Christmas on the Road, Part 2

Deming, NM, to Quartzsite, AZ was an easier run than expected. We heard the horror stories of the torrential rains drenching Southern California and knew we were driving into the storm. I had overnight spots picked in case we ran into the rain by Lordsburg, NM, Benson, Casa Grande, or Gila Bend, AZ. We must have had Lady Luck riding with us.

We passed through Benson, AZ seeing dark skies ahead, but far enough in the distance, we kept moving instead of stopping. The radio forecast heavy rains in Tucson, but we only ran into some light sprinkles—just enough to mess up all my car/truck washing and waxing. We continued to Gila Bend, AZ to spend the night at one of our favorite overnight spots: Steve Holt’s Shell station and campground. He gives Escapees a 50% discount, so the rate was just $13.

The storm caught up with us about an hour after we settled in. We rocked and rolled around a bit with high winds and heavy rain. Then we had light rain until about 10 p.m. when another gusty storm rolled through. We woke to clear skies!

And a dead car battery?? Larry had been starting the car every night as required by towing a Honda CRV, but his charging system that has worked for four years—failed us! So while he was putting the battery charger on the car, I went looking for the quail.

Can you count all the quail? They are the masters of disguises. they blended into the landscape so well, I had trouble counting how many were in the group.

We got a good start and headed north up AZ Hwy 85 to get back on I-10 at Buckeye, AZ.

Look at the color of the sky. It is hard to believe there was a big storm just about 10 hours earlier. Quartzsite had a lot of wind and rain; more than we received in Gila Bend, according to the stories we heard.

Tomorrow is Christmas and thanks to a dear friend, Barbara Sheeder, we have a tree. We exchange Christmas stocking and she told me to open the box and I would find a tree. How did she know we wouldn’t be in Livingston? We didn’t know until last Saturday.

We are HOME! Our tree is up, we are settled in, warm and safe, after driving 1400 miles in just 4 1/2 days. We have reservations at a local restaurant for Christmas dinner at 1:30. Life is good.

We watched fuel prices rise as we moved west. From about $3.07 in Livingston, to $3.25 here in Arizona.

The most interesting aspect of the travel at this time of the year was seeing all the cars loaded with dogs—and even cats. Every rest stop seemed to be filled with travelers walking, feeding, and caring for two or more dogs. I got a kick out the the number of animals we saw—a one-to-one ratio of one dog to one human “servant.” (Yeah, servant—you don’t see the dogs picking up their messes, do you?)

On a sad note, the world lost a wonderful soul Thursday, Joe Peterson, founder of the Escapees RV Club, passed on to a new audience in heaven. Mr. Joe was famous among his friends for telling jokes—not necessarily great jokes, but jokes that still made everyone laugh. You had to laugh because he got such joy from telling the jokes and stories. Mr. Joe never met strangers—Joe was too busy adding new friends to even consider someone might not know him. A new friend was a new audience—and more joy for Mr. Joe. He—and his jokes—will be missed by hundreds, if not thousands, of friends. Our heart-felt condolences go to Miss Kay Peterson, Cathie and Bud Carr and the rest of the Peterson-Carr family.

Meanwhile, we will continue RVing in Mr. Joe’s honor—He and Miss Kay made it easy for all of us—by creating the Escapees RV Club! Thank you Mr. Joe and Miss Kay.

December 21, 2010--Christmas On the Road

We were leaving Livingston, TX right after Christmas to travel to Quartzsite, AZ, for a few months in the desert sun. As with most of our plans, they were firm when we made them. However, like most of our plans, they were subject to change at a whim.

Our whim was the fact the weather was warm and dry across Texas. Why wait for rain or snow on our route? Why not just finish loading and head out when we were ready? No reason to not go. So, Sunday morning, we hooked up the loaded car to the loaded truck and camper and headed west.

We spent Sunday night at an attractive Texas rest stop between Luling and Seguin, TX. A freebie night! The weather was warm, the place was clean and had video cameras for safety.

I have previously mentioned we see some unusual things on our travels….this trailer was parked in the rest stop.

See Larry standing next to it? It doesn’t look too big, does it?

The young man working at the rest stop didn’t know what this was…but we did. Remember the windmills we saw last May? This is the little box behind the windmill blades.

