Connecticut’s RV-Friendly Welcome Centers

As an RV-friendly welcome to the state of Connecticut, the Department of Transportation has extended the welcome mat to self-contained RVers. Visitors to the state are permitted one free overnight stay in the rest area at several interstate highway Welcome Centers.

Since most RVers will want to visit the Welcome Centers where travel counselors can provide maps, brochures, and travel and sightseeing information, staying the night to rest and study up on the many attractions and historical sites before moving on is a sensible option.

A bit thumbs up go to the state planners for designating special areas for RV travelers, away from the continuous coming and going of noisy eighteen-wheelers, placing them near picnic tables, barbecues, and restrooms. Most also have dump stations and special pet areas.

The Connecticut State Police monitor the rest stops to provide a safe and secure stay. Overnight stays are permitted at the following Welcome Centers:

On I-84

• Danbury at exit 2.
• Southington eastbound between exits 28 and 30
• West Wellington westbound between exits 70 and 69

On I-91

• Wallingford southbound between exits 15 and 14
• Middletown northbound between exits 19 and 20

On I-95

• Westbrook northbound between exits 65 and 66.
• North Stonington southbound between exits 92 and 91.

Lake Erie Prehistoric Forest & Mystery Hill

If you fondly remember when family entertainment was simpler, the days before CGI sci-fi movies like Avatar and expensive video games that mesmerize the addicted, take a nostalgic visit to the Prehistoric Forest and Mystery Hill on Ohio’s Lake Erie shoreline.

Though considered old-fashioned by the cyber set, the big-as-life dinosaurs set in a jungle-like forest with faux rocks and a contrived waterfall, and the strange gravity defying illusions like water running up hill, still mystify and intrigue visitors.

Young children especially enjoy teaming up for water balloon battles between mom and dad and grandma and grandpa. Two launching platforms, each with a rigged up catapult, loft the balloons through a hole in the roof, toward the other. A direct hit on the opposing roof, of course, showers the “enemy” with water and giggles.

Visit the reptile house to see live lizards, turtles, and snakes. But hurry. Open since 1953, the 2010 season will be its last. The owner is retiring.

Prehistoric Forest & Mystery Hill, 8332 E. Harbor Road (Rte. 163, eight miles east of Port Clinton), Marblehead, Ohio. Open 10AM to dark, every day, Memorial Day to Labor Day. Weekends only in May and September.

Pioche: The true Wild West

The law in remote Pioche, southeastern Nevada's richest mining town in the 1870s, was often determined by the fastest gun. The nearest population settlement--and the only law enforcement--was 400 miles to the west. Supplies had to be hauled over the sizzling desert from a railhead 275 miles away.

In 1870-71 Pioche claimed almost 60% of the killings for the entire state of Nevada. There were more than six dozen graves on Boot Hill from violent deaths before the first death by natural causes.

Employment prospects were good if you were a hired gun. The rich and the mine owners made good use of your services. See for yourself as you stroll Boot Hill reading the gravestones.

Visit the million-dollar courthouse, one of Nevada’s most famous landmarks, built in 1872 with bricks brought round the Horn. Now home to government offices and a museum, you can relive the past by joining the jury (there is one empty seat that you can fill for that period photograph) in a trial reenactment.

The electric mannequin judge bangs his gavel and the conglomeration of jurors listen in rapt attention to the prosecutor’s oration, then step inside the two-foot thick walls of the jail that once held some of the West’s most feared desperadoes--and those that could not bribe the jury.

The historical experience of Pioche is 175 miles north of Las Vegas on US93. Two small RV parks are in town and no-hookup camping is at Cathedral Gorge State Park ten miles south.

Look up, it's the world's tallest thermometer

The number One Hundred And Thirty Four carries weighty significance to travelers passing through Baker, California, even though they may not know it. Add "degrees" to this number and you have the highest temperature ever recorded in North America. The small desert community of Baker at the corner of the Mojave National Preserve is the gateway to where this temperature was recorded back in 1913--Death Valley National Park.

This number should serve as a reminder to travelers and those pursuing desert recreation that the Mojave Desert can get pretty darned hot, and not to forget the sun block, a wide-brimmed sun hat, and plenty of water if you plan to explore these desert treasures.

