New State...Tucumcari, NM and Dinosaurs

Yesterday morning we left the Elk City/Clinton KOA in a fog. I mean literally in a fog.

 

 

It had rained the night before and we woke up to a foggy morning drive. We had about 265 miles to cover to get to our next campground in New Mexico. A new state for us. The fog lifted and we had a nice drive out of Oklahoma into New Mexico.

 

The landscape began to change with more rolling hills that changed to more elevation as we got closer to Tucumcari, NM....our destination. We got an early start and with a change from Central to Mountain time we were able to get to the Tucumcari KOA around 1 pm.

We got set up on our site and headed into town to check out the Mesaland Dinosaur Museum in downtown Tucumcari. We had seen many signs for this museum and decided we would take a look.

Entrance

 

T Rex

Raptors are actually smaller than portrayed in the movie

Jurassic Park

 

We spent about an hour in the museum and then headed to a gas station for Diesel in preparation for our travel today to Elephant Butte RV Resort. (More on that in the next day or so)

 

The terrain has really changed a lot and we really put the truck to work with the steep grades. Some of which were 4-5% grades. Again the exhaust brake did it's job. I kept a close eye on the radiatior and transmission temps and all stayed good. It was a long trip today of about 300 miles.  Just after getting off the Interstate I found a gas station that had separate Diesel pumps with easy in and out for a 39 foot RV and truck. This is where we really worked the truck on the secondary roads. It was nice to see more scenery and less traveled roads however the grades were a little more steep and curvy. We did get into some road construction which extended our travel time but the landscape views were worth it.

 

Lava flow remnants at Valley of Fire

Elephant Butte Lake

We finally made it to the RV park and got set up. I wish we would have known more about the park since we were given a pull through site in the middle of a row of 5th wheels and motorhomes that are sandwiched in like sardines. The lower level we found out later is more open. Fortunately we'll only be here a couple of days. Photos will be forth coming in the next post. We also met a couple riding their bikes around the park that are Heartland owners and noticed my Heartland Owners Club plaque on the back of the rig. They told us a few other members just happened to be meeting there and invited us over this evening for a get together. There are 3 other couples and one of them is just starting full timing like us. We had a good time swapping stories.

The guys are playing golf in the morning and invited me to join. Golf in the morning and some bike riding with Glenda in the afternoon. Sounds like retirement. I like it. Sunday we leave for Tucson and Justin's Diamond J RV Park for a week until our reservation at Canyon Vistas in Gold Canyon, AZ. Another long pull of about 315 miles. I don't plan on doing these on a regular basis in the future.



New state and moving on again

Yesterday we traveled about 285 miles from Ladybug RV park in Cuba, MO to the Tulsa NE/Will Rogers Downs KOA in Claremore, OK. The KOA is part of both a casino and a horse race track. We pulled in about 3:00pm and once we got set up we took a walk around the park. There were the usual seasonal sites in the back of the park and some back in and pull through sites near the race track. We scored a decent pull through near the track. (Click on the photos to enlarge)

 

The sites are close together like a typical KOA but this was just for overnight. Not a place we would stay to enjoy the outdoors and some privacy. We headed over to a nearby gas station for some fuel. Prices are good here in Oklahoma at $3.35/gal for diesel. They had a Subway there too so we picked up some dinner. We decided to take a look at the Casino and walked over. It was still pretty early so there weren't too many folks inside. We played a slot machine and gave the Casino $10.00 of our money...Big spenders we are. :-) We headed back home and I had gotten the satellite TV set up so we watched some TV until bedtime. We've been getting to bed a little earlier and getting up earlier to get on the road. I broke up the travel by only going about 250 to 290 miles each day. That way we get in and set up by 2-3 pm. This morning before we left, we saw some horses being exercised for the weekend races there at Will Rogers Downs. These horses are much more energetic than what you would find on a trail ride where they poke along on the same trail day in and day out.

