The Final Push Towards Home

Hello, welcome back to our story. Our last chapter ended on Sunday, October 30^th, when we arrived in Port Arthur, Texas, just across the line from Louisiana. Port Arthur is a medium sized industrial city of about 55,000 which is in the bayou country of East Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico. It is primarily an oil city and is home to the largest oil refinery in the United States. Much of the oil pumped by off shore rigs from under the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico is piped into Port Arthur. On Monday we went out to do some exploring and geocaching. This area was hit very hard back in September when Hurricane Harvey came through. On one day there was 26 inches of rain at the regional airport. That is more rain than our old home of Indio, California gets in five years. Everywhere we drove there were abandoned homes and businesses and huge piles of trash on the streets where people are trying to rehab flooded buildings. A local shop keeper we talked to said that in some parts of the city the water was over the roofs of homes. The damage was all from floods, very little wind or storm surge damage. We had some problems with geocaching as a lot of the caches had been lost to flooding. We were able to get six new finds, as well as two DNFs. After caching we drove north to Beaumont, Texas and the Elks Lodge there. It was a nice lodge with about 250 members. There were not a lot of people there, but the one's that were greeted us and were friendly. We had a drink and got a lodge pin then headed back to the coach for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, October 31^st, Happy Halloween. Today was a travel day. We left Port Arthur about 10:00 and headed west 165 miles to Columbus, Texas. We arrived at the Thousand Trails Colorado River RV park about 2:00. It was a stressful trip as about 50 miles was through Houston, Texas and it's suburbs, with all the traffic that you get in a big city. We also ran into some on and off light rain. We found a nice spot in the RV park and got set up. We were last here in 2012 and wanted to come back. This is a rural park with a very large herd of white tail deer that roams the park and wanders around the RVs. We didn't go anywhere after we got set up, just relaxed in the light rain moving through the area. No kids around, so no trick or treat tonight.

Wednesday, November 1^st, we went out after lunch for a couple hours of exploring Columbus and geocaching. We were able to get five new finds and one DNF for the afternoon. Like much of Central Texas, Columbus was badly flooded in the late summer when Hurricane Harvey came ashore and just sat, dumping feet of rain. Much of the town was flooded, some areas with over four feet of water. Just outside of town was a large farm field filled with thousands of cars which were damaged by flood waters and totaled by insurance companies. Just about any degree of immersion will cause a car to be ruined. There are several of these large fields of cars around the Houston and outlying areas that were flooded. There were a lot of trucks loading up cars to take them away. I can only hope that they were going to salvage yards to be used for parts, not out of state to be fraudulently sold to unsuspecting buyers as frequently happens in these kinds of disasters. After our caching and exploring we stopped at a grocery store for a few supplies, then headed back to the RV park for the rest of the night.

Thursday, November 2^nd, another travel day. We left Columbus about 10:30, continuing west about 130 miles to San Antonio, Texas. About 20 miles into the trip the odometer on the coach hit 100,000 miles! Yea! Just getting broke in. Since the coach had just over 2,000 mile on it when we took delivery, we have to go about 2,100 miles before we ourselves have 100,000 miles of travel. We made a lunch stop and a fuel stop, arriving at the Braunig Lake RV Resort just south of San Antonio about 2:00. We had stayed in this park back in 2012 then we came through here. It is a nice park with full hookup sites for Passport America rates. We got settled into our site and set up, then relaxed for the rest of the day. Friday we left the coach about 11:30 and drove into San Antonio to spend the day. We parked in a parking garage downtown, inside of the perimeter of the River Walk. We went down to the river level and spent an hour or so walking along the river, checking out the views. The river walk is very beautiful and a great place to spend the day. About 1:00 we went up to the street level and walked a couple of blocks north of the primary tourist area to a restaurant called Lula's Mexican Cafe, which had very good yelp reviews. It is mostly a locals place but we were there after the lunch rush, so we got seated quickly and got our chips and salsa. Our waiter was very nice and friendly. I ordered the Texas plate, which had two cheese enchiladas, rice and beans, and a half serving of what they called Carne Guiesada, which is a South Texas version of what we in the Southwest call Chili Colorado. Chunks of beef, onion, and peppers in a spicy brown gravy (guiesada means gravy) that is less spicy, and less red than the red chili sauce in Chili Colorado. It was outstanding. I also got a “puffy taco” which is the specialty of the house. It is a corn tortilla deep fried so it bubbles up and gets puffy, then stuffed with taco fixings. It was OK, a little oily, but not that much better than a crunchy or soft taco. Jackie got the green chicken enchilada plate and she said they were very good too. It was, by far, the best Mexican food we have had in months, since we left New Mexico back in May.