The Bun Boy restaurant (Now Bob's Big Boy) had been serving food, fuel, and supplies to travelers since 1925 when Las Vegas was linked to the rest of the world with a dirt road over Mountain Pass. They wanted to be sure that their customers were prepared for the extremes of the desert environment, so in 1991 they decided to build a thermometer next to their restaurant.

Not just any ordinary thermometer, mind you, that would mundanely tell the temperature to passersby. They built this one to a height of--you guessed it--134 feet, entering the record books as the World's Tallest Thermometer.

It's 4,943 lamps, pulling over 2,000 amperes, has become a Baker landmark, displaying the desert's temperature for miles up and down Interstate 15 and from Route 127 into Death Valley.

Formerly at the base of the thermometer, the Mojave Desert Information Center has moved to the restored Kelso Depot. From Baker, continue 35 miles southeast on Kelbaker Road to Kelso.

The renovated Kelso Depot is now the primary Visitor Center for Mojave National Preserve. Former dormitory rooms contain exhibits describing the cultural and natural history of the surrounding desert. The baggage room, ticket office, and two dormitory rooms have been historically furnished to illustrate life in the depot in the first half of the twentieth century. A 12-minute orientation film is shown in the theater.

Basement gallery space features rotating fine art collections by local artists, focusing on the cultural history and natural splendors of Mojave national Preserve.
After a nearly two decade long haitus, the Kelso Depot lunch counter, The Beanery, is back in business.

South of the border fun unlimited: Puerto Penasco

It may be Margaritaville to the college set, but it is also a winter escape for snowbirds, a dose of salt and sea air, and bargain shopping. Puerto Penasco, Mexico lies 66 miles below the border at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, 212 miles southwest of either Phoenix or Tucson.

Here you can revive old memories of those lost weekends or semester breaks, enjoying a cold Dos Equis Beer, watching the parade of bikinis cruising the broad sandy beaches, or plying the streets in search of the perfect taco.

Winter in the desert sometimes arouses a lust for water, especially salt water, among coastal snowbirds. Near the northern tip of the Sea of Cortez, Puerto Penasco, also called Rocky Point, is the closest saltwater beach to Southern Arizona. There are several campgrounds with hookups where you can step from your RV right onto the sandy beach and plenty of boondocking as well.

And who needs to be told about the bargains among the numerous streetside stalls offering locally hand-made goods from leather purses to colorful blankets. Did someone say pescado? Rows of fishmongers line the sea front offering the catch of the day and fresh shrimp at way below US prices.

You can find Puerto Penasco at the end of Arizona Highway 85 (which becomes Mexico Highway 8). Don’t forget to buy Mexican auto insurance before crossing the border.

Discover the ancient puebloans at the Lost City Museum

Long before Howard Hughes and Bugsy Siegel, before sevens were rolled out on felt covered tables, Native Nevadans were casting dice of bones onto the clay floors of village pueblos. We call these prehistoric Nevada residents the Anasazi, or Native Puebloans. From about A.D. 500 they lived along what was then a verdant valley, with flowing rivers, bubbling springs, fertile soil and abundant wildlife. They raised cotton and corn, mined salt and dug for turquoise and were spread out in strings of villages from Warm Springs to the Virgin River.

Decorated pottery and other artifacts found in archaeological digs have shown that they had a developed social, religious, and trade structure. Mysteriously, they disappeared from the area about A.D. 1150.

The Lost City Museum, in Overton about 60 miles northeast of Las Vegas, has several wattle and daub style houses that have been reconstructed on the original pueblo foundations. The museum has one of the most comprehensive collections of the many cultures that lived in the valley starting with the hunters and gatherers of nearly 10,000 years ago. Their lifestyle of hunting mammoths and giant ground sloths was somewhat more adventurous than the Basketmakers that followed and inhabited the area until about A.D. 500 when the Pueblans moved in. The Paiutes, well adapted to the desert climate in their hunter/gatherer culture, followed about A.D. 1000 and still have descendants living in Southern Nevada.

Petroglyphs, carved into the rocks, are scattered all around the Lost City area and many Southern Nevada ruins still lay hidden or un-excavated. The Lost City Museum, located on an actual prehistoric site of Ancestral Puebloan Indians who first populated southern Nevada, is a good place to learn about these early cultures.

