Day 3

We are on day 3 of our journey home. It's been a little more eventful than the trip to Ohio. Yesterday was a long day. We left Effingham, IL at 10am and arrived at the KOA in Calumet, OK about 9pm. We only stopped once in Tulsa to fuel up. It was our most expensive yet as we put in almost 73 gallons. Funny, we have a 100 gallon talk and the low fuel light comes on when you use 70 gallons. Right after we got parked at KOA, a wicked storm blew in kicking up wind and ugly skies. I don't believe it rained but it sure was nasty!  I'm really glad we weren't on the road when it hit.

We pulled out of KOA about 9 and we gain an hour today. Our destination is Enchanted Trails RV park outside of Albuquerque. We should arrive there late afternoon. Happy Trails!!

Heading home!

Our journey West has begun. We left Maumee around 1pm Eastern Time and stopped in Napoleon to top off the fuel tank. We hit a bad storm South of Ft. Wayne and pulled into a rest area to wait it out. The winds were a little scary and we put safety first.  We made sandwiches while we waited. After getting back on the road we got a "water in fuel" warning on the dash. The engine was running fine, so we kept on motoring. After 30 or so miles, it went off. We just passed Indianapolis and are on I70 West heading for Effingham, IL to overnight. Tomorrow we hope to make it past Oklahoma City so that we can avoid workday traffic.  I need to find a place for us to spend the night.  I'll work on that when we get situated tonight.

Our visit was a lot of fun and it was great for our dogs to be with us and get to meet all of our family members.  Not sure how soon, but we will definitely do another trip to Ohio in the future!  I'll blog more on our whereabouts later. Happy Trails!!

Sunday and gloomy

We are about 85 miles into Missouri on I-44 heading towards St.Louis. Todays target is Effingham, IL. After filling up at Flying J, we are spending the night at Camp Lakewood off of exit 160.  It's cloudy in MO so far. It looks like there might be sun ahead. We have avoided rain so far. Happy Trails!

Long day!

It's 7:30pm Central and we have been on the road since just before 9am Mountain.  Dennis has battled high winds and bumpy roads but he's been a trooper!  He's been jamming to music on his MP3 player and sitting in the driver's seat all day.  We spotted a Flying J truck stop just before we got on the last leg of our planned journey for today, so we ducked in and filled up.  When we got out of the RV, it was HORRIBLY humid.  We all agree, sleeping with no A/C in a Walmart parking lot is not going to cut it tonight.  I found an RV park 1/2 mile down the road from Walmart on Route 66 and I gave them a call.  They have 1 full-hook up spot left and the guy is waiting for us!  Based on the rates posted on their web site, it looks cheap, too.  I don't care if it's $100/night, it's worth it!  A/C and a hot shower tonight sounds AWESOME!! 

We also are stunned by the iron-rich dirt here in Oklahoma.  All of the dirt that's exposed from greenery is RED just like the red rocks of Sedona!  It's quite beautiful with all of the green grass, trees, etc.  Who knew?!  We sure didn't!

We are almost to the RV Park.  We traveled farther today than we planned so if we can do the same tomorrow and get deep into Illinois, it will make Monday a breeze!  Happy Trails!!

Heading towards Texas

I-40 is pretty. Pretty boring! The excitement of the morning was seeing a semi on its side in the medium.  It didn't look burned or anything, which is a very good thing, but it was a site to see. I'm sure it won't be the last one we see. The winds are strong on this highway. We just passed a sign that said 150 miles to Amarillo, TX. We are making progress. So far, Dennis has done all of then driving.  Control freak. :)  Sheryl beat me 2 games to one at Sequence. I'll get my revenge later.  Happy Trails!!

Wal-Mart parking lot #1

After re-evaluating our first destination, we breezed past Gallup and went straight for Albuquerque. We intended to stop after getting through Albuquerque but Dennis was getting tired so I found one on the way into Albuquerque. It's kind of in the ghetto, I hope nothing gets stolen and we don't get shot. Dennis and I walked inside to see if they had anything we need. We bought a new rug than matches the ones we already have.  I'm about ready to go to bed. We are running the generator to cool the place down and charge the batteries. We have a fuel stop tomorrow with an ultimate goal of reaching Yukon, OK. I'll update on progress tomorrow.

Almost to Albuquerque

After stopping in Jamestown, NM for fuel, we are now about 40 miles outside of Albuquerque. We are staying at Walmart in Edgewood, NM. This will reduce our required distance tomorrow. We hit a scary patch of freeway with no lane markers with reduced visibility due to blowing dust. Dennis slowed down for that! We are now 20 miles from ABQ and I'm ready for bed. It's way past Dennis' bedtime. He's a trooper today!

On our way!

We are East of Winslow, AZ on I-40 heading towards New Mexico. We were originally going to overnight in Gallup, NM but are now shooting to make it East of Albuquerque instead. We found a Wal-Mart and are hoping for good weather between here and there. There are thunderstorms across the middle of the state.  Will update more once we arrive at out destination.  Happy Trails!!

The trip begins Friday!!

Sheryl arrives in Phoenix Thursday and we leave in the RV Friday after work to begin our journey to Ohio for Relay for Life!  I thought I'd take a second and share with you the route that we are planning to take and the stops we are making to either fuel up or spend the night.  In general, we are spending the night in Walmart parking lots and we are fueling up at Pilot/Flying J truck stops along the way.

We anticipate arriving in Ohio Monday afternoon/evening and will be in the state until approximately Wednesday, 6/26 when we begin our journey back West.  We will see you all soon!


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Progress!

I want to post an update. I am feeling good and have reduced the pain meds to about every 10-11 hours instead of every 4.  Lisa came to my rescue today and delivered Milk of Magnesia and prune juice and they took about 4 hours to do their job.  Dennis helped me clean myself up (aka sponge bath) as best as I can tonight. It felt great!  I'm able to shower on Friday.  Looking to that!  My follow up appointment is a week from tomorrow. The dressing and plastic that is over it will stay on until then.  It's already itching me like mad.

I watched a Kitchen Cousins marathon today. I'm free to text or talk on the phone if any of you have free time during the day. I am not yet going crazy but I have at least another work week of this!  Humor me!

Thank you for all of your support.  I'm looking forward to being done with the sciatic pain and the hard narcotics.  Better days are ahead!