Monday 10-6-25 Change of Plans, Magoo's & Webbers Falls

 

Sunrise at Boiling Springs State Park

 

I woke up before the sunrise. I crawled out of bed at 6:45 to go to the bathroom so I stayed up. I got dressed and made bagels for breakfast. While having breakfast Larry said we had a couple of options, we could continue going towards home or go to Arkansas for a Bluegrass Festival called Turkey Track. If we went towards home we would go to Oklahoma City and play pinball. Then we would go to Win-star Casino for the night so I could gamble. Next stop would be at Loyd Park for a couple of days, where we could play pinball at Bishop Cipercade in Arlington TX. Then we would go home. 

For the last 48 years there has been a Bluegrass festival held in Waldron AR. Multiple times Larry has thought about going but it has not happened. Because of where we are it would be hundreds of miles out of the way. The festival is four days, Oct. 8-11, which is this coming weekend. They have RV sites with power for $15 per night and the festival is $70 per person. You don't have to attend all four days, you can purchase daily tickets. It has live music, which starts at 1:00pm and 6:30pm. We could be home Sunday or we could go to the festival, we decided to go to the festival. 

After breakfast we put everything away and secure, we have another long day of driving. We were on the road by 8:00. With the time change I was able to see the sunrise at 7:38 am. Before leaving we filled the water tank and dumped the tanks. 

As we were leaving the park we scared a young deer. We were pretty far away but it got scared and ran away. Because we changed our plans we're not going to Oklahoma City but we are going through Tulsa. In Tulsa there is a great place to play pinball called Magoo's. The bad part is Larry will have to drive through downtown Tulsa. Magoo's is located 206 miles from Boiling Springs. 

We drove mainly toll roads. Many of Oklahoma's roads are very rough. Today was no exception. But to be fair some of the toll roads were fairly good and they were working on some of the roads. We stopped a couple of times to stretch our legs and go to the restroom. Once to fill the Minnie with gas. We went through a couple of roadwork zones. When we got to Tulsa Larry knows sometimes it's hard to get in the correct lane. One time there was a very nice driver, who flashed his lights to say it was ok for Larry to change lanes. Larry thanked him by flashing his lights. It took us a few hours because Larry had to drive pretty slow on some of the road so we wouldn't beat up the Minnie (40mph). But when the roads were ok he drove 55mph. We did drive in some wind. We saw a lot of windmills producing energy. We saw some farms and horses and cattle. 

We arrived at Magoo's at 12:15. We had lunch at Magoo'. We shared a hamburger and order of Tatee Tots. The waitress was very friendly and good. When we finished our meal she asked if we were going to play some of the games. We said we were so she brought us more water. The service was excellent.

 

Magoo's

 

Our lunch

 

We have been at Magoo's multiple times and have a super time playing pinball.They had about 20 games. We played a couple of hours. Harry Potter and King Kong were new to us. We also played: Elton John, Star Trek, Octoberfest, Dungeons & Dragons and You Only Live Twice. While playing Dungeons & Dragons we got three games for $2.00 and matched a couple of time. We ended up playing the game five times. A guy, who was playing pinball came over and helped us. He was very nice. When playing James Bond You Only Live Twice we noticed that a screw missing from a piece and one of my balls got stuck. Larry tracked down a gentleman who does the maintenance. He didn't have the key to open the games but he did offer to give our money back. We told him it was ok we had played three games on it already. So he turned the games off. There were two other games that didn't work. The games that were on played very well and the machines were very well maintained. We spent $10.00 for two hours of entertainment. We had an excellent time playing pinball at Magoo's.

 

King Kong

  

Larry playing Elton John 

Harry Potter

Playing pinball

 

Elton John

 

Octoberfest

 

Star Trek

 

Dungeons & Dragons

You Only Live Twice

 

 After playing pinball we went back to the Minnie and Larry programmed the GPS to our destination for today. Because the government has closed some of Federal run parks we can't stay at any Corps of Engineers parks so we had to go farther then we hoped. We decided to go to Webbers Falls City Park. It was another 70 miles down the road.

The Arkansas River runs by Webbers Falls City Park so you get a view of the river while you stay there. It's a nice park with the sites in a grassy area with electricity and water. They have a very nice memorial of local people who lost their lifes in the I-40 bridge tragedy in 2002. They have restrooms with showers, playground, fishing dock, boat ramp and a nice road to walk. 

