A Week in Texas, Them 1300 Miles to Find Warm Weather

Monday November 27

After Ann got done working we drove over to PPL Motorhomes to look a couple units they had that we might be interested in.  The first was 2011 Winnebago Tour, and the second was a 2011 Holiday Rambler Endeavor. Because they close at 5:00 PM we didn’t get to spend as much time as we would have liked, but we saw enough to decide these two motorhomes were not what we wanted.  When looking at motorhomes, like other vehicles, you get a vibe from them, and neither had that positive vibe we are looking for.

On the way back to the RV we stopped at Longhorn Steakhouse in Sugarland for a nice dinner.

Tuesday November 28

Tuesday, while Ann worked, I went to Harbor Freight to get a dremel tool, a sander, some sanding pads, and denatured alcohol to try and repair the crack in our countertop that had developed over the last year.  Earlier this year I had bought a “Repair Kit” from Vendura, the manufacturer of the countertop. 

So after Ann finished up her workday she left to visit her friend, Mary, who she knew from when she was a teen in West Des Moines. I started on the countertop repair. First using the dremel tool to grind out the crack, and then making some “cross-stitching” grooves across the crack that I had read would make the repair last longer.  Next I got the repair kit out and read the directions.  Oops!  The directions said the components of the kit, filler, resin, and a catalyst were only good for 30 days, and I had had this kit for a few months. Once again I learned, reading is fundamental!

Since I had already prepared the surface, I decided to go ahead and see if the kit was still good, despite being well past the 30 days.  First, I mixed the filler and resin, the filler was still good, but the resin was a lot thicker than it should have been, and when I added the catalyst, the mixture was much thicker than it should have been, but I applied it anyway, but no beuno! It was too thick to work, so I then scraped off what I could, and that is the way it still is, as I haven’t yet ordered a new repair kit.  Currently, the countertop looks like something you would see on Halloween.

Wednesday November 29

The big project for Wednesday was a search for automotive fuses.  On our way down to the Houston area, the 25 amp fuse that controls the cigarette lighter, and the other 12 volt outlet burned out, leaving us without the GPS or the Dashcam, and in my testing for which fuse was burned out, I was able to burn out a 50 amp fuse, and since it is not as common as the 25 amp fuse, they are as not as easy to find. 

Here is what I needed. 25 amp on the left, 50 amp on the right.

My first stop was an Autozone, they had the fuse I needed, but it came in a kit with about 30 other fuses, most of which I didn’t need, but they did have single 40 amp fuses of the larger size, so I bought one, to have a spare.  Then it was off to a nearby Walmart for a couple of items, and to check if they had the fuse I needed.  Sure enough they did, but they came with a 30 amp and 40 amp along with the 50 amp I needed, so since I wanted a backup for the 50 amp, and the 30 amp that our motorhome also uses, I ended up by buying two pack of three fuses.  Hopefully, these will last me a while.  After getting back to the RV, and installing the 25 amp and the 50 amp fuses, things were back to normal, at least for the rest of the day.

Thursday November 30

Thursday’s big adventure was a trip to the “post office”.  A google search showed a post office about 3 miles up the road, but we hadn’t seen on the couple of times we had gone by that area, but headed there just the same.  When we arrived where the GPS said we should be all we could see was a Shell gas station, but looking closely on the side of the building, sure enough, there was a sign that said Post Office, so we went in, and there was a counter with a lot of USPS mailing envelopes, and boxes.  How things have changed since I worked for the USPS.  Back then everyone had to have a background check before they could be hired, and all First Class mail was to be in locked bags or containers when being transported from place to place.  I am not sure if the gas station clerk/ postal clerk had the same scrutiny and USPS employees did back in the day.  However, the clerk was knowledgeable, and efficient, and we got done what we wanted. 

With our adventure done for the day, we returned to the motorhome for a dinner of left overs.

Friday December 1

Friday was another workday for Ann but while she was working, I was checking the weather, and after seeing how cold(I know that is a relative term) it was going to be in Texas and most of the Southwest we decided that once Ann was done working, we would load up and head west.  We originally thought of waiting until Saturday morning, but with about 1000 miles to Tucson, we decided to it was best to get some miles behind on Friday. 

Our first stop was the Walmart close to where we would get on Interstate 10.  I dropped Ann off at the Walmart, and went to get gas at the station in the Walmart parking lot.  The price was cheap, $2.01, but the area around the pumps was pretty tight, and after trying to be out of the way until my turn at the pump, two cars ducked past me in line, so I decided it was going to be difficult to get gas here, so I went and picked up Ann and we were on the road before sundown.  Getting on I-10 was interesting as there was lots of construction, and sometimes the lanes got narrow, but we made it through, and headed toward Junction,Texas, a little over 300 miles away.

