The THREE H’s

Holiday, Florida

H is for HOME: Yes, we are at the condo, and all is well (and yes, we do consider our motorhome our “home” too…)

H is for HURTING: Muscles that is from all the trips back and forth moving things out of the motorhome.

H is for HIBERNATING: Which is what we want to do and which it is cold enough for

Will recap our trip soon…we have a bunch of work still to do!

FLORIDA .. I Think...

170 miles from home, but for awhile there I wondered if we really were in Florida!  Tallahassee had icy-snow this morning shutting down I-10 for half the day. But it thankfully was open when we got that far.  Sitting in a Wal-Mart in Perry Florida for the night after 12 hours of driving.  Yes, started driving at 5 am!  All we can say is, nice to be close to home...

So Just How Far Did We Get Today???

We are 121 miles into Louisiana…and it is STILL “FRICKING” COLD!!!!

Note…  “fricking”:  A Southern and Midwestern slang word used to express excitement or distainment without using profanity.

Written from the Louisiana Welcome Center, I-10, Exit 121, known as the Atchafalaya Welcome Center

From Phoenix to ….

Top of the Hill RV Park, near Boerne, Texas

We left Phoenix by 5:15 am, and it was still dark.  As we got south of Phoenix, the sun was coming up, and we were surprised at the inversion layer…much like we saw over Phoenix.  Stopped at a Walmart in Casa Grande to get eggs and spinach for our morning omelets, and to feed Skruffy at 7:30.  As a diabetic dog, she eats 12 hours apart.  In California that is 7 am and 7 pm.  In Florida we are shooting for 9 am and 9 pm…so we adjusted her to 7:30 when we got to Arizona (which is 6:30 California time), and 8:30 now that we are in Central time, and when we get to Eastern Time, it will be easy to got 9 and 9.

I “wonder” if any of my faithful blog readers remember this view from “their” new home?  

Southeaster Arizona had clear blue skies…and wonderful landscape.

Here is one way to “see” America…but you only get to see views from the rails…

New Mexico had nice blue skies too…

…until you get to town of another one of my blog followers.  But hey, I don’t think it is Las Cruces’ fault…I think much of the smog come up from the south where regulations are not nearly as strong as their are in the states.

And finally Texas…

…where 530 miles later, and a nights sleep in Van Horn, here we are.

So wait…what happened to 500+ miles of “scenery”?  Well, as we headed to Van Horn, it was getting dark.  This morning we left Van Horn at 5:45 am.  JUST as it was starting to have what would be a very pretty sunrise, we hit a fog/cloud bank.  For a bit I thought I was driving between San Francisco and Sacramento, the fog was that thick…well, almost that thick.  Then the temps dropped to as low as 27.  Ice built up on the mirrors, on the wipers, and the tire sensors went crazy with the cold weather.  Thankfully, the road was not slippery…but one never knows so speeds were kept to around 55 most of the way today.  What should have been a 6 1/2 hour trip, took well over 8.  Notice in the pictures above that the car is still hooked up, the slide is “in”, and we only have our electric plugged in.

   

   

So we have completed 1,700 of our 3,000 mile trip back home.  We will be here in Boerne (pronounced “Burney”) for two nights.  It is New Year’s Eve tonight, and we sure did not want to be out on the road very late…getting here after 2:00 was late enough.  It may or may not snow and/or have icy rain tonight, so I we decided to stay for two nights.  Tomorrow I will add water to our water tank, empty our holding tanks, and put everything back away except the electrical hookup.  We had the slide out for awhile today, but with possible ice, I did not want to have problems pulling it in tomorrow or Tuesday.  I also lowered the antenna to where I just get a clear picture…but low enough that I can drive if absolutely needed in case the ice is heavier than predicted. Tuesday we plan to have a late breakfast with my brother Jim and wife Carol in San Antonio, and then off we go…hoping that this is the worse of the weather…it is bound to be the coldest with temps hitting the low 20’s, perhaps the teens while we are here.  But we are staying warm with our DeLonghi radiant heater, and the motorhome’s propane heater periodically coming on and off.

Note:  Why the "...." in the title?  Because Marcia would not let me say Hell  😉

Hail, Snow Beads, Cold, but Laundry is Done

We left for the laundry mat around 10:30, perhaps 11:00 am.  Figured it would get a bit warmer, and was hoping that the laundry mat was going to be slow and empty.  As we left Fort Bridger and headed to Lyman, it started to snow little snow beads.  But not far out of town it started to hail.  As we got to Lyman, it was back to light snow beads again, so I hurried Marcia into the laundry mat…and by the time I got all the laundry stuff in the hail was hurting my uncovered legs.  (yes, I had short pants on, it is May for goodness sakes, and I love shorts!)  Above is the results of the snow/hail.  By the time we got done, it was all melted.

  

After we got back with the laundry, I went for a quick, short ride.  To the left was the weather to the east, on the right was the weather to the west.  There are “large hills” hidden behind those clouds on the right.

With weather like this, and temps in the high thirties, this is all we saw of Fort Bridger.  Perhaps another time.  According to Wikipedia, Fort Bridger was originally a Fur Trading Post, established back in 1842, established by Mountain Man Jim Bridger.  It was a supply point for the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, and a major Pony Express station, and eventually it was an Army Fort.

There are some authentic buildings, a museum, and they hold the yearly Fort Bridger Rendezvous (since the 1970’s), a celebration of the fur-trade era that existed in the 19th century. 

   

The ominous skies around the RV Park meant we were staying inside for the rest of the day…. unless we decide to go back to the Mexican Restaurant we went to last night…..that sure was good.