At least they waited

Our trip home has been plagued with challenges, but we are happy these came at the end of our trip.  After leaving Missouri, we dropped down into Arkansas and then picked up I-40 into Oklahoma.  The interstate was so bumpy that at one point we actually pulled off the road, thinking we had a flat tire!  We made it to Choctaw, OK, to a beautiful new KOA next to a brand new casino.  The next day we had a bit of rain and wind.  On the I-35 at the outskirts of Fort Worth we hit a hellacious bump in the interstate, which set up a bad "hobby horse" action between the truck and 5th wheel.  This apparently yanked loose a wire in our cableing from the trailer to the truck and for the rest of our trip we have had intermittent but insistent beeping warnings that the trailer is unconnected!!! And then reconnected... and then unconnected... and then reconnected.... you get the idea!  Grrrrr!  Russ has looked and looked but cannot find the loose connection, so we are resigned to the beeps.

That day we traveled to Midland-Odessa, in the middle of the hot, dry, and very booming Texas oil fields.  We were lucky to find one spot in an older, rocky campground, which was filled (as were all the others in the area) with oil field workers.  More rain and thunder that night.

Onward thru El Paso, with a stop at Camping World right before crossing the state line into New Mexico, temp outside - 104.  Just as we pulled into the parking lot at CW, we get a low tire warning.  Turns out we have a sharp rock embedded in the thickest part of the tread on a back tire.  These are the new tires we purchased before the trip, but neglected to add road hazard insurance. Camping World was great, but they could only help us put on the spare.  We hitched up again and linped to Hacienda RV in Las Cruces.  A very nice resort, close to the historic part of town, where we had planned to walk and shop and dine.  But nooo, we could not continue our journey without a spare, so off to a tire shop for a replacement.  More rain and thunder that night!

Next stop, Tucson, and it is already 100 driving through Phoenix at 10am.  It was just a short, half-day to LazyDays RV in Tucscon, we have stayed here before, a very nice campground.  I remarked to Russ that at least we would be out of the afternoon thundershower area now.  Wrong!!  More thunder and rain that afternoon - so no dip in the pool for us.  At least the temps dropped down into the 80's instead of the expected 102.  And a nice steak dinner and live jazz at the resort's Florizona restaraunt.  I had the spicy shrimp, mmmm.

 

Moving on to Blythe - high temp 115!!! Upon arriving at the KOA, right on the Colorado River, we find we cannot lower our landing gear.  A bolt has sheared, and the gears will not turn.  Since this has happened before, Russ had some spare bolts - but could not locate them!  The truck is running to keep the dogs cool, and now I think it may be 120 at the back of the truck where Russ is laboring to replace the bolt with one that he found on another piece of, thankfully, non-essential equipment.  So, we spend another hour in town looking for more bolts, instead of enjoying the pool.

Finally, we trek across California to Ventura, heavy traffic the whole way but no mishaps.  The usually annoying fog never looked so good!  Yea, lots of visits with friends and Russ' daughter, lots of good food and long walks in the cool, beachy breeze.  Let's hope the run up the coast to home is uneventful.