After driving about an hour and a half, we stopped at Schulenberg, TX to fill up the motorhome up with gas, and fill us up with food.  We parked at the Pilot, and walked across the street to Oakridge Smokehouse Restaurant and had a nice mean of smoked pork and the fixins.  Not only did we have leftovers, but we bought a jar of their homemade jelly, and a couple of pastries to have with our coffee in the morning.

Then it was back on the road for a few more hours, until we reached Gene’s Go, a truck stop in Junction that was right off an exit and parked in a open area behind the truck stop.  

Even though there was some noise during the night, for the most part, we got some pretty good sleep.

Saturday December 2

In the morning, it was a short drive across the street to the Pilot where we filled up with gas once again, and then it was heading west for along day of driving.  We wanted to stop in Fort Stockton for breakfast at an IHOP we had eaten at a few years before when we were heading south from Pecos, TX to Del Rio, TX, but no joy, as the internets said it was closed permanently, and there not being any other place we wanted to eat, we continued west until we arrived at I-10 Fuel Travel Stop.

It was supposed to have an all day steakhouse, but it was closed until 5:00 PM.  We were not sure how, or why they served breakfast all day, if they didn’t open until 5:00 PM, but it did have a pretty painted cactus by the side of it.

Inside the truck stop there was a small restaurant that had a very limited menu, and the slowest cook I have ever seen, but she was working hard.  We each had cheeseburgers and fries, no Coke, Pepsi.  The meal gave us sustenance and we again headed west, stopping in Van Horn to once again fill up with gas.  Then it was heading northwest to El Paso,  then west to our destination for the night, CoachLight RV Park in Las Cruces, NM.  We have stayed there on other occasions. It is not a destination park, but works good for an overnight stay.

When we stay at Coachlight, we usually go to La Posta de Mesilla for a great Mexican meal with an awesome ambiance.

Getting back to the RV, it was time for a little relaxation and computer time before going to bed, as tomorrow would be another day on the road.  Sunday’s destination would be at some of our friends house in Tucson.  

Sunday December 3

After getting up and around at a decent time, abut 8:00 AM, and having a couple of cups of coffee, I dumped the tanks, and filled up the fresh water tank, and after filling up with gas at the close by Pilot, we headed out for out 275 mile trip to Tucson.

Because we didn’t eat breakfast before we left, we stopped at a Flying J in Lordsburg, NM and ate at the adjacent Denny’s.  Then it was on to Tucson arriving at our friends well before dark.  We got setup, and then went in the house to visit with our friends, their daughter, and her husband who have two boys.  We had a nice visit, and pizza and salad, then we called it a night.  It was nice not to have to travel the next few days.

Monday December 4

Monday was back to work for Ann, more conference calls and computer work.  Not much for me to do, but I did get to watch a mobile service guy replace the water heater in our friend’s motorhome.  As in a lot of cases, what should be a pretty easy job, winds up being much more complicated, and the service guy had trouble getting a water line connection on the back of the heater connected properly, and in the end had water over himself, and a lot on the ground.  He persisted, and it only took him about an hour and a half longer than he thought.  For dinner we invited our friends out to one of our favorite places in Tucson, but they were not up to it, so we cooked hotdogs over the fire, and had bake beans and chips, and topped of the evening with some smores.  Yea, we all really needed chocolate and marshmallows.  J

Great fire!

Tuesday December 5

On Tuesday we went to the local Shell station/Post Office to mail a book to Gabe that Ann got him for Christmas.  Again, good service.  Next it was to the Basha’s(grocery store) for a few items.  The place was not all that crowded, but they had Christmas stuff in so many isles, it was hard to navigate.  Again, I am glad we only needed a few items.  When we travel in Arizona, we don’t usually drink the tap water, but buy five gallon jugs of reverse osmosis water, and while at Basha’s we filled out two five gallon jugs.

Also, there was some showers to the north of us in the mountains, so a grabbed a couple of pics.

In the evening our friends felt up to going out for dinner, so we went to Marisco’s Chihuahua which serves Mexican seafood dishes.  We have been to several of them in Arizona, and it is always a good meal.

For dinner I don’t recall what our friend Randy had, but as you can see it was served on French fries, with rice and a lettuce and tomato salad and steamed corn tortillas.

His wife Debby had shrimp in garlic sauce.

Ann had the shrimp in oyster sauce.

While I had the fish in garlic sauce.

