Thursday on to Tennessee

We left the Walmart lot in Arkadelphia after a good night's rest. Our goal today was to reach our friend's in Collierville, TN.

We stopped at a laundromat and ate lunch in the RV while the load was running. It worked out great because Heather could use their wifi for a Zoom call with a granddaughter whom she coaches in German.

We did arrive on time to visit with our friends and spent the afternoon catching up on the events in our lives since our last visit a year ago.

We had supper together and were joined by their high school granddaughter. Later she played for us a violin concerto by Vivaldi.

Wednesday in Arkadelphia

We stopped at a beautifully maintained Rest Area / Visitor Center near Cumby, Texas on I-30. 

Note the flowers and the toadstools...

In case you missed the warning signs..

Later in the morning, while driving, Heather saw a billboard advertising bomb shelter factory tours. So we pulled off at the next exit and walked through a very interesting factory named Atlas Survival Shelters. They build all types of underground enclosures from basic tornado to super "prepper" long-term living quarters.

We arrived Tuesday afternoon to start a visit with our friend Marsha in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. The road in front of her property had been beautifully paved. Unfortunately for us, it left deep dip leading into her driveway. We could not get to RV to go over it without the hitch digging into the concrete drive. Marsha called to local Walmart and got permission for us to park in their lot for two nights.

Roger was able to install a wrought iron railing on her porch as as well as install a replacement back porch light. Heather hemmed three dresses for her as well. 

We were warmly received at the New Life Church Wednesday night Bible study. The study was a review of the Book of Revelation.

3rd Monday on the road

As we continued our journey through Texas, we stopped at the Will Roger's Memorial Center in Fort Worth. It is not his official museum, but rather it is a convention center with arena facilities for western things like rodeos and horse shows. He was a pretty famous guy back in the 1930's and 40's. We met a neat lady who runs the events office and had a great time talking about life and the Lord.

 We parked for the night at a Love's in Rockwell, TX. It was raining lightly when we arrived and we hoped the rain would cool things off. The whole day had been hot and humid. We were happily surprised when, after dark, that light rain turned into a torrential storm with thunder, lightning and hail. The Love's parking lot and pump islands quickly became a refuge for many vehicles including several police cars.

During the storm we assembled a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle.

Sunday in Hamilton TX

We arrived in Hamilton, TX Saturday afternoon and visited with our daughter, Mary. Her husband Scot died this past year from a sickness, but she continues to live with her mother-in-law, Anita.

We parked for the night at a local CEFCO gas station plaza.

Sunday morning after picking up Mary, we all attended the morning services at First Baptist Church.

After Church we we we back to Mary's place and Heather prepared a nice dinner for us.

We left Mary and Hamilton and headed East planning to spend the night in an RV park with full hook-ups and a good wifi for Internet. Sunday is big day for Zoom meetings. We ended up parking for the night at the Shady Acres RV Park in Cleburne, TX.

Saturday in Sweetwater, TX

Last night we parked at the Love's Travel Plaza in Sweetwater. We appreciate how they allow RV'ers to park by the pumps or by the trucks even when have a full hook-up RV park that you pay for.

Laundry is one of those necessary things even when traveling. Here we are, parked at the Sweetwater Suds laundromat. Profesional machines and reasonable prices.

We stopped for lunch (RV-made spaghetti dinner) at a rest stop. Roger does the dishes, Heather does her daily nap. That's our usual RV routine. She loves to prepare meals, Roger loves to eat...I mean he loves to do housekeeping chores.

We are parked alongside I-20. Lots of traffic. We see lots of trucks carrying huge loads. Like this one with four jinormous tires

Here's another. It's a giant mobile generator in a Walmart lot.

Leaving New Mexico today

Thursday morning Heather prepared bacon, fried eggs and toast. Roger brewed coffee. 

We shopped for supplies at the Edgewood, NM, Walmart and went into the nearby McDonald's so Heather could do a Zoom call with our granddaughter who is learning to speak German using Rosetta Stone software. Heather acts as her coach. They meet twice a week.

We asked permission from the manager at the Tractor Supply across town if we could use their wifi so Heather could teach her Zoom Good News Bible Club from the RV. They were very helpful and pointed out where the strongest signal was outside the building.

Later we headed to Santa Rosa, NM, to use the McDonald's wifi so Heather could meet with a friend over Zoom. They meet weekly to read the Bible. Following that we again used Zoom to host a Missionsfestseattle prayer gathering. 

Finally we drove across town to a Love's Travel Plaza for the night. I asked where to park our motor home overnight and and was told to park between the trucks out back...and so we did.

Friday has taken us out of New Mexico and into Texas along Rt. 60. We have non-stop trains running alongside our road. Some trains have 3 or 4 engines pulling with 1 or 2 near the middle or at the end. One train had 5 engines pulling plus one at the end. Do you ever wonder how much of our goods move by rail?

We stopped at a roadside rest for a lunch break.

Later, we drove past many oil wells (or maybe gas) pumping. There was a strong petroleum smell coming into the RV. We get used to various smells entering our coach as we drive along. I suppose I prefer the smell of grease and oil in-the-making than the smell of ice cream in-the-making when we drive through dairy farm land. The skunk smell has been quite common!

I "stole" these online images and also wanted to mention that many of the pumps we passed were located in vast cotton fields. However, today's fields had already been harvested.

On the road again...for real!

Wednesday started with the the R&R crew doing some final things under the RV. The owner then invited us to go on an extended test drive to a reservoir in the hills. He wanted to make sure the trans was working correctly as we had a lot of miles still ahead on our journey. The views at the reservoir were great. He had his crew make some final checks and adjustments on returning to the shop. I recommend this shop.

We left Aztec, NM a little after noon today (Wednesday) after a week-long transmission repair. We immediately drove across the road to DIY car wash. The RV had picked up a lot of dirty spray from wet roads and there were greasy hand prints along bottom of the coach where the mechanics touched while rolling their creepers under the chassis. Next, we drove across town the a city-operated free dump site and fresh (potable) water supply. After that we headed for the highway in the direction of Albuquerque. 

We stopped for a lunch break at the continental divide, and for Heather to nap and Roger to do the dishes.

We ended our travel day in Cuba, NM at a laundromat. We try to travel with nine days of clothing changes. Later, after laundry, we attended a Wednesday evening service at the Potter's House church in Cuba.