Happy Thanksgiving

It's that time of the year again.  All the Christmas sales are going on and the TV is full of sales ads.  That must mean it's Thanksgiving time already.  Gerry and I will be having dinner at the clubhouse here at CCRV, the same as the last 7 years.  The RV park provides the turkeys, mashed potatoes and gravy.  All the attendees bring a side dish or dessert and there usually more food than we all can eat.
 I expect this to be the case again this thanksgiving.

This year will find the Clark family all over the place with Cassie & Jack going to Bethany Beach, DE; Larry, Jane and Grant in Mint Hill, NC while Barbara & Henry will be in Concord, NC.  I am not sure where Darlene & Tom are going this year, but hope they have a Happy Thanksgiving wherever they are.

When we had the house in Maryland, it was always a big party at Thanksgiving and more food than could possibly be eaten.  The football games were on TV and there was bedlam in the house.  We loved it all while it lasted, but the children now have their own families and traditions.  Maybe next year we will join them like we did two years ago.  Tell Henry to get the extension leaf ready for the table again.  

We also want to take this opportunity to wish all our friends and family a Happy Thanksgiving.  Gerry's family had a favorite saying for the holiday:  "Happy Gibbens" and it is fondly remembered in our house.

Thanksgiving 1963

Left to right:  Rose Marie Brabec Kotzman, Darlene Brabec McArthur, Barbara Brabec, Jerry Brabec, Don Kotzman, Cody Zarr & Larry Clark.  Rose Marie & Darlene are Gerry's sisters, Barbara & Jerry are her parents, Don Kotzman was a bil and Cody was her Uncle.  Gerry took the picture.  Barbara & Cassie Clark, along with Jerry Kotzman were in the kitchen eating their turkey dinners.   

  

Visitors & a roundup

Sunday morning we received an unexpected call from friends Pat & Steve F.  We last saw them in Red Bay, AL. and went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant with them.  Well, they had just arrived in Tucson and were staying a couple days at the Pima County Fairgrounds campground.  Pat wanted to meet with us and go out to dinner at a "Mexican" restaurant.  She has been dying for some good Southwest cooking and figured it didn't come much better than here in Tucson.

Last spring the Rancho Rustico restaurant opened up a couple miles from us, so we setup a dinner reservation for Sunday evening after church service.  They arrived right on time and we sat down to non stop chatting with them.  They have been on the go since Red Bay and visited friends in Colorado Springs and checked out Santa Fe, NM and fell in love with the town.  They had planned on staying longer in that area but the forecast was for cold weather and snow.  Not to their liking.

We all enjoyed our meals and Pat was thoroughly pleased with the place.  They serve a huge plate of food and it's almost impossible to eat it all.  However, we all managed to clean our plates except for Pat.  Piker!   After the meal we sat around and chatted some more and will keep track of each other's travels and hopefully meet up with them somewhere next spring.  They will be volunteering at the Lost Dutchman in Apache Junction for a few months.  We are thinking we will be able to meet them somewhere in-between here and there before departure time for each of us.
 
I was forced to go grocery shopping by myself today and got everything except for buying the wrong pumpkin pie mix.  Not bad for me.  On the way to the store I was in the middle of a cattle roundup by a Tucson policeman.  There was a lone steer running down Houghton Rd on the wrong side of the fence.  I tried to block it with the car, but that didn't work.  I hoped to herd it thru the entrance to the park, but the cattle guard did it's job and the steer beat a hasty retreat behind the car and continued down the road toward I-10 and El Paso.  I think the policeman needed a lasso to retrieve this steer.  Hopefully, it didn't get onto I-10 and cause an accident.  I guess we'll check the news tonight.

These ones are on the right side of the fence.

 
It looks like we will be on our 5th campground manager this year.  The couple who managed the park the last few years split up and she ran the park for the last 6-7 months.  We found out today that she will be leaving within the next couple weeks and I assume someone else with take over the position.  

Each has averaged less than two years on the job here at CCRV.  It shows since each year there are fewer and fewer snowbirds in the park and more permanent people.  While I understand the need for year around income for the park, it seems like the more permanent residents, the less friendly the park is.  Many of the permanent ones work and don't socialize and that becomes a problem as fewer snowbirds show up.  Too bad, this used to be a nice friendly park with many activities and nice people.  That's not to say the permanent people aren't nice, they just tend to keep to themselves.

