A Walk in the Park

This past weekend Jerry and I were in Springfield Missouri for a National Street Rod Show. While searching online for a motel, I discovered that Springfield has a botanical garden. Since it was just a couple of miles from the hotel we chose, I talked Jerry into dropping me off while he went to get our truck registered for the event. He was reluctant to drop me off at a strange place in a strange town, but I assured him I would be fine. I was more than fine. I had the most wonderful afternoon strolling through the garden which covered over 100 acres with 26 themed areas. I knew my time was limited so I planned my route through the garden with three specific sections I wanted to see . . . the butterfly house, the lake, and the Japanese garden.

I was surprised that I was able to stroll through most of the garden areas. I only missed a couple of small ones on the other side of the lake.

Butterfly House

Drummond Lake

Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden

I blogged about the Japanese Garden over at Focusing On Life this week. I would love for you to hop over there and read about it. There were winding paths, three small lakes, water cascades, a ceremonial teahouse, a moon bridge, and a meditation garden. The 7.5 acre traditional Japanese Garden was my favorite section. 

The rest of the pictures are random shots throughout the garden.

Well, here's my ride, I need to go!

I hope you enjoyed this quick look at Springfield Botanical Gardens!

A Little More Oklahoma

We went to Oklahoma for the fall festival at Robber's Cave State Park. We participate in the Fall Foliage Cruise that features pre-1981 vehicles. Some of them restored and some of them customized. This year the last count I heard was that over 630 vehicles had registered. That's a lot of shiny paint and wheels!

It's an unspoken rule that you must get up before daylight, eat at McDonald's, and quickly drive up the mountain to Robber's Cave State Park. As you approach the park all you can see is the flashlights from the Park Rangers and Oklahoma Police directing you into the park. You peer through the dark to find the perfect place to park. You want a place close to the main tent and where your vehicle can be easily seen. There's always someone with a flashlight to help you get backed in and not hit the many large rocks that are scattered throughout the park. I breathe a sigh of relief when that's all done. Then I get out and head to the lake to watch the sunrise. This year it was pretty cloudy, but thankfully we didn't have any more rain. 

For those who are interested, our truck is a 1940 Ford. It's been customized and is called a street rod. It's not all original. You'll first notice the bright red paint and those shiny Crager wheels. It also has power steering, air conditioning, seat belts, and a larger motor. The actual body is original, but restoring the whole vehicle to original is not practical if you want to drive it and enjoy it. Older motors are not made for our faster highways and the miles we put on them. We do have the original bench seat and it's quite bouncy as you travel. My head is still a little dizzy from bouncing up and down even though we've been home a few days. Okay, enough of that, let me get back to my day.

As I mentioned already the first part of day is spent sitting on a bench by the lake waiting for the sun to rise. When it finally arrives I'm off to wander around the park. This year I discovered a walking trail that I'd not seen before.

It led me to a small spillway with my favorite thing . . . water.

I passed by two young boys about ten or eleven and they told me I had to follow another trail and see this really cool engine. I was more interested in the rock house. I can't imagine how they hoisted those massive rocks to create the engine house. Evidently the engine was used to pump water from the lake.

The street rod show is part of the areas fall festival. There are craft booths, amusement rides, horseback rides, and a quilt show. I enjoy looking at the craft booths and I always check out the quilts. My favorite quilts are in the first picture below. These were all handmade in the early 1900's. The second picture has the more modern quilts.

The expected attendance for the festival was about 70,000 people. That's about 69,990 people more than I'm comfortable with, so I spent a lot of time down by the lake enjoying the view and keeping my back to the activities. There's music playing, good oldies, that covers a lot of the crowd noise. When I'm not visiting with our friends, I'm quite content on a bench with my camera.

On Saturday night the antique cars and trucks cruise the main street of town. After eating at a wonderful Mexican restaurant we sat in the back of our friends old truck and watched the the cruise. He was parked in front of The Picture Show, which has long since been abandoned. I thought their truck looked pretty good sitting in front of the old building.

That brings me to Sunday morning. Once again we get up early, but not as early as Saturday. Once again we meet at McDonald's for breakfast. Then we head toward the rising sun back to Arkansas. There are two things about our truck I don't like. First, there is only one windshield wiper. I guess in the 1940's they didn't think the passenger needed to see out, but I do! And, the other thing is that there are no sun visors. Heading into the sun can be blinding even with sunglasses on! I duck my head or hold a notebook in front of my face until the sun has risen.

I hope you've enjoyed the trip to Oklahoma with me. It was so great to get away. We love traveling in Old Red and being with friends.

Oklahoma Here We Come

It wasn't the perfect weather to begin a road trip. It was raining as we headed out in Old Red to the beautiful state of Oklahoma. 

Each year we attend the Lawn Chair National Street Rod Show in Wilburton. Getting there is half the fun. We travel with a group of friends, all in old vehicles. My favorite part of traveling is seeing the children's faces as we pass by or as they pass us on the interstate. They're always grinning and waving. I like to think we've brightened their road trip a little.

We arrive in town, check into our motel, and head out to Wooldridge Ranch home to the HOUSE OF PACKARD. this year we were greeted by a "just married" scary couple and beautiful autumn decorations.

Mr. Wooldridge has the most amazing shop where he restores and keeps his vintage Packard automobiles. I've never stopped to count how many cars he owns, but there are many and they are beautiful. His shop will blow your mind. It's huge. He even has a second floor filled with automobiles complete with a car lift for getting those cars up there.

We wander around his shop and showroom and then he feeds us hamburgers and hot dogs and delicious cobblers. I understand he fed over 800 people that night, free of charge! He also sponsors the car show which is also free to enter.

