Go For Alaska
May 2, 2011
By Barry Zander It’s up there. You know it is. But should you try to make the daunting journey to the famous “Land of the Midnight Sun”? For us, one of our goals as full-time RVers has been to visit all 48 contiguous states, plus the Canadian provinces and, at some point, renting a rig for a Hawaiian... Read more »
Brenham, Texas
April 1, 2011
Paul Kruse runs the “little creamery in Brenham.” His father did it before him, and his father before him. It’s an only-in-America story that began 100 years ago in the outback of Texas, 70 miles northwest of Houston. The farmers here, mostly German, Polish and Czech, raised cotton and corn. They... Read more »
Home on the Range in Florida
March 1, 2011
My education about the West began with Gene Autry movies, back when matinees cost a dime: Cowboys are a creation of the American West. After all, that’s where the cows are. So I was dumfounded — I even lost a bet — to discover in Florida that the American cowboy originated down here. They called... Read more »
Growing Up on the Comstock
February 1, 2011
Virginia City, 150 years ago, was the richest place on Earth. It was the crown jewel of Nevada’s Comstock Lode. The jewel was silver, tons of it that flowed into our country’s coffers for 30 years. It funded an estimated $400 million of our young nation’s westward-expansion, and paid the Union... Read more »
The Cabin by a Stream
January 2, 2011
Bob knew about such things. And he knew well the rolling, California ranch country around Caliente — at the foot of the mountains, east of Bakersfield. Bob was a student of the Old West. And he had read every book Louis L’Amour ever wrote. I later drove that road to Caliente to see if the cabin was... Read more »
Santa Claus, Indiana
December 1, 2010
Southern Indiana, southbound on Highway 162: I just went by the Nancy Hanks Lincoln School, a reminder that this is the home turf of our 16th president. Nancy Hanks Lincoln was Abraham Lincoln’s mother. She is buried a few miles east of here. The highway makes a turn into Santa Claus and becomes Christmas... Read more »
Miniature Horses, Texas
October 19, 2010
This is Texas, Highway 290. On the western edge of Houston, a place is selling horses made of concrete. They are spread in a yard, on display, along with concrete benches, fountains and some other animals. Lawn ornaments, I guess is what they are. I’m for horses, but I can’t see decorating... Read more »
Yellowstone Reports Record Visitation in 2010
September 9, 2010
It has been a record-breaking summer for Yellowstone National Park. More than 2.5 million people visited Yellowstone National Park over June, July and August, a figure that has shattered previous records for the summer season. Visitation for the first eight months of the year was almost 2.87 million. Yellowstone... Read more »
French Lick, Indiana
September 1, 2010
The name alone was reason enough. But from my two rural Indiana friends, the place came with a raving review: “You should see it,” they said. And from them, that’s almost frenzied. In our travels together, a yard sale can be worth a rave. And we happily drive 50 miles to a church smorgasbord, if... Read more »
The Mormon Trail
August 1, 2010
I fell in love with the Old West when I was 11 and have never gotten over it. While other girls in my grade-school class were absorbed in romance novels, I was reading Laura Ingalls Wilder and Zane Grey — and it seemed such a shame I’d been born too late to travel west in a covered wagon. Since we... Read more »
