TorC

That is the abbreviation for Truth or Consequences,  New Mexico. Yesterday we left our campground in Bernalillo, north of Albuquerque,  and proceeded 165 miles to TorC. It was a straight shot down Interstate 25, through a bunch of Indian reservations.

A little history of TorC. Originally called Palomas Springs in the 1800s because of the doves (palomas) and the hot water springs, the town was renamed Hot Springs in the early 1900s. In 1950, the radio show Truth or Consequences was a big hit. Ralph Edwards, the host, announced that for the 10th anniversary of the show, he would broadcast from the first town that would rename itself after the show. The citizens of Hot Springs, wanting to rename the town, feeling that they wanted a new name to differentiate from all the other towns in the United States named Hot Springs, changed the name tto Truth or Consequences by a ratio of 10 to 1 votes on March 30, 1950.  Ralph Edwards broadcast from TorC the very next day. There is also a park here named for him, Ralph Edwards Park.

Anyway, we got here at noon and pulled into our trash heap. Sorry, campground. I don't think there was an RV in the place that was manufactured after 1985. It looked like a squalid village from the middle east! The office, we found out later, was outside the campground across the street. We had to call to find out where our site was and the owner told us he would stop by for payment. He never did. We backed our rig into our site with the back against the fence and our front sticking out halfway into the road. Later, I went to the office and was told the owner was in Las Cruces and would be back Monday, and to go to a particular site and we could pay the campground handyman.  Well, he had gone to his mothers for Thanksgiving and wouldn't be back until Sunday. 

Once parked and while I was setting up outside, Nancy went to walk the dogs when they all got attacked by a pitbull whose owner didn't tie it down and who couldn't control the dog. Nancy had Cocoa in the air with the pitbull jumping on her to get at Cocoa. I rushed over to help and got the pit onto its back so the owner could get him. At that point, the owner's next door neighbor rushed over and asked HER if she was alright. No care or concern for Nancy. Later, when I went to walk our dogs, the pit tried to attack us, but this time it was tied and couldn't reach us. I was ready to shoot it.

So with the condition of the campground and the "neighbors" we packed up early this morning and went to another, much nicer campground.  Here is our view from our windshield: 

Tonight we have a 2-hour session at one of the hot springs. We might go to another tomorrow and a third on Monday.  After all,  that's why we came to TorC.

Santa Fe

Cathedral of St Francis of Assisi

We started off today wanting to take our dogs to Banfield Pet Hospital in Albuquerque,  but found them all closed until Friday.  We changed plans and instead drove to Santa Fe, about 40 miles north. At 75 mph it doesn't take long to get there, and the wide open scenery is gorgeous; the sun passing thru the clouds which creating shadows on the hills, which had snow on their peaks, and on the arroyos deep and long. You can literally see for miles in all directions. Getting into town you drive along the original  Old Pecos Trail. 

In town we drove around looking for a parking spot, which are at a premium. As soon as a car starts to leave a spot another is right behind to fill it. Cost: one dollar per half hour.. We went into Winding River, the largest seller of Indian artcraft; jewelry, pottery, clothing, paintings, statuary, all of which was beautiful. Nancy looked at a ring, but we were shocked when the price tag showed $4800. The clerk told us not to worry; everything in the store was half-priced. We just happened to have a spare $2400 -- NOT! One young woman thought it was a good deal as she purchased a small pottery bowl for $1800. Remember, that's half-price!

We stopped into a native American Indian art gallery but it had artwork from indigenous people's from Australia,  Canada, Greenland, Japan,and the US, all of it speaking to the mining of uranium and nuclear testing on these people's lands without their knowledge or consent. It was very informative but also depressing. 

We walked around town and we love the architecture there, but it is clearly for a different breed of person, the RICH! We had lunch at the Inn of the Anasazi. Nancy had a bowl of tortilla soup and I had chicken enchiladas. We both drank water. The price: $52! Everyone in the Inn were dressed to show off; we were slumming in jeans.  We drove around the town and decided to return home. Again, the scenery was just as beautiful on our trip home.

Tomorrow  is Thanksgiving,  and we will try to get into Albuquerque, but we expect everything to be closed as tight as a turkey's . . . well, you know! And if you're  reading this, we wish you a happy gobblers day!

