Touring America

California's Big Sur Coast Highway

Hugging the California coastline, Big Sur Coast Highway is a beautiful 72-mile stretch of Highway 1 between Carmel and San Simeon. Byway travelers are treated to sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean, rugged canyons, stands of towering redwoods, and a wide variety of wildlife. Drive with care as the road is narrow and curvy. In some places it has narrow shoulders and sharp drop offs to the ocean far below. Also, gas stations are few along the byway. You may want to fill up your vehicle in Carmel or San Simeon before driving the byway.

Portions of the scenic byway pass through Los Padres National Forest, where you'll find opportunities for hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, camping, fishing, and picnicking. The national forest encompasses nearly two million acres of the beautiful coastal mountains. It also contains wilderness areas where no vehicle can go, only humans on horseback or on foot can enter.

You'll also come across a lot of state parks along the highway. Near the byway's northern end is Point Lobos State Reserve. Here you'll find walking trails and observation platforms. A favorite of many visitors is the Cypress Grove Trail, which winds through one of only two naturally growing stands of Monterey cypress trees on earth. It's also a good place for listening to the ocean waves crashing against the rocks or watching sea lions and otters.

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park has 1,006 acres of redwoods, conifers, oaks, sycamores, cottonwoods, maples, alders, and willows plus open meadows. This would be a good place to set up base camp while you explore the area. It not only has a campground but a 61-room lodge, cafe, and grocery store. Camping is also available in Andrew Molera State Park and Limekiln State Park.

South of the byway's official southern terminus is the famous Hearst Castle. Constructed over a period of 30 years, the magnificent estate has 115 rooms in the main house plus guesthouses, pools, and eight acres of cultivated gardens. Four daytime tours and one evening tour are available daily.

America's Scenic Drives

To learn more about scenic byways, visit our web site for free information and maps of more than 200 nationally designated scenic byways across the U.S.

Off the Beaten Path

Northern California

Burney Falls

Beautiful Burney Falls is situated within California's McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park. The falls is not the highest nor largest in the state, but many consider it the most beautiful. Unlike other waterfalls, it continues to flow at the same rate all year long.

Forestiere Underground Gardens

Working alone during his spare time and using only hand tools, Baldasare Forestiere spent some 40 years sculpting an underground complex of rooms and passageways, a garden home, arches and stonework patterned after the catacombs of Ancient Rome, and a chapel and chapel garden.

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum

This museum, architecturally inspired by the Temple of Amon at Karnak, houses the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts on exhibit in the western United States.

Western Railway Museum

This museum gives visitors the opportunity to ride historic streetcars and interurban electric trains from all over California and other western states. Streetcars loop the shaded picnic grounds. Interurban cars run over the restored main line of the old Sacramento Northern Railway.

RV Dump Station Locator

Need to find a dump station to empty your RV's holding tanks? Take a look at www.rvdumps.com for free information about places like rest areas, travel centers, city parks, and more.

Discovering Your Public Lands

Vicksburg National Military Park

Vicksburg National Military Park was established in 1899 to commemorate one of the most decisive battles of the American Civil War: the campaign, siege, and defense of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

The Vicksburg campaign was waged from March 29 to July 4, 1863. It included battles in west-central Mississippi at Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hill, Big Black River, and 47 days of Union siege operations against Confederate forces defending the city of Vicksburg. Located high on the bluffs, Vicksburg was a fortress guarding the Mississippi River. It was known as "The Gibraltar of the Confederacy." Its surrender on July 4, 1863, coupled with the fall of Port Hudson, Louisiana, divided the South, and gave the North undisputed control of the Mississippi River.

This National Park Service area contains 1,325 historic monuments and markers, 20 miles of reconstructed trenches and earthworks, a 16-mile tour road, antebellum home, 144 emplaced cannon, restored Union gunboat-USS Cairo, and the Vicksburg National Cemetery.

Exploring State Parks

Arkansas

Arkansas's 51 state parks offer travelers a wide variety of facilities and outdoor activities. Overnight accommodations range from mountain lodges to cozy cabins and riverside campgrounds. Over 600,000 acres of lakes and 9,700 miles of rivers and streams are accessible for boating, floating, fishing, and other water sports. The state parks also offer hiking and biking trails, championship public golf courses, and a diamond mine where you can search for "finders-keepers" gems. History buffs can explore Civil War battlefields, a 19th-century museum village, and sites of prehistoric Native American Indian mounds.

Detailed information for each state park can be found at Arkansas's Division of State Parks web site. You can also request a free copy of their full-color, 50-page brochure by calling toll-free 1-888-287-2757

In the Spotlight

Village Creek State Park

http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/parks/park.asp?id=21

Village Creek State Park lies in the Crowley's Ridge region of eastern Arkansas. It's about 13 miles north of Forrest City via AR 284 from I-40 Exit 242. Hiking enthusiasts will find five trails that traverse a forest of oak, sugar maple, beech, butternut and tulip poplar. Anglers can attempt to pull bass, bream, catfish, and crappie from either of the park's two lakes. RVers and tent campers will find 104 campsites around Lake Dunn. Nearby are ten fully-equipped cabins with kitchens. At Lake Austell, you'll find picnic sites near a sandy beach and sun deck.

New Mexico

Visitors to New Mexico will find 31 state parks scattered across the state. Each offers an abundance of year-round educational and recreational opportunities. Although you won't find resort lodges or cabins in New Mexico's state parks, you will find plenty of opportunities for camping. You'll also find hiking, biking, picnicking, boating, fishing, swimming, and more.

There is a lot of detailed information about New Mexico's state parks at their web site. You can request a statewide parks brochure by completing an online form. Individual state park brochures are also available in Adobe Reader format that you can download. If your interested in volunteering as a campground host, you'll find that information, too.

