Socorro, New Mexico to Clinton, Oklahoma - Day 2 (April 4)

We didn't sleep too well, and both of us woke up about 4:30 a.m. cold because we forgot to turn the furnace on.  (Who thinks about the furnace in April when you live in the desert??)  And Joe needed a pain pill. But we got back to sleep for a while.  The top of his cast was rubbing again his other leg, making it sore, so  we walked(?) over to Walmart to get a headband for him to try on his leg, and some AAA batteries for the thermometer we keep on the dash so we know what the outside temperature is.  Then, we had to wash the bugs off the windshield, Joe on his knee-walker, and me assisting.

Then we shut down the RV and hit the road for Day 2.  He has been trying to use crutches, at least to maneuver through the RV, but he is an accident waiting to happen on them.  He almost fell 2-3 times, so after we finished washing the windshield, I set the knee-walker inside the RV.  It's tight going down the hall to the bathroom (works better if we put the front slide out a little), but it is safer for him.

We pulled out of Walmart at 9:15 a.m. (having lost an hour due to time zone).  Another sunny, windy day.  Temperature was 42 when we got up, but warmed up to the 50s and 60s as we headed east.  We saw our first wildlife today, in New Mexico.  First a hawk, then several groups of pronghorn antelope.  We saw a total of 37 antelope, in 5 different herds.

Parts of New Mexico are very colorful, very pretty.  I haven't been taking many pictures since we have traveled these roads before, but I did try to capture some of the colors in the canyons and rocks.

We stayed with U.S. 60 to Vaughn, NM, then took U.S. 54 to Santa Rosa, where we picked up I-40.  We took a 45-minute lunch break in Santa Rosa, at a little Mexican cafe but were on I-40 at 1:00 p.m.  We crossed the Texas state line at 3:40 (we lost another hour to time zone here).  I drove about an hour, 61 miles, including driving through Amarillo which wasn't fun.  Gas was a little cheaper, $2.13 in Amarillo.  Jeff and Brenda are always looking for a good windmill, and we found one for them, right before the Texas state line.  Since we are fully loaded, they will have to drive over to get it.

Coming into Amarillo, we passed the Cadillacs that are partly buried in the dirt, and on the other side of Amarillo at Groom, Texas is the beautiful "Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

"Ten million people pass by every year. One thousand stop each day. This 190 foot tall free standing Cross can be seen from twenty miles away."

We have never stopped at this cross, and this wasn't the year to do it, but it's something we want to do in the future. It is really a beautiful sight.

One nice surprise was that the lilacs are in bloom in East Texas.  We pulled off for a bathroom break for Joe, and there were lilac bushes blooming on the other side of the highway.  I walked back to the dinette to get a picture from that side of the motorhome, I had it all sighted in, and just as I clicked the camera, a semi went by.  I had to laugh at that. So I got a wonderful picture of a YRC semi trailer.  But I did get a picture of the lilacs too, although they don't show up very good.

We kept plugging along, and crossed into Oklahoma at 6:50.  Joe just kept driving, and we didn't get off the road until 9:15, traveling 508 miles today.  We ended up in Clinton, OK for the night, on a casino parking lot.  I, of course, had to check out the casino, leaving Joe alone in the RV.  But I had a good night, walked away $170 to the good.  The wind was bad all day.  Joe remarked once that he was going around a left-hand corner turning the steering wheel right.  Makes it hard driving, especially for a rookie like me.  But, DAY 2 WITH NO DISASTERS!

2015 - Getting Ready to Travel and Day 1

Joe has spent weeks (3-4) polishing and buffing the motorhome to get it ready for our spring trip.  While I was busy loading the inside, he just kept polishing and buffing, going over the same thing time and again because he thought he had figured out the buffer.

He even drafted me into helping with the scrubbing!

 It does look much better, he was able to "de-oxidize" it, especially the purple, and he worked really hard on it.  Our planned departure date was Sunday, March 29, a couple days later than I had hoped, but that was as soon as he thought he could be ready (because he had spent the last 3-4 weeks polishing and buffing!).

His mother flew back to Indiana on Wednesday, March 25, along with her granddaughter Lori and her friend Ara, so I was really in the "get out of town" mode.  However, calamity befell -- on Friday Joe fell off the ladder with about one hour's work left of his polishing and buffing.  He scraped his right leg pretty good, and thought he probably bruised his left foot.  So I cleaned up the blood and he went back to his tried and true remedy -- soaking the foot in ice water.

