Sunny and warm today. Cold tonight in the West Texas desert.
Today we formed very unfavourable opinions of Texas, particularly San Antonio ;
- the store clerks are stupid !
- the drivers are rude and dangerously aggressive, especially the Hispanics and < ahem > "African Americans" ! Yes, yes, I know that sounds racist. I'm unrepentant. Don't waste your time sending me a "flame" comment.
- the highways are filthy, particularly with a lot of road kill.
- the rest areas are obnoxiously filthy ! Does no one in Texas know how to use a garbage can ? ! ?
Last night when we arrived at the Wal-Mart in San Antonio the camper's battery was near dead. This morning it was dead. Wal-Mart did not have any deep cycle RV batteries. I'm going to try to survive without replacing the camper's battery until Tuesday in El Paso, when I can buy exactly the battery I want.
While I removed the battery from the camper this morning to attempt to revive it ... I was unsuccessful ... Joanne went into Wal-Mart to buy me some cold medication. She was in there for an hour ! And came out without it ! ! ! To make a very long story short ... the clerks in Wal-Mart in San Antonio are stupid ! AND ... the U.S. government, in its infinite wisdom, has made it impossible for a Canadian ( or any other non-U.S. citizen ) to buy certain cold medications ! ! !
Keeping your Homeland Secure ... one box of Advil Cold and Sinus at a time ! ! ! ! !
Before leaving San Antonio we refilled with diesel and freshwater. We drove north through San Antonio on Interstate 35 and Interstate 10, then headed west out of the city on Interstate 10. We had lunch in a rest area. Later in the afternoon I had a brief nap in another rest area. Finally, we stopped for the night, half an hour after nightfall, at another rest area.
Today was the first of what will probably be three boring days of driving across the scruffy desert of West Texas. And it's not made any easier by how miserable this cold is making me feel !
Monday ; Interstate 10 mile marker 310 rest area to Interstate 10 mile marker 45 rest area, Texas
Sunny and warm. Another boring day of driving across the endless scruffy desert of West Texas.
We left the rest area this morning and continued westbound on Interstate 10. We stopped in Fort Stockton to refill the camper's freshwater tank, refill with diesel, and buy a loaf of bread. What a scruffy desert town ! We stopped at a rest area to have lunch. We stopped again at a rest area to boondock overnight.
My cold symptoms have finally begun to lessen. I did not feel as miserable today as yesterday.
When I took Bo out for his bed time bathroom walk I met two young men from France. They were parked behind us, in an old camper van bearing Quebec license plates. They had spent the summer working in Banff, Alberta, Canada, and were now on their way to Baja California, Mexico. They wanted to chat, and ask questions about travel in Mexico. I spent about an hour and a half talking with them. When I returned into our camper, Joanne was very angry with me for spending that long outside without explaining to her where I was and why. Sorry !
Tuesday ; Interstate 10 mile marker 45 rest area, Texas to Deming, New Mexico
Sunny and mild. The camper’s battery is “hanging in there”. So ... we did not stop in El Paso to buy a new battery for the camper as previously planned.
We left the rest area this morning and continued westbound on Interstate 10. In about half an hour we reached El Paso. I stopped at Flying J to refill with fresh water and dump our waste holding tanks. A few minutes after getting back onto the Interstate the traffic ground to halt. We were in a traffic gridlock that lasted over an hour and a half due to a multi-vehicle accident a few miles ahead.
Shortly after crossing from Texas into New Mexico we stopped to refill with diesel and have lunch. We continued westbound on Interstate 10 until we reached Deming where we checked into Dream Catcher SKP RV Park. I spent a couple of hours in the clubhouse working on my laptop getting caught up on online work including posting last week's entry to my blog.
Wednesday ; Deming, New Mexico to Hot Well Dunes, Arizona
Sunny and warm.
We left Dream Catcher SKP RV Park this morning and continued heading west on Interstate 10. We crossed from New Mexico into Arizona and stopped in Bowie to have lunch ... in a cemetery parking lot. We headed north from Bowie on a wide, good condition sand road for 19 miles across the desert to Hot Well Dunes BLM ( Bureau of Land Management OR Boomers with Lots of Money ) Recreation Site.
We were told about Hot Well Dunes' hot tubs by a man from Minnesota, in the hot tub at Kenwood RV Resort in La Feria, Texas a few weeks ago. Almost a hundred years ago, while searching / drilling for oil, an underground hot aquifer was struck instead of oil. Ever since there has been a "hot well" bringing hot water to the surface for hot tubs. The BLM has developed a small unserviced campsite here, with two concrete hot tubs, and solar powered pumps bringing hot water to the surface, to the hot tubs, all day long.
We found our way here, found the hot tubs, found a campsite that we liked, and settled in ... around 3 PM. We went to soak in a hot tub for the rest of the afternoon, chatting with a Canadian woman from Saskatchewan and an American man from California. We knew the afternoon soak was over as soon as the water stopped flowing into the hot tub. It meant that the sun had set low enough that the solar powered pumps were no longer working. No more hot water being brought up from deep underground. And the existing water in the tub began to cool rapidly. HA HA HA !
I set up our little barbecue on the ramada shaded picnic table on our site to barbecue beef ribs for supper. The only thing missing from our evening was the ability to watch Survivor. I didn't think it was likely that we could receive any "over the air" signals this far out in the desert, but ... I had nothing to lose. I raised the roof top antenna, started up our generator ( because the camper's battery is too close to dead to be able to power the inverter ) and set the TV to scan. WOW ... thirteen channels ! From Tucson, which is over a hundred miles away ! But ... I guess the TV signals travel far over flat desert. It took two scans, but I found a weak CBS signal. WOO-HOO ! Survivor !