I won't be that friendly either starting next Monday with my knee operation scheduled to take place at 7:30am and PT scheduled for later in the same day.  YUK!

Happy Birthday Stephanie

Our granddaughter Stephanie is celebrating a birthday this month, week & day.  She has always expected and most of the time been able to stretch her birthday celebration to a month.  Since her family pet name is "The Princess", she has been able to pull it off.

It's been a pleasure to watch her grow from a young child into a beautiful woman.  She is our daring grandchild, rather than her three brothers.  She has gone spelunking in a cave, cave crawling, parasailing and most reeently sky diving.  In addition, she has a heavy foot and loves to run in the high speed lane.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPH

Steph & Shawn

 Today she attended the NC State, ECU football game.   One of her brothers attended NC State and another ECU.  See how daring she is?  Which one will she pull for?  How will she keep peace in the family?  Of course, she will be able to sweet talk around whichever way she must  Way to go, Steph!

I hope she had better weather in North Carolina for her birthday than we had here in Tucson.  We've gotten about 2 inches of rain the last couple days here in the desert.  The sun hasn't shined for 2 days and at times it feels like we are in Oregon or Washington.   They are calling for clearing Sunday evening and we should be back to our sunny and warm days.  I hope. 

Dinners, Doctors & Dozing off

I've been working around the motorhome finishing up all the little tasks that need to be done before December 2.  It seems I complete one task and two more popup awaiting their turn.  I thought selling the house would make all these jobs of the past, but it's not so.  At least it gives me something to do in my spare time.

I had my pre-op exam with Dr. Dixon who will perform my right knee replacement in just over a week.  He must be a great doctor since we had to wait over an hour just to get escorted back to the examining room.  He swooped in and got right down to what was going to happen to me in the next 6-7 weeks or so.  Most of what he covered wasn't new to me since it was the same as when the left knee was replaced in February.  There was one added information that he gave me that didn't make me that happy.  Since both knees were bothering me in Feb., the pain of the right knee helped mask the pain of the operation on the left knee.  Now I don't have that counter balancing effect, which might be a problem with pain.

After the doctor appointment Gerry and I scoured the paint stores and hardware stores for a wood pallet.  I built a platform out of a pallet for the last knee operation and it helped a lot getting into and out of the motor home.  We finally found a nice free pallet at a neighborhood Walmart store and they graciously gave us permission to take a pallet.  Thanks Walmart.

Then it was on to Home Depot to pick up some cheap plywood to place on the pallet.  I only need the platform for a month or so and chose to buy some panel board and have it cut to size to cover the pallet.  The Home Depot worker kept trying to sell me a $25 sheet of plywood and had numerous reasons for not buying what I did.  Longer lasting, stronger, etc., etc.  I doubled up on the cheap wood last time and it worked fine, so I went with it this time also.  Then he tried to convince me to apply for a Home Depot credit card.   The cashier also tried to get me to accept one.  Nope, that is what I have Visa & AM EXP for and they work in many places, not just Home Depot.

Then it was on to Guadalajara Fiesta Grill for Happy Hour and to meet friends Ron & Dee C for dinner.  Since I will be laid up for a month more or less, we have been going to some of our favorite places for dinner.  That will have to stop soon or I won't pass my pre-op physical on Monday morning at 7:30 AM.  ( What's wrong with those people expecting me there so early?)   We had a great time chugging a few beers and margaritas with Ron & Dee and staggered out of there after 6:00PM.  Whew, those 22 oz Dos Equis's go down smooth and Gerry enjoyed her huge margarita.  

Fresh Salsa made at your table.

 Ron & Dee think like we do about the meals at the restaurant.  The dinners are huge and too much for one person to eat, so we order a dinner and an appetizer.  Even at that, we brought enough food home for a large lunch today.  Thank God we have space in the frig.  I know we will be back there as soon as my knee heals, so that will give me something to look forward to.

We used to go to TGIF at the Marine House when we lived overseas and Larry Jr. would comment that I always got "sleepy" after 3-4 hours of drinking then going out for a late dinner.  Well, history repeated itself tonight.  I could hardly keep my eyes open.

I would be remiss if I didn't wish our good friend Judy R a happy birthday on Friday.  I don't understand why she ages so well and I don't.   It might be that she started off at a much higher level with good looks than I did.  In any case:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUDY

That was our day, how was yours?