He rested for about an hour, then got back up on the ladder and finished polishing and buffing!  So, no, we didn't go to the emergency room, we waited until the next day, Saturday, and when he got up, his left foot was badly swollen.  Then we went to Urgent Care

 where they xrayed it and informed him he had two broken bones in his foot -- the 5th metatarsal and the tip of his fibula.  The Urgent Care doctor told him to see his orthopedic surgeon asap (fortunately, he has an orthopedic surgeon).  But we couldn't get anything done until Monday, at which time they put him in a Jones compression splint and told him to come back Friday, when the swelling would hopefully be down, and then he could cast it.  So that's what we did.  No leaving town on Sunday, or Monday, etc.  Friday, they removed the splint, and re-xrayed it.  It was badly bruised, but the swelling had gone down, so they put him in a hard, non-weight bearing cast, told him to see a doctor in Indiana in 3 weeks, and we were good to go!

The one bright spot was that we stayed home late enough for our Easter Cactus to begin blooming, and it has such beautiful blooms that we hate to miss them.  And they bloomed right on time, 3 days before Easter.

So we got home from the doctor's office, finished our last minute loading, hooked up the car, and were ready to hit the road by 12:15 on Friday.  It was a pitiful sight to see Joe's knee-walker right beside the steps to the RV, but that's what he's back to using. 

BUT, the RV looks great!

So we headed out of town, grabbed sandwiches in Payson and continued driving - well, Joe continued driving.  It was a nice day, but windy.  We had considered all sorts of different routes to take to Indiana, but once we got delayed, and Joe became somewhat incapacitated, we decided on the most direct route, so we took Hwy. 87 to Payson, then Hwy. 260 to Show Low, where we picked up U.S. 60 and stayed with it to Socorro, NM.  We just stayed on the Walmart parking lot in Socorro because we didn't need any hook-ups (which I would have had to do), and we didn't get off the road until dark, 8:00 p.m. AZ time, 9:00 p.m. NM time.  I had called ahead to make sure that was ok, so we knew where we were heading.  We fueled in Socorro for $2.29/gallon.  I drove for an hour and 40 minutes (believe me, I was watching the clock) through Springerville, across the state line into New Mexico, while Joe rested his foot and got in a little nap.  There was snow on the north side of the mountains south of Springerville/Eager.  We drove 360 miles today (Joe drove most of them) but we ended Day 1 WITH NO DISASTERS.

Final Post to Indiana trip (5/6/14)

Tuesday.  Some welcome sights at home -- the saguaros are just starting to bloom, so we were glad they waited on our return.

Windy today, and lots of dust in the air, but the temperature climbed into high 80s then dropped below 80 when the clouds moved in.  I thought for sure I would miss my Easter cactus blooming, but it looks like those blooms will pop in the next day or so.  (They actually opened up Wednesday morning, when I went out to take my final pictures).

And we have another cactus just about ready to bloom.  May is a very lovely time of the year out here.

The back patio looks pretty empty without Lucille sitting out here, so tomorrow we'll have to get the swing back out and the cushions back on the glider.

And we still have all the baby cows.  I took lots of pictures of them this evening so I hope Lucille can see some of them.  I don't know if they will still be here when she gets back here on the 17th -- the owner is supposed to move them up into the mountains into cooler weather for the summer.

I think if you click on the picture, you should be able to enlarge it.

We went to dinner tonight with Jeff and Brenda.  It was fun catching up on all the news with them, and we even saw a coyote on our way home from their house.  

We bought 566.22 gallons of gas on this trip, which averaged about 6.8 mph, for a total cost of $1.863.96.  Looks like we will be staying home for a while!

This concludes the 2014 Spring Trip to Indiana Blog.  We have no definite plans for our next trip, so I will happily sign off the blog for a while and get busy getting ready for Lucille and Dixie's return on the 17th, then John, Bridgette and Andrew's arrival on the 21st, then Cody's graduation on the 22nd, then Andrew's first birthday party on the 24th (a month early), and Cody's graduation party on the 25th.  After that, you can probably find both of us in some mental hospital.  Busy days ahead.

Monday, Arriving Home (5/5/14)

Monday.  We got up on Arizona time, even though we were 20 miles or so from the Arizona border, and we only gained one hour yesterday.  But I was anxious to get home, and when Joe opened one eye, I got him on the move.  We had scoped out our options for this morning, so we knew we were going back to Kranberries (which was very good) for breakfast, and across the street to fuel, and then straight up that same street to Highway 70, which would take us into Arizona.  We had all that done by 7:20 Arizona time!  We crossed the Arizona state line at 7:55, moving right along.

 We drove for a couple more hours, then Joe was really getting tired (after getting up so early) and his hip was hurting, so we stopped at the casino in Globe and he took a nap while I checked out the slot machines.  But after just an hour, I came back out, and he had just gotten up, so off we went again.  (I donated $15 to the Indians here).

