We're HOME in Flushing

Easter Sunday found us at the Quartzsite Assembly of God Church for Easter Services. We left Quartzsite, Arizona on Monday, April 9, 2012,  around noon to start the BIG TRIP home via Dallas, Texas.

A Coyote (our first in the Quartzsite area) came to say goodbye along with a Mourning Dove.   Could there be a connection?   Was one chasing the other?  We'll never know.   We finished our tasks at the "dump and fill" at the La Posa Long Term Visitor Area and drove into Quartzsite, topped off the gas tanks, and headed East on I-10.  We enjoyed our time "boon-docking" in the desert.  We hope to return another year.  But it was now time... - time to attend to "other things."  Our renters would be leaving our Florida mobile soon and we need to go "close the place up."  Besides, we wanted to visit with Sheryl's sister and her husband in Lakeland.

Gas in Quartzsite is $3.95 per gallon.  The price dropped a little as we headed east, but not much.  $3.79 maybe.  The truck gets 8 mpg on a good day pulling the travel trailer.   IF there's a head wind, it drops to 5.  If we are climbing a "grade," the mileage drops to 3.  That's just the way it is.  SO, if we can travel with a "tailwind," AND the terrain is relatively level, our fuel economy increases to 9-11 mpg.  The wind and terrain make that much difference.  Many times our trip is measured in the number of fuel stops.

After many fuel stops, we made it to the Walmart at Deming, New Mexico after dark Monday evening.  We located a level spot, put the slides out, and went to bed.

We parked out in front, near where this picture was taken next to 15 other RV's and some other "strange vehicles."  I wish I would think to take a picture of the "strange vehciles" but sometimes it feels like I'm intruding into other people's privacy and intruding into their difficulties.  I realize that some folks choose to live the life they live but I still feel sorry for them.

You'd be surprised how many single people we have seen traveling and camping.   Neither Sheryl nor I would want to do that if we didn't have each other.   But everyone does their "thing."

We didn't sleep all that well at the Deming Walmart because there was a TRAIN TRACK close by and trains ran EVERY 2 HOURS..   They blow two longs, a short, and a long from their air horns as they pass each crossing.   We KNEW when the trains were going through town.  Oh well..  Some folks would rather stay in a campground of some sort.  We've done that too, only to discover a railroad track 200 yards behind the campground with trains running on it. It's our choice to save the money we'd pay for a campground for other things.

Tuesday April 10, we headed east to Las Cruces, New Mexico and then South toward El Paso.  Once we had transited El Paso, we were on a part of I-10 we had not been on before because of our "detour" to Carlsbad Caverns.  The truck demanded "go-juice" on the south side of El Paso so we obliged at a truck stop.  We had to refuel our tummies also.  Sometimes in our travels we ate at Wendy's or McDonalds or Burger King or fixed something in the travel trailer.  Don't eat at Del Taco (our opinion)!!  When we were in Florida, I installed an inverter that converts battery power to AC.  We are able to run the microwave for a short time without hauling out the generator - it makes things a little more convenient when traveling.

Traveling I-10 is interesting because the Mexico border is quite close by between El Paso and McNary, Texas.  Here's a picture from Google of the fence at Fort Hancock, Texas:

Don't those Texas town names sound just like names out of a Louie L'amour novel?  We tried to see "the fence" again but it wasn't "that close" - a couple of miles away.  When we did see it, it was just a rusty brown streak against the landscape.

Then there was the "gas station call" at Van Horn, Texas. 

I had the worst Chicken Wrap ever at a Wendy's combination gas station, bus stop.  Every other Wendy's has been great, but that one made their wrap EXTREMELY spicy and VERY dry. I couldn't eat it, so we circled around to the opposite end of town to the McDonald's to get a burger.

When we started to go back to the freeway, the truck had NO POWER.  Oh no!  What was wrong.  I'd press on the gas all the way down and we were only going about 10 mph and it felt like we were dragging an anchor.   What does a man do when that happens?  You get out and look things over.  I stepped back to where the truck was hooked to the trailer and noticed a small, thin cable dragging.  IT WAS THE BREAK-AWAY switch wire.  A break-away switch is a safety feature that engages the ELECTRIC trailer brakes IF your trailer ever becomes accidentally unhooked while you are merrily driving down the road.  I hope you get the picture.  

Somehow, the wire had tripped the emergency switch and THE TRAILER BRAKES WERE ON FULLY.  Five minutes later I had it fixed and we were headed east on I-10 again.  Van Horn, Texas was in our rear-view mirrors.   I get to remember that west-Texas town for two reasons now - the other reason was that was where we turned to go to Carlsbad Caverns and GUADALUPE PASS..  but that was in another blog.