This is one of those little boxes--that hangs behind the blades on the windmills—and it’s headed for the Palm Springs, CA, wind farm. Little? However, it brought up another question. We see these containers on the freeways and we see trucks with long trailers hauling one blade at a time, but we haven’t seen the part that attaches the blades to the this box? Have you see one? I wonder what it looks like????

The following day, we cleared San Antonio, TX early in the morning. As we crossed the scenic Hill Country on Interstate 10, we noticed the temperature outside climbing. By 2 p.m., we gave up and turned on the air conditioner—it was 85 degrees outside on Dec. 20th.

We stopped in Fort Stockton, TX at Parkview RV Park, a Passport America park; it was just $10 for a full hookup site.

Today we crossed El Paso, TX at lunch time and found ourselves in heavy traffic. I would hate to see their rush hour traffic. We continued west to Deming, NM. We are at Escapees Dream Catcher Park. It turned out to be the most expensive night so far--$17.00. I did take the opportunity to do a load of laundry and we will be running the heater tonight. It is supposed to get into the high 30s during the night.

We are going to run into rain tomorrow which may derail our travel plans. We had hoped to make Gila Bend and then Quartzsite, AZ the following day. Instead, if the rain isn’t too heavy, we will probably spend the night at the Casa Grande Elk’s Club.

Stay tuned for the adventures of the shoe box bumping across the U.S.

October 7, 2010 – Back in Livingston, TX

 

Where did September go?  We were headed back to Livingston, TX, the last time I posted.  Now it is almost mid-October??  What happened?

We returned safely to our little cottage in the pine trees.  We quickly discovered the house central air conditioning had failed back in July or August.  The first thing we had to face was replacing the system…at the cost of a small used vehicle.

Next we moved back into the house and cleaned out the camper.  I waited for the cooler times of the days--there was a reason we immediately replaced the air conditioning system.  It was hot and humid for a few weeks.  Now we are enjoying the wonderful, cool, drier weather of early fall.  It is so invigorating!  I finally feel like getting some of the chores done.

I am looking forward to having some time to do some pottery and pottery firing.  Larry ordered a new element for the kiln.

Larry’s medical tests have shown he is in a good holding pattern, so we will stay here until December.  At that time, I will resume blogging as we head west to Quartzsite, AZ, to spend two or three months boondocking the in desert—camping without hook-ups.  We had the solar system rewired in Eugene, OR last summer (AM Solar) in order to get a bit more from our two solar panels.

Check back around the middle of December to see what is happening in the Shoe Box!  In the mean time, enjoy your fall weather; it is such a great time of the year.

Sept. 17, 2010 - 320 miles to Livingston, TX.

We have come a long way from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington in a few weeks. We are nearing the end of this summer’s journey.

Larry had good test results from his kidney doctor in Antioch, CA, so we started the 2,000 mile journey back to Livingston, TX, Sept. 9th. We planned on a easy run by going north to I-40 rather than through all the heat in Arizona and New Mexico on I-10. We stopped at the Bakersfield, CA, Elks the first night ($10) and at a little RV park just east of Barstow, CA for the second night.

Newberry Mountain RV Park ($31) has two lakes and an inviting swimming pool to add some interest to the dry, dry desert surrounding it. I sat under the little tree on the left and read for an hour.

The next day we went back to the Zuni Valley RV Park (C2C $19) in Kingman, AZ, to use as a jumping off spot to visit Laughlin, NV. I paid for two nights so we could drive 28 miles west to Laughlin.

When we last drove the route, back in the horse and buggy days, it was a narrow two-lane road. Now it is four lanes over the big hill. The scenery was breathtaking.

And heart stopping! The signs counted down the miles. See the bottom line—at the end of a 12-mile, 6% downgrade and then……

Yes, after 12 miles of downhill, there is a stoplight at the bottom! It was an easy run in the car, but if we had been driving the truck and camper, we might have found the ride a bit more “thrilling!”

Laughlin had changed quite a bit since our last visit in about 1992. There are more casinos…more casinos offering to take your money.

However, the food is still delicious at the Laughlin Riverside Buffet. We met my sister Diane and her husband Roger for lunch at the Riverside. Larry said that was the best meal he had eaten in a long, long time. And I may add, it was the most food he has eaten in a long time; he did fill his plate—several times. We can recommend the Sunday Champagne Brunch.

We talked as much as we ate; we hadn’t seen them since we met up in Hermiston, OR in July. While enjoying the conversation and food, I snapped this view from our table. The Riverside Buffet overlooks the Colorado River just below Davis Dam. Doesn’t it look like fun? If it had been cooler, we might have gone for a ride too.

