2 January….westbound on I-10….521 miles today…overnighting at a Cracker Barrel in Mississippi for the night…feels great to be back on the road…that’s all…goodnight.
3 January…0524….coffee and rain…looks like I may stay here at the Cracker Barrel today as the weather front moves through…that’s ok…have coffee and cookies…the older I get the less I enjoy driving in bad weather…especially with the idiots on their cell phones bobbing and weaving all over the road…I have no schedule or any place I need to be…we will see.
Almost 1000 and the rain is still pouring…should start to clear out mid-afternoon…think I’ll head down the road a few more miles after things dry out today.
The trailer is pulling well…all loaded I figure I’m pulling just under 2000 pounds…well under the van’s capacity…have the tongue weight on the hitch ball set at 200 pounds…that’s ten percent of the towing weight…perfect…averaging around 17 mpg…lots of hills and valleys on I-10…cheapest diesel was $3.50 in LA.
Weather broke about noon…headed on to Hammond LA for the night at another Cracker Barrel…temp supposed to be around 32F in the morning…love it.
4 January….left Hammond at 0730…set the cruise control on 63 mph and punched right through the center of Houston…no problem at all…Sealy TX Walmart tonight…two good homemade beef tacos, 4 chocolate cookies and two handfuls of peanuts for dinner…got a message from my friend Len in Silver City NM…winds up to 50 mph with sideways blowing snow…I’ll bypass Silver City on the way out and will try to meet up with him in a few months….and speaking about buddies…another one in Meno OK who goes by the name of Rocky said he has 25 kegs of freshly brewed beer ready and waiting for me when I stop by in March…I’m gonna put him in my Will 🙂
5 Jan, Friday….had a nice quiet evening here at the Walmart in Sealy…a few trains during the night but no loud horns…good…woke at 0330 to pouring rain…radar looked bad for the next 6 hours…I hate traveling in the rain…I have no schedule and no place to be so I’ll hang here until the storms pass…again…coffee this morning is good…oatmeal with light amber maple syrup and a touch of cinnamon for breakfast will do just fine.
Humidity inside the van is around 65% this morning…plugged in my Probreeze dehumidifier…I like to keep things around 45% humiditiy iinside…very comfortable…with low humidity I don’t feel like I need to take a shower every 5 days…with low humidity I can go as long as 4 years between proper scrubdowns.
Averaging 17.5 mpg all up with the trailer…pretty good…On the Interstates I set my cruise control at 63.87441 mph….that puts the engine rpm at 2257….the turbo is supposed to start helping with the power at 2200…don’t know how much boost is happening at that rpm but the engine seems to purr along well.
0418…wind is howling now but all is well inside my little home.
0955…the rains have moved on and the skies are clearing…saved a chunk of change by giving the van a wipedown while it was still wet instead of going through a car wash…the thing runs so much better when it’s nice and shiney…plus I get a bit of exercise climbing up and down the ladder 🙂
Will head out around noon…gonna stop by the Best Buy in New Braunfels near San Antonio to get a USB to Mini USB charging cable…after all my OCD planning for a trip I left the one I had in the truck when I left…geez.
Short day today…only about 200 miles…detour around San Antonio to New Braunfels to get the USB cable…lots of traffic…tonight at the Cracker Barrel in Kerrville TX…one of my favorite stops…super quiet and peaceful…planning on a 500 mile day tomorrow….I’m just over 1000 miles from Quartzsite Arizona.
6 January…Saturday…the winds are howling in west Texas…only drove about 250 miles before throwing in the towel…30 to 50 mph headwinds….fuel mileage is in the pits and being the cheap person I am, I stopped in Fort Stockton rather than waste fuel pushing through the wind…another Walmart…nice though…I’ll leave early in the morning to make some more miles before the winds spool up.
My niece Alyx was invited to join the Black Belt group at her Dojo…it’s rare for a student who’s not at that level yet to be afforded the honor…all the Sensi’s agreed her dedication and spirit to the discipline are worthy of the invite. I pray the things she’s learning about herself, life, and ways to treat others stay with her.
7 January Sunday…dinner around 5 in the afternoon yesterday then in bed warm and cozy under my new comforter….wanted to get to sleep early so I could rise early to get a start on the winds…set the alarm for 3 am…was on the road by 3:30 headed west…temps across west Texas were 15F…pretty cold…Interstate 10 was closed just west of El Paso so I had to make a 130 mile detour around Fort Bliss and the White Sands Missile areas…sucked but there was no other way…now hunkered down at the Walmart in Deming New Mexico for the night…winds are now from the south…30 mph with gust over 60…van is rocking and rolling.
8 January Monday…well…everything is iced over…the van, the parking lot, the roads…temp is 21F…wind is still howling…I think I’ll spend the day here…if the winds subside and the roads thaw I may head further west…probably not though…snow plows are out scraping the highway…about 8 RV’s here in the lot…let’s see how many continue down the road…more after the break.
Van cranked right up…I moved to another spot in the Walmart lot so the morning sun will be on the iced side of the van to try and get it de-iced…no ice at all on the driver side as it was facing away from the wind last night.
Locks are all frozen on the trailer doors…not a problem as I have nothing I need to get from the trailer.
I love this stuff 🙂
The downtime today let me do a bit a rearranging inside the camper, a bit of cleaning, and a bit of lounging…turned the passenger seat around so I could recline and listen to some podcast about the Wild West…sometimes I think I was born a hundred years too late… 🙂
Decided to head on out around 1030….roads are clear but the wind is still kickin…made it about 50 miles to the Flying J near Lordsburg…cars, trucks, and other RVs dodging GIANT tumbleweeds that are being blown across the road at 500 mph… I not happy…so…had a nice Flying J shower ($18!!!!)…when you only take a proper shower once a week or so when traveling it’s ok…other days it’s a good wipe down with baby towels each night before bed…works really well…same as taking a shower…you only clean the outer bits either way…spaghetti for lunch with 4 cookies for desert…I’ll stay here tonight watching folks come and go in all kinds of vehicles…entertaining…every hour or so a huge freight train rumbles by in the distance across the valley…I love hearing their horns echo as they approach…might be a fitful night sleeping tonight but I don’t mind.
10 Jan….had an uneventful drive to Quartzsite yesterday…no wind and temps milder…met Virginia and Elizabeth out on Plomosa Road…all set up…mountains all around and no neighbors nearby…all good…slept like a baby last night…super quiet…furnace humming along softly…Virginia knocked on the door around 0730…coffee and good conversation for over an hour…then oatmeal and a walk…cleaned the dust off the solar panels and they are cooking with the clear skies and plenty of sun…my friend Anthony will be arriving this afternoon…gonna be good times for sure.
13 January….gang’s all here…having a great time….the tent is Anthony’s expedition condo 🙂
Anthony headed back to Vegas today…Katy with her class C camper and her daughter with her Ram Promaster camper showed up around 3…they’er cooking shrimp tonight…life is good 🙂
My shower set up is working perfect…on demand hot water is good.
16 Jan….here’s a few shots of my camp here in the desert…lots of folks around me but not real close…super quiet at night…been getting some nice rides in around the area on the bike.
The ladies all went