Category: Uncategorized

It’s been raining in the desert southwest for several days now. Lots of my RVing friends are somewhere around here and many of us are not happy with this weather. I didn’t realize how much I was thinking about this until I suddenly found myself singing the 1963 Allen Sherman song:

Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh.
Here I am at Camp Granada.
Camp is very entertaining.
And they say we’ll have some fun if it stops raining.

I was surprised to discover how many of the words to that song I actually remember.

I think it may be done raining for a bit now. I certainly hope so because I have errands to run.

TTYL,

Linda

Nothing to report. Sitting in the desert bundled up in my sweats watching it rain.

Made me think about a story my Mom tells about one of my brothers. She’d be dong something when she’d hear, “Mom?”

“What?” she’d reply.

“Nothing,” he’d say.

She said she figured he was just checking to be sure she was still there.

So, in case you were wondering, I’m still here. Doing nothing.

TTYL,

Linda

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