It was hot in Laughlin and even hotter down in Lake Havasu City (107 degrees), so we stayed north.

We moved on to Williams, AZ to spend two nights at Canyon RV Park (Passport America $22) so we could go back to Sunset Crater National Monument and the Wupatki Ruins; it has been almost 23 years since we had been there (1987). We visited the Grand Canyon in 2008 so we didn’t go back this trip.

Williams, AZ is an interesting town. Neat little shops on Main Street to explore and, it boosts some of the highest fuel prices we have seen all year. We had been paying about $3 a gallon for diesel in CA and AZ:

We discovered two of our favorite type of campgrounds--Forest Service campgrounds--just outside of Williams—with trees. First was Cataract Lake with a small campground of about 16 sites for $9 for seniors:

Next, was Kaibab Lake, a real gem just off the Highway to Grand Canyon—a Forest Service campground with a sewer dump—Life is good. (Again $9 for seniors.)

Kaibab Lake was so peaceful that we just sat with the car doors open and relaxed in the quiet. If we ever get back to Williams, this is where I will stay.

The next day we packed our lunch and headed toward Flagstaff, AZ and Sunset Crater. We stopped at the new Visitor Center and learned a bit about the volcanic area.

Hikers are not allowed up on the crater to prevent erosion and degradation of the National Monument. I wasn’t disappointed; starting at 6,000 feet plus, I wasn’t planning on a hike anyway.

Further down the 34-mile loop road is the Wupatki National Monument. The first is Wukoki:

It looked like a proud ship adrift in the sage brush. As I walked up, it took my breath away…both from the 6000+ ft elevation and the beauty of the building:

Built by hands! How did they do it and how long did it take to build? And it has lasted 800 years!

This is Wupatki which grew from one to about 100 homes built during the 1100s. By about 1190, as many as 2,000 people lived within walking distance—out this plateau with limited rainfall. We were so glad we made the trip as it humbles one to see what people have built without computers and heavy equipment. Add a day to visit the Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monuments to your travel list when you go to the Grand Canyon.

We noticed that Larry’s blood pressure had been climbing since we moved above the 5,000 ft. elevation level so we decided to cut out any further exploration and head for lower altitudes. Rather than drop down into Phoenix and 107 degree weather, we headed east to Albuquerque, NM to drop down to El Paso, TX on I-25. The next night in Albuquerque at the Enchanted Trails RV Park (Passport America rate: $16), we decided to head for Lubbock as it would save a day of travel and get us down below the 5,000 ft. level. We pulled into Lubbock RV Park, TX (Escapees rate of $26) in time to do some laundry and cleaning chores—including covering the windshields of both vehicles.

As soon as we plugged in and I turned on the TV, the news reported grapefruit-sized hail and 70 mph winds north of us in Palo Duro Canyon as well as other storm cells, with various sized hail, circling Lubbock and headed our way. The storm hit us after 10 p.m. with rain and then lots of wind, but luckily, no hail. I was up early saying a prayer of thanks while uncovering the vehicles, and drying the heavy towel I used on the Honda windshield. Yes, we are back in Texas with the weather-alert radio on the table.

Tonight we are in Ranger, TX at RL RV Park (Escapees 50% discount for $15). We have electricity for the air conditioner and I could have used the free clothes washer and dryer, except I did all the laundry yesterday in Lubbock. Isn’t that how life works?

This is tonight’s sunset. With good luck and tail winds, we will be home in Livingston, TX tomorrow, four months and 6,300 miles driven in the Truck and camper since May. And we are still talking to each other!

Sept. 9, 2010 -- Leaving for Livingston, TX

This is a short post.  We spent the past two weeks in Antioch, CA. staying at the Antioch Fairground RV Park.

We came to Antioch, CA do medical lab work and see Larry’s kidney doctor; mission accomplished.  We stayed longer to help my dad with a garage sale'; mission accomplished.  Wanted to get our flu shots early so we would have time to develop immunity before arriving in Livingston; mission failed.  Came for flu shots; got the flu instead.  And there went the last five or six days!

However, we did have some fun times.  Almost daily, it seemed, we visited the Smith’s Family Farm for our favorite foods:

And…one tomato slice per sandwich….

