The Trip West

Day 1--Wednesday, May 12th
Pisgah Forest, NC to Dickson, TN          375 miles         7.25 hours

The day started cool and cloudy but became sunny and quite warm as time and miles passed.

Departure was delayed by our inexperience in hitching the Jeep to the RV with the Blue Ox system.  We were relieved that NCDOT had opened the section of I-40 affected by last year's rock slide prior to our journey.  Their repair of massive damage was impressive. 

No problems were encountered.  We found a comfortable and convenient, if not amenity-laden, campground to spend the night.  After the day on the road, we appreciated the opportunity to stroll down a country lane.

Although we went through Nashville, we didn't see any of the areas flooded by the recent 20" rainfall.  However, the local news provided depressingly detailed coverage of damage, destruction and difficulties resulting from the flood.

Chuckle for the day:  Buck Snort, TN--home of the Bucksnort Motel


Day 2--Thursday, May 13th
Dickson, TN to Checotah, OK         556 miles           9.5 hours

The day started sunny and mild but became chilly and overcast then stormy with rain, lightning and thunder.

We managed to give ourselves two 'learning experiences' in one day:  we left the gas cap at a filling station and we made a wrong turn instead of taking the time to get directions.  The first required an evening trip to Walmart to obtain a close-but-not-perfect replacement.  The second required an unscheduled unhitching of Jeep from RV and turning a long vehicle on a narrow road bordered by trees and ditches.

Once again, I found crossing the Mighty Mississippi, "Big Muddy", a non-event.  Just the sort of disappointing introduction Arkansas deserves.  Its portion of I-40 is deplorable--alternates between roughly-jointed concrete surface and extensively and badly patched asphalt.  Leaving that state was a relief!

The campground we had wanted to use didn't answer either its land line or cell. We later learned it had been damaged by severe storms which accompanied the tornadoes which swept eastern Oklahoma the previous weekend. Our second-choice campground was a winner--nice site, friendly owners and great amenities. The amenity we enjoyed most was the "kampers' kafe" that served warm, homemade blackberry cobbler for dessert and big, fluffy pancakes for breakfast.  Thunder, lightning and hard rain made sleep difficult.

Chuckle for the day:  Toad Suck State Park (TN) and Lotawatah Road (leads to Lake Eufaula, OK)


Day 3--Friday, May 14th 
Checotah, OK to Amarillo, TX    368 miles  7 hours

We treated ourselves to a leisurely start--no alarm clock and the pancake breakfast.  On the road, the weather looked promising at first but we soon encountered heavy rain and strong winds.  There was evidence of last weekend's tornadoes on the approach to Oklahoma City--shredded billboards, downed road signs, skeletons of gas stations, sheared trees.  Fortunately, the rain slackened and then stopped as we threaded through the intertwined expressways through the city. 

Decent weather stayed with us as we left Oklahoma and entered Texas.  Along the route, we spotted some familiar landmarks--the wind turbine 'farm' outside Weatherford, OK; the Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere!; the leaning water tower; and the rest stop/tornado shelter, a spot I always wanted to investigate.  We did stop there but not to sight see.

Bad weather had returned with a vengeance--pelting rain and near-gale force
wind.  I was the driver but barely able to drive because visibility was about 10' and gusts rocked the RV like a boat.  We pulled into the dual-duty rest stop to take a break and change drivers.  The storm let up a bit and Fred navigated us the last 75 miles to our campground in Amarillo.

That was a pleasant surprise.  We had a pull-through site, lots of amenities we couldn't take advantage of and decent WiFi in the clubhouse.  We got a good night's sleep (no sound effects from Mother Nature) even though the temperature dipped into the low 40s.  We woke to a chilly day with thick clouds but no rain and minimal wind.



Day 4--Saturday, May 15th
Amarillo, TX to Holbrook, AZ    527 miles   9.25 hours

The further west we traveled, the brighter the sky became.  Shortly after crossing into New Mexico, we rejoiced to see sunshine, blue sky and fluffy white clouds.

Because we'd gone less than 400 miles and Day 1 and Day 3, we needed to cover a lot of territory today.  Heaven smiles on us because we had nice weather, good roads,light traffic, a 75 mph speed limit and an extra hour of driving by moving from Central time to Mountain time.

Just before leaving Texas, the landscape changed from boring to dramatic; our spirits lifted and our excitement increased.  We felt that we were finally 'out west'!

We pulled into the New Mexico welcome center just after a large cadre of motorcyclists arrived.  They were Vietnam veterans making a "Support our Troops" ride across the state.  The welcome center hostess' estimate was at least 30 bikes and 40-45 riders.  In their honor, she had prepared popcorn, iced tea and coffee and invited everyone to share the snacks.  Good timing!

Even though we've traveled this route twice in each direcction, we found the New Mexico landscape as spectacular as if it were new to us. 

We checked into a campground in Holbrook, AZ and stepped into a warm, windy desert environment--a complete change  from the previous night in Amarillo.  As soon as we stepped out of the RV, our neighbor introduced himself and explained why an RV mechanic was working on his rig.  We listened long enough to be polite then excused ourselves to begin the set-up routine.

All went smoothly until we tried to extend the slides.  Pushing the switch brought no response; reading the manual (what a joke!) provided no help.  Fred brought the RV mechanic over and they finally identified the problem:  the slides will not operate unless the parking brake is engaged.  Neither the manufacturer nor the dealer had shared that information with us.  We were rather disconcerted by that but relieved that nothing was broken or defective.


Day 5--Sunday, May 16th
Holbrook, AZ to North Rim Country Store    277 miles     7.25 hours 

Chilly overnight temperature rose as the sun came above the surrounding mesas.  We pulled up stakes, gassed up and headed to the Super Walmart in Winslow ("It's a girl, my lord, in a flat-bed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me").  With a full tank and a full pantry, we embarked on the final leg of this journey.

Arizona scenery is even more beautiful and awe-inspiring than we remembered.  The azure blue sky, adorned with puffy clouds, served as a fitting backdrop for the varicolored cliffs.

Poor Nate (the RV) struggled up steep elevation gains, the last one rising from 4000' to 8300' in elevation.  After gaining the top, we stopped at Jacob Lake for their famous cookies, which didn't deserve the hype.

For about half the distance between Jacob Lake and the North Rim Country Store the road was bordered by trees burned in the 2006 Warm fire.  The damage seemed more extensive than we recalled from our 2007 trip.  Another surprise was the amount of snow on the ground.  The melting snow has saturated the ground making access to the RV site impossible for several weeks.  We tried boondocking last night but we're not prepared for anything other than a full hook-up; it didn't go well.

Betsy and Tyler, owners of NRCS and our bosses, are starting their third season as proprietors.  They seemed happy to see us and down-right thrilled when we offered to start working a day ahead of schedule.