Lucille's Road Trip - Day 5 (3/31/2014) Bartelsville, OK to Mountain View, MO

Monday.  Well, we're getting there.  On this trip, all the "excellent adventures" are inside the RV. Thanks to Paul, my earlier blogs now have pictures posted.  And today I took a few with my camera so I could add them myself.

We drove 291 miles on Sunday, but we got off the road about 4:30.  After last night's shower, laundry, and dinner at Golden Corral, she played a few hands of solitaire while we watched TV, but we all went to bed fairly early.  We did work in about a half-hour of outside time while we waited for the laundry to dry.  Joe got the lawn chairs out and set them up right in front of the laundry trailer, and we had a nice breeze.  We were all tired by the end of the day, but Lucille probably had her best night's sleep of the trip so far, I think she only woke up once, and that was about 4:00 a.m.

 And we all slept in till almost 8:30, when she got up and started "doubling up" her bedding.  Guess that meant it was time to get up and on the move.  Her mantra has been "on the road again."  We de-camped about 9:30 and found a McDonalds.  Joe and I went in and got breakfast to go, then we sat on their parking lot and ate. 

We thought we would try her riding at the dinette table to give her a break from the front seat, and give her some different pressure points.  But she thought she "swayed too much" at the table, so Joe pulled over and we moved her back to the co-pilot's seat.  We are seeing a few daffodils and little purple flowers blooming along our route now.  It's still pretty windy, hope Missouri is a little calmer.  At our next stop, Lucille decided to try out the blue recliner, and that's where she stayed the rest of the day.  The first time Joe tried to get her buckled up, he turned the seat and the buckle does not turn with the chair ,so it was getting tight across her belly.  She hollered a bit until he readjusted the seat belt.  She said it was a comfortable chair, and I think she even dozed off a few times.  She hasn't been getting any naps in in the front seat -- she's too busy keeping Joe in line, driving straight, not too fast or not too slow, and keeping him awake. 

Joe discovered that a crack had developed from a "star" in the front windshield overnight, but he hopes to wait until we get back in Arizona before he has to deal with that.  We had plenty of windshield issues on last year's trip, so I'm sure the insurance company will be thrilled to hear from us again.

One sight today was Twin Bridges State Park on the Grand Lake of the Cherokees.  Looked like a nice campground.  I had seen that state park in my camping book but you never know what facilities they might have.  But it looked really nice, and there was a casino just down from it

We passed a couple more nice casinos with campgrounds just before we crossed the state line in Missouri.  But that would have been another hour or so driving yesterday to get over to here, and that was probably too far.  We crossed the Missouri state line about 12:20, and made a 45 minute stop on a Lowe's parking lot to have lunch in the RV in Monett, Missouri.

We made it to mid-Missouri today, 280 miles (but 10 miles of that was backtracking because we missed our campground and decided to drive on into town to fuel up).  We actually had stayed at this campground a few years ago, when it was 114 in Springfield, Missouri.  We were on our way to Branson for the first time during their record-setting heat wave, maybe 2011.

Since I finally got the front seat, I spotted some wildlife -- a wild turkey (along with some roadkill).  As we entered one town, there was a one of those yellow "crossing" signs with a horse and buggy picture.  So I got my camera ready just in case we saw one.  And sure enough, one was coming right alongside the road beside us, but I guess I'm rusty on my camera moves because I missed the picture.  I even tried to take a picture of the sign and I missed that too.  

We ran into a few sprinkles today, and it was cloudy about all day, still very windy.  But once we set up camp, the sun came through so we got to sit outside for a few minutes until it got too cool.  We had a light supper, and she played cards for a while, Joe watched TV, and I worked on this blog.  We are definitely getting closer!

Lucille's Road Trip - Day 4 (3/30/2014) Canadian, TX to Bartlesville, OK

Sunday.  We did have a better night again, although Lucille had to get up a couple times during the night for the bathroom.  But when she woke up this morning about 7:30, she thought the ladies from the church were coming and she had to get things ready for them.  She has vivid dreams.  We had breakfast and left the campground about 9:30,  heading east.  We left Texas behind at 10:05 and started across Oklahoma.  Oklahoma was very, very windy.  Joe had to hang on to the steering wheel all day, so he was really tired by the time we stopped.