We stopped at the final fuel stop just 1 1/2 miles from the house, so we unhooked the car and I drove on to the house.  Home Sweet Home!  It was a welcome sight!  It was 1:00 so we got our miles in in good time today.  By the way, we paid $3.339 in Lordsburg, NM this morning for gas, and at this last stop the price was $3.479. 

 We took a couple loads in, then rested up to go to Kaylee's basketball game at 4:45.  She has one more game after this, but at least we got home in time to see her play.  She's no. 12 below, the last girl in the first picture, and she scored 2 points.  (They lost badly).  We sat all the way up on the top bleacher so I didn't get very good pictures.

 We stopped for dinner on the way home, and were happy to call it a day.  We changed into our jammies and I seriously considered going to bed at 7:30 (it would have been 10:30 in Indiana), but managed to stay up.  Then Cody stopped by, and we are always happy to see him so that woke us up a little.  But we were in bed by 9:30, and our bed felt mighty good.

We need to have a sign painted on the back of our RV -- like those ones on trucks that says "Stops at Railroads" or "Makes Frequent Stops."  Ours needs to say "Makes Frequent Left Turns Out of Right Lane."  (I'm pretty sure he learned that move from Collins.)  Might take some of the shock off the faces of the drivers behind us from time to time.

Oh well, we made it home safely, the tire held up, and weather was great all the way home except for a little wind, and we saw some wonderful sights. A total of 3,883 miles -- 1,765 to Indiana and 2,118 returning home, and we did the return one day shorter, thanks to Joe putting in two 400+ days.  A good trip.  I haven't had the nerve to add us the gallons of gas, but I'll post that in one last post.

Saturday - Driving Across Texas (5/3/14)

 Saturday.  We left the campground about 8:30 but by the time we fueled, got sodas, got oil at Napa, and got breakfast sandwiches it was 9:00 by the time we got underway.  We saw some domestic buffaloes this morning (at least we assumed they had been domesticated since they were fenced in), and throughout the day we saw quite a variety of domesticated animals -- lots of cattle, horses, goats, burros, and sheep.  In addition, we saw some deer or antelope behind a fence, so we don't know if they were wild or not, and a roadrunner crossed the road in front of us.

 Wildflowers. We saw lots and lots of wildflowers today.  We came upon fields of bluebonnets, and some other small patches for a little while, mostly east of Waco.

 The orange flowers that nestle with the bluebonnets are Indian paintbrush.

 We crossed the pretty Brazos river just as we came into Waco, but we drove right through that town without incident. We made a brief stop at a picnic area so Joe could wash the bugs off the windshield. I walked across the highway and took some pictures of the wildflowers. Not many bluebonnets but a lot of beautiful indian blanket flowers. 

 After lunch stop in Goldthbraite (a very slow lunch), we headed toward San Saba.  At lunch, there was an "inside sale" next door so I ran over there, and bought some books.  But I didn't need to run, it took forever to get our food.  We were there well over an hour.  We had parked across the street at a city park, and some of the trees there were wrapped in yarn.  I meant to ask the significance of that, but I forgot (although I had plenty of time to ask).

I'm thinking San Saba, Texas might be the pecan capital of the U. S.  There were lots of pecan companies, gift shops, packing sheds in town and lots of pecan groves on both sides of town.
 
We came upon a town in Texas named Rochelle.  I'm sure they meant to say "Rachelle," and I sent a picture to Rachelle to let her know she had a town named after her, they just mispelled it.

 We drove 438 miles today.  We ended up on I-10 at Ft. Stockton, Texas, at a really nice campground.  We got there about 7:00, got checked in, and went over to their cafe for a quick dinner.  I took over the wheel for about an hour during the afternoon but gave it back when we got to I-10, because I thought it would be full of trucks.  Amazingly, they had resurfaced it since we had last traveled it, and it was smooth, and not busy at all.

We are getting warmer temperatures now, so I can tell we are getting close to home.  It was in the 90s today.


 I meant to post this picture of the tobacco packages at the convenience store in Kentucky in an earlier blog, but couldn't get it to post.  So here it is.


Another thing I forgot in yesterday's blog was our debate as we drove across Louisiana about whether to turn North and head for West Monroe, Louisiana to check out the Duck Dynasty warehouse.  Joe really wanted to do that but finally talked himself out of the extra miles.  Maybe next time.

We still have lots of miles to go, so we don't know what day we will make it home.  But we are getting there!

Sunday. Last part of Texas (5/4/2014)

Sunday.  Well apparently I must have deleted yesterday's blog that I spent quite a long time on last night.  I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to try to create it again.  I keep hoping it will show up.  I've sent my blog expert, Cathy, a message asking for her help in resurrecting it, but it may be gone forever.

