Back to our leased site

We started October off with a tour of the Newell factory in Miami, OK and Larry was really impressed and said he understood why they cost so much. He has been drooling over them since he drove one in Perry, GA in 2005 when they cost only $800,000. I don't have to worry about one in our future anytime soon as we are not millionaires.  But, we get million dollar views!

                                     

Awesome sunset in Grove, OK

The replacement alternator arrived and Larry was able to get it installed and everything working before we needed to leave Grove, OK which was good. Then it was on to Lake Texoma for three days where we went into 'town' to get our mail. We camped in an area just inside the gate where no one else was camped and had the whole place to ourselves, very quiet and nice.     

Lake Texoma TTN where we had the entire loop to ourselves

       

The tall faucet Larry purchased at Colaw's RV & Salvage in Joplin, MO installed.  He is a happy camper now.

At Lake Whitney TTN we camped in the pull thru area where there were very few campers. We had planned to visit Skillet's for catfish while in the area because we had really enjoyed going there several times in 2005 but it has closed and is now a pizza place. We did get to Cleburne to see friends from seminary days and met other friends in Whitney for lunch at Tres Hermanos for chimachungas.
                             

Friends Larry and Eldonna with us at Great Buffet in Cleburne,TX

           

Monday, October 20 we over nighted in Fort Stockton at a PA park we have stayed at before and Tues it was a short trip to Big Bend National Park but it rained the entire way there and most of the day. We stopped at the Visitor's Center and watched a wonderful film about the park and enjoyed looking at the relief map of the park. Since the weather was so dismal we left and spent the night at a campground in Terlingua, TX just three miles from the west park entrance. Wednesday the 22 was a beautiful day and we enjoyed Alpine, TX as it was well laid out and then spent the night at WalMart in Las Cruces, NM. There was a fellow there who wanted to polish our wheels and when he offered to do all six for $15 we agreed and went to K Bob's Steakhouse for dinner while he did our wheels. He did a great job and we asked if he would do the trailer wheels too for another $15 which he did. At least the rig didn't look nearly as dirty with the wheels shining!

The west entrance to Big Bend National Park, TX

             

A view of Big Bend National Park.  Didn't get many 'views' since it rained most of the day.  

The 23^rd we stopped at the Voyager in Tucson for a week since we could stay under TTN for $3 a night. It is a big place with 1556 sites and every imaginable kind of craft, game, etc anyone would ever want to do. Since it was still October there were a lot of empty sites. If we were into that sort of thing, it would be a nice place to stay longer but since all that isn't what we are looking for, we could not justify the additional cost over our Phoenix site.

We arrived at our leased site around 1 PM on Thursday Oct 30 and are reasonably set up. Larry still has to decide just what he wants to do to level the trailer since one side is on concrete and the other side in gravel. He is thinking of removing the tires on the high side (which is the side the door is on) so he won't have to climb so high as his knees have been giving him fits or put the riser he made last year under the tires on the gravel side. We went to Chompie's for supper with Dawn and Vince and had a wonderful meal, staying until they closed.  McGraw Detailing came out Friday and washed both the trailer and the coach and they look like new again. We decided to have them come out again before we leave in May and wash and wax the coach to help keep it looking like new. We had a Fed-Ex delivery yesterday and the Fed-Ex fellow was really confused as he said the lot was empty when he came by the day before which was entirely right. That's why we have a 'home on wheels'!                      

All set up at our leased site in Phoenix where we will be for the winter