From Las Vegas, drive 48 miles northeast on US 15 and turn right (southeast) on state route 169 for twelve miles. The museum is open every day from 8:30 AM until 4:30 PM Thursday thru Sunday and has parking sufficient for large RVs. Camping is available at nearby Valley of Fire State Park, at Overton Beach on Lake Mead, and at private RV parks in Overton.

Learn about Bob Difley's eBooks at RVbookstore.com

Beauvoir: At home with Jefferson Davis

Serving as both Mississippi Senator and Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce, Jefferson Davis staunchly supported slavery and states rights, though he opposed secession from the union as a method of maintaining Southern principles. When Mississippi seceded, Davis resigned his senate seat.

Following his tenure as President of the ill-fated Confederacy during the Civil War, a government indictment for treason (later dropped), and a couple of business failures, he retired to Beauvoir on the Mississippi Sound--as a guest of wealthy intellectual Sarah Dorsey--to write his memoirs. His wife joined him a year later and they purchased the estate, along with some furnishings, for $5,500. Davis died in 1889 but the property remained in the Davis family until 1902 when the central portion of the estate was sold to the Mississippi Division, United Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Beauvoir operated until 1957 as a home for Confederate veterans and their families and now the 51-acre estate, recognized as a National Historic Landmark, has been restored. Along with the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library, which opened in 1998, the home and grounds are open to the public. Beauvoir is located at 2244 Beach Blvd., Biloxi, Mississippi.

See a giant mammoth in Waco, Texas

Point that RV of yours toward the just opened Waco Mammoth Site in Waco, Texas, where you can see a giant Colombian Mammoth from about 70,000 years ago. Of course, you can't see the animals because they are long dead. But you can see their bones and learn all about the elephant-looking beasts. The Mammoth Site opened December 8.

The site is in a 100-plus acre stretch of wooded parkland along the Bosque River. Covered in sprawling oak, mesquite and cedar trees, it offer an escape from the modern world and provides a glimpse into the lives of Columbian mammoths. Though the first bones at site were discovered in 1978, the site remained closed to the public until the end of 2009. Baylor University staff, students and volunteers spent countless hours excavating the area during the past 30 years

The Waco Mammoth Site now includes a dig shelter that creates an atmosphere of an art gallery. Natural light floods into the shelter from all directions and a suspended walkway provides a stunning overhead view of the mammoths. The site also features a scenic trail complete with benches and rest areas where visitors can reflect on what life was like during the age of the mammoths.

Admission rates range from $5 to $7. Public hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays - Fridays & from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Congressional legislation is currently pending to create the Waco Mammoth National Monument and to include the site as a unit of the National Park Service.

Visit the World's Shortest River in Oregon

Maybe you seek a claim to fame -- something you can brag about at all those cocktail parties you attend. A good claim to fame might be to walk from the beginning to the end of a river. Now that would be quite an accomplishment on most rivers. For example, to travel from one end of the Colorado River to the other would be 1,450 miles.

Given that, maybe you'd prefer something more manageable. In that case, you might opt for the D River, which is 440 feet long and begins and ends in Lincoln City, Oregon. It flows from Devils Lake under U.S. 101 into the Pacific Ocean. The D River was once listed as the "shortest river in the world," by the Guinness Book of World Records. Then, in 1989, Guinness said the Roe River in Montana was even shorter. Well, the Lincoln City people were not about to accept being second, so they re-measured it at "extreme high tide," and claimed once again that their river was shorter.

Guinness must have been confused because after that it no longer listed a category for shortest river. But as you can see in this sign by U.S. 101, Lincoln City still insists its river is the shortest.

Cabela's fantasy outdoors stores

As you cross the limitless plains of the American midwest and find yourself drifting off into dreams of challenging exploits, tracking grizzlies through the Rocky Mountains, photographing moose and elk in the wild, or stalking rare birds along the Rio Grande River, Cabela's--every outdoor enthusiast's wish store--is for you . You can now find one of the twenty-nine Cabela's along the interstates from Reno, Nevada to Hartford, Connecticut.

Whatever your needs for outdoor adventures, real or fantasy, you'll find it here at one of the world's foremost outfitters. You can equip yourself with all the clothing, gear, gadgets, and tools for hunting, fishing, canoeing, and mountain climbing that you could possibly need.