We're always among the last to leave. We relax after eating and enjoy the view. In the photo below that's Old Red on the right and our friend's car on the left. 

My favorite part is just before we leave when the sun starts slowly dipping below the horizon. Don't get me wrong I enjoy looking at the cars, but they can't compete with nature. The clouds cleared just enough for some beautiful color.

Our first night in Oklahoma was fun and beautiful. I'll be back tomorrow to tell you about the rest of the weekend.

One cannot go to Oklahoma without singing the lyrics from the Broadway musical Oklahoma! 

Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.

And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet

When the wind comes right behind the rain.

Oklahoma ev'ry night my honey lamb and I

sit alone and talk and watch a hawk

Makin lazy circles in the sky.

{in the picture} ~ August 2012

Although August was a very hot month, I did manage to get out and take my self portraits!!  Hope you can't see me sweating in them!!  Our suggested theme for August was "my life, right now."  What's happening at this point in my life? 

Right now my life centers around home and

spending time with my grandsons and family!

Right now I'm waiting on cooler weather so I can enjoy going on photo excursions.

Right now I'm staying indoors as much as possible. I've been strolling through flea markets, antique stores,

and quilt stores. Can you find me in the busy window? It was 104 degrees and I really wanted a coke out of that machine!!

Right now you might find me slipping off my shoes as I travel with Mr. H in our 1940 Ford Pickup which is red, not orange!! 

You might find me taking pictures out of the windows and

attending street rod shows. Check out those cars in the background!

 

As you can see, my life, right now finds me happy!
MY LIFE IS GOOD!!!

Road Trip!

This past weekend we visited the small town of Mena, Arkansas. It's nestled at the foot of Rich Mountain in the Ouachita Mountain range. We traveled to Mena for the 37th Annual Queen Wilhelmina Road Run that is held at Queen Wilhelmina State Park. We drove our 1940 Fork Pickup. I'll show you a photo of our truck later in the post.

 

 Mena was founded in 1896 as a railroad town.  The city has a total area of 6.8 square miles, of which 6.7 square miles is land; 0.04 square miles of it is water. That doesn't leave much for the 5,737 people who populate this town, does it?   Mena is the gateway to some of the most visited tourist attractions in Arkansas. An estimated 1.2 million visitors each year come to Mena for these natural features which include

• the 57 mile Talimena National Scenic Drive
• Queen Wilhelmina State Park
• Cossatot River which is a member of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System and is Arkansas' newest state park
• and lastly beautiful Lake Ouachita is in the vicinity.
 
 

We arrived in town on Friday and gathered at the historic Mena Railroad Depot which is in the center of town. The Depot was build in the early 1900s and was completely restored in 1987.

 

The streets are closed off behind the depot for us to park our vehicles. One of my favorite past times on Friday night is to visit the two antique stores you see on the right. I never buy much, but I do enjoy the search! 

 

 

 

This beautiful red truck is ours! My husband calls it "Old Red."  It's considered a street rod because it has not been restored to the original 1940 truck. You'll first notice those shiny Crager wheels! It also has power steering, air conditioning, seat belts, and a larger motor. We did keep the body of the truck original. Restoring a vehicle to its original state is just not practical if you want to drive it and enjoy it! Older vehicles are just not made for our faster highways and the miles we put on them!

 

 

On Saturday morning we leave Mena and head up to Queen Wilhelmina State Park the second tallest peak in Arkansas rising 2,681 feet above sea level.  We drove 14 miles up a very, steep, and curvy road in drizzle and the densest fog I've ever been in. We both had our noses plastered to the windshield trying to see. I don't think we could see but about 20 ft in front of us. Mr. H was watching the white line and I was watching for signs...sharp turn to the left coming up or 25mph on this turn. One thing about old truck, they only have one windshield wiper. I guess the passenger isn't supposed to be able to see!!  It was a very intense and stressful drive!!

 

 

We finally made it to the top of the mountain! On a clear day you can see the ridges and valleys of this beautiful mountain range in the background, today you just see fog!  In this photo you can see our cute little trailer with it's lid open that holds all our luggage, lawn chairs, ice chests, and such!  You wouldn't believe what we're able to cram in that trailer!  Our truck has light cherry stained wood in the bed and nothing goes back there to keep from scratching it.

 

 

I was surprised at the number of local people who drove up the mountain in the fog to see the cars!  The fog lifted around noon and the rest of the day was beautiful with a nice cooling breeze!

 

There's lots of chrome and a rainbow of colors on the cars! It's amazing how many shades there are of every color!

On Saturday night we head downtown for a street dance with a live band. Usually the only ones you'll find dancing are the kids!  Me, I like to walk the town and capture shots of the old stone and brick buildings. My favorite is the green one.

 

It's always pretty hot and muggy downtown in the evening. We've found the best place to park our truck. There is an empty lot between two buildings that allows cool air to funnel through. We set up our chairs in the shade of one of the buildings and then we....

people watch!  They look at our vehicles; we look at them!!  There's always sights to see. Do you see the girl in the center dressed in black carrying a small dog?  She must have walked the length of this road twenty times. She reminded me of a model on a runway...she had the look, she had the walk!!

 

On Sunday morning we traveled back up the mountain in the fog again!!! But, this time it wasn't as bad and was mostly toward the top! We attended church service in a large tent. It's been years since I've been in an open air service. It was calming to listen to the Word of God under a tent, in the quiet of the morning, with the wind and fog swirling around us. Attending church on the mountain was a wonderful way to end a great weekend! 

 

We had a wonderful time with

good friends,

plenty of good food,

and mostly good weather!!