Crimea_River
Marshal
Looking forward to the travel pics!
T Bolts Pics
- Thread starter T Bolt
- Start date
Good stuff Glenn!
- Thread starter
- #403
T Bolt
Colonel
The old truck can still take it! 1500 pounds of landscaping wall blocks for my latest yard work.
- Thread starter
- #404
T Bolt
Colonel
The trip out to the south west united states started the first week in May and took about 3 weeks and all in all we had a great time
We kind of sorta followed old route 66 since it was it's 100th anniversary and that was the general direction in which we were heading.
The first picture is a section of old 66 just out side of Chicago that has been closed for over 20 years. there are deep rock quarries on either side of this section and the road began to fail because of them so it was closed. Its so close to Chicago you can see the downtown skyscrapers on the picture
Next stop was the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie We stopped here to get our national park pass and spent some time hiking around. It use to be the Joliet Arsenal where the vast majority of high explosives for the US military were manufactured from WWII through the Vietnam War. This bunker is one of hundreds in the site where TNT was stored before being shipped out
Our camp the first night at Wolf Creek state park on Lake Shelbyville in central Illinois. We had stayed here many times years ago before we had kids, and then later when the kids were young. Massive rain that night and we had to break camp the next morning in a thunderstorm.
Crossing the Mississippi River at St Louis MO at the rain stopped
We spent a couple of nights in Branson MO. Not really my kind of place, like a cut rate Las Vegas. we did find a couple of places we liked though
We really enjoyed Top of the Rocks which had a trail through the hills you took golf carts on and what is the most fantastic location for a golf course I have ever seen
This is a neat one. Outback Stake House, but not the Outback your thinking of. These guys incorporated a few days before the Outback restaurant chain and won a lawsuit against them so the Outback chain cant have a restraint in Branson. This was the second time this trip we saw somthing like this. In Matoon IL near where we camped the first night there is a Burger King, But not the Burger King chain. Just a little mom and pop place but they won their lawsuit too and the Burger King chain can't operate within something like 20 miles of Mattoon.
Anyway this Outback was great with friendly people and I couldn't resist taking a picture of their lawn ornament.
Being a guy that use to build bridges I couldn't resist taking this shot as we were leaving Branson
Next is Fort Smith Arkansas where we stopped for lunch
First is the restored courtroom of Federal Judge Isaac C. Parker, known as the "Hanging Judge," He sentenced 160 people to death.
You might remember him being the judge depicted in both True Grit movies
I whish I had taken more pictures of out last stop in Fort Smith but it seams that this was the only one I took. It is a painting of Miss Laura's Brothel House, which is now a fully restored museum which we visited and was well worth it. The place was a very high end establishment at the time. The patrons had to go through a rigorous screening before being aloud in and the girls that worked there were extremely well paid. I forgot exactly what they said a visit there would cost in todays money but it was thousands of dollars.
Well that's it for tonight. From Fort Smith we headed straight west
We kind of sorta followed old route 66 since it was it's 100th anniversary and that was the general direction in which we were heading.
The first picture is a section of old 66 just out side of Chicago that has been closed for over 20 years. there are deep rock quarries on either side of this section and the road began to fail because of them so it was closed. Its so close to Chicago you can see the downtown skyscrapers on the picture
Next stop was the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie We stopped here to get our national park pass and spent some time hiking around. It use to be the Joliet Arsenal where the vast majority of high explosives for the US military were manufactured from WWII through the Vietnam War. This bunker is one of hundreds in the site where TNT was stored before being shipped out
Our camp the first night at Wolf Creek state park on Lake Shelbyville in central Illinois. We had stayed here many times years ago before we had kids, and then later when the kids were young. Massive rain that night and we had to break camp the next morning in a thunderstorm.
Crossing the Mississippi River at St Louis MO at the rain stopped
We spent a couple of nights in Branson MO. Not really my kind of place, like a cut rate Las Vegas. we did find a couple of places we liked though
We really enjoyed Top of the Rocks which had a trail through the hills you took golf carts on and what is the most fantastic location for a golf course I have ever seen
This is a neat one. Outback Stake House, but not the Outback your thinking of. These guys incorporated a few days before the Outback restaurant chain and won a lawsuit against them so the Outback chain cant have a restraint in Branson. This was the second time this trip we saw somthing like this. In Matoon IL near where we camped the first night there is a Burger King, But not the Burger King chain. Just a little mom and pop place but they won their lawsuit too and the Burger King chain can't operate within something like 20 miles of Mattoon.