North of Albuquerque

We departed Amarillo at 8:20 am CST and aside from some 30 mph wind gusts, we had an unremarkable trip. Except for the beautiful views. The Texas panhandle is nice to look at if you like prairie views, and the state maintains Interstate 40 very well. When we crossed over into New Mexico we started to climb. Amarillo was 3672 feet above sea level (ASL), the highest we climbed was 7,073 feet, and here in Bernalillo, which is 16 miles north of Albuquerque we are at 5,075 feet ASL.

We arrived at 12:30 pm MST and set up. We are using our heated water hose for the first time this trip to prevent any water problems. Weather forecast for tonight is for rain or light snow (I know, I know, that's why we left the east coast: to avoid that stuff) after 9 pm. Temps for tonight are forecast at 41°, but tomorrow night will be 28° and Thursday night will be 19°. Brrr!

If it wasn't for the RVs in the row in front of us, this would be our view through the windshield 

Tomorrow we plan to explore Santa Fe, and Thursday we'll do Albuquerque. 

Amarillo Day 3

Today we went to, you guessed it, Palo Duro Canyon State Park. It was 28 miles south of our campground, which I forgot to mention earlier, is located on Route 66. We knew there was a fee to enter the park,  but didn't realize we needed to pay and print out a pass before we arrived.  The office at the gate was not open due to covid but there was a staff member outside who assisted us in getting online and getting a pass number. We had to fill out a form and put the pass number on it, attach it to our windshield, or the park police would fine us.

The canyon is the second largest canyon in the United States.  It is 120 miles long and at places 20 miles wide. We drove down 500 feet to the bottom of the canyon and drove all 16 miles of paved road, past several lodges and multiple campgrounds. We had lunch at the bottom, and the dogs enjoyed roaming around. All the campgrounds were full, and hikers and bikers were everywhere to be seen. It is a beautiful place as can be seen in these pictures.

We came home, packed up a little in preparation for our trip tomorrow,  then went to an early movie and saw The Eternals.

We plan to be on the road tomorrow at 8:30 am again.

Amarillo Day 2

Today we extended our stay here by one day. Since our stay in McKinney ended so late on Friday and being unwilling to drive 7 hours at night, we changed our arrival in Amarillo to the following day. Today's extension brings us back to the length of our original stay, but at a cost; we had to shorten our Albuquerque trip by the same and being Thanksgiving weekend Albuquerque was full for the weekend so we couldn't extend there. That leaves us with one day to see Albuquerque and one to explore Santa Fe. For the weekend and beyond we made reservations in Truth or Consequences (TorC), New Mexico, from the 26th to the 30th.

TorC is right along the Rio Grande River, and has many natural hot springs, some right next to the river. People have reported heating up in the springs then jumping in the river to cool off. Not sure we will do that,  but we do intend to frequent the springs. 

So today we visited PetSmart for a winter coat for Tiffin (Cocoa  already had one), and some anti-itch spray for Cocoa. No fleas, but probably an allergic reaction to something. He started scratching all the time.

We dropped the dogs back home and then visited the Cadillac Ranch, a tourist destination/curiosity site. The owner of the ranch half buried ten Cadillacs in a section of his fields and sells spray paint to tourists so they can "decorate" the cars as they see fit.

 Afterwards, we went to Salt Grass Steak House. Good food during which we struck up a conversation with a fellow at the next table by the name of Abe. He was a photographer for the University of Montana's football team in Missoula, but due to covid all games were canceled. He got hired as a production assistant last season on the blockbuster TV show Yellowstone, and was hired back this year as the dailies coordinator for the Yellowstone origin series, 1883, which is being shot somewhere near here. (They no longer film in Utah as that state did not extend the tax credits to the production company as they had for the previous seasons). His job is to collect all the dailies, the film that is shot each day, catalog them and get them to Los Angeles for processing, then get the digital copies sent back to him to put in order for the editors. He has been here since the beginning of November and won't leave until the season is finished shooting, sometime in January. His position at the university was filled in his absence, but he doesn't mind too much as he said he makes the yearly equivalent of his university salary in 3 months with the production company. It was very interesting speaking with him.

Tomorrow  we plan to visit Palo Duro Canyon.

