Mid-State RV Center Blog!

MOVING ON & ON & ON & . . . . . . . . .

December 13  

The nice thing about traveling is when a place has been seen, we are free to go.  At this point, we felt like seeing new places and decided to leave early and move on to Arizona.  We prepared most of the unit on Tuesday night and were ready to go to Greenville, Tx early the next morning.  After a stop for fuel, medicine, and breakfast; we were west bound.  Walt was getting a cold and began feeling poorly after about an hour.  He pulled over and became the copilot.  Didn’t take much of my driving to cure him.  I kept the coffee, treats, and water supplied and we arrived at Amarillo before night.  Believe me; no one has to rock you to sleep after a day of that many miles.  Flying J can announce all the showers, and we sleep right through the noise. 
 

December 14 

Next stop Gallup, NM.  During the day’s drive, we were entertained by the snow capped mountains and the varying landscapes.  By the time we pulled into the Flying J and fueled, we felt that we were home.  Another advantage of the truck stops is the showers.  We were able to get right in and sleep much better.  I have become pretty proficient at cooking on the road or preparing a quick meal in a rest area.  We did see many rest areas that were just picnic areas without other facilities.  No matter, the generator works fine.  We fully appreciate the Georgia Rest areas with full facilities as well as dump stations.
 

December 15

December 16

On to the Petrified Forest.  It is just almost unbelievable that huge trees once grew in this arid climate and were preserved under silica and mud from the swamps.  “The proof is in the pudding”, oops, the stone logs.  It is hard to imagine that this land supported a massive forest that produced these wonderful artifacts.

We retire for the night and prepare for the adventure awaiting us just beyond the next curve in the road.

December 1, 2006

We arrived at Lake Tawakoni near Point Texas this afternoon.  The weather has held many surprises for us.  In Hot Springs the night before we left, it not only rained but we had some sleet.  Friday dawned with us wrapped up and ready to go.  We agreed to forgo our coffee until later in order to get out early.  Even though we are droopy, we are always excited to hit the road and a new adventure.  I suppose there is a little of Charles Kault in us as we are ready to explore the adventures around the next bend in the road.  We travel back to I-30 and Texarkana.  There at the Flying J, we gas up and get our coffee and breakfast.

Fueled and full, we rejoin the road.  Traffic is good and we enjoy the ride.  We are little prepared for the next “opportunity”.  (Phil Smith, my former PHS principal and my current friend, taught me that misfortunes are really opportunities.)  We arrive at our destination which happens to be in the middle of nowhere but has many wide open spaces. (vital to getting satellite TV)   When we try our satellite, we are unable to get a signal.  This had happened before we left but corrected itself.  This time the satellite was truly dead.  While this was not a real surprise, we were not pleased.  We attempted to gain the satellite over and over and finally admitted that we were just “spinning our wheels” and becoming very frustrated.  After obtaining the number of a local satellite dealer, we agreed that a portable satellite was the quickest fix.  I looked at the Camping World satellites and was not pleased with the price and really didn’t want to go to Dallas.  Walt admitted that he didn’t want to go either.  We journey to the “big” city of Emory and purchased a dish, wire, and tripod for much less than the Camping World dish.

So we now had the opportunity of learning to set up and aim a satellite dish.  We graduated and had TV for the motor home.  We were glad to bath, eat, and rest.  After a week of no TV, we enjoyed the news and several shows before snoozing.  The next day presented a new “opportunity” to attempt setting up our internet satellite.  We were not successful and finally gave up.  (Anyone who knows me is aware that I hate to quit.)

After a night of rest, Walt is patiently willing to help me and we methodically begin again.  It becomes apparent rather quickly that a part of the elevation knob that is broken must be repaired.  With the help of the park manager, we are able to repair the knob.  Wonderfully, after a patient and careful step by step process, we are on line.  This has become so important since our cell phone doesn’t have service in the boonies.  Now we can communicate with our family and friends.  We feel like we have participated in the “Super Graduation”.