 

 

 

Today we covered about 240 miles and are at the Elk City/Clinton KOA right off I-40. The traffic noise is not too bad since the park is located behind the office building and sits down a little from the Interstate. The sites again are narrow and we had too many trees to set up the satellite. The good thing was, they had free cable. Enough stations to pass the evening with mindless TV watching. Another good thing is....they have a laundry. We needed to do laundry. We able to get set up before it started raining about an hour later. This is a very old park and it is situated right on historic Route 66 which actually parallels the Interstate.

 

Old washer and dryers

 

We headed out to get some fuel and an earlier dinner and ended up at The Rib Crib in Elk City right off I-40. Great BBQ, friendly waitress and fast service. Once we got back home we got the laundry done and we are settled in for the night. Ready for a longer drive tomorrow of about 265 miles across the panhandle of Texas and into New Mexico. Tucumcari KOA for one night and then on to Elephant Butte, NM for the weekend. Not a fan of this fast pace but it's getting us closer to where we can slow down and do some exploring. Elephant Butte RV Resort will be a start. Each day so far we get to add to our map of "States We Have Stayed In". We decided we had to stay at least one night to qualify for "staying in the state" not just driving through it. So we are getting that done. Well time to get ready for bed. New state tomorrow. This is getting fun.



On our way....Jell-O

We left Bo Wood COE this morning about 11:00 am. Had planned on leaving earlier but we got to talking to new neighbors in the site next to us. Bill and Marlene are from Mendota, IL and have been wintering in Apache Junction, AZ the last 4-5 years. We told them we were new full timers and got their email address and cell phone numbers and plan to contact them once they arrive in late December. They're not full timers but having been retired for a few years, They still own a home in Mendota but they have had some time to check different parts of the country out as they travel during the winter. They enjoy hiking in the Superstition Mountains so we plan to have them show us some trails while we're there. Looking forward to meeting up with them again.

Once we got started we traveled down Route 32 to Effingham, IL and onto I-70W then connected to I-55S into St. Louis. We were able to get through the downtown area pretty quickly and then picked up I-44W toward Tulsa, OK. The terrain was somewhat hilly so I was able to see how the Tow/Haul mode exhaust brake worked by applying some brake at the top of the downhill to get the speed I wanted and then let the exhaust brake do its work at maintaining the speed. It worked great.

We made a stop at a rest area and had a sandwich and some water along with a bathroom break. We whittled the miles away and finally made it to the Ladybug RV park off exit 204 near Cuba, MO on Highway F.

 

 

The park has 34 RV sites with pull throughs and full hook ups. They have showers, laundry room and free Wi-Fi. We were able to take advantage of our Passport America membership. Passport America is a 50% discount club which made the typical $28.00 site fee only $14.00. Great savings and will look for more opportunities to use this membership in the future on our limited budget. I even was able to set up our satellite TV dish myself. It took some time to figure out the elevation but I got it finally. Glenda couldn't miss her Dancing with the Stars. We talked to the owner and asked about where to get diesel and some dinner. He recommended going into Cuba, MO and try the Phillip 66 station near the Interstate and for dinner....the Missouri Hick BBQ.

The Missouri Hick BBQ is on historic Route 66 in Cuba, MO. The place has been around for years and the décor is very rustic and hillbilly. Great for a BBQ restaurant.

The food was incredible and the service was very good too. I had the sliced smoked turkey with mash potatoes and baked beans. Glenda had the Pulled Chicken with a sweet potato and red beans and rice. The nice thing about this BBQ is they let YOU put the BBQ sauce on. That way you can have as much as you want or as little.

We drove over by the Interstate and got our diesel for $3.39/gal. Hope we continue to get fuel at prices like that. It'll really help the budget.

Remember I said that full timers plans are made in Jell-O. What I mean is Jell-O jiggles and wiggles and isn't solid. Neither are OUR plans. We thought we would be traveling down to Gold Canyon by way of Holbrook, AZ, Snowflake, AZ and then on into the Canyon Vistas(our winter destination) but we changed our minds. We originally thought we would spend a couple nights at each location as we traveled but decided to move quicker and do a slightly different route. So we're only staying one night here at the Ladybug RV Park and then moving tomorrow to the Will Rogers KOA in Claremore, OK.