  

Birthday Lunch with Ron & Dee

This was coffee and donuts day at the park and we went up for the freebies.  There is a lucky buck drawing where people buy tickets for a dollar and then put the tickets into a bucket.  Ron C was selected to draw out the winning number and managed to draw his own number and won $33.  What a way to start your birthday celebration.  Way to go Ron.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RON!

Gerry joined the sewing club group for their usual Tuesday sewing session.  Since she had to take her sewing machine, I gave her a ride to the clubhouse.  Then we set it up for her to call me to pick her up after the sewing session.  For some reason our ATT phone didn't ring even though she called me 4 times.  When it finally did ring I picked her up and she wanted to know what happened.  We tested the phone and it didn't ring when she called it twice.  We finally changed it over to "outdoor setting" and it worked.  Go figure.

We joined Ron & Dee C for a late lunch at the Red Robin restaurant in Tucson Mall.  It is the only Red Robin in Tucson and Gerry and I didn't even know it was there.  We all had a very nice meal and left full to the gills.  The only downer was a woman in a booth behind us with a young child who screamed and carried on for the longest time.  Since I don't hear that well, it didn't bother me at all.  

After the late lunch and sitting around chatting at the restaurant we came home in rush hour traffic.  I must admit, after fighting Washington, DC rush hour for 25 years, the traffic on I-10 wasn't that bad.  As long as there isn't an accident, the traffic moves smoothly.

When we got back to the motorhome I managed to make it to my easy chair and take a nap.  I had to get ready for watching tv in the evening.  Job accomplished.

I talked to my brother in Illinois to tell him about a cousin of ours and how close the tornado came to him.  The cousin lives in Washington, IL and they were at ground zero.  When I told brother about the tornado he said he knew about it and was right in there with the bad weather.  He picked Sunday to deliver a lathe to Mason City, IL which was right in the path of destruction.  He managed to unload the lathe and then found shelter from the terrible wind, rain and hail.  He said he could hardly keep the pickup on the road it was so strong.  Scary!

We just finished watching "Person Of Interest" on tv and Gerry is upset about what happened on this episode.  They had put out teasers about one of the main cast members not making it through tonight.  The ending wasn't what she expected and it made her upset.

That was our day, how was yours?  Hope it was a great one for you.

Sunsets & Myths

We spent the day watching some football and then decided to go for a bike ride.  We had both of our bikes worked on last week and had some pieces replaced, new bike seats (old ones destroyed by hail) and an overall tuneup.  Today was the time to see if all the money spent on the bikes was well spent and if they would be ready for the road again.  They were, but I am so out of shape that it will take some time to build up my leg strength again.  I only have two weeks, so it will be close whether it will work out in time.

Getting ready for the Tour de CCRV

 We rode around the park a bit and Gerry managed to capture some nice sunset pictures.

Our son-in-law Henry has worked in the food service industry for a number of years and for many of those years his company made fruit cakes.  There was a story going around that there were only fifty fruit cakes in the whole of the U.S. and they were regifted every year.  I finally was able to disprove this theory when I was in Sam's Club.  They had a pallet of Claxton Fruit Cakes for sale and when I went back a day later, the pallet was still there and full of fruit cakes.  I picked one off the pallet and put it in the shopping cart.

An old neighbor of ours was from Claxton, Georgia and bragged on these fruit cakes for many years.  In reality, Gerry loves these fruit cakes and looks forward each Christmas season to buy one.

The new TV is working fine and I think we are keeping it.  Not positive, but it's looking that way more and more.  I will have to cut a couple inches from the brace and lower the tv, but it will be workable.  Just another task to put in the job jar and have it finished in the next two weeks, or ---. 

New TV & Visitors

Ron & Dee C came by Friday afternoon and I jumped into their beautiful Ford pickup.  It looks and rides more like a Lincoln than the old pickups I am used to.  It has more electronics, bells and whistles than a fully loaded car.  

The three of us were on a mission to buy a tv at Sam's Club after Gerry and I talked over the pros and cons of three 42" tvs we checked out on Thursday.  We settled on the JVC 42" Smart tv and we loaded it into the back of their pickup for the long drive back to the campground.  Ron helped me unload the tv and bring it into the motorhome.  They hung around for a while and we got caught up on what's been going on with them.  It was very nice of them to help me on this purchase and also provide a delivery service.  Thanks a million.

