Not so Sunny Arizona

First thing I want to talk about is the time change. When the time changes in Pennsylvania we're always, confused, more so me, in a funny way I'm not really dyslexic. We always joke around about what time it is really. So far we went through two different time zones. When we got to our Walmart spot yesterday and I went inside and three different clocks said three different times 2:30, 3:30, 4:30.  We both thought that was really funny and laughed. Although now it really doesn't matter what time it is, we don't want to get too far off track because it makes it hard when you have to go back. We're trying to let our stomachs be the guide, stay on or normal meal schedules, since we're trying to eat better. When we woke up this morning in our Wal-Mart spot, probably the best Walmart we were ever in, it was very enjoyable at least for me. It was nice to wake up and not be so cold, we did leave the furnace on last night on low . When Jim went outside to start the generator he said there was at least 15 RV's out there. A few were parked over where we originally were. And two people slept in cars near us. He made the coffee, I made us bacon and egg sandwiches, chicken wraps for travel day and we got ready to move, not sure what time it was, LOL. We got back on I-10 drove about 11 miles to get to a fuel stop.  We see the importance of making sure we have fuel since there's long stretches in between stops where it's available. We drove for a good hour and then topped off our tank again. We had our lunch at a picnic area about an hour later. And then we arrived at Valley Vista RV Park Benson Arizona, part of the Trail's Collection. We checked in they were very nice told us about activities going on for the week. They actually gave us two sites to make one long pull through. We got set up, Jim hooked up to their cable instead of the satellite. We did our chores inside and out and set up. Took a little rest, fixed a few things. I made dinner, Jim watch the little football, then we went for a little walk just after dark, saw the pool and hot tub very warm and tempting. We took showers, I watched an award show, by 9  ready for bed,  but it's really only 7 here, LOL

Doing the Walmart Shuffle

Woke up in another Walmart, We talked to our neighbor this morning and she said when she came out this morning there was 15 campers in the lot. Jim was up first got the generator going started coffee. It was really cold and I waited a little bit till we put the furnace on. We could have put it on last night but we were trying to save it for the refrigerators and freezer. I made him oatmeal for breakfast and I had a refrigerator oatmeal I made last night. I arranged the kitchen so I could heat up soup as we traveled for lunch. We left about 9:15. Drove for about an hour and a half, took her first break at a picnic area, I heated up the soup that I made the other day. We got back on the road, my has the terrain changed.

Shortly after that we stopped for fuel really nice easy off and on then we had to drive about 2 hours before we hit El Paso Texas. We stopped at another rest area right before El Paso, good thing we did cuz that was a white-knuckle drive. It was about another 35 miles to the next Walmart and las Cruces New Mexico. There was a lot of construction when we got off the highway but we made it into the parking lot it really beautiful view from here.

We went inside and ask for permission to park here for the night and the lady told us where to park so we had to move to the other side of the parking lot, but it's all good we actually liked it better. Got set up and turned on the generator and went inside Walmart to do a little shopping. I made dinner Jim loved it we had soup and salad, I grilled chicken on the stove with my little Hubcap Grill thing, Works awesome. Then we took showers watch the little television and went to bed.

First day we needed the AC on

Last night I went to bed just after 9. I was tired from our long walk, talking to the people that came to help with our electric and cooking I guess. I was awake for about two and a half hours this morning before Jim got up. I got out of bed at 6. I started putting stuff away. When he got up I made a smoothie I made  some eggs and ham, made our lunch for travel day. I walked the garbage to the dumpster while he hooked up and we left at 9:38. Drove about an hour and a half before our first stop wanted to grab lunch from the fridge I was starving since I got up at 6. Then we drove for a while till we wanted to get fuel, found a really nice spot to get it at a truck stop. It's good we stopped for fuel when we did because we saw quite a few cars  that ran out of gas. You really feel like you're out in the middle of nowhere . The terrain has really changed now, and a lot of dead deer on the road.

