Home again - God never left us!

Just before driving to our friends' Dave and Sharon's place in Grand Junction, CO, we stopped at Walmart a mile from them. I had been driving all day, so Roger said he'd finish up. He started the engine and we sounded like the hot rods that had been passing us! Very loud and impressive - except we really didn't want US to sound like that! Roger thought we had lost our muffler.

When arriving at our friends' place, we learned that Dave had just taken his pick-up to a garage. This place also works on R.V.s, so we called to see if they would take us. They did! The next morning we drove over and were immediately serviced.

Fixing an R.V. isn't like fixing a car - most stations don't work on them and always have a line-up waiting for service. So, to be taken in immediately and fixed is a small miracle. By 11 the next morning we were on our way. (& Dave got a ride to pick up his truck!)

What we didn't know when we arrived was that it was Dave and Sharon's 54th wedding anniversary! They were married a few weeks after we were. To celebrate they fixed a salmon dinner - yummy! I made some cinnamon rolls which they enjoyed. It was a great visit - our last stop before heading home. By the way, they live in a beautiful home a pond behind their home.

The trip home was made in wonderful weather - we boon-docked again in OR. Driving through Wapato, WA, we stopped at a fruit stand and bought 100 pounds of tomatoes. They were cheaper than several years ago. Some went to friends, but most were canned and frozen. Today we had BLT's and home made tomato soup again - it's a favorite seasonal lunch.

We are glad to be home - still living in the R.V. Today (21st) our hallway, living room and bathrooms are getting new vinyl floors. Tomorrow the bedrooms get carpeting. The whole house flood slowed us down, but God has provided all we need. A crew of friends helped us move out on Saturday (19th).

Thank you, Lord, for You ever present faithfulness and the joy You give us! 

Onward to Grand Junction. CO

We parked in Love's station in Cortez, AZ last night. It was nice to be boondocking again after several nights of being plugged in. The temperature was perfect. We slept well. Today, Wednesday, is a driving day. The scenery along Rt. 491 has been beautiful.

Overnight in Sun City, AZ

Saturday night we stayed in an RV park in Casa Grande.

It might be described using Seattle terminology as a "low barrier" park. They didn't ask for any ID,  home address or the age and type of RV. The manager told us over the phone which space to park in and to leave the payment in the office mailbox on the way out.

As we previously mentioned, many folks are living in their towable RVs for various reasons. This park has a mix of nice looking RVs mixed with ones that had been made into semi-permanent fixed dwellings. 

Sunday morning we attended a very welcoming church in town.

Sunday night we parked on the street in front of our friend Darrell's home. 

Heather prepared a meal for the three of us and we spent the evening catching up on the events in our lives.

For the past many nights we have stayed in RV parks so we could plug into 30amp service and run our rooftop air conditioner. Darrell invited us to stay in his guest room so we could enjoy air conditioning, but we decided to brave the heat and stay in the RV using just electric fans to cool. We slept well. Even though it was warm, it wasn't sticky humid.

Overnight in Willcox, AZ

We parked in the Sagebrush RV Park and Mobile Home Village last night.

The past several nights we have stayed in RV parks just so we could have power for our rooftop air conditioner. We have noticed that these parks have a lot of permanent guests living in RVs. Our guess is that it is ultimately less costly to own a towable RV, park it semi-permanently in an RV park and just pay monthly or annually. All costs are covered.

By the way, we ended up driving into the sunset to get to Willcox. It is not a  preferred situation. The RV has a very large front windshield and the sun can be pretty intense. There is one aspect that is nice...seeing the sun lighting up the clouds ahead.

Another stop before leaving El Paso

We learned that the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agency has a museum on the outskirts of town.

Such a great and important role these folks play in controlling the flow of illegal drugs and human trafficking. Although officially renamed in 2003, the actual functions of protecting us from individuals illegally entering our country began in the 19th century. People are always looking for back doors to get into this God-blessed country.

After the museum tour we ate lunch in the RV. 