We arrived around 3:30 and found a site with no problem. The host tracked us down and we paid $13.00 for the night. Because we're seniors we saved $2.00 dollars. Each site has a fire ring and table. We didn't see any barges coming down the river but it very nice park. The host was very friendly. 

Camping at Webbers Falls

 

A bridge going over the Arkansas River

 

A stage at the park

 

A gazebo

 

Playground

 

Memorial

 

 After dinner I walked around the park for an hour and did 3.25 miles. By the end of the day I did 9,000 steps.

We had a super day.   

        

      

 

Sunday 10-5-25 Three States, Boiling Springs State Park & Time Change

 

Boiling Springs State Park

 

We had a long day of driving. We started at 7:15 am in Colorado and stopping at 3:00 pm in Oklahoma, which was seven hours for 250 miles.

I woke up at 6:45 and got dressed. The last two nights we have been sleeping with the fan going and no heat in the morning. When we wake up it's in the 50's. It hasn't been bad sleeping, if it gets too hot we could turn on the air conditioner. After getting dressed I made bagels with cream cheese. Then we got ready to go. We put things away and were on the road by 7:15 am. 

We drove in three states, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma. We drove 5 miles in Colorado to Kansas, 170 miles in Kansas to Oklahoma and 75 miles in Oklahoma, a total of 250 miles. The drive was mainly two lane highways through a lot of small farm towns. The scenery was plains and flat prairies. We drove by a lot of feed lots, a few ranches with cattle grazing in their fields and horses. We saw some farmlands with field corn, forage and Sorghum (Milo). The scenery was a little weird because we drove through a lot of agricultural land and then nothing but prairie land. We stopped in Cimarron KS to get gas at Casey's. Then we stopped in a small town in Oklahoma to have lunch. We stopped at a state park about 70 miles before our planned stop at a different state park. Larry had been driving in strong winds and was tired of fighting it. The highways in Kansas were very good but as soon as we got across the state-line into Oklahoma they got rough. 

Started in Colorado (5 miles)

 

Kansas (170 miles and time change)

 

 

 

Oklahoma (75 miles)

 

We started in Colorado on Mountain Time but when we got to Kansas it changed to Central Time, where time moved forward.           

The state park we are spending the night at is Boiling Springs. It's in the middle of nowhere but very nice. It was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930's. The park has cabins, RV sites, tent sites, 18-hole golf course and hiking trails. It has a 5-acre lake, group camps and community building. It offers activities including hiking, swimming, fishing, picnicking and wildlife viewing.  

We arrived at Boiling Springs State Park at 3:00 and found a site, which was #51. Before we plugged in Larry went online and made a reservation. We saved a few dollars because we are seniors it cost $24.10, which includes fees. The site has power and water. There is a bathroom with showers located in the same building as bathrooms but in the back. Once we were settled in for the night we went over and took a shower. The showers were good. They have a lot of water pressure and the temperature was very good. 

 

Camping at Boiling Springs State Park

 

Playground at Boiling Springs

 

After dinner I walked around the loop for a half hour. Then I checked in with Larry and asked about the hiking trail from the loop. He pulled it up and said if I want to walk it feel free to do so. He told me it was a short loop. So I walked for another 40 minutes. I started by walking an old road to Scout Trail. Then I hiked the trail to where it Yd off at a creek. I turned left and got on another trail called Heart Healthy Trail for a half mile. When I got back to the road I walked it back. The trails went through trees to creek. If I had went to the right at the Y the trail would have taken me up hill and I was afraid I would get lost or fall. Larry wasn't with me. It was a nice hike for 1.75 miles. 

 

Scout Trail

  

By the end of the day I had done 8,000 steps. 

I started reading another book called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

At the beginning of our trip we snacked on Jack Links Beef Jerky and for a few days we have snacked on Jack Links Beef Jerky. We have another big left. Two of the bags were Zero Sugar Original and one bag was Original. We're not complaining but they are different. The zero sugar jerky is thinner and drier. I like the original jerky better. It is thanks to Louise that we have the jerky. We like snacking on the jerky instead of chips all the time. Thank you again Louise for the jerky. 👍👍 😋

 

       

Saturday 10-4-25 Holly City Park & Windy Day

 

Holly City Park

 

We woke up with the temperature of 51 degrees and it got up to 87. We were hoping to move on today but the forecast was for 30mph winds with gust up to 50. We decided it would be better to wait a day before moving on. 

