May 2014

Sounds like a song title, oh wait, it is a song title! Yes, we hit the road for our summer 2014 travels and headed north. We are going to a club in McDade, Texas to visit some friends for Memorial Day Weekend.

It has been 14 years since we have not lived in the RV and had to move from the house to the RV. Sure is a lot to remember. When we put the house in, we had emptied the RV out. I mean emptied it of everything from silverware to toothpicks. Over the winter, we made decisions and purchases for the things that we wanted in the house and those same things to be kept in the RV and tried to get everything ready but you know how those things go. When it came time to pack, we realized the many things that we had overlooked and the many things that we just did not want to duplicate but did not want to travel without. It was a good thing we gave ourselves a month to do the packing. Of course the last minute packing was still maniac!

We did it! Friday Morning we were on the road again and we think there were only a few minor things that we had forgotten, time will tell. Our route north was interesting. We decided to avoid San Antonio and the wonderful traffic that the city could offer us. For those of you unfamiliar, you have to understand, Texas has a wonderful road system. With all of the farm to market driving necessary, those roads are fairly well maintained. However, the further north we got, it seemed the less macadam they seemed to use, for the shoulders became narrower and narrower to the point of becoming non-existent. By the time we were within the last mile of our destination, if a vehicle saw us coming, they stopped in a wider spot in the road to let us pass. Well here we are, no worse for wear. 

Downtown McDade

McDade downtown is a bit slow these days.

Pat and I did take off and go to a quilt museum over in LaGrange, Texas. You have just got to love the county seats in Texas. There was a small farmers market next to the courthouse and it was really nice to see folks coming up to the tables and visiting with their neighbors, while perusing their merchandise. And oh my, aren’t the courthouses a sight to see?

LaGrange Courthouse

Oh yes, the quilt museum, well I’ll leave that to Pat to tell you about on her blog at www.bajorlane.blogspot.com but I will tell you that I did enjoy it.

Memorial Day turned into a very rainy day, but started to clear late afternoon and we hoped it would dry out and allow us to exit the campground easily the next morning.

May 27 – 30 On Our Way To Denver

Well the rain returned early Tuesday morn and we got away a bit later than planned and much wetter than planned but, with careful maneuvering we did not get stuck. We like to get an early start and get off the road early to rest up, however, this day we did not get off the road until later, we were quite tired. We did make it as far as Abilene where we were looking for the prettiest girl we’ve ever seen. Cranked up the A/C, cause it was mighty hot and dried out.

As we drive along, we cannot help but notice all of the effort being put into ENERGY! A lot of fracking going on in this country. We see areas where “man camps” are advertised for the workers, are there no women working in that industry? 

Texas Windfarm

Not only oil drilling, but wind farms. This one is on the Texas Panhandle and stretches for miles and it is just one of the many we passed on our trip to Denver.

After a stop in Abilene there was an overnight in Amarillo and then we pulled into the Elks Lodge in Lamar, CO where they had 50amp hookups. Well that’s not the best part. We were in and set up by 11am (mountain time) and after a quick lunch, I walked to the pro shop behind the lodge checked out a golf cart, came back to the rig for my clubs and went and played 2 rounds of nine holes on a sweet little course. Now that’s taking camping to an all new high. After golf, I called the campground I expected to stay at in Denver and found it to be full, no room for us (oy vey!). We checked around not finding anything in the Denver area available, but some were closed, so we figured we would call in the morning.

Up and away, we’ll fuel in Limon and make some calls from the Flying J. Well there is an Elks Lodge up in Westminster that might have a space. We called around from the flying J and found nothing but we left a message at a small park that only allowed old folks with no pets (we qualify). Half way to Denver the park called us and lo and behold, they had one spot they could fit us in, yeah! So, here we are, but the truck is giving us trouble, Monday we go to Chevrolet, keep your fingers crossed.