Nebraska, Waco - Monday, April 30, 2018 - Double Nickle Campground

When I downloaded the pictures from my camera to write this post I realized I still had some on it from our trip into Kansas.  Seems no matter how hard I try I can’t get the state line signs right.

We had a wonderful two weeks in Kansas.  Like we promised, we brought rain.  They hadn’t had any significant rainfall for 199 days.  It rained three times in the two weeks we were there.  For the most part the weather was mild and we even had a few days when there weren’t strong winds.

We had lots of meals with David, Lisa and the kids.  Since our fridge is on the blink right now – the cooling unit went out – so we supported the local restaurant community and Lisa cooked a great supper for us one night.  More than anything we just enjoyed being around them and catching up with what is going on in their lives.  I visited school and had lunch with Cheyanne one day.  They don’t make school lunches like they used to, lots of food goes to waste now and I really don’t blame the kids, I didn’t eat all of mine either.

A highlight of the visit was getting Cheyanne ready for the Daddy and Daughter dance.  She wanted her straight hair curly for the evening.  Grandma’s hot rollers did the trick.  She looked so pretty and grown up.

David cleaned up pretty good too.

Last night David and the kids and I enjoyed some card game that got a little noisy, but we sure did laugh a lot.  I’ll have to see if I can find the game, I don’t remember the name, but I think I will remember the box it comes in.

We left right at 9:00 this morning (just a couple of tears from Mom).  This rainbow doesn’t show up good in the picture, but all the colors were evident as we pulled out of the driveway.  Maybe that is a sign of good things to come.

These old water towers always make me smile when we leave Pratt.  The one that says “Hot” is hidden behind the tree (once again my timing was off).

As we cross the Nebraska state line, I get my now typical photo of half of the sign.  I assure you I’m not doing this on purpose!

The winds have been strong this morning but most of the time we have been headed north and the wind is at our back.  This picture is not out of focus, it is of a dust storm that is ahead of us.

There was a stretch when we were on I-70 going east for about 25 miles that Greg was fighting the crosswinds.  The winds got really bad when we pulled off of 81 north onto 80 east.  Thankfully, we only had to go 7 miles until we reached the campground.  Even as big and heavy as we are it was moving us around and tractor-trailers were leaning sideways.  There was a state patrol car with its lights on just before we hit this dust moving across the road.  We think he might have been getting ready to shut the road down, it was pretty nasty.  I don’t think this picture looks as bad as it was in reality.

This picture is right after we got out of the dust.

We are spending the night in Waco, Nebraska at the Double Nickle Campground.  It’s really nice family owned campground.  The rate with our Good Sam discount was $42.75 for a 50 amp full hookup site.  We are located in a 100’ level gravel pull through site facing south so we aren’t getting any severe crosswinds.

This picture is looking out our front window.  See the little white building in the center – that is the Severe Weather Shelter.  I can see good and bad in this, I think it is good that they have one, not so good that they need one.  Hopefully, we won’t have to use it.

Greg is hoping that there is more to it than meets the eye above ground.

There are lots of things for kids to do here.  I’m taking these pictures from the comfort of the motor coach since I’m not sure I could stand up outside.  The playground area looks great.  The pool is being reconditioned right now.  There is also a nice sized miniature golf course.  Pinball machines and arcade games are available in the clubhouse.

Each site has a picnic table, porch swing and fire pit.  If the wind wasn’t so bad, I would sit out in the swing and have a glass of wine.

This is our front window view, the trees should block some of the wind and dust.

We will be heading out early tomorrow for Sioux Falls, SD.

New Mexico, Alamogordo - Saturday, April 14, 2018 - Boot Hill RV Resort

We left the Grande Vista RV Park a little after 9:00 this morning.  For the first time in six months we are out of Arizona.  My jobs while we are traveling (after we get the Jeep hooked up) is to fetch snacks and drinks and to document the trip with pictures we can enjoy later.  Obviously I am out of practice, tried twice to get a good picture of the New Mexico sign without any luck.

Despite being windy we had a good day for travel.  Traffic was pretty light in most places.

We just drove by White Sands National Monument this year, we visited a few years back.  If you haven’t seen this place and have the opportunity to go, I recommend you stop.  Looks like the sands have taken over the fence along the interstate.

We are spending the night at the Boot Hill RV Resort in Alamogordo, NM.  This is a really nice place and the Good Sam rate for a full hookup 50 amp site was just $27.75.