Holly City Park was a good place to stay because it had power. It is right off the highway but it's very quiet. We're at a site in the back of the park so we're not right at the highway. There is only one other RV in the park. We spent the day relaxing in the Minnie reading. Larry started a book and finished it. I started reading and finished reading The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. It's about a lady, who started writing to different people when she was a girl and continued writing people until she wasn't able to. She wrote people she knew and people she just thought was interesting. Some people replied back and others ignored her. It was a very good book.

 

    Reading is fun

 

After finishing the book I played some Sudoku games.

 

Playing Sudoku

 

There was no place to walk and it was hot so I only did 1,000 steps. 

Friday 10-3-25 Driving From Cheyenne WY to Holly CO

 

Camping in Colorado

 

We woke up to 54 degrees in Cheyenne WY and it got up to 93 degrees in Holly CO. It's suppose to be fall, where's the cooler temperatures. Holly is above average its average of 76 degrees. 

I woke up at 7:00 and got dressed. Then we had a quick breakfast of Hostess Coffee Cakes and a banana. After breakfast we got ready to go. We put everything away. We were on the road by 8:00. 

We planned to only go 120 miles to Brush Colorado and stay there a night. Larry has been keeping an eye on the weather and tomorrow the wind is suppose to blow 25mph to 30mph. When we got the Brush we had sandwiches for lunch. Then we decided to move on down the road to Holly Co, which was another 220 miles. By the time we called it a day Larry had been driving for eight hours.

The drive was mainly two lane state highways of plains. We saw a lot of barren land. When we got into Colorado a bit we saw some Pronghorns. The scenery changed a little, we saw more farm land and ranch land with cattle and horses. We drove through a lot of small towns. Some were making it but a few were gone. We stopped a couple of times for fuel and a few more times to stretch our legs and use the bathroom. We're glad to have our own bathroom, that way you can just pull on the side of the road.

We arrived at Holly around 4:00. The city park is located right off the highway and has 10 RV sites with power and water. We had no problems finding a site. We plugged in and paid $25 for the night. The park has a bathroom but you have to call the office to get a code for it. It's not a big park but it's ok for the night. It does have a baseball field and a few trees.

 

Camping at Holly City Park

 

Baseball field

 

Once we plugged in and paid for the night I made tortellini's for dinner. For dessert we had carrot cake. 

I finished reading Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki. It is a true story about Margaret Fuller, who started the Womens Movement. The characters are real and the names weren't changed but the dates of events were changed. It was a great book.   

There wasn't any place to walk and it was hot so I only did 1,000 steps.   

   

Thursday 10-2-25 Cheyenne Wyoming & Playing Pinball

 

Cheyenne Ice & Events

 

We had a fun day of playing pinball. 

We woke up to 42 degrees in Douglas WY. The high was 77 degrees in Cheyenne WY. We had a beautiful day of sunshine.

 

 

Sunny Day

 

I rolled out of bed at 7:15 and made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast we got ready to move on. We put everything away and we're on the road by 8:30.

Today Larry drove 135 miles to Cheyenne WY. The drive was a four lane highway through the Wyoming Plains. We saw a lot of longhorns, cattle and horses. It's weird while traveling through the plains the scenery was golden brown fields and then all of a sudden you get cool looking rock formations in the middle of nowhere. 

Yesterday, while we were driving along looking at the scenery and this gentleman, who was towing a RV trailer decided to pass us. But he wasn't thinking because there were two vehicles coming the opposite direction. He had to pull back in front of us, good thing Larry saw what was happening. He had to brake and pull on the shoulder to let him over or it would have been a horrible wreck. We don't think the driver even realized what he did because he didn't slow down and kept on going down the highway. I'm glad Larry has the ability to respond so fast.