Sheryl and I were going exit I-10 about 60 miles east of Van Horn and take I-20 towards Dallas.  I pondered the "lay of the land" as we had never been on that road before.  I was concerned about the number and steepness of the hills and mountains.  After about 10 miles on I-20 we went through a pass and the country opened up into a HUGE VALLEY and that was the end of any serious hill climbing.  Praise the Lord.

Pretty soon we started seeing oil wells.

Then there were oil wells everywhere and we knew we were getting near our next overnight stop - another Walmart in Midland, Tx.

There were no oils wells or trains near the parking lot and we slept a little better than in Deming.

Wednesday April 11we were up and ready to make the trip to the Dallas-Fort Worth metro-plex and a little town called Boyd - 30 miles northwest of the metro area.  We planned to visit some  of our relatives and friends.

Before we got to Dallas we started passing what seemed like a Bazillion wind turbines.   We discovered that Sweetwater, Texas is the self-proclaimed capital of wind turbines.   They were literally everywhere..  over 2000 of them. 

We thought:  "Who financed all of this?"  Google told me that the Chinese did..  and all the wind turbines were made in China so the jobs that were expected to be created here in the good 'ole USA didn't really materialize.

A phone call was made and we got great directions to where to my grand-niece's house, north of Boyd, from her mom - my niece Cheryl - and we found her daughter's 5 acre spread quite easily.  We parked the trailer next to her fifth wheel in the yard and said "hello" to Cheryl.  Later when Ashlee got home, we said "howdy"

We hadn't seen her for quite awhile and it was nice to get "caught up.".  Cheryl is a kindergarten teacher and her husband Ed is an inspector for a company that trouble-shoots septic fields.  We were invited to head over to her place where her Ed was "working" with a Mustang horse that had been captured out of the wild and was being "trained" for a show.  I got so caught up in the training that I never thought to get the camera out.   But I did take these pictures of their horse "setup" later.

After dinner at Ashlee's house - Ashlee is our grand-niece, we hit the sack.   It was quiet and peaceful and we "slept in" the next morning but not for too long for we were to travel 2.5 hours to the other side of the metro-plex to Athens, Texas to visit with Sheryl's aunt and cousins, the McIntyre's.   On the way back from Athens, we stopped to see Craig and Brenda Cain in the Dallas suburb of Colleyville.   Craig was in TFC's way back when, played keys in SonShine and is a natural born entertainer.  We met Brenda at an Upper Penninsula Teen Camp called Northwoods where her mom was the program director. Brenda's mom now lives in Light and Life Park where we have a mobile.  We had a great day traveling and renewing acquaintances.

On Friday morning, I hooked up the truck to the trailer and we visited with Cheryl and Ashlee until around 3 pm when we left for Denton, Texas to meet up with another TFC friend from the "good ole days" - a guy named Mark Baker.   Mark was in TFC's in the EARLY 70's and also helped direct the choirs for a time.  We met him and his wife Vicky at a Panera in Denton.  Mark is one of the top ten high school choral directors in Texas.  After a great two-hour "renew," we said goodbye to Mark and Vicky and we headed East again.  After driving for awhile, we found a Walmart in Sulphur Springs, Texas.

Sulphur Springs is small enough that if you are young and have a truck, the thing to do on Friday night is congregate in the Walmart parking lot, talk with your friends and make muffler noise.  Somebody must have called the local cops, because the congregating and mufflering didn't last long.  They all got asked to leave.   We found a "quiet?" spot behind the garden section and settled in the for the night.

Saturday found us motoring across Arkansas.   All I can think about is the police officer who pulled over a guy in Arkansas and asked:  "You got any ID?"   And the guy from Arkansas answered:  "'Bout what? 
Sorry.. :)

We made it to the "boot" of Missouri by nightfall and..  you guessed it:   ANOTHER WALMART in Sikeston.  The favorite local "thing" to do was sit in the Walmart parking lot with your truck doors open with your sound system cranked.   Fortunately, the young man with the truck doors open finally picked up whoever he was waiting for and they drove off.

For you who may be thinking we are taking advantage of the Walmart's, we always call and get permission to stay.   And we usually buy stuff while we are there.   We also buy a lot of Walmart gas.   We get their parking lot for a short time and THEY get our money.   It's the American dream.

We woke up Sunday morning to a LOT OF WIND.   But praise the Lord, it was out of the SOUTH and we were going basically NORTH which meant it would be at our backs.  It reminds me of an old RV'ers prayer..  "may the wind be at your back..."  Okay - it's not an old RV'ers prayer.   Or is it just for RV'ers who are old?

Breakfast at McDonald's and a visit to our first ALDI Grocery Store since leaving Mississippi back in February for the special coffee creamer that Sheryl likes, and we were back on the road again.   Our destination was Goshen, Indiana - the birthplace of our travel trailer.   We had an appointment Monday morning and it was going to take a full day of traveling to get there.   We listened to some great preaching on various radio stations all morning.  The noonday meal was at a Cracker Barrel where -- get this -- they were OUT OF MEATLOAF!   How can Cracker Barrel be out of MEATLOAF.   Everything else was good though.

