Starting another week out

I need to go to Phoenix again. I need to refill prescriptions that are going to run out before I reach home. Our prescriptions are currently at Target and the nearest one to Emerald Cove is in Phoenix. And my electronic gadgets are all nagging at me to do updates again and we all know what happened last time I tried to do them anywhere besides an Apple store. Plus, I could go to Trader Joe’s and buy some good quality foods. And I could go to Blue Beacon and get my RV washed. And depending on the timing, I might actually get to visit with my brothers this trip. So I decided to take another week out of my home park.

Day one of that week was a busy one. First I went to Walmart to buy the much needed food. As I was pulling into the lot I saw a pickup pulling out of my parking spot. So I quickly turned down that aisle. Another pickup beat me to the spot! So I pulled around again and parked in a double spot further up the row to decide what I wanted to do. As I sat there someone knocked on my door. It was a woman with fliers wanting to get credit for sending buyers to her membership park–my membership park. We agreed it is a good park.

I felt tired so decided I’d take a nap then see what the status was on my parking spot. But I couldn’t settle down. So I got up and looked down the row. My spot looked empty! So I hurried down there. Nope, just a short car in it.

So I decided to go to lunch. The Pizza Hut in Parker serves slowly but I like their pizza so I go there. I’ve been such a regular there this winter they know my order when I walk in the door. I always get a large pizza so as to have leftovers. I like cold pizza as much as I like not having to cook every meal.

When I got back to Walmart my parking spot was available so I went shopping.

One of the things I bought is new jeans. Yup, I’ve gained back just enough weight to make mine uncomfortable so here I am buying a bigger size once again. At least Walmart carries a brand that is the right length for me so I don’t have to do a major hunt for them.

So now I have new jeans that I need to wash before wearing. That mean a laundromat is my next stop. I drive to one in Parker but its lot contains several RVs and semi trucks so I decide not to try to squeeze in there. I drive on towards Quartzsite.

By the time I get to Plamosa Road, which is the northern most of Quartzsite’s BLM lands, I really need that nap. So I pull in and sleep for about an hour. Then I head on down to the laundromat where there is plenty of parking for a rig my size. When I come out I see a RoadTrek.

Looks a lot like my RV, doesn’t it? That’s because it is also built into a Sprinter van although this one is shorter than mine.

Now the clothes are clean and it’s supper time. I have plenty of food on hand now so I should just go park, right? But I don’t. I decide to take this one more chance to go eat at Sweet Darlene’s. I really like their chicken tenders. And if I order the chicken tenders and ribs combo I can take the ribs home for another meal I won’t have to cook. I like cold ribs, too.

I go in and use their restroom to save capacity in mine then head up front to sit. As I’m pulling out a chair the owners of the RoadTrek come in. I call out to ask them if they followed me. So they join me for supper and we talk all through the meal. They are from Wisconsin. Ignore the Tennesee plates on their vehicle; that’s just where their mail box is because that’s where they lived when they retired. But they have family and land in Wisconsin–with water and electric hookups so they give me a card with their phone number on it in case I ever want to come visit if they happen to be there.

Oh, and that RoadTrek? It’s their toad. They pull it behind their Class A motothome to Arizona each year then use it to take short trips around the place. Tomorrow they will be going to Florence, Arizona, to visit family.

By the time we finish eating it is dark outside and I still need to find a place to park. I don’t like pulling into BLM lands after dark because you can’t see beyond your headlights. So I just pull into an early spot and set up camp.

Day two starts with the winds rocking my rig and a forecast of rain with possible hail. After all the activity yesterday I am ready to sit tight for a day anyway. My ankles hurt.

Day three starts bright and sunny but I have trouble getting up because I stayed up too late the night before. By the time I dump my trash and fill my fuel tank the day is well along but I head for Phoenix anyway.

I eat lunch at one rest area and take a nap at another one. Not exactly making good time but I have all week to drive to Phoenix and back, right?

Finally in the west suburbs I see a Target store. So I get off at the next exit and head there. There is handicapped parking big enough for my RV right outside the door. But I don’t want to walk any further than I need to so I call the pharmacy from my van. It takes a while for them to figure out how to transfer my prescriptions to their store and process my insurance but they finally succeed. The pharmacist is concerned about me wanting to pick them up today because they close in an hour. I tell her I am calling from their parking lot and she is much relieved. And she assures me they have electric carts I can use parked right inside the door. One task done.

Next is the Apple Store to do more updates using their wifi. Fortunately they are open until 9 pm on Saturdays so I can still go there today. I dig my Scoot out of the back of my RV to get me to and from the store. But, iTunes won’t update. A tech comes to help but can’t make it work. He says I’ll need to make an appointment at the Genius Bar and the next opening is Monday evening. I pass. It’s just iTunes; it can wait until I get back to Minnesota.

I have other errands I can do but I decide not to do so. It’s interesting to me that I don’t mind driving to Phoenix but I don’t like to stay there and it is already dark outside. And my ankles hurt. So I head west again making it to the furthest west suburb before I decide I really do need to eat. I pull into Cracker Barrel. And eat a very late supper. And spend the night.

In the morning, day four, my ankles hurt too badly to be willing to walk back into Cracker Barrel for breakfast. So, I head out. Good thing I decided not to stay in town to do the rest of my errands and visiting as I am in too much pain to do them anyway.

I just barely get onto the freeway when traffic becomes stop and go. We occasionally get all the way up to five miles per hour. Not far ahead of us is a place where four lanes transition down to two lanes but I have never seen it move this slowly. I had planned to stop about a half hour down the road for breakfast. That’s not going to be very far away at this rate. We finally pass the reason for the slow down; there’s a semi sitting off the left lane facing the wrong way. No idea how it got like that. But traffic speeds pick up very quickly the other side of it.

Finally I pull off for breakfast. Guess where? Cracker Barrel. Sort of. Across the street from one anyway. At Denny’s. I can park much closer to the door at Denny’s and I don’t have to walk through a store to get to the hostess station. I’m pleased by that and breakfast is tasty.

Getting back outside again I decide to stay in this fairly out-of-the-way parking spot for a while. I have not done my morning computer stuff yet and I decide it would be good to do it before driving all the way back to Quartzsite so my alternator can refill my batteries after I recharge all my electronics. That worked well.

Finally back to Q late afternoon. Back to Sweet Darlene’s to eat once again. Back to the gas station to fuel up once again. Back to the BLM lands to park once again. I figure another two nights here then drive to Parker to recharge my batteries and spend another two nights boondocking there, then I can go back to my membership park for another two weeks free.

If I’m very lucky, it will then be warm enough to head home. I’m ready.

TTYL,

Linda