Today we drove a bit more than two hours and arrived at the Cheyenne Ice & Events Center at 11:15. The center is open Monday-Friday at 10:00am. The Ice & Events Center is run by the city. The building has an ice rink, a small miniature golf course, 13 pinball machines, arcade games, lazer tag, air hockey game and a snack bar. The facility is very nice and well kept up. The employees were friendly. We played pinball for a couple of hours and cost us $10.00. We played Xenon, Tommy, Sopranos, Metallic, Dialed In, Guns N Roses, Iron Maiden, Cactus Canyon, Terminator 3 Judgement Day, Space Station, Fire Power, South Park and Walking Dead. Tommy, Dialed In and Fire Power were new games to us. The pinball machines were well maintained and all of them worked. The price to play a game was very reasonable. The cost per game were $.25, $.50 and a couple of them were $1.00. They worked on quarters and there was a change machine in the game area. While there we shared nachos, soft pretzel with cinnamon on it and a bottle of water. After playing pinball I took pictures of the ice rink and the facility. We had a super time playing pinball.  

 

Xenon

 

Tommy

 

Dial In

 

Space Station (old machine)

 

 

 

Fire Power (old machine)

 

 

 Cactus Canyon 

 

 

Having fun playing pinball

 

Larry having fun playing pinball

 

Our snack

 

Ice rink 

 

There was another pinball place in town called Flippers Family Arcade, it's located downtown but doesn't open until 4:00 on Thursday. We looked around to see if there was a place for us to park, we found a place about six blocks away but we didn't want to wait a couple of hours. 

We drove through downtown and saw a lot of statues on the corners and a lot of boots by the railroad yard. 

We parked in the local Walmart parking lot by Panda Express, this is where management has told folks they could park. Then we went over to Walmart and did a little shopping.

When it was time for dinner we walked to Panda Express and bought a bowl with Chow Mein, Fried Rice and Honey Sesame Chicken. We took it back to the Minnie and split it for dinner. For dessert we had cheese cake from Walmart. 

 

Panda Express

 

New York and Marble Cheesecake

  

By the end of the day I had done 3,500 steps.    

 

 

              

Wednesday 10/1/25 Happy October, Driving Day

 

Riverside Park in Douglas Wyoming

 

The Federal Government did shut down. They left the roads open in the National Park for people to drive through them and see the sites. There was no one manning the visitor centers, the campgrounds and other buildings. We decided to head towards home because even if we drove through Yellowstone we wouldn't have anywhere to camp.

We woke up to the temperature in the 40's. By the end of the day we were in Douglas, Wy. where it was 73

I got up at 7:00. This surprised Larry but he was happy because we could get an early start. We had a quick breakfast of Hostess Coffee Cakes. After breakfast we put everything away and secured. We were on the road by 7:45.

We were planning drive 250 miles but ended up driving 295 miles. Our drive took us through a mountain pass, on two and four lane highways, through road construction and few cities. We started from the Wapiti Campground and went back to Cody Wyoming, which was 30 miles. When we got to the Buffalo Bill Dam we had to wait for the construction traffic light to turn green and the pilot truck. It wasn't long. Then we drove through the three tunnels going the opposite way then we did a couple of days ago. A few miles from Cody we saw a huge herd of elk. Larry pulled over and we watched one bull heard up his harem. We heard him bugling to get their attention. Some of the elk jumped over the fence and some just ignored him. But he ran to the ones who were ignoring him and chased them to the rest of the harem. It was very exciting to watch.

 

Enjoying the meadow

 

A bull herding his harem
 

After watching the elk we continued down the highway. We drove through Cody, Meeteetse and Thermopolis. We drove down the highway through the Wind River Indian Reservation. This was a beautiful curvy highway through a mountain pass where the Wind River flows along side the highway. While we were driving we saw people working on the railroad tracks. We saw a couple of railroad tunnels and we drove through three tunnels just before Boysen State Park. This was a gorgeous drive and the reservoir was very beautiful and huge. After this area we were back in rolling hills and plains. We saw a lot of Pronghorns, cattle, sheep, horses and ranch land. There were a lot of signs advertising the 307 cattle ranch, they were of bucking broncos, cowboys sitting in front of a campfire with his horse, bison, elk, cowboys, etc. These signs went for miles and miles. When we got to Shoshoni we stopped and put 5 gallons of gas in the Minnie, Larry wasn't sure if we could make it to Casper, which was 101 miles farther down the road. In Shoshoni gas was $.70 more a gallon then in Casper. The Exxon in Shoshoni had very nice updated pumps, Larry had not seen these before. It had a big touch screen. You chose what grade of gas you wanted via the touch screen. Then we went across the street to a very nice park and had lunch in the Minnie.

