Part 21 - On the Road Again.

Part 21 - On the Road Again.

Sometime in October, when we made the decision to leave Saint Louis, we began planning our Winter destination. We had fallen in love with the South West when we spent last winter in Tucson, and we wanted to go back for more winter hikes in the desert mountains.

Somewhere in New Mexico on I-10 heading West towards Arizona.

I had found an ad for a part-time MLT at Tucson Medical Center, so I applied. After no response, I tried a trick that worked for me in the past...I called the lab and asked to speak to the manager. After a short conversation with the manager, we arranged an interview time for a later date. Interview complete. I got the job offer and was set to start a few days after Christmas.


ARKANSAS


We left Saint Louis on Saturday, November 24th 2018, taking Interstate 55 South. It was beginning to rain/snow and the winds were picking up.  Our first stop was a Love's Truck-stop in Blythesville, Arkansas. We spent a sleepless night parked between two semi trucks while the high winds shook our camper all night. This is what we woke up to in the morning.

Don't turn your back on me. 

Mecca is that way.

The winds were so bad that we didn't want to be on the interstate swaying into semi trucks and off the shoulder. So, we found an RV Park right down the road from our current spot at the truck stop. Shearin's RV park was nothing special, but it kept us off the roads in bad conditions.

Our spot at Shearin's RV Park

No website for us to list. No showers. No bathrooms. No nothing. Shearin's RV park served our purposes for having an electric and water hookups and that was IT. We packed up the next morning and headed for the Interstate 40 interchange that would take us to Texas.


Arkansas was pretty miserable, so much so, that the highlight of our trip was the White River Rest Area. This place was bigger and nicer than most city parks in my hometown. The dogs enjoyed a walk in the shaded groves of trees that lined the roads, and we hung out at a picnic table to rest before climbing back in the truck.

White River Rest Area in Arkansas

Somewhere in Arkadelphia, we pulled into a station to gas up, and heard a scraping noise from the back. Did I hit something? Turns out, there was a large dip from the road to the gas station parking lot. We drug our back stabilizer jacks (that were already about useless) and ruined those and we drug our spare tire holder so much that it bent out away from the vehicle. While we were inspecting our damage, we noticed a lady in the car next to us just texting away on her cellphone oblivious to our presence. She proceeds to pull away from the pump with the nozzle still in her car, it made a loud noise as it ripped out of her car and hit the ground. Luckily there were no explosions, except for the flames we left behind us trying to race TF out of Arkansas.


TEXAS


The trip from Blythesville, Arkansas had taken us down I-40 to I-30, and now we were on I-20 in Weatherford, Texas.  I believe that I drove this all in one trip, and it was one of the longest stretches of the journey.We stayed at a QT right off I-10 in Weatherford, Texas before heading to a KOA in Abilene where we had a site reserved.

Nice, shaded pull-thru site at the Abilene KOA.

We arrived just before dark and the office was still open. The office, like most KOA's, had a nice little store that sold all the camping necessities as well as minimal food and drink (no alcohol).  They had a nice dog run up front by the office, so we let dogs stretch their legs, then we enjoyed some dinner and some much needed sleep.  It was a decent park. Nothing too spectacular for a KOA though, but we did appreciate the shady spots. Website below.


Website: Abilene KOA


Our next destination was the Van Horn RV Park in Van Horn, Texas. We made it in well after dark, but the park was large enough that getting to my site was not a problem. This place looked great on paper. They had a lake, a dog run, a cafe/store, the sites were large with mountain views on all sides. Apparently, they have a sense of humor too.

The Weather Station. Notice the rock, I mean measuring device, on the bottom right.

Willow trees provide some shade. Watch out for the sand-burs tho (goat-heads) they are everywhere.

The lake actually had a small island that you cant see in this pic.

Dogs hanging out on the island. Luna has her usual picnic table perch. 

This was a GREAT park, and we would have loved to stay longer, but we were ready to get to Tucson. We absolutely recommend this place if you need a spot for the night or if you are looking for a longterm stay.

Website: Van Horn RV Park

NEW MEXICO

Texas really was like driving across country, and since I was under the weather for most of the trip, I think it took us about 4 days in total. Finally, we had made it through El Paso, into New Mexico, and were back at the familiar Border Patrol Checkpoint in Las Cruces. Heading West from here, the skies start to open up and the jagged mountains begin to rise from the desert floor. 

A roadside mountain range typical of the New Mexico and the South West.

It was a short drive through New Mexico once we had made it through the Border Patrol Checkpoint. Before long, we could see the familiar sun-rays of the Arizona flag on the Welcome sign ahead.  We were SO excited to be getting close to our goal. 

ARIZONA

It was great to be back in Arizona. The desert scrub, the surrounding mountains, and the wide open skies looked like home already. I was especially relieved to cross the border because if we had any issues now, we could just call a tow truck to get us to our campground.

The Dragoon Rest Area off I-10 in Arizona.

The Dragoon Mountains were the last hurdle the truck would have to leap before making it to Tucson. We were Home-free!!!  We thought.


The wind had been pretty bad most of the trip on I-10, but it was getting worse, and the rest of the trip to Tucson was a nail biter. We made it to our Winter home at Cactus Country RV Park just before dark though, and after taking quite a bit of time to try to get the camper level, we were finally able to settle in.


My friend Jered snapped this picture while driving by Cactus Country, we were still setting up and they couldn't stop in.  He was on his way to what would be a snowy backpacking trip on Rincon Mountain. The credit for this last picture goes to him. Looking forward to getting to see my Tucson friends for the first time since last Spring. Time to shake this flu-bug and get in some hikes.

Home Sweet Home - Photo courtesy of Jered Kopulos.

Stay tuned for our adventures in the mountains of Tucson. We have a lot of places to visit that are still new to us, and I'm sure we will visit some old favorites.

Next article should post on Sunday, August 19th.

Until then, here is a link to the previous entry.

Part 20 - Leaving St Louis.