Early Travel Day Seven (from the Ridge), Meeting Friends, Blew It!!

Pilot Knob RV Resort, Winterhaven, CA

We were up at 6 am on Monday, Oct. 28^th and with windows open all night, the Suite had cooled down quite nicely. It sure was warm yesterday afternoon and evening and by nightfall, it was pleasant for sleeping. We both slept well in the lot along with 6 other rv’ers. It was 50F/10C and all but the 5^th wheel beside us pulled out at the same time as us. 😊

Good morning!
On the road again. ♪♫

Today will not be such a long day for driving and it will be broken in half. We will be meeting our Illinois friends in Eloy, Az, which is about half of the day’s journey. They have a winter home in Picacho Peak RV Resort and we always count it a blessing when our paths are able to cross in the winter.

It was warming up nicely, but not too quickly yet, and just after crossing the Continental Divide (4,585’ elevation) we jumped the state line into Arizona. Now the sightings of rocky piles, excuse me, more like ‘boulder’ piles along the I-10W. This is picture worthy country, no matter where you look and we love this view. We also watched for and soon started seeing Saguaros, Teddy Bear and Staghorn Cholla cacti. ♥

There they are!
Our favourite cactus.
The most expressionable cactuc.
Look at those arm gestures in the left bottom photo. 💖

We stopped at a Rest Area around 8:30 MDT, which soon changed to 7:30 MST. It was a bit confusing at first but not for long. I messaged my sister back home to confirm their time and informed her that were now 3 hours behind them. LOL She is even more confused! Ha ha, sorry Donna! The elevation rose to 5,020’ before it began dropping off and the temperature hit 81F by 9:00. Okay, that WAS quick!

Picacho Peak
I'd love to live on a street called
Sunshine Blvd. 😍

What the time change did was make us a bit early to meet our friends but it gave us time to fuel up at the Flying ‘J’ (one of the highest prices yet at $3.47/gal with a Good Sam card) and open up the Suite for Gibbs. We walked into Denny’s and our friends arrived shortly after. 😊 It was great to see them, they both look awesome!

Nancy and Ken

As usual, our meal at Denny’s was very good. We all cleaned up our plates with no ‘take home’. Wow! Ken and I had the Mile High Denver Omelette, Nancy had the Veggie Omelette and Bill had a Classic breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage etc. Yum. We said our goodbyes just before 1 pm and were pulling out at the top of the hour. Bill hopped on I-10W which took us to I-8W towards our next destination.

Must be the year for blown tires.
Friends of ours had two on their way down
this fall too. 

We drove for an hour and it happened again. Must be the year for tires to blow. Yes, the second one on the driver side blew causing my mechanic-do-it-all hubby to fix it on the highway side of the Suite once more. He knows what steps to take and all I did was take Gibbs out and in, offered help turning the crank to drop the spare and then crank it back up when he finished. ☹

We were soon on the road again.
Thankful, as it could always be worse.

This little guy was as good as gold today.
He didn't lie down all day but for a lot of it, he did,
AND he actually stopped panting for the last 2 hours.
What's going on? 💘💘💘

I felt helpless but kept an eye on traffic. Today, they were pretty good, moving over when they could. No slow downs though unless they couldn’t move, SOME, slowed down. Others are just clueless. Within 45 minutes, Bill had the spare on and we were moving along quite nicely. There is damage to the skirt over the tire so Bill duct taped it on as best he could for now, and we made it to our destination in Winterhaven, CA.

Clouds sometimes make the sky.
This jet flew over, F35 or Raptor?

Pilot Knob RV Resort is where we’ll stay until Friday, Nov. 1^st and we’re happy to have this break again. The office was closed but our envelope packet was ready for us so we pulled into site #203, a pull through. It is crazy windy, we’d noticed the sand/dust blowing off in the distance as we made our way here on I-8W. We are facing west to east so other than the whistling through the open windows and the blinds clattering, we are solid. 😊

Arrival in Yuma and then at Pilot Knob RV Resort.
Lots of wind, as you can see from the trees
and Old Glory at the clubhouse entrance.

Because we had a big lunch, we only snacked for supper. Gibbs, on the other hand, ate all of his food and cheese bits that somehow fell into his dish. ♥ It has been a great day. Seeing our friends again was the icing on the cake. The temperature reached another high of 93F/34C today. We had a good drive today with the obvious exception. You can check out Bill's blog here. 