Does life get any better than this…one slice of tomato on a slice of homemade bread with Best Food Mayonnaise?  (Only a hint of salt would have made it any better tasting, but we have to be good.)

And don’t forget the fresh, fresh, did I say fresh, just out of the field, corn.  Does his smile say, “this is delicious?”

California is known for its excesses.  We ate the corn and tomatoes to excess, but nothing like the excess on this hummer:

This stretched limo was stretched thin!  He had to cut across the corner to make the street corner as his wheel base was too far apart to turn a regular 90 degree turn.  I guess if we stayed in California eating tomatoes, mayo on homemade bread sandwiches, we would soon need this limo to move us!

We are now on our way back to Livingston, TX.  It will take about two weeks to cross the 2,000 miles back home.  I have some interesting stops planned on the way.  Check back to see some of the interesting sights along I-40.  Got to go eat lunch, another tomato sandwich made with tomatoes we picked up this morning on our way out of Antioch!  Yum Yum.

August 27, 2010 -- Back in Antioch, CA

Where did summer go? We were enjoying the Olympic Peninsula, and now suddenly, we are back in Antioch, CA.

I promised a report from Hoodsport, WA and the Hood Canal area. My report is short….we were there two nights and it was enough.

Driving to Hoodsport from Sequim along Highway 101 is not for Sunday drivers. State law requires slower cars to use the pull-outs to allow the race-car drivers to pass and zip out of sight. The pull-outs are short on this route so we had to come to a complete stop after pulling over, which slowed us down even more. It’s not a relaxing drive. I don’t know if we are much slower these days, or the others so driving faster than 18 years ago when we last traveled this road.

We spent two nights at Sunrise Resorts’ Dow Creek, a pleasant rustic, woodsy Coast to Coast park, located just below scenic Lake Cushman.

We were disappointed to find Lake Cushman State Park was turned into a privately-owned campground resort about 8 years ago. They have a very nice campground ($28) and the the resort is the only public access the lake. The rest of the lake front is privately owned and off limits to visitors.

Lake Cushman on a misty day.

In wandering around the area, I spotted this National Forest Service “rustic rest stop.” I don’t any pass rest stops, so I had the perfect opportunity to had to take this photo.

The roof is about 4 inches deep in moss and ferns; an old-fashioned sod house.

We were in the area to explore spots from we remembered from 15 years ago. Next stop on our rote was Shelton, WA. We returned to Elk’s Club. for one night. The club has about 20 RV sites down below the lodge building ($17) and it is surrounded by woods. I heard coyotes calling during the night.

We arrived during the Elk’s Club annual yard sale. “That is wonderful,” I told Larry, “I can donate a few things we don’t need to tote around.” (To make room for some things (from sales-tax free” Oregon.) Jerry and Mary Frye drove down from Poulsbo, WA, to meet us for lunch. We tried a local restaurant called Nita’s; it’s like stepping back to the 1960s, complete with a lunch counter and stools. Mary said her berry pie with ice cream was delicious. Next time, we will go Blondie’s, just down the street.

Larry wanted to check out the local boat harbors so we drove up the Sound a bit. I took this photo in the Shelton Yacht Club parking lot. Aren’t they lucky to have some fantastic views?

It was a beautiful day! Here, see it again; which photo do you prefer?

Then on to Salem, OR, again. Remember back when I wrote we see the oddest things on our travels?

As we were approaching the Salem Elk’s Club, we noticed something a bit unusual at the airport—an Airship.

The airship’s mooring tower is mounted mounted on a truck. Farmer’s gave the rides in the Airship gondola all week. We were too late to take advantage of it, oh double darn!

I could hear it taking off the next morning and ran out to get a shot.

Up, up and away. Isn’t that a beautiful sight? We do see some interesting things as we travel around this wonderful country.

After four days in Salem, we continued south on I-5. Whoops, what is that on the rear view mirror. Is it broken? What are we doing in this heat? Oh No, is that real? The mirror thermometer MUST be broken or we are crazy, out of our minds driving south.

We passed up our favorite dry-camp stop at the Klamath River Rest Stop and continued south to find a place with electric hook-ups.

Taking turns driving, we continued on to the Redding Elk’s Club ($20), and hunkered down with the air conditioner on full blast. One look at the camper thermometer was enough to chill me. Where are we, in Phoenix?? The 97 degrees was inside the camper and the 117 was outside.

