Our Wander Years

A year of Patience

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Sparky

It was one year ago today that I began my 3-month leave-of-absence from work. We had, of course, been spending a lot of time in Patience before then, but had a home to live in until the start of September, 2012. Jett was full-time from that day, but I lived for a week as a guest of her sister in North Andover, commuting (ugh!) over an hour each way to Cambridge. It was not until a year ago today that I began my full-time-in-an-RV experience.

I have done several retrospectives along the way, but I need to do another, I think. A year of full-time living in an RV is a significant milestone and, like a dog, I must mark it.

I think the bottom line for me is that we proved that we can do it. We haven’t missed the house a lot and in general the accommodations have been comfortable. Yes, we have fought, but no more than we would have fought in a house, I think. The fights were not due to cramped quarters. And we have enjoyed the travel, though the pleasure has been tempered by me working and by Jett having to deal with both her son’s divorce and a series of medical disappointments. She still has not had the cataract surgery that we expected would be completed six months ago. So we have seen glimpses of the pleasures that a full-time RV lifestyle can bring, but many of those pleasures have eluded us this year.

We are also a year closer to true retirement, but I still haven’t figured out the magic formula for making ends meet when I stop working. The fact is that we spent a LOT more money this year than I expected. It is imperative that we trim our expenses if we are to continue doing this long-term.

This week I need to figure out whether I can continue working remotely. If my employer says no, then we have a major decision to make: either I try to find a job that will allow me to work remotely (not easy and not likely to happen in the 5 weeks before we must depart for Florida) or I take Social Security earlier than I would like and we scramble to both cut costs and earn extra money.

We also need to part ways with Cha-Cha. He is 13, can barely walk and just isn’t enjoying life. While I hate the thought of putting this good dog down when he isn’t already on death’s door, I also can’t see taking him on the road again. He doesn’t enjoy travel as much as Grace and is unlikely to live until we return to MA next spring. At the very least, he soon will be unable to get up and down the stairs. It is better to put him down here at home than wait until it is urgent and try to find a vet in Florida to do the deed. It will be painful for both Jett and me – and I think Grace will be extremely sad as well – but it needs to be done.

We also need to deal with Jett’s physical problems. The cataracts have to wait until her other problems subside and we don’t know how long that will take. Until the cataract surgery is done, she is unable to drive at night and can barely read.

So, a year into the full-time RV experience, life is not the carefree lark that we would like it to be. But it is still an adventure.

Categories: RV Living | 2 Comments

QTE post-mortem

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Sparky

The QTE was our first attempt at traveling long distances while I continued to work. The strategy was to travel only on weekends and for me to find a good internet connection during the week. So how did that work out for us?

I think if I had to choose one adjective to describe the QTE it would be “exhausting”. Working all week and then traveling all weekend (with me doing all the driving) left me with very little down time. Each travel segment was long, by GTW standards: we averaged nearly 300 miles per travel day as compare with around 200 miles per hop on the GTW. In addition to being long, almost every travel day required a refueling stop, which meant extra planning. And the need for speed meant that we couldn’t afford any scenic side trips, so much of the journey was through parts of the country that we had little interest in seeing.

The high points were: the Grand Canyon (again), Branson, MO, and Lake Havasu City, AZ. Branson was not exactly as I expected, but certainly didn’t disappoint us with the entertainment it offered. It isn’t Las Vegas, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Lake Havasu City – or, more specifically, Lake Havasu and the surrounding desert – was our first experience with intense desert heat. The body wilts quickly under 115-degree heat, but it was interesting to experience it for the day.

The low points were: Georgetown, KY, and the cheap motels that I booked in an attempt to get better internet access than I could get at the RV parks. Georgetown would have left a better impression if it hadn’t poured, but even if the weather had been sunny the RV park would have been a downer. The cheap motels were a waste of money. Lesson: you get what you pay for and that includes internet access. Even when I paid extra for internet and asked for a room near the router the service was mediocre. The best service I got on the GTE was at the RV park in Williams, AZ. Service everywhere else – at both the hotels and the RV parks – was mediocre. I could do my job, but it was difficult.

The bottom line is that working while traveling, while feasible, is exhausting and difficult. We may do it again in October when we head south for the winter, but that remains to be seen. It is not clear that my company will continue to let me work remotely. If they don’t then the work-while-traveling problem disappears, to be replaced by the how-to-pay-for-the-travel problem.

