I never got around to writing about the preparations for our summer travels. Part of the reason was I was so busy with my volunteer efforts at Jojoba Hills SKP Resort that by the time I had a moment that was not either working or socializing I really didn’t feel like writing. Another piece is that I have not really done any planning. 

I may have explained in an earlier post that it feels like I grabbed a handful of pebbles and threw them at the map. Most of them landed west of the Mississippi, but that still is a large territory and we do plan to get to Rochester eventually. We are in the lovely Redlands Truck & RV Service Center campground. Fine gravel a concrete patio and full hookups. The camping is free, the cost of the work, not so much. We will leave here with refreshed oil and other fluids, new tires and with a new towing set up for the Jeep. I think my first Corvette cost less than this. With the preventive maintenance we had done on all the appliances two weeks ago we should have relatively trouble free travels. Pull that quote when I start writing about the Perils of Paul. Actually 4 days after the aforementioned PM the back furnace ceased to function. Upon inspection the tech and I learned that the blower fan had disintegrated. This is not something you replace in preventive maintenance. 

We will know where we are going when we know when we will get out of here. We plan to visit friends in Sacramento, a 7 hour drive, but they are no longer available after Thursday. If we can roll Wednesday morning it will work. Watch for the update. 

As the years have passed health has become the moderator of travel and relationships. Our health and that of those around us. When I post list of those in need of the comfort of thought it gets longer and longer. We are doing well. I know people worry about Carol, she would rather you didn’t. When we pulled into the campground she had been driving the new Jeep as chase car since it isn’t  setup for towing yet, She bounded out laughing and happy to be back on the road again. We are out to dinner in Redlands tonight. And looking forward to breakfast at Carolyns Cafe while the coach goes into service.

Fine Thai dinner at Benjarong Thai Cuisine. If you in the vicinity and hungering for Thai cooking this is the place.

Since my last post leaving Red Bay with a long list of repairs completed, we have traveled across Tennessee , Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico. Well we are in Las Cruces which is near the Texas border but also almost halfway across the state. Unlike past trips we are moving with purpose, that is not deviating from a relatively direct course, but taking our time. At Carol’s request we have dropped our “normal” day from 6 hours to closer to 4. That means we can sleep in a bit and have time to gather our wits or just enjoy the parks we are in and not need to feel rushed.

Most of our stops have been familiar places or places I have heard about or read about in the past and couldn’t get in for one reason or another. Rocky Springs on the Natchez Trace Parkway is a place we have stopped several times. We always expect a quiet hide away in the woods and usually find noisy company, mostly Boy Scouts out for a camping trip. This time it was an older trailer with a noisy contractor generator that they kept running until it ran out of fuel at 4 AM. Rude! Next up was Betty’s in Abbeville LA. This is a very highly rated and popular spot with a limited number of campsites. Its popularity derives from Betty’s warm welcome, a patio for happy hour with an open mike approach for musicians and general camaraderie. We were the only rig in the place which had been torn up by two hurricanes and was just recovering. Gathering and playing music on the patio would be out in any case so what we had was a very warm welcome to a small campground on relatively level gravel.  I hope we can make it back in livelier times. Our first stop in Texas was Rainbows End SKP Park where we picked up our mail and just moved on to On the Beach RV Park in Port Aransas TX where we stayed for 3 nights. It is a small park with very tight sites right on the beach. Our site fronted on the dunes and it was a short walk on to the beach itself. If there had been any safe activities to participate in we might have stayed longer. We stayed there many years ago.

After that luxury we stopped overnight in Amistad San Pedro Camping area. It is part of the National Parks System and with our Senior Pass it cost us $3. There are no amenities, just a small shelter over a picnic table and plenty of sand to coat everything with dust. This was our second time stopping at this campground. Back to luxury at Lost Alaskan in Alpine Texas. Somehow the closest we have  come to staying here in the past was parking across the street to use their WiFi many years ago. We prefer to stay in Marfa, but Tumble In was booked solid. 