Cabella's go-do-it staff consists of active and experienced outdoor people, so they will be able to help you in choosing just the right gear or clothing for that Alaska polar bear photo shoot or for rafting the Snake River gorge.

But that's not all, you can snap a picture of your spouse chatting with a brown bear, facing a threatening Bighorn, or staring down a bull moose--the real McCoys (stuffed, of course)--at their realistic outdoor displays, some that rise more than two stories above the sales floor.

Vinyard hopping near Jerome, Arizona

This time of year, as more RVs flock to the warmer climates, some wonder, "What's to do?" If you're a vino fancier, the red rock areas near Sedona beckon. Yep, it's hard to believe that this is wine country, what with all the press California gets, but this has been a "vintage year" for Arizona. No rain, perfect grape growing temperatures, and no late frost. As a result, the vintners are rejoicing.

In Jerome alone there are two places you can taste the miracle of the grape in wine tasting rooms right at the wineries. Clinging to the side of Cleopatra Hill is Jerome Winery. If you have a hard-to-please vino palate, they may have what you desire, producing 30 different handcrafted wines. Meanwhile, down on Main Street you'll find Caduceus Cellars, headed up by Maynard Keenan, the lead singer of a musical group called Tool.

Never heard of 'em? That makes several of us. But Keenan makes an interesting claim for his vino, if we may quote: "My art and music has been described as ‘thick, dense, rich complex, engaging, emotional, and spiritual,’ by those who are fans. And an ‘acquired taste’ for those kind others who are not." We'll let you sort that one out on your own.

Where to stay in the Jerome area? For the hardy boondocker, there's the Mingus Mountain Campground on US Forest Service land (Take Highway 89A south out of Jerome about 7 miles to Forest Route 104, thence roughly east about three more miles--inquire locally!). If you need something softer--with hookups, there's Dead Horse Ranch State Park near Cottonwood (about 8 miles away).

Dramatic desert cliffs, buttes, and rock formations at Red Rock Canyon SP

The 50-site campground at Red Rock Canyon State Park is tucked into the base of colorful desert cliffs where once the Kawaiisu Indians hunted rabbits and small game. I was reminded of this when I had taken no more than a dozen steps outside my motorhome and confronted a coyote stalking a cottontail. Suddenly the coyote made his move, startling the cottontail that darted off to its burrow—and right between my legs. The coyote hadn’t noticed me until then, and came to a sliding, dust-swirling stop just feet ahead of me, then disappeared off into the scrub.

The park’s prominent buttes, steep cliffs, and colorful rock formations served as signposts for the Native Americans that for thousands of years passed over this trade route. Twenty-mule

team freight wagons stopped here for water in the 1870s, miners worked the area in the late 1800s, and it has been the location of several movies. The cliffs, caves, and narrow canyons behind the campground are fun to explore and offer great views from the top.

The park recently removed the alien invader tamarisk trees, which soak up lots of water, and the stream now flows above ground again. Wildflowers are beautiful in the Spring. The park is 25 miles north of the town of Mojave on route 14 near Cantil, California. The no reservation, no hook-up campground has water and pittoilets but no dump station.

Check out my eBook, Snowbird's Guide to Boondocking on the Southwestern Deserts.

Ash Springs: A little known Nevada desert hot spring

We were boondocking at Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge, about 15 miles to the south of Ash Springs, which we knew had a natural hot springs. We drove up and found the hot water bubbling out of some rocks and falling down into a couple of pools below in the shade of very old cottonwood trees and lush plants, all this in an otherwise dry, monotone desert. The only others in this beautiful setting were a young Hispanic family finishing a picnic and about to leave. They said they had already been in the water and it was nice and warm. We gingerly entered the hot water and were soon aahing and oohing as the heat soaked into our bones.

We sat for a while until all of a sudden Lynn felt a little tickle on her leg, then on her arm, then on her toe. The water was crystal clear and as she looked down she saw tiny little fish, swimming up to investigate her, giving her that little tickle. She was thrilled to share her bath with the little fish.

The springs are free and just outside the tiny town of Ash Springs seven miles north of Alamo, about 1 1/2 hours north of Las Vegas on US93.

Check out my eBook, Boondocking: Finding the Perfect Campsite on America's Public Lands, the RVers complete guide to boondocking.