We took a bathroom break at a pullover that they call picnic areas, we were the only one there until right before we left a truck or pulled in. And we figured out we were going to get fuel next and where are overnight Walmart spot was. We stopped at a Flying J and got fuel and then came to this Walmart in Fort Stockton, Texas. Very busy here a lot of RVs pulled in for the night. We asked permission got situated, I went in and did grocery shopping for the week by myself, came out and heated up soup that I made yesterday for dinner. Put the groceries away and called it a night.

Yea, we see the SUN

Wow, January 3, 2019 already, where has the time gone. The time change really has me messed up, either I'm getting up really late on our old time or early on the new time. And it's about to change again so it will be even worse. I'm trying just to ignore it because, it really doesn't matter what time it is. Jim's up first even though it doesn't matter. He made the coffee, I made breakfast I had sausage patties eggs and I made paleo blueberry pancakes. Then we started to do little projects that we wanted to get done. He got the satellite going. He torqued all the wheels, he started to do it every time we stop before we leave again because of the problem we had with our wheel. We super glued a light back together that had broken, and he put a new knob on the newest table that we bought for between our chairs, and tried to stabilize it a little more, it's a little shaky. I did three loads of laundry and still want to put the tree away. Then we went for a really long walk it was windy but in the sun it was really warm. We saw a lot of deer still taking pictures.

We went to the activity center and looked all around here some pictures what it looks like.

There was a lady in there that was a Solo Traveler Nancy we talked to her for a while. Then we started around the lake on our way back.

We probably walked at least an hour and a half. So we got back we were starving I put the last load in the dryer and the electric kept going off. Turns out the surge protector kept shutting us off because of high voltage, happened like three times in 10 minutes. I wanted to use my instant pot to make white chicken chili. I didn't  want the pot shutting off, so I made it the old-fashioned way, and was roughing it. Jim called Ranger, and they came over, we're talking about it.  Then another guy came over too, and the four of us had a nice long chat. The one young guy lived here all his life, I said a real Texan, he was telling us about the deer and Lake how large it is. I think it's about 22 miles in circumference if we understood him right. I made Jim a hot dog with sauerkraut I ate a yogurt. And then some of the white chicken chili. Once the electric was stabilized I got the instapot going and made a vegetable soup with chicken that I grilled on the stove, with what I call my Hubcap Grill. We bought it a long time ago at the RV Show and it works really nice. It looks like a hubcap.

Rainy travel day

Jim was up early as always on travel day. Weather prediction was for a lot of rain. I reminded him that our schedule is flexible, and we could stay another day if we wanted to. We discussed it and ultimately decided to leave this morning. We had a smoothie, and right before we left we ate some of the deviled eggs that I had made for New Year's party for breakfast. It continued to rain on and off, heavy at times. We left around 10  or 10:30. Still raining every time we mentioned that it lightened up it started pouring harder. After about a good hour or so we stopped at the first rest area that we saw, there not as well marked and not sure when the next one was. We did our thing, and grabbed some  lunch meat and cheese, shared an apple. We drove for a while we were following I-10. We missed the turn off for the road it wanted us to take. And with a little recalculating and stress, we found our way around, he is really good at that. First we saw huge hills, guess we're in the Hill Country of Texas now. Good thing was we saw signs for Thousand Trails, the first one was 11 miles away. As light rain continued to fall. But the road started to climb, an S turn after S turn. OMG. With a little white knuckling, and silence we arrived safely. We went in to register and told them what a fun drive rhat was, and they said welcome, and I said thank you but we may never come back here again, LOL who knows, whatever. She told us what sites are available, we drove around picked one that was a little more Woods that we would have liked. We saw deer everywhere. I asked him how long are we going to continue to take pictures of them ,