Driving US 90 is our preferred route across the south, especially  Texas. We can run at our preferred speed (62 mph) with limited traffic and lovely sights along the way. Eventually the route, which starts on the Atlantic coast in Florida, peters out and joins I 10 in Van Horne Texas. We pressed on across Texas to Las Cruces NM just a few miles in to New Mexico. There we stopped at Siesta RV where we have stayed many times, probably 10 or more. We love to visit our friends Stu and Leora as we are passing through. This time we had a brief visit and they gave us a box of Chanukah candles because we had run out. Most of us have too many boxes because we are always thinking we don’t have enough and just pick up another one, besides we might need extra should we have visitors who want to light their own. 

We roll again in the morning, December 15, knowing that the Electoral College has done its thing and we are one step closer to inaugurating a new President. The plan is to stop in Benson Arizona at Butterfield RV, a place we stayed on our first cross country trip in 2002 and have not returned to since.  We plan to visit Ellen and Lonnie who moved from Jojoba since we left last May. After 2 or 3 nights there, we will head into the desert for a night or two to put us close to Jojoba Hills SKP Resort so we can arrive by mid afternoon. There are no plans to move on from there . . .  yet!

This will be mainly of interest to Rvers and others who follow my Perils of Paul series. With any property one is inclined to accumulate minor failures which are more aggravation than serious failures, what I call show stoppers. This will also function as a reminder to me of what has been done that I can take off my list.

We left Colton RV rather dissatisfied with the way work was not completed on a timely basis and some jobs were missed altogether. Given that and other needs we determined to spend some time in Red Bay AL where our motorhome was built. Not only is there a factory service center, but there are many vendors who have worked in the factory and have set up their own repair and modification shops in the area. The ecosystem for Tiffin built RVs is deep and strong.

We arrived on Tuesday before Thanksgiving and found the place almost deserted. Many people from the Northeast make a pilgrimage to Red Bay on their way to Florida. During the “migration” it is hard to get a place to stay and the wait for first-come-first served access to service can be weeks. Nobody, well very few people, wanted to spend four days in a campground with all the service facilities closed. We planned on that. The first surprise was on arrival on Tuesday I called Chris Berry, cabinet maker, to let him know we were in town and he showed up to get the work done within two hours. He got most of the work of replacing worn latches in what I thought was an unreachable space done in 30 minutes and carted off a drawer that needed resurrecting. When he returned with the drawer I mentioned that the design of the cabinet with the trash pail was a nuisance, first one had to open the door then reach in and pull out the slide holding the pail. Two actions where one should be sufficient. Within 15 minutes he had dismounted the door and mounted it to the front of the slideout with the pail. It is taking us some getting used to having it be so simple now.

Next up was the service bay, with no advance notice they called for us to get the coach into a service bay “now”. It was a scramble but we got there and the step cover switch was replaced and the paperwork for mechanical service was forwarded to a different bay for service on Monday. They start work at 7 AM so we were ready for the call when it came at 8. Oops and oops. They noted propane leaking from the regulator so I had to return to see them demonstrate the leak and authorize the replacement. Next the turn signal mechanism needed to be replaced but they didn’t have that specific part anyplace in Red Bay. I drove the coach back to the campsite with no turn signals. It is a small town and everyone knows where you are going anyhow. The defroster now also works.

But there is more! That night the temperature was headed into the low 20’s and we knew we would be dependent on the propane furnaces to keep us warm and the water system from freezing. It was working fine when we went to sleep. At 3 AM I noted it was getting cold. The furnace was running but blowing cold air. I turned on the gas range to see that there was propane flowing. . . there wasn’t. The tank gauge showed half a tank. We learned in the morning when we returned to the bay that the gauge was stuck. I should have noticed that it had not changed in a week, but we had not been using the furnaces. Anyhow I filled the tank and still could not get things to light. Back to the bay again. During his diagnosis Jesse had loosened a connection and had failed to tighten it. Now with heat and hot water we parked next to the bay to wait for the delivery of our turn signal mechanism which arrived as promised and works as promised and we happily headed back to Red Bay Acres to wait a day to have four new slide toppers installed. These awnings have been exposed to the elements for 8 years and were looking really shabby.