We all enjoyed our meal and the conversation that went with it.  However, at the end of the mean Ann and I were a little embarrassed as we invited our friends out to dinner, but didn’t realize until we were at the restaurant, that it was cash only, and neither of us had hit an ATM for quite some time, and didn’t have enough cash to pay for the meal. But friends being friends, Randy and Debby paid for the meal, which means we still owe then, so we will have to stop by there house again while we are in Arizona, and take them out to dinner.

Wednesday December 6

Wednesday morning while Ann was working, and I was killing time on the computer, our friends stopped by our motorhome to ask if we needed anything at the store as they were going to Basha’s, which has a 10% senior citizen discount on Wednesday.  When they returned they invited us over to their motorhome for dinner of rotisserie chicken, salad, and asparagus. As usual it was all delicious and the conversation to always great too.  Sorry, no pic of the food this time.  L  About eight or so, we called it a night as Ann was still not back to 100% and Randy and Debby were a little under the weather as well.

Thursday December 7

Thursday was another long day for Ann, not getting done with her work until 4:00 PM Iowa time.   I had been checking the weather again, and it was got to get pretty chilly in Tucson, with some weather reports predicting and hard freeze, so the decision was made to head west after Ann got dome working.  We thought about only going to Gila Bend, and then on to Yuma on Friday, but with the predicted over night temps in Gila Bend being about the same as in Tucson, we decided to make it to Yuma. It is only about 225 miles from Tucson to Yuma, so not a bad drive.  Heading out of Tucson, we stopped at the Iron Skillet Restaurant at the Petro truck stop, near Eloy, AZ to enjoy their buffet, which we had done a few years ago on our way through.

Here is Ann’s dish.

And mine.  Obviously, I was hungrier than she.  J

After eating and filling the motorhome up with gas we headed to Yuma, getting to the BLM land next to the VFW north of Yuma about 9:00 PM Arizona time. Actually, this is the VFW I belong to.  I joined it two years ago, so when we stayed in the adjacent BLM land we could go there for an adult beverage, and some food.  BTW, it was December 3 of last year that started out at the VFW, and ended with Ann tearing her ACL. L  It has pretty much healed now, but she still does some PT.

Friday December 8

Today started out with Ann working again, but after she was finished, she took the laundry to town, while I got the motorhome ready to travel to the Quechen Casino close to Algodonnes, MX. Tomorrow is a “Welcome back Snowbirds” party in Algodonnes and looks like a good time.  For those who don’t know, Algodonnes, MX is a place right across the border where thousands of Americans and Canadians go each winter while there are in the area to buy prescription drugs, eye glasses, and have dental work done, at prices a lot cheaper than in the USA.  For example, an asthma inhaler in the USA that costs about $75.00, in Algodonnes can be purchased for three for $5.00.

Saturday December 9

 Well, that pretty much brings us up to date with our travels and adventures.  I was going to publish this blog last night, but all the pictures that I had used while typing the blog in "Word" did not transfer to "blogger" which we use to publish the blog, so I have spent the last couple of hours redoing the pics in the blog, and with very slow internet, I have omitted some I planned to use.  Maybe more pics in the next installment.

One last note about all the food pictures, that seems pretty common amongst RV bloggers.  One blogger I follow used to call his blog simply “Our RV Adventures”, but after several people mentioned all the food pictures on his blog, he changed his blog to “Our RV Adventures, or eating our way across the USA”  Seems fitting!

Later all

Paul

Blessings and Stability

After so many days in a row driving, it’s really nice to stay put in one place for a bit. We spent last week parked at Diamond Jack’s casino in Bossier City, a suburb to Shreveport.

I mentioned in my last post that we were near a train, fire station and Barksdale Air Force Base.  I’m pleased to report we heard no air traffic from Barksdale.  We’re sort of used to other noises now but won’t miss them when we’re gone. Being able to look into your neighbor’s windows isn’t preferable either.

When we originally made reservations here they only had a site open Sunday through Wednesday, so we would have to vacate by checkout time on Thanksgiving. We went ahead and kept the reservation and hoped for a cancellation.

On Monday we went to Walmart and bought groceries for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was entertaining just listening to people in the aisles talk. My (Ann) unscientific observations concluded that about 1/3 of the shoppers spoke the deep Weezianna accent. I secretly wanted to follow them around and listen to them pronounce things and talk, but that’s Grade A stalker behavior which is generally frowned upon, even in a Walmart. Louisisana tv stations must import the weather people, none of them have accents although some of the onsite reporters did.

We go on short walks around the huge parking lot for exercise and are working on stamina and distance. One of the puzzling things about the Diamond Jack’s RV park is why they have perfectly good benches facing the berm. Perhaps watching grass grow really is something people do.