El Paso to AZ

We had a comfortable evening in the Mission RV Park in El Paso. Plugged in for air conditioning! We started another puzzle in the evening but didn't finish it until Friday morning. 

We don't travel unless everything is secured. Unfinished puzzles would become less finished from all the shaking on the roads.

 

Last evening there was a brief wind storm - all the surrounding areas became blurry...probably from sand and dust. After that came the rain which went on softy through the night. It cooled off enough that we didn't need air conditioning at all during the night. Very pleasant for sleeping.

Heading West from Odessa to El Paso

We parked in Odessa, TX, Wednesday night, but before parking for the night we attended a church in town thinking it would be a typical evening service. It turned out to be taco supper and the associate pastor sharing his testimony of how Jesus saved him out of a violent gang lifestyle as a teenager and young adult.

Our air conditioner froze up during the night. We let it thaw out this morning, which didn't take long in this climate. Lots of melted ice poured off the outside roof, and some dripped into the coach. We used a towel and buckets to catch the water.

 

The temperature has been so high since leaving Branson that we have paid for overnight parking just to have power to run our rooftop air conditioner. We usually "boondock" in Love's travel plazas where RV's are welcome for overnights and have no hookups.

We also keep our speed down to 65mph to keep the engine a little cooler. It's not happy pulling us uphill in 95+ degree weather. In our many thousands of travel miles we've seen a lot of "roadkill"...deer, raccoons, armadillos, etc. On this trip through west Texas we see lots and lots of tire fragments along the edge.

We've become more aware of blown tires since it happened to us on our first day out on this trip. Check our previous posts.

We are now parked in an RV park in El Paso, TX, for Thursday night. Because of the high temps in the region we again wanted power to run our air conditioning system. We also needed good wifi so Heather could teach her regular Thursday afternoon Zoom Good News Club.

Continuing on...August 20

We arrived in Sturgis and parked at our son Josh's place. All seemed well until Roger went to get a tool out of his storage. Lo and behold, he discovered more damage from the blow-out. The steel belts from the tire also cut a gash completely through the bottom of our power cord storage compartment.

We hope to get that fixed tomorrow at our son Alan's place in Rapid City. It will require a metal plate be installed. The weather here has been hot. Today was 99. Amazingly, we are not too uncomfortable. And when we get too hot, we go into Josh's place. He keeps it super cold! We can't stay there too long... Granddaughters Jazmin and Scarlett are here. We've had a little visiting. Jazmin has her baby Callaway here, too. He's 10 months and super cute!

Silver Dollar City, MO - August 26

We had a good trip to Silver Dollar City - a Christian-owned theme park. The roads were smooth and the traffic light. The R.V. a/c has worked well. Nights have been pleasantly cool. Until the last hour today, Roger has slept (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and 1/2 of Wednesday shaking off whatever hit him on Sunday) and Heather drove. He's much better now and took a turn driving. We are looking forward to 4 days of Southern Gospel music - the music of our hearts! It is still HOT here (in the 90's every day). However, there's a breeze and some buildings are air conditioned. Ice water and water sprays are everywhere. We're meeting a cousin (with family) of Roger's here - great fellowship.

From Sturgis to Rapid City - August 21

Scarlett got her chocolate chip cookies baked (they were all gone a couple of days later - she didn't share much!!). Then she made prize winning butter tarts. That was a little more challenging, but she said they are good! Grandma was needed primarily for providing ingredients, since her mother doesn't buy sugar. Arriving in Rapid City, we went to Alan's house. He offered to help Roger fix the damaged storage area of the R.V. Alan did a great job riveting and sealing an 1/8" thick aluminum plate. Roger was pleased.

I had a visit with Galina and got food ready for the weekend. It was plenty warm so Alan's family came over for a swim, both Friday and Saturday. On Sunday Roger and I walked about 1/4 mile to a Baptist Church down the highway. We have been there before. The weather was perfect for a walk. However, Roger wasn't feeling 100%.

