Tag: geocaching

Utah to Alabama

Thursday, June 11, 2026

We departed Capitol Reef National Park in Utah on Thursday, June 4th, knowing that a lot of our remaining time would be driving.  Of course, we did not get an early start with the cinnamon rolls, hiking and getting BB ready for some back-to-back travel days.  The night of June 4th was a Boondockers Welcome stop in Grand Junction, CO – about 200 miles for the day.  Not great mileage but we stopped to make phone calls and handle some business that took longer than expected along the way.  As usual, our hosts for the night were welcoming and we had a nice visit before turning in.

We were up early on Friday, June 5th driving I-70 easterly across Colorado and into Kansas.  We stopped for the night at Ellis Lakeside Campground, in Ellis, Kansas.  This small campground is a city owned campground that was a whopping $25/night with full hookups and lake front site.  It was a quiet, peaceful place to sleep after a long 568 mile day.  We don’t do those long days very often anymore but it was all interstate and we were trying to get away from some of the heat.

Saturday morning after a visit to the local bakery, we headed to Archie, MO. We stopped at the I-49 RV park to visit some friends, Connie and David.  Connie and David are in our Bible Study group and we see them most weeks online but it sure was more fun to spend time with them in person!  Thanks Connie and David for your gracious hospitality.

Monday morning, June 8th, we left our dear friends and started driving again.  Destination for Monday was Craighead Forest Park, Jonesboro , AR. – 345 miles.  On the way, when it was time for a 2 hour driver change and leg stretch, we saw a sign for Mammoth Spring State Park and pulled in.  Wow, what a find!  It was right off US 63, and sort of served like a welcome center just after we entered Arkansas.  We took advantage of their really nice walking trail and a nice display of the old generating plant on the spring river.  It just so happened that this is the same Spring River that we took the Explorers canoeing many, many years ago – probably 40 years ago.

Back on the road refreshed, we drove on to Jonesboro and another very nice public park on another lake that was only $15/night with hookups.  Another great place to hike and another quiet night.

On Tuesday, June 9th, we made our way back to Alabama and the River Ridge Retreat in Guntersville. This is the park where we had the Huddle back in April.  We have rested a few days here, and tomorrow will move on to Camp Sumatanga, our church on Sunday and then back to our starting point in South Carolina.  After getting BB cleaned out and Fred ready to hit the road to our next mission project, we will give you all the statistics on this trip.

Half Moon Island

Friday, February 7, 2025

After an early breakfast on January 21, we were ready to board our zodiac for our first landing in Antarctica.  We went to Half Moon Island – which is still considered Antarctica even if it is an island.  The scenery was amazing.  The air was dry, not quite as cold because of the sunshine and everywhere you looked was more beauty and penguins. Half Moon Island is one of the South Shetland Islands in the Antarctica Peninsula region. It is a small island of only 420 acres.  The Argentine Navy occasionally operates a research base there.  They were not there when we were.

This morning we got up close with the chin strap penguins.  They are so cute. The name comes from the narrow band of black feathers that go from ear to ear just below the chin.  We tried to stay the correct distance away, but it was difficult because of their curiosity of us. The chin straps are an abundant species however, recent evidence suggests that the number of chinstraps is declining significantly due to reductions in krill, their main food.

Half Moon was also where we were able to claim our only geocache in Antarctica.  We got several while in Argentina.  The geocache had to do with the abandoned boat just as we stepped onto the island.  One person told us it was an old whaling boat and another said it was a shore boat from a cruise ship many years ago, but… it was definitely an old abandoned boat.

When we returned to our ship, we had to sanitize our boots and lower waterproof pants.  Our boots are the only things that can touch the land when we make a landing.  Everything is sanitized so that we don’t spread something to another colony on a later stop.