Ron K came over and we removed the tv in the living room area and replaced it with the new tv.  Ooopss!.   The new tv isn't as tall as the old one and there is an opening beneath it showing the wires and such.  Now we have to decide if we want to keep the tv, rework the braces holding the tv and lowering it, buy a decoration to cover the opening or what to do.

In the meantime we are watching the tv and getting used to using it.  It also has a lot of features including being able to access the internet through an ethernet cable or wireless reception.  They have some apps out there and one of them is Netflix.  Interesting.  I haven't activated this feature since I don't want to run it off the Millenicom wireless setup we have.

Saturday afternoon Sherwin and Linda stopped by for a nice long visit.  They have rented a house a few miles from here and we hope to see more of them this year.  It all depends on how fast my knee heals and I can get back on the road.

Right after they left Ron K stopped by to discuss what the next steps will be with the tv.  We discussed a few options and once we can decide what to do, I hope to finalize the installation.  

Gerry had a hair appointment today and headed over to Nellies for a cut and whatever women do to their hair.  She returned looking like a new and younger woman.  The short haircut looks great on her.  Why doesn't a short haircut look good on me?  No fair!

That was our Friday and Saturday happenings.  What interesting things did you all do today?

Settling in at Cactus Country

There hasn't been much to write about since we arrived here at Cactus Country RV Resort.  We've been settling in and filling the larder, shopping, eating out at Montgomery's in Vail and trying to stay awake past 10PM.  

We have the motorhome all set up for our stay here with our tow bar, brake buddy and associated parts stored away for the next five months.  The wash job we got at the TTT didn't work out very well and now we have a wash and wax job scheduled for Monday.  $$$

Tuesday was coffee and donuts day and seeing some of our friends who have arrived early at the Park.  It was nice seeing them and catching up on what's been going on in their lives since last spring.  They had a lucky buck drawing, however we weren't the lucky winner.   We have won in the past, so we will continue to play when we go there.

We've been shopping for a new 42 inch tv and it seems that there aren't many of them being marketed.  The stores have the plus 46 inch tvs in numbers, but not as much for smaller ones.  We did find three tvs in the range we are interested in at a Sam's Club today and will most likely buy one on Friday.  Gerry can't get used to the 32 inch tv we have now and prefers a larger one.  It seems that "smart tvs" are the rage now and there are may choices for them.  Guess that is the way we will go' too.  It's hard to keep up with all the changes in electronics now since they change so fast.

On the way back today we ran into a huge traffic jam.  The police had a major avenue blocked and were routing vehicles into neighborhoods.  We saw a lot of Tucson that we haven't seen before winding our way around those neighborhoods.  The police had K-9 dogs out and also a helicopter flying overhead.  We never did find out what the problem was.

The weather forecast for Friday is for winds in the 30-45 mph range with gusts over 50 mph at times.  They are calling for possible dust storms north of  Tucson and also in the Wilcox area.  I am glad we aren't on the road in those areas.

Tucson has instituted a ticket writing campaign this year.  The following paragraph was taken from the KOLD TV broadcast.
 
"TPD instituted a mandatory minimum, or quota, back in March. Each officer on the street is now required to write at least one traffic ticket a day.
We wanted to know how effective that's been, so we got the numbers.
Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 27 last year, before the quota: TPD wrote almost 25,000 tickets.
In the same eight month time period this year, TPD wrote more than 46,000 tickets; that's an 89 percent increase."

Guess I will have to watch my speed while we are here this winter.  Actually, I drive the speed limit and have gotten dirty looks, one finger waves and everything else.  Tailgating is very common here in the afternoon and people become aggressive on their way home from work.

See, I told you there wasn't much going on around here.  At least we've had super weather with temps in the 80s during the day and cool at night.  Life is good.

Marine Corp Birthday & Veterans Day

When I was an U.S. Foreign Service Officer serving overseas one event we always looked forward to was the Marine Ball celebrating the birthday of the U.S. Marines.  Sunday was the 238th birthday of this proud member of the U.S. Armed Forces and we wish all Marines a happy birthday.  The Marines have a saying that once a Marine, always a Marine.  Semper Fi.

Today is Veterans Day and we honor veterans of all the services who are serving now and those who came before them.  Without their sacrifices, we could not remain a free nation.  

