NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, and into FL

My last morning in Gunnison, Colorado I awoke to an inch deep puddle of water between the refrigerator and the steps leading up to the bedroom. Sniffing the water gave me the minor good news that it was fresh water (it could have been a whole lot worse). I immediately disconnected from the campground water, cleaned up the puddle, and then turned on the various sinks and shower one at a time, pumping from the holding tank. No more water seemed to be coming in and that too was good news. I found an RV repair facility in Santa Fe, New Mexico which is a few hours south on my intended route and made an appointment. The drive through the canyons south of Gunnison was magnificent. None of the grades were difficult, traffic was very light, and every bend seemed to provide a view more beautiful then the one before. Eddie, at Complete RV Care, was very friendly and accommodating. I arrived as he and his technicians were about to have lunch and they invited me to join them. The meal consisted of perfectly roasted chicken, refried beans, quesadillas, nice hot roasted whole jalapenos, chili sauce, ice cold delicious well water, and great conversation. After lunch the technicians quickly discovered a cracked elbow joint on the water intake from the outside connection, They also found a heater vent hose that had broken free from its connection, and a separation on the underside of the front of the rig itself. I can't be sure but I'll bet it's all the result of the tractor hitting the rear of the RV. Complete Care's total charge was only $89. I joked with them that the repairs must have been free 'cause lunch was worth the charge by itself.


It was late by the time the repairs were completed so I decided to finally stay at my first Walmart. Over three years of full timing and I'd never boondocked at a Walmart. The Albuquerque, New Mexico Walmart was just a little over a mile off the route I'm travelling. I found a quiet spot in the back of the parking lot near a motorhome already parked. I bought a couple of items and asked the manager if I could stay overnight. She said sure and gave me a look like why are you even bothering to ask. I cooked a light dinner, watched a movie on TV and had a quiet nights sleep. Heading south out of Albuquerque it became very smoky. It was so smoky that at times I could barely see a car or two in front of me. The smoke lasted for about 50 miles, the result of wildfires. Once past the fires it was a beautiful blue sky. As I turned into the Lo-Hi Ranch of Loners on Wheels in Deming, New Mexico I felt like I was coming home. I'd only been here once before and that was over six months ago. Still, this is a very comfortable place to hang out. While I only stayed a week, I managed to get a few things done and enjoy the time. I got my truck serviced, finally toured the local museum, enjoyed the Saturday night dance, had a great time visiting the "Pink Store" in Mexico, and relaxed sitting out, chatting with other RV'ers. Every day was in the mid-70's and every night was in the 50's. Southern New Mexico sure is pretty this time of year although I wouldn't want to be here in July or August.


My one Walmart experience was pretty good so I'm actually planning a second one. Driving all the way through to the San Antonio, Texas area from Deming, New Mexico is to far for me. I found a Walmart Superstore in Fort Stockton, Texas which is pretty near halfway. There was one RV already parked so I pulled up nearby and went into Walmart to let them know I'd be staying overnight and pick up a few items. When I got back to my rig there were three more RV's parked in the same area. A light supper, a movie, and another quiet night. As I left the Ft. Stockton area on I-10 I saw a huge fireball off in the distance. As I got closer I saw a tractor-trailer blazing in flames on the far shoulder heading in the opposite direction. The police were only allowing traffic in my direction to use the far shoulder even though the fire was about eight lanes away. As I passed, it felt like I was passing a furnace. I don't know what was in the rig but both the tractor and trailer were partially melted. I sure hope no one was inside when it went up.


The campground seems to be a bit out of the way. So far most of the Thousand Trail parks have been a little off the beaten path. Full hook ups, an open site for my sat. dish, and a sparkling clean pool and hot tub, what more can you ask for!! There are lots of little deer throughout the park. If I walk near them they run away but for some reason they aren't afraid of vehicles stopping by them. The deer graze and even sit within a few feet of the RV's. This is the fourth Thousand Trails park I've stayed at and so far they all seem more like state parks than RV campgrounds. All the parks have been quite large, hundreds of acres. The sites have also been large with more than enough room for the biggest rigs and lots of trees and ground between sites. All the parks have had swimming pools, although the park in northern California had closed the pool for the season. The parks are different from the private campgrounds I'd become accustomed to but may prove all right for a change of pace. It is really hot in central Texas! It's mid-October and several days were in the 90's with the other days in the mid to upper 80's. Even the nights were in the upper 60's. I sure am glad for full hook ups 'cause the a/c has been running almost 24 hours a day. I enjoyed the pool and hot tub every day and toured a new town for me of Boerne and went back to one I'd been to earlier in the year and enjoyed, Bandera, "The Cowboy Capital of Texas"! While in Boerne I explored the Cibolo Nature Center. It's about 100 acres adjacent to the town park. Several trails meander past forest, streams, grass and marsh land. I was dripping wet after a couple of hours of walking around in the near 90 degrees. Still, it was a peaceful day. Bandera is, well, it's Bandera. The cowboys may drive pickup's but you've never seen so many Stetsons. The Frontier Museum has an incredible eclectic collection ranging from Mt. St. Helen's ash, a shrunken head, an ostrich egg, and lots of the usual western/frontier stuff. The saddle collection is awesome. Did you know that their are over 2,000 patents for different styles of barbed wire? The museum "only" has about 100 examples. For those reading this who know me well you'll smile at my experience getting a haircut. As usual, the barber and I had a conversation while he was cutting my hair. However, since there was no one waiting when my cut was done the barber and I continued our conversation. For almost an hour, over coffee, we solved most of the country's problems.