Maybe too much swimming with grandkids? Sunday School - studying Ruth - went o.k., but by the time church started, Roger was shaking. He went outside to warm in the sun, but that wasn't the problem. A deacon gave us a ride back to the R.V. Roger slept most of the rest of the day and all night and woke up feeling much better. We decided to proceed with our trip plans. It took all day Monday to get across SD. We met Heather's cousin in Sioux Falls, SD, for dinner (taco dip that didn't get eaten in Rapid City!). It was nice to see Kyle again - he's doing well.

 From there we headed to Sioux City, IA, where we are spending the night at Love's.

On The Road Again ? - Oh, Oh, Oh, NO! - August 17

We got off to a good start - a little ahead of time! Traffic was o.k.; weather was great; R.V. was running good. We gassed up in Ellensburg and made it to McDonalds in Moses Lake in time for Heather to Zoom with granddaughter Scarlett for her German lesson. Roger was driving. 

As we neared Sprague Lake there was a violent explosion and the R.V. rocked. A rear tire had exploded. Roger knew immediately what had happened. The temperature was high 90's and the highway HOT. We were able to limp 3 miles to a rest area. It took 4.5 hours and many calls, including some scammers, for us to get someone to come switch tires (we had a spare). The entire process was very confused and almost did Roger in!! Once the help came (a local man who obviously a professional), it took only 20 minutes to change tires. Roger cannot change these tires. That's why we have roaside assistance and towing coverage. The spare weighs about 100 pounds and the lug nuts require an impact wrench

The explosion did damage to the R.V. which had to get fixed. He knew of the place that someone had recommended to Roger, so we carefully drove there. The owner told us to park and spend the night in the R.V., which we did. The temperature went from HOT to pleasant. First thing the next morning, they started work on the R.V. 

It took 3 1/2 hours, but they did a very good and complete job of restoring the wheel well - and gave us special rates! Roger checked the work!! However, this all cost us 24 hours and $. But we got four new rear tires in Post Falls, Idaho.

 We're spending the night in Butte. God is good!!

Oh! Heather got some real good deals on American made crayons and school supplies for the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.

Back home now.

 We left our friends in Priest River on last Monday morning. 

Our next stop was in Yakima, WA, were we spent the afternoon with a retired missionary couple. The wife is a second cousin to Heather. 

We parked for the night in the parking lot where the CEF state office is located.

The next morning we visited the retired CEF Washington director and his wife and later stopped by the CEF office to load up on Tel A Story cards for our upcoming Summer events.

We enjoyed our trip home on I-90. Being on the road for two months gets tiring.

Our final stop, as always, was the Indian John Hill RV dump station.

Home, sweet home!! 

Continuing Homeward

Our next overnight stop was still being confirmed as we left Laurel, MT, heading west on I-90.

We stopped at several cities along the way so Roger could visit gun stores. He can only look, but not buy, because of stricter laws in our home State.

Friday night we again parked at a Love's near Missoula, MT (actually in Wye, MT).

We took time that evening to assemble a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle. Actually, it was only 499 pieces. As is common with thrift store puzzles, they are often missing a piece or two. If you look closely you will find where the missing piece was supposed to be! (right side above the yellow flower)

We took some time the next morning to shop before heading north and crossing into Idaho.

We arrived in Priest River, ID late Saturday afternoon. Our friends, the Smiths, live in a very rural community in the hills.

We attended their church on Sunday morning. They are part of a wonderful church family and homeschooling group.

Visit to our Sturgis Family

Memorial Day: Checked out of the hotel in Rapid City and did our laundry at a nearby laundromat.

Shopped at a thrift shop in town where everything was at 50% discount.

We arrived Monday afternoon in Sturgis. Had an evening meal with son Josh and his family. Son Alan and his family also dropped by join us in the meal.

Tuesday morning we went with our granddaughter to the Black Hills Railroad 1880 train ride.

This engine is one of only a few still using steam engine power.