Sept. 21, 2012 Made it to Gallup, NM, in just 4 days

Yes, we drove from Tracy, CA, to Gallup in ONLY four days.  Must be a speed record…for a turtle!  We have decided to slow down and enjoy our days on the road.  Some how, over the past 10 years, we got into the zippy-travel mode.  You know, driving 300 miles or more a day just because we could.  It takes a toll on our bodies getting up and on the road by 8 am., and takes a toll on our monthly budget.

We travel at 55 m.p.h. to save fuel, and we stop at most rest stops for potty breaks and a quick walk around the rig.  And of course, we stop for lunch, so the day strings out to 7 or 8 hours on the road.

By dropping the daily mileage to a maximum of 200 miles, we have time at the end of the travel day to relax, play on the computer, do a load of laundry, or just sit outside and enjoy the scenery.  Today we did a long, long day of 138 miles.  Tomorrow will be about 150 miles.  This will get us back to Livingston, TX about the time the month ends.

I am going to throw in some photos of places we have been since we left Salem, OR.  First was our favorite rest area on I-5 in California at the Klamath River rest area:

Isn’t it beautiful?  We try to dry camp here when it isn’t too hot.  It was actually so cool that morning in Salem, I had to get out the electric heater for Larry.  My big question was, now that the weather is finally nice, why are we leaving?

The rest area fills up during the night, but we had our pick of “campsites” in the shade.

We stopped in Dunnigan, CA at an Escapees discount park.  The place is not set up for RVs towing vehicles.  The hook-ups are just as you enter the site—which places them at about the rear wheel of the tow car—too far from the RV.  In order to have full hook-ups, we would have to turn the car loose and park it in front.  We didn’t want to do that!  We found this site with electric and sewer in the middle—however, there was only a minor trickle of water from the faucet.  In 105 degree heat, it would be worth the $19 fee—but anything less would be questionable.  The restroom rated less than one star!

The next morning we were treated to the green rice fields just north of Sacramento.  I have started buying Cal Rose rice from CA as it is good.

Traveling though Sacramento, CA, on I-5 was a breeze.  However, Highway 12 going to Antioch was closed due to a bad wreck.  We took fuel at Flying J at the exit and headed down to Stockton, CA. Diesel was about $4.50 a gallon there and went as high as $4.65 in Barstow, CA.

We decided to just head to the Tracy Elks’ Club and drive the car the 30 miles back to Antioch for the lab work and see my dad and sister.  The Elks’ Club has a very nice RV park for $20 a night.

One of the questions often asked is how do you know when you have been in a spot too long.  This is one sign:

This was the rig next too us.  Not only had the spider had time to spin an elaborate web, he had time to grow really big!  I saw his legs sticking out of the chrome.  Icky!!

We left Tuesday morning and drove to Mojave, CA to spend the night at Sierra Trails RV Park for just $13.25.  It was too hot to dry-camp at Barstow’s Flying J.  I often relate to the quality of an RV park by the rest rooms.  This one had outstanding restrooms; not fancy but very clean!  It deserves 4.5 stars!

And a beautiful pool. 

The pull-thru area is in the back.  Very quiet and peaceful; especially since the cell reception is very iffy.   We really enjoyed the electricity!

Next stop was Blake Ranch RV Park in Kingman, AZ.  It is a really splendid RV park.  For us short RVs, it was just $21 with the Escapees 15% discount for a full hook-up.  They have a large laundry room and a well-stocked store.

We spent last night at Meteor Crater RV Park about 20 miles east of Flagstaff, AZ.  While at the top of our park budget, the improvements made since our last visit made it worth $29.  I failed to take photos, darn.  We had visited the crater on our last visit.  It is worth the effort to see it at least once!  It was cool there this morning—again, we leave areas as the weather becomes more comfortable.  Something is seriously wrong with our reasoning!

Tonight we are at the USA RV Park in Gallup, NM.  Haven’t taken photos yet, but this is another “full-service” campground with first class facilities!  They even have an evening BBQ where you can buy your dinner.  It is at the top of our price range too, but we are staying at Enchanted Trails outside of Albuquerque, NM, tomorrow night with the Passport America discount to make it up.

Larry wanted to change our route, so instead of dropping down to El Paso, TX, he wants to travel to Santa Rosa, NM, and take the Clovis cut-off down to I-20.  We will make the final decision tomorrow at Albuquerque.  Stay tuned for the slow-moving Jennings trip to Livingston.  I figure we have at least five more nights to get 1,000 miles. Well, maybe 6 nights????