After lunch we went back down to the river walk and finished walking around the entire loop. We went back up to street level near the Alamo, then walked over to the mall and spent an hour in there walking around. We have been to San Antonio numerous times, so we didn't need to spend a lot of time in any of the tourist attractions. We did some geocaching too, getting three finds for the day. After the mall we were tired of walking so we went back to the car, drove back to the RV park and spent the rest of the evening relaxing with the TV.

Saturday, November 4^th, we left the coach about 11:30 and drove to the northeast side of San Antonio for lunch at one of our favorites, In N Out Burger! This California favorite, going back to 1948 has slowly expanded from a handful of stores in the Los Angeles basin, to over 300 stores in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Utah and most recently Oregon. Jackie and I both recently read the book that detailed the story of this family owned chain and found it very interesting. I thought we were going to have to wait until Tucson in a week or so, but when I looked at their website I found they had five stores in the San Antonio area. We have not had an In-N-Out since April in Santa Maria, California. It was wonderful, and I got the Texas version of their company shirt. I have about a dozen of the shirts because they have a new design every year and each state has it's own version.

After In-N-Out we drove into town to the Market Square shopping plaza, a large indoor and outdoor market with dozens of booths selling mostly Mexican goods, everything from blankets to pottery to jewelry. Inside it looks a lot like Algodones, Mexico, outside of Yuma, Arizona where we go every winter. We spent a couple hours walking around the market, not buying much, but enjoying the atmosphere. After we were done at the market we did a Costco run, our first Costco in a couple of months. We didn't have to buy any vodka, our four case supply we put on board when we started this trip in the spring still has two bottles left, enough to get us back to Nevada. After Costco we headed back to the RV park and relaxed the rest of the night.

Sunday, November 5^th, another travel day. We had the coach packed up and were on the road about 10:00, heading west to the little town of Junction, Texas, about 135 miles. We have 580 miles of Texas left to travel and there isn't much between San Antonio and El Paso. Junction is only an overnight stop. We arrived at the Junction North RV Park about 1:00 and got a pull through site so we didn't have to unhook the car for our one night stay. We did the minimal set up then just stayed in the rest of the day, doing a few chores and relaxing. Monday was another travel day with another one night stand. We left Junction about 9:30 heading west to Fort Stockton, Texas, 198 miles away. We arrived at the Roadrunner RV Park about 2:00 after a lunch stop and fuel stop. This is a Passport America park we have stayed in before. It is nothing fancy, in fact it is kind of dumpy, but they are full hookup, 50 amp, free wifi and all for $15. Kind of hard to pass that up. We again didn't unhook the car, just stayed in and relaxed for the night.

Some time after we got set up I walked back out to the car to get some bottled water for the coach. That was when I noticed that there was damage to the right front of the Jeep. The plastic headlight housing was all broken and there was a large, two inch by one inch gouge in the front edge of the hood just above the headlight. The metal was pushed back leaving a big, jagged notch. I also found a half inch deep and quarter inch around dent in the roof, just above the top edge of the front passenger door. It was almost punched through the sheet metal of the roof. There was also a big dent on a piece of chrome molding under the rear quarter panel window and the molding was bent up. Clearly something was kicked up by the coach on the drive between the rest area where we had lunch and the truck stop in town where we stopped for fuel. The car was OK when I walked around it at the rest area and after we got fuel we were driving slowly on city streets to the RV park. Whatever got kicked up was solid and heavy, came up and hit the headlight, bounced up and off the roof and then off the side near the back of the car, hitting the chrome piece. It missed the windshield and the glass sunroof, but sure put some dings in the car. I took a bunch of pictures and called the insurance company to start a claim. We won't get it fixed until we get to Pahrump in a week or so. The headlight still works, although I suspect it would not be good to drive it in the rain as the bulb is exposed to the elements and probably wouldn't last long.