Amarillo by Twilight

We left McKinney this morning at 8:30, added a quick stop for fuel and breakfast sandwiches, then made our way to Amarillo. We arrived at 3:40pm, having driven 379 miles. Although the speed limit was 75 mph most of the way we never exceeded 65. Along the way we saw many wind turbine farms. Did you know each of the propellers are 120 feet long and the structures are, on average, 308 feet tall? We didn't. We also saw what looked like fields covered with snow. Nope, it was cotton! Who knew cotton was such a huge crop in North Texas?

As mentioned, we arrived at 3:40 pm, CST. It took an hour to sign in, get to our site, and set up. Nancy took her second shower of the week. It's amazing how much you appreciate having running water, and being able to flush, without fear of filling your holding tanks. In McKinney we only had electricity, no water or sewer hookups. After all, we had been in a parking lot/truck delivery area for a week.

We then rushed out to grab a quick meal, our first real meal of the day, so we could get back in time to conduct our family's monthly Zoom social hour.

We simply love our new window shades. So much nicer and easier to use, than the old ones. An interesting fact: the company we were at manufactures 2500 shades a day, 6 days of the week. They manufacture them not only for RVs, but companies like Chili's, Applebee's, and many others.

McKinney - Final Update

Work began at 8:30 this morning. First up was the windshield shades. It took two installers to put it in place, then the electric was connected via a wire and fuse to the ignition switch. Then the limits were created. Basically, the furthest down I would use the shades while driving is the low limit. Once set, I cannot lower them any further while the ignition is on. This was set for both the day and night shades. Then they were set for when we are parked (ignition off). 

Next came the wiring for our passenger side shades, then the galley shade, which is only a night shade. Theses were wired incorporating a fuse and a wire off the power lead of one light under the overhead cabinets. The false bottoms of the cabinets were replaced and the limits set for each day and each night shade individually  and as a group, followed by a thorough testing of each. Lastly came paying for the installation.  We had an estimate of 9 hours work before it all started, but Brian, the installer, took good care of us. We weren't  charged for some upgrades and he only charged for 5-1/2 hours, which was only slightly more than the veterans discount we received on the materials.  He finished at 4:53 this afternoon and then we started restocking the cabinets and getting ready for our 380 mile trip to Amarillo tomorrow. Finally, exhausted,  we went and had bbq beef brisket for dinner, and I am writing tonight's blog from bed while Nancy is watching the newest episode of Blue Bloods..

McKinney Update 2

Today was a productive day. Brian, the installer, arrived a little after 9am. Nancy had cleared the access to the bedroom windows and Brian removed the old shades and installed the new ones. He installed the two shades next to our captains chairs and then started the electrical wiring for the 3 shades on the driver's side. This involved prying up the false bottoms to our overhead cabinets, drilling a hole from one to the other and also through the bottom of each cabinet and thru the valence for the power wires. Also fishing a wire from the cabinets to the area behind the refrigerator where we had an unused electric receptacle to provide the power. I noticed some small holes in one shade that got thru QC, so that one had to be taken back for mitigation. When that was done, he installed the 3 shades and tested that the remote control worked, replaced the bottom panels in the cabinets,and that was it for the day.

In the meantime, Nancy and I cleaned the outside of all the windows in the RV. When Brian left, we replaced everything back in the cabinets and on the sofa (they had to be cleared off to provide Brian working room), then removed everything from the sofa and cabinets on the passenger side so the same process can be repeated tomorrow, in addition to installing the new windshield shades. When that is done, Brian will set the limits for each shade. The limits establish where each shade will automatically stop when raising and lowering it. Each one is different due to the size of each window. Then Nancy and I will have to repack each cabinet and the sofa before we are finished. We finished the driver's side tonight at 9 pm, so you see we have another long day tomorrow. 

The day shades are a tighter weave than our old shades, so it will be harder for someone to see inside from the outside without affecting our ability to see outside.  The night shades completely block outside light making the bedroom very dark. We are very happy with the results so far.

Saturday morning we will hookup and depart for Amarillo, Tx, which will be a loooong  drive. We had to tell Marjorie and mom we would not be at their Thanksgiving table next week. I am glad they, and our niece Jenn, enjoyed the past 3 days at the beach at Port Aransas.