Categories: Commentary, QTE, RV Living | Leave a comment

QTE Hop 6: Lorton, VA, to Littleton, MA

Posted on July 21, 2013 by Sparky

2 day, 534 miles via I-95, I-495, US 29, I-70, I-695 (near Baltimore), I-83, US 30, US 222, I-78, US 22, PA 33, US 209, I-84, I-90, I-290 (near Worcester), I-495 (near Boston) amd MA 2A.

This was a grueling weekend, primarily due to the fatigue from the previous weeks, the complicated route to our overnight stop and the heavy traffic on I-84 through Connecticut. This route, which took us west of Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, is not the shortest way to get to MA, but it has the very significant advantage of avoiding all of that urban traffic.

Day 1: Lorton, VA, to Milford, NY

This was arguably the most complicated route we have ever taken in a single day. We got lost twice, sort of. My original intent was to take I-495 north, west of DC, but somehow got it into my head that I-95 went west of DC, too. So when I got to that massive interchange in Springfield, VA, where all sorts of major roads meet, I followed the I-95 north signs. I was happily cruising along a few miles later and saw the exit for Mt Vernon. That woke my brain up and made me realize that I was going to pass DC to the east, at a cost of some 10 extra miles. Had I known I was going to go that way, I would have continued up I-95 to just south of Baltimore. But I had planned on going north on US 29, west of I-95, and didn’t want to make on-the-fly changes to my plans, so I continued on to US 29 which turns out to be rather commercial the first few miles. I certainly would have saved time by going I-95. Next time.

The second “lost moment” was in York, PA. The Google map told us to take Exit 18 off of I-83, the GPS told us to take Exit 19 – neither of which were signed to connect to US 30. So we continued on 2 more exits to the US 30 connection. When I looked back at the route, I saw the US 30 runs parallel to I-83 for several miles and I could have cut off 4 or 5 miles by following either the map or the GPS. But I really need to take a close look at those shortcuts before I take them. Shortcuts usually spell trouble for RVs.

Hop 6, Day 1

We stayed the night at Kittatinny River Beach Campground in Milford, NY. This is a canoeing/kayaking center first and a campground second. I got the impression that many of the campers (which included a lot of tents) were there for the river experience. But the nice couple next to us were there for antique car shows. There was one show that weekend a few miles west of Milford, and one right in Milford starting on Monday.

The campground was water and electric only, which is fine for a night. It actually makes setting up/tearing down much faster.

Kittatinny canoes

Kittatinny office

Patience at River Beach Campground

Day 2: Milford, NY, to Littleton, MA

Hop 6, Day 2

These 231 miles were easy to navigate. Almost the entire route was on familiar roads. Jett could just sit back and enjoy the ride, except that she didn’t. The traffic was heavy – it always is on I-84 – and most of I-84 was very bumpy, as usual. We tried to stop for gas at the Charlton Service Plaza on the Massachusetts Turnpike, but couldn’t find the diesel. It turns out that diesel is offered on the auto side only on the last pump or two. Message to the Massachusetts Turnpike: some signs indicating where the diesel is located would be useful.

But we actually didn’t need the refueling stop. We made it to our campsite at the Boston Minuetman Campground in Littleton without incident and without the low fuel light appearing.

I will report on the campground after we settle in.

Thus ends the QTE.

Hey, Massachusetts, we’re here! And pissa glad that we made it safely.

Categories: MD, NY, PA, Places, QTE, Routes, RV Parks, VA | Leave a comment

QTE Hop 5: Georgetown, KY, to Lorton, VA

Posted on July 21, 2013 by Sparky

2 days, 569 miles via I-75, I-64, I-77, I-79. I-68 and, near DC, I-270, I-495 and I-95.

Day 1: Georgetown, KY, to Sutton, WV

QTE Hop 5, Day 1

The only things that made this day difficult were the terrain – very hilly – and the rain – intermittent with occasional downpours. I was also pretty weary after the work and the rain in Georgetown. The best thing about our overnight stay – at the Flatwoods KOA – was that it allowed us to put another state on our map of the US. We have now stayed at least one night in 19 states.