The drive to Beaumont, Texas was a combination of easy driving through the Texas countryside and high anxiety driving around San Antonio and Houston. I may have grown up in a big city but I'm sure getting to dislike them now. It's hard to believe I spent so many years commuting through crazy city driving. For those who haven't yet enjoyed some of the rough Alaskan roads just take a drive from Beaumont, Texas to New Orleans, LA on the I-10. You will get to experience some of the bumps and washboard roads famous in Alaska. I've got to find a way around this section of the I-10 for future travel.


As Thomas Wolfe once said, "You can't go home"! Returning to a familiar place is never the same as you remember it to be. I had been looking forward to returning to New Orleans and enjoying another Sunday brunch at "The Court of the Two Sisters". There was a tour group at the restaurant and it was packed. While I did get a seat pretty quick it was very noisy, I could barely hear the jazz group, and the buffet just wasn't the same when it took so long. The food was still incredible and the jazz music was nice, what I could hear of it anyway, lol. It was a beautiful day and fun walking around the French Quarter and people watching. The continuing drive on I-10 in Louisiana was more horrible road. However, the I-10 in Mississippi and Alabama got significantly better than Texas and Louisiana had been. The Florida campground is about two miles off the I-10, far enough to get away from the road noise. The site was sandy which made for a very level area and pretty quiet when other vehicles went by. The process of getting my Florida license was pretty easy. The local sheriff's office comes right to the campground to complete a vehicle check and complete the DMV form, a very nice public service. The deputy who came by to do my vehicle check was wearing an airborne bracelet similar to mine. Turns out it he served in Iraq and the bracelet was to honor his dad who actually served in the same unit I did, just 20 years after me, dam I'm getting old, lol. The deputy stayed around for a little while after his check of my vehicles, we chatted about the differences in the military over the twenty years from my service to his dad's and the additional twenty years from his dad to his service. It's a different world in so many ways. You can't go home 'cause the home just isn't the same one you'd remember. Well, I'm now a Florida resident!

Back in the USA - WA, OR, CA, NV, UT, & CO

Port Angeles is the end of my Alaskan adventure and the start of the rest of my life, full time RV'ing! Hanging out in northern Washington for a week lets me collect my mail after four months since the last time I had it forwarded. I'm convinced this part of the country has the best Dungeness crab and had been looking forward to it. Wouldn't you know, the crab season doesn't start until October. Not a single restaurant was serving fresh caught local Dungeness crab, boo, hoo hoo! One of my disappointments on the Alaskan adventure was not seeing Kodiak Bears. Who knew I had to come to Northwest Washington State to see them. In the little town of Sequim, WA is the Olympic Game Farm. Here I not only got to see Kodiak Bears but actually feed them as well (not from my hand, lol). This game farm, started by Lloyd Beebe in 1942, was used exclusively by Walt Disney and his brother Roy, to film many of their wildlife movies such as Grizzly Adams. Lloyd Beebe trained and directed his animals, including bears and cougars, to "act" in the films. With the passing of Walt and soon after Roy Disney, the game farm inherited many of the props used in the Disney films and opened to the public. I arrived early in the morning and thought the place was deserted. The tour takes over an hour and as I was finishing, the line up of vehicles entering had the whole road blocked. This is one busy place. By the way, the Kodiak Bears actually sit up and wave their paws at you, it's quite amazing.


