Photo of a photo in a trucking album I made for hubs on his retirement.
Category: Travel
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Road Trip Home 2026 – Day 5
Our hotel in Bismarck, ND was near the state Capitol. Once again, we’ve been to and through Bismarck many times and have never stopped by the Capitol building.
It was a cold and windy day, but the stop was worthwhile.
I was quite surprised to see that the building is modern.
The main building 
To the left of the tall office building 
Statue of John Burke, 10th Governor of ND 1907-1913 
Plaque at base of statue 
I have a new bucket list idea 
Liberty Memorial Building and State Library 
Fire escape at back of Liberty Memorial building caught my eye 
The name plaques are underneath As we drove farther north, the snow dissipated until it was completely gone! This was a new, unexpected, and most welcome experience for us.
Falkirk Coal Mine, Underwood, ND 
Near Gardiner Dam ND 
Lewis and Clark Interprative Center Washburn ND. We didn’t stop this time. This is an old photo of a previous stop 
Approaching the land border at Portal ND 
North Portal, Canada Border 
Our home province 
Southeast Sask is a part of the Bakken Play. Our area is home to the second largest oil field in Canada 
We made a quick stop to pick up my traditional Easter treat 
Estevan, Sk coal mining museum 
Lignite Louie is Estevan’s coal mining mascot 
The first drag line in the Estevan area – now retired and tiny compared to the massive lines that work now 
The old power plant, now a museum, welcomes us home to Weyburn, SK It was a good road trip home. I hope you enjoyed traveling with us via these posts.
Now, a lot of this for a few days …
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2026 Road Trip Home – Last Leg
Hubs and I had lots of fun in our hotel on Easter morning because there was an “unofficial and unannounced” Easter egg hunt.
Kudos to the staff of La Quinta, Bismarck ND for the fun touches!
As soon as we left our room to head down for breakfast, we saw a hint at the elevator.
Hubs decided to ride the elevator to each floor to see if this was a “thing”.
We had so much fun! We were kids again on an Easter morning egg hunt.
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2026 Road Trip Home Day 4 – The Longest Day
At 10 hours, yesterday was our longest day on the road.
We had a couple of short stops for fuel and walkabouts, but aside from that, hubs was determined to make miles.
As a result, we’ll complete the trip with a 4.5 hour drive today.
This was a good plan because arrival at home involves unpacking the truck, sorting and putting everything away, and doing laundry. Both hubs and I have ocd-ish personalities that wouldn’t allow us to leave those tasks for the next day.
The roads have been excellent so far, despite now seeing “that white stuff” in the fields that has been foreign to us all winter. Thank goodness the final melt isn’t far away and our summer is around the corner.
My feature photo is near Thedford, Nebraska.
North Platte, Nebraska is home to a revitalized downtown project called “The Canteen District”. We only drove by but after seeing this sign which resulted in researching, we’ll definitely stop for a walkabout here next time we’re through.
I wasn’t quick enough with my camera, so this is from Google Images Our first stop was here.
Although luck wasn’t with us, it was a fun 30 minute stretch, and a Google search told us that Bob Barker, the long time host of the TV game show, “The Price is Right” was a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Nation here. His mother was apparently a school teacher on the reservation.
Our next stop was at Pierre, South Dakota. Pierre is the state capital. Although we’ve driven past the city many times, we’d never stopped to see the capitol building, so we decided to fix that.
Completed 116 Years Ago 
It was a tad breezy but no snow yet! 
A little lake sits adjacent to the Capitol 
Statue of Joe Foss – WWII Marine Flying Ace and one-time governor of North Dakota stands at an arena across from the Capitol A few miles down the road, we were greeted with this
At least the highway is dry … so far We booked into a lovely big room at Bismarck ND La Quinta. Comfy beds, extremely clean room in new condition and a great price for a holiday weekend Saturday.
Happy Easter everyone ✝️
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2026 Road Trip Home – Day 3
Much of Route 66 in Texas has been built over by interstate highway 40 (I-40). Hubs and I managed to find a few sections of the original Mother Road, and chose to drive on them as much as possible, just to be able to say we did. It had a wonderful stepping back in time feel to it. My feature photo is of one such segment.
Yesterday was full of fun and interesting stops to check out many well-known attractions along the Texas section of Historic Route 66.
Our first sighting on Good Friday was The Groom Cross 
A small town with a big spirit 
The Leaning Tower of Britten has an interesting history 
No matter where you look along 66, you’re time traveling 
McLean, TX Museum was an amazing find 
Hubs checking farming implements from days gone by 
Another iconic Rte 66 stop 
The Devils Rope Museum is massive inside 
Cute mock up of a 40’s Diner 
This guy had a long trip 
Juxtaposition in Shamrock, TX 
Shamrock, TX is the first Texas town along Rte 66 when coming from the East 
The iconic Conoco Tower Station and U Drop In Cafe 
A tribute garden to Bill Mack, who was born in Shamrock 
Outside the U Drop In Cafe 
Look who I found inside the cafe! 
