Monday, January 25, 2016

Going West…at last!


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After 4 days of sitting with Mom in the hospital, we leave early Friday morning, January 8th, 2016.  Mom’s recovering nicely from her surgery and we can get on the road, guiltfree.
We leave our Chattanooga home and hope to make Meridian, Mississippi before dark.  There’s a little RV park, a Passport America, that’s 16 dollars with full hookups including cable. We watch tv for the first time in our new to us Escape.  Dinner is leftovers.  

It is raining as we leave the next morning. I’m thinking that we will have a wet day, all day. We head for Jackson and turn south toward the Gulf.  The misty precip disappears, the sun comes out, and by the time we hit I-12 it is a sticky, muggy 72 degrees and I’m wanting to turn on the a/c.
I have picked Beaumont, TX as our destination for the night. It is a totally insane plan, for us, as it is over 400 miles!   Around 4 PM we give up and pull into a casino in Lake Charles. It is leftovers, again, after we take a great shower!  The next morning we treat ourselves to a loaded breakfast buffet at the casino hotel before hitting the road.


San Antonio is the destination for day 3 and, luckily, we have a driveway waiting on us.  It is great to catch up with friends and spend time in a real livingroom!
Last year we ducked into Fort Stockton RV Park as we were running from a icestorm. The park has a little cafe, the Roadrunner, that serves up some great home cooking.
All the leftovers are gone and if we don’t make it to the Roadrunner Cafe, it will be peanut butter sandwiches!
We make it! It is fried catfish and mash potatoes for dinner. And another night with cable TV!  If it sounds like this is making a big deal out of the cable, consider we have less than 10 channels on our home TV.

Deming, New Mexico is our next place to sleep.  It’s over 300 miles away but not too bad of a drive.  The Deming Road Runner RV Park charges us $13.50 for full hookups with the Passport America membership.  Not the nicest place but just fine for the price. Another night with cable and a makeshift meal of roasted chicken from the Las Cruces Walmart.

After 6 long days of travel, it is time to be back in nature.  We celebrate our Arizona arrival with a night at Gilbert Ray campground in the Tucson Mountain Park. The park is beautiful and it is WARM! …. Shorts and tee shirt warm until the sun goes down!

After a short visit with the relatives in Phoenix, we head west to Quartzsite where many of our buddies were already having a great time.
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Been missing those spectacular sunsets for a year.  Now we are back in this magical and weird place.
We have a surprise waiting on us. Two of our close friends, the ones who had sold us their Escape, are planning to marry the next morning! It is party in the desert time!
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So this is how we spend the week.  Shopping, eating, visiting…enjoying winter in the desert.
Bloggerfest is tomorrow…hope to see some of you there……..

14 comments:

  1. Fun! Love the new header photo. Oy - I remember that awful Ft. Stockton experience last year.

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    1. Missing you out here! Hoping you have a fun trip!

      It was wonderful not to worry about snow and ice this time around.

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  2. It was great to meet you guys glad you could make it.

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    1. Likewise and thanks so much for your time and work!

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  3. Love the sunset. We're in Organ Pipe. 3G and cell service. Met the Vancouver folks again. Big hike tomorrow. Will be thinking of you and David on Tuesday.

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    1. Wish we were there instead of here but there will be another time. Hope the beautiful weather continues.

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  4. Nice recap of your trip West...Sure do love the Sunset photos! Appears all enjoyed "Bloggerfest".....BTW, Is this the start of your "Full-time" Journey? Safe Travels...I'm enjoying tagging along...still on "Med.s" and Kleenex.. :)) Horst sends

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    1. No to the fulltiming but we do hope to spend several months enjoying the warm Arizona breezes.
      Take care of yourself!!!

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  5. I love that truck you bought, like seeing the photos of it. Since I have only looked at the Escape and Casita, I was curious what differences you have noticed between the two? I really like the Escape trailers.

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  6. Hey, Steve. Our Casita was a 16 foot so we have increased the space by 3 feet which has made a world of difference in our comfort. The 16 foot did fine before we started traveling with our cat, Sylvester. But the little guy took up too much room with kitty litter, food and water bowls, scratching pad, and cat bed.

    The two big differences are the queen bed..before we had less than a full size and the table which seats 4 people. The pull up trays in the kitchen are also helpful when preparing food. And we now have a gas furnace which is being used frequently in the cold desert mornings. Hope this is helpful!

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  7. We were sorry that we could not make in to the Bloggerfest this year. Jim was still not mobile with the Achilles so we didn't go. Gayle mentioned that you had been to Phoenix. Have you been back? Are things good? My email is allisonmohr at yahoo dot com - I would love to hear from you.

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    1. Hey Allison. David's procedure was 4 days ago and he is still in rhythm. I'll send you an email.

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