{"id":899,"date":"2022-08-27T13:49:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-27T13:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/?p=899"},"modified":"2022-08-28T13:59:35","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T13:59:35","slug":"and-so-it-begins-week-1-of-full-time-rving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/2022\/08\/27\/and-so-it-begins-week-1-of-full-time-rving\/","title":{"rendered":"And So It Begins \u2013 Week 1 of Full-time RVing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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 18th<\/sup> the windshield arrived and was replaced around rainstorms. We had to set and let it cure for a day but on Saturday, August 20th<\/sup> we were ready to hit the road in our new life full time RVers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our Comfortable Sofa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Installing our new windshield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Our new windshield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday August 20th<\/sup> 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Display from old drug store in Fairfield Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Display from old country store<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Old jail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Old Jail cell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Old Jailhouse bathtub<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Log cabin bedroom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Log Cabin upper bedroom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Log Cabin Stove<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Old Church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Fire Engine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Samples of different types of bobwire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s to 1970\u2019s. 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\u2019t 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\u2019s Campus due to the amount of traffic in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Panel Truck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Jeep Wagoner (Woody)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Oldsmobile<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Chevy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ford Pickup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Datsun 240Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Chrysler Station Wagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Corvair<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Buick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Phillips 66 Station McLean Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cactus Inn McLean Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cactus Inn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Route 66 in Shamrock Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Conoco Station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Conoco Station Shamrock Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Conoco Station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Conoco Station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Old Tow Truck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Frank got to work this morning and I did some indexing, typing on my mother\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bug Ranch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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VW Bug<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We made our mark in spray paint<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Peace Memorial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Peace Memorial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Peace Memorial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Peace Memorial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Peace Memorial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Peace Memorial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After that we headed into Amarillo and drove down historical route 66. We visited the Route 66 museum and some classic Route 66 buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Route 66 Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sinclair Gas Station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Moe’s Dog’s Grill truck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cadillac Ranch RV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cadillac Ranch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cadillac Ranch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Frank making his mark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Diane making her mark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We left our mark behind<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Woodie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Plymouth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Buick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Oldsmobile<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Roadster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Frank checks a Buick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Camero<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I knew my son Bill would love seeing an older Power Wagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mater’s cousin is a fire engine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Had to take a picture of Mater’s cousin for my Grandkids<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Big Texan Steak House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Having lunch with Woody<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Home of the free 72 ounce steak if you eat it in an hour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Frank’s 8 ounce sirloin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Watching them grill steaks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Why a dinosaur?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Big Tex Rex<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Whole lot of Bull<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frank and Diane Palo Duro Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Frank Palo Duro Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Diane Palo Duro Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Palo Duro Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Palo Duro Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Palo Duro Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Palo Duro Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Palo Duro Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Palo Duro Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Palo Duro Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Palo Duro Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Palo Duro Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Canyon and Sky in Palo Duro Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The sky in Palo Duro Canryon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s like Frank\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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El Camino and Boat like my brother David’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Diane with the El Camino<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Diane with the boat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Pop-up like my brother-in-law George Wiley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Diane with the pop-up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Where Diane use to sleep in the pop-up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Teardrop trailer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Airstream similar to Frank’s parents Silverstream<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Trailor similar to Aunt Violet’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Classic 1970 RV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Classic 1970 RV interior<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Like Frank’s cousin Fred’s RV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Like Frank’s cousin Fred’s RV front seats flip around<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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RV from a movie with Robin Williams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Inside of the RV from movie with Robin Williams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Entering New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We finally found the Midpoint of Route 66<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Blaze in Saddle RV Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tucumcari , New Mexico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spent most of Frank\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019t believe the amount of young teens to early 20 homeless people everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Route 66 Diner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Route 66 Diner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Walk up outside ordering<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Route 66 Diner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Route 66 Diner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Route 66 Diner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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History of the diner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Route 66 Diner old bay for working on cars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Frank enjoying his milkshake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Diane enjoying her milkshake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Old jukebox<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Original Route 66 business<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our first week of full time RVing is done and we have enjoyed every minute of it. I don\u2019t think there was a single site that we went to see that I didn\u2019t say I am so glad we saw that. We are looking forward to another week of adventure as we continue our trek westward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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…Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1040,"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions\/1040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themuellerfamily.org\/htr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}