While in the Port Angeles area I also stopped in at a Washington winery and hiked a little in the Olympic National Forest. This is a pretty part of the country with lots of similarities to the Maine Coast. The drive to Westport, WA is quite pretty winding along the bays between Seattle and the west coast of Washington. I wanted to take my usual break after about 90 minutes but couldn't find a place to pull over. As the miles and minutes wore on my "wanting" to pull over began to be much more of a "need" to pull over. Finally, I was less than 2 miles from the camp ground when my bladder screamed out loud, "stop now"!! I felt like the proverbial little kid who, when they say they gotta go, they mean they gotta go this instant! Without giving TMI (to much info), I made it but don't want to go four hours without stopping again (lol). As I pulled into the campground yard, there was Drew waving to me. He arrived a bit before me and could barely fit into the site given him. As he was moving to a different site I went to check in. The first site given me was ridiculously tight with no room to even open my slides. The second site was a little better. Drew and I renewed our friendship and conversations as we strolled around the marina area. The Blues Festival goes for three days with 15 separate bands, vendors, and a beer garden (nice!). The opening act was fantastic and set a high standard for the following ones. All the acts turned out to be fantastic. The first two days had perfect weather. Not a cloud in the beautiful blue sky, temperatures in the upper 70's to low 80's, with a great sea breeze blowing in from the harbor just behind the RV park. The last day, Sunday, the temperature dropped into the mid-60's with a sky full of clouds but still no rain. Three highlights of the festival for me were; the opening act of "Blues Bentley Band", Claudette King, daughter of BB King, and Lee Oskar. It's great to see anyone at the top of their game and watching and listening to Lee Oskar play harmonica is witnessing a true artist. Over the three days there were five other harmonica players in the various bands. The last gig of the last day was a harmonica blow-off. Each of the other five players were very good in their own style. But when Lee Oskar played you just knew he's in a totally different class. He autographed a CD of his recording for me. When we chatted we found some common ground and I got a hug. It was a great way to end the Blues Festival. The park cleared out the next morning including my new friend Drew. I enjoyed our conversations and hope to see him again.


I found an RV store for my annual maintenance a little southeast of Portland, Oregon. They were very accommodating. I was hoping for an appointment early enough in the morning so they could complete the work in one day but not so early that I'd have to start driving in the middle of the night for the 4 hour trip. My 10 am appointment was a good compromise. It took all day and into the next morning to complete the brakes, reseal the roof, clean & seal all windows, replace the waste valves, plus a few other minor fixes, and wash & wax the rig and truck. They had water and electric hookup and it was a quiet night. I almost didn't recognize the RV or the truck. All the dirt and grim from the Alaskan adventure was gone, the RV and truck looked almost brand new.


They recommended a park just a few miles down the road and actually on the base of Mt. Hood. The park is an Encore Resort and apparently the only one that is also part of the Thousand Trail Resort system. I'd read and heard lots about Thousand Trails and think it may be worth it for a full time RV'er. Anyhow, I ended up buying into the system. I got to stay at the Mt. Hood resort for free and John & Judy, the husband & wife sales people even treated me to a prime rib dinner. The resort is nice with a full gym, Jacuzzi, pool, and restaurant. They even have a pretty view of snow capped Mt. Hood. I tried out my new Thousand Trails membership, making reservations for a park with an address in Bend, Oregon. Driving there proved "interesting"! The park is actually in Sunriver, OR which explains why I couldn't find it in Bend. By the time I realized I was lost it was after 5pm and the Thousand Trail reservation phone was closed plus I didn't have any local phone number for the campground. I wandered around for about a half hour till I saw a sign for the town of Sunriver. My GPS liked the address and I was back on track. The park is quite large, about 100 acres. I was disappointed to learn they don't have any sewer hookups, water & electric only. Also, the park resembled a state park with heavily treed sites so no satellite reception. Still, it's a quiet park with a pretty outdoor swimming pool, Jacuzzi, little village area with a well stocked convenience store. Lots of forest fires all around me these past few weeks. Several nearby campgrounds have been evacuated. All I've seen is some smoke. The northwest has been extremely dry this summer.


The place I got my solar system from, Wholesale Solar, is based in Mt. Shasta, CA, right on my current heading. I stopped at a quiet little nearby park and went into the town of Mt. Shasta the next morning. Lucky me, there were four empty parking places right in front of their in town shop. I wonder if I have to put money in all four meters, lol. Most of the office staff came out, taking pictures of my rig with their system on it. I got a few more stickers to add to my growing collection already on my rig. They gave my system a quick check up and I was on to another quiet nearby park. When I made reservations at the Thousand Trails park off I-80 near the Nevada border they asked if I have any respiratory problems. More nearby forest fires with lots of smoke blowing over the campground. I made the reservation anyway since the park is in a good location.