Patience at Flatwoods KOA

The campground, though small, was really nice. It was part of a complex that included a Day’s Inn hotel (where we had guest privileges to the pool and other amenities), a conference center and a large amphitheater. We splurged on the dinner buffet at the Day’s Inn and were pleasantly surprised. It included prime rib that was superb, interesting sides such as polenta and some tasty strawberry cobbler for dessert. A very nice meal which, including a glass of wine for me, came to $51 before tip. Highly recommended.

Amphitheater

When we came out of the restaurant we were treated to a nice rainbow.

Rainbow

Day 2: Sutton, WV, to Lorton, VA

Hop 5, Day 2

We were glad that we made this 308 mile trip on Saturday. It was, after all, the weekend after July 4th and the traffic was heavy. I can only imagine how bad the traffic would have been on Sunday.

This trip was mostly on interstate highways. The shortest route – by some 45 miles – would have had us cutting across West Virginia on US 33 and other US highways, but Jett eagerly agreed to the longer route. Wider lanes and fewer curves are highly valued.

We had an interesting refueling stop at a small gas station just off of I-68 in Friendsville, MD. It was not only small but quite busy. We were fortunate in that we could pull up to the rightmost pump, which made exiting easier, but were unfortunate in having some yahoo in a school bus next to us. He finished pumping just as we were pulling in and, due to the constraints of the station layout, his only exit option was to back out of the pump and go behind us. He insisted that we pull forward to give him room. We did, though a bit annoyed by his impatience. It took him a good 5 minutes to maneuver his way to the exit, by which time I could have filled my tank. But even with the “easier” position as the end pump, getting out was a little scary. We cleared a parked pickup by scant inches.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We made it to Lorton and the beautiful Pohick Bay Regional Park by 4pm and were met there by Jett’s son and grandson. Jett’s other son and two grandchildren arrived a bit later. It was a wonderful reunion. Hot dogs for all.

We had an electric-only site for one night, then moved to a full-service site for the remaining 6 nights. The lack of a water supply was a surprise to us. Fortunately we had enough in our fresh water tanks to make it through (barely), but as that water had been sitting there for 10 months, we didn’t trust it to drink. Beer for me, juice and soda for everyone else.

The full-service site was the same one we had back in October 2012 when we were novices and were thrilled that we got Patience backed into the very tight opening in a single try. But even with nearly a year of experience under my belt I could not even come close to duplicating that accomplishment. It took me about 6 tries to get the RV situated correctly.

The rain continued. We had rain every day we were in VA. Jett’s son Devin has a beautiful new power boat that we took out on Pohick Lake on Saturday, which was mostly sunny with just a few showers. I got to swim with my grandson Patrick and to experience a very bumpy high-speed ride on an inner tube towed behind the boat. I kept it short, not wanting to tick off my back.

New tires!

I got four new tires on the truck while I was there, to the tune of just over $1,000. These were the 4 dually tires on the back of the truck that some people had recommended that we replace before we began our trek west. I felt pretty good that we had gotten an extra 10,000 miles out of them, but I also felt good that the truck now had some rear tires with tread.

Sparky at work

I worked out of Jett’s sons’ house while Jett was enjoying her sons and grandchildren. We rented a car for her for a few days so that she could go places on her own. She took them to the Pirates Cove waterpark at Pohick (which, if truth be known, they could have walked to – it was less than half a mile from our RV site) among other places. We also had a couple of nice campfire cookouts at our site. Patrick and his father slept in a tent on the site Friday night before we departed. I don’t think they got much sleep, but at least they didn’t get rained on that night.

On Saturday morning, amid teary farewells, we departed for MA and the end of the QTE.

Josh and Patrick

Sleeping Zachary

Jett and Regan

Cookout

Categories: KY, MD, Places, QTE, Routes, RV Parks, VA, WV | Leave a comment

GTE Hop 4: Branson, MO, to Georgetown, KY

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Sparky

2 days, 633 miles, mostly via I-44. I-64. I-57 and I-75

Day 1: Branson, MO, to Benton, IL

GTE Hop 4, Day 1

This was the longest day of the GTE – 359 miles, almost 6 hours of driving. With a refueling stop lunch break and a nasty construction delay in Illinois, we were on the road for over 7.5 hours. Fortunately, it was almost all interstate, except for MO 165 that we took north out of Branson, and that was divided highway. Very hilly divided highway. The truck struggled to climb some of those hills.

