On into Mesa

As you would expect, when I was withing driving distance of the home in Mesa, it was pedal to the metal and off to the races..  But of course with me doing all of the inside and outside duties, it took about 4 hours from the time I woke up until I was off.

That was about 10 AM, so I was way behind Al, who I am sure was gone before 6...  With the heavy rig and the trailer on its back side, I stay at about 65 mph or less.

It was a heavy day for me as I was driving, because October 25 is Loyce's birthday, and I kept tearing up as I thought about her..

It was after noon when I was driving around Gallup.  I was hoping for a parking place to get some fast food...  But the traffic on exit 20 was overwhelming...  Short of just stopping in the middle of a street with the 4 ways on like I was stalled, I was lucky to just go around the block and get back on the highway...  I did get honked at a couple of times and one guy in a Jeep had to give me a single digit hand sign...

At exit 16 there are truck stops, and I filled up with diesel.  But no fast foods..... so I just gave up and drove on to Holbrook...  There the Mc Donalds has truck parking...  By now it was 2 PM.

Its about 3 and a half hours from there on to the Mesa house...  My watch said 3 PM but Arizona is an hour earlier....  Aw what the heck.... Go for it!!!

So after dealing with the traffic over the mountain at Heber and on into Payson, it still seemed like forever coming that last 80 miles into the South side of Mesa....    And then once parked and into the house, it took until midnight to carry load after load of stuff...

During the loading, I had to explain Loyce's passing to the neighbors on our North which devastated them as well...  That's hard on me as well, as you have to go thru it again...

I fell asleep in the chair around midnight...  As an aside, it was hard to find the sheets and blankets for the bed...  She had stored them inside a plastic storage bag inside the big storage closet...  There are numerous shelves in this closet, and they are full of bags of pillows and towels and everything that she was keeping cleaner in our absence...

Without her to guide me, I have to go thru everything and determine what each item must be used for...  She would never let me help much in these matters as I didn't do stuff like she would have...  So that just makes me more at a loss...

Retired Rod

Pictures are worth lots of words....

So once I was back from the urgent care, and sitting outside with Biscuit, I popped off this picture with the point and shoot...  See the truck going by out on the interstate...  Its just like they are driving thru your bedroom around here..

We have ourselves a 74 degree afternoon with some whispy clouds, but that may mean worse weather is on its way...

But on to the visit to the Urgent Care...  You would have thought I was checking in for a weeks hospital stay as they recorded all of my information...  And then I had nurse ratchet that had to know everything about anything that had ever happened in my medical life...  She was critical that I had arrived by motor cycle and thought that I should have all of my medical information in my wallet for the EMTs when they come to scrape me off of the highway....  I really wasn't looking for a lecture..

And no way was she removing any bandage from my shoulder, a Doctor had to do it...  So I sat there waiting for the doc...  Had I known it would be such a procedure to get this looked at, I would have removed the thing myself...

But then this light and airy Doctor popped in and wanted to know about my bike.. And then he asked about the doc that did the procedure in Kansas, as I explained he was a full professor for the University...

He removed the big band aid and the packing while I was talking, looking it over and opening a new dressing..  Before I knew what had happened, he had applied the patch over the wound and told me I was good to go..

During the explanation he said that MRSA is really common now days and that they rarely culture for it any more...  They just treat everything like that's what they are dealing with...  He asked about the antibiotics that I had been on and seemed to agree with the Kansas Dr's choice..So I'm good to go... No more packing and no more visits unless it gives me trouble..

While I was taking the above picture and trying to get it uploaded onto the computer, I had a visitor come to my door...  It was Kelly from the Bayfield Bunch... After following each other's blogs for years, it was just like meeting an old friend..  Al got the rig parked and he and Phoebes were right behind... They had been at the camping world across the street..

Of course he took a lot of pictures, but my camera was completely disassembled and the memory card was in the computer...  Which was downloading some new update and wouldn't work for a couple of hours..  So I guess the pictures will have to come from Al....  Nothing different about that...LOL

The park ranger lady that parks the rigs when they come in immediately spotted their new class C and came over bust me about having unregistered visitors..  And then she jumped on Al's dog because she wasn't tied up....  Mind you she wasn't a foot from Kelly's side...  I did have Biscuit on a lead, but that is because she would be in the next county otherwise..

So our visit was over almost before it began....  But as usual, blogger friends are true blue friends, even when you haven't met face to face yet.....  They plan on Boondocking over at the route 66 casino and will make it on into Congress tomorrow....  Biscuit and Phoebes were instant friends as well....

