On the Road Again Only Different...

We don't close on our house in Norfolk until the last Friday of the month, so we are taking a road trip to TN, AR, OK, NM, AZ, TX, AL and NC to see family and friends.  This post is about our first two days where we went as far as Conway, AR.

We thought, "Why not?"  Maybe we should re-think buying another RV and just take road trips. We shall see, but since we have a three weeks it was a good time to travel and see how we like it.  My hypothesis is, "it will not compare to the wonder and joy of RV living, but it can still be good."

On Day 1 of our trip, we made it to Maynardville, TN for an overnight stop.  We like to get on the road early and crept out of our 5-star accommodations at Goldmanor (Kelly and Jon's house where we are staying) and made stops at Wawa for coffee and McDonals for a couple of egg McMuffins.

We crossed over the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel as the sun was rising. Then it was on to Richmond on I-64 over to I-81.  Before we got there we crossed through the Shenandoahs and were greeted with this.

Yikes!  Snow!  It only lasted for about 20 minutes but it definitely got our attention.  We keep thinking we have avoided winter but that hasn't happened entirely.  The last three weeks in Virginia Beach have been a mix of different weather with some warmer days and some cold ones lately.

We pulled into Mike and Joan's neighborhood about 3:30 PM and since we were only going to be able to stay overnight, we better see Helen and Bill first.  Chances are that we would not be leaving Joan and Mike's once we got settled in.  So we stopped in to see Helen who had just returned from Physical Therapy.  She had knee-replacement surgery and Bill had her all set up in an easy chair with her knee raised.  Everything is going well with her recovery except the pain.  Ouch! She did say to much about it but once we asked questions she indicated it is some major pain.  But she is dealing with it and getting a little better each day.

Next stop was Joan and Mike's.  We unloaded our suitcases and air mattress and sleeping bags and it worked out fine.  Mike had fixed dinner and we had some great fajitas and beans.  On our way to Virginia Beach after selling the Roadrunner, we stopped in to see them and they were both ill.  They were much improved and were like their old selves so we were thankful for that.

On Day 2, we headed out of the driveway before six AM and got on I-40 heading west.  We refueled a couple of times along the way.  It is a bit of a shock to fill up on a road trip for under $30 when we were used to filling up the Roadrunner for $250-$300 a pop.  We like the lower numbers.  I noticed its not as easy to take a quick nap in the car as it was in the Roadrunner, but it is manageable.

The weather forecast didn't look too good on our route because of high winds, rain, and the threat of tornados.  We didn't want to do anything crazy, but we kept on eye on things as we traveled. We hit some rain for a couple of hours then it was mostly high winds toward Little Rock, AR.  About noon the east bound traffic on I-40 was backed up for a couple of miles as they cleaned things up from a tractor trailer that over turned.  Not sure exactly what happened but he may have gotten blown into the side rail in the passing lane and went over.  Out side heading west was fine.

We arrived in Little Rock and drove downtown to the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum.  It is one we had not seen before so we were hoping to see it and the Arkansas State Capitol.

The grounds are well maintained and in a great location a few blocks from downtown Little Rock.  On thing that struck me was the size of the building.  I might be the largest of the Presidential libraries we have seen in our travels.

 Both outside and inside the grounds, we saw artwork of Dale Chihuly.  We love his work.

Inside, the security was friendly and we paid the $8 fee before going to the third floor and taking a self guided tour.

 View from the third floor toward downtown Little Rock.

The Oval Office is always an interesting place.  Many of the presidential libraries we've seen have life-size replicas like this one.  For $50 we could side behind the presidential desk and get our picture taken.  Yikes!  We passed on that one.

We weren't able to spend the time it deserved, but we were glad for the chance to see it briefly.  It is one of the more well done presidential libraries we've been to and I was very impressed.

The afternoon weather was a big change from what we had experienced most of the day.  We drove over to the capitol building.  I was closed but I managed to take a few pictures.  

We thought we could drive some more and continued on I-40 to Conway AR where we got a motel for the evening.  After two hard days of driving, we went to dinner and then back to the motel and hit the sack.  

That's all we will relay for now and I'll save some more for the next couple legs of the trip to Tucson. Thanks for joining us on this adventure of the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Short Albuquerque Visit

We drove from Yuma to Deming in a day and then from Deming to Albuquerque on the next.  We bypassed Las Cruces and went from Deming to Hatch and then up I-25 to Albuquerque.

Leaving Deming and driving the Hatch highway was a very scenic experience.  I was quite surprise of the beauty on this road although Rand McNally had it labeled as a Scenic Highway.  The map was correctly labeled.

Kind of hard to tell on this photo but the vistas into the distance on both sides of the highway were great.  We will have to drive this way again.  It took about 3 1/2 hours to get to Albuquerque on a very pleasant highway.  We camped again at the military campground at Kirtland AFB which is about 15 minutes from Reid and Amy's house.

This was Easter Weekend and we carved out time to spend Reid and Amy. We were only going to spend a few days in Albuquerque and this time we couldn't see and do everything we wanted.  We were limited to:

• Seeing Reid and Amy and spending time with them
• Eating NM cuisine
• Working on their yard
• Spending one day in Santa Fe
• Extended family celebration on Easter

Reid and Amy were working on Wednesday afternoon, so the first thing we did after we got set up in the campground was find a Blakes Lotaburger and have a green chile cheeseburger for lunch.  It was great.

Later, that evening after work, we went to Padilla's Mexican Kitchen for dinner

The sopapilla's and the rest of dinner were great.  I know I have posted a picture of the same thing a time or two, but I love that food!  And it is hard to find a better restaurant in town.  Another one we like is Frontier Restaurant and we went there twice for breakfast, once on Friday and again on Sunday.  Hueveros rancheros and the hot cinnamon roll are always a safe choice there.