Tuesday, November 7^th, another travel day. We left Fort Stockton about 10:00, heading west again 230 miles to El Paso, Texas. This is one of the longer legs of our travels, but there isn't much between El Paso and Fort Stockton. We arrived at the Mission RV park just south of El Paso off the Interstate about 1:30. We gained an hour back when we entered El Paso County as this little section of Texas sets below New Mexico and observes Mountain Time. We got our spot and got set up for a two night stay. We actually unhooked the car and went out to do a Walmart run. After we got back we relaxed, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime. Wednesday was a chores day, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do our laundry. After laundry we stopped so Jackie could get a haircut, then we did one geocache in the area. After the haircut we went back to the coach, put everything away and relaxed for the remainder of the afternoon and evening.

Thursday, November 9^th, another travel day. We left El Paso around 10:30 and continued west on Interstate 10 about 150 miles to Deming, New Mexico. Finally finished with the 880 miles of Texas, yea! We got settled into the Roadrunner RV Park in Deming, got set up for our one night stay, then unhooked the car and drove to Irma's Mexican Restaurant for a late lunch. Normally we don't unhook the car for a one night stay unless we have to go into a back in spot. However, we wanted to go to Irma's because we have been there at least three other times and it is great, authentic Mexican cooking. It is really the main reason we stop in Deming whenever we take the I-10 route across the country. We had a wonderful lunch, ate way too much but enjoyed it greatly. After lunch we drove to the Deming Elks Lodge for a cocktail. We have been to the Deming lodge before, but they have moved from their old downtown location, a building they shared with the DAV, into another building they owned south of the airport. They are still in the process of improving this new property. We had a cocktail and got a lodge pin, although it turns out we already had the same pin. After the lodge visit we did a Walmart run, then went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Friday, November 10^th, Happy 242^nd Birthday to the United States Marine Corps. I put on my Marine shirt today, which was another travel day. We left Deming about 10:00 and headed west, another 145 miles to Willcox, Arizona. We arrived at the Fort Willcox RV park around 1:00, got parked in our spot and set up for another one night stay. This time we left the car hooked up and just relaxed and did a few chores around the coach.

Saturday, November 11^th, Happy Veteran's Day. Today was a travel day. We left Willcox about 10:00 and continued west, going about 90 miles to South Tucson. We arrived at the Mission View RV Park a little before noon and got settled into a spot for our two night stay. We were at this part back in March with the Bullock's, so we knew it was a nice park. After we got set up we had a quick lunch and then drove over to my granddaughter Crystal's house, which is only a few miles from where we are parked. We were also here in March and my great granddaughter Zoey, who is three, didn't want anything to do with Jackie or I. She buried her head in the couch, refused to even acknowledge us. Today she was a little better. She didn't want to stop playing to come out and be with us, but at least she did acknowledge us and gave both Jackie and I hugs. Crystal's boyfriend Orlando and his son Noah were also there at the house. We were even able to get a couple of pictures of Zoey, yea! We spent a couple of hours talking to Crystal, catching up, and had an enjoyable visit. About 4:30 we left and headed back to the RV park, picking up a geocache along the way. We spent the rest of the night in the coach.