  they never seem to  turn out very well . It was nice to be stopped and situated. We set up and I heated up some leftovers for a later lunch edition. And then we went out to get spring water which we were out of, and we needed a bolt or two to fix the steps and some parts for the water softener. We went to a little grocery store but only bought water. Filled up the truck with diesel and they had a water kiosk, so we filled up our other jugs too. We got back and it was still a lot of daylight left, especially when you come out of the woods, we drove around, it's quite a large place. It has 260 Acres  and 387 campsites. We saw a lot of deer as we drove around then we started to see some big bucks with some large racks and apparently we're still taking pictures of them. We got back to the fifth wheel, Jim fixed the rivet in the folding steps, and fixed the water softener and hooked up the water , they said it smelled like sulfur so we didn't want to put it on without it, doesn't seem to be too bad. and I heated up dinner got some more things out of the freezer for tomorrow we tried to get some TV, not very good here. It was nice to finally relax I went to bed about a half an hour after Jim.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, we both woke up later today than usual. We had coffee I made Jim breakfast, we watch the Today Show. Once he had his coffee Buzz he went outside torqued all the lugs, and then went for a long walk. While he was gone I worked on our yearly numbers. I wanted to figure out what the maintenance on the RV was, and what we spent on campgrounds in a year. I also did our numbers for December. When Jim got back I made lunch for us. Then we talked about  the numbers. Then we went for a long walk together. Picked a few pecans from The Pecan Grove. Saw a lot of deer.

It was a lot colder than we wanted it to be, saw a few campers coming in. Went into the bath house all the way down near the river, and they sure have beautiful ones here, made me want to go take a shower over there.

When we got home I started dinner, Jim went outside to work on the step, the one rivet broke off he was looking for another one. And people we met when we first got here Gary and Irene stopped by they were talking with Jim outside. She knocked on the door and I invited her in, she wanted to see if I had any Black Eyed Peas. That's their southern tradition that they eat for good luck in the new year here in the south. I had a large assortment of different beans and I gave her a can, and four  of the oranges we had bought in Alabama. We had a nice chat, I showed her the camper while I worked on little dinner as we talked. Went outside and the four of us talked a little, and we said our goodbyes. We came in and had dinner together. I did the dishes and then Jim took a shower. I was texting  with some people that we're going to meet at The escapees Bash. Then I took a shower we watched a little TV, wishing we could have stayed here for a week or more, tomorrow is our next travel day.

Last time we are camping this year, look how far we've come, literally

Happy Monday as we say. Watched The Today Show,  had coffee and breakfast, looked out the window to see deer  frolicking past. Decided to take a ride and go look for some fun, and have lunch out. Driving out of here we saw two  of those wild boar pigs,  along the road dead and a dear and apparently the turkey buzzards would rather eat deer. First we went to a steak restaurant called Nancy's Steakhouse. Probably the best random local restaurant we ever picked, it was a fabulous lunch. And you couldn't beat the price. We actually shared a meal for two, it was fajitas, shrimp ,  ribs, grilled sliced chicken , and Fish in a mushroom cream sauce , and I remembered to take a picture of it. Here's some pictures of the inside too.

Then we left and went to Walmart only needed a few things. The grocery part of the store was minimal. So we went next door to a store called HEB. I was looking for something to make for our New Year's party tonight here. So I got some eggs to make deviled eggs, I made the eggs in the instant pot, and some brownie bites here's a picture of them too.

Then we drove around town a little, took some pictures of the old historical buildings. We were looking for a butcher shop to buy a big old Texas steak but couldn't find one open.

We moseyed on back towards Thousand Trails. We sat outside because it was so beautiful, was over 60 degrees. Then I made the deviled eggs and brownie treat for later. We got ready and walked down for the party around 6. We got some beautiful sunset pictures on our way .

The guy that told us what site to pick was there, with his wife which we hadn't met yet. They invited us to join them, so we did. We had a lovely time talking with them, they're from Texas. He gave us some good ideas about our upcoming travels, and where to go, what roads to take. They had a really good band. A lot of good treats.

I was happy that all my things that I brought we're eaten,  because I didn't want to take anything back. It was over around 10 so we all walked back together said our Goodnights. We watched Carson Daly and called it a Happy New Year,  2019