On my way to the Thousand Trails park I finally christened my RV :=(!!!  While driving south on I-5 in the pouring rain, a tandem tractor trailer blew by me. The posted speed is 70mph except for anyone towing anything where the speed is 55mph. In the pouring rain I was going between 50 and 55mph. The tandem passed me and three cars in front of me when I saw one of his trailers go one way and the other trailer go in a different direction. I began hitting my brakes before the cars in front of me. Even with ABS braking I didn't want to mash the brakes down for fear of jack knifing so I began pumping hard and easing up. Somehow I managed to stay in lane and stopped about a foot and a half before hitting the car in front of me. Unfortunately, the tractor trailer behind me didn't stop as fast. He tried to move to the right shoulder but it was to narrow and he hit the right rear of my rig. The first thing I saw as I got to the back of my rig was my roof ladder impaled in the tractors radiator and the tractors wrecked front bumper. My ladder was gone, my rear bumper was mangled, my right rear stop & turn signal light was destroyed, there was a rip in the skin on my rear wall, and my right side rear quarter panel was mangled. While the tractor driver was apologizing I went inside my rig to see if there was any damage. The right rear is where all my electronics are; TV, stereo, DVD, etc. Absolutely no damage! This could have been a whole lot worse. No one was injured and, all things considered, I don't seem to have a lot of damage, no glass broken, no mechanical damage, no electronic damage. The I-5 is a mess with the tandem strewn all over the road. The California Highway Patrol was amazing! They were on site within minutes, had a giant wrecker hooking up to the tandem within about 15 minutes of the accident, and had one lane cleared less than a half hour from the start of the mess. By the time I was waved forward I already had all the truck drivers info and a claim number from my insurance company. My exit was the very next one (why couldn't it have been the prior one, lol). I pulled in for fuel and saw an RV camper shop next door. I was able to get a new bulb and light cover for my right rear turn signal and brake light. Popping it on the light worked!! When I got to the campground I used some gorilla tape to cover the break in the rear skin and protect it from rain. This next morning I found what seemed like a decent RV repair shop in Reno, Nevada about an hour up the road. I also got hold of the trucking company, sending photos to the repair shop and the trucking company. By end of day I had some good news and some so-so news. The good news was an email from the trucking company assuming responsibility and agreeing to pay pending an acceptable repair quote. The so-so news was the repair shop telling me the work could take up to two weeks, what with ordering parts and getting a go ahead with a financial commitment. I don't have two weeks as I'm on my way to visit my son in Colorado and it's already getting icy on the 12,000 foot passes at night. Oh well, let's see what happens when I get to the Reno shop on Monday morning. It rained on and off most of the weekend. Still, I managed to get out and explore a little of Tahoe National Park. This is a beautiful area of northern California with pretty forests and deep canyons. On Monday morning the repair shop in Reno began assessing my rig and getting an estimate done even before the insurance adjuster showed up. By the time the adjuster came by the trucking company had already received the repair shops estimate and was contesting it. My insurance company actually had an approved repair cost higher then the shops so I gave an okay to proceed with the repairs and will let my insurance company recover against the trucking company. The repair shop was able to get all the parts shipped in within a couple of days except the RV ladder. I stayed at a nice campground in Reno for three days, exploring the town. I only had to spend one night in a hotel and the repair shop was able to fix my rig in two long days. As far as accidents go this was about as good as it could have been. Reno seems like a nice little city. They don't get the extreme heat of Las Vegas and they even get a little snow. The one full day I had waiting for my RV repairs I drove to Virginia City, less than an hour away. I looked all over trying to find Ben Cartright (of Bonanza fame for those of you to young to remember). Virginia City is a town almost frozen in time. The store fronts are all from the 1800's and the wooden boardwalk sidewalks complete the picture. To bad they paved the roads. Today there are almost as many bar/gambling joints as "junk" shops selling tourist stuff. Walking around town I could picture ranchers wandering in on horses. The road into town has beautiful views of the surrounding hills and valleys. This is pretty country. In the two days my rig was tied up being repaired I managed to; tour Virginia City, the Nevada historic society & museum, the planetarium, and even a movie. The Paramount RV Repair shop had my rig back by closing on Friday. They really took out all the stops to have it done as promised. Now I have two very long days ahead to make up the lost time and see my son in Gunnison, Colorado.
I left the Reno campground as the sun rose at 6:30am and pulled into the campground in Draper, UT, just south of Salt Lake City about 5:30pm. This was a very long day of driving. The day got a bit longer when the campground didn't have any sites, not even room for me to boondock for the night. They told me that the Camping World right next door usually let RV'ers stay in their parking area overnight so I pulled in! A light dinner, a movie on TV and a quiet nights sleep. The drive to Gunnison, Colorado was really beautiful. Magnificent canyons and only a couple of not to bad grades getting over the mountain passes. The campground was beautiful, overlooking the Blue Mesa Reservoir with the canyon walls behind it, and lots of Aspen and Spruce trees through out. My son gave me a tour of Gunnison, a cute college town. He drove us to Crested Butte for a great dinner and a walking tour of another cute town. This is a very pretty high desert area. We took a short hike which left me panting. The second night I cooked dinner in the RV using the last of the halibut I'd caught in Alaska. It was great seeing my son and spending a few days with him. I'll see him again when he fly's to Florida to spend Christmas through New Year's with me.