Our RV Adventures

We left Las Cruces this morning a little before 9:30am, but right before that our daughter Brandi called to check up on us and give us the latest on Master Landon. He just starting eating vegetables, and apparently he really likes peas.

About 10 minutes out on I-10 I pulled over and let Jan drive for a while. She didn’t drive at all last year, so she wanted to get in some practice. And it only took her a few minutes to get back in the groove, especially after I put a small piece of tape on the dashboard to help her keep centered.

In about another 30 minutes we pulled into the Bowlin souvenir place at Akela Flats, one of our favorite stops. Jan always loves looking at the jewelry, although this time she didn’t buy anything. But I made up for it.

We did spend $380.00 for 102.7 gallons of diesel. That was $3.699 a gallon. OUCH! The last time I filled up was September 13 right before we parked for 5 months in Houston and it was $2.499 a gallon.

One thing that was interesting about getting diesel was that my Silverleaf computer engine display said I had 47 gallons left in my 150 gallon tank. And I put in 102.7 gallons.

You can’t get much more accurate than that.

Jan was a little nervous, but had no problems getting in and out of the parking area and back on I-10. I was really proud of her.

About 11:30 after a Rest Area stop I took back over the driving chores. The wind was starting to pick up, the tumbleweeds were out in force, and this was not to Jan’s liking.

About 12:30 we were coming into Lordsburg, NM and I saw the signs for Kranberry’s Family Restaurant and asked Jan if she wanted to stop. We had eaten here last year coming thru the area and knew the food was good, and maybe more importantly, they had RV parking in the back.

The only real problem with the RV parking however, is that it’s just a big gravel lot with no markings, so everyone just parks willy-nilly, everywhich way. In fact, we pulled in thru the front, out the back exit, down a block to turn around, and came in the back, heading out toward the front. This to be sure we wouldn’t get blocked in, and would have an easy exit.

As usual, our food was good, but coming back to the rig, we found this bad omen. If tumbleweeds are blowing thru the parking lots, what’s the Interstate going to be like?

When we got back in the rig, I realized I hadn’t taken my phone in with me, and Nick Russell had called to check up on us. He said the weather was really lousy in Apache Junction, and wondered how it was with us. I said it hadn’t been too bad so far, but we could see dust clouds on the horizon, and figure it was going downhill.

And it did. But luckily, not too bad. The high winds got worse, but we got out of the heavy dust areas fairly quickly, and never had a visibility problem.

We did have several instances of the rig wanting to change lanes without me turning the steering wheel, however. Not good. I think we had some gusts in the 40-50 mph range, but they weren’t as bad as when we were coming into Dawson Creek, BC in April of 2008, and the 60-80 mph gusts were blowing semi’s off the road, and trying to open our big awning. And on top of this it was 19 degrees.

I don’t even want to think about what the wind chill was.

We finally pulled into the Pima County Fairgrounds, still in one piece, about 4:30pm. Then our biggest problem was finding where to go to check in. The sign at the gate said ‘RV Office’ straight ahead.

However straight ahead would have taken me right into a big crowd of kids and families all milling around. They were having some sort of high school event and the place was really crowded. So I finally found a place to park off to the side of the lot and took off on foot looking for the office. After getting two sets of bad directions, I eventually found it and got checked in. And one of the staff was nice enough to bring me back to the rig by golf cart. Much appreciated!

We got parked and hooked up, and then set off for Poco & Mom’s, a really great Mexican place that our friends Al & Adrienne Cox had introduced us to about a year ago.

It’s a small place, only about 10 tables and 4 counter stools, but boy is it good! I had the Green Chile Pork Stew and Jan had a New-Mex combo platter. Here’s a shot of my Pork Stew.

New-Mex is like Tex-Mex, only different. They have more pork dishes, and use a lot of the Hatch red and green peppers. MMMM Good!

Of course, this being Arizona, why isn’t it Ari-Mex?  Or something?

For dessert, Jan and I split a fruit-stuffed Sopapilla. Since we couldn’t decide on apple or cherry, they did it half ‘n half. Really, really good!

And cheap, too. Only $2.50!  My kind of food. Good AND cheap.

And, of course, lots of it.

Leaving Poco’s we headed over to the nearest Wal-Mart, according to our GPS.  However it was not a SuperStore and didn’t have groceries. So we went by a Fry’s that we’d seen on the way and picked up some stuff to fix in Gila Bend, since the restaurant choice there is lacking.

Coming back to the rig, I stopped to get gas, figuring it would be even more expensive out in the middle of nowhere in Gila Bend later this week.

But in finding a place to fill up, I ran into one of those mysteries of life. You know. one’s like

“If the early bird gets the worm, why does the second mouse gets the cheese?”

or

“If you’re going to shoot a mime, do you need a silencer?”

In this case there are two gas stations. One on either side of the street from the other. The first, a ‘Gas City’ station, is selling regular unleaded for $3.259. The other, a Diamond Shamrock, is selling regular unleaded for $3.059. That’s a 20 cents a gallon difference! Helloo!

Why does the ‘Gas City’ station have any business at all?  Are people just too lazy to make a left turn at the light into the Diamond Shamrock? Or don’t they realize that $3.259 is larger than $3.059?

Just what is it?

Anyway, getting back to the rig, I decided not to set the sat dish up since there was nothing we wanted to watch or record. We thought we’d just watch some of the stuff we’d already recorded on the DVR.

And therein, I found a problem. Apparently, if you are not connected to the satellite, the DVR won’t let you watch anything you’ve recorded.

BUMMER!

Tomorrow we’ve got a 137 mile run to Gila Bend, AZ. We’ll be there for several days, while, hopefully I can get the rest of the carpet up and start putting down the new laminate. Then, as soon as Nick and Terry finish up getting the latest issue of the Gypsy Journal in the mail, we’ll meet them in Yuma to start getting ready for the Gypsy Gathering Rally starting March 7th.

More tomorrow from Gila Bend.

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Thought for the Day:

"Most men would rather die than think. Many do." – Bertrand Russell

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