We found our Crew Chief from Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta at St. Clair Winery in Deming, NM. Ken and Michelle Briand were on their way from Albuquerque to Las Cruses for the weekend and did a detour through Deming to meet us for a wine tasting. Thanks to Facebook, Michelle learned we were going to be in Deming on Saturday.
Let's recap our travels so far this year. We left Twin Falls on Aug. 23rd and traveled 3,108 miles to arrive in Boston on Sept 19. We then spent the next 3 months exploring the East Coast from Maine to Florida putting on another 2,724 miles. We had no plan after Thanksgiving with Lonnie's daughter in Jacksonville so we went to the Escapee Sumpter Oaks Park in Bushnell, FL to make a plan. We toured all of Florida in 2012 and Texas in 2013. We got an email from our Illinois friends Bill and Veta Swires that they had landed at the Escapee Saguaro Park in Benson, AZ so we decided to go back to Arizona to celebrate Christmas with our Escapee friends and adopted Mom and Dad, Tom & Carol Bezdeka. To follow is a recap of our 2000 mile journey from Florida to Arizona.
Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014
We left Bushnell, FL and made it to Bonifay, FL in the panhandle east of Pensacola to stop at Florida Springs RV Park for the night. They have a restaurant in the park so we decided to enjoy dinner out without unhooking the Jeep. We did not realize that we had crossed into Central Time Zone and got to the restaurant before it opened at 5:30. Naturally we are internally on Eastern time so fell asleep at 9:00 that night.
Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014
Woke up really early so was on the road to do another 379 miles today. We finally made it out of Florida, through Alabama and Mississippi. We quit for the night at Cajon Country Campground in Breaux Bridges, Louisiana west of Baton Rogue. 697 miles down and 1303 miles to go.
Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014
Another big day of 368 miles leaving 935 to go. We drove through Houston today and our travel gods were with us. The storm front parted allowing us through with only a light misting of rain. The traffic on my google maps was showing lots of wrecks with stopped or slow traffic through the downtown I-10 route but when we approached the loop around downtown everything turned green for a smooth, easy journey through downtown Houston. We arrived at River Bend RV Park in Luling, TX just 50 miles east of San Antonio. We got a pull-thru (no unhooking the jeep and back-in), 50 AMP site for Pass Port America price of $15.00. Add the $3.229 for diesel this morning and you have the recipe for a perfect day! The most we have paid for fuel since owning the Motorhome was $4.499 in Bend, OR on May 1, 2012 and the least was the $3.229 in Breaux Bridges, LA. We are really loving these lower prices for fuel as it will take about 300 gallons to get us to Arizona.
Friday, Dec. 19, 2014
The storm we missed this morning hit with a vengeance at midnight. Thunder and lightning that literally shook the RV, it was so close. Made us think about our friends Jim and Gail McManus when their TV antenna got hit by lightning in their old motorhome. But we stayed safe. We woke up in the morning to find a puddle outside the step that was at least an inch deep with no way of jumping over it. Becky put on her flip-flops to wade through the water to get our utilities unhooked and waited for Lonnie to pull the couch forward before she came aboard. (Note: no puddle around electric post thank goodness but lots of rain and mud everywhere.) We got out of the rain 100 miles down the road. We are still not adjusting to Central time and was wide awake at 5:00 AM. It makes for getting an early start on the road but we're not looking forward to Mountain Time Zone to find ourselves wide awake at 4:00 AM. We logged another 358 miles today to reach Fort Stockton RV Park in Fort Stockton, TX. This place has an excellent Roadrunner Cafe so we enjoyed no cooking or cleanup for dinner.
Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014
We were on the road again at 8:30 this morning after a wonderful breakfast of eggs, sausage and pancakes/toast. We encountered lots of construction and slowed traffic through El Paso. I know there is a way around but we have never tried it and by the time we hit the slow traffic it was too late. There was also a traffic snafu just before Anthony so my advice to our RV friends is to avoid El Paso and take the 404, 213, 375 go around. About 45 miles out of Deming we received a message from Michelle Briand that they were in Hatch and could meet us at St. Clair Winery. We quickly set up at the Escapee Dreamcatcher RV Park in Deming and drove the Jeep the 3 miles to St. Clair. What a nice surprise to meet up with Ken and Michelle. We missed Balloon Fiesta this year and missed seeing Michelle. We got ourselves 12 bottles of our favorite St. Clair wines as a Christmas present to each other. We entered Mountain time zone today and we forced ourselves to stay awake until 9:30.
Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014
Awake at 5:30 AM, damn. Only 180 miles to go today and we arrived safe and sound at the Escapee Saguaro Coop Park by 12:00. We got set up in site #27 for the next week and have spent the rest of today catching up laundry and watching football. We will be here to enjoy Christmas dinner in the clubhouse, joining the beading group and visiting with our many friends here. We depart Dec. 29th to go to Cocopah RV and Golf Resort in Yuma where we will stay until it is time for Escapades in Tucson, March 7th. Becky is looking forward to getting in a lot of practice and trying to improve her golf game. We may or may not spend some time in Quartzsite in January depending on the weather.
We wish all our family and friends a Merry Christmas and Happy Fun New Year.
Becky and Lonnie
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