First Officer’s Entry:
I just realized that I have come full
circle. And I don’t mean this trip
although we will return to Phoenix Wednesday having gone more than a 9,700 mile,
101 day, full circle.
The full circle I am writing about
dawned on me as I was standing in the center of our rig’s “Living Room” and I
realized that at 40 feet long, and with the slides out, I have just about as much space
as I did when I lived in my first bachelor pad efficiency apartment down at
Oakwood Garden Apartments at 40th street and Camelback.
Seriously, that was one small apartment! It didn’t even have a bed, just a pull out
couch. At least now I have a bed! And to top it off I had two motorcycles
parked in the apartment's garage, my Norton and a R80 BMW.
Well, I still have the Norton but the Beemer has long since been
replaced by a string of bikes, the latest of which is my little 500cc Triumph
Bobber, and both bikes are parked in the rig's garage.
Another aspect of the “full circle” is
that Oakwood is where I was living when I met Ms. Cheryl Thomas who is
currently sacked out on our living room couch playing with her iPad. Well, at least that much has changed. At Oakwood all we had to play with was, a) each
other, and b)
a very small television set with no VCR, DVD, or cable. Remember, home computers, smart phones, and
the internet were still the stuff of Star Trek.
(Of which our rig is named after.)
Thank goodness we had “a”,
above.
Anyway, today we are safely ensconced in
the Elk Pines RV Park in Overgaard, AZ.
The trip from Pie, NM was only 4 hours and we picked up another hour
when we entered Arizona so it’s really strange to be in the park so early. We are staying here to rest and avoid
the Valley’s heat for one more day. The
plan is to leave here Wednesday morning, and we’ll be at the house by
mid-afternoon.
Resting has never been my favorite thing
to do, so tomorrow I am going to drive up to Holbrook to press a few
pennies. That should fill a few
hours. Then I will sit around the rig
and try to not get too antsy.
I promised
CKT we could go out to dinner tomorrow night, and we scoped out the local
restaurants a little while ago. Pickings
are slim but there’s a small café down the road, and I guess we’ll end up
there.
That’s it. We’ve talked about and think we will do a
“wrap up” blog after we get home and talk about the trip’s highlights. Maybe we will, maybe we won’t. Don’t count on it. Life may well get in the way of our plans. It works that way sometimes.
End First Officer’s Entry
Captain’s Entry:
It’s chilly
this evening in Overguaard! Isn’t that just the greatest news! We only ran our
air conditioner about an hour this afternoon as the sun was going down. The
rest of the afternoon was great with a light breeze and about 78 degrees. We
sat outside the RV and read books under the tall pine trees. Lovely!
I really
like it here, but Frank is itching for Phoenix and getting back to business. I’ve
got tons to catch up on when we get home, but I’m not looking forward to being
locked inside with the air on full time. At least I’ll have a month’s worth of
swimming left in September. October should bring some sweet relief and November
through the winter months will be heaven. I’ll be gardening and taking daily
walks with the puppies.
The two Chihuahuas,
Cleo and Peanut, have been a delight on this trip. They know when we’re taking
off so they hunker down in their beds under my feet in the passenger seat. They also know when we're about to leave them alone in the coach while we go exploring. They slink away to their beds under the table in our dining booth and things are always as we left them when we return. They greet us as if they haven't seen us for months, and we feel properly appreciated every time. It's great having them along.
Even though
I’m looking forward to being home, I’ll miss the fun of seeing new places
almost every day. We’ve visited some unexpected and unplanned places this time
like the Very Large Array near Pie Town, New Mexico, the Carriage Museum near
Long Beach, Washington, and the Duesenberg and RV Museums while we were staying
in Elkhart, Indiana. All of these visits
turned out to be exceptional.
I’ve
especially enjoyed the scenery through our big front windows as we’ve traveled
down the many highways all across America. My gosh, this country has so much to
offer, and we are so thankful we can wave the flag and sing, “Oh say can you
see . . .”
We can assure you "our “flag is still there.” It flies over
ranches, car dealerships, RV parks, front yards, schools, parks, marinas, state
capitol buildings, post offices, and up and down the streets of many a small
town and near mailboxes on the back roads.
We’ve loved
getting high on the freedom of the road. Thanks for hitching a ride with us. It's been grand having you along.
End Log
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