Our RV Adventures

Afternoon Since we had a 300 mile trip to Amarillo today, and just like yesterday, we would lose another hour moving into Central Daylight Time, we wanted to get an early start this morning, or at least earlier than normal for us. Plus we also wanted to make a fuel stop at the Flying J about 5 miles down the road.

The Flying J website said they had 8 RV lanes, but they didn’t. They only had 2, and those 2 were out of service because they were redoing the concrete pad around the pumps. So I had to circle around the parking lot, back out on the street, and then into the truck pump area.

The fill-up went smoothly, and with my RV Plus Card, I got 7 cents off the cash price, ;for a cost of $2.72 a gallon. Not bad.

Jan had followed me in the truck from the park, and after I was finished fueling and pulled around front and off to the side, she pulled in behind me so we could hook up. But first we went inside to pick up a couple of Cinnabon’s for the road.

While I was there I also checked for green diesel antifreeze, once again with no luck. All they had was red and pink/purple. The pink/purple is red antifreeze with an SCA charge added. Still no good for my use.

We were finally on the way about 9am Albuquerque time / 10am Amarillo time. It was so cool and overcast that I didn’t fool with the genset / transfer switch to run the AC’s We again just had the fans on, and windows open, and it was very nice. In fact, when I checked the temp in the coach at a rest stop about noon, it was still only 73 degrees inside. I did start up the genset and let it run for about 20 minutes just to check it out. Of course since we weren’t on shore power, the transfer switch didn’t switch over, but at this point I really didn’t expect it to.

So, after a nice, smooth trip, we pulled into the Amarillo Ranch RV Park a few minutes after 3pm. Since we had reservations, we were quickly checked in and guided to our site. We last stayed here in 2010, and they still had us in their computer system,

After we got everything set up, and we rested up, we headed out for dinner at Coyote Bluff Cafe about 4:30. Coyote Bluff is a ramshackle burger joint that Nick and Terry Russell told us about. We first ate here about six weeks ago on our way back to Illinois for our Memorial Day family reunion.

It was really great then, and maybe even better this time, since we hadn’t just driven 750 miles, and weren’t dead tired like last time.

I started out with a cup of their Green Chile Stew, which before La Salita last night, would have been really good. But the Green Chile Stew at La Salita was so much better, it overwhelmed tonight’s by comparison. So tonight’s was just good.

As far as burgers, I had the regular Bacon Cheese Burger,

while Jan got the Mushroom Cheddar Burger with Grilled Onions.

These things were delicious, but so big that we both felt like we were going to have to unhinge our jaws like a python to get our mouth around it.. We ended up kind of eating our way in from the top and the bottom just to make headway.

And along with our burgers we got a basket of half and half Fries and Onion Rings, both made in-house, and really good.

Coyote Bluff only has about a dozen tables and is usually on a wait. We first got there at 4:50 and finding the parking lot empty, realized they didn’t open for dinner until 5. So we checked out a couple of nearby auto parts stores for antifreeze (still no luck).

When we pulled back into the parking lot at 5:01, there were almost a dozen cars there, and we got the last open table. Now that’s busy.

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Thought for the Day:

I suspect there should be a Happy Face on this sign.

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We ended up making today a shopping/movie/dinner day. There was a lot of stuff we wanted to see, but we didn’t feel that one afternoon would do it justice. Jan had already said she wanted to spend more time here on our next trip through.

We headed out about 12:30, but just as we were ready to leave the park, I got a call back from my transfer switch company. I had left a message with them this morning about my problem.

The guy said he hadn’t heard of this problem before but agreed with me that it had to be in the little control board that looks for genset power coming in and pulls in the genset contactor when it does. The board is still under warranty, but I’ll have to figure out where to have them send it.

Our next stop was at a Sam’s Club for a few things. One thing interesting was that there was a Costco right next door. Never saw that before.

Finishing up at Sam’s, we headed out looking for a SuperCuts. I was starting to get into ponytail territory since I hadn’t had a haircut since we left Houston the end of February, and Jan’s last one was in Las Vegas, so we were both due. The first one we found was out of business, but the second one was up and running. So now we have that taken care of.

We haven’t been to a movie in a good while, so today we decided to see “Inside Out”, the latest animation from Pixar. We both thought it was very good, and very well done. It’s written on several different levels, so there’ plenty for young kids to laugh about. and plenty for adults to think about.

The story follows the emotions inside the head of Riley, an 11 year old girl as she suffers through the pain and anguish of moving across the country with her family. The emotions, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Sadness, along with Joy, the leader, bicker over the control of Riley’s feelings and memories.

It’s a really good movie for kids and adults alike. Well recommended.

Our next stop was a quick one, at a NAPA Auto Parts, looking for green diesel antifreeze. And as I have found it’s getting harder and harder to find the green over the newer red. So this winter I’ll probably drain my green and replace it with red, and then I won’t  have to worry about it.

Our final stop was for dinner at La Salita. We’d tried here last night, but they don’t open for dinner until 5pm, so we were back tonight. And I’m really glad we made the second trip.

Like many of other favorite places, La Salita is tucked away, but was still easy to find due to the large crowd waiting outside in the parking lot when we arrived about 6pm. We got our names on the list, and luckily found an empty bench to wait. Our forecasted 30 minute wait turned out to be only 20, and we were quickly seated.

Looking over the menu, Jan immediately zeroed in on the four different kinds of Chile Rellenos, Cheddar Cheese, Swiss Cheese, Avocado, and Naked (A Naked Chile Relleno is not breaded and fried, just served warm). She ended up ordering a two Relleno plate, one with Cheddar Cheese and one with Avocado.

For me, I quickly noticed the Green Chile Stew, so I knew I wanted a bowl of that. For the rest, I went with the #1 Combo, with a Cheddar Cheese Relleno and Cheese Enchilada.

My Green Chile Stew showed up quickly, and was delicious.

I shared several spoonfuls with Jan, and we both agreed that there was an unusual taste or spice that we hadn’t encountered before.

Just about the time I had finished up the stew, our entrees showed up. Perfect timing.

Here’s Jan’s,

and here’s mine,.

Believe me, they were as good as they looked, with everything perfectly seasoned. Nick and Terry really hit a home run on this recommendation.

And speaking of Nick and Terry, we had been talking to the manager about the spice we couldn’t identify (and we never did) and Jan mentioned that we were RV’ers, and another RV’er had told us about this place. When he saw me taking pictures of the food for our blog, he asked for the URL, so I gave him my card. At the same time Jan mentioned that he should check out the other blogs on the right hand side, especially the Gypsy Journal Blog.

And he says, “Gypsy Journal, Gypsy Journal. I remember them!”

Is Nick unforgettable, or what?

Tomorrow we’ve got a 300 mile trip to Amarillo where we’ll spend two nights, before heading out to Pauls Valley, OK for a few days.

Just moving on.

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Thought for the Day;

“What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.” – Edward Langley

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