Anyway this Outback was great with friendly people and I couldn't resist taking a picture of their lawn ornament.
Being a guy that use to build bridges I couldn't resist taking this shot as we were leaving Branson
Next is Fort Smith Arkansas where we stopped for lunch
First is the restored courtroom of Federal Judge Isaac C. Parker, known as the "Hanging Judge," He sentenced 160 people to death.
You might remember him being the judge depicted in both True Grit movies
I whish I had taken more pictures of out last stop in Fort Smith but it seams that this was the only one I took. It is a painting of Miss Laura's Brothel House, which is now a fully restored museum which we visited and was well worth it. The place was a very high end establishment at the time. The patrons had to go through a rigorous screening before being aloud in and the girls that worked there were extremely well paid. I forgot exactly what they said a visit there would cost in todays money but it was thousands of dollars.
Well that's it for tonight. From Fort Smith we headed straight west
fubar57
General
Really cool shots, Glenn
Good stuff Glenn
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Excellent pics Glenn. 
Viking1066
Brigadier General
Awesome thanks for sharing and looking forward to more!
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks for the pics Glenn. I'd be bringing a few sleeves of balls to that golf course.
Good shots Glenn!
- Thread starter
- #412
T Bolt
Colonel
We headed west from Fort Smith Arkansas on Interstate 40 and stayed overnight at 10 Killers State Park then continued on, and west of Oklahoma City into the Texas pan handle about everything looked like the picture below.
Our next stop was The Big Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. It is a natural artesian well that water flows out of at 3000 Gallons per minute and stays at a constant 62 deg F year round. Its 80' deep and is open for public use, including picnic, swimming, diving, and snorkeling, but was a bit too cold for us.
Next stop was an over-night stay at Santa Rosa State Park where we had a specular sunset.
Next we headed north to Santa Fe, but first stopped off at Las Vegas New Mexico which was quite nice. The pictures below are the restored train station which is now the visitors center and the Castaneda Hotel which was one of the Harvey Hotels. I wish we had spent more time in Las Vegas because there was some huge event going on in Santa Fe when we arrived there and we could not even find a place to park so we just drove around in heavy traffic, not even taking a picture before going on to Albuquerque.
We stayed at a very scarry motel in Albuquerque and stopped on the way out of town at the Petroglyph National Monument.
From there we went north along US highway 550 heading to Shiprock and stumbled on to Angel Peak Badlands Overlook which was a fantastic place to have lunch with picknick tables right on the edge.
Our next stop was The Big Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. It is a natural artesian well that water flows out of at 3000 Gallons per minute and stays at a constant 62 deg F year round. Its 80' deep and is open for public use, including picnic, swimming, diving, and snorkeling, but was a bit too cold for us.
Next stop was an over-night stay at Santa Rosa State Park where we had a specular sunset.
Next we headed north to Santa Fe, but first stopped off at Las Vegas New Mexico which was quite nice. The pictures below are the restored train station which is now the visitors center and the Castaneda Hotel which was one of the Harvey Hotels. I wish we had spent more time in Las Vegas because there was some huge event going on in Santa Fe when we arrived there and we could not even find a place to park so we just drove around in heavy traffic, not even taking a picture before going on to Albuquerque.
We stayed at a very scarry motel in Albuquerque and stopped on the way out of town at the Petroglyph National Monument.
From there we went north along US highway 550 heading to Shiprock and stumbled on to Angel Peak Badlands Overlook which was a fantastic place to have lunch with picknick tables right on the edge.
fubar57
General
Awesome photos, Glenn
Viking1066
Brigadier General
Awesome photos thank you!
- Thread starter
- #415
T Bolt
Colonel
The next round of photos are going to be the spectacular ones. Shiprock in NW New Mexico and Monument Valley.
I really went off-roading with the old mini van!
I really went off-roading with the old mini van!
Looks a fantastic trip Glenn
Nice shots Glenn!
talbot
Senior Airman
great photo's, thanks for sharing!
looking forward to seeing the next batch
looking forward to seeing the next batch