Thanks to all veterans out there.

I got up early and drove the car to a tire repair garage and they immediately took off the tire and removed a 2 inch screw from the tire.  In went a plug to patch the tire and I was out of there in 20 minutes with only $8 missing from my wallet.  Great service and a fair price.

We stopped at the Tucson Truck Terminal (TTT) to fill the diesel tanks since they had an advertised price of $3.67/gallon.  When I pulled up to the pump, it read $3.83/gallon.  Gerry went in to check with the cashier and she said for units over 26,000 lbs it was the higher price.  Why?   Because they can charge it.  No problem, we drove across the street to the brand new Pilot station and filled up for $3.73/gallon.  Guess who we will patronize in the future.

We arrived at CCRV in Tucson today and have signed up for 5 months.  It is about 89 degrees outside and we are sitting in the cool comfort of our a/c.  Yes, it is a dry heat.
 
Time for a beer and some relaxation.  Life is good.  

Catching our breath

Gerry and I have been running low on energy and decided to take a couple days off and relax here in Benson, AZ.  We met Jerry and Suzy for dinner and caught up on what has been going on with them the last few months.  It was good to see them and we met at a local restaurant called Pablos and had a very nice meal to go along with the great company.

We did take some time out from chilling to do a little geocaching today and picked up three caches.  We looked high and low for another one, but it either had been muggled or was so well hidden that it escaped us.  We'll check it out again when we are next in the Benson area and see if it reappears.

The Saturn started making a ticking noise and now we have picked up a bolt in the driver's side tire.  The last time that happened we had to buy another tire and hope that isn't the case with this one.  It has a lot of tread left on it and should be good for 30K miles if it can be repaired.  Looks like I will have to check it out early in the morning. I hope it doesn't delay us getting out of here.  The weather forecast is for high winds on Tuesday and I don't like to drive in them.

It's almost time for "The Amazing Race" so it is time to close the blog for tonight. 

Cattle Baron Steakhouse and Wind

I know the first question will be, "what does wind have to do with steaks?"   The short and to the point answer is: "nothing".  It has more to do with driving a RV west of the Mississippi and checking what the driving conditions are.  Most RVers have the emergency weather radio, check the internet and tv for weather forecasts, etc.  One issue the above options don't cover very well is wind speed.  

I ran across a neat internet site that shows the wind speeds and direction for the whole of the United States on one page.  You can find the utility at:  Wind  Check it out, it's neat.

Another neat webpage is Google Maps and is very handy when you arrive in an area you don't know very well and want to look for a place such as restaurants, gas station, churches, movie theaters, stained glass centers, fishing tackle, etc.  It knows where you are located by the ISP address your computer is using.  Not "Big Brother watching you", but more like "Big Business watching you".  Most smartphones can do the same thing, but not everyone has a smartphone.  Google Maps   Follow the directions and check out the little boxes in the lower right corner of the page.

We have been taking care of little chores around the motorhome today so we will be ready to hit the road running when we get to Tucson.  It is only about 3.5 weeks until I go under the knife again to have my right knee joint replaced this time.  Then I will have matching knee joints again.  Since I know what is ahead for me, I am not really looking forward to it, but I know in the long run it will be best for me.  Wish me luck.

The meal at Cattle Baron restaurant was great, except that Gerry had to have her first steak returned since it was too well done.  She hesitated, but for the price it should be the way she ordered it.  The waiter picked it up and expedited her next steak that was perfect.  All is well that ends well.

Once again I ordered a catfish dinner that was very good and the baked potato was also very tasty.  The salad bar was superb and had fresh lettuce, cheeses, and all the other fixings were also fresh.  I tend to eat a lot of salad and almost filled up on it, but I did leave room for the catfish and dessert.

We both enjoyed our meals and would recommend the Cattle Baron to anyone passing through Las Cruces.

That was our day, how was yours?

 
"How can I ever thank you?" gushed a woman to Clarence Darrow, after he had solved her legal troubles."My dear woman," Darrow replied, "ever since the Phoenicians invented money there has been only one answer to that question."

Destination Las Cruces

We got up early again this morning and were on the road by 10AM.  Now that wouldn't be impressive for most people, but for us it's pretty good.

