Travels With Marsha: A Lengthy Trip Comes To An End

We left Colby, Kansas, on Monday morning, heading west.  We gassed up at Goodman and headed north into the SW corner of Nebraska.  We drove through that corner and into Colorado, then we headed NW through the NE corner of Colorado and back into Nebraska.

We have been in some windy places lately.  

We continued on I-80 to Pine Bluff, Wyoming, where we had some windy fun before turn-in time.  There were trains going past our camp site and we could see them right out the front window of the RV!  It was like having a big screen to watch trains on.  C and I went out to see if I could get my photo with a train in the background, and the wind started to pick up, and the air cooled off delightfully. 

Here is my train photo with wild hair.  The thing is, this was not even as bad as it would get.  We walked up to the end of the road passed the RV park and the wind just keep blowing harder and harder.  By the time we got back, after avoiding a barking dog, the wind was dusty and grainy, and we could hardly run against it.  Opening the RV door, I felt like Dorothy trying to maneuver the door on the farmhouse during the tornado.  The wind blew all night long and rocked our RV.  

In the morning the wind had died down somewhat.  We got ready to go, then went to visit the 30-foot statue of Our Lady of Peace which was right next door to the RV park.  She was amazing.

It was windy on the interstate.  There were signs that said wind gusts 40+ MPH.  Then there was a sign that said 50+ MPH.  Then, there was a sign that said, 'wind gusts over 60 MPH, vehicle blow over risk, next 38 miles.'  C white-knuckled it all the way to Rawlins, WY.  We stopped there and gassed up, then found a place to park and have lunch in the RV.  C took a 45-minute nap/rest before we headed on to our final destination for the day:  Lyman, WY.  To our relief the next sign said wind gusts 40+ MPH, which was no longer a tough thing for C.  The RV park in Lyman was cool and green and a lot less wind.

Wednesday morning we were up and out of Lyman by 8:00, so we drove a few miles to Fort Jim Bridger and kicked around just a little before proceeding into Utah.

We stopped for gas and lunch in Snowville, UT, then drove on home to Meridian, Idaho.  It was great to see Willa and just relax.  It is good to be home.

We Are In Colby, Kansas

Yes, we finally got out of Louisiana. We traveled to Texarkana, TX, and spent the night at a KOA that had a swing that matched my outfit! Then we continued on through Reno and ended up in Wichita Falls, for the night.  In Wichita Falls I met an amazing elephant and Smokey the Bear.  We continued, on Friday to Dumas, TX, where we spent the night, and what a night!  I woke up at 12:30 in the morning and the wind was shaking our RV.  K slept through the worst part. Finally, the wind died down and there was just lightening and bit of light rain. 

 

On Saturday, we drove on across the Oklahoma border and through the panhandle, to Scott City, Kansas, where we made a 'jerky stop'.

  

We made it to Colby, Kansas in time to make it to the quilt shop before closing time!  

Yeah! Check out all these fabrics!  They had seasonal stuff at a discount and K bought the jewel-tone fabrics C picked out to make a new quilt for Leilani.  It is going to be awesome!

We stayed over on Sunday, so C could show K the ancestral stomping ground of the high plains and Gem, Kansas.  She also took K to the Prairie Museum, where the biggest barn in Kansas is located.  They took the tour.

Oh, yeah.  Saturday night we had a wind storm in Colby that was rocking the RV from 2:30 to 3:15 AM, and it was accompanied by amazingly bright lightening and loud thunder.  We all three got into the same bed until it was over.  We are rather expecting more wind tonight.  The wind really messed up my hair today.  We are heading out tomorrow for Pine Bluff, Wyoming.  I think we will eventually make it back to Idaho.

Quilt Shops in Fort Walton Beach

Greetings from Marsha.  We are on the road back to Idaho, but I did not get to tell you about the amazing quilt shops in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.  The first one was at a mall very near where M lives, although, when we first went it seemed like it was a long and windy ways away.  Of course, Stitcher's Quest has an amazing selection of Halloween fabrics, which M could not resist.  They have batiks and a lot of those bright flashy fabrics I find so hard to resist.  It is easy to blow your allowance in here.

I needed some fabric to make me another pair of shorts, and M said there was a quilt shop nearby that she had never been in.  So, we went to Around The Block Quilting.  They had just the thing!    For a small shop they sure had a lot of selection, and I had to choose carefully, because it would have been easy to run amok.

C and I wish Annita a very happy birthday!