Lovely view from our back window tonight.
Good night to you all!

Thank you for stopping by.

Travel Day Four Since the Ridge

Sam's Club, Texarkana, Texas

On Friday, Oct. 25^th we both woke from a good sleep.  Nothing unusual for me, usually, but when Bill says that, I’m always pleased. Especially on a travel day. 😊 He was up at 6 with Gibbs and I was up at 6:15, hopping into the shower. Bill had his late last night but I’m not into evening showers for some reason. Bill made our morning hot drinks, we gave Gibbs his Gravol (wrapped in cheddar) and had our cereal.

Good morning!
We're on the road again. 

There were quite a few colour changes
but nothing very bright for most of the trip.

Pack up began, at a normal pace but we still surprised ourselves by pulling out of the park at 7:30. Our goal was 8 am. Bonus! We have a long day ahead of us and although many of our friends will do only 300 to 400 miles in a day, sometimes we push the limit, if possible and if necessary. We don’t mind as long as we take breaks when we need to. Last night, I made our ham salad sandwiches and cut some cheese for you know who.

Gibbs wasn't fully settled yet but
he was laying down right away.

We hopped on TN-155N and then within 10 miles, we were on I-40W. In case it wasn’t obvious in my last two posts, we had a great time in Nashville. To the commenter who lives in Nashville, it would have been great to meet you to see what you would offer but I certainly appreciate you reading my blog. Means a lot!

We always see interesting things on the drive.
These tires are just a tad too big for us. Teehee

Back on the highway. When we left it was 54F/11C with clear skies. It just warmed up, and quickly, from that point. We crossed the picturesque Tennessee River and just enjoyed the drive. 

We crossed 3 large rivers today.
The Tennessee River

The Great Mississippi
(not looking so great today)

The Arkansas River
was the most impressive to us.

This one patch of colour was the
best I saw (& captured)

No room at the 'inn' in this rest area so
we broke the rule and parked in the 
No Parking area. We HAD to stop!

We had new pavement for a lot of the way and stopped at the Jackson, TN Rest Area. The spots for trucks and rv’s were full but we were desperate (to put it mildly) so Bill pulled the Suite over to the side at the curve and we all took care of business.  There was lots of room for passing us, although no one had to. It was now 76F/22C. You will notice an hourly increase in that number throughout the day! Well, almost.

Park of our route near Little Rock
and I'd say Bass Pro Shops are
in the money! Look at this awesome building!

Seemed as if everything changed when we neared and then crossed the bridge and Mississippi River into Arkansas. The roads were terrible, especially around Memphis, TN and then West Memphis, AR. Once more, we will be afraid to look inside when we stop. We stopped for fuel and lunch at Widener, AR at a 76 station. The price was a ridiculously good $2.99/gallon and Black Beauty gobbled up 28.809 gallons.

Woops! I must be tired, I duplicated pictures.
Sorry!

By now, we were driving in 87F/28C temperatures. Just wow! 😊 When we crossed the Arkansas River @ Little Rock, Arkansas, I had to admit that it was putting on a better show than the Mississippi did today. It was quite lovely. You can check out Bill’s blog for the route map and miles travelled. We arrived at Texarkana, AR and Texarkana, TX around 4. I think it is very cool that the one city is split between two states. Almost down the middle.

I only saw 2 water towers today worth
taking a picture of. Sorry, they aren't very good pictures though.
I didn't even know there was such a thing as West Memphis,
let alone that it was in Arkansas.

We had two choices here. One was to stay at the Rest Area, and the second was to stay at Sam’s Club. Because we wanted to pay our membership for S.C. we opted for the second choice. It was busy at 4:15 when we pulled in, of course, but traffic was feeling congenial and let us turn ahead of them. My gps said overnight stays were allowed but to notify the manager.

It's not snow, it's cotton
Check out the temperature at 2 pm.

It was 89F/34C, which is almost too hot but it will be dropping overnight about 20 degrees this evening and we’ll be moving on tomorrow. The store closes at 8 pm so this should be a quiet night for sleeping. It has been a long day, Bill did awesome and I didn’t have to splash water in his face to keep him awake. Bonus! I did, however, have a wet facecloth for him to wipe his face and neck at one point. ♥

Welcome to Texas!
Sam's Club missed out, we were going to
do some shopping here. Nope!