Sunday, November 12^th, I went out and got a paper in the morning and we had a quiet morning with coffee and the paper. After lunch we went out to Costco for a few things. One thing we bought, now that we are back in Arizona where the liquor laws are more liberal, is another case of Vodka. When we left in late April to go on this summer trip we were in California. There are only a handful of states where the liquor laws don't require State run liquor stores, and/or allow spirits, vodka, rum, bourbon, etc., to be sold in grocery stores. In our experience only California, Arizona and Nevada and New Mexico allow any liquor to be sold in grocery and drug stores without any restrictions. Because we knew that we were going to be traveling for six months through states with restricted liquor laws, meaning high prices, we bought three cases (six bottles each) of the Costco house brand American Vodka before we left Santa Maria, California. When we were in Albuquerque we decided to buy one more case, giving us 24 1.15 liter bottles of vodka for the trip. When we arrived back in New Mexico a few days ago we opened the last of those 24 bottles. Pretty good planning on our part. After the Costco run we went back to the coach and put everything away and relaxed for a while. About 6:00 we left and drove over to Crystal's place so we could say goodbye. She had to work today and didn't get off until about 5:30. We had another nice visit for about 90 minutes and while we were there Crystal's dad James came home from work, so we got to see him too. Crystal is living with James for the time being. After our visit we drove back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Monday, November 13, another travel day. We left Tucson about 10:00 and continued west and north to the town of Buckeye, Arizona, a trip of about 140 miles. Buckeye is about 20 miles west of Phoenix and is one of the many suburbs of the Phoenix metro area. We arrived at the Leaf Verde RV park about 1:30 and got settled into a spot for our one night stay. After we got set up we left and drove over to my brother Ken's house to meet him and his wife Susan. They live in Goodyear, another suburb which is the next town to the east of Buckeye. They had also just gotten home from a camping trip down to Casa Grande, Arizona. After we met Ken and Susan at their house we all drove over to a nearby storage lot so we could see their new travel trailer. They just upgraded from a 22 foot trailer to a 30 foot trailer and we wanted to see their new rig. The trip to Casa Grande this weekend was their shake down cruise with the new unit. It is a very nice unit with a big slide out, so it has way more room than their old trailer. After looking at the trailer we went to the Texas Roadhouse near their home and had dinner. Susan's mom Helene was also with them. Ken and Susan bought a new “multi-generational” home a couple years ago and Helene lives with them in the apartment portion of the house. We had a great dinner and had a chance to catch up since we last saw them this past winter. After dinner we said goodbye and went back to the coach for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, November 14^th, another travel day. We left Buckeye and went west 120 miles to Ehrenberg, Arizona, right on the Colorado River across from Blythe, California. We checked into the Arizona Oasis RV park, where we have stayed many times before, and got set up. We are only here one night, but we still unhooked the car so we could drive into Blythe to have a late lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Garcia's. It is a small place in downtown Blythe, but they have great food. They were out of my favorite, chili colorado, today, but I still had a great meal. We both had the combo plate with a taco, enchilada and chili relleno. Way too much food, but really good. After lunch we went back to the coach and relaxed for the remainder of the day. Wednesday, another travel day. We left Ehrenberg about 10:30 and drove into California, then north on Highway 95, heading for Las Vegas and then home in Pahrump. We stopped about 12:30 in a little town called Cal Nev Ari, Nevada, about 10 miles into Nevada on Highway 95. It is really just a wide spot in the road, but they have an RV park that is a Passport America park, so we can get a full hookup, pull through spot for $11, not a bad deal. This will be the last stop before we finally get to Pahrump and mark the end our summer travels. From here to Pahrump is about 120 miles, through Las Vegas and then up over the hill. After we got set up we walked out to a nearby geocache, then went across the highway to the local casino, which also has the only restaurant and bar in town, and also houses the post office and a motor vehicle office. The place had a few dozen slot machines, so old that most of them actually still used coins! When Jackie cashed out at the end of her playing we heard the sound of quarters falling into a metal bin. Haven't heard that in a long, long time. I lost twenty bucks, Jackie lost ten, but we had fun. We then went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the evening.

Thursday, November 16^th, we were packed up and on the road by about 9:30, starting the last 120 miles of our summer travels. It was about 40 miles to Las Vegas, then 30 miles through the middle of town, and then the last 50 miles up over the 5,000 foot pass and into the Pahrump Valley and home, at least in the legal sense. Traffic through town was heavy and stressful, even though it was all freeway. The climb up the pass was also stressful as it is a steep climb. Even though the temperature was in the high 60's the coach got hot. It didn't overheat, but by the time we got to the top it was close. We arrived at the Wine Ridge RV Resort about noon and got checked in. This used to be a Western Horizons park and we stay here any time we come to Pahrump. We got parked in a spot just a few down from a good friend of ours, Millie Duffin. Millie is the host of a weekly Saterday night happy hour and is kind of the unofficial social organizer of Wine Ridge.

After we got set up we went down to the UPS Store that serves as our mailbox and picked up our mail in person for the first time in a year. I stopped at the Sheriff's Office and picked up the paperwork I needed to renew my concealed carry permit and then we went back to the coach. I did a little more work setting up, then we just relaxed for the rest of the night. Our arrival here in Pahrump marks the official end of our 2017 summer travels. I mark our start as being when we left Santa Maria, California on April 30^th after visiting with Jackie's family in the area. In our travels we drove the coach 8,621 miles, through 26 states, making 66 stops for total of 199 nights. It was a great trip, with only a few minor glitches along the way, but I am now looking forward to some month long stays during the winter.


This ending of our summer travels is also the perfect time to close this chapter and get it published. We will be here in Pahrump for a month, so look for the next chapter to be published then. Until next time I leave you with an slightly updated version of a well known Ralph Waldo Emerson quote. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and put a post on Facebook showing where you were last seen alive” See ya soon.