We will stay one night and move onto the Elk City/Clinton KOA in Foss, OK again one night then onto the Tucumcari KOA in Tucumcari, NM (why so many KOA's? We have some gift certificates the kids got us for last Christmas....so that helps)and then at Albuquerque, NM we will be heading south on I-25 and staying at the Elephant Butte RV Resort for about 3 nights. Elephant Butte RV park is near the entrance to Elephant Butte State Park. Elephant Butte Lake is the largest and most popular lake in New Mexico. So we plan to do some exploring and hiking.

Then on to Tucson, AZ and the Justin's Diamond J RV Park. This way we can do some more exploring in the Saguaro Nat'l Park to the east of Tucson. We plan to spend about 5 days there before we head to Gold Canyon and the Canyon Vistas RV park. So we're taking a more southerly route to Canyon Vistas but we think a more interesting route with some fun and exploring. This should be interesting. Hope you follow along as we enter this phase of our full timing lives. We're just getting started. Who knows what we'll do next. We don't. Ha-ha

Leaving Illinois, Family and Friends

Tomorrow we leave our site at Comlara County Park and move to Bo Wood COE to begin our travel to Arizona for the winter. Dad continues to be stable and actually ate a bit more tonight. He still has some confusion but told me not to worry about him. Of course I told that I DO worry about him and he said he worries about me. He told me he is going to give "this place" a try for a while and he can close the book when he wants to. So difficult to see him like this but I have to let things work them selves out. Like my brother told me the other night. There's nothing that we or I can do. So off we go tomorrow afternoon to begin our adventure. A somewhat bittersweet beginning but a beginning all the same. We have 2 weeks to make our way to AZ and the RV park for our reservation on Nov 1.

Looking forward to seeing our son in Mesa and his house. Looking forward to warmer weather and new surroundings. My brother will keep me posted on Dad's health and we will be returning in a couple of months for the holidays.

Itinerary so far:

Ladybug RV park  Cuba, MO on Oct 20
Claremore Expo RV Park    Claremore, OK    Oct 22
KOA      Foss, OK      Oct 24
Cactus RV Park     Tucumcari, NM     Oct 26
Either Blue Spruce RV Park or Bar S RV Park     Grants, NM    Oct 28
Putters Paradise RV Park   Snowflake, AZ        Oct 30
CANYON VISTAS RV Resort     Gold Canyon, AZ Nov 1   Winter destination

That gives us a couple of nights at each location. Of course, like with all fulltime RV plans our itinerary is made in "Jell-O".

We will miss our family, our friends but not so much Illinois. :-)
Update soon as we finally leave Illinois.  See you all down the road.

Finally heading to AZ and meeting new full time friends

As I posted recently, Dad is doing better than we expected and is being well taken care of at the nursing home. We got the title to the Mitsubishi Lancer and took it to the local Mitsubishi dealership and they bought it from us. Not quite as much as I had hoped- does it ever work that way with car dealers? Ah, NO. Anyway, we get our check tomorrow and we are firming up our plans to head out on Friday, Oct 17. Good thing too since we only have our site until then. The campground is booked up next weekend for the Fall Festival. No electric sites available. We hope to be able to move down south a little further to our favorite IL campground....BO Wood COE. So it looks like we may finally be leaving IL for a while. Looking forward to some sun and a warm winter.

We also had the opportunity to meet Faye N Dave (The Wandering Camels) from Vermont. Faye is a blogger like me and she has followed my blog for a while. They happened to be visiting in the area and were staying here at Comlara park. We stopped by their rig a couple days ago and introduced our selves and invited them over last night to our campfire and to tour our rig. Dave has a cool job that allows him to work 5 months(with lots of overtime) and be off for 7 months to travel. It was great meeting them and I know we'll be crossing paths again. Faye loaned me a Mountain Directory book she has and I was able to check out part of the route in AZ that we will be taking from Holbrook, AZ to Gold Canyon, AZ on Route 77 and 60. The road has a 5-6% grade decents and I have not done any mountain driving so it was very helpful to actually see the route and get some inside information from the book on how to negotiate the grades.

