibia? 2030? I'm game!

Shortly after totality we made our way back to the boat ramp. The local sheriff and fire department were both on hand and had warned us that there was a possibility of severe weather later in the day. We got the boat loaded up and headed back to the campground for a bbq.

It was an incredible day, but tiring too.

Riding back to the campground in style!

We fired up the grill and had hamburgers, hot dogs and grilled corn. Jose’s mom showed us how to make elote (Mexican street corn). After grilling the corn in its husk, you strip the husk back and lightly char it. Rub the corn with lemon, butter it, lightly spread with mayo and sprinkle liberally with grated cotija cheese and then season with chile powder to taste. Delicious!!

We were supposed to have some of our favorite key lime pie for dessert, but we had barely finished eating when it started to rain. We quickly cleared the picnic table and called the day a success.

Enjoying good food and good company, until the rains came.

To avoid eclipse traffic, we were all staying Monday night and heading our separate ways Tuesday morning. Those plans were nearly derailed when the severe weather arrived with a vengeance Tuesday morning. A huge storm cell moved across us with lightning, thunder, and torrential rain. We just do not get storms like that in the PNW. It was like a fire hose was aimed at us! I ran the garbage up to the dumpster and then was stuck for a good 15-20 minutes under the eaves of an outbuilding because the lightning was striking so close and so fast it wasn’t safe to leave shelter. I loved watching the storm, but when I finally did make a run for it, I was soaked to the skin in seconds!

No blue skies today!

Riley dove for cover, he's not a fan of the thunder.

Randi and Jose had to put down the boat awnings (biminis – learning new words!) which are supported by a folding aluminum structure. Ah, not in the middle of a lightning storm – thank you very much. So they were stuck in their truck waiting for the weather to calm down a bit before they could get everything stowed and hitched. The boat was parked in front of Bob and Carole’s coach, so we weren’t going anywhere either. Not that we had any desire to pull out in that crazy weather. Lol. We were extremely grateful that the storm held off until after the eclipse. Otherwise, this would be an entirely different post and Murphy would have claimed the day.

Waiting for the worst of the storm to pass before
 we start playing with the aluminum lightning rods. Lol.

It continued raining, but at least the thunder/lightning eased up so we could all get underway. We had about 250 miles to our next stop in Paris, TX and it took almost six hours! It felt like we were tracking that storm cell for half the day. You know it’s bad when the truckers in Texas, who are usually flying by us at 75-80mph, are going 40mph on the freeway!

So why are we in Paris, TX? You’ll have to check out the next post to find out. 😊