WHAT'S DOWN WITH THE BREHMS, 8/8/011

Crossing the Mississippi River from Arkansas into Tennessee

GREETINGS FROM TENNESSEE

Howdy Ladies & Genamums. That is the famed Memphis Pyramid right on the Memphis side of the Mississippi. It's been another interesting week. Three States. Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee. We are camped at Cherokee Landing, about 50 miles East of Memphis, almost on the border of Mississippi. We are all healthy. Ross gets a little more feeble each day, then all of a sudden he seems chipper for a while. The rig and Jeep are doing great, and we are getting anxious to see my sister and bro in law. The weather has been hot and humid even for the South. Didn't seem so bad when I lived here in the 60's. And it's not really that bad now. Hope all is well with you, and look forward to hooking up with you next time. Love and God Bless, Elvis & Aretha............

THOUSAND TRAILS PRESERVE

Wow, it is incredible how empty all the campgrounds are. Cherokee Landing is a great preserve with full hookups, pool, tennis courts and other ammenities, but there are 6 rigs here in a park with 240+ campsites. 3 of the sites are occupied by construction workers, and three of us are recreational campers. Have never seen anything like this in 10 years of living on the road full time. Fuel prices, unemployment, and threats to Social Security have, I suppose had a major impact. Hope we can turn things around in the next few years.

LAKE CHEROKEE

The lovely, serene, lake that the campground is built around.

CAMP CHEROKEE LANDING

This is us. Talk about plenty of room.

OZARK HIGH RISE

I am a devotee of old buildings. There is something about the history of people who have hewn a home out of the environment, raised a family, a farm, affecting several lives. And now it sits abandoned, but somehow filled with great stories of the past. A memorial to a simpler kind of life.

1850 LOG CABIN

This old homestead was probably once a rather grand home. It was built in 1850, and occupied by the same family until 1904. It is a true log cabin. The caulking is all gone, but the wood logs are still in pretty good shape. There are several out builings and coops adjacent.

LIMESTONE CLIFFS OF THE OZARKS

MOUNTAIN KID'S SWIMMING HOLE

Now is this cool or what? As we hiked through the forest toward the limestone bluffs, we could hear the laughing and screaming of kids. As we came to the edge of the trees, there were all these mountain kids just having a ball.

WHAT'S DOWN WITH THE BREHMS, 7/31/2011

ALMOST STUCK IN THE OZARKS

Greetings from Ozark Arkansas. This past week has been a traveling week. Since our last report, we have been in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The trip was trouble free, and we landed in Ozark, the home of good friends Johnny and Georgia. One of the original DADBRs. We are camped at a Army Corps of Engineers Camp on the Arkansas River. Here we are having a ball off-roading in the Ozark National Forest. Weather has been mild, hot, muggy, some rain, but comfortable. Hope you are all enjoying your summer. Next move, West Memphis via Little Rock. God Bless, Ray & Diane.............

AH... SOME GOOD GERMAN CUISINE

As a real nice surprise, Johnny and Georgia Johnson took us to a German Restaurant at a winery outside the town of Ozark. The food was delicious and the company was exhilerating. Ya..

ELEGANT CABIN IN THE OZARKS

What a neat place to live. Our friends Johnny and Georgia built this beautiful home on 38 acres of the Ozark National Forest. It fits perfect in the idiginous woods. Appears rustic, but has more modern conveniences than an illegal alien on welfare. They also have a 40'X50' workshop up on the hill. And Johnny has his own off-road park, and a deer stand right on his property. What a deal! It's good to see nice things happen to nice people.

JOHNSON'S LIVING ROOM

All it needs is a bearskin on the wall, a deer head on the opposite wall, and an Armadillo by the fireplace.

CAMP OZARK

The camp built by the Army Corps of Engineers is fantastic. Paved site for rig and car. Big covered picnic table, 50 amp service, lots of trees and the Arkansas river, including boat locks right in front of us. What a view!! All this for $10 per night.

ARKANSAS RIVER AT OZARK

This the view out the front of our motorhome. Man do I love roughing it..............

WHAT'S DOWN WITH THE BREHMS AT EL MORRO, 7/24/11

BANDERA VOLCANO GODESS

Kind of a pleasantly unexpected week here in Grants NM. We pride ourselves in our investigative/explorative natures, but Grants turns out to be a big surprise. We have spent the night here a few times in the past. Refueled, and headed on to interesting places. After spending time at Parker AZ, and Cottonwood AZ., Grants turns out to be very comfortable. The campground is no 5 star, but the weather is much cooler, the winds are just breezes, and there are no *@!&% bugs. We decided to spend a week. Grants is a small cowboy and Indian town. No fancy houses, lots of rusted old cars, lava beds everywhere. No local attractions. Main St is old Route 66 but the folks are friendly. Today we took a drive out hwy 53 into the country. Nice drive, and we wound up climbing the Bandera Volacano, which is over 8000", then we hiked down to to the Ice Cave where the temp is 31 degrees, that's below freezing. We continued our drive to El Morro Nat. Monument. It is breathtaking, beautiful, and loaded with history you can wittness. The pics help. In case you didn't know, you can click on any picture to enlarge it. You may want to so with the "inscriptions". It turns out the walls of El Morro have been inscribed by the indiginous Indians in the 1400's, the Spanish Conquistadors, and the American pioneers heading west. I have many more pics if you're intrested. All is well here, hope the same for y'all. Love and God Bless..............


Ray & Diane & the Fur boys.

BANDERA CRATER

This is a large hole in the midle of a volcano, the Bandera Volcano. They call it a crater. I call it a physical challenge for a mature male. This puppy is over 8000' in altitude but I made it. Hopefully Medivac will chopper me out before the snows come.

ICE CAVE AT THE BOTTOM OF A VOLCANO

It's not enough to climb a stinkin volcano, I have to crawl down into an ice cave caused by a lava tube from the same volcano. 31 degrees F. And we have to climb out, yippee...............