We popped into Sam’s after we each had a cold drink to pay our dues and inform them we were here for the night. What a kerfluffle! No one knew where the manager was, no one would commit to saying 'ok' and after 15 minutes, they shrugged and said 'no, you probably can't stay'. Duh! 

These tacos were sooo good.
I need to make them for myself!
Supper was cheap. Bill had a loaded bacon cheeseburger w/fries & drink.
My tacos came with a drink. Total bill $18.

We had already decided we'd eat out at the Dairy Queen, at the edge of the parking lot so we did that first. Now, choice one came into play. We put things away, pulled slides in and my superb driver got us out of here, back down to the Rest Area (about 8 minutes) and got us parked before 7:30. Mind you, doing this in the dark is no fun so it is good to have large spaces. 

It was a pretty sky, too bad for the signs 
in the way.

Aside from that mess up, it was a great day. We have moved on quite a distance and things are falling into place. If you are reading Bill's blog on your phone, don't forget to go down to the bottom, click on 'web version' to brighten the page up. Also, he posted before we were told we had to move. 😔

I'll get a picture of where we actually stayed in the morning.
Good night.

Thank you for stopping by!

Travel Day – Border Crossing

Walmart - Wapakoneta, Ohio

On Saturday, Oct. 19^th when I woke and got up at 6:30, the parking lot was quiet and empty except for one Airstream. As it should be at that time. Most rv’s were gone, either to storage or home with their owners. The light fog Bill noticed when he and Gibbs went out earlier had blown out of proportion and it a white blanket across the land. Yeuch. We had our cereal and began the pack up routine.

Good morning!
This is what we woke up to today.
Lots of fog.

At 7:50, we pulled out and caught the 401W to Windsor. A different crossing location for us this time, for a change. There are reasons you’ll discover as the days proceed. It is a chilly 2C/36F so Gibbs had his thunder coat on and I had my toque and mini gloves on. Bill, well, he was in short sleeves. 😊 He has always been that way, since I’ve known him.

It cleared and then didn't.
It was fine for us traveling, the sun was doing
its job.
Nice to see the turbines, a home reminder.

We had an easy drive, watching the fog clear as the sun forced its way through. We stopped at the last En Route/Rest Area before the border around 9 and took care of nature’s call. We can’t get over the improvement of our drive with Gibbs so settled. He was laying down for most of our drive. Tiny whimpers when we had to slow down but it was such a relief, for us and for him. ♥

After we crossed the Ambassador Bridge, we were directed to the far right lane to the truck lanes and we were quite giddy about that. The line ups for the car traffic were plentiful, probably 10 or 12, all open and jammed full. When we reached the truck lanes, about 6 of them, we pulled up behind a Class C RV. Even though it was a wait of about 15 minutes, we could see the guard go out and get into the rv. Hmm.

The Ambassador Bridge as it is now
and the fog looking down at the Detroit River.

This was looking up at the full lines
of cars at the border.
We were directed to the transport crossing guards instead.

Because of our preparedness in packing, I wasn’t concerned at all when it was our turn and he asked us to pull forward and stop. He took our keys and opened the door, stepping inside. He didn’t open slides but took about 5 minutes. There isn’t much that you have access to in our Suite but he came out smiling, handed us our passports and keys and wished us a good trip. 😊 It was probably 20 minutes from the time we got in line and we were on our way.

Fuel prices are below $4 so that will help us along
the route.

Catching the I-75S was easy but we did have a bunch of slow downs further on due to construction but we were relaxed and comfortable moving slowly. We loved how when it was down to 2 lanes from 3, a semi in front of us pulled into the ‘closing’ lane to block all those ‘more important’ drivers from zooming by and cutting in.

This little guy in his Thunder coat was so good again.
He's checking to make sure our home is still coming. 💗

One SUV still tried to get around him and the driver veered over further, forcing him to hug the guard rail. Kudos to the big guy, we all hate that! Happy it did not cause an accident but I’ll bet the little guy will think twice before doing that again! 

The left lane is closing with lots of notice
and the semi pulled over into it to stop the
drivers from racing up to get ahead. 
Love that but it was almost an accident when the SUV
pulled out in the curb lane to pass him. LOL

The rest of the day trip was uneventful, we are getting more mellow as far as putting up with construction delays. There weren’t many workers today but the pylons are still everywhere.