We saw a lot of burned out fields, we don't know if they were control fires, fields being burned for new growth, or something else.  We also saw lots of cattle again today.  We wanted to get off the road a little earlier tonight so our destination was Bartlesville, OK.  We got there about 4:30, got set up, then went down to use the campground shower for Lucille and the laundry next door.  I did learn that I have been remiss in my training of my husband of 45 years.  I asked him to start the laundry while I helped Lucille with her shower.  He said he didn't know how to do that, so I told him just to put the white and lights together, and the darks in the other washer.  He asked about the towels and I told him he could put them in either one.  When I went to help put them in the dryer, he had a red shirt in with the whites.  I casually mentioned that I wouldn't consider that "whites and lights."  Then I got white socks out of the washer with the jeans.  So I said "I consider these whites and lights."  He replied, "no, these socks are heavy, not light."   I forgot to mention I was sorting by color, not weight.  Oh well, live and learn.  I did call Tiffany and tell her to make sure she trains Cody a little better than I did her dad.

After our chores, we found a Golden Corral in town and had a nice dinner with salad and vegetables, which Joe thought we all needed.  We got back to the camper and settled in for the night.  Lucille played solitaire for a while, and Joe watched TV.  It is still breezy outside but no longer gale force winds.  I think it was in the 70s here today, so we are very curious about the weather for the rest of the trip.

Lucille's Road Trip - Day 3(3/29/2014) Fort Sumner, NM to Canadian, OK

Saturday.  We had a better night last night sleeping than the first night, so we all feel a little better today.  The dinette bed worked better than the sofa, and Lucille only woke up once during the night.  So after breakfast and getting things put away, we de-camped, fueled and were on the road by 9:55, a little better than yesterday.  It was 39 when I got up, 57 when we got on the road, another clear, sunny day but we have a little wind again.  We have seen a couple windmill farms, so I know the wind blows here about all the time.  We met several semis hauling replacement parts including the blades which are very long. We crossed the Texas state line at 11:11, and we lost another hour to time zones.  We are now in cattle country, and we have been passing huge feedlots (one was Cargill).    Lucille didn't think the scenery changed much at the state line.  Gas was 20 cents cheaper coming across Texas, especially around Amarillo, than it was where we fueled.  We paid $3.499 but were seeing it at $3.299 until it was time for us to fuel again, then of course, it was back up.  We finally got into some farming country but Lucille wasn't too interested.  She did like seeing a tractor every once in a while. 

It is obvious that Lucille is not a veteran camper or water conservationist.  She doesn't know about turning off the water when you brush your teeth, etc., but we decided not to confuse her with any more things so we just cringe when we hear the water running.  We had lunch on the road, as we came into Amarillo, just deli chicken, crackers, cheese, and chips.  Unfortunately, it was all about the same color so Lucille had a hard time distinguishing between the different items.  She was in charge of fixing Joe's sandwiches, and he never knew what he was going to get.  He was hoping for chicken on cracker, maybe with a little cheese slice, but sometimes he just got chicken on a potato chip.  He said that was different but tasted pretty good.

We drove 273 miles today.  We stopped for the night in Canadian, Texas, right by the Canadian River.  I'll have to ask Marilyn and Collins if that counts for a trip to Canada.  Wasn't much of a campground, but it did have full hook-ups which is what we were looking for.  Actually, Canadian wasn't much of a town.  We ended up at Pizza Hut, but it was mediocre at best.

I'm having trouble posting pictures so I'm not doing them until we (Cathy and Paul) get it figured out for me.

Lucille's Road Trip - Day 2 (3/28/2014) Eager AZ to Fort Sumner, NM

Friday.  We still aren't getting very early starts, but we were fed and fueled and on the road by 10:25.  By that time, it was 61 degrees, clear, blue skies, no wind initially but we picked up wind later int he day.  Joe got his mother out of the RV this morning and she had a brief walk before she took her co-pilot position with her moose. 

We crossed into New Mexico pretty quickly and headed across the vastness of New Mexico.  We stopped in Socorro for lunch, at Denny's of all places because that's the only place we could find to park.  By the time we drove around, and turned around, got parked and ate, almost 2 hours had  gone by.  But Joe was in the driving zone today, so he just kept at it.  We made it all the way to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, 344 miles.  It was 6:40 by the time we stopped (we had lost an hour in time zones today)..  We stayed at Valley View RV Park, a little campground right on U.S. 60, got hooked up to electricity, then drove across the road to Fred's Restaurant for dinner. 

It was a nice evening, we were at an elevation of 4017.  We passed miles and miles of desert today, with just scrub brush.  Joe spotted a dead antelope along the side of the road, and shortly after that we saw a small herd of about a dozen pronghorn.  This is pretty desolate country, and Lucille keeps watching for crops in the fields.  We did finally begin to see some cattle, but the only green we saw was around Socorro where the Rio Grande River crosses.  We also crossed the Pecos River today, and it had some water running in it.