I did get a tour of their new class C and its a real keeper..  Its very nicely appointed..  And once they get it set up with solar, they will be right back to hiding in the desert.... LOL  That is when they aren't relaxing at that new to them house in Congress...

Retired Rod

Allegro Rod?

I was up before the sun this morning, but then we are way on the West side of the Central time zone and it was well after 7 before it was fairly light out...  Of course that was remedied within an hour of leaving Dalhart..

Once across the New Mexico state line, you are in Mountain time and back your watch up an hour..  So that will make sunrise more 6 o'clockish...   I drove to Tucucumcari, and filled up with Diesel at the cheaper Nm prices...  $3.78...   

I stopped for lunch at a McDonalds in Santa Rosa, where there is a big truck parking lot next to the restaurant...  It helps to know these things from previous trips... But the parking lot is dirty from people casting out their trash...

And since I need to find a urgent care to get my little surgery bandage changed, I decided to stop in Albuquerque.. The American RV park is right along the side of the interstate and as noisy as all heck..

But then it is very convenient because it is right beside the interstate...  Last night it was the trains that run past the front of the RV park...  I will run the AC blower along with the heater which will cover some of the truck noise...

I took two nights here as that will lessen the urgency of completing the bandage change in order to get back on the road...  It matters not when I arrive in Arizona....

I feel kind of like Tioga George....  Let's see, Allegro Rod........?  I can talk to Biscuit, but she doesn't answer back much.....  Oh, she got a bath this morning before we left Texas...  She really wasn't expecting that....  Not sure she has ever had a bath in the shower floor of the motorhome...

If I changed my name to Allegro Rod, what would happen if I traded motorhomes..... Nah..... better just stay......

Retired Rod

Ready, Set, Go!

I've been loading things down to the dining room floor by the front door of the house for the last several days... Things that needed to go into the RV for Arizona....  I had quite a pile...  Not like going camping... Much more stuff...

Then on Monday morning, I went over and traded the car for the motorhome...  So the carrying of stuff began in earnest... That was interrupted however, because I needed to drive downtown again to go to the hospital and get the cyst surgery repacked with its gauze stuff...

I can go three days between these packings..   Ready....... Set...... Go!  You got three days...

Much later in the afternoon, son Ben came by and we went to retrieve the car from the storage lot...  And with his help most of the pile in the dining room was now in the coach...  Not put away mind you, just piled up.. On the bed and the sofa...

Cold stuff was tossed into the warm fridge...  Remember, ready set go!  I hugged Ben and locked the house door...  6 PM... Almost dark now...

I drove out to the I 35 highway and turned South....  That turns into a toll road once you get to Emporia.....   And I am pulling the utility trailer with the motorcycle in it so that counts as an extra axle....

We had a favorite park in Wichita called Air Capitol RV, and I made it there about 11pm...  I drove in and took a spot just like I had reservations...  Dropped the jacks and put out the slides and commenced to put stuff in closets and cupboards....  No one came by to ask who I was or if I planned to pay....  There weren't any lights in the camphosts 5ver..  I assumed they went back to sleep...

This morning, when I went in to pay, the lady said her husband knew instantly by the way I circled the perimeter and drove right to the correct sites for my sized rig, that I was a repeat customer... And since I had parked right across the street from the office, I probably wouldn't run out..

You can bet they had my license tag number just in case.......  LOL

And it is quite expensive by Kansas standards, as it was $47 after the 10 % good sam discount..  But I had 50 amp electric and used the dreaded electric heater all night...  Still I couldn't use that much juice in days... But it is well lit and all concrete and relatively safe..  Wichita has a lot of older parts of town, and this is marginally near one of them...

Today, I drove most of the day across Kansas...  Stopping in Pratt at the Wal Mart as my cupboards were really bare..  Then at a roadside park later in the afternoon for lunch...  Its all two lane blue roads, but in places they have been improved to 4 lanes...

Took on some fuel in Guymon, Oklahoma... A part of no man's land..  The pan handle of Oklahoma was originally Texas, before they couldn't have it any more..  Its North of 36 degrees and 30 minutes which was declared as free states... Texas was Southern and Slave... Actually no one wanted that strip of land...  Its interesting to study..  Oklahoma was told it was theirs..

So tonight, Tuesday, I have stopped at the Corral RV park in Dalhart, Tx..  $22.50  FHU with cable tv...  Gravel parking lot with overhead wiring...  A few small trees, just enough to block the satellite..  I learned that the last time, when I didn't pay the extra for cable tv...

So day one of the three day race on my wound packing is in the books...  If I get to a bigger town, I'll need to look for a urgent care somewhere...  Or yank it out by myself and declare it good...

Retired Rod