Reid took off Thursday and Friday and we worked on his yard.  He is in the middle of a big yard landscaping project that has take a few weeks.  Thursday was spent was moving dirt around, leveling it in places, adding yard trim to a walkway, and laying down some stones.

It is very nice and is looking better each day.  Their yard (both front and back) is going from one with a lot of grass (which requires watering) to one that has only a small area of grass.  He laid down a lot of mulch and planted a number of desert plants throughout the yard.  He also installed an extensive drip system to keep the plants and bushes healthy.

On Friday we went to Santa Fe by way of Cedar Crest on the back side of Sandia mountain.  He had a building to check out and we liked the drive on the back road to Santa Fe.

We passed through old towns that have become tourist stops. Madrid and Cerrillos were once important mining sites on the Turquoise Trail.  Now they are known for arts and crafts and unique little stores. The drive was interesting and I like the variety instead of traveling along the same routes all the time.  I think I've driven the Santa Fe/Albuquerque I-25 corrider a thousand times. (I grew up in Santa Fe.)

As we do nearly every time we visit, we drove by our old hangouts around some other places in Santa Fe.  Amy spent high school there and Pam grew up in Tennessee. Pam has heard the wind shield tour many times over the years but is a good sport about it.  

We drove out airport road to the old airport and had a look.  I remember then we stopped off at Santa Fe Country Club.  The Santa Fe Airport closed back when I was in high school.  At one time Continental Airlines and Frontier Airlines operated out of Santa Fe, now it is predominately smaller commuter type airplane travel.

We made our way downtown to the Plaza in Santa Fe and ended up having lunch at the famous La Fonda Hotel.  That is always a treat.

After we returned to Reid and Amy's I helped Reid with some yard work.  They converted their grass lawn into a low maintenance yard that saves a lot of water.

It turned out great and they ended up getting a rebate on their city water bill since they got rid of all the grass.  We enjoyed our time with Reid and Amy.  Never seems to be long enough.  We love spending time with them.

After a few short days in Albuquerque, we hit the Interstate early and headed for Oklahoma City with an overnight stop in Sayre Oklahoma.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Winter 2018 Travels Campsites

I look back over the months or years and forget exactly where we have been.  Or the route we took during different times.  So I need to 'document' our travels along the way.  It makes it a lot easier to remember where we were when...

We left Virginia Beach the day after Christmas and have been as far West as Redlands CA (near San Bernardino CA).  We are currently at a very nice place in Casa Grande Arizona enjoying the very Palm Creek RV Resort (between Phoenix and Tucson).

I like to take a snapshot from time to time to recap where we've been and this post is a look at a most of the campgrounds where we have stayed in the last couple of months.

Our first stop was in South Carolina.

We stayed at a campground just off I-95 after a long day on the road.  We stayed here previously in 2010.

In the Fort Walton Beach area to see Karin and then the next morning we drove to Pensacola to have breakfast with Bill.  It was the first time we parked the Roadrunner in a Cracker Barrel RV spot.  It was tight but it fit.

Overnight stop in Lake City Florida.

On a lake but more importantly, it was near the Interstate and we were able to get satellite access for the night.

Our next day was a fairly long one but we made it to NorthLake RV Park outside of Houston to see nephew Drew and Mark (and his wife Dean-na, and little one Kayley.)  

We were going to make it a short stop but we ended up staying at the campground for a couple extra days to wait out the ice storm in the Fort Worth area.

From Houston we went to Fort Worth (actually Cowtown RV park in Aledo) to see my brother Brad and his wife Sue.

We spent five days there before continuing on through the great state of Texas.  We had an overnight stop in Monahan's State Park.

Very unique and interesting sand dunes in the middle of the west Texas oilfields.

Deming NM was our next overnight stop and we like staying at the Escapees RV park there - Dreamcatchers.

The sites are wide and spacious and it is an easy in and out access.

We drove next to Benson AZ to spend the night and go out to dinner with Brenda and Kit.

We were together with them on a Care-A-Vanner build in Sioux Falls SD last fall.  

From Benson we made the short trip to Davis-Monthan AFB for a few days.

We were in the dry camping area but right across from the laundry and bathhouse.

Catalina State Park north of Tucson AZ.  One of our favorites.  Beautiful sites.  Great hiking at the park.  10 miles from my brother Marty's place in SaddleBrooke retirement community.

We only stayed a few days before leaving for Quartzite AZ to meet up with friends.

Our travel plans continued out to California where we had a couple of stops.   First one was at El Centro Naval Air Station.

If we like to check out military campgrounds if we are in an area where we can find one.  This turned out to be a great one.

Farther west, we made our way to Redlands CA to see friends Bob and Sue.  We camped at a great County Recreation campground in Yucaipa which was a couple of miles from their place.

Our stay was too short but we needed to get going and head back to Arizona.

We had our second stay at El Centro Naval Air Station.

Next we made our the way back to Catalina State Park north of Tucson.

After that, we returned to Agave Gulch FamCamp at Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson AZ.  

Sites are fine but a little tight.  Great location.  WiFi in this spot worked well.

We are now at Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort in Casa Grande AZ which is about half way between Tucson and Phoenix.  

We are here to see friends Karen and Steve.  This is probably the nicest place we have ever stayed in terms of the park and facility.  Wide campsites, level, friendly people, golf, pickleball.  Great place to walk or bike.

More on this place later.

That's bit of a lengthy look at where we've camped in our travels for the last 2 + months.  We are looking forward to more warm weather and time with family and friends!

Hope you are all well and enjoying March!

That's all for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!