Looking for a Rufous

What happens when you neglect your blog? That “Visitors” number on the main page doesn’t increase very fast. Read on.

The Rufous Blogger’s Preamble

Recently I have seen Rufous Towhees feeding in my backyard, which reminded me I should start blogging again. So I decided to do a travel blog about our trip to Texas in September and October 2022 on the way to a reunion with our Texas family. The reunion was so much fun and gave the relatives (brother, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins) a chance to visit, and for the younger ones a chance to meet and get to know each other on my brother’s ranch. How often does that happen when you live far apart – it was an amazing experience, our once-in-a-lifetime event that our family will always remember!

The Important Stuff Is Always First!

In Journalism school I learned that the important stuff should always be in the beginning of your article. In this case, the important stuff is the family reunion in Texas and the trip to Texas, in that order. The trip was prompted by a strong desire to take everyone to Texas to see their relatives. However, at some point the trip planning kind of took over. Bottom line, I want my readers to know that the trip was accomplished – we got to Texas where everyone had a marvelous time at the reunion.

The Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How

My entire Oregon family went along on our marathon driving trek (in three cars) across a good part of the United States, about 2500 miles each way. Our daughter and our son and their kids, five grand-kids in all, went along for the ride. My wife was nice enough to drive and let me sit in the back seat and compile a travel log. Our oldest grandson rode shotgun for much of the trip and kept my wife company while she drove. I’ll spare you most of the boring travel details, where we stayed and the restaurants, but I will include some of the interesting things we saw and did along the way.

Randy Newman:  Sigmund Freuds Impersonation of Albert Einstein in America

I’d like to pause and give a shout-out to America. On our journey, we crossed several states, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, and Wyoming, and briefly skirted Arizona and Oklahoma. I’ve traveled a lot in my life, partly at my own expense, in the U.S. and Mexico, and partly on the Navy’s nickel (to Vietnam and Australia), so I appreciate what our world has to offer. I hear people brag about Europe, and it is a very interesting travel destination, but so is America. However, you need to be on the ground, not flying over it at 35,000 feet to really appreciate it.

Maps – Hotels – Restaurants – Rest Stops – Gas Stations – and Tourist Attractions

The previous heading is a snapshot of what we experienced. I give AAA credit for the maps, the triptiks they produced for us – full of very useful information needed for our trip.

The following is a “smidgen” of the text from a planning document I did for the trip. I created a Google Sheet with all the pertinent information for each hotel stop on our trip. Anyway, there were 5 legs, roughly 500 miles each (thanks to AAA), and I included the lodging information for each stopover. The Google Sheet was a handy way to update the document with any travel changes, and it made it easy to share the information online with everyone going on the trip.

“Leg 1/Twin Falls, ID, 9/24-25: TownePlace Suites

2 Queen Beds: All rooms booked, as of 8/21/22, are with 2 Queen beds all in one room, with a pull out sofa in a separate sitting area (but same main room), $235.41 (inc. taxes) for each room for 1 night.

On Leg 6, after spending 2 days in the Amarillo Embassy Suites, we will be driving to Mound Creek Ranch to meet with the Texas family for the reunion.”

I mentioned that I would share some of the interesting things that we did along the way on our trip. We had heard that Zion National Park was worth a stop, so we stayed in Springdale, Utah for 2 days at a La Quinta Inn. We were within shuttle and walking distance from the main park entrance.

Really good Zion web site:

https://www.nps.gov/zion/index.htm

Suffice it to say, we checked out Zion thoroughly, hiking and enjoying the wonderful topography, as you can see in the Web pictures. I will probably add more about our travel adventures to this blog, but for now I’ll try to recreate the best part of this trip, which was our time spent at Mound Creek Ranch.

Mound Creek Ranch

We rolled into my younger brother’s ranch north of Houston in the late afternoon on Friday, September 30. Our cross-country trip had taken 6 days. We were warmly greeted by my brother and his wife. We went through the process of finding places to lay our road-weary heads that night, all 11 of us, six adults and five grand-kids. Not surprisingly, my brother had the accommodations figured out. We had a light meal and settled in for the night. The house my wife and I, my brother and his wife, and their two boys stayed in was very comfortable and interesting. Interesting because it was full of antique furniture that my brother and his wife had collected over the years. Every bed that we slept in was an antique bed. Waking up the next morning and watching that Texas sun rise and the cattle grazing in the distance was a great start to our first full day at Mound Creek.

My daughter and her gang – her husband, two daughters and a son – stayed in a house up the road aways from the Wilson house where we were. It was called the Wilson house because of the previous owners. After breakfast, next on the agenda was getting all the grand-kids on a horse. Before we left Oregon I had envisioned the kids getting a taste of what a working (and very successful) ranch was like. I was not disappointed – my brother spent time with each of the kids, going through the basics of mounting the horse and sitting in the saddle correctly, holding the reins, and directing the horse. They each had a turn at riding the horse. They loved it.

