Medicine Mound

As we worked our way westward, Minkie decided we really needed to stop and see at least ONE ghost town. Sure enough, our route allowed for a little side trip to all that’s left of tiny town in west Texas.  It is named for one of the 350 foot high dolomite mounds (there are four in the nearby plains) – so named by the Comanche Indians who believed the mounds were home to powerful benevolent spirits.   Anglos settled in during the mid-1800s, and the town (population around 500) thrived for a while, before moving a few miles north to make use of the railroad as it was established in the early 1900s.  

Check out these pumps!

Unfortunately, it was devastated in the early 1930s by a fire that destroyed nearly everything. Things went downhill from there, as you might imagine. Standing in front of the two remaining buildings we could hear the sad whispers of the people who lived here – Merchants, bankers, ranchers, farmers; men, women, children – red, white and brown; pioneers, soldiers, warriors. 

I know I heard a rocking chair creaking…

 One of the two remaining buildings is owned by the granddaughter of its owner, and houses a small museum (closed while we were there) – that we all would have dearly loved to have visited. Imagine the stories it would tell!

Look for the next update next week!

Lake Murray

Yesterday we spent the day driving – watching the scenery change from flat to flatter, with lush pastures sporting cattle (mostly angus) or hay.  The fields spread for miles, it seemed – and in a few places, where the hay was being cut, hawks circled above – waiting for their meals to come running.

After a good night’s sleep in Sherman, TX, we moseyed up to Lake Murray State Park, in southern Oklahoma. This is the state’s largest (12,500 acres) and oldest state park – and offers water sports, golf, camping, hiking, swimming, fishing, boating activities, miniature golf – and even has horse trails/camping. Oh, and did I mention the tennis courts and a ball fields?   Pretty much anything a TwoLegg might want. In addition to tent/RV camping there’s also a lodge and cabins – and a restaurants which (according to Carlos and Minkie) serve up some pretty decent sandwiches.  We also checked out one of the trails – a nice mile or two walk to help the TLs work up an appetite. 

In addition to providing a lunch stop, our visit also served a reconnaissance mission.  Though we won’t pass this way on way on our return trip, it may well be a good waypoint for a future adventure with the Escape in tow.  The park has about 6-7 different campgrounds – and the ones we checked out all look more than adequate for our needs.  All are well away from the busier parts of the park.  As for the campgrounds themselves, while some sites are fairly close to each other, there are a handful in each loop that have more elbow room, and most of the sites appear to be laid out in such a way that your fire ring and picnic table don’t look into anyone’s window or their outdoor “living” space.   Some are water front sites with little shade, others are more wooded. Basically, it seems that there’s probably a campground and site to fit most needs.  Most of the sites appear to have both electric and water, and some also have sewer hookups.  The campgrounds are scattered around the lake – so each is well separated from its brethren and each also has it’s own shower house and dump station.  We’d have liked to have had a bit more time to learn more/visit some of the historical sites within the park, but alas, Colorado and my brother Smoochy are calling….

Off Again!!

HowDEEEEEE, fellow Toadsters! Yep – I’ve been gone a while, but soooooooo much has happened over the last several months with my two most favorite TLs (that would be Carlos and Minkie) – that I just haven’t been Blog Hopping.But enough of all that. The biggest news is that the TL’s sold their Casita (yes, it is now in the loving hands of new TL’s who were thrilled to have found just what they were looking for). And so, my TwoLeggs and I are off to British Columbia to pick up our new Traveling Toad House – an Escape 21 footer. Once we’ve finished the adoption process, we’ll take off for new adventures in western Canada, Montana, and South Dakota.

First stop of note – the Windsor Ruins near Port Gibson, Mississippi. Minkie picked this one out, a little stop to stretch our legs and take a few pictures. These are the ruins of a plantation built by a fellow named Smith Coffee Daniell II, between 1859 -61. Daniell wasn’t a lucky line, it seems – he had the misfortune to die a few weeks after moving in ( on the day the Civil War started, as luck would have it) – leaving the mansion and its 26,000 acres to his wife and kidlets. 

 Of course, the several hundred slaves he owned were gone with the war, along with most of the family fortune. Still, though, the mansion survived another 25 years or so, until a careless guest dropped a lit cigar one February night in 1890. The cigar and the mansion both went up in smoke, leaving these ruins – the 45 foot columns that stand like some ancient Greek ruins, misplaced in the woodlands along the Big Muddy.

It’s quite a site, well worth a quick detour, don’t you think?!