Typical Travel Day

Apparently I decided to take the southern route home since I’ve been driving I-8 and I-10 the last couple of days.

I’m now in Deming, New Mexico, with several days of very unsettled weather along the route ahead of me so I think I’ll just sit here awhile. Maybe I’ll even get caught up on some computer stuff. I am way behind.

Partly because Yahoo mail shut me out for a couple of days so when I finally figured out how to get back in I had 266 messages waiting for me! Wouldn’t you know my groups would all pick that time to get chatty. 🙂

But, as Tammy would say, I digress. I promised you a typical travel day.

I usually wake a up about 9 am then wash and dress and take my first pill of the day. Then I do computer stuff for a bit until my stomach says I need to feed it now. Then I may do some more computer stuff depending on what time it is. I usually pack up and get moving about noon. Or 11 am if I am in a park that says that is checkout time.

There are several reasons I start so late. One is I am not a morning person. It takes me awhile to shift into gear. Plus there’s that first pill of the day that I am supposed to take 1/2 hour before breakfast. So I get on the computer while waiting and forget to get off. I check the weather reports and my maps and decide what route I’m going to take today and tell that to my GPS. And I read my daily comics and do at least a quick check of my email in case there’s anything there I need to quickly respond to. Plus I charge all my electronics in the morning so as to be able to use them during the day while my engine recharges my house batteries. Another reason for the late start is it takes me a while to pack up if I’ve been sitting any length of time. I have to dump my holding tanks, fill my fresh water tank, and disconnect and pack up all the hoses and cords. None of those really takes a long time but together they take me a while. Then there’s the fact that I decided to take the southern route. Which means it gets hot in the afternoon. By not starting until noon I get to enjoy the cool of the morning then do my driving with the cab air conditioning on during the heat of the day. I like that since I can’t use my house A/C unless I am plugged into a park’s electricity and I’ve learned to like free overnight parking which doesn’t often come with an electrical connection.

My pattern once I start driving is to go get fuel. I use about a half tank a day when traveling and I don’t like to get much below a half tank so that’s usually my first stop of the day. Then I drive for an hour or two then stop for a break. During the break I might eat lunch if I ate breakfast early enough to be ready to do that. Or I might take a nap. Driving makes me drowsy so I find it very easy to take nap breaks. Even the heat that builds up in here when I’m parked does not keep me awake. Then I drive for another hour or two and take another break, eating lunch if I didn’t do that earlier and/or taking a nap. Then I drive until about 5:00 or 6:00 when I stop for the night so I can be parked before sunset. Although I experienced a time change today when I crossed into New Mexico since Arizona doesn’t play the daylight savings time game and I’ll get another change my next driving day when I cross into the Central Time Zone so it doesn’t get dark quite as early now. Especially with the days getting longer every day. If I’m stopping at Cracker Barrel or a parking lot behind an eatery, like last night’s DQ, I go in for supper. If I’m parked on some gravel or paved parking lot or, like tonight, an RV park I fix supper sometime during the evening and do more computer stuff. Like write this blog, play games, read books, and do a last check on my email.

Then about midnight I finally crash into bed. I usually go to sleep quite quickly but since my body likes to sleep nine hours I don’t get a start on another day until about 9 am. Rinse; repeat.

It may not be everyone’s idea of a good travel day but it certainly is mine. And I’m enjoying having the freedom to do it my way. But, I still miss Dave.

Oh, and here’s a couple pictures of a rig that parked next to me at yesterday’s lunch stop. As Carolyn would say, “Innit cute?” I suspect when you go through the door, you are already in bed.

TTYL,

Linda