We had great weather for our trip west from Amarillo.  We had to make a decision on our route and decided to play it safe with the weather and take I-40 W to Santa Rosa, NM and then catch US 54 south toward Alamogordo and spend the night there.  We had a brief stop in Tucumcari, NM for fuel and then back on the road.  We made such good time we decided to change our plans and continue on to Las Cruces.

There isn't much to see on US 54 south other than rolling hills and scrub trees.  We did see a number of herds of antelopes and enjoyed that.

One of the towns on the way down is Vaughn which was a railroad town.  The old railroad station still looks very nice and is in use.  Vaughn was established in the early 20th century as a Southern Pacific Railroad town. The town's importance grew when a second railroad, the Eastern Railway of New Mexico (an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe line from Belen to Clovis), was completed in 1907 with Vaughn as a division point. A large two-story depot, a roundhouse, and a Harvery House hotel were constructed shortly thereafter.

They do appreciate the snowbirds in the Alamogordo area and even had a welcome sign out for them.  You don't see that much in Florida where some places seem to resent snowbirds.

 US 70 runs by the White Sand Dunes National Monument and the dunes are close to the road.  Gerry managed to get some nice shots of the dunes as we drove by at 65mph.

 It was a hazy afternoon as we came down the mountain side heading for Las Cruces on US 70.  It is hard to capture the expanse of the valley as you approach it.  Yes, the road down was that steep and the other side had a long climb coming out of the White Sand Dunes area.

We will stay here a few days and then move down the road a little closer to Tucson.  The Cattle Baron restaurant in Las Cruces has been one of our favorite places to eat for many years and we always take time for a nice meal there.

We managed to get a spot at a Passport America park and it will help offset the price of the park in Amarillo.  No cable tv, but full hookups and free wifi for $18.75 a night.

It was a 425 mile drive for us and that is about our limit now.  Driving time was little over 7.5 hrs and if we wouldn't have been held up driving 35-45 mph in a 15 mile construction zone, we could have made it in a 7 hour driving time.

Gerry prepared a new recipe for dinner tonight.  We had talked about cutting out meats occasionally and eating more fiber and vegetables.  Tonight's experiment was Black Bean Salsa Cakes and they were, surprisingly, pretty good.  I think the recipe is a keeper. 

That was our exciting day, how was yours?

Amarillo Geocaches & Cadillac Ranch

Just west of Amarillo is a well known spot called Cadillac Ranch where 10 old Cadillacs are buried nose down.  The cars were moved from an earlier location to the present location so it would be out of town and visible from I-40.  The cars have been spray painted hundreds of times over the years.  Parts, windows and anything not nailed down have been taken from the cars.  Now the axles are welded so they can't be removed.

From Wikipedia: Both sites belonged to the local millionaire Stanley Marsh 3,  the patron of the project. Marsh was well known in the city for his longtime patronage of artistic endeavors including the “Cadillac Ranch”, Floating Mesa, “Amarillo Ramp” a work of well known land artist Robert Smithson, and a series of fake traffic signs throughout the city known collectively as the “Dynamite Museum”.  As the story went, Stanley Marsh 3,   quickly disregarding the “III” as too pretentious and using “3″ instead, would buy one Cadillac after another and when it was time to buy a new one, he would have the old one buried nose first on his land. However, the truth is, the Cadillac Ranch was a planned artistic endeavor. As of 2013, Stanley Marsh 3 does not own the Cadillac Ranch since his alleged sexual abuse of underage teenage boys.

There are two geocaches near the Cadillac Ranch and we picked them up today.  They had a high difficulty level, but were easy to find.  I had downloaded 25 other caches but they were too far away to search for them.  I found a number of caches in a row the last time through here and missed two of them due to high water.  Maybe I will get a chance to pick them up on our next trip to Amarillo.

Just down the road from the Cadillac Ranch is a RV park.  I don't know what the name of the park used to be, but it seems they renamed it to take advantage of the location near the Ranch.  What do you think?

The geocaching made us hungry and Gerry had a yearning for some Italian food so we checked the trusty Tom Tom GPS and found an Olive Garden restaurant down the road.  We got there a little early and it was a good thing we did.  By the time we left there were people waiting to be seated.  We ordered from the lunch menu and saved a few bucks and a lot of calories.  Both meals were very good and the salad was especially good.

The temperature is dropping like a rock outside and we have the fireplace and heat pumps working.  They are calling for freezing temps again tonight and I may have to disconnect the water hose.  It is time to head out of Amarillo and we will be on the road Thursday morning for Las Cruces, NM and hopefully warmer weather.

