Monthly Archives: March 2015
Recaps and Coconut Ice Cream . . .
Recapping yesterday:
Jan and I were up at 5:30 this morning so we could get on the road around 7, since we had a 265 mile trip to the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson for the upcoming 55th Escapade RV Rally.
We were hitched up and on our way a little after 7am. Jan was a little worried about ice on the road since it had gone down to 28 last night, but with no moisture, it wasn’t a problem.
About 100 miles along the way, we passed thru Lordsburg, and Kranberry’s Restaurant, our usual breakfast stop on this trip. But since we wanted to get to Tucson as early as possible and get parked, we passed it by. We like to stop here because the food is good, and they have RV parking in the rear. In fact, normally there are several Class A’s and 5th wheels parked with us.
Regular readers know that I usually drive 55mph when we travel, which I admit does feel kind of slow on I-10 in west Texas where the speed limit is 80. And there’s the tollway near Austin that has an 85mph speed limit too. Bit I like to be able to see some of the country side, and my fuel mileage is better, so 55 works for us.
There are two lane roads in Texas with a 70 mph speed limit, and I will drive 60 on those, and try to pull over to let traffic by when I can. But since we wanted to make good time, I bumped it up to 65 today.
I could definitely see the difference in MPG. At 55, my Silverleaf VMSpc engine computer display showed me using about 6.5 gallons per hour of diesel. At 60 I using about 7.5 gph. And at 65 I’m using about 8.5 gph. So I used an extra 8 gallons of diesel, or almost $23 worth, to get there 40 minutes earlier. Not sure how well that works in the long run.
What was kind of funny was that doing 65, I was passed several times by Class A’s that must have been doing the 80 mph speed limit or better. Two of them had very distinctive paint jobs, and who do you think I found right in front of me waiting to get parked at the Escapade. Lotta good it did them.
We stopped along the side of the road about a mile from our exit to the park and unhitched the truck so Jan could follow me in. The rally ask everyone to do this to cut down on the congestion.
For the first day, the parking went pretty smoothly, and we were in our spot and set up in less than 45 minutes. At first our power didn’t work, but they got it fixed in about 20 minutes, and so far it’s been pretty robust. We’ve been at other rallies where the 30 amp power was kind of iffy, but we haven’t had an outage yet.
As far as today, Saturday:
Jan and I were able to sleep in some this morning, a big improvement from yesterday’s 5am wakeup call. Mostly we just took it easy, with coffee and the sopapillas left over from our visit to La Posta in Las Cruces Wednesday night.
About noon we walked over to the Registration area to turn in our data sheet and get our badges and info packets. After that we walked around checking out some of the booths,
A little after 5pm Nick and Terry came by to pick us up and we drove up to Luckie’s Thai, one of our favorite local Asian places. We discovered this place several years ago, and always go back when we’re in town.
Although the food is delicious, they’re not the most organized place. The girl taking your order at the window will stop and take a phone-in order in the middle of taking your order, and your food comes out in dribbles and drabs, i.e., first Jan’s Sesame Chicken came out, then about 5 minutes later, my General Tso’s Chicken. Then about 5 minutes later, our Coconut Ice Cream desserts, which I sent back to hold in the freezer. Finally about 10 minutes after that, the Hot and Sour Soup I ordered.
But it was all good.
Getting back home, I worked on our upcoming seminar. It’s called Gate Guarding For Fun? and Profit, and will be held on Wednesday the 11th in the Old Pueblo Hall, Room 1 at 11:30am. So check us out.
Tomorrow is the first day here that the vendors are open, so Jan and I will be checking them out early. Then at 1pm I have a meeting for the seminar speakers, followed at 3pm with the official opening get-together for the rally.
A busy day.
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Thought for the Day:
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotle
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Here at the Escapade in Tucson . . .
Never could get the entire blog to post. More tomorrow.
