And So It Begins – Week 1 of Full-time RVing

We packed up our house and got everything moved to storage and Edwin and Sara moved into our home on August 12-13th. Bill got our home reclining couch put into the RV in place of the lousy RV couch. Then we moved our RV to Legends Retreat RV Park in New Caney. Then we had to sit almost a week for our windshield to be replaced. Finally on Thursday, August 18^th the windshield arrived and was replaced around rainstorms. We had to set and let it cure for a day but on Saturday, August 20^th we were ready to hit the road in our new life full time RVers.

Frank is continuing to work through January and he was able to set up his schedule so he works a split shift. He starts at 7 am and is done at 11 am and then back to work at 4 pm to 8 pm so that gives us 5 hour in the middle of the day to drive to our next destination, or to do sightseeing, or sometimes a little of both.

On Saturday August 20^th we had to stop and get our RV inspected as its licensing will be due while we are gone, but once that was done it was time to head out on our adventure. Since it was the weekend that gave us more time to both drive and explore. We drove about 2 hours to Fairfield, Texas where there is the Freestone County Museum. They had some neat old displays plus 2 log cabins, an old church, an old jail, and an antique fire engine. The woman who worked there was very friendly and informative. After exploring everything we hopped back in the RV and made some lunch before heading up the road to Sanger, Texas.

We got to the KOA at about 3 pm and unhooked the Jeep and headed down to Denton where the college I went to was. On the way down there we passed CTC Auto Ranch a car graveyard/junkyard. They had cars from the 1930’s to 1970’s. It took us a few times going back and forth on the freeway to figure out what exit lead to the junkyard. But Frank had a great time looking at the old vehicles which included a station wagon like the one his parents had when he was a kid. In Denton we hit the Wal-Mart to pick up some stuff and then planned to go by and visit my college campus. We didn’t know it was the weekend that all the college kids where moving into their dorms and the store was packed. Shelves were practically bare and lines where long. We got Chipotle for dinner and headed back to the RV and avoided visiting Texas Women’s Campus due to the amount of traffic in the area.

When we got up on Sunday morning there were all sorts of flood warnings regarding all the rain that was traveling from the West into the area we were staying. We rerouted our trip to avoid most of the rain and headed out. By nightfall the Dallas area was flooded and we were grateful that we missed that.  We got gassed up and hit the road. Due to rain we weren’t able to stop at the nature trail and waterfall where we were going to explore and have lunch. Instead we ended up pulling into a parking lot of a Catholic Church in Electra, Texas and having our leftover Chipotle. When we crossed the Red River today the water was so red and flowing so fast. The rain kept us from doing too much exploring but we did spend some time driving on Old Route 66 and went through McClean and Shamrock Texas and saw some of the old Route 66 buildings. We got into our KOA at 6 pm and were totally under impressed. The campsites were so close together that when our neighbor tried to put out his awning he hit our RV. Luckily no damage was done.

Frank got to work this morning and I did some indexing, typing on my mother’s journals and others things to keep me busy. Then at 11 am we had lunch and headed our touring. We backtracked to the Bug Ranch which is a take-off of Cadillac Ranch. They have VW bugs buried nose down in the dirt and you can spray paint on them. We had picked up some spray paint at Wal-Mart so we had fun making our mark.

Then as we were heading back toward Amarillo we stumbled upon a roadside Peace Memorial. It was amazing and beautiful and so peaceful there. There were numerous metal signs with simply dates on them but when we Goggled the dates we found it related to deaths from wars or violence.

After that we headed into Amarillo and drove down historical route 66. We visited the Route 66 museum and some classic Route 66 buildings.

Then we headed out to the Cadillac ranch to make our mark there. Due to the recent rain it was pretty muddy so there wasn’t very many people there. We hadn’t quite used up all our spray paint so when we were leaving we passed our cans off to a family arriving so they could make their mark too.

We had planned to go to the RV museum but found out they are only open Thursday through Sunday so instead we went to Bill’s Backyard Classic Car Museum which Frank loved. All these cars were owned by one man Bill Platt a former race car driver. We made it back to the RV just before 4 pm so Frank could get back to work. I hung out and read and worked on my crafts.

Tuesday morning around 11 am after Frank had a work break we moved our RV to a much nicer RV park called the Big Texan RV Ranch. We left behind the crowded campsite, and the plane and train noises of our first campground in Amarillo. Then we headed over to have lunch at Big Texan steak house. It is home of the free 72 ounce steak if you can eat it all in an hour. Needless to say Frank only got an 8 ounce sirloin but he said it was the best steak he had in a long time. I enjoyed a baked potato and veggies.

Then it was time to do some grocery shopping and laundry. While Frank worked his second part of the day I did some cooking. I made him a pasta bake and green lasagna for me. We had leftovers to put in the freezer for another day.

Then on Wednesday after Frank finished his morning work schedule we headed to Palo Duro Canyon. It is the second deepest canyon in the United States after The Grand Canyon. It was amazing there. We took the top off the Jeep and enjoyed the sites. Not only where the rocks and cliffs so colorful the sky was incredible too. Before heading back to our campsite we stopped in Canyon, Texas for some ice cream.

When we got back to the campsite we still had an hour before Frank had to go back to work so we went swimming in the campground’s indoor pool. It was relaxing just to hang out and float around for a while before he headed back to work. After he got off we got everything hooked up and ready to leave as soon as he gets off work on Thursday.

We had stayed a few days longer then we had planned in Amarillo but there were so many things to see and do. On Thursday at around 11 am we pulled out of the RV Park and headed a short distance up the road to check out the RV museum. We were glad we had stayed an extra day to see it. It brought back so many memories. They had an El Camino like my brother David used to drive. It was pulling a wooden motor boat that was very much like his although it was a bit fancier. I remember going boating with him and my dad at Turlock Lake. We saw a tent pop-up like my brother-in-law George had and my mom and I used to go camping with him and his kids to Silver Lake in California. There were RV’s like Frank’s Uncle Norman and his cousin Fred. It gave me goosebumps and as I stood next to the El Camino and boat tears came to my eyes as I thought of my brother and my dad.

We hit the road and headed toward New Mexico. We wanted to find the midpoint of Route 66 and that was an adventure in itself. Goggle maps lied and put us on a road that had not been driven on in so long that weeds and grass where growing over the pavement. Luckily we were able to make a correction in our route and found the midpoint. We made it into Tucumcari, New Mexico where we stayed at a campground called Blaze-in Saddles. We had a little time to drive around town about and see some cool Route 66 buildings before Frank had to head back to work. We are now in Mountain Time Zone so he will have to start work tomorrow at 6 am but will be done with his morning shift by 10 am.

Spent most of Frank’s time off today driving. It was windy and hilly so not a lot of fun. We got into Albuquerque in time to get our RV set up and our Jeep unhooked. Then we headed out for Linner (late lunch early dinner) at Route 66 diner. Frank had a route 66 burger with chilies and I had fries with cheese and chilies, but the milkshakes where the big deal. The restaurant was 1950’s themed and even the waitress were dress for that time period. They had an old juke box. It had once been one of the many Route 66 gas stations. The service bay had been turned into an extra room to eat. As we drove around Albuquerque we couldn’t believe the amount of young teens to early 20 homeless people everywhere.

Our first week of full time RVing is done and we have enjoyed every minute of it. I don’t think there was a single site that we went to see that I didn’t say I am so glad we saw that. We are looking forward to another week of adventure as we continue our trek westward.