On the road to Amarillo

We've had a number of small earthquakes here in the Oklahoma City area the past few days.  None of them have been that large, but we did feel one very slightly on Sunday.  Nothing like we used to have when we lived in Costa Rica and earthquakes were very common.  If they were less than 4.0 on the Richter scale, they weren't even mentioned.  The 7.5 earthquake in 1992 did get our attention.  

When I checked the weather forecast for the next couple days in the Oklahoma City area, it didn't look good.  We were planning on leaving Tuesday and the forecast was for a windy & rainy day.  The decision was made to leave early Monday morning before daylight.  We were up at 5am, had coffee, brought in the slides and turned in the parking pass.  We fueled up at the casino service station and paid $3.50 gallon for diesel.

One problem with filling this unit with fuel is that the filling tube is constricted and when we use truck fuel pumps, the diesel backs up and splashes out of the filler.  That is what happened during the fillup and my coat sleeve was covered with diesel fuel.  The jacket has been washed twice, but still smells of diesel.  Looks like another washing is in order.

When we hooked up the Saturn it was discovered our tail lights didn't work.  The turn signals and brake lights worked so we took a chance and hit the road.  We had to drive about an hour without tail lights until it became light enough that we didn't need lights.  Since the traffic wasn't that heavy and nobody was tailgaiting us, we made it fine through Oklahoma City before rush hour.  I-40 in the downtown area was a mess last year when we went through, but this year it had been repaired and was a smooth ride.  

The wind between OK City and Amarillo was pushing us around for most of the trip until we got about 40 miles out of Amarillo when it shifted and was from the rear of the coach.  Any push that way is appreciated.

There is a Speedco Oil & Lube station for large trucks off of I-40 and we headed there to get an oil & filter change.  They said they could take care of this in 30 minutes so we had them do the job.  Their 30 minute estimate was off by about an hour.  They didn't have the correct fuel filter and substitued another filter for it.  I wasn't happy with this and called Cummins about whether the substitute was acceptable due to the flow rate.  Now what?   Well, there was a Cummins dealer down the road about 4 miles and they had the correct filter.  I picked up the correct one and Speedco staff installed it quickly and we were on our way.

One problem with Speedco was that they didn't have the air cleaner and would not install one if I bought it at Cummins.  If this is their policy, then we don't plan on stopping there again.  I want the whole job completed at the same time.  Guess we will head for a Cummins dealer for the next oil change in 15,000 miles.  It was easy to remember this oil change since the motor home turned over 50,000 miles a short distance from Speedco.  That is a number I can remember.

We pulled into the Oasis RV Resort west of Amarillo right off exit 60 and were glad to get off the road.  The first time we stayed here they had a special where you paid for two days and got the third day free for a total of $40 +tax.  Last year it was $29 a night and this year it was $65.70 for two nights.  Now our COLA is going up by 1.5% in January, but I think camping is outpacing that.  Maybe they can add that to the mix next year.  Fat chance of that.

We have a nice campsite with a concrete level lot, full hookups, free wifi and cable tv so I can't complain that much about the rate.  We checked out a Passport America park and to say it didn't measure up is an understatement.   It was next to I-40, railroad tracks and the sites were so unlevel that a motorhome had one of it's front wheels off the ground.

Tonight we ordered a great pizza from the park office and enjoyed it very much.  Nice to walk over and pick up a meal for a reasonable price.

Not that much interesting, but that was our day.  How was yours?

OOOOk-lahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain

Yep, that is right.  The wind comes sweepin' down the plain.  It's been blowing hard all day and even harder west of here.  It looks like if we get an early start in the morning we can get ahead of some bad weather.  So, it looks like a 5am wakeup for us and hit the road and make a dash for Amarillo.

We went shopping at Walmart today for some groceries and other odds and ends.  As usual we had to walk all over the store to get our 25 items and then the lady in front of me had well over 100 items in her cart.  Ooops!   Gerry said the other lines were long and slow, so we waited.  About that time a clerk opened the counter next to us and said to come over and she would wait on us.  We struck up a conversation with her and she was very pleasant to talk to.  Nice to see friendly clerks for a change.

