Author: sandcastle

I grew up with a brother who sometimes wanted to tell me things I didn’t want to hear. In a sing-songy voice I would declare, “I’m not listening.” I could hear that tone of voice today.

I was driving west on I-10 towards Quartzsite when I saw the sign reminding me there is a shortcut route to Parker–my ultimate destination. Thinking quickly I realized it had not been long enough since breakfast to be hungry for lunch so my primary reason for going through Quartzsite had ceased to exist. If I was ever going to check out this shortcut, today could be the day.

So I took the off ramp at Wickenburg where the sign said, “to AZ 72.” And discovered there was a large pull off area right beside the ramp. The perfect place to tell my GPS I had changed my mind about my next destination. I now wanted to go directly to Parker.

And Jack, the voice in my GPS, apparently thought, “Fine. I’ll take her to Parker. By way of Quartzsite!”

Because his next command was to turn left then right which would have put me right back on I-10.

So I thought, “I’m not listening,” and turned right.

Then I came to a roundabout. Jack said go 3/4 the way around and take Hwy 60 back to I-10.

So I ignored him again and went only half way around to continue on my way towards AZ 72.

When I got to 72 Jack wanted me to turn right since that was now the shortest way back to I-10. But Parker was to the left so again thinking to myself, “I’m not listening,” I turned left.

Eventually, I came to the intersection of AZ 72 and AZ 95. AZ 95 is the route I usually take between Quartzsite and Parker. I almost expected Jack to tell me to turn left back towards I-10. But, he didn’t. He finally acknowledged me as boss and let me continue on to Parker.

BTW, the shortcut is probably not the best route to take so maybe Jack was right after all. Don’t tell my brother, OK?

TTYL,

Linda

I feel like I’ve been traveling forever. Nevermind that it has been less than a month since I left home and I stayed a whole week at one park. It feels like it is time to park somewhere and just stay put. But, I’m not quite there yet.

I’ve been Phoenix the last couple of days doing prep stuff and sleeping at service centers so as to be in time for morning appointments.

I had the ten thousand mile service done on my van. Yes, I have driven almost that many miles in just over a year. That service took half a day mostly because they couldn’t get their computer system to admit I bought a service package even though they were looking at the actual, physical paperwork for it.

I went to the Apple store and used their wifi to do all the updates to my computer. That took  another half a day with their fast internet. Imagine what it would have taken with my slower air card.

I had the annual clean out of my furnace done. That took another half a day.

I went to various Walmarts and took naps. Not very efficiently since it was hot and I can’t run my A/C when not plugged into someone’s electricity.

I stopped at Panda Express and bought enough food to feed me for at least 2 meals.

I tried to visit my brothers but no one answered the phone during the three days I tried calling them.

I still need to go once more to Pizza Hut and get leftovers from there. I’ll wait and do that in Parker, Arizona, so I don’t eat it all before I even get to my home park.

And I need to go to the Walmart that stocks my brand of soft drink plus buy a few more things there.

And I’d like to eat at my favorite restaurant in Quartzsite as I go through there even though that one doesn’t net me any leftovers.

And I still have what Apple Maps says is 2 1/2 hours of driving time although it will take me much longer than that since I don’t drive 75 mph and I do stop at rest areas for breaks and there’s that meal stop in Q and maybe an overnight there.

Now I’m at at Cracker Barrel on my way out of Phoenix where I ate half my meal, bringing the other half out to my fridge, and will spend the night.

But, I’m getting there. And I am so looking forward to plugging in and sitting still.

TTYL,

Linda

We all know Texas is a big state. Those of you who are my regular readers also know I travel slowly. I’ve now been driving across Texas for five days. But today I will finally drive out of Texas. Probably.

In the meantime here’s proof of something else we all think we know about Texas.

Texas is truck country.

TTYL,

Linda

When your winter home is inside a van you need things to take up as little room as possible. For this reason most RVers prefer items that can be used for more than one purpose. But, occasionally, you need a specific item for a specific purpose.

Like this little gadget:

That’s a brush. Specifically, as shown on the left, it is a brush for cleaning the inside of a drinking straw.

I have two insulated glasses with screw on lids with acrylic straws. These are what I drink from when driving. Sometimes those glasses, lids, and straws need to be washed. I found cleaning the straws to be VERY challenging. They are too thin to run a corner of a dishcloth down the length of them. I could wash each end but not the middle.

So when I stumbled across these brushes on Amazon I order a package of two of them. I left one at home but brought one with me. A very special, single use, but much appreciated item.

Until today.

I found a second use for my brush.

You see, my kitchen sink backed up. Would not drain. We all know what that means. There was something stuck in the plumbing. I puzzled about that for awhile and wished I had bought a Zip-it as I said I would in case my shower drain got clogged from washing my hair. It never occurred to me it would be my kitchen sink that would clog. Which didn’t really matter since I never bought the Zip-it.

Then I remembered my drinking straw brush. Long and slender it would go down the drain just fine. Maybe, just maybe, the brush would grab onto whatever was plugging the drain and drag it out of there.

Success. After several tries a hair ball came up with the brush. And the water went down. And this single purpose item now has two purposes.

Once I wash it well, that is.

I wonder if I ever would have found a second use for a Zip-it?

TTYL,

Linda

For several days I’ve been heading towards Oklahoma City without ever reaching it.

Monday night I got as close as Perry, Oklahoma, where I saw the food bank truck.

Tuesday morning I started out intending to drive through OKC that day. I made it two exits down the Interstate. I was tired from listening to trains the night before and the winds were stronger than I thought they’d be so I pulled into and RV park where I could plug in my heater at night, dump my tanks so I wouldn’t worry about them filling up, and catch up (sort of) on some computer stuff.

Lately the winds have been the determining factor as to whether today is a go or not. I check the weather in the evening and it says winds 10-16 mph tomorrow. So I decide to go. Then I get up in the morning and they’ve added gusts up to 24 mph. I can handle up to 20 but 24 is uncomfortable–I hold the steering wheel so tight my fingers go to sleep.

So I stayed two nights at that RV park.

Then this morning the forecast said gusts up to 23 mph but they would be tail winds. Tomorrow they will be head winds. So I decided to go. But by the time I did a dump and fill it was nearly 11:00. And I hadn’t had breakfast. And I was running out of my brand of caffeine. And my RV wanted diesel.

They guy in the office told me where I could get diesel that was not biodiesel. So that was my first stop. The station had a small grocery store and they had a carton of Diet Dr Pepper and my favorite snack for sale so now my grocery shopping was less urgent.

That meant it was time to eat breakfast. OK brunch for those of you who are paying attention to the clock. Pizza Hut works for me. I get a large pizza and put much of it in a go box to eat later. Now grocery shopping is even less urgent.

So, I’m finally back on the freeway. At 1:00 pm. Hey, I never said I was an early bird.

And I drive. And drive. And drive. Apparently having a tailwind makes it easier. I take much fewer breaks than usual.

About 5:30 I decide it is supper time and look at that will you? A Cracker Barrel! So I go in and eat and bring half my meal back for later. Grocery shopping is now even less urgent.

And the sun is setting. So I’ll stay here tonight.

But, I’m past Oklahoma City. I’m all the way down into Texas. Where the weather forecast for tomorrow is just OK. But it says rain the day after. So, tomorrow I’ll see if I can get all the way to somewhere I can hole up for several days.

However many days that turns out to be. Before I once again decide it is time to go.

TTYL,

Linda