Fear of Flying

After a long busy summer of visiting family I made the decision to head back to Arizona the day after our family reunion on August 10.  I realize that normal people in a normal vehicle can cover 1800 miles in 3 or 4 days.  Normal in my world is a setting on the washing machine and has no bearing on my life.  Some days I travel only 50 miles and on a really big day 300.  Sometimes the weather keeps me sitting in one place for a few days and while I'm sitting there I consult maps and apps and try to figure out a good safe route and where I can stop along the way.

Stopping along the way can sometimes determine how many miles I will drive in a day.  I had already decided before I left Tennessee that I would follow 40 across Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas panhandle, and New Mexico up to Albuquerque.

Then south on 25 to Hatch where the Las Cruces bypass on highway 26 cuts off 40 miles taking you to 10 at Deming.  But that shortcut goes through a large windfarm which means WIND.  Again not a problem for a car usually but it can be tricky in an RV.  Worth it to avoid the 10/25 interchange outside of El Paso.  Then 10 the rest of the way to Eloy where I'm working again this winter.

I have at least 3 apps that show me RV parks and state parks and even "resorts" to stay at along the way.  One app shows Walmarts, Cracker Barrels, and even rest areas that allow overnight stays.  And I have stayed in these places all over the country.  But on this trip I wanted to try something different so I joined a group called Harvest Hosts that gives me more options to stay overnight at wineries, farms, and museums.  So in the little town of Moriarty, New Mexico I pulled off 40 and parked in the lot of Southwest Soaring Museum.  How cool is that?

It is one of only two glider museums in the US and it's certainly in the right place.  After a tour of the museum (I even got to sit in one of those tiny planes) I was allowed to park at the east end of the museum and even had 50 amp service to hook up.  That was a good thing since it was nearly 100 outside and the AC was much needed.  But the thing I noticed the most was the wind.  Those windsocks stayed full all evening.  I felt it some but mostly the building helped to block it from me.  After touring the museum and then setting up I felt inspired to watch an old movie.  Of course...… The Longest Day.  I had a new appreciation of the glider scenes now.

I'm Backkkkkkk

Red dots indicate stops in my travels. 

Even though I have been absent from my travel blog for 3 years doesn't mean I have been absent from traveling.  I admit that I've been relying on Facebook again and being very lazy about writing.  Looks like my last blog  post was at the end of my camp host job at Cloudland Canyon State Park on top of Lookout Mountain.  Technically I was in Georgia but a ten minute job south southwest put me in Alabama and northeast from there in about ten minutes was Tennessee.   Lots of history there and some beautiful sights as well.  It was my first snowy winter since that first winter in the Bosque.   And of course there was the opportunity for geocaching in 3 states all winter long.  And since I had my caching buddies there with me it was a definite no brainer.

So I'm a sucker for Mary's ideas and after following her out into the snowy Georgia woods for a geocache that literally took my breath away (and me with no inhaler in my pocket) you would think I knew better.  But she has a way of making things sound so great.  So after a brief visit to Hohenwald I pointed my compass northwest and drove up to St. Louis to meet up with the girls and travel west.  Since my calendar allowed me to arrive a few days ahead it was a great chance to take a day trip to Springfield, IL and the land of Lincoln (the family crypt that is).

Very cool place to check out.  But soon I was following my friends out west.  It took 3 days to get across Missouri, a little corner of Kansas, Nebraska, and finally into Wyoming.  Yes folks, we were spending the summer in Cody, Wyoming.  This was a real departure for me.  Mary had secured jobs for us at a 5 star hotel about 50 miles outside of the east gate to Yellowstone National Park.  And what job did I have?  Believe it or not my job was assistant to the cook on the morning breakfast buffet.

After a wonderful summer in and out and around Yellowstone we moved on west from Wyoming toward northern California where Mary and Fay had secured a job near Yosemite National Park.  Our route took us on an eventful path across Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and northern California.  There's another post for later.  But I will tell you that crossing Donner Pass in mid October is more excitement than I ever want to experience again.

At Yosemite we parted ways as the girls went to work and I headed south rambling through Bakersfield, Barstow, up into Death Valley, then down to San Diego for a visit from home.  I set up in a resort near the airport where Darlene flew in to meet up with me.  That was a great week.  After her departure I moved a little east to Yuma to stay warm all winter.  By March I was itching to move on, of course, and ended up in Pahrump, Nevada for a short meet up with Mary and Fay before spending a month in North Vegas, and Rachael, Nevada.

Obviously I had a bad case of itchy feet that spring which led me from Nevada to Utah to Oregon, Washington.  Then a few stops as I crossed Idaho (oops, got a broken windshield in the RV there ), Montana, more Wyoming, South Dakota (got my new windshield installed in Rapid City), North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, and home to Kentucky.  Yeah, I know, home again never lasts long with me.

By the end of summer I was headed west again.  Met up with the girls again at a volunteer gig in Monroe, Louisiana.  Loved everything about the place except the dampness.  Actually my lungs didn't like it there.  After less than three months breathing was a problem so my jacks went up and I headed west where the air is drier and my lungs are happier.  It's starting to look like I'm a dry desert heat kind of girl (or at least my lungs are).  Not that I'm ready to stop my rambling around, but this does make it a little more of a challenge.