Day 107 - Summary

38 States in 106 Days.   We started in Phoenix, then on to San Diego, then Tahoe where our 106 day journey actually began.

Along the way we managed to drive an unbelievable total of 18,184 miles.   And average of 171 miles a day.   Whenever we parked the RV we took the truck all over sightseeing, thus the huge mileage.  Our diesel fuel cost was $3,173 an average fuel price of $2.34 per gallon.  1,355 gallons of diesel and an average of 13.42 miles per gallon.  That includes time with and without pulling the RV.  The total spent for lodging at RV Parks was $4,452.   That is an average price of $42 a night.   Some of the parks were as little as $26 (Nevada) and some as much as $80 (New York).   Most of the parks seemed to be right around $34 a night.    We spent approximately $6,360.00 on food and meals out.  Park fees for things like the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, Riverboat Cruises, Airboat Ride, Graceland, Grand Ole Opry, Dollywood, and some museum fees total approximately $845.00.   Mistakes, or you could say education costs: $3,045.  I hit our truck mirror once when backing into an RV spot, $345.  I broke a taillight lens, $35.  A mishap unhooking the trailer once, $2,500 estimate, but we will only have the deductible of $1,000 to pay.  And then the theft we had in San Antonio.   I would have expected it in Chicago, or New York, or New Jersey, but not Texas.   Anyhow, our loss there totals $1,660.  So out of pocket for losses, errors, is $3,045.   We expected some problems and maybe a theft so now we are more experienced.  Education costs money.  Is what it is.  And finally purchases.  We didn't buy much as we have limited space.   The biggest purchases we made were the Western Boots and clothes we bought in Nashville.  Other than those, we didn't buy much.  The total of purchases about $625.  That brings our grand total for the trip to $18,500.  If we subtract what we would have spent on food and fuel anyway, that is about a $5,000 deduction.  So out of pocket additional expenses the trip, including our educational expenses, cost around $13,500.  That is $127 per day, or $355 per state.  Currently the trip is on our credit card.  We have to get working on that before we travel much more.  

Martha and I did ok.   We had a great time and will be making our BLOG into a coffee table book for reflective viewing.  There were of course plenty of "you just missed the turn" or "we should have gone that way" or mismatched directions between the GPS in the truck and the one on Martha's phone.   All in all, it was well worth it.   People fly our flag from shore to shore.   America is a very nice country with such great diversity and friendly people.  (with the exception of one creep in San Antonio).  

  

There were several times that the internet in the RV Park was not fast enough to download pictures for the BLOG.   We went to Starbucks, and McDonalds and sat and did the BLOG.   It took about an hour a day to do it and I look forward to it each day.   It is going to seem weird now that I will not be posting.  Including our 9 1/2 month stay in the RV in San Diego, we have now completed 14 months of living in a trailer and are still speaking to each other and remain best friends.   Aside from the accident free travel, that may be our biggest accomplishment.   We are so glad we made the trip, so glad we could share the experience, and now its time to unpack and start paying for it.  

Thanks for coming along, we had 6,577 views of our BLOG and we appreciate all of the comments we received along the way.  We will be making the BLOG into a book and your comments included. The book will allow us to look back and see where we were, reread your comments, and  

spark a memory or two.

Day 106 - Elizabeth, Ross, & Cattani's

Headed out this morning for Cattani's in Gilbert.  We started our journey a year ago August by heading to San Diego to stay with the kids for nine months.   Now we are back in Arizona.   We have actually been living in our trailer now for 14 months.   Ten in San Diego, almost a month's break in Tahoe, then a little over three months on the road.

We stopped off in Tucson and Elizabeth and Ross met us at a great little Cafe Restaurant for lunch.

Martha went to college with Elizabeth about 45 years ago.   We have hooked up a few times since then, most recently when they visited us in Havasu a few years ago.

They have an awesome '50 Chevy pick up truck.   A family heirloom purchased brand new by Ross's Grandparents and handed down to him.

After lunch they invited us up to their house for coffee.   Who could refuse that!  

