Finally - we're traveling

Traveling is something both my wife and I love but in the past year all we managed was a trip up to Washington state.  However, that is changing!  Actually, we are a thousand miles and three states away from home right now.  We are headed for a family birthday celebration back in our old home state of Florida.  We also hope to see a few of the sights on the way home.  First we are beating feet for Florida; the trip home should be more relaxing.  We are spending our days in the truck; our nights in our travel trailer.  The dog gets the back seat in the truck and the cat has his catbed in the rear footwell.  Most often I'm driving and my wife is navigating.  She has 2 atlases and two GPS units.  The first day we called ahead to say we were coming and the GPS estimated we'd arrive at 17:08 - the guy had to give me a hard time because we arrived at 17:10.  That's the kind of navigator I married! 

Here's a shot of the trailer in our yard.  Living area is in the back; the bedroom is in the front.  Bath in between.

Here's a shot of the living-dining area in the trailer.

Here's the first installment of our trip log.

03 Feb 2010

Left Pahrump at about 10:30 on Wednesday.  Took longer than anyone would expect to load our food and clothes but we finally got out.  It was a nice day but we had a long trip planned; down highway 95 to Laughlin then East towards Kingman, AZ then South again to Congress, AZ and the Escappees park there.  "The Ranch" was open until 17:30 fortunately because it was after 17:00 when we arrived; thanks partially to Arizona being in the Mountain time zone!  We both had forgotten that again!

There is a forest of Saguaro cactus on the way south.  Very interesting; at one point they were interspersed with Joshua trees.  Quite an interesting drive.

Parked in a nice level spot and hooked things up.  It wasn't fancy but wasn't bad either; there was a nice dog run anyway.  Had some dinner and to bed.  No internet because they have a contract with someone called Tengo - the cost is excessive for us. 



04 Feb 2010
Got out about 09:30; not bad for us.  Had a drive to another Escapees' park:  Dream Catcher in Deming, New Mexico. 

Before leaving Congress we checked the Phoenix traffic; there was a 3 vehicle wreck that almost closed I-10 and I-17 in both directions.   A truck hit a car which hit a Class A motorhome; the motorhome tipped on it's side and that closed 2 lanes about 06:45 - when we went through town at 10:30 it was finally clear but only just!  Fortunately the only injuries were minor; the rv'ers weren't scratched, even their dogs were fine.

Lots of traffic on I-10 especially a lot of trucks.  Amazing that this is in a tough economic time; doesn't look like it from the highway!  Dream Catcher was a disappointment.  Spaces were fairly tight; it had rained and there was standing water everywhere.  It was just off the highway and on the other side was the railway line; trains all night long!  We also had a leak in the water filter that I'd installed just before we left.  It didn't leak at home but tonight I found it by the simple expedient of stepping in water.  Bah humbug!  Worked on it and got it to a very small drip but still a pain.



05 Feb 2010
Hit the road quite early, before 09:00!  We discovered that the water pump in the rig doesn't put out as much
pressure as the park water does and the leak in the water filter is much slighter.  We decided we can just use the rig water pump until we make it to San Antonio or somewhere where we can get parts easier. 

We planned on driving to Ozona, TX today.  Nice weather so headed East on I-10.  Somewhere during the day, my wife came up with the novel thought that we really didn't need to kill ourselves getting to Florida; we have plenty of time.  So our first move was to cut the day's driving by about a hour and a half and stopped at a Passport America park in Fort Stockton, TX.  We'd stayed in the park before some years ago; it is kind of ugly but had drainage so was dry and quiet. 

We had stopped at a rest area during the day and a trucker's refer unit caught on fire!  There was lots of smoke but another trucker noticed what was happening and banged on the guy's door to wake him.  As soon as he shut if off, the smoke stopped.  He had to call for instructions though; that cold cargo couldn't just sit there getting warm.  He was lucky the other trucker noticed the problem before the fire got really out of hand!



06 Feb 2010
My wife woke at 03:30 or something like that; she was showering about 05:30!  Not like her but at least she got her shower.  I was afraid she might run out of water.  By the time she got out of the shower I was ready to go turn on the park water but she had finished.  I was back asleep before she turned on her hair dryer and didn't wake until 08:30.  So it was almost 10:00 before we got on the road.

Last night I tried tightening the clamps on the water filter again.  Must have done something right because it's
almost completely gone.  It's small enough that it doesn't reach the floor before it evaporates.  Cool!   

Rather than go all the way to Houston, which was our original target for today, we stopped outside San Antonio.  Things were quiet until we got on the road that circles around the northern part of town.  Those people were crazy!  Eight or ten cars would merge into traffic without bothering to worry about the people already on the road.  We were following a big truck; how he managed to avoid killing about a dozen people I'll never know.  They certainly made life tough for that driver.

Our park today is Stone Creek RV Park in Schertz, TX.  It's a Passport America park so was only $15.50.  This is another place we've been before; they have nice sized spaces that each has an outside table and a little shade.  Unfortunately, the spaces aren't totally level but every rv'er has to deal with that from time to time.  We carry both 2x8s and 4x4s to prop up the low side of the trailer.  This is a 2x8 place.  We especially like staying here because there is a supermarket here (HUB) that has freshly made tortillas.  Yum!  Those nice warm tortillas filled with spiced hamburger, cheese and salsa - we had a great dinner!  And we have free wifi!!!  First internet time since we left Pahrump.  Doubt if it will be a late night; this traveling is tiring!