McKinley Update 1

Yesterday, while waiting for updates on our shades, Nancy hemmed some curtains that were too long and dragging on the floor while I cleaned the bugs that had smashed on the hood and windshield as we traveled here. Fun times! Then they came to remove the windshield shades to begin work on them. We removed everything out of our overhead cabinets so he could check how to do the wiring for the side shades. Later, we went to a small Italian restaurant nearby where Nancy had baked ziti and I had chicken albanese, a pasta dish with mushrooms, spaghetti and a chicken breast in a creamy brandy sauce. Delicious! And it cost less than a meal for two at chik-fil-a.

Today the installer came and told us they were remaking the shades as the QC folks found the first ones made were the incorrect size. We took the dogs to a self service dog wash where we bathed both dogs. This place apparently had a small extra room where they threw in two wash tubs. No choice of soap, and they had a POWER dryer for drying the dogs. No kidding, it blew Cocoa off the table. We stopped using it right away. I could literally fill the rv tires with it, it was that strong!

We got back and the installer came by to tell us they were on their third iteration of the windshield shades for some reason, and the motors on them had to be replaced due to changes in regulations so that when the ignition is on, the shades can only be lowered so far. Then he and I began running wire on the driver's side cabinets in preparation for installation of the motorized shades, which will probably take place on Friday. The passenger side wiring will begin at 8:30 tomorrow morning. We are expecting that the non-motorized shades in the bedroom will take place tomorrow.

Tonight we had pizza from the Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakery which is located in a section of town which looks like a more modern West Chester downtown. Have to say they know how to cook in this town.

MCD Starting the Work

Brian and Candace (names sound familiar? Ironic?) came in this morning to see what we wanted done with our window shades. We are replacing ALL the shades in the RV. The shades in the bedroom will remain manual while those in the front will be automatic. We will be able to open or close them in any configuration we desire, one- by- one,  all at once, the day shades or night shades, etc.

We gave them our fabric choices and they measured each window.  We are also replacing the material on the windshield that Cocoa chewed this summer when he got on the dash and wanted to look out. They're going to look so nice. 

After the measurements we waited about an hour for them to price out the materials, then we went over to the office and paid for them. The new shades will be ready on Thursday and they will be installed Thursday and Friday. Then we will have to pay separately for the installation labor. We will stay Friday night,  then move to our next campground. 

We also thought we were done with the stink-bugs, but wow were we wrong! Here is a picture of the two bags (!) of them we've been catching. Hopefully there aren't many left. And we've caught 2 dozen more since the picture was taken!

McKinney, Texas

We departed North Little Rock this morning at 8:25 CST. Clear skies, no wind or rain,  but construction in many places along our route. Stopped for fuel and breakfast at 11:00 CST. Arrived in McKinney at 2:15 pm, 330 miles later. 

We are situated in a parking lot for the week while they replace our window shades starting at 8am tomorrow. We have electricity only,  no sewer or running water all week. I wonder how bad we'll smell by the end of the week?

We started to set up here and first thing,  the levellers errored again. Got them working correctly about 45 minutes later. We finished setting up,  relaxed for about an hour, then went looking for somewhere for dinner. We stopped at Hutchin's BBQ. Phenomenal food! Only a few people in line, but when we left they were lined up out the door. The parking lot was filled and cars were lined up down the street to get in. Their food is better than Tony Gore's in Tennessee. 

We are now rewatching Yellowstone,  and waiting for the newest episode to begin.

North Little Rock, Arkansas

Looking at these blogs, I've come to the realization that I suck at creating the titles (probably the blogs, too!).

We left Nashville this morning at 8:14 am CST. We stopped at 10:30 to fill up and have our RV weighed. Wow, are we overweight! We need to toss out more stuff. But now I know what our tire pressures should be. They were  overfilled, also.

It was another bright, sunny day for travelling. We picked up some wind in Arkansas, but nothing too bad. We arrived here at 2:45 pm CST and all went well until... wait for it... our levellers wouldn't extend. We had a fault on the passenger rear. I tried all I could think of, and... the fault cleared on that leveller but appeared on another.

I called the leveller company and they had me do a series of tests, then declared they couldn't help and to call a mobile repair service. We called four and each was booked thru the end of the month. Our fifth call and we got someone who said he would be out within the hour. 