 

Gas pump at the Exxon

 

Wind River mountain pass

 

Tunnels at Wind River

 

After lunch we drove to Casper. Larry had the GPS programmed to Discount Tires to get the tires rotated. He noticed that the front passenger tire was wearing on the outside and he wanted to move it to the back. We got to Discount Tires about 1:30 and the gentleman who took care of us said it would be an hour and a half. So we went to the Minnie and read. We were pleasantly surprised when they came within 45 minutes. We were in and out within a half hour. 

We were going to stay outside Casper at Glenrock South Recreation Complex for the night. but decided since it was only 44 miles to Douglas we would go there. 

We arrived at Douglas at 4:00 and stopped at Taco John's for dinner. We both had a crunchy beef burrito. We were very surprised it was so small. Later we had a Ding Dong for dessert. We were here 11 days ago. We didn't have any problems finding a place to park for the night. 

Once we were setup for the night we went over and took a shower. It's a free city park to stay over night for three nights. I didn't feel like walking around so i only did 1100 steps. We spent the evening ready.

 

Riverside Park

             

  

Tuesday 9-30-25 Hiking, Camping, Reading & Waiting

 

Shoshone National Forest

 

Tonight at midnight the Federal Government will probably shut down. This means almost all of the campgrounds we use will closed. The National Parks will also probably close. Larry spent a great deal of the day decided where to go next. We have been spending a lot of time in the National Forests in Wyoming. We're about 30 miles from Yellowstone National Park. We're not planning to stay in Yellowstone but we wanted to drive through it to another National Forest. The host came by at 3:30 and said that we could spend the night here but had to leave in the morning. Because the campground will be closing at noon.

We woke up to the temperatures in the 40's. We have power so our electric heater was running. When I crawled out of bed at 7:15 it wasn't hot but it wasn't cold. It was very comfortable. I made blueberry mini waffles for breakfast. This is the first time I made waffles on this trip. I forgot we had the waffle maker until Larry reminded me last night. The waffle maker requires power and since we have it I can make them. They came out good.

After breakfast we got ready to go on a hike. We started the hike from the Minnie. We walked the campground to the bridge that goes over the Shoshone River. Across the bridge we picked up an old forest service road that is now a hiking trail. It goes a long way. We hiked it until we got to 1.5 miles. Then we turned around and went back to the Minnie. The road was very good to hike. We had to watch for horse and bear droppings. When we arrived at the campground we were told, that there was a grizzly bear hanging around site #8 eating berries. So Larry wore his bear spray just to be on the safe side. We didn't see the bear. The fall colors were gorgeous along the river and through the valley. I think the trees were cottonwoods, that had the brightest colors. The river was flowing very nicely. At the beginning of the hike we met a gentleman and his Britney. He said this was their second walk today. We met up with the gentleman when we were hiking back. He was riding his bicycle with three other gentlemen. They were riding pretty fast on the road. It wasn't the smoothest road but they were having fun. The road took us up and down hills. By the time we got back to the Minnie we had hiked 3.1 miles for 1.5 hours. We had a great hike. 

 

 

 

Shoshone National Forest

 

 

The fall colors along the Shoshone River

By the time we got home it was 9:45 so we relaxed with a book before lunch. For lunch we had soup.

After lunch we went on a walk around the campground. We took the umbrella because it was sprinkling. Larry walked with me for a half hour, which was a mile. We walked both loops and to the river. We looked for the eagles but we couldn't find them. Larry went inside the Minnie and I walked for another half hour. I walked the two loops twice. I ended up doing 2.44 miles.

Larry finished his book last night so today he started a new book. I lost count on how many books he has read during the trip. I continued reading Vienna Blood by Frank Tallis. This was the second book in the series and was very good. Frank is a great writer he keeps you guessing. You think you know who done it and then he puts a twist in the book. Then you don't know who done it. Then I started another book, which was Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki. 

 

Awesome day of reading

 

A front came in at 4:30 with wind and rain. The rain stopped after a half hour. Then we walked around the two loops in the campground for a half hour for 1 mile. We spend the evening indoors reading. Larry continued to do research on where to go. I ended up doing 17,000 steps.