Crossing the Mississippi

We had had almost no rain on the QTE to this point, but we expected that to change once we crossed the Mississippi near St Louis. The east coast had been inundated for weeks and the forecast for Kentucky was for rain. This time the forecasters were right: intermittent rain appeared the moment we got into IL and continued through the night. We had to break camp (at the Benton KOA) in a steady rain.

Benton is an interesting little town, if you ever get a chance to stop there. The downtown looks like a set from Back to the Future. with a central square dominated by City Hall. We did takeout from the local Applebees and it was packed. I asked a waitress if it was always packed like that at 6:30 on a Saturday night and she said no – it must be due to “the fireworks down at the lake” and the “street metal” show. Well, I don’t know what a street metal show is and had no interest in fireworks (in the rain) down at the lake, but apparently Benton is the place to be on a Saturday night.

The campground was small, but our drive-through site was spacious, level and quiet. It was a very satisfactory place to spend a night. But if you come in from the north, be prepared for a very narrow, dark road with an obscured sign for the campground. We really wondered what we were getting into. But it turned out fine.

Benton KOA sign

Set up at the Benton KOA

Day 2: Benton, IL, to Georgetown, KY

This day began with 45 miles on IL 14, a 2-lane road that cut some 10 miles off the alternative route: back up I-75. Jett does not like hauling the rig down 2-lane roads, but I knew it would be flat and not too curvy. I had also checked (twice) for low bridges. But we encountered two railroad underpasses that at first looked too low. They weren’t, but they also weren’t marked with a height, so I had to carefully eyeball them as we approached. Jett just closed her eyes.

More rain, intermittently, this day. Fortunately, there was no rain between 2:30 and 5:50 while we were stuck in Louisville, waiting to get our flat tire replaced.

Yes, another flat on the RV. Our fourth. This was the same wheel that had gone flat in MD on the GTW. The tire was less than a year old and had fewer than 10,000 miles on it. But it wasn’t a tire failure; it looked like I had encountered something on the road that took a chunk the size of a silver dollar out of the tread. Fortunately it was not an explosive blowout. Fortunately a woman got my attention as we were driving through downtown Louisville and told me that my tire was going flat. Fortunately the tire held out until I could get to an exit (there was no breakdown lane in downtown Louisville on I-64). Fortunately the next exit was in a nice area of town. Fortunately there was a large parking lot at a medical building near the exit. Fortunately the building was closed on Sunday and the lot was empty.

Another flat tire

I immediately got on the phone with Paragon, our emergency RV roadside assistance service, and told them our situation, explaining that we had a flat “on the trailer”. For some reason, the doofus on the phone thought I was towing some little U-Haul or something and sadly informed me that I wasn’t covered. It took me 20 minutes on the phone, finally speaking to a supervisor, before I successfully communicated that the flat was on my RV, which was fully covered by my “RV Plus” coverage. Annoying.

Waiting for the tire guy

Then it took then another 20 minutes to find someone, on Sunday, to do the tire change. That person would not be free until 5pm, so we had 90 minutes to kill. Fortunately (again) we were in an interesting area and we had an RV, so Jett went in to take a nap while I took the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood, looking at the interesting buildings. I estimated that most of the building were antebellum, probably built in the 1820-1850 period. Turns out I was right, as I learned by doing some cell phone research later. The neighborhood was called “Butchertown” and it became popular with German immigrants around 1850 when a re-routing of a stream made it a good place to butcher animals: their carcasses could be tossed into the stream. I think the EPA would object to that now, but it apparently worked back then because the area thrived.

The nice tirechanger finally arrived just as I was dozing off on the grass with the dogs. He got the tire changed and we got on our way again. We arrived in Georgetown, KY, at 7:45, just 15 minutes before the campground office closed.

Our home for the short July 4th week (5 nights, Sunday to Friday) was the Whispering Hills RV Park. This park was, to me, a puzzle. It was new – probably less than 5 years old – yet its roads were in terrible, shape, with potholes and disintegrated blacktop everywhere. It was large (over 300 sites) and was built in the Big Rig era, yet fewer than 70 of the sites could accommodate large rigs. Our site, one of the 40 pull-throughs, was cramped, with barely enough room to park the truck, and with neighbors uncomfortably close. To make matters worse, the site was not level – we had to put the port side of Patience up on our two 2-by-10s to get it close to level, and it rained every day when we were there so we were surrounded by mud. Jett hated the site (and I can’t say I was a big fan, either), and got mad at me when I refused to move to another site. There just wasn’t any site that was so much better as to justify an hour spent – in the rain – to move the rig.