In the meanwhile, we sat around til around 4:15, and then after playing around for a while with no success, I crawled under the RV to the offending leveller and using my drill and sockets, extended it a 1/2-inch. I then retracted all at the control panel, and voila! No errors! I then chose an auto extend to move all the levellers down at once and again, they worked as designed. I called the mobile tech who was already on his way, told him what I did and that the problem was fixed. I offered to pay for his time, but he insisted otherwise.

Our site at the campground is a heads-in, meaning our front window overlooks the Arkansas River. A beautiful view! I'll take a picture and post it tomorrow.

A Time for Thanks in Nashville

Two weeks ago we were in the Elmer Diner in New Jersey when our waitress handed us a handwritten note that read something like "Thank you for your military service. Awhile ago someone paid for my meal and now I am paying it forward." We never knew who did it, but we were grateful. We decided then that we would do the same.

Today at brunch we saw several Vietnam Vets and we thanked them for their service. We chose one couple, wrote those same words on a card, and did the same for them.

Tonight at dinner when we went to pay our bill, a young lady came up to us, thanked me for my service, and informed us the bill was already paid. We never expected this either time. There are just some wonderful, good-hearted people in this world.

Tomorrow morning we head to North Little Rock, Arkansas.

Nashville, TN

 We awoke at 7:30 am and left Sevierville at 8:30 am. A beautiful day for travel; sunny, no rain, no wind, and little traffic. While travelling thru Knoxville, Tn, we stopped at Blue Beacon and had our vehicles, the RV and the Equinox, washed and RainX'ed. Love that company. It cost less than $1 per foot to wash the RV. Both vehicles look gorgeous now.

With the change to Central Time, we arrived at our Nashville campground at 12:00 pm. Temperature in the mid-60s. After setting up and speaking to the neighbors for a 1/2 hour, we went for lunch at Bob Evans. Delicious food, better than Cracker Barrel. We will probably go back again before we leave on Tuesday morning for Little Rock, Arkansas.

During the trip a cover on our passenger slide-out which covers the slide gear came off the wall. The self-tapping screw must have vibrated loose, and it fell onto Nancy's head. I walked over to Gander RV which is right next door, got a larger width screw, and reattached the cover.

Don't forget Daylight Savings Time ends Sunday morning at 2:00 am. Set your clocks before bed time so you don't miss the 2-hour season opener of Yellowstone Sunday night at 8pm EST/7PM CST. But you can't watch it on Paramount Plus. It will only be available on the Paramount Network, web or app. The first three seasons are only available on Peacock.  For more information, read this article:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/why-yellowstone-paramount-s-biggest-show-doesn-t-stream-on-paramount-plus/ar-BB1ef5Ap?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

Sevierville - Day 3

Another relaxing, but expensive day. We went to The Tennessee Shine Company and purchased almost $200 of Shine. Most for others who requested we pick some up for them. By the time I was done tasting the samples, I had to get something to eat quick. I never knew a car could go in circles while goiong straight. Okay, maybe it was me that was going in circles.

After lunch we did some shopping to get supplies to repot some plants, visited Dollar General and Russell Stover candy store and spent another $100. At this rate, I'll have to start printing some larger bills.  :)

The temperature was in the 40's with 95% humidity, so we didn't want to stay outside too long. It seems the further west we are going to go, the warmer it will be. But it is nice to stay in one place for awhile without having to keep packing/unpacking. It is also nice that we had not one stink bug in the last 24 hours. Nancy set up a Rainbow air purifier with some peppermint oil in it. Don't know if it is the cold temperature outside or the peppermint scent inside, but we don't care as long as either of them continues to keep them away.

The answer to last night's question about the cactus: its name is Myrtiocactus geometrizans. We got it from Nancy's sister Linda, whose son Alfred got it at the Philadelphia Horticulture Show in 2014.

A Relaxing Day

The Mrs did laundry, I talked on the phone, we had a late lunch from Arby's, and most importantly for me, Mr Always Cold, we turned the heat up in the RV. Which brings me to the second most important item: we only had three, count-em three, stink-bugs today. But those three smell almost as bad as the fifty we had yesterday!

Aside from the drop in temperature, nothing else has gone on. Tomorrow might be a different story. Maybe.

By the way, can you name the plant in the picture? Hint: yes, it is a cactus. But it's name is?