The WIND got windier for the rest of the day and Monday.  Winds from the south south west at 20-30 gusting to 40 and 50.   There were times we could feel the wind hit the trailer from the side but we kept going straight down the road, thanks to our Hensley Hitch.  The trailer follows the truck quite nicely.

Time passed, it was late Sunday afternoon, and by now we were in Indiana on I-69 at the Marion exit preparing to take some back roads to shorten the trip.   It got dark quickly and half way between Marion and Goshen, we got a detour.  The trip was a little longer than expected but we made it safely to another Walmart parking lot on the east side of Goshen.  It was bedtime.

The next morning we discovered that we were less than a mile from the Sabre Travel Trailer Factory so after our McDonald's stop, we drove to the plant and looked up our contact person.   Let me say how pleased we are with Sabre and Gary Griegsby.  They looked at a couple of problems we had with the trailer and said:  "We'll fix it" even though the trailer was out of warranty.   We even got a tour of the facility and watched the crew making fifth wheels and trailers.   It was interesting to say the least. And there was no charge for the repairs.

It was early afternoon Monday, April 16th when we left Goshen.  The GPS said we had less than four hours to go to Flushing.   I guess the trip had to end sometime so, with the winds still at our backs, we pointed the truck toward home, arriving around 8 PM. The rig is back in the front driveway and we've unloaded the 'frig and freezer, but the rest can wait a day.

Friday we're going to the RV show in Saginaw with Jim and Beryl 'cause we got some free tickets from Phillips RV in Mount Morris.   That's where we bought our RV and they are great people. 

Some reflections:
1.  It is really weird seeing all these Michigan license plates after being gone for six months.
2.  We're trying to adjust to all the space in the house after living in the travel trailer.
3.  Has anyone considered putting "slide-outs" on houses.   Guess you'd have to own a travel trailer to understand that one.
4.  If we do this again, we probably won't go back to Maine or anywhere near New York or New Jersey.  The roads are terrible.
5.  We'd like to camp in the Ocala National Forest again.   Big Bass Campground was nice.
6.  If we go out west again, we will pick up a couple more solar panels.  They work!
7.  There are a number of things we don't need to take with us.

It's been a wonderful six months - from Maine to Florida to Western Arizona and back.   We found some more great places to camp.  We hope to do it again - maybe this Fall.   We'll see what the future brings.

We Lost It!

Well, we lost the trailer.... then we found it.

What happened?  Last Saturday, our two-week limit for camping at Dome Rock was up so we said "good bye" to Dome Rock (six miles west of Quartzsite) and we headed back to the La Posa LTVA (long term visitor area), two miles south of Quartzsite.   We paid our $40 for two weeks and headed for the "twins" - "dump and fill."  We took on water after dumping our holding tanks, moved 100 yards from the water fill area, hooked up the generator and proceeded to do laundry.   We kept repeating the process (dump - fill - move a 100 yards, and wash clothes) until we were done with washing.   At that point, we parked the trailer where we intended to stay for the next couple of weeks.   It's a nice spot with a LOT LESS DUST.

As the clothes were still wet, we headed for Quartzsite for a laundromat.  By now it was dark and when we returned to the camping area, we drove down the road and could NOT find the unit.   It was pitch black.  We turned around and drove back to the entrance to the camping area, periodically shining our truck headlights off the road -  much to the consternation of other campers.   We could not find our rig.  Finally after the 4th drive on the road, we located it.  Whew!   We live to camp another day.

We've had a couple of real nice campfires and have grilled out a couple of times.  Those steaks looked as big as the state of Deleware and were one inch thick.  Yum Yum.   Thank you Safeway Grocery for reducing the prices of meat instead of throwing it out AND then taking an additional 30% off.   

A couple of days later, we took a "road trip" down to YUMA, AZ made famous because in the old West, the territorial prison was in Yuma.  The Army has a HUGE testing ground on the north side of Yuma.   West of Yuma is the area where WWII General George Patton trained his tank corp for defeating Rommel in the desert.   Yuma has a large population of snowbirds, lots of great restaurants, a Walmart, and is also close to the Mexican-American border.

We had heard of a place near Yuma called Algodones, Mexico where Americans walk across the border by the hundreds and thousands everyday to take advantage of high quality dental and optical work, and low cost prescription drugs.   It sounds scary but we have talked with people who go there regularly and say that the quality is excellent and that it is safe.   So, as we travelled just west of Yuma, we took the exit that said "Mexico - Algodones Road"  We took the last U-turn before Mexico after seeing the huge parking lot where people could park and take the walk.   Maybe next year after we renew our passports.