We took Bo for a fun "hide and seek" obedience session in the sand dunes surrounding us. We stood outside and watched the gorgeous desert sunset. Joanne made a salad and baked potatoes in the camper oven. I barbecued beef ribs outside. Good supper ! We ate while watching Survivor.
Thursday ; Hot Well Dunes to Benson, Arizona
Sunny and warm. Welcome to Arizona !
We had a late start to our day. Before leaving the Hot Well Dunes BLM Recreation Site we went for a long soak in the hot tub. We left about noon. We drove 19 miles back to Interstate 10, then continued heading west. We left the Interstate and drove through Wilcox looking for a restaurant that we had read about, but we were unable to find it. We continued on to Benson where we stopped in the parking lot of Safeway and had a very late lunch.
After lunch we refilled our five gallon water jug at a refill machine outside the store, then went inside to do some grocery shopping. After grocery shopping we went driving through town looking for cheap / reasonably priced diesel fuel. Didn't find any. I'll refill tomorrow in Tucson. Found a propane refill business and stopped to refill an empty tank. Was served by a stubborn and ignorant old man who was unable to read the label on our propane tank specifying "horizontal fill" instructions. Apparently he didn't have his reading glasses. He was unwilling to accept my instructions and was determined to fill the tank incorrectly in a vertical position. I would not allow him to do that. We ended up in a profanity filled shouting match when he suggested that I "take your tank and return to Canada".
We checked into Saguaro Co-op SKP RV Park. We selected a site in their unserviced area then took Bo for a walk in the desert surrounding the RV park. We refilled with freshwater and dumped our waste holding tanks then went to the clubhouse to get some work done online using Wi-Fi. We have our plans and map directions for tomorrow in Tucson.
Friday ; Benson to Tucson to Casa Grande, Arizona
Sunny and warm.
We dumped our waste holding tanks and refilled our freshwater tank again before leaving Saguaro Co-op SKP RV Park around 11 AM this morning. We reached Tucson less than an hour later. First stop was to refill with diesel. Next stop was ... WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO ... TRADER JOE’ S ! ! ! Our annual Christmas shopping trip to Trader Joe’s. HA HA HA ! Over a hundred bucks worth of impulse purchased exotic / gourmet foods and snacks.
Across the street from Trader Joe’s was a BMO Harris Bank. HUH ? Is that the same as BMO ( Bank of Montreal ) in Canada ? Could I access my BMO accounts and services here ? I drove across the street and went inside to find out. Well ... yes ... no ... sort of ... not really ! < rolling eyes >
We drove across the street ... again ... to a mall where there was a Beyond Bread Bakery & Restaurant. We wanted to have lunch there after reading a favourable article. After finding a parking spot ... not that easy ... I noticed that I was parked near a luggage store whose name rang a bell with me. Recently I was online checking the lifetime warranty and repair services offered by Briggs & Riley Luggage. I have a Briggs & Riley travel wash kit that is well over thirty years old. It was in need of a minor repair.
I recognized the name of the luggage shop I was parked near as an authorized repair dealer for Briggs & Riley. I went inside, had a chat with the shop owner / manager, and he offered to have his repair man fix my wash kit within an hour, while we had lunch. WOW ! How excellent is that ? ! ?
We had a very nice lunch at the bakery restaurant. When we were done we returned to the luggage store, and my wash kit was repaired. WOW ! ! ! Great ! Thank you to Rainey’s Luggage in Tucson for the immediate and excellent repair service and to Briggs & Riley for the lifetime warranty !
The luggage shop owner / manager gave us directions to our next stop ; Target. We were looking for an advertised cell phone special. The Target store that we went to in Tucson did not have it. The young woman working the cell phone department was not very knowledgeable, and not very helpful. We’ll try Target in Yuma tomorrow, probably. The advertised special expires tomorrow.
We found our way back to Interstate 10 and were out of Tucson about 4:30 PM continuing west. An hour later we arrived at RoVer’s Roost SKP RV Park in Casa Grande. By the time we got parked and took Bo for a walk, it was dark.
I worked in the clubhouse on my computer for an hour or so, then Joanne joined me and we watched the finale of Amazing Race on the TV in the clubhouse. Afterwards we returned to the camper for a late, light supper. A few drops of rain fell ... rare event in Casa Grande ... while we were having supper.
Saturday ; Casa Grande to Yuma, Arizona
Cloudy and chilly in Casa Grande in the morning. Sunny and warm in Yuma in the afternoon. WELCOME HOME !
This morning we refilled with fresh water and left RoVer's Roost SKP RV Park about
11 AM. We returned to Interstate 8 and continued west. Around noon we stopped in Gila Bend to dump our waste holding tanks at Holt Shell. AND ... around 1 PM we stopped at ... < insert drum roll here > ... DATELAND ! FOR DATE SHAKES ! ! !
Bo was VERY pleased to have a date shake for lunch. HA HA HA ! So were we !
We arrived in The Foothills, on the eastern edge of Yuma around 3 PM. We refilled with diesel at Fry's and continued home to Kofa Ko-op, arriving about 3:30 PM. We got settled in our site, then friends began stopping by to say hello and chat. We visited with our friend Carol Mae, whom we haven't seen since spring 2014, until it was dark.
DSK
No comments:
Post a Comment