When we had a house we had similar failures, water heaters, furnaces, garage doors all failed, but no one took that amiss. When similar things happen to RVs some people think it is really terrible. Carol and I just think it is part of the lifestyle we love and enjoy. Even the failed furnaces resulted in comfy snuggling until it was time to crawl out of bed. We have learned to smile in acceptance and get on with our lives.

As I post this we have stopped for the night in Rocky Springs Campground on the Natchez Trace Parkway for the night and moved on to Abbeville LA and Betty’s RV Park Where we will be for 2 or 3 nights.

Our travels have been mostly uneventful. Our departure from Colton RV in North Tonawanda was delayed because they “forgot” to install the new leveling jack we had been waiting for. Then when they did install it they discovered they needed another part! It arrived the next day – our departure day – and Tiffin had shipped the wrong part (or Colton Parts ordered the wrong part).  We left, determined not to use the affected jack until we got to Red Bay. 

We had a delightful stay with Malena and Dan and dinner at Con Mole (outdoors) Saturday night. Unfortunately Dan could not be with us as he had mounted Tivoly bareback pretty much to everyone’s surprise, particularly Tivoly’s. Dan’s “dismount” left him flat on the ground in some pain. He spent the next 16 hours in ER where he was “imaged” to determine that there was no serious damage and sent home, arriving at 5 AM.  

We left on Monday as planned. Dan was stiff and sore but otherwise in good spirits. Our trip was mostly uneventful save one crazed FedEx driver who forced me onto the shoulder and the usual car drivers who are unable to see a motorhome in their path. We stopped at Racoon Valley RV park a SKP park near Knoxville TN before continuing on to Red Bay AL., known to Tiffin owners as “The Mother Ship”.  

It was Tuesday before Thanksgiving and the campgrounds were at less than 50% and so was the Service Center. The normal arrival ritual is a visit by Norris to determine what services are needed and to estimate how many weeks to expect to wait. We had contacted Chris Berry, an outside vendor, to repair a cabinet. We expected to see  him no earlier than Wednesday, more likely next week and were surprised when he called to let us know he was on the way. The main cabinet work was completed  within an hour and he took off with a drawer that needs to be rebuilt.

Wednesday we were awaiting a visit by Norris when the phone rang at about 1:30 with instructions to bring the coach over to Bay 10!!!! Since we had set up for the long weekend, we had to do a rush preparation for sudden departure. I think it took us 15 minutes to get underway. There was more than the usual rattling of pots and pans as we rolled down the road with Carol following in the Jeep.  (check Ann Carol’s FaceBook page for a picture of what we found on our return) The coach was in the service bay no more than 45 minutes when a call came to come and get it. One of four minor fixes had been completed and the rest needed a different service bay, besides it was 2:45, closing time. Now we wait for a call to go to a mechanical bay on Monday any time after 7 AM.  Guess we will get up early and prepare to move the coach early. I don’t expect the work to take more than a couple of hours so we will be back on the site to receive our drawer and a cleaning crew  who we have contacted to deep clean the interior.  I still need to consider what other work I may want done while we are here.

Not sure when I will post again. the plan from here at this moment is to drive the Natchez Trace Parkway again, one of our favorite roads.  For a story from 2003 about the Trace click on this link and scroll down https://goldberg-online.net/journals-blogs-whatever/cross-country-2003-xc2003/

Somehow between departing the Harvest Host, DelMonico Winery, and arriving in Covesville I stopped writing and haven’t noticed until now. The next stop was courtesy Boon Dockers Welcome, a site that puts together people willing to host an RV and RVers for a free night. Generally these are in someone’s driveway, although we have stayed in a farm yard as well. This one has to be unique. The Wythe Race Track is a half mile dirt track in the town of Rural Retreat Virginia. As with so much of the country, dirt track racing is closed for the pandemic. This left a large grand stand parking lot unused. We pulled up along the pit row fence and leveled and put out the slides, HOME for the night. Jim, the host never did appear, not that I really expected him. We had dinner, read and slept and had breakfast and reversed the process to get underway to one last stop in Malena and Dan’s yard. 

