TEXAS IS HUGE

Traveling Day - June 14 (Texas....) and a bit of June 15 (on the road!!!)

Today was another big traveling day for us, about 430 miles again...STILL IN TEXAS. This place is just HUGE!! I woke up to hear Dad on the phone with BOA...to make a long story short, there will be a new credit card waiting for him (along with my new power supply cord) in Mesa, AZ, at a friend's home when we arrive there. Thank goodness for great Newell friends across the country!! After making sure we didn't close anything in the Newell slide outs and also the awnings where properly locked (safe from big winds), we hit the road about 7:30am CST with the GPS only saying "Drive 427 miles on I-20." We are always very happy when we know she doesn't have a lot to say.

West Texas was where the scenery really started to change. The sky is SO HUGE and the land is SO FLAT. And there are frontage roads on both sides of the interstate, which almost got us in trouble getting on I-20, but I caught the entrance ramp sign just before it was too late. The views out here are totally unbelievable. You can see for miles and see all sorts of things that aren't in the east at all. For example, we saw hundreds of wind turbines (and read all about them too) and hundreds of pumpjacks (I can explain those well too!). The train tracks are also fascinating because you can see so so far down the track. We saw plenty of trains which were so colorful, without graffiti, and had engines on both ends.

The wind can really get going out here. At that point, though, we were probably a hazard going 55 when the speed limit is 80!!! 80!!!! I mean, that's fast no matter how you think of it. Eighty  mph really dismisses my favorite adage of "slow driving is safe driving." The wind also really takes a toll on our gas milage. Because Dad usually only takes the Newell from Tennessee to Key West which is a straight shot on flat roads, the mpg on the Newell sits about 9. Out here the wind plus a little bit of mountain area we are entering, the mpg has dropped to 7.5 - 8 as the price of diesel fuel increases. We've done the math, believe me...you definitely don't want to.



Wind turbines. They were on every ridge in sight.

PROOF!!!!!

A mountain we went through because the mountain had been blasted to fit the road. Really cool to see. Very impressed.

We arrived at the Eagle's Nest Campground in Van Horn, TX, about 3:30pm. It was easy to get to, so we checked in, got the map, and were told we could have our choice of lots. We decided to make the smart decision and walk around to find one that worked. There were certain ones with 50amp service that we need so we found one, thought we could pull in with the Jeep, and went for it. To make a long story shorter, it took us three different attempts at three different sites and unhooking the Jeep to make it into a site. The trees weren't cut high enough so we hit some branches and had to do some backing to make a tight turn in the park. I was running around next to the Newell protecting the right side while Dad was responsible for his side. Finally, we got into a spot, put out the slides and settled in to plan our next day. The Newell had to work very hard to keep us cool in the 101 degree heat, by the way! It's been such a trooper this whole time!

The plan was to go to Mesa, AZ, on June 15 (today) so that Dad can spend Saturday with our Newell friend, Tom McCloud, working on his coach. Well, the GPS said that from Van Horn to Mesa was about 570 miles. That is a HUGE day for us and not something I was particularly looking forward to.  I made the executive decision that we shouldn't have that big of a day on the road and our visit with Tom would just have to be pushed back until the Saturday evening. Tucson looked like a great place to stay and we knew there was a new park off of I-10 in the same area as a Camping World. Our kind of place!!! We checked it out on Google Earth and it looked just absolutely perfect, so I went ahead and called Lazy Days to ask some questions about the spots and get really good directions. I had the best conversation with Vicki (we bonded over our southern accents) and she KNEW WHAT A NEWELL WAS!!! Even better because by this point, Dad and I have been planning what to do for a few hours and I had already been denied entrance at a 55+ park (it's off season, come on...) and cried a little. I went ahead and made a reservation with her and we're actually on the way to Lazy Days now! Thanks to Verizon for our great service and air card, I have internet in what I call my "office." Oh, and thanks to Dad for the use of his computer.

Adios!