They have an absolutely awesome view of the valley and mountains as well as Downtown Tucson.

Great yard.   They had just returned from driving all over Europe by car, motorhome, and boat.  What a great adventure.  I am too scared to drive in Europe and Elizabeth did it in a motorhome.   Narrow streets and different rules, right hand drive at times, not for me.

Then out to dinner with the Cattani crowd minus Victoria, who is in Flagstaff at Northern Arizona University.  We ate a piece of pizza for you Victoria!  It was good!

I am going to post one more entry to the BLOG tomorrow with the numbers from our trip.   Mileage and expenses.   Lori is having a surgery done on Thursday.  We go to Buckeye to visit Matt on Friday, then off to San Diego for Thanksgiving week on Saturday morning.    It is going to be weird driving in California with a trailer at 55mph when we have been driving 75mph throughout most of the country.    Driving in California this weekend?  Wave as you pass, we'll be that annoying RV in the slow lane plodding along at the trailer pulling speed limit.

Day 105 - Cliff Dwelling

We had a great day with our friend Gary Simpson.   It is so nice to be able to connect with people that you had lost track of through the years.   I hope that we get to see each other annually if not more often.   I knew that Gary served in the Marine Corp in Vietnam, I did not know until today that he was a helicopter door gunner.   I am super envious as that was a duty that I would have loved to have had.   Door Gunners rode on the side behind the passenger / cargo area of the Huey completely exposed.   Flying low they might as well have had a target on their chest.  I am very proud of him.

Gary picked us up at the trailer at 9am and we drove an hour North to Silver City.   We stopped at a nice little coffee cafe for some brew and a muffin.

A very cool old town.

This is the area where Billy The Kid grew up.

It is also Geronimo country.

Two more hours of driving up a winding road, no painted lanes, cliffs to your left and right, 15mph switchback curves.   Thank goodness the company was good or it would have seemed forever.  As it was, time went by fast.  Gary drove a cab in Las Vegas at one point in his life and the stories he tells are priceless as well as funny.   We had a great drive.

A mile's hike uphill to the cliff dwellings.   The trail was well made but taxing.   A lot of really beautiful scenery and we crossed a dozen wooden bridges over a babbling stream.  Awesome as well as very peaceful.

The sun's rays love to follow me around.

Up ahead, the cliffs.

We climbed, rested, climbed, rested, then repeated.   It has been a while since we have hiked.  We had a great time.

The scenery is really nice.

Friends may have highs and lows at times, but always remain friends.

I was surprised that we were allowed to go into the actual dwellings.  What a view they had.

A whole little city going on in there.  Over 30 rooms.

It was a hefty hike.  Hard to imagine two years ago Martha was using a walker, and three years ago a wheelchair.   She has come so far in her cancer recovery.   I am proud of her as well.  

Lady door gunner quality indeed.  Though she didn't serve, I married a Marine for sure.

The return trip down the mountain was also quite far, taxing, and enjoyable.

We stopped at a rest area on the way home and Martha and I noticed this heart painted on the shrubs which lead to a kiss.

Back in Deming we had a nice Mexican dinner and then Gary took us back to the trailer.

We were sorry to part ways as this had been a great reunion and a fun day.

After he left I asked Martha to hoist the full moon up into the night.

Tomorrow we will pass through Tucson and have lunch with Elizabeth and Ross.  More good friends.  Then we will finish our day driving to Phoenix and the Cattani's house.

Tomorrow will also mark the final entry in the BLOG as our trip will have been completed.

Day 104 - Deming, New Mexico

We got up at 5am to get an early start today.   We hooked up the trailer and 80% of the stuff to do last night so we were on the road just after 5:30.   There are two Catholic Churches in Deming and according to the internet there was an 11am Mass.   We figured with the early start we could make the 5 hour trip, set up the trailer and "Get us to the Church on time"

Don't always believe the internet because upon arrival in time we discovered the only Mass was 9:30.