Fat Boys BBQ

We had dinner one night at Fat Boys BBQ, just down KY 25 from the RV park. It came “highly recommended” both by the RV park and by the people that we chatted with as they left the restaurant. It certainly looks interesting – a shack where you might find the Hatfields and McCoys bickering. But the meal was a huge disappointment. I had the pulled pork – one of their featured items – and it was bland. The homemade iced tea was so weak that I thought at first that it was a glass of water. My pulled pork was served with coleslaw that probably came from a jar and a flat piece of cornbread – like a cornbread pancake – that was actually both bitter and bland. Worst cornbread I have ever had. Jett’s chicken was also uninteresting. Needless to say, we are NOT highly recommending the place.

Memorabilia at Fat Boys

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Fat Boys were the outbuildings. They really looked like authentic log cabins.

Outbuilding at Fat Boys

Georgetown has at least two claims to fame. One – the Kentucky Horse Park – seems to be Ground Zero for Kentucky horses. It has some interesting programs – none of which fit our schedule – and looks like it would be worth a visit. The other is the Toyota assembly plant, a colossus of a manufacturing facility not far from the RV park. I clocked the size of the plant when I drove by one day and it measures 1.3 MILES north-to-south and maybe half a mile wide. If you think your Toyota was built in Japan, come to Georgetown and see how wrong you are.

July 4th was a deluge. There were flash flood warnings in every county within 50 miles of Lexington. We spent the evening at the laundromat. We were in no mood to celebrate anything. Mostly we just wanted to get out of Georgetown.

Categories: IL, MO, Places, QTE, Routes | Leave a comment

Branson, MO

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Sparky

How to describe Branson? Las Vegas for the geriatric? Times Square on downers? A town whose existence can’t be explained? It is a small town far removed from any major metropolis (Springfield, not exactly a metropolis, is an hour away), with no major roads and no major scenic attractions which nevertheless has attracted a very large number of B-list entertainers and a huge assortment of go-cart tracks, mini-golf extravaganzas and a wide variety of run-of-the-mill tourist attractions. I’m sure there is a story behind its existence, but I will leave it to you to figure out what it is.

We had skipped Branson on the way west but our eastward trek made it just a slight diversion. We spent a week there, with me working and Jett mostly hanging out at the Branson KOA, a park which I thought was OK but Jett didn’t like at all. I described it a bit in my previous post and it doesn’t need more ink here. Instead I will tell you about the few times we set aside work and enjoyed ourselves.

First, the restaurants. We had lunch at Bobby Jack’s, which has a luncheon buffet that sounded interesting, but after viewing the offerings we decided to order from the menu. Whatever we had was totally forgettable.

Then, another day, we had an early dinner at Jackie B. Goode’s Uptown Cafe, a 50’s-era diner just around the corner from the KOA. It had classic 50’s style – booths with Formica tops, juke box and a menu featuring malts and shakes. We had some pretty tasty hamburgers, served by a waitress who within 5 minutes had given us her entire life history. We didn’t stay for the dinner show, which is a highly-rated tribute to George Strait.

The highlights of the stay were visits to the Titanic Museum and Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede. Jett is a huge Titanic fan – one who thinks that A Night to Remember is better than the DeCaprio blockbuster. We took just one picture – on the outside because photography is banned inside. We spent nearly 3 hours there and really enjoyed it – particularly the life-size replica of the grand staircase.

Titanic Museum

The Dixie Stampede is a dinner show featuring cowboys (and cowgirls), a few Indians and trick riding, trained buffalo, racing pigs and silly contests. It also had one of the better magic tricks I have ever seen – a cowgirl who climbed into a barrel on one of 3 buckboards, after which the buckboards zipped around the arena, then stopped and she popped up out of the barrel on a different buckboard. At no time were the buckboards close enough to effect a transfer, nor were any ever out of sight. I don’t know how they did it.

Dixie Stampede Theater

The main show was preceded by a juggling act featuring a very skilled Chinese juggler, Ty Tojo. He holds some world records in juggling and I can see why. The kid is unbelievable.

