North Missouri Petroglyphs

Posted on 02/19/2012 by admin

Waking up warm in a camper after a night in the 30′s is a great experience. Here we are camping in northern Missouri in January with an entire State Park to ourselves. We could hardly believe our luck! After some great coffee and another check of our reality, we headed back down the trail for a more extensive look at the petroglyphs down by Forest Lake.

The petroglyphs are housed in an octagonal, timber-framed building with a wooden walkway around the inside wall. The building was designed by Peckham & Wright Architects, Inc. and was built on piers around the perimeter to protect the petroglyph site from ground stress. The glyphs are in the center of the building and surrounded by the walkway and railings. Windows allow the sun to play across the surface of the stones, accentuating the carvings.

The petroglyphs are gouged into sandstone blocks. You can see many animals and birds. We thought we had spied a spiral (like you see at so many ancient sites), but according to the posters on the wall, it was the tail of a small animal. The carvings are a bit worn, and without a zoom function on the only camera we brought (the others all had some problem just as we were about to leave) we didn’t get very good pictures of the markings, so here’s a video with some good shots of the shelter and the petroglyphs themselves.

The petroglyphs are thought to have been left by native peoples over 1500 years ago. Not much seems to known about them. If you’ve got any information, please post a comment below. Thanks!

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Thousand Hills State Park in Kirksville

Posted on 01/21/2012 by admin

Day two finds us driving across north Missouri, looking for nice-looking land and not expecting much. We headed north on I-35 and turned east at Bethany, opting to cross the state on Highway 136, near the Iowa border. Soon we were passing through woods and hills instead of level cropland. It was exciting to find this type of landscape, so sparsely settled and close to home, and it just got cooler as we headed east.

From Unionville we headed south on 5, and stopped at the Mineral Hills Conservation Area. It was a nice enough place, but nothing spectacular, so we headed on south to Thousand Hills State Park. As we approached the area there were beautiful views across the hills and the Chariton River valley. We stopped at J & R’s in Novinger, where the nice lady gave us ketchup packets because we didn’t want to tote around a full-sized bottle (did I mention the camper is very small?), and we spent around 3 bucks besides.

Beautiful campsite at Thousand Hills State Park in Kirksville, January Camping

The best campsite in the park.

At the park we picked out a great spot that backed up to a grove of Ponderosa Pine trees. Once again we were the only people in the campground. The Park Superintendent said we were the first campers of the year. He didn’t come up with a certificate for us or anything, so we paid our nineteen dollars and hiked down to see the lake and petroglyphs. On the way back we gathered firewood, then we popped the top and plugged in the electric heater. What a difference! We lounged in the warm camper before setting up the grill to cook lovely venison steaks.

Warm and full of steak, we still had to get the top bunk finished so the bed was actually adult-sized. With the bed addition securely fastened, Jack volunteered to sleep up top. After the cold hard sleep the night before I didn’t argue with him, I was looking forward to the cushy lower bed. I thought about Jack up there on the hard board bed, then I forgot all about him and slept like a baby.

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Wallace State Park in January

Posted on 01/17/2012 by admin

Saturday, January 7, 2012. After 2 days during which we were sure we would be leaving any minute, we finally were ready on Saturday afternoon. It was late, so we only traveled about an hour north of Kansas City. We stopped at Wallace State Park just south of Cameron, MO. Wallace is a beautiful little patch of hilly woods tucked into the surrounding farmland with a nice little lake and an historic trail.

With our 30 below bags, we figured we could spend the night in a basic site, so we paid our twelve bucks and found a nice spot. We were the only people in the campground, and aside from a few deer we could hear browsing around us, we were alone. We walked to the campground entrance to look over the sign-board. This ended up being our only hike at Wallace. It was cold and dark, so even though was only around 8pm we went inside and jumped in our sleeping bags. I was in the upper miniature bunk and Jack was below.

We hadn’t tried out our bags before leaving, and I found mine to be so tight around the shoulders that I couldn’t move, heck, I couldn’t even zip it up all the way! Jack said his was tight too and I wondered at the craziness of a design that constricted you like a mummy. I slept with my giant towel covering the open area. It was a long, cold night and I kept waking up, hoping the morning had finally come. Not wanting to get up for any reason, I shut my eyes tight each time and willed myself to sleep for another hour or so.