Sevierville TN

Before I begin about today, I wanted to clarify why I spent the last blog talking about levellers. When extended (put down), they not only make sure the RV living area is level, but they support the frame of the RV. If they are not down and the slide-outs are extended, the frame of the RV can twist or bend due to the weight of the slide-outs and the furniture on them, causing irreversible problems. Without eing able to extend the slide-outs, there is VERY little room to maneuver in the RV.

Understanding that, the adjustments to the settings on the leveller controller we made yesterday worked perfectly. Our levellers retracted and extended without error today.

We left Lexington, Virginia, at 9:30 am this morning and arrived in Sevierville, Tennessee, a little before 3:00 pm. Not bad for 290 miles! It rained most of the day until we were 30 miles from Bristol, VA, then we had smooth driving the rest of the trip. Southern Virginia had some absolutely beautiful fall foliage, yet almost nothing could be found in Tennessee.

The stink bug situation has abated slightly. We probably only captured about 50 today. Hopefully the number keep dropping. Unfortunately, their stink permeates the RV!

We did see signs for a lot of places in Virginia we would like to come back and see, such as The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Stonewall Jackson's Homestead, etc. We will plan another trip just to see all the offerings that Virginia has.

We were happy to hear that our good friends, Renegade Rich and Debi, will be teaching country dances every Monday night, after a 10 year or more hiatus. We will be joining them for sure when we return. We are also glad that another friend, Gene, is home from the hospital after some internal bleeding.

Nightly temperatures here for the next three nights will be in the extreme low thirties, so I think we will be inside before it begins to drop.

We are fortunate to have 2 dogs that are great travellers. No problems with them at all. Not so much for Nancy. They spend all day on her chair while we drive. It doesn't leave much room for her. Unrelated to the dogs, her back has been hurting since we left, so she sleeps with a heating pad. Luckily, our captain chairs also have heaters in them, which has helped her while we drive or watch TV in the evening. 

Speaking of which, it is time to do just that. 

Our Winter 2021 Trip Begins!

Our original trip this year was to head to the Mid- and Northwest. We were going to go to national parks and spend 7 months seeing the sites in 26 states. That would have meant we had visited 47 of the contiguous United States. Unfortunately, covid-19 was running rampant in a lot of the states so we postponed leaving till today with a totally different itinerary (read: we don't really know where we will be going except in the beginning of the trip). We plan to stop in McKinney Texas, about 30 miles north of Dallas and have our windows shades replaced with automatic shades. After 13 years, and having fixed several of the old ones, we decided they needed to go. So today we began our trip.

I woke up the Mrs at 6:30 am this morning to put our final items away. Since the RV sat idle for 7 months, I wanted to get the tires inflated, as over the spring and summer they lost some pressure. We arranged to go to A. Foote Truck and Auto Service, the best in all of South Jersey, and be there at 8:00am. The best laid plans, right? Three of our levellers came up, the 4th wouldn't! So I had to crawl under the RV with a drill and socket to get it to raise. It takes 508 revolutions of the adjustment nut to raise the level one inch, and it had to be raised between 10-11 inches. Also, each time I would apply the brakes the leveller alarm would go off. I had to turn the control panel on and off at least 3 times, each time, to stop the alarm.

Another thing that delayed us: stink bugs. When we pulled in the slides we found layers of these smelly disgusting creatures burrowed under the rubber slide seals. Some were 6 layers deep! We scooped them up, as many as we could get, into a quart-sized baggie. We almost filled it up! As soon as we started scooping, they would drop to the floor and we'd have to rush to pick them up. We tossed that first bag in the trash dumpster before we left. But throughout the day we were catching more, even while driving. I estimate we bagged at least 150 of those little suckers before retiring for the night.

We arrived at 9:30am for the tire pressure adjustment and Brian spent more time raising the leveler. We finally got to leave Elmer at 10:25am. But the alarm continued with every brake application for the next 345 miles.

We arrived at our overnight location at 4:30pm, after stopping a 1/2 hour for our only meal of the day once we crossed into Virginia. We then worked until 6:10pm on the levellers, resetting the home position and auto level settings, finally getting them to work, at least for the night. We will see tomorrow morning if the fix worked.

Next stop: Sevierville,Tn, and relaxing for three days.