Luckily it cooled down during the early morning hours and we got up at 6 a.m. and headed south to Antioch, CA. We are here to do Larry’s monthly lab work and see his kidney doctor next week. The weather is comfortable and in the 80s and we hope it stays that way!

We are settled into the Antioch Fairground RV park ($20) and will be here for about 10 days. We are sticking around to help my dad with a garage sale next weekend. He has finished relocating to California from Washington and has a bit of stuff “left over.”

Let’s take a short side trip into our daily world.

Have you wondered how we manage living in 10 feet, six inches of space without killing each other?

It is tight, but the camper meets all of our daily needs.

Here is our bedroom with a queen-sized bed and we each have a small cabinet and a long cabinet next to the bed for clothes, etc.

The “living room” has room for reading, eating, TV watching and working on our computers.

And of course, we have a nice shower stall and a compact bathroom. All the comforts of home—in a shoe box!

The kitchen was too cluttered to take any photos today. We visited our favorite fruit stand, Smith’s Farm in Brentwood, CA, for our fill of field-ripened tomatoes and corn and peaches, and, and, etc. Get the picture? Our eyes are bigger than our camper kitchen and refrigerator! What a great way to live!

Life is good and we are having fun!

August 18, 2010 - Olympic Peninsula, WA

We are blessed! No other words for it…the opportunity to visit the Olympic Peninsula is a special treat!

From the ocean's edge at sea level to looking over and down on mountains standing at 5,200 feet, The Olympic Peninsula covers it all.

We stayed at the Sequim Elk’s Club for four nights ($16) and then moved to a Coast to Coast park at Diamond Point ($11) for five nights.

We drove the peninsula from end to end—from quaint Port Townsend out to Neah Bay on the Western front. From beaches up to Hurricane Ridge to look out over the Olympic National Park’s mountains.

We started for Neah Bay with sun shining in Sequim, but picked up fog in Port Angeles. The fog played hide and seed with us as we drove west on Hwy 112, the scenic route to Neah Bay.

I understand what poets mean when talking about fog creeping in on cat’s feet. The fog teased us, coming in to blanket one scene while opening up to show us another.

We drove up the 17-mile highway to Hurricane Ridge. The fog played with us there too. We saw some fog going up, but arrived at the top to a beautiful sunny day.

It was too beautiful for words. Within 30 minutes, however, our friend Mr.Fog slipped in to hide the snow-covered mountain tops—and all the views. From sky blue to gray within minutes.

We also drove up the Elwha River valley to re-visit two National Park Service campgrounds, Altair and Elwha River, that we camped in about 20 years ago…(where has the time gone?) and see the Elwha Dam that is being removed in 2011 by a joint project of the Park Service, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and the Washington state government.

The dam will be removed to restore the river to “save” the salmon runs that come up the river. I wondered about what will happened to all the lake trout that call the reservoir home?

I guess the lake trout don’t have any supporters to save them before they are flushed down the river to the sea.

It is a beautiful lake; I have remembered the sight for 20 years. I will be sad to see it drained.

And of course, we can’t forget visiting the local boat harbors.

No, we didn’t fly to Los Angeles, CA for a few days. John Wayne’s family really did donate 22 acres of waterfront land in Sequim Bay to the City of Port Angeles for a public marina. He enjoyed sailing his boat, the Wild Goose, in the Puget Sound and while anchored in Sequim Bay, he thought it would be a perfect spot for a marina.

It is perfect. It’s a safe and protected harbor in a protected bay. While checking out the boats, Larry fell in love with this little cruiser.

See all those surfaces--on the hull and house--that require someone to wash and wax it? No Way! Enough with this truck and camper! But I am not mean; if he wants a boat, I I offered this boat—less maintenance for Carol to do—just a dab of paint every five years!

No washing or waxing required. (No, not the blue one.) Room for just one person—perfect! I could go for this one. Isn't’ it cute?

The weather turned quite warm in Sequim, it was over 90 degrees all weekend. Where was the fog when we needed it? We ran the air conditioner several days and nights. We are moving on to Hoodsport, WA, for a few days. This morning the fog returned. Oh, I do like that cool fog!

Have you ever seen the inexpensive Northwest weed whacker? Guaranteed to keep your green weeds down. Saw one in use by Diamond Point RV Resort for trimming the green dandelions:

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Check back in a few days for news from Hoodsport, on the Hood Canal, Washington. More water and mountains…life is beautiful.