Crossing into Ohio and a
familiar water tower.

We arrived at our destination for the night at 1:30. We’ve often stayed at a Coast to Coast park in Wapakoneta, OH (Arrowhead Lakes RV Resort) but because it is just a one night ‘stand’ (teehee), we pulled into the Walmart in the same town. It could be noisy, not sure how it will be but for one night, we’ll be fine. Gibbs is always happy to get back inside and find our home the way he left it. ♥

Stopping at the Ohio welcome centre
for a nature break.

We didn’t bother reporting in to the manager this time since we know friends who have stayed here and there are a few semis parked on the other side. While Bill and Gibbs had a snooze, I walked in to check out their bread and yogourt section, not expecting much but we also need potatoes and a couple of other things I couldn’t get at Costco.

For the most part, it was a dull drive
but then this stretch was beautiful.

Bill unhooked Black Beauty for a quick run to the Murphy USA gas station to fuel up and then rehooked. They don’t like you to treat it like a campground. We get that.  At supper time, we agreed to get a pizza from Pizza Hut so he walked across the highway and brought back our choice. It’s our favourite Canadian pizza so we’ll compare. He had his half Hawaiian and my half was meat lovers with, what else? green olives. 😊

Our spot for the night.

It was delicious! I could only eat 2 of the 4 pieces and will have leftovers tomorrow. We cleaned things up and Bill had a new movie to watch upstairs and I’ll find something downstairs when I finish my blog. This has been a good day. Border crossing was painless and finding a spot for the night, just as easy.

Look at what I found in
Walmart! Yay!
I bought 2 loaves.

The weather is perfect and I’m sure you are having the same, wherever you are. 71F/22C and warmer tomorrow. The nights are still cool for a few more days but that’s okay too. Bill’s update for today, with our route, is short and sweet if you prefer checking it out.

Such good pizza!
Good night!

Thank you for stopping by!

Time to Go, Small Convoy - Collages Show the Journey

Lima, Ohio

On Saturday, November 2^nd Bill and I were awake just after 5:30 am and up at 6:15. We slept well, at least I did and Bill was in bed soon after me so I’m hoping he managed to get his required 6 hours of sleep. We were excited for the journey ahead and got dressed for the day. A peek out the tv window told us that our travel mates were also up and at it.

Hooking up in good time

Jo-Anne had sent a plate of light rhubarb muffins over as a breakfast treat so we each warmed one of those up, added butter and enjoyed it very much. Thanks Jo! There must be a Murphy’s Law that applies to rv’s too as when we added water to our fresh water tank the other day, for the first time ever, it only registered “0”. Bill tried to judge the number of gallons he was putting in but how does anyone do that successfully?

Bob hooking up as well

After he stopped at what he assumed was around 35 gallons we went about our business. This morning as he was washing up, the tap was sputtering indicating very little water. Good grief! So, after packing and closing the slides, we hooked up and Bill backed down beside the shop’s big doors and added more water. We won’t be having showers on the road so should be fine for two days. It was a cold 37F/2C morning with some winds and cloudy skies.

Backed in beside the shop door to get water in our tank

Hard to see her, but she is smiling for this new adventure too

Jo-Anne and I compared notes on the food she had in her fridge and before long, we were all ready to go. It was 8:10 when we pulled out. Woohoo!

Even Higgins is ready

Our gps units were set with the first destination in Port Huron at Bluewater Shipping. We have a parcel waiting for pick up before we go any further. A little mixup after the crossing because there is no where for you to stop and wait for anyone. We got together again, easy enough, and drove to the pickup depot.

A no nonsense dull day for our drive

We got a kick out of the snow on the west side of the hydro poles
There wasn't enough sun yesterday to melt it

The trees have mostly lost their leaves in the Stratford area

We all needed a break anyway so Bill put the front jacks down and opened up our 2 slides enough to gain access to the bathroom. Again, easy enough. We were back on the road by 11:30 headed for our first overnight destination in Ohio. The rain stopped about an hour ago and that makes for a nicer drive. No sooner did we get on to I-69/I-94 and we realized that we were all ready for lunch so pulled off at the first Rest Area for our sandwiches. They were just as good as I’d hoped.