I'm not in a very good picture-taking position this trip, but so far there hasn't been too much to see.  We did spot some smoke today just before we turned off of I-25, but we didn't hear what was burning.

We didn't watch much TV tonight, by the time we got back from dinner we were all tired enough to call it a day.  We fixed the dinette into a bed for Lucille and hope tonight goes better than last night.  We can tell her knees get weak from sitting all day, so we probably need to try to do a little more walking during the course of the day.  This is a learning experience for all of us, but we are well on our way.  We've come 554 miles in 2 days so Indiana better be finding SPRING!!!

Lucille's Road Trip - Day 1 (3/27/2014) Mesa to Eager, AZ

Thursday.  Finally, the day has come for us to head to Vincennes.  Lucille is READY! We still had a few things to do, so it was 10:25 before we actually loaded up and headed out our bumpy, dirt road for the last time.

It was a beautiful morning, 61 degrees, sunny and calm.  We had plans to meet up with Dave and Mazie at the casino in Payson to give them the pecans we had picked up for them, so that was our first destination.  We had a few flies traveling with us, and Lucille was in charge of the fly swatter.  But when Joe asked for it to swat one on his window, she wouldn't give it to him  because he was driving.  Joe handed her one of our traveling zoo animals (moose) to hold while she rode, so she babysat the moose all day (that kept her from holding on to the seat belt).

We got to Payson right at noon, visited with the Johnsons for a while, had lunch, and I won $20.37.  We had an issue going up the mountains, steam coming out of the vent from the new auxiliary heater that Joe had replaced, so he had to do a little maintenance on the casino parking lot. One of the heater hoses was dripping around the clamp, so he tightened up all the clamps and thought he had it fixed, but as the day continued, he thought we were still having problems so when we stopped at Eager, Arizona (Bear Paw Campground) for the night, he investigated further and found that he had somehow missed putting one clamp back on.  So he got that fixed, and hopefully we are good to go tomorrow.

Lucille finally got to move out of the co-pilot's seat when we got to the campground, and I thought she would probably like something familiar, so I got out her solitaire cards and she played a few games while Joe did his maintenance and I got our meal on the table.

After our pretty full lunch at the casino, we just had a light dinner in the RV (tomato soup, ham salad, beets and pickles.
 

Then we watched TV for a while.

She thought maybe she could wash the dishes, so instead I told her she could sit at the table and I would put the clean dishes in front of her and she could dry them.   She was ready to go to bed by 7:00 but she managed to stay up until about 8:30.

We watched her favorite TV shows, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, then we got her settled in the made-out couch.

But it was a rough night.  She went to sleep pretty good but after the first bathroom trip (11:30), she had trouble getting settled.  I got up once when I saw her remaking her bed.  Then, the next time, she was sitting on the side of the bed, so I got up again.  She had turned over and saw the little orange light on the heater we had put up front, and thought there was a fire, or at least that it was a flame.  Finally, I switched places with her so Joe got her for the rest of the night.  But that made-out sofa is not very comfortable, so we have a new plan for Friday night -- we are going to try her on the sofa without making it out.  We have one other option, we can make out the dinette, so we will see if that becomes necessary. Our bed is too high for her so we are trying to figure out an alternative to giving up our bed to her.

As far as the drive itself, she worries about a lot of things. In addition to helping Joe drive, she thinks she needs to keep talking to him to keep him awake.  She's not fond of driving on curvy roads, or through mountains, and she wasn't too impressed with the burn-out area of the Rodeo-Chedeski forest fire of 2002, where regrowth is beginning to make a difference.  Among other things she found to complain about.  LOL. All of us who know her well know she likes to complain.  I guess when you almost 98, that's your right. 

We got off the road at 4:45 (she was ready to end the day a couple hours before that).  We drove 192 miles, but are still in Arizona.

She was up by 7:00 a.m. but Joe wasn't ready to give up his warm spot in bed just yet.  It was 30 degrees up here in the mountains this morning, we are at an elevation of 7078.We will probably stay somewhere in New Mexico Friday night.

We are taking our pictures from our Smart Phones rather than the camera and I haven't figured out a good way to upload them to the blog, so for this first issue, I've just emailed them to myself, then copied and pasted them into this blog.  I don't know how well they will come through, and I hope, with Cathy's help, to figure out a better and more efficient way of posting the pictures.