We opted to visit the casino and buffet Wednesday night. Neither were enjoyable but it got me out of cooking.  They have a giant hotel but I can’t imagine it gets a lot of use based on our experience.









We checked daily with the super nice RV park employee, Laura, in hopes of a site cancellation. Sadly none became available and we timed the cooking of our Thanksgiving meal so that we could eat before we had to hookup and leave.

On Thanksgiving, the RV Park was nearly empty. We decided that we’d finish cooking, eat and cleanup before we pulled out even though we’d be in the spot after checkout time.  If someone showed up for our spot, we’d speed it up. It just didn’t make sense that the park was going to magically fill up on Thanksgiving with at least 15 spots open.

I roasted a small turkey breast and made the normal sides. After we finished eating and started doing up the dishes, the RV park attendant Dee (Laura was off that day) was nice enough to come over and let us know she’d made some calls and we didn’t have to leave on Thanksgiving after all.  We are thankful for her efforts and took her a piece of key lime pie to show appreciation.  As a positive, we got the dishes done immediately after eating so I had the entire rest of the day to do nothing.  And do nothing we did other than the daily walk and watching football all day. ☺ Unfortunately we didn’t do any sightseeing or go out to eat for fresh Cajun or seafood during our time there. Perhaps someday we’ll have another opportunity.

On Friday, we decided it was time to head west over the weekend and to do some maintenance things before we left.  In the afternoon when it was safe to travel outside after the black Friday hours were over we went back to Walmart and decided to improve our living conditions with a new toilet contour rug and toilet seat.  We like the cushy seats but not when the seat cover breaks and there is risk of poking or injury.  I also washed and repaired one of our big windshield curtains.

Saturday we hit the road about 9 a.m. which is early for us. We decided to go to the Houston area and enjoy the warm weather they’re having.  We researched a cheap rv park outside the SW corner of the metro area that works for us.  A few miles out of Bossier City is a Flying J with a Dennys.  Breakfast is always good on a travel day and the gas was reasonable to top off the tank with.  We saw the Dennys sign on the interstate but it was a little deceiving to actually get to from outside.














 Once we crossed from Louisiana into Texas the road quality improved dramatically.  We’re not fans of how they design interstate travel here with the weird u turn lanes under bridges and bizarre access points, but the side roads we took were scenic and smooth.  In this picture the right lane appears to be 3 layers deep and smoother than the left lane.  Since the right lane takes the most abuse, I think this is a good idea.

 

Riverbend RV park (http://www.riverbendrvpark.cc/) is mostly full of permanent residents in various forms of campers.  It’s basically a giant field of rv spots in the country just like the picture on their website. There’s no pool, trees, or paved spots. You know what it does have?  Quiet, strong wifi, and 70+ over the air channels. Did it mention it was cheap? The other parks in the general vicinity are all $50-$60 a night. Forget that.

It’s warm here this week, unseasonable temps that the newscasters complain about every night. We are happy to have it and the A/C works great in the living part of the coach.  I had put the flannel sheets on our bed before we left Iowa, those may need to come off with overnight temps in the mid-to-upper 50s. Not sure how long we’ll stay here, but our reservations run till Saturday. I imagine we’ll decide Friday night.

Well, that’s all I have to say about this week.  I hope to write these updates on Sunday evenings going forward, but don’t hold your breath.  Love and blessings to all our friends and family.
Ann

We're Not the Jet Set, Although You Can't Tell by Destinations in Our First 5 Days

Paul says this is our 9th winter snowbirding. Where has the time gone?  All the years go by so quickly anymore.

Greetings to everyone!  I know we haven't used this blog for a few years but I think I'll try posting on here this year to keep folks abreast of goings on.  Maybe we'll have exciting things to write about, maybe it will be the same ol', same ol. I don't know but I have hope.

Wednesday, 11/15-Nevada
We left Des Moines amid breezy and chilly temps. And none too soon, either of us will tell you. Our lease ends on 11/1 and our campground let's us stay 2 weeks after at a rate of $16+ a day.  Not including electricity or the $5 a day in propane we were using in the indoor fireplace.

We got on the road about 4 p.m. and wanted to make a fair distance so that it would be warmer at night. We finally stopped for the night in Nevada. At the Walmart. 

We took a scenic route out of Kansas City aiming for Joplin and we stopped when we felt like it at Nevada. Not sure if it's pronounced Ne-VAD-ah like the state or Ne-VAY-da like the town in Iowa. Regardless, Highway 71 was in great shape and it made for easy driving, even though it was dark.