In some respects, the most interesting part of the evening was the dinner: a whole roasted cornish hen, a slice of pork roast, half a baked potato, cornbread and an apple turnover for dessert. All delicious and all served without utensils – you just made a very messy pig of yourself and eat it all with your hands.

Jett at the Dixie Stampede

One of the show horses

Across the street from the Dixie Stampede Theater was Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Grille. We didn’t go there but would have if we had stayed another week. We got a picture just for Jett’s sister who is a HUGE fan of American Bandstand.

Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Grille

Categories: MO, Places, QTE | Leave a comment

QTE Hop 3: Oklahoma City, OK, to Branson, MO

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Sparky

1 day, 300 miles via I-44, US 412 and US 65.

QTE Hop 3

This was a 1-day hop that compensated for the previous 3-day hop. Both I-44 from Oklahoma City to Tulsa and US 412 from Tulsa into Arkansas were very hilly – lots of up-and-downs, the result being very poor mileage. Most of the route was 4 lanes or better, but the section of US 412 from Springdale to the junction with US 65 was 2-lane road, with lots of curves. Jett hated it and I wasn’t a big fan, either. The last 2 miles to the Branson KOA were scary – narrow, winding roads with low-hanging trees. At one point was had to zig-zag a short stretch on what looked like a cart path. High anxiety.

We also encountered our first “ding” of the QTE. Shortly after leaving Oklahoma City, as we were entering the ramp to I-44 north, we heard a strange sound – like metal scraping. We pulled over a few miles later, at the first exit. I inspected the rig and all seemed well, but later we discovered that the trim edge of the truck bed cover had been ripped loose. My best guess is that the useless stabilizing legs that hang from the pin on the front of Patience somehow came into contact with that trim while turning onto the ramp. Anyway, it is mostly cosmetic and can probably be repaired.

A few miles after that, while rolling along on I-44, I looked in the side view mirror and saw one of the basement doors flapping in the breeze. I immediately pulled over onto the not-very-wide breakdown lane and closed and locked the door as 18-wheelers whizzed by. Had I forgotten to lock the door? Must have.

Branson KOA

But we made it safely and got into our pull-through site in Branson. It was gravel and not very level. The park itself had a nice staff, but the amenities were mediocre: a smallish pool filled with smallish kids, a smallish dog park with no water and weak WiFi. Not one of our favorites, but we didn’t see any others that we liked better during our 6 nights in Branson. It worked. Having a neighbor with two pet pigs made it… special. There is just nothing to compare with the sound of of a squealing pig to get your day started right.

Branson KOA

Jett really likes the Branson municipal logo – a stylized misical note – that appears on the numerous water towers around town. I spent the week working at the Westwood Inn. The WiFi here was also mediocre and the security was a joke: a simple twisst-to-lock knob lock and no security chain, but everything else was better than expected: a nice pool, a wonderful free breakfast, a comfortable bed (used only for napping), a spotlessly clean room and nice towels, soap and shampoo. It even had a mini-fridge, a microwave and a coffeemaker with free coffee. Not bad for $27.50 a night.

Branson logo

Westwood Inn

Categories: AR, MO, OK, Places, QTE, Routes, RV Parks | Leave a comment

The Cowboy Museum and Braum’s

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Sparky

We didn’t do much while we were in Oklahoma City, thanks to me working all day, every day. But there are two things about Oklahoma City that are worthy of note: Braum’s Ice Cream shops and the National Cowboy Museum.

After our third straight day of travel, Jett was in no mood to cook dinner Monday night. So we went to Braum’s, just down the road from the Twin Fountain’s RV Park. Jett fell in love with the place. We both got hamburgers (delicious!) and she got a peppermint stick shake (even deliciouser). It is a first-rate burger and shake joint, with the added benefit of being a mini-mart offering very competitively-priced fresh fruits and vegetables, plus its own branded ice cream. We visited Braums once every day we were in Oklahoma City, either for dinner, to pick up milk or fruit or to get one of those great shakes.

I originally thought that this was a local institution, but we found Braum’s shops as far east as Missouri. Great place!

I also took a couple of hours out from my Saturday workday to take Jett to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum which was conveniently located less than two miles from our site. We went primarily because Jett was interested in seeing cowboy and Indian artifacts and we did see some of those. But the main attraction of the museum is its western art. It has numerous statues and galleries of paintings by western artists. There is an entire gallery devoted to Frederic Remington. I am not a big fan of his paintings – too much like Thomas Kincaide’s schlock to appeal to me – but I love his sculptures. The museum had some larger-than-life reproductions of some of his work that were very striking.