I picked up another geocache today and dropped off some travel bugs that we picked up in New York last July.  I hate to hold the TBs that long, but it was our first real chance to drop them off.  The travel bug hotel was in a front yard and I hesitated to search for it, but it was in plain sight so I went for it.  A resident of the house came home about that time and said yes, the cache was there and it was fine to check it out.  There were a number of travel bugs in the cache, but I left them there since it is hard to get rid of them sometimes.

We stopped at the Brickyard Brewery in Shawnee for dinner and enjoyed the meal.  They had a special on draft beers and we picked a few different ones and enjoyed them a lot.  The meal was fine and we managed to see the end of the Ravens-Browns football game which the Ravens lost.  Go Browns.

Before we went shopping the Redskins-Chargers game came on tv and was in the final quarter.  We watched the game to it's conclusion and were rewarded with an overtime win.  It wasn't the best played game, but a win in a bad game is a win.  Now on to Minnesota on Thursday night and another win.  Go Skins.

Shawnee, OK & Catfish Roundup

We had another early wake up today and were on the road from Morrilton, AR to Shawnee, OK.  Our campsite last night was about 100 yards from I-40, but with the windows closed the road noise wasn't a problem.  

It was a windy drive today with a constant wind from the North hitting the passenger side of the motorhome.  As long as we had trees along the road it was fine, but once we got into Oklahoma there weren't a lot of trees to block the wind.  It pushed us around and a few strong gusts smacked us good, but we made it here fine.

We stopped at our favorite catfish restaurant, Catfish Roundup at exit 200 on I-40.  We always stop there for the catfish dinners and haven't ever been disappointed with them.  We picked up the meals and drove to a rest area about a mile down the road and devoured the dinners.

From there it was a short drive to the Grand Casino and Hotel at exit 178 off I-40.  They have a small RV parking area with water and electric hookups for free.  Actually, it's free for three nights and if you gamble and build up points they can be used to pay for the campsite after the third night.  It isn't much, but for the price it is great.
 
We went over to the casino and signed up for the Players Card and got our free $10 to play on the machines.  Also, a free Keno card that I won $1 on when I played it.  I wound up winning $5 and gave the winnings to Gerry to play her games.  She loves to play the penny slots and can sit there for hours.  While she likes to win, she really enjoys playing the slots. I can play them for a while and then get bored and start to bet large amounts until I win big or lose.  Usually I lose and then I'm ready to leave.  

Gerry wanted to play some more, so I headed back to the motorhome to write this blog and watch some football.

Gerry just got back after her gambling spree and it looks like we are only down $3 after all the fun.  So, it's like paying that amount for the campsite.  Cheapest one yet other than boondocking. 

Thanks Sandie for recommending this place.  

During all the years that our son and his family lived in Norman we always stayed at Lake Thunderbird State Park and enjoyed it.  The only bad part about the park was the access road from I-40 which was a narrow & hilly road about 12 miles long.  Our old motorhome wasn't as big as this one and it was difficult to drive and stay within our lane, so I really didn't want to try it today. 

On the move again.

We finally escaped from Camp Tiffin this morning and headed to Fulton, AL to fill up the fuel tank on the motorhome.  I checked my Gas Buddy website and the Shell station there had diesel for $3.63.  Not a great price, but cheaper than most gas stations around Red Bay.

We had an unusual moment when we pulled into the diesel fueling area at the Shell station.  The phone rang and it was our friend Pat calling to see if we were on the road.  Gerry said we were in Fulton at the Shell station filling the fuel tank.  Lo and behold, they were at a Texaco station about a block from us doing the same thing.  They were moving to a local COE campground for the weekend and are waiting for new windows they ordered to be delivered to the Tiffin service center.  The girls chatted and agreed that we would meet them in Arizona this winter.

Other than the I-240, I-55 section around south Memphis and west of Little Rock, we had an easy drive today except for the usual road construction delays on I-40 in eastern Arkansas.  We were slowed down at times but traffic moved pretty good considering how many miles of one lane traffic there were on the route.

We are camped for the night in Morrilton, AR at a former KOA campground.  It isn't anything special but will serve our purpose for the night.  The plan is to get on the road early on Saturday and head for Oklahoma City, OK or possibly El Reno, OK.  Gerry wants to stop at a casino somewhere along the road, so it depends on how fast she loses her money.  Hopefully, she will win a lot and and we can move on quickly.  I can always dream, can't I?