After viewing the crossing to Algodones, we went a little further west (we were now in California) until we got to Pilot Knob BLM Camping area.

There were very few units in the campground when we were there.

We checked out the area and noticed a road alongside the BLM headed south.   Sheryl said:   "Let's go see the fence."  You know the "FENCE."   The one between the U.S. and Mexico.  So down the road we went.   About 4 miles later, we were in view of the canal that runs along the border and the fence in the background.  I took some of pictures. 

 This was the view as we came down the road and over a slight rise.

The brown strip on the other side of the canal is the FENCE.  The canal is U.S. Territory.  It would be tough to cross because it's deep and wide.

As I got back in the truck, I noticed a Border Patrol truck about 1/8 of a mile away coming toward us.   I turned the truck around, headed back up the gravel road, looked in the rear-view mirror and lo and behold, Mr. Border Patrol was right there behind me.  So the two of us went all the way back to the beginning of the road at 12 miles per hour.   I pulled off the road to make a computer adjustment, he went by me and that was the last of that.   He never pulled me over but that was sure on my mind.

We had another BLM camping area - Imperial Dam - to check out, a half hour north of Yuma, so we got back on I-8 headed east toward Yuma.   We took the exit we needed and headed north through some of the most lush country we had seen.   The Imperial Valley.   Imperial Valley grows all kinds of veggies because of the irrigation canals that extend outward from the Colorado River.

We will miss the extremely fresh red, yellow, and green peppers that we've been able to purchase here in Quartzite that come from the Imperial Valley and nearby Mexico.

One half hour after exiting I-8, we arrived in the Imperial Dam area.   There are a number of different camping areas..  each one is a little different.   After checking them out, we realized we liked Kripple Creek - nice camp sites and wild burros. 

Kripple Creek doesn't have a water or dump station but is free for 14 days. 

The other one was Senator Wash. 

Senator Wash is $40 for two weeks, $80 for four weeks, or $180 for SEVEN MONTHS.  Senator Wash Campground has washrooms, dumpsites, and fresh water.   We talked with a guy who had come from New York State and had been there since November.   He loved it.   Even though there might have been 500-600 units during January and February, it wasn't too crowded.  

Another feature was the water.  Senator Wash is also on the Senator Resevoir.

There were a limited number of spots down on the beach and on the other side of the Resevoir you can camp for 14 days free.  Then you can come back to the fee area just above the beach area.  We think that might be a place we'd like to camp if we come back another year.

We found other places to camp within the Imperial Dam area but we enjoyed Kripple Creek and Senator Wash the most.   It was a great day and a nice ride home.

The sky clouded over for the trip home and we were within 20 miles of our camper when we went by a sign on Route 95 north that said:   "Palm Canyon - Kofa National Wildlife Area."  Notice I said I went by the sign.   Sheryl noticed the sign too and said "let's check it out!"   Now you have to understand that once an Allen gets a goal in mind (like getting back to the camper), it's very hard to "turn around."   But I turned around.  4 miles back down a dusty gravel road we came to a Camp Host trailer and a sign that said:

And...

As we drove the four miles - the gps said we climbed about a thousand feet to the base of the mountains to Palm Canyon.  We shot pictures and admired the view.   We were about to leave when the Sun came out - so we reshot the pictures and I'm so glad we did.   They turned out great.

An additional note about the Kofa Wildlife Refuge.   The 4 miles into the refuge is on BLM land and there were LOTS of places to pull over and camp.   Once inside the Kofa, you can get a permit to camp for 14 days free inside the Refuge..

and we found some choice spots along side the road to the base of the mountains.

We found a church in Quartzsite today hosting the ministerial Good Friday Service at Noon.   It was great to attend and enjoy, not haveing to plan and participate in it for a change.  After a late lunch at the trailer, we headed back to the Kofa NWR to drive to the other canyon - Kofa Queen Canyon.   The "road" (more like a quad-runner two-track) wasn't so swell, but lo and behold, at the end of it was an enormous canyon, like you might see in a Western movie.  According to my DeLorme Topo Map program, the peaks on either side of us were one thousand feet above us.  We parked the truck at the entrance to the canyon and walked a quarter mile inside.   It was QUIET.  We enjoyed the views.   I thought about taking pictures but I knew that it would be impossible to convey what we saw in a photo.  Another ride back down a dusty trail and into town for dinner at the Q-Cafe (Q stands for Quartzsite).   We may wind up there Easter Sunday after service.  Their special is going to be ham and scalloped potatoes.  yum yum.

We may leave Quartzsite and start home on Monday with a major stopover in Dallas, Texas to visit relatives and friends.   Then a stop in Goshen, Indiana to get a couple of things fixed on the travel trailer and then finally home to Flushing.  We'll see how things go.  Our plans have changed many times before.   Whatever things turn out to be, I'm sure it will be some sort of an adventure.