Several days later I discovered that I’d been using the sleeping bag upside-down.

In the morning I used my Swedish Military Mess kit with the Trangia alcohol stove.

Working under the vent hood in the Chinook, I heated water for coffee and oatmeal. It all got cold fast, and didn’t do much to warm the camper. After burning the propane heater for awhile, we battened down the hatches and headed out.

The experience nearly put us off the whole trip. We didn’t even stick around for a real hike, but headed to the McDonald’s in Cameron to check the weather and try out the free WiFi. We snacked on hash browns and orange juice while we warmed up and checked out the websites for a couple of Conservation Areas and Thousand Hills State Park near Kirksville. You can camp for free in the Conservation Areas in Missouri, but ultimately we decided to go straight to the State Park, and pay the extra seven bucks for electricity this time. We may be dumb, but we’re not stupid!

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Shakedown Cruise

Posted on 01/15/2012 by admin
1976 Toyota Chinook

Our 1976 Toyota Chinook Mini Motorhome

Our first trip! We headed out from Kansas City to Miami. Well Miami County Kansas anyway. We drove down to Paola to visit AP. This was the first trip for the Beast and also the first time Jack and I had ridden in the truck together. So anyway, the trip went like this. It was loud, rough and rattle-y, but the truck ran great. Someone pointed at us before we got a mile from the house. People were whizzing by as we motored along at 60 to 65 mph on the freeway (the speed limit was 70). It was a strange but uneventful trip.

When we got to town AP took us out for Chinese food. It was such a nice day that we walked to the restaurant (this also qualified as our hike for the trip, so bonus!) and enjoyed a tasty buffet at Spring of China. Later, I cleaned up her computer and we played a trivia game while it took forever to finish the operation. That was really fun.

We drove home after dark, and the truck seemed to settle in a bit. I think it limbered up after sitting for 5-7 years. The lights were bright and visibility is good. All-in-all a great trip, and exciting to actually get on the road.

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Fixing up the House

Posted on 12/22/2011 by admin

White house, hunter green trimThe house took us a long time to finish. As it was we didn’t really finish the yard work, we completed the inside and just limped away, our bodies doing their best to recover from the strain. I had a lot of problems with my wrists the last few months (and periodically throughout the remodeling), and we were both pretty worn down from the job.

Our house was 90 years old (the original portion) with at least two additions. We had several floors torn out, replacing floor joists and subfloor. We built a new wall between the bathrooms and the laundry room, new sheetrock and insulation in the living room, and removed the pull-down attic door from the kitchen ceiling. Built new ceiling, closets, put in all new bathroom cabinetry, lights and tub. The kitchen was totally remodeled with all new appliances. We mudded and tweaked and poked every wall and cranny. If anything was loose or deteriorating it got replaced or repaired. All new doors and windows, and I rebuilt and tiled the fireplace hearth. We were sure pleased when it was done!

I’ve always been grateful for the wonderful and nurturing home this place has provided for me, but I had to release it.  I had even released the need for the new owners to be like me, to like the things I liked about the place. The woods and wild plants, the hundred year old Cottonwood trees, the wildlife. I gave the house the responsibility of finding its next family. I had enough to do.

A wonderful family moved in, and they did like the place for the wildness! They even used the chicken house. That was something I had never done, since we’d been trying to stay livestock-free for the last 10 years (that was tough for me, I’ve always had some animals). Everything was working out, and children were playing in the old house once again. Hurray!

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Nomadic Living Here We Come

Posted on 12/22/2011 by admin

Well it’s been a long road to get to this point where we are finally ready to embark on our epic journey. The idea began in the year 2000 with a plan to fix and sell the house, get rid of all our stuff and head out on a year-long trip around America with the purpose of finding our own perfect place to live.

Jack and I had just gotten married. I was 38 and he was 46 and we both had kids who were just getting out on their own. What better time (we thought) to go do something fresh and exciting, something spontaneous! Well since it’s taken a decade I’m not sure spontaneous still applies but here we are nonetheless, ready to set sail on our new adventure. And so it begins.

 

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