Welcome
to Paul & Susan’s Excellent Full-time RV Adventure Web Log
This is the first update of our log page, eventually I’ll get it
formatted into some sort of template so it can be easily updated and
followed. Yes, I know it’s oogly, but I’m an amateur at this
stuff.
To get started…
End of May, Beginning of June, 2005.
I hadn’t gotten a bunch of stuff done on this blog as we were getting
ready to hit the road. But it was just boring stuff: load the
trailer, sell the house, get rid of/hide/store/give away all the
shi…stuff.
That all came together, just barely, on the 27th of May, 05.
Ginger worked her last day, after spending most of the night throwing
up – some sort of stomach flu/virus, I’m guessing – lots of folks
seemed to be experiencing some variation on that theme. I
finalized loading of the trailer, and we were finally on the road!
We got all the way across town. To Apache Junction, AZ!
That might not have been as crazy as it sounds. Friday was the
first day of the Memorial Day weekend, I expected that the roads out of
town would be somewhat clogged. My thought was to get a jump on
the trip by being on the road fairly early Saturday morning. I’d
also wanted to try to avoid the Friday Frenzy, which is a combination
of the usual afternoon drive time on the Phoenix metro freeways and the
race to git outta town on Friday afternoons. Such was not to be,
so the 50-ish miles across the valley were a bit tense: new trailer,
first time pulling that much weight.
We ended up at a RV park called Carefree Manor. All the usual
amenities of a valley snow-bird “RV Resort,” but with hardly any
population: most folks had headed home. Oh, and cheap. 50%
Escapees discount, so it cost us about $13.00 a night for a full
hook-up site. Not bad.
As it turned out, with Ginger not feeling all that great, and the
frenzy of the last few weeks, we decided that it would be just as
sensible to hang around a day or so. We did finally get out of
town Sunday morning, and roared into Deming, NM mid-afternoon, to stay
at the Escapees park, Dream Catcher. Nice folks, inexpensive
overnight parking, but otherwise nothing special.
Tuesday we day we headed east on I-10 and made it to TraPark RV Park,
the Escapees park in Pecos, TX. Pretty much an all-day
drive. For us. We average about 50miles per hour,
traveling, with stops for gas, overlooks (of which there were none this
day), bathroom and smoke breaks. TraPark was a repeat of Deming:
nice folks, gravel parking lot, a cheap overnight.
Made a brief stop in Odessa for Ginger to stop to visit her mother’s
gravesite.
Then it was onward to Big Spring, TX and the Texas RV Park. Nice
folks, wifi, indoor pool, nice shady spots. So much for Wednesday.
Thursday found us all the way down the road in Tye, Tx. Just
outside the city limits of Abilene. We stayed overnight at a
small park called…um, memory is telling me it was the Tye RV
park. Not particularly notable, other than that it’s not too far
from the end of a runway at Dyess AFB. Having a B-1 taking off in
full afterburner over one’s head is an experience not to be
missed. Having a B-1 taking off in the middle of the night, while
certainly exciting, is somewhat less interesting. After the B-1,
one learns to sleep through the C-130’s…
Next day we shifted 5 miles down the road to the Abilene KOA.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Still in Abilene, where we expect to hang out until about the middle of
the week. We went for a drive today, about 55 miles south to
Coleman. The whole point of this trip to TX at this time was to
look over the area roughly described by a triangle: from Abilene to
Coleman to San Angelo. I’d contacted a realtor who sounded
somewhat competent before we left Phoenix, with the idea that I’d like
to look at some Coleman property.
There are some rational reasons to consider the area, and Coleman
specifically, as a possible spot to park summers, with the idea that it
could eventually become a part-, and then full-time domicile, as we get
tired of the road.
Abilene/Coleman/San Angelo are on the fringe between the hill country
and the west TX plains. The area at present is all green.
Rolling hills, a lot of live oak – or scrub oak, I’m not sure
which. And…bugs, humidity, thunderstorms with golf ball-size hail
and threats of tornadoes. And an almost constant 15-20 mph
breeze. My wife is concerned about the tornadoes. I’m not,
it’s all the other scrunge that has me less than enthusiastic.
We wandered the streets of Coleman, looking at some of the village
infrastructure. We took a ride out to the COE dam project, Hord’s
Creek Lake. Might be a possibility for some fishing in the
future, we’ll see.
My impression of Coleman after talking with the R.E. agent was somewhat
positive. Of course, agents are rarely dissatisfied
residents. After our visit, well, let’s just say that I’m neutral.
If it weren’t for the bugs, humidity, breeze, thunderstorms and
tornadoes, it looks to be a pretty nice place.
Oh, it bills itself as the friendliest town in TX. Also bills
itself as the hunting capital of TX. Both are good.
We’ll see…
Monday, 6 June 2005
Today is the anniversary of the landings at Normandy during WWII:
"D-Day." One hell of an expensive operation, in both blood and
treasure. Of course, the alternative would have been more
expensive...
To all of my parents' generation who sacrificed so much -both at home
and abroad-- in order that we might live in a state peace and liberty,
thank you.
Today we headed off to Buffalo Gap, TX, to see the Buffalo Gap Living
History Village. The Village is a group of buildings, some
reconstructed and some also moved to the site, that date from the
frontier era in Taylor County. Today, Abilene, the largest
population and market center in the county, is the county seat, but
Buffalo Gap had been the county seat until it was moved.
The Village is a living history museum, quite interesting. It's
too bad that there is so little interest in funding the effort, as many
of the exhibits are pretty sad shape. Yeah, 150-year-old stuff is
gonna be a bit tattered...but most of the buildings aren't climate
controlled, so the artifacts are in poor condition, and will continue
to deteriorate.
We do have to give 'em an "A" for effort, however, at least they're
making the attempt.
Buffalo Gap, that is to say the village/town/whatever of that name is a
pleasant, small wide spot in the road. Everyone we spoke with,
including the folks at the BBQ Barn where we had some decent Q for
lunch, were quite friendly, and positive about their town.
If I can find any of 'em I'll post a pic or two.
And we got the trailer washed. Fellow comes around with a tank
and pressure washer set up mounted on the back of a 5500 Jimmy.
$1 a foot, and $15 for the roof. I figured $45 to have a
sparkeldy clean trailer, as opposed to falling off the roof and dying
of heat prostration in this humidity was well worth it.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
As Jerry Pournelle might say, a day eaten by locusts. Or probably
more correctly eaten by a sloth ?. I didn't accomplish much of
anything. Laundry. Some puttering in the basement
reorganizing - and making a pile of stuff to go into storage.
Ginger at least accomplished some quilting, finishing a top, as well as
making progress on some other projects. Or so it seemed, she has
been in a frenzy of tearing up pieces of fabric so's she can put those
tore-up pieces all back together again.
Maybe I'll do something productive tomorrow. Or not.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Well, it appears it will be...not. We went and ran some errands
this morning, came home, ate lunch, and here I sit, whacking on this
keyboard thingy. Maybe I'll get this coded into html, add the
various tags necessary to the previous files, and finally get it sent
off to the web site. If you're reading this, I accomplished that
little chore.
May get out to look at digital cameras this afternoon, depends on
motivation to do so. I want to pick up some form of digital, but
don't know what I want. Well, that's not exactly true - I know
what I want, I just can't justify spending the thousands it would take
to buy a new Nikon digital SLR with all the bells and whistles I'd like
to have. And still don't really know to what degree I'm going to
get back into photography.
If you have thoughts on digital photography systems, I'd like to hear
'em. Thanks.
End of summer update.
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