Museum lobby

Mountain lion

Cowboy

The artifacts included some authentic Indian clothing, furniture and jewelry, as well as some real cowboy clothing. I like the gallery of Western TV and movie stars. There was also a replica of a western town that was marginally interesting and a section devoted to rodeo heroes that I didn’t know.

Walter Brennan tribute

We also went to the Cimarron Steak House, a famous Oklahoma City steak joint. We had a decent meal there for a very fair price – $51 for the two of us, drinks and appetizer included – but I can’t rave about it. It was a bit like a mini version of the Hilltop Steakhouse.

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QTE Hop 2: Williams, AZ, to Oklahoma City, OK

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Sparky

3 days, 905 miles via I-40 and I-44.

I really wasn’t looking forward to this hop. Three long days on the road, almost all on I-40. There would be some scenery, but it would be dusty scenery and we were getting pretty fed up with wind and dust. We left Williams with a fine layer of dust coating everything – including the ice in the freezer. We would also be heading into the eye of the storm, literally, by going to Oklahoma City. Just three weeks earlier it had been hit with not one but two EF5 tornadoes. We would be traveling the stretch of I-40 where a mother and her infant daughter died when their SUV was caught in the maelstrom. But it had to be done.

The reason we took 3 days instead of 2 was that with a 2-day hop we would need to spend a week in Amarillo. No one wants to spend a week in Amarillo. So we opted for 3 days in this hop, with just 1 day of travel on Hop 3 the following weekend. It all works out.

Day 1: Williams, AZ, to Albuquerque, NM

QTE Hop 2, Day 1

This was a long day – 346 miles and two refueling stops. We didn’t need to stop twice for fuel, but we needed two breaks from the driving.

The route is scenic, passing through Flagstaff and, later, the Petrified Forest. It also skirts the southern edge of Apache Nation, one of the largest Indian reservations in the US. But mostly it is just a long haul. Even Grace got bored.

Grace, resting comfortably while traveling

A beaut of a butte

We passed some cliffs with large caves. We couldn’t stop to inquire, but if I was an Indian, I would see them as great shelter from sun and rain.

Indian caves?

Last shot in AZ

The route was elevated. I-40 tops out at over 7,300 feet in Flagstaff and hits the 7.000-foot mark east of there as well.

Proof of elevation

Our overnight campground was the Anerican RV Park in Albuquerque. This is a very nice park – probably on our list of the “10 best” parks we have visited. A nice site, a nice dog park, courteous staff, clean pool, free breakfast. Too bad it was just an overnight stay.

Patience at the American RV Park

Dog park

I was sent out to fetch dinner (which ended up to be crappy Church’s Fried Chicken) and to fill the tank. I took the opportunity to visit Old Town, a small neighborhood of historic buildings in Albuquerque. It is nice, but I will take Beacon Hill any day.

Old Town Mission

Adobe building

Wedding in Old Town

As I was filling the tank, a sandstorm blew in. This was something I had never seen before – like a blizzard, but with sand instead of snow. I could barely see the road as I made my way home and had to wonder what the sand was doing to the air filter. And paint.

Once back at the RV, we endured a couple of hours of fierce winds which seemed strong enough to blow a light trailer away. When I am on the road, trying to haul the RV up a steep incline, I curse the weight. But when 50mph winds are whipping around me, weight seems like a good thing.

The next morning I took a picture of the sand that the storm had deposited on the roadway by the dog park.

Sand from the storm

Day 2: Albuquerque, NM, to Amarillo, TX

Hop 2, Day 2

Another 285 miles on I-40. We had a long climb up to get out of Albuquerque, but it was all downhill from there: the elevation of Amarillo is “only” 3,600 feet.

The route was uninspiring. More dusty panoramas. The most interesting thing about the day was that we entered the Central time zone. That was two time zone changes (Albuquerque is Mountain time) in two days. It also meant, of course, that we lost an hour each day, which was fine for us. If you had to pick a place to have a 23-hour day, Amarillo is a good choice.

