Hail to the Hive!

Having recently returned to the UK I have been reunited with some old memorabilia. My scrap books from days gone by being some of them.

@daltono recently posted about a hiking trip in Kentucky and my mind drifted back to when I myself was in Kentucky on a road trip. Hmm time for another flashbck friday, pre digital camera, scrapbook travel post me thinks.

So wayyyyy back in 1992 I'd traveled to Cleveland Ohio with my girlfriend to visit family with a view to see a few things, nothing really planned out.

My Dad was a DJ at a local nightclub and on one night we bumped into these unlikely lads. You've got to smile really. But we really should have been oragnising our stuff for the trip as we were very unorganised and leaving soon.

My Grandma's old 1978 Chevy Caprice wasn't being used so we'd been given permission to use it to plan a road trip

😁 Road Trip You Say?

So we put together an ambitious plan and off we went south through Kentucky armed with a $20 tent from k mart and a cooler for beers.....and food i suppose.

We basically had very little plans other than at certain places i wanted to see a few people and there were some pretty famous landmarks along the way. But the rest....let's see what there is out there.

Mammoth Caves? Ok let's have a wander round.

These were the days before digital cameras which meant you had to not go trigger happy as it would prove expensive with film and developing. oh how i wish we'd had digital cameras back then.

But we loved the hiking around this area of Kentucky. Really amazing rock formations and I just love being anywhere where there is water.

In many ways the Narrowboating around the UK I am doing now reminds me of this trip around the US as we were constantly finding new places to stay. Camping and cooking in the great outdoors surrounded by natures beauty.

Arkansa wasn't really on our radar other than we knew we had to drive through it but it proved to be a massive surprise.

A beautiful place with outstanding lake camping and a cool little town , Hot Spings, proved to be a real surprise and a real high light.

We decided to stay a few nights here at Lake Ouchita near hot Springs as it was just so chill and beautiful.

I did suffer a little from the sun though, ouch indeed!

We progressed through to Texas (WHICH IS HUGE) and stopped in to see an old friend. Found Southfork Ranch along the way for any of you oldies that remember the old show featuring JR Ewing.

Texas is huge. 1000 miles east to west and the same from north to south and when you drive through it you get the idea.

It's Big!

Then after we had crossed the border into New Mexico and then ploughed onwards to Arizona we encountered some interesting places we had previously never heard of. I only stopped off in New Mexico to see some old Air Force buffies unlucky enough to still be there.

The Petrified Forest

Over 200 million years ago this area became submerged andmud, silt and ash that covers everything starved it of oxygen slowing the trees decaying. Very slowly silica deposits encased the original wood. This then crystalized into quarts thus preserving the logs as petrified wood. pretty amazing really.