Beth & Phoenix

We arrived in Phoenix on Sunday after several days of driving.
California is beautiful, but their roads are awful. There are many, many pot holes and miles of just plain rough road.
When we got to Needles, Ca, we found that our tires we separating from the core. they were in bad shape. We were lucky that we didn't have a blow out.
We replaced all 6 of the tires,(yes, very expensive) although we could have gotten away with just 4. The tires were so worn that replacing just 4 might have caused a bigger problem.
I didn't realize how badly the coach was handling (thought it was just California highways), until we got on the road with the new tires.
There are a lot of miles out here in the desert where there is nothing. I would hate to have blown a tire out there.

Beth is such a sweet person and great hostess.
We spent Sunday night at her house as the rig was 20 miles away. Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the country, and is spread out like Houston is.
She took us to several places that she thought might interest us, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with her.

Fluorescent rocks

Rocks that look like food

Beth and Brenda

Last night, after we went to the Arizona Mining Museum, she cooked steaks, baked potatoes, bake butternut squash (yummy), and salad.
Kathleen came over, but unfortunately, Kirsten was unable to join us, so we didn't get a chance to meet her.
Kathleen is a hoot and really nice person. We had met her back in April at Mike's house.

While we were at Beth's house, my C-PAP machine died. It just quit in the middle of the night. I have contacted the company that furnishes this machine and all of the parts, and I am getting a new one when we arrive in the Houston area.
In the mean time, I am using Brenda's as she doesn't use hers any more. It is not quite adjusted to my needs, but I slept well with it last night.
She says it dries her mouth out so badly and she has a hard time with the facial apparatus, that she just won't use it anymore.

We are heading to Benson, AZ, this morning, for 2 days then onto Deming, NM for 2 days. Both are Escapees parks and a good place to squat for a couple of days.


We plan to arrive in the Houston area on Monday the 15th, and start getting our yearly business done.

Ta ta for now.

Portland and points south

The chassis batteries on this coach don't charge when it is plugged in. I failed to put them on a charger on Sunday, so the coach didn't start when we tried to leave the park on Monday.
I borrowed a much larger charger, than I have, from the park and we finally got on the road by 11:00 am.

The weather was stormy and rainy and by the time I got the coach started I was soaked.

It rained all of the way to Portland and rained up until early evening. Everything was damp and it was quite miserable. The drive, with the  traffic was a little scary at times. We arrived at the campground in Vancouver, WA. at about 3:30pm.
We were invited for dinner at Kristen's house. It was delicious. Kristen is such a great cook. Alex had to work so he couldn't join us, so it was just us , Kristen and Taylor, her roommate. We had a good time catching up and we enjoyed the evening immensely.
Heather came down Monday evening after work, and we caught up with her and Alex about 11:30am.
We hung out together all day, and we had dinner at Kristen's, again, only we furnished dinner.
Tony, Mag and the girls came and we enjoyed the evening with them.

Kristen's animals

We got on the road before 9 am. and the trip was pretty uneventful until we got to the mountains.  Some mountain driving can be very stressful, especially with narrow lanes and trucks moving slowly up the grades.
I broke one of my cardinal rules and drove over 400 miles. I was bushed when we arrived at the Trail In campground in Lakehead, CA.
The campground is down in a depression and not very level. It is pretty rustic and a lot of permanent residents are here.
There wasn't any wind when we arrived, and these folks like their campfires. There was a cloud of smoke hanging over the whole area. The whole scene reminded me of the movie Deliverance.

We have a shorter drive today and we will be in CA for at least 3 days.
I haven't checked the price of fuel yet, but I don't want to have to buy too much fuel here.


Ta ta for now.