Blue Skies Again

"Always remember that the future comes one day at a time."

We made it! We made what? You ask. Well, we made it to sunshine and no rain. Isn't that what we're always searching for?

Terry returned from his trek flying from San Antonio to Phoenix via good ole' American Airlines ... not an RV. Tuesday morning at the crack of dawn we hit the road. Errr ... before the crack of dawn really. We left at 6:28 AM and it was definitely still dark and a little foggy. It was the beginning of what would be a very long travel day. Our location in San Antonio was perfect for the early morning departure. We were north of town and our destination was the opposite of work traffic. In other words, departure was smooth.

Previously, I figured we'd travel to Ft. Stockton and stop at the local Walmart for the evening. Then, I changed it to Van Horn. However, we reached Ft. Stockton about 12:15 ----- way too early to stop for the night. Van Horn was only a couple hours later. So, on to El Paso we went. When we traveled this way in November there was snow on the sides of the road but now it was clear, cool and wonderful. After all, it wasn't raining or foggy. We certainly couldn't understand all those RV's heading in the opposite direction. We wanted to warn them to turn around but our speaker system wasn't working. When the clouds start coming in, they'll realize they goofed and should have made a legal u-turn. So, we just continued on our way to Deming, New Mexico. It is amazing how the attitude changes with the blue skies and sunshine. And, I took lots of pictures of the blue skies!

Traveling through New Mexico there are signs warning that blowing dust is possible. Then, a following sign indicating "Zero Visibility Possible" and it is followed by another one that tells you not to stop in travel lanes. My question is if zero visibility occurs, how will you be able to read the signs warning you? And, how will you even read the signs that tell you not to stop in the travel lanes. We've been in near zero visibility before in California but then it was fog and last November a dust storm in Arizona. Believe me you can't even tell where the travel lanes stop and the shoulder begins. There's no way you're going to be able to read the signs.

It was downright cold when we left Deming Wednesday morning. Matter of fact, it was freezing. The temperature -- down to 23 degrees! However, the good side is that the sky was blue and we knew warmer weather was just ahead. We were loving it and by the time we arrived at our first destination of the day it was actually quite warm. Our stop was in Casa Grande and the Blue Beacon Truck Wash. We've used these several times for a good wash job. It's fast, it's easy and someone else does it. What more can one ask for? We left a ton of travel dirt on their cement floor. That task behind us we were on to Mesa and the local Camping World for our overnight stay and appointment Thursday morning.

Amazing how you always find things you didn't realize you needed the last time you were in their store. In addition to having work down, we also made a few purchases including a new swing-away handle for the door and a step. We've had the swing-away handles in the past on our RV's and we really missed it on this one. The step we've discovered is necessary because sometimes that last step (or first one) can be huge.


Camping World fixed our leak. Well, it was actually two leaks. The "experienced" RV technician knocked the filter out of the drinking water faucet. Thus, leak number one. And, he also didn't tighten the new fixture into the sink. Oh well, what an expensive faucet replacement.

We met two new soon-to-be-fulltimers at Camping World and invited them to join all of us at Quartzsite in January. I actually think they will! They are starting out for the very first time in their new motorhome. It's an exciting time for them just as it was for us about a year ago. Meet Ron and Donna! Hopefully, we'll see them again!