Stuck in Breaux Bridge Louisana

Marsha here, with a travel update.  Breaux Bridge is pronounced Bro Bridge.  We left FWB, FL on Saturday, June 4.  On Sunday morning we were having an enjoyable trip across the vast waterway and swamp between Baton Rouge and Lafayette, when we stopped for gas near the interstate, at Beaux Bridge.  C started the RV up and she drove to the exit of the gas station and was getting ready to pull out onto the highway, when the engine died.  It was an electrical problem.  We were blocking one of the entrance/exits to the Shell station.  The good news is, we were not in the middle of the highway when this happened. Whew!  C called AAA and they got there in ten minutes.  He said it was probably the alternator.  He kept his little battery jump machine on the battery and let the hood rest on top.  C started the engine and was able to drive across the highway into a vacant parking lot, where we were out of the way in a safe location.  Being Sunday, no automotive places were open.  We had “The Blazer” in tow, so C disconnected it, then we gathered our gear and went one exit back to the Holiday Inn Express, and K booked us in for the night.  C called the KOA in Texarkana and asked them to back our reservation off for a couple days until we could get back on the road and actually make it there.  Then we got to relax and swim and read books.  On Monday C and K went to the Ford garage, which was about one-third of a mile from where the RV was parked. They were swamped with business, but they said they would be able to put a new battery in, then drive it that one-third mile to the garage.  They finally got that handled around 3:30 on Monday afternoon.  C was exceedingly relived that the RV was finally off the side of the highway and in their parking lot.  K went ahead and booked us for two more nights, as we are hoping Ford will get it repaired by the end of today; which is Tuesday.  Since it is after check out time, we are staying over tonight, even though Ford called and said they have the RV all ready to go for us. Not having a full day to travel, we would not make it to Texarkana anyway.  Meanwhile, we were going to go shopping at this amazing looking art/music/bookstore that is next to our hotel, today.  C took a walk around the parking lot this morning and discovered they are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  So sad.  Right now, K is in the pool.  We are going this afternoon to get the RV back.

Hanging Out at High Springs on a Saturday Night

For the three-day Memorial Day weekend, we went to north central Florida.  We visited C's aunt in Gainesville on Saturday.  We were spending the night in Alachua, which has grown a lot, since C was last down here.  On Saturday night we went exploring around High Springs.  We were looking for a quilt shop and a BBQ joint.  The quilt shop had moved to parts unknown, and all the BBQ joints were closed, as was the burger joints, except for Hardy's. 

Here I am, hanging out on a Saturday evening.

It was so much fun! Then we got a burger at Hardy's.  On Sunday, May 29, we drove up to Andersonville, Georgia.  It was a sad and beautiful National Park.

We got back to Fort Walton Beach on Sunday evening.  We relaxed on Monday, then on Tuesday we went and got pedicures.  After that we watched some amazing murder mysteries and focused on getting ready for the trip back.

Relaxing on the Beach and Visiting Biloxi, MS

We took a couple days to recuperate, and M took us to a fancy restaurant in Destin, where we all had seafood.  On Wednesday, May 25, we went to the beach and just relaxed.  It was fun wading in the Gulf of Mexico.

The breeze made it less hot and more enjoyable.  I did fall on my backside and get my clothes wet, but that's okay.

On the way back to M's place, C took my photo in front of the Hurlbert Field sign.

On Thursday, May 26, C and M drove us to visit Biloxi and Keesler AFB, in Mississippi.  C was stationed at Keesler in the 70's.  Most of the base has been rebuilt after hurricane Katrina, so where she worked and lived on base, has new buildings.  Below is a photo of me in front of the new Cody Hall.

We, also, visited Peace by Piece Quilt Shop in Biloxi.  They actually have quilts for sale and at reasonable prices.  They have amazing fabrics, too!

And we visited the Biloxi lighthouse!

When we went back through Alabama, we stopped to get photos at the state line.

 

On The Road to Mississippi, We Stopped in Grand Cane

After surviving the night in Ballinger, TX, we stopped at Walmart for supplies and headed toward Waco.  Although we got stuck in some traffic on the city loop, there, it was not too horrible of a driving experience.  K was admiring the institute of higher learning (Baylor apparently), while I tried not to be a bother to C, who was driving in that mess.   We took a pit stop after and decided to shoot for Palestine for the night, but the RV Park in Palestine had no vacancies.  K called ahead to the one in Rusk.  They had full hook-ups, showers, and a laundry.  We located it okay, but C was a little tired.  