Memories 
One must keep a watchful eye because the roadside history is continuous Hubs and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of our last day (for now) celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Route 66. The anniversary lasts all year (the actual 100th birthday is in November), so we have plans for exploration of other sections later this year.
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2026 Road Trip Home – Day 2
Yesterday was all about bucket list hits.
Along the way from San Angelo, TX to Amarillo, TX we saw some varied and beautiful scenery and enjoyed a couple of breaks from driving to check out attractions.
The weather has been more than cooperative with sunshine, warmth, and clear blue skies.
Breakfast and road snacks from our hotel 
Near Sterling City, TX 
Red Soil at Ackerly, TX. The white specks are debris from the cotton harvest Our first stop was Lubbock, TX – birthplace of Buddy Holly.
After touring Clear Lake, Iowa on our way south this past fall, which I posted about here , we were interested in visiting Buddy Holly’s hometown.
Lubbock Texas has streets named after their favourite son.
There’s also the Buddy Holly Center which is a museum tribute to his life, and includes an art gallery inside an old attached train station.
Across the street, is The Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza which includes the West Texas Walk of Fame – with inductees from the area named in plaques along a curved wall. Among the many inductees were Tanya Tucker, Merle Haggard, Roy Orbison, and Dan Blocker.
We also toured the house of JI Allison, the first drummer for Buddy Holly’s band, The Crickets. In his bedroom was a piano and a drum kit and this is where “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue” were written.
I was in Rock n Roll heaven here.
Entrance to the Buddy Holly Center 
Me with the famous glasses 
This courtyard can be rented out 
Inside the entrance 
Lots of reading involved 
Doorway to the Art Gallery 
Three large sections for exhibits 
Original doors to the old train station 
Hubs was most interested in the history of the train station 
JI Allison’s home 
JI’s room in the home 
Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza 
Front of the old train station 
Dedication Plaque From Lubbock, we made the 121 mile (194 km) drive to Amarillo, TX where we checked out our first stop on historic Route 66.
2026 is the hundredth anniversary of “The Mother Road”, so over the course of this year we plan to see as much of it as we can.
First stop: Cadillac Ranch
There’s spray paint everywhere 
Even on the pavement alongside the entrance 
Spray painted locks on the fence 
This truck pulls the souvenir trailer 
Every souvenir you could want is in here 
The famous interactive art installation, created in 1974 
I took my turn at spray painting 
Hubs did some tagging too 
The Second
Amendment Cowboy with a neon sign (one of many on Rte 66)
A diner and gift shop behind the cowboy For those of you wondering about fuel prices:
This is per US Gallon (3.75 liters) We saw it as low as $2.99 and as high as $3.99 Yesterday was a ten hour day, worth every enjoyable second.
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2026 Road Trip Home – Day 1
Yesterday was take off day and we logged nine hours on the road with only quick rest stops.
Texas is a big state and because we’re headed up to the panhandle, we’re taking the longest route from south to north.
It’s bluebonnet time in Texas and the state flower was abundant on the roadsides and in fields along the way. My feature photo was on the way by, so more blurred than I like but it gives you the idea.
Here are a few more “on the way by” photos.
I had to do a white balance correction on them, because of the tinted windows in our truck.
Check stop at Encino, TX 
One of many overpasses at San Antonio, TX 
Coming to Comfort, TX 
Comfort TX 
Fredericksburg, TX 
Many great old buildings in Fredericksburg 
Mason, TX Courthouse
My Moment 58 mmTele Lens for iPhone does a pretty good job of bringing things closer and at the same time, reducing blur. It’s my favourite attachment for shooting from a moving vehicle.
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A Telling Sight
When I see “Arnie” (our golf cart, named after the famous golfer, Arnold Palmer), all wrapped up and sitting on wooden planks to keep the tires from melting onto the concrete in the extreme summer heat, I know we’re leaving the next day.
As we always try to do, we have a new route home to Canada in the plans, and I can’t wait to share it with you.
It’s going to be a bucket list hit for me, so I’m pretty excited!
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Spring Weekend 2026 – Day 3: The Best Laid Plans …
Neither hubs nor I have ever been involved in a spring break celebration, so we thought that a Sunday visit to South Padre Island during spring break might be a good way to wrap up our weekend of welcoming spring 2026.
Out of curiosity, the morning that we planned on leaving, I decided to consult professor Google as to what we might expect in terms of crowds. I’m so happy I did that.
Sunday, March 24 this year just happened to be the apex of the Texas Spring Break and this is what we should expect: possibly fifty thousand high school and college students in full and noisy party mode, heavy traffic (including complete jams) for both South Padre Island and the causeway going to and from the island, two hours or more waits for food, and zero parking at the main venues.
We decided to nix the trip and spend our last day of celebrating spring by watching nature programs on TV in the comfort our A/C’d living room, with snacks available immediately, and silence on demand as soon as we decided to mute the TV and have a nap.
The header photo for this post came up in Google Images when I looked for Claytons Spring Break Celebrations 2026. Claytons is one of our favourite stops for food and entertainment.
This photo was all that either of us needed for a “hard no!”
I guess we’ll complete life with never experiencing spring break.
I’m perfectly OK with that.
Radically Retired 