We passed White Sands National Monument and White Sands Missile Range.  Nuke anyone?

We are loving getting back into the Southwestern scenery.   It's feeling like home.

Crossing the Sacramento Mountains heading to Deming we were surprised to see the temperature drop all the way to 26 degrees.   Thank goodness it was toasty in the truck.

Looking forward to seeing our friend Gary.

This is a big year for New Mexico.  It has been 100 years since Pancho Villa invaded the U.S. here.

Pancho had given the Hardware Store owner money to secure guns for him.  When the invasion started the hardware store owner refused to honor his part of the bargain or to give back Pancho's money.   When Pancho came to get his revenge on the owner, he was unable to locate him.

He was in El Paso that day getting some dental work done.  Saved his life.  So brushing after every meal as it turns out, could be detrimental to your health, if you deal with Pancho Villa.

Gary took us to a 'locals' restaurant.   Off of the highway, their sign weathered and unreadable, down a gravel road and here we are.   In an old schoolhouse.  Does this look like a restaurant to you?

This was their only sign.

So many cool things inside, a real treasure trove.

This Cigar Store Indian was once not used in an episode of Seinfeld.

Ever see one of these growing up?

A really neat place.

Martha loved this overhead fan which had about a dozen blades.

A great lunch.

Love seeing that flag and the room was heated via live fire.

We all signed and dated a dollar bill and stapled it to the bar ceiling.

Back at the trailer, Gary outfitted us with T-shirts from Deming's Annual Event,  The Duck Race.

Tomorrow we are going to the Cliff Dwellings about 90 minutes North, and then back to Deming for the night.   The Duck Race is in August, so mark it on your calendar for next year.  It's a Quack Up!

(sorry)

Day 103 - Aliens and AA Tails

We started out our day with an hours drive to Roswell.   Last night we looked up restaurants in Roswell on the internet and the Cowboy Cafe had high marks.   So we went there upon arrival.   I liked the Eagle and God Bless America sign on the outside......

Then inside their "Todays Special" board doubled my fondness of the place.

We had a great breakfast.

Then over to the UFO Museum.

They are serious about Aliens around here.

Even quoting the Borg.

Lots of stuff in the museum.  It is obvious that something happened here in 1947.   Hmmmmm, just prior to our figuring out the internet and computers.  Crashed spacecraft aided in that maybe?

The whole town is Alien crazy.  

The story is that an Alien spacecraft crashed on a desert farm near here in a severe lightning storm.  

The following morning a ranch hand discovered the craft.   Eye witness accounts of ranchers and the Army personnel sent to cordon off the area all claim four Alien bodies were recovered, one still alive.

The dead Alien bodies were transported to Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio for examination.

The live one put onto life support. near Roswell   These claims were made by Doctors and Nurses and Military personnel who transferred and worked on the Aliens.

We went to several shops in town center.   Lots of cool stuff.

"I'll have a burger medium with fries and a Diet Pepsi, a Calico Cat rare and a Gatorade for my friend."

Then we went over to the Roswell Air Field.   It is a graveyard "boneyard"  for Airliners as well as an International Airport.   Look hard, you can see rows of tails in the air.   There are several rows spaced around the field and at least 300 aircraft here.   Most of them American Airlines, but others as well.

Most of the planes are stripped for parts.  Some are refurbished and sold to smaller airlines.

No tours are given but it would be cool to get inside one of these stripped planes to check it out.

Personal at the airport said, "We get more requests for tours than Disneyland!"

Through the open areas we could see windows, doors, seats, and engines all removed.

Fortunately I was able to try this one out as a perspective buyer.  I couldn't get it off of the ground though.  All those switches, which one starts this thing up?

Tomorrow morning early we have a five hour drive to Deming, New Mexico.   We will visit with our friend Gary Simpson.   We have not seen him in nearly 40 years.   Thanks to the Corona Class of 1966 50 year reunion he attended, we were able to reconnect.  I guess we will have to stick to movement by ground since I couldn't start up the aircraft.  Look for me to fly low.   Brummmm!