Last night we camped at Ft. Stockton, Texas, at a very nice campground.  We thought they served breakfast so we walked over to the cafe, but found out they didn't have a cook, so no breakfast was available.  We went back to the RV and got ready to leave -- Joe decided he had to wash the windshield again so that took a little while.  But by the time we fueled and got our McDonalds breakfast sandwiches, it was 9:20. 

Unfortunately, we had a bit of bad luck.  About 38 miles down I-10, we blew a tire -- the inside back tire on the passenger side.  But fortunately, Joe was able to change it himself (with a very little help from me).  Over time, we have bought everything we need for just such an emergency, and today, we needed it.  I should have taken a picture of all the stuff strewn alongside the RV.  It took about 1 1/2 hours, but the last time we call roadside assistance, it was 5 hours before they showed up, and that  was in Phoenix/Scottsdale, right on the freeway there, so Joe didn't want to risk that long wait today. 

There  was a frontage road right beside the freeway, so after Joe stopped and surveyed the problem, he limped over to the medium between the freeway and frontage road to work on it.  Which was fine, except there were lots of stickers in the grass, and we kept stepping on them.  They would go all the way through the soles of our shoes, and once I even drew blood on my foot.  So I had to do a little clean up just so we could walk around.

Just as I got back in the car to hook it back up after Joe finished, I heard a semi blow a tire on the other side of the freeway.  And later on, a semi in front of us blew a tire.  That apparently is a rough section -- as evidenced by all the tire "alligators" we saw.  We passed another semi that was limping along with a flat tire too.  I think he was trying to make the next exit.

By the time we stopped for lunch at a rest stop, we had only made 119 miles.  Joe kept his speed right at 60 mph all day since we were driving on a 15-year old spare, and didn't have another spare with us.  We left Texas at 3:50, changed time zones, and just kept on going.  We had a strong side wind all day, so Joe didn't make me drive, even though I did offer.  We had a long day, he drove all the way to Lordsburg, NM -- 407 miles.  We pulled into the campground at 6:50 (5:50 local time), which made a 10 hour day.  Yesterday was 10 1/2 hours on the road.  This is way past our comfort zone, on many levels!

It's heating up, was 92 in the afternoon.  Since we had our tire trouble pretty early, it wasn't too bad during all that work -- still in the mid-80s.  The price of gas here is $3.339 so we are going to top off our tank before we hit Arizona -- where we know it is higher. Looking forward to getting home, hopefully tomorrow if we don't have any problems.  Then guess what -- we get to go tire shopping.

Friday - Leaving the Trace (5/2/14)

Friday.  We woke up to another pretty day, and got another early start (yes, it's truly amazing).  Joe decided to top off the water tank and dump the holding tanks before we left our state park campground, since he really didn't know where we were on any of them because we hadn't dumped since before we got to Vincennes.  But after all that, we were still on the road by 8:25 (I'm hoping Joe has turned over a new leaf and is becoming a morning person).  We decided to drive the last 10 miles of the Trace again, in the RV.  No wildlife came to tell us goodbye.  We found our way through Natchez and across the Mississippi.  We drove across Louisiana, and hit the Texas state line at 1:37.  Today, we had to contend with traffic again, and stop signs and stoplights, and Hwy 84 makes lots of turns and intersects with lots of other roads, so we had to be on our toes.  We only lost it once, but after about a 20 mile loop we picked it up again.

 We can tell we are back in Texas when the Whataburger's start showing up.  Joe was hoping for one for dinner tonight, but there wasn't one in Fairfield, where we stayed.

Can't remember which town this was, but it definitely was in Texas.  We saw a lot more cattle and horse farms today.

Highway 84 has been designated as the El Camino East/West Corridor -- between Brunswick, Georgia and El Paso, Texas.  "It is a 1,729-mile roadway named "El Camino Real" or "The King's Highway" in Spanish and was named for the historic trail it will duplicate.  The oldest road in Texas, it extends down into Mexico."



There are a lot of state park campgrounds along this route but when I started calling for a place for tonight, I sadly learned that they were all full because it was the weekend.  We got lucky and found a campground (not listed in any of my books) right on the highway at Fairfield that had some openings, so we were glad to call it a day.  It was about 5:00, and we were both pretty tired.  After a little rest, we went into town to dinner, but got back to the RV pretty early, and I've been working on the blog ever since.

We drove 349 miles today, the weather was beautiful but a little warm -- high 70s.  We had our first roadkill today -- Joe hit a bird, or rather, a bird hit us.  I'm thinking he was suicidal.

We have really been lucky with the weather.  Every day has been nice, and only the first night there were some slight storms.  Vincennes has been cold and windy, and our Florida kids were under tornado warnings today (Shooter experienced his first tornado warning signal at day care today).  We apparently lucked into a little window in the weather to get in our trip home.