While the kids were learning horsemanship from my brother, the adults observed and took pictures from outside the corral. A quick note about Mound Creek Ranch. It’s large, about 800 acres, with ranch buildings for conducting business, and places to live, and a fishing lake, which the kids also got to enjoy. I’m very proud of my brother for his business savvy and his dedication to practicing good stewardship on his land.

After everyone had a chance to enjoy the pool at the main house, the first full day was capped off by a BBQ at Four Oaks, an area reserved for get-togethers and fun at Mound Creek. Our reunion group was not large, but it was a representation of our Oregon and Texas families, about 22 of us, plus the people, hand-picked by my brother, doing the cooking and serving the delicious food. We mainly talked, catching up on our lives since the last gathering, but we had horseshoes to toss and other games to play. As the Texas sun began to set, we headed back to get some rest. What a day it had been!

On Sunday, the second full day, it was time for the fish fry and more socializing at Four Oaks. Things were winding down, and we all knew it was almost time for some to say goodbye, not easy to do when you’re enjoying each other’s company. My two sisters and their significant others were leaving to go home as were my nephews and their families.

Willie Nelson:  On the Road Again

Time to Head Back Home

On Monday, it was time for the Oregon group (of 11) to sadly say their goodbyes and hit the road again. In planning the trip I asked AAA to do a different route for the return to Oregon trip, just for variety, and as it turned out the “high road” (up through Denver) was about 200 miles shorter. As you can imagine, having 500-mile (+ or -) made it easier to plan the hotel stops, although some of the stops I might not have selected, like Lamar, Colorado or Rawlins, Wyoming. However, I will say that we were able to find hotels that were clean, comfortable, and not too expensive on the entire trip.

A Mid-Course Adjustment

But before we left Texas, we made a minor adjustment to our travel plans for the group. My wife wanted to briefly visit her brother and sister-in-law in Houston, and the rest of the group wanted to go through Waco to visit the Magnolia Market, you know the one publicized on the Chip and Joanna Gaines TV show. So on Monday, my wife and I went to Houston, enjoying our short visit in Houston with relatives, home-cooked pasta, and relaxing moments around a swimming pool. The next morning it was time to hit the road again and head for Wichita Falls, our next stop. The plan was to meet up there with my son’s family and my daughter’s family. We stayed in a La Quinta Inn. As you might expect, considering we had been on our trip for about 10 days, sightseeing was a lower priority. Although I considered visiting Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls because I’m a “plane freak” (actually, I’m also a “train freak”, be sure you visit the California State Railroad Museum if you’re in Sacramento, well worth the visit to an amazing slice of America’s train history).

Just a Few Travel Notes

I promised that I wouldn’t belabor you with travel notes, so I’ll try to bring this epic blog to an epic conclusion, with only one or two (or three) sightseeing comments. On the outbound trip (to Texas) we stayed two nights in an Embassy Suites in Amarillo, Texas, partly because I love their full breakfast that is included in the cost of your room and partly because Palo Duro Canyon is less than an hour’s drive from Amarillo. Palo Duro Canyon is not as impressive as the Grand Canyon but it is pretty cool and worth a stop. Take plenty of water if you visit in the warmer months. I already mentioned Zion National Park, but Antelope Canyon, which is nearby, is beautiful (Google it and check out the pictures).

What have I left out? Wind turbines, I have a gym friend in Portland who wrote a book about energy, Fueling America, an Insider’s Journey by Jack Kerfoot). I did some editorial work on the book. It’s a very thought-provoking book in which Jack discusses energy issues in our world from an expert’s perspective. Anyway, since I wasn’t driving on the way back to Portland I could pay attention to the scenery and things of interest such as wind turbines. I was astounded by the number of states that have a lot of wind turbines. Every now and then, as we rode along, a tractor-trailer truck hauling a wind turbine component would pass us on the interstate. Up close the support columns look huge.

What’s Left – the Two  R’s

That’s about it for this traveler’s epistle, except for the two R’s I mentioned in my previous heading. Several people in our itinerant group needed gluten-free food, and some of us had GF apps on our phones to help us locate the right places to eat on our journey. If you are in Oregon, we recommend Rooster’s in Pendleton, just off I-84. Rooster’s has a good GF menu. In Springdale, Utah you might want to try Oscar’s Cafe on the main drag in “Zionville”. We ate there twice.

Did I mention “rest stops” – very important on long trips when you’ve been hydrating, especially important for us older types whose bladders are not suited for long trips. We learn to  pay attention to the signs that say, “Next rest stop 52 miles”. The rest stops themselves vary widely. Some of  them are quite nice with historical or informational displays about the region and rest rooms that are roomy and clean. We also bought very artistic American Indian jewelry at one or two of them.

The final comment is in two parts – one, take time to visit and enjoy America by car in a leisurely fashion, and two, take time to visit your families and friends who might be far away.

Photos

Please enjoy these photos of the many that we took on our trip.