Our 402 highway is one of the trial runs for new speed signs
Increase from 100 km/h to 110

Approaching the Bluewater Bridge
Unfortunately, we were on the bridge for 30 minutes.
Traffic was c - r - A - z - EEE!!

Needless to say, I had lots of time for pictures
The big one is my favourite
Canada and U.S. Flags fly proudly on the Michigan side

The big picture here shows clearly the varying depths of the St. Clair River
with what appears to be an obvious divider between Canada and the U.S.
to the left of this boater

Their trees are still in a state of Ballroom dress - beautiful
On the right, the line ups at border crossings - One hour from toll booths to
our "have a good day" exit on the other side

Driving I-94 around the Detroit, MI area is never fun and today, not to disappoint, we hit a lot of construction areas where we were all squished into one line – many times. Finally, we took Exit 194 to 275S and caught I-75S 15 minutes later. The sun was playing tag with the clouds but it was nice to see it for however long it stayed visible. The temperature at 1:30 was 46F. Around 2 we pulled off to a Sunoco for fuel and both of us topped up. The roads were making us all cringe and we are now very afraid to open our units.

Blue water shipping - Bill goes in to get our package

I like the appropriate name of "Shook" Rd - it should say Shook Up, really
Top right - Gateway Bridge
Bottom right, some attempt to make parts of Michigan pretty

I missed a picture of the Ohio sign but we knew we were in another state immediately as the highway was like night and day. Smooth as a baby’s bottom, almost. Another burp in the trip happened near Monroe, Mi when Bill and I got confused and took a wrong exit. Trying to avoid downtown areas is always the plans and in doing so, zagged when we should have zigged. Poor J & B just followed us blindly but scratched their heads.

We saw more traffic cones than we care to see again - ever

So, we took a scenic route and eventually got us back onto I-75S. We were all getting tired and really didn’t need those added miles but it is what it is and we are all still smiling. We found Exit 125 to Lima and made our way to the Cracker Barrel on Roschman Ave. About 20 minutes away from our destination, I called C.B. to see if we could stay the night. From Google Earth we could see that they had Bus/RV parking lanes.

I missed the Ohio sign so the above will have to suffice and prove
we were in the state

I tried all day, at roundabouts and curves to get a picture
of the Redwood behind us
Finally! Success!

We were asked to check in with the Manager upon arrival and perhaps enjoy a meal. That was our plan! We were prepared to go to the Sam’s Club or Walmart, all in the same block, if necessary. Wouldn’t you know, we needed a third burp. When we pulled into the lot at 4:10, the rain started again. Bob got pulled in and we went around the lot to pull in behind him. By the time Bill needed help to back in, the rain was driving and heavy. I was soaked in seconds.

Not a very good advertisement but I barely caught the sign as we turned

Bill ran in and checked in with the Manager. With our jacks down, I put the slides out and we checked cupboards to see what, if anything, got banged around. We were both surprised to discover that not much was topsy turvy, at least nothing out of the ordinary. Phew! We dodged a bullet there because those roads were horrible! I made us each a cup of tea and then walked back to see if Jo-Anne and Bob minded a bit of company before dinner.

And the rains came just in time - LOL

Higgins was very excited to see us and actually sat with us on the recliners for a nice little cuddle and back scratch. He got the scratches; Bill and I stole the cuddles. We agreed to meet in a few minutes and all walked across the lot into the restaurant. There was a line up but you can’t tell because while waiting you wander their jam-packed store. Lots of fun, interesting things to see and buy if you were so inclined. We weren’t. I spent the time looking at the greeting cards, which is just something I like to do.

I thought I might see a rainbow but didn't

Our spot for the night

My dinner - still too much food and I couldn't eat it all

We had a great meal, very filling. I had chicken and dumplings, the smaller meal, mashed potatoes, turnip greens and a biscuit. I was thinking beet greens and didn’t like the turnip greens but there was still too much food so didn’t need them. No box came home with me as I’d had enough carbs today to last me a week or more. We were all stuffed as we walked back to our rv’s. The wind was cold and I still felt chilled from the rain shower I got earlier.

Our first night and our first dinner together

This will be an early night; I can hardly keep my eyes open to finish this post. We had a great day and surpassed the little jiggles in our travels. I hope you managed to find a warm spot, perhaps with sun and got through your day as well.

Good night from Lima, Ohio everyone!

Thank you for stopping in!