The places we've stayed overnight on our trip have all had something interesting about them.  The first night, on the side of the highway, there was a decaying coyote near where we parked. The RV Park in Roswell had a pay phone on the wall in the laundry room.  The Ballinger RV Park was kind of spooky and had trains going very close by and honking their horns a lot, which K slept right through.  HONK!! BLAST!! It is 2 AM!  The RV Park in Rusk, Texas, had green grass, a concrete pad to park on, full hook-up, but there were no code locks on the laundry room or recreation building.  One had to walk around to the front of the owners' house/office, up seven steps on the porch, and get the keys off a hook there, then walk to the "Rec Hall" where the bathroom was located.  It was a modular building with four steps up on to the porch, then musty rec room with a bathroom in the NE corner of the big room.  It was just like any bathroom you would find in any modular home.  They didn't have showers, they had a shower.  The interesting thing about this "Rec Room" is in the SE corner there was one of those amazing sit-down hair dryer chairs, like the kind every beauty parlor had in the 1960s - 70s.  Poor K, she took a shower, but by the time she got back to our RV, she was all sweaty from the humidity and all that walking for key business.  I slept better at the Rusk RV park, then we headed out in the morning and into Louisianna.  We continued on Highway 84 clear across LA.  We took a brief side-trip to Grand Cane, to visit a quilt shop there.  At Mansfield, you go north about seven miles to HQnM (Homemade Quilts N More).  

We had such a nice visit with Pat, the owner, and her friend, Jeanie.  C shopped for amazing fabrics, which there was quite a lot of.    K and I visited with Pat and Jeanie.  Karen took a photo of me with the green sewing machine Pat learned to sew on, a long time ago, and a photo of me at the long-arm quilt machine.  Oh, you can see the reflection of our RV, in the photo above.

We had a great time in Grand Cane, then we got back onto the road.  We crossed the Mississippi River at Natchez.  Natchez, MS, is a lot smaller than I imagined and we got through it in a blink of an eye . . . and no RV parks to be found.  We drove on.  K finally got a call back from a man who had the RV park in Magnolia, MS.  We headed that way in a huge downpour.  Then suddenly we were out of it and on to dry pavement.  At our designated spot, at The Magnolia RV Park, there was a tire swing.  We had a great view of a creek from our RV.  

The next day we drove on to north of Mobile, Alabama, and then dropped down into the panhandle of Florida.  When we got onto I-10 it began to pour.  We finally made it to the rest stop, just prior to the last Milton exit.  M met us there, and C was able to take a 20-minute break from driving.   We finally got to Mary's house!  

Our Experience in Ballinger Texas

On May 19 we made it to Texas, where we headed in a SE direction so we could avoid Dallas/Ft Worth area.

When we were on the outskirts of Ballinger, K used her cellphone to look up RV Parks.  She called the guy at South Park RV Park and he said to go down the road until we see the white buffalo, turn in, drive to the back of the RV Park and when we see #40, we can park at any open spot after #40.  We can leave our payment of $20 in the electrical box at the site we choose after #40.  Okay.  We found the buffalo . . .

We turned into a dirt road, and we all said to ourselves, "What a dump."  We drove on back and there was a white mobile home parked at a curve in the road.  Painted, in tall black letters, on the side of the mobile home was #40.  C got out and surveyed the situation and determined which way to pull through, so our utilities would hook-up on the correct side of the RV.  It did have a full hook-up, so we had air conditioning! 

Here is the trailer trash.  We thought it was kind of spooky here, but we laughed real hard about it all evening.  Just as C was fixing dinner, the loud horn sounded, and K said, "It's a train."  She was right!  The train tracks were about 65 feet from our RV.

Next morning, we went to Walmart then to the train station in Ballinger.  Nice station, but I really enjoyed the amazing colorful junk shop across the street from the station.

I love all the colors!  Then we resumed our trek across Texas.  We went through Waco on a thrilling ride around the expressway and got stuck in traffic due to construction, and we were there just before 5 PM.  We went through Palistine . . .we ended up in Rusk for the night.  That is another amazing RV Park story.

Made It To Roswell, New Mexico

After crossing the New Mexico border, late in the day, we drove on to find an RV Park, but we found none.  We eventually stopped in a large wide spot off the side of the highway.  We spent the night there and used the generator a couple of times, to run the heat.  That sounds strange after just having several days of over 100 degrees in Arizona.  It was the high desert and got very chilly at night. Turns out we were 1/4 of a mile from Datil. We drove on through New Mexico, stopping at a historical site and we saw the big radio telescopes that were on railroad tracks.  

Later, in the day, May 17, we made it to Roswell, NM.  We called ahead and made a reservation at an RV Park there.  We spend the rest of the 17th there and all of the 18th.  We went to the city square where I got my photo taken in front of the big mural.  I met a gal named Dawn, who was also traveling, and she makes clothes for people like me!  We had a very engaging conversation about sewing. 

Of course, we visited the Calico Cow quilt shop in downtown Roswell.  They have amazing fabrics of all kinds and some amazing galaxy and space alien fabrics.

I bought some red fabric with white cows on it. It is amazing.  It was cool inside the shop and the people were very friendly.  Then we went to McDonalds and I posed with some space aliens there.

We departed Roswell on May 19 and continued east, where we ended up in Ballinger, TX, to spend the night.  Stayed tuned to find out about our adventures in Ballinger.