To make this stop even more exciting McGinn’s PistachioLand is right across the road!  Sorry, I shouldn’t make fun, it is a nice place, and there is free wine, fudge and pistachio tasting.  In addition to wine, fudge and pistachios they have ice cream, cookies and all kinds of souvenirs.  Outside is the world’s largest pistachio, a 30 foot monument to the farm’s founder, Thomas McGinn.  We walked over so it was a nice way to spend an hour and get a little exercise.

We found a nice Pink Moscato I’m sure we will enjoy later.  The Hatch Red Chili Wine is for some of our more adventurous family and friends to taste when we get home.

Arizona, Willcox - Friday, April 13, 2018 - Grande Vista RV Park

Arizona, Willcox – Friday, April 13, 2018 – Grande Vista RV Park

We are spending the night at Grande Vista RV Park in Willcox, AZ.  This is a small family owned Good Sam RV Park.  They have 30 well maintained, level gravel sites.  Not much in the way of amenities, but we don’t need them.  We have a full service site with 50 amp service.  It’s a place we would come back to.  In fact, after looking at some of the sites to see in the area we plan on coming back through here next year and spending a few days.

We left Mesa about 9:30 this morning and it was starting to warm up nicely.  The last day we worked, Tuesday, it hit 100 degrees – a little too hot for me.  Allergy season is in full swing out here.  All of the plants and trees look wonderful and can be enjoyed as long as you remember to take your allergy medicine.

Hay is being cut.  There is a lot of it down in the fields now.  They bale hay a lot greener here than they do in the Midwest.  It is then stored in open-sided barns like this.

Corn is also coming up, but we have a feeling it is used for silage rather than grain.  The fields have to be flood irrigated, just like the hay fields.  Looks really weird to us Midwestern folks.

This is I-10 east, yesterday parts of it were shut down because of dust storms caused by high winds.  There isn’t much out here to hold the sand down.

Going to miss seeing the Saguaro cactus.

I missed the “picture of the day”.  We stopped at a Pilot truck stop to fill up with fuel and to get a Subway sandwich.  While we were filling up Greg noticed that a hose for our tankless water heater was leaking.  After filling up we pulled into the truck parking lot to eat lunch and then Greg decided to walk over to the Freightliner Service Center next door to get a new hose and connection.  I waited for him in the coach.  After a while I looked in the driver’s side mirror and saw him coming back.  He was at about the end of the coach and “something” was coming up on him pretty fast.  He was unaware of his follower.  He rounded the front of the coach and was in the door just as a “lady” made it to the front of the coach and was motioning for him to let her in.  I’m using the term “lady” loosely.  We stop several times a year at truck stops and this is the first time we have encountered one of the “ladies” who sometimes frequent them.  We noted that she had her ratty bedroll and probably everything else she owned with her so she was ready to travel.  When Greg finally noticed her I think he locked the door.  At any rate we got a good laugh – going to have to keep a closer eye on him, somebody might carry him off.

On the road again we saw a portion of the Chiricahua Mountains.  This area is known for its balancing rocks.  Seeing the Chiricahua National Monument is part of the plan for next year.  The little black box in the first picture is our EZ Pass toll road monitor.

In the park we came across our first wildlife of the year.  No kidding, we don’t even see bugs, not even flies at the resort where we stay during the winter.

We decided to support the local community by eating in historic downtown Willcox at Big Tex BBQ.  The restaurant is inside a couple of old train cars.  BBQ was okay, probably won’t be a repeat.  The brisket and pulled pork was good, the ribs weren’t very tender.

Before we ate, we did a wine tasting at Keeling Schaefer winery (the sun was too bright to get a good picture).  I was a little buzzed after the wine tasting so we decided to not visit any of the other wineries offering tastings in the area.  We did get a nice bottle of white wine that is sweet like we prefer it.

Rex Allen and Marty Robbins both have museums in Willcox.  We got there too late to tour them today.  But, we did get a picture of the Rex Allen statue.  For those of you that aren’t into old cowboy movies, he was one of the Silver Screen Cowboys which included Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.

This old train depot is now the Willcox City Hall.  Note the round cement structure underneath the “Willcox” sign.  This is an old phone booth, it looked at little claustrophobic compared to the glass sided ones we used growing up.

