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No that’s not the speed limit.

Well maybe it is in this small town. That’s not a big concern.

The concern is that’s the speed of the wind gusts today.

And I drive a giant billboard.

Which becomes very hard to keep in its own lane when gusts like that hit it broadside.

So I’m parked.

And the winds are hitting me broadside.

And rocking my rig.

And blowing through my open windows.

Keeping it nice and cool in here on what otherwise would be a hot day under the Texas sun.

Winds are not good or bad. You just have to decide what you will do when they decide to blow.

Up to 20 mph I drive. But 30 mph is too much for safety for me.

Tomorrow they are forecast to be back down to 20 mph or less.

I expect to drive.

TTYL,

Linda

As in “Here we go ’round…”

I didn’t buy fuel yesterday so I checked for a good stop along my path today and found a Valero right at an intersection of the the freeway. I like Valero because they have diesel at almost all their pumps so I don’t have to guess which one to pull up to. This one was a left off the freeway then a left into the station. I can do that. Except there’s a curb between me and the station so I have to go past it and find a place to turn around. Here we go ’round…

I go through a Chili’s parking lot and find myself next to Krispy Kreme. Managed not to stop there, though. So out that driveway then in the next one to the station. There are three pumps in a row. There’s a vehicle at the far one. The driver in front of me stopped at the near one instead of pulling up to the middle one. So I turned off my engine and waited for her to pump her gas. I’m retired, I have time to do that, right?

Once I got fuel I had to drive all the way around the station back to the driveway I came in so I could cross all the lanes to get into the left turn lane to get back on the freeway. Here we go ’round…

My van is in dire need of a bath. There’s a Blue Beacon Truck & RV Wash on the east side of El Paso. I like that company. So that’s what I set my GPS for this morning. It got me off the freeway one exit before I needed to and took me through some back roads to get there. Here we go round…

Only to find the sign painted out and another one saying “Hand Wash.” I don’t want hand wash; I want power wash. To get all those bugs off the RV without scratching the paint. So, no, not here and now.

I still haven’t bought groceries and there’s not a lot ahead of me as I drive through West Texas so I decide I’d better do that before leaving El Paso. The nearest Walmart is, of course, behind me. And my GPS thinks I am more like a truck than a car so it sends me the long way around instead of through residential neighborhoods. Here we go ’round…

Groceries bought I am ready to head on east. Except El Paso likes to move it’s freeway exits so I miss the one for I-10 east. No problem I’ll just get on I-10 west and come back at the first exit. Except that exit is closed. So I go one more. About five miles west then back again in order to go east. Here we go ’round…

By now, I am ready for lunch. I see a sign for Denny’s and decide that will do just fine and take that exit. It turns out to be right across the freeway from the no longer Blue Beacon. I went in a big circle to get here. Here we go ’round…

Finally, I am headed to Van Horn, Texas. Which is probably all the further I am going today given how much time I’ve spent not going places. But, that’s OK; there’s a park we like in Van Horn where I can sit a couple days if I need to do so because of wind gusts.

Except, when I get to Van Horn, there is a gate across the park’s driveway with a for sale sign on it. So I drive on down the main street. And see an RV park just as I pass it. But it’s on a side road so I turn in there then have to drive the wrong way through a campsite to get to the office. Here we go ’round…

I think I have to stay here three nights because of windy conditions the next few days but I’m not sure I’m going to like this park so I only paid for one night. Wonder what tomorrow will bring?

TTYL,

Linda

I am in Texas.

At Exit #2.

At the Welcome Center in Anthony, Texas.

Which my RVing friends will recognize as being on the western edge of El Paso.

I’m headed east.

It is 5:00 pm on a weekday.

Do I want to drive through El Paso during a weekday afternoon rush hour?

No, I do not.

So I’ll probably sit right here all night.

I have fast internet so maybe I’ll watch some Netflix. Or do some internet shopping. Or something.

Anything.

It is going to be a long evening.

But, I made it to Texas without blowing off the road and that counts for a lot.

TTYL,

Linda

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

I am so ready to go home and see Dave and cook in a full kitchen again with an automatic dishwasher. But there’s still snow on the ground there and it’s not warming up enough for it to melt away. I don’t want to have to winterize my RV but I also don’t want to freeze my holding tanks so I am TRYING to be patient. The RV parks in the Minneapolis area don’t turn on their water until April 15th so I’m sort of using that as my guideline as to when it is safe for me to go home. Although we have had snow as late as the week after that it was just a few flurries one day several years ago.

My current time at Emerald Cove ends Thursday and I have to decide what to do about that. I want to stay at least through Thursday evening to play bingo. It is the last game of the season so they will be awarding the rolling jackpots even if no one actually wins them. There are two of them that are up over $100 each in addition to the regular winnings of each game. Of course, I haven’t won anything yet this year. 🙂

I’m supposed to check out by 11 am on Thursday or pay $95 to stay another week. What I’m thinking about doing is moving my van over to park by the fence across from the bingo hall Thursday morning then checking out. After the games I’ll drive into town and spend the night at Walmart. That will put me in a good place to buy groceries Friday morning before I begin my trek east then north.

I don’t have an actual route home yet. I don’t seem to want to plan one. I’ll head east first but whether that’s along I-10 or I-20 or I-40 depends on what the weather is doing then. I prefer to use my furnace at night more than my A/C during the day but, again, I don’t want to freeze my tanks going through the Arizona mountains. I also don’t know if I want to drive the freeways or the US highways. I drive faster on the freeways but I don’t want to get home too soon anyway. Also the freeways are boring so I have to stop and nap a lot. But there are good places to do that on the freeways and they can be a little harder to find along the US highways. And my favorite overnight stopping place is Cracker Barrel and they tend to be close to freeways. But my second favorite place is Walmart and they are everywhere nowadays. I’ll have to stop a couple times to dump my tanks so I’ll probably go into regular RV parks those nights which will let me charge all my electronics as well. Although driving charges my batteries enough to do that. It only gets to be a problem if I sit still without hookups too many overcast days.

So many choices; so few decisions.

TTYL,

Linda