Dec. 14, 2012 The Jennings are on the move again.

We left Livingston last Saturday.  Our plans were to head west on Sunday, but the approaching storm upped our schedule by a day.  And of course, the weather man heard we were leaving to beat the rain in Houston, so he moved up the rain by a day too.

Sorry, no photos today as my “soon to be deceased” computer has decided it no long wants to recognize my camera storage card.  Apparently when Larry worked it over for several reasons last Friday, it found a way to retaliate!  It stopped accepting any signal from the card reader.  Soon, very soon, I may start refusing to feed it any electricity—and then see if it is a good Frisbee!  GRRRR!

We spent the first night at the Texas Rest Area between Luling, TX, and Sequin, TX.  It was a HOT and humid night.  (Should have just stopped at RiverBend RV Park like last June.)

We took a new route around San Antonio, TX by using Highway 46; it was a hint given to us by Tommie Sue and Harrell Hicks.  It was an easy run because it was early Sunday morning and lots of fog and mist to keep people home.  We didn’t stop to see the Spring Branch friends as we wanted to get further west because of the weather.  To spend the money we saved on Saturday night, we stopped in North Llano River RV Park ($33) in Junction, TX, as the cold front was supposed to catch up with us that night.  It did—with LOTS of strong winds during the night.  The temperature at dinner hour was 80 degrees and had dropped to 28 degrees when we got up Monday morning.

We continued pushing west to Fort Stockton, TX.  We stayed at a different park this trip because we just needed electricity.  The Comanche RV Park worked out fine, even had free WIFI and cable for $16. 

By Tuesday, Larry was feeling better and we were able to share the driving to El Paso, TX, and then on to Deming, NM in one day.  We spent two nights at the Escapees’ Dream Catcher RV Park so we could visit with Jim and Penny Scott and do some Wal-mart shopping.  I enriched the Deming economy!

We didn’t have firm plans for Thursday night, so we kept driving hoping to make Casa Grande, AZ, to see Mary & Jerry Frye and return some lost items they left with us in October.  We knew a big storm was headed our way—again—and had alternative plans just in case we got tired.  Things were going very well—until we crested Texas Canyon, the big pass just east of Benson, AZ.

Suddenly, instead of a tail wind pushing us, we hit a southerly wind that was hitting us broadside and was picking up dust as it headed north—across the freeway.  It wasn’t too bad, some tight-fingered driving, until we got just outside of Tucson, AZ.  Suddenly there was a lot of blowing dust coming across the freeway.  Larry even called Jerry to see how the conditions were in Casa Grande to see if we should just stop and wait it out until the rain came that evening.  He said Casa Grande weather was beautiful.  Well, Tucson was NOT beautiful!  We kept an eye up ahead with plans to pull off the road if the cars started disappearing into a dust storm.  We hit one spot where it did—but as we entered the solid dust line, we could see out the other side.  That one was close!!

We are now parked at the Fiesta Grande Encore Park in Casa Grande.  It rained on and off most of the night—which means the dirt is out of the air.  We are headed to Quartzsite, AZ, tomorrow; we have about 200 miles to go—a day’s drive.  This is a beautiful destination park with lots and lots of activities and events going on.  Wish we wanted to stay for the winter here, but we have friends to see in Quartzsite.

We are making a early morning visit to the NextCare Urgent Clinic this morning to have Larry’s arm injury looked at by a doctor. He took a tumble last night on a walkway and scraped back too much skin for my limited first aid skills.  We visited a NextCare Urgent Clinic here in Casa Grande about two years ago to have his lab work done and we were very impressed with their service.  Thankfully, they take Medicare insurance!!  Big blessings that Medicare insurance!!  I hate to see the proposed changes to Medicare as it sure is a life saver for us when we travel!  But that would be another posting just to explain my position on Medicare, smile.

Happy Holidays—and if I don’t get back to post in the next 11 days, Merry Christmas.  Please remember the reason for the season—and it isn’t to buy presents that won’t be remembered by the recipients by next Christmas.  Give  Love, Peace and Joy—and even a helping hand to those you love—it doesn’t cost money and is remembered for life!