In the Spotlight

Pancho Villa State Park

http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/nmparks/PAGES/PARKS/PANCHO/Pancho.htm

On March 9, 1916, the soldiers of General Francisco "Pancho" Villa attacked the small border town and military camp at Columbus, New Mexico. Pancho Villa State Park contains extensive historical exhibits that depict this raid, the first armed invasion of the continental United States since the War of 1812, and also the last one.

You'll find this 60-acre park in southern New Mexico about 35 miles south of Deming on NM 11. In addition to historical exhibits, the park offers interpretive walking trails and a campground with 62 sites. All sites have electrical hookups and are $14 per night.

Gadgets and Gizmos

Wiper Buddy

Here's a simple product and a neat idea. Wiper Buddy is a little yellow plastic device that is designed to hold your vehicle's wiper arms away from the windshield. This prevents the wiper blades from sticking to the windshield, which will prolong the life of the blades. It also prevents dirt buildup, which causes blade deterioration and etching of the windshield.

The Wiper Buddy is available in two sizes. The larger model, which fits RVs and full-size trucks, costs about $4 plus $1 for shipping. The smaller model, for small trucks, cars, and sport-utility vehicles, is $2.25 plus $1 for shipping. You'll find more information at Wiper Buddy's web site.

Power Inverter

The PROwatt 150 power inverter provides 150 watts of continuous, portable AC power from the 12-volt DC socket in your vehicle, boat, or RV. Designed for recreational and mobile office applications, the inverter transforms a vehicle's DC lighter socket into a 115 volt AC outlet. The unit can surge to 400 watts to handle equipment that requires more power for start up. With this model, you're able to run your laptop computer, TV/VCR, video game system, and other small appliances.

PROwatt 150 sells for around $40. You'll find it at Camping World or you can do a search using Google or Yahoo to find other dealers. Other models are available that provide more power.

Mice Control

Mice in your RV can be a real problem. They can create a mess by chewing up things and leave droppings in places you'd rather they not. Good Earth Enterprises offers an alternative to mothballs, poisons, and traps for getting rid of the pesky critters. It's the Fresh Cab, an organic air freshener that emits a woodsy-alpine scent pleasing to humans but repugnant to rodents. According to the company, it will keep mice away for about three months. The tea bag-style pouches can be tucked under a seat or hung over a doorknob or hanger. They also work well in a boat, storage shed, or any other small-enclosed area. A box of four sells for $13 plus shipping and handling.

Adventures from the Past

Bad Boys in Kansas - The Deadly Daltons

It is hardly any wonder that four of the Dalton's ten sons chose the outlaw trail, given the surroundings of their upbringing. Raised along the Kansas/Missouri border during the Bleeding Kansas border skirmishes that preceded the Civil War, the area was rife with violence. Adding more fuel to the already burning fire, Dad was a saloonkeeper and gambler, while Mom was the aunt to the notorious Younger Gang of Missouri.

In the beginning, the brothers served the right side of the law, when Grat and Bob became deputy marshals. Younger brother Emmett often served on his brothers' posses but made his living as a cowboy, where he made the acquaintance of several would-be outlaws including Bill Doolin, Texas Jack Broadwell, George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, and several others.

But, a narrow margin separated the lawless from the law enforcers during those rough times. Slipping from one side to the other, the brothers quickly got in trouble for selling whiskey to the Indians and cattle rustling. Before long they were teamed up with Doolin, Broadwell, and the rest in a spree of train robberies.

Then in 1892, Bob Dalton, the leader of the gang, wanted to make a name for himself by robbing two banks in broad daylight -- something not even Jesse James had ever accomplished. But it was to be the biggest and last decision of his life, when the townsfolk of Coffeyville, Kansas, shot down the Dalton gang.

You'll find this story and many others at the Legends of America web site.

Roundabout RoundUp

Special Delivery

If you have purchased books from us in the past, be sure to watch your mailbox (the real one, not the electronic one) for our

Roundabout Bookshelf mailer for information on new titles. The flyer also includes a special edition of the

Roundabout Bookshelf featuring Old West titles that would be enjoyable reading on a long winter's night.

Tax Advantages for RV Owners

An instructional program is available from the Tax Advisors Institute that will teach you every legal tax strategy and deduction that you can use to lower your taxes. The program includes a step-by-step manual footnoted to the IRS code, cassettes of instruction, and a case-study video that demonstrates more than $20,000 in tax deductions.

Become a Corps of Engineers Volunteer Worker

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers depends on skilled volunteers to maintain and operate outdoor areas and facilities across the United States. Volunteers are needed to serve as campground hosts, to build and maintain trails, and perform a variety of other tasks. To learn more, visit the Corps of Engineers web site or call 1-800-865-8337.

California State Park Videos

California is offering a video series that explores over 80 state parks throughout the Golden State. Three videos (northern, central, and southern California) highlight the parks histories, their scenic beauty, visitor facilities, and special events distinct to several parks. Each video ranges from 70 to 90 minutes and cost $19.95 or you can get all three for $49.95.

Quartzsite DVD

Produced specifically for RVers, this DVD on Quartzsite, Arizona, profiles the annual evolution of the town from its summer population of 2,000 to its winter population of more than one million RVers that visit every year. The video features extensive coverage of the area's flea market and other attractions and also includes detailed information about area campgrounds.

Winter in Idaho

Idaho recently launched a new web site that provides information about resorts, Nordic and snowmobile trails, maps, snow and road reports, and more. If you enjoy the activities that winter brings and want to head for Idaho, check out this site.

More from Idaho

Idaho's tourism web site offers over 50 guides and maps that you can download for free. You'll find Idaho's official travel guide, a state highway map, RV and campground directory, rest area map, and much more.