Traveling Is A Challenge

Traveling is challenging; sometimes, it takes rolling with the punches and keeping going.  Walt and I had planned about a month away during December and January as we hadn't been out in a while, but Claire's doing mostly.  So we were looking forward to getting out.  We've been to Arizona before during this time of year, and it's relatively dry and pleasant.  That means the lows are in the 40's, and the highs are in the 70's.  That's a nice drop in temperature, but this is the dry desert.  

Our first day was to visit family in Dallas, share some Christmas time, catch I-20 out of Dallas, and be on our way. We decided to make West Texas, Midland, or Odessa for the first day. Unfortunately, the traffic didn't have the same time schedule we did. Even getting into the metro area is challenging with Gainesville all blocked off, but getting out was another definition of a traffic jam. Walt's son just shook his head when he heard our route.  I should have paid more attention to that.

Notice the big yellow road before you get to the circle of our destination.  That took us about 3 hours to get through that part of the DFW area. 

The traffic from the Geo. Bush to junction up to I20 was a nightmare.  It took us 3 hours to get out of Dallas.  This is the worst part about being in an RV when you get stuck in these spaghetti-highway metros and have to navigate all the junctions and exit/entrance ramps, but the traffic.  

But we made it until we had to back up the trailer because we missed a turn and discovered one of our tires had blown. Most likely, we hit something on the road because the tire was perfectly sound and had a ridiculous depth on the tread. We were next to a Pilot parking lot, almost full of truckers who were getting a little shut-eye. It had lovely bright lights and looked pretty safe to me.

From the guy who can do anything, after driving eight hours, gets out the jack and starts jacking up the RV and changing to the spare under the rear of the RV.  I am continually amazed at the things that aren't so daunting for him.  But the other side of the coin is that if a sleeve is way too big, put on a colossal shoulder, that's no problem cause I know exactly how to fix that.  

But one lugnut got the better of us. After being tightened up by a garage shop's air compressor, the torque on that puppy was so tight that it stripped the hex grip on the lugnut. We could not remove it without a professional clamp or digging into the lugnut.  

So, there was no changing the tire tonight. We settled into the RV for our first night of boondocking, even though the Pilot station was open 24/7 and provided a nice facility, goodies, water, and just about anything else we needed—except an air compressor lugnut remover! So we just slept in our comfy RV.

The following day, we called the West Texas Flat Service, and he came by with an air compressor and a gripper to grab that lugnut and get it off and got the spare on in about 30 minutes.  The right equipment makes all the difference in the world.  We were off to a local shop the West Texas Flat Service guy recommended, and again, it was like another friendly face.  This is a part of the world where trucks, trailers, and truck beds carry large, heavy oil-field equipment.  This shop had its fair share of this kind of tire, so we equipped the RV with the best heavy-weight tires an RV could ask for.  

A personal note from Claire:  Men love to talk about engines, wheels, tires, heavy equipment, and all sorts of heavy mechanical things.  Walt was in heaven with his own kind!  Me, I was bored!  For me, tires are tires:  Are they good?  Are they going to last?  Are they the right size?  Fine, put them on, and I'm out of here.  Not men.  Not only do we have to have these excellent tires, but we also have to have special lugnuts that won't strip the grip by some over-zealous air-compressor lugnut tightener!  

We're back on the road, this time with a decent time schedule, from West Texas to Las Cruces, NM.  By the time you get to West Texas, you're halfway through New Mexico, so going for Las Cruces, which is practically on the border, and less than an hour from El Paso, which is on the border, it's not that hard.  Unfortunately, our first time boondocking (without sewer, water or electricity), showed us how inexperienced we are at this. 

Who wouldn't be absolutely charmed by this sunset?  It was truly gorgeous.  There's only one problem.  After the sun sets, the only light you have is man-made.  And since we hadn't given the RV any juice in 48 hours, the battery went down.  Well, OK, I forgot to turn off the lights and other things, which drew down the battery charge.  The truck wasn't set up to fully charge the RV, and our trailer lights were not working in the dark.  We crept through El Paso and then Las Cruces, and the minute we plugged the RV into the socket in Las Cruces, I was practically blinded by the lights on the RV.  I was secretly worried that the rubber on the blown tire had flapped against something electrical in the RV, and it would have to be totally rewired.  Whew!  So glad the lights came on.  

Our following day was uneventful and an easy 3-hour drive into our RV Park.  

But the RV Park is a whole other story.  Just enjoy the beautiful sunset and that we are making progress!