 I just ordered the East and West Mountain Directories from the RV Bookstore.com and I'm having them shipped Priority Mail. They should be here by the middle of the week before we take off. At least that's the plan. Not sure what I will do if they don't arrive in time because I am not waiting to get out of IL. Faye and Dave are great folks and just like all the full time RV'ers we have met so far, they are more than happy to share their knowledge and experience and their just cool, fun people. So the plan is in motion. Last minute things to tidy up, say some goodbyes and prep the rig for travel. We have to dump tanks tomorrow and move over one site to #6 until Friday. Good experience hitching, unhitching, and setting up like we're on the road. AZ here we come.

Update on Dad

Well my dad has nine lives like a cat. We thought for sure he had given up and wanted to pass but in the last few days he is feeling better with less pain(Pain meds are working well). He was able to tolerate being transferred by a hoist to a wheelchair today. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers....they seem to be working. The only problem still is his confusion. Still having issues with understanding his complete health status and what is going on around him. He is perfectly happy in the nursing home letting the staff take care of him. They seem to like being around him and making his life comfortable. Very fortunate that we were able to find a place like this. We are still in a holding pattern as to leaving for AZ. I'm waiting on the title to our Mitsubishi Lancer to come after having the title transferred to my name and getting the leasing company off. Once that happens we will be selling the car to a dealership and get the money back in the bank account. So, we hope that happens soon. The title company told me it would take about 7-10 days to get the title back. It's been 4 days now. Having the title sent to my brothers house for quick access when it gets here. We have our basic route mapped out and a good idea on where we plan to stay when we head south. We'll firm that up soon once we take care of business. We're just happy that dad is doing better and we won't have to worry as we travel and spend the winter in AZ. Of course we will be in contact with my brother and will be coming back for the holidays. So we are finally moving forward....sort of. :-)

Retirement is good so far. Like a long vacation that never ends. I like that. Ready to see the country.

Another lesson learned

As I mentioned in my last post, we are staying in the Central IL area for a while to see how my dad's health condition progresses. It is a terminal health condition however there is no way to know when it would progress to the terminal state. We are staying at a local county park near Hudson, IL next to Evergreen Lake. Much quieter and more our style(more like camping). Well the park is electric and water only and we had been here for a week on a back in site(#94)and are planning on staying at least until Oct 17th. So we needed to dump our tanks and we also snagged a pull through site more toward the front of the park. We have a picture of Snake Alley in Burlington Iowa, our hometown, which is similar to Lombard street in San Francisco. We thought it looked good above the slide out with the refrigerator. And since we really don't have many places to hang pictures, this was a convenient way to show the picture without putting holes in the walls.

 

Well in the process of pulling the slides in to go dump the tanks, we neglected to take down the picture and to add to that mistake, after setting up on the new site(#7) we didn't see the picture had fallen down and was laying on the top of the slide so when we pushed the slide back out....this happened.

Yes, that is the picture stuck under the edge of the slide

Different angle

 

 

The weirdest part of this was the fact that Glenda woke up in the middle of the night because she heard a noise. It turned out to be the window shades clinking because I forgot to shut the window. Then as I was closing the windows she goes....oh my gosh I didn't take down the picture. It must be on the slide. So this morning I climbed up the ladder and sure enough there it was. I tried to get it free but it wouldn't budge. So I had Glenda pull the slide in about 4-5 inches and I reached down and it came out easily. Whoa...what a relief and no damage to the top of the slide or the slide seals and no damage to the picture or frame.

 

Another lesson learned. The picture is not going back up on the slide. Guess we'll have to find another place for it or decide to put a hole in a wall. Anyway, all's well that ends well. Another day in the life of a retired RV'er. :-)