Arizona, Mesa - Sunday, April 8, 2018 - What We Did This Winter

I’m sitting inside avoiding sunny outside temperatures in the high 90’s.  We may get out and wander around a bit once it cools down.  We’ve booked this same site for next year and have made a verbal contract to work at the grill again.  We just bought those two red recliners.  We had looked at all of the logical places to find outdoor furniture without any luck.  I was walking through Kohl’s last week and saw these anti-gravity recliners on sale for half price – WooHoo!!

I’m not sure we are ready to face the havoc Mother Nature is bringing down on our next destinations of Kansas and Indiana.  She has about 10 days to clean up her act!!  We will be leaving here next Friday going to visit with David and the kids in Kansas until the end of April.

Although this is our first post of 2018, we really have been busy and have enjoyed wonderful weather since we arrived the first of October.  Many of our days haven’t been very blogworthy, doing the same things most people are doing – working, cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc.  We each worked 12 hours a week to cover the expenses for our site and utilities.  We’ve square danced a lot – usually 4-5 times a week (for 2 hours each time).  We caught a Cubs vs. Oakland game before spring training was over.

A couple of weeks ago we saw the movie, Leisure Seeker.  It stars Donald Sutherland and Helen Miran.  It’s about an elderly couple that decides to run away from home for one last vacation in their 40 year old Winnebago.  She has cancer and he has bouts of dementia.  It will make you laugh and make you cry.

Most of our time has been spent doing some upgrades to our home on wheels.  The main one was to add a fireplace.  A cabinet previously took up this space.  We are really enjoying this one.

Replacing the bathroom vent isn’t quite as interesting as the fireplace, but I’m loving the fact that the screen comes down so I can clean it.  The screen was fixed in the previous one and was a real pain to clean.

This little cabinet tucked under the dining table is only 3” deep.  When we moved in 7 years ago it seemed the perfect spot for a spice cabinet but I have never liked the louvered doors.

Greg replaced the louvered portions with some decorative metal.  Love it, but didn’t love the way the containers looked since you could see them now.

Fixed the problem with some black spray paint and some new labels.  I’m good now.

The dining table plays double duty as a work space whenever I sew or decide to get crafty.  However, these old eyes don’t see like they used to, the light just wasn’t bright enough for me to work in the evening.

Greg replaced the two small light fixtures with some that swivel and provide a lot more light.  I’m now working on a cross stitch piece I started back in 1988, I think I might get it done this year, 30 years later.

I’ve decided that I’m not much of an interior decorator.  We’ve lived with this little non-descript picture for 7 years.

Finally decided I needed to perk thinks up a bit.  Greg installed some of the new lights above the couch too so I can see better to read and one of them makes a nice spotlight for our new art.

We updated our picture wall over the winter.  I had trouble getting everyone in the picture, sorry Desira and Dan.

Our refrigerator doesn’t have a metal exterior so I can’t display grandkid’s artwork on it.  So, I copied it, reduced it and framed it next to the family pictures, thank you Braelynn.

Another area that wasn’t working quite like I wanted was the desk area.  We had the printer sitting on the desk which was ok until I wanted to use it.  If I opened the computer (hidden in the desk drawer) I would have to reach over the computer screen to work the printer.  Greg built a shelf that is high enough for a file underneath and it puts the printer at eye level over the computer.

This closet was originally supposed to be a coat closet.  We no longer have coats (take note Mother Nature) so it is our utility closet.

Greg made it much more usable and easy to organize with some nice shelves.

We also found these great little battery operated lights you can put anywhere and they are really bright.  After we bought one for the utility closet, we got a little crazy and installed 3 more – one under the table so I can see into the spice cabinet, one under the sink in the kitchen and one in the laundry area.

I know it sounds like Greg is the only one that has been busy, but remember somebody had to think of all this stuff (that would be me).

I did make a cover for my sewing machine, which is color coordinated with the picture next to it.

This picture is one I painted around 50 years ago when Nellie Keesling was still around to make sure I was doing it right.  For 50 years I have been meaning to get it framed – mark that one off my list!  My motto is better late than never.

After I put the picture where I wanted it I realized that the Longenberger basket next to it has similar flowers.

We couldn’t let the kitchen get by without a little upgrade.  The only plug in the kitchen area was underneath the overhead cabinet.  Some of my small appliances (like the crock pot) didn’t have a cord long enough to reach the plug so I was either building a little tower of things for them to sit on or taking them to bedroom and plugging them in there.

We’ve seen pop up plug towers in newer motor homes and thought they looked really nice.  Greg installed one and this is how it looks when it is down.

When it is up, I have three very handy plugs.  I really appreciates the work he does!!