Half-buried RV

Our resting spot for the night was the Oasis RV Park, located on the western fringes of Amarillo, just far enough off of I-40 that you don’t get much road noise. It is a brand spanking new resort, with a beautiful pool, nice showers and a very inviting office/clubhouse building. It also has, at the entrance, an RV half buried, butt up, in the soil. I don’t know why. But it is certainly unique.

Oasis entrance sign

Office/clubhouse

We didn’t get a duststorm while in Amarillo, but we did get a hailstorm. For the second night in a row we were rocked by high winds, this time punctuated by the staccato beat of hailstones on our roof and windows. I prayed that the hail would not be large enough to cause damage and I was mostly rewarded – the hail never got larger that pea-size. The air conditioner seems to have taken a beating. Still works, though.

The park didn’t fare so well. A sinkhole opened up on one of its driveways.

After getting battered two consecutive nights we headed toward Oklahoma City, with more than a little trepidation. A sandstorm and a hailstorm… could a tornado be next?

Sinkhole

Day 3: Amarillo, TX, to Oklahoma City, OK

Hop 2, Day 3

The best thing about these 274 miles is that only 264 of them were on I-40; the final 10 miles were north on I-44. And the road was flatter than the previous two days, which helped with mileage – I think we got 9 mpg on this leg as compared with about 8 mpg the previous two days. It also completed these 3 very grueling days of driving.

The twin fountains

We settled in for the week at the Twin Fountains RV Park in the northeast corner of Oklahoma City, not far from the Remington Park racetrack. This was a very nice park, with more trees than I would have expected (but it still was dusty, due to the sandy red soil). The name derives, I suppose, from the two little fountains in the muddy pond in front of the clubhouse.

The site we were given was HUGE – plenty of room for both Patience and the truck. I could even choose whether to park in front or behind the RV. Plenty of grassy areas to walk the dogs. But right next to a very busy road. We tried to keep the windows open the first night but got very little sleep. The other 5 nights we used the A/C and that helped.

Our patio area

The park features a very nice pool – heavily used by children all week long. It also had a very inviting mini-golf course adjacent to the pool, but I never saw anyone use it.

I rented a hotel room this week, primarily to get a better internet connection and to keep me away from the refrigerator while I worked. The room – at America’s Best Value Inn – was a dump and the internet was not as good as I hoped. It was mostly a waste of money, except for keeping me away from the refrigerator.

The mini-golf course and clubhouse

The view from our site

Categories: AZ, NM, OK, Places, QTE, Routes, RV Parks | Leave a comment

A week in Williams

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Sparky

Well, six days actually. Just felt like a week.

The main highlights of our time in Williams were the trips to the Grand Canyon and Sedona, previously documented. It was a work week for me, working remotely using my work desktop set up in the RV’s bunkhouse on the little built-in desk. It was very cramped – I had to put the keyboard on my lap – but it worked because the WiFi at the Canyon Motel & RV Park was excellent. I was able to communicate with the servers back in MA just as adroitly as I had done in my office in Temecula. So, work-wise, it was a successful week. Tiring but productive.

Jett, however, was bored. I offered to take her into Williams – just 2 miles away – to shop and browse, but she declined. Other than a trip to buy some food early in the week, the only time we made it into the town was Friday night, just before we left. We had dinner at the Sultana Bar with food provided by the adjacent Singing Pig BBQ shop. I say “shop” because the Singing Pig is a tiny place – just a kitchen and one long table. They cook only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and when they are cooking the Sultana Bar provides the seating and the beer. It is a great cooperative arrangement, I think, as it allowed me to simultaneously enjoy both.

I ordered the pulled pork BBQ sandwich, “piled high,” accompanied by the Sultana brand wheat beer. Jett got the BBQ chicken and a root beer. The BBQ was excellent. The Singing Pig’s pulled pork was less runny than the Cowboy Club version that I had sampled two days before. I learned, however, that “piled high” means just that – the pulled pork on the base of a bun, topped with coleslaw and french fries, then capped by the top of the bun. The sandwich was about 6 inches high. Too high to eat, so I had to unpile it first.

Sultana Bar

Sultans Bar

We strolled the street a bit after dinner and had a very interesting conversation with the clerk at the Indian jewelry shop. We learned a lot about katchinas, Indian spirit dolls. We even bought one. You can never have too many good spirits when traveling cross-country.

Categories: AZ, Places, QTE, RV Parks | Leave a comment