The last two miles were the most challenging of the trip as always since we had to drive up the mountain dirt road to their driveway which is more of a challenge being steeper and narrower. It took us only 4 back and forth ks to get the coach up onto the pad where we plan to stay for an indeterminate period of time. We are getting better at this – better be after 20 years, It was sad not to be greeted by Amber who has been gone for several years, but for so many years she barked us up the driveway. 

We have settled in. They bought a nice table and chairs which is setup in the driveway just outside our door so we can eat together when we get the timing right. Our greatest risk is the grandson’s 21 and 18 who come and go with friends. They keep their distance and we share virtual hugs. Sunday night was Alex’ 21 birthday and  Malena’s  mother drove in Potomac  for dinner. 

Dessert was a special treat with a story. Four weeks ago Malena posted a picture of a sour cherry pie (cherries from their tree) with ice cream on it on Face Book. People were commenting about how beautiful it was and they should hold a piece as they were on their way. I posted “That sound you hear is a big diesel engine starting up.” From those words came the decision to start that engine and head east, an idea that had been percolating in my brain without my voicing it for over a week. Dan said when I called to discuss it that we should arrive for Alex’ birthday and I scoffed at the idea for about an hour while I worked out the logistics. 

And the sour cherry pie with ice cream was definitely worth the drive.

Uneventful continues. We got to Tom Sawyer RV Park right on the Mississippi River on Saturday. We had been moving every day since leaving Redlands. Four days without a break is rare for us but none of the places we stopped were conducive to staying one more minute than necessary to get on with it. Tom Sawyer was more than conducive. We had no sooner put the level jacks down than we looked at each other and said “ONE MORE DAY” Called the office and they said we would have to move to a new section they had just reopened to stay another night. Oh well! we retracted the jacks and moved to a new site. It was a bit awkward as it was set up for a trailer with a  rear window. We chose to pull in with our windshield facing the river which meant pulling our utility connectors under the coach. Done! 

I would estimate we were no more than 50 or 60 feet from the river. The sound of the tugboats pushing large strings of barges against the current was powerful. We hardly heard it at night as we slept. It was great to have a day with nothing on our agenda other than a weekly zoom gathering with family. Delicious down time.

Today we headed for  Harvest host winery Del Monaco in Baxter Tennessee. Met some newby RVers in the parking lot and went on in to try the wine. Bought some whites and a pseudo Port. The reds were not up to what we are carrying with us. 

Tomorrow is a 4 hour run to a Boondockers Welcome location in Rural Retreat Virginia. This maybe be the only type of venue that does not require a 14 day quarantine stop. It is a half mile dirt track which has plenty of parking and at present no racing. After that we have less than 4 hours to family! 

Next post should be from our pad in Covesville VA on the Dan and Malena family micro farm.

Totally uneventful since we left for service at Redlands Truck and RV.  GeeWhiz was in the shop for 4 hours. We could have rolled Monday afternoon but elected to relax and depart on Tuesday. So far we have been staying in campgrounds using  Passport America or GoodSam discounts. haven’t paid more than $24 for full hookup pull through sites. tonight is $14, listen to the sound of I 40  and the trains. 

The big excitement is I have been using my new TSD Card to buy diesel and so far have saved over $100 dollars off the pump price. for over 150 gallons of diesel.  It is a great deal as long as it lasts. It is only good for diesel at the truck islands. If you don’t have a big honkin’ diesel pusher or tow vehicle just skip on buy. 

Tonight we are outside Amarillo TX at a place called AOK a KOA it would never be mistaken for even though it has the A frame office building (shuttered).  Tomorrow we will pass Oklahoma City. Hope to be at our family by the middle of next week, unless we decide to slow down.