Our electric blanket runs off the inverter and boy were we thankful for its warmth. It was 52 degrees in the coach when I got up for work on Thursday.

Thursday, 11/16, to Saturday, 11/18/17-Miami
 I work during the day so we try to stay put and leave after work.  Makes for driving in the dark, but we were still on a tear to get toward warmer weather. We found a great state park near Miami, Oklahoma, that had cheap rates and we were in want of electricity for the chilly night ahead. 

As we got closer to the park, our Verizon signal deteriorated significantly.  At the point of bouncing between 3G and 1x we decided it wouldn't work and turned around and came back to Miami.  We found a small Indian casino with 5 RV spots that had an opening so we beelined for it as fast as the red lights would let us.

Quapaw Casino (https://www.quapawcasino.com) offers 3 nights of free camping and $10/night after the 3 days.  We knew we wanted to keep moving south over the weekend, so we signed up for the 3 days and enjoyed electric heat for the overnight.

Of course we did our part to keep the casino in business, so the "free" camping was the expected ruse.  Friday night was super warm and we loved it. It was 76 degrees at 8 pm!!!!  Sadly, there was a cold front coming through on Saturday morning and we knew we were not south enough.

Saturday, 11/18/17-Miami to Paris
As expected Saturday morning was too windy to drive with sustained winds of 20-30 and 40mph gusts along with rain.  So we packed everything up, hooked up the towed, and watched the last Xfinity race of the year (from Miami, no less!) till we could travel. We did go back to the casino for breakfast, but no slot action this time.

Saturday afternoon was beautiful, dry and cooler. We knew we needed to be stable to watch the last Nascar Cup race on Sunday so we planned on another night of driving in unfamiliar territory in the dark.

It was a good thing it was dark. The roads were terrible quality and it was slow going. On the turnpike. With tolls. That required cash.  It was not an enjoyable night's travel and Oklahoma, here's your notice: If you're going to have pay roads, they better be in good shape. You're officially on the &#*! list.

We rolled into a Paris Walmart about 11 pm, dodged carts in the parking lot and found a nice curb to cozy up to and sleep.  Seriously people, but your carts back in the corrals. Yes you do need the extra walk. This Walmart had a huge lot and we were in the boonies and there were still carts in the far corners. 

There's a duet between John Prine and Iris Dement on his album In Spite of Ourselves that's titled "We're Not the Jet Set" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsyHo8iUsjE) to which we give a nod of reverence in the title of the post.  The song mentions Paris, so I really wanted to go through there.  The Paris mentioned in the lyrics is Paris, TN, but what's one letter in the abbreviation, right?

Sunday, 11/18-Shreveport
This morning we moved pretty quickly to get on the road so we could get to Shreveport, Weezianna, during the daylight and in time to watch the last Nascar Cup race of the year. We came very close to things working out as planned, but missed it by a smidge.

The weather today was beautiful and the sun was shining and we drove on good roads through beautiful east Texas countryside.  We stopped in Mt. Pleasant, TX, for Ihop but otherwise kept a steady pace. 

This is my first time to Weezianna, and I tried very hard not to be all judgmental and compare people to those in the Adam Sandler movie, Waterboy, one of my favorites. I tried really hard. I swear.  Mt. Pleasant was a hodge-podge of Texans and mis-placed Cajuns. As a result of the missing teeth, bib overalls, uncombed hair and clearly Cajun accents, I failed. I do apologize.

Why are we in Weezianna?  Because we can!  It's someplace different and there are new adventures to be had.  We may not stay very long or we may stay a few weeks, time will tell, but not tonight.

But I digress. Paul found a great little park in Oil City, LA, 20 miles north of Shreveport that had electric for $12/night.  Perfect!  It would be quiet being out of town on a lake and the Verizon signal was good.  We pulled in, grabbed a reservation slip and went to find a spot. (Insert failure sound effect here)  Buckets!!! It was full and not a site to be had and it was t-minus 30 minutes till the green flag.

So we headed down the road toward Shreveport and a place to lay over and watch the race.  We found a strange little truckstop not 3 miles down the road that had large open drive through spots open for us to layover and we were close enough to Shreveport that we could pick up the race on our over the air antenna.

While we watched the race, we identified a couple of candidates to stay at for the week till we decide next steps.  The RV park closest to us wanted $200 a week cash for 50 amp service. No thanks!!!!  So we found another casino campground that was more reasonable and has full hookups.  And interstate noise. And train noise. And emergency vehicle sirens. Last, but certainly not least, it's near Barksdale, AFB, so trying to work this week may be interesting too. 

So friends and family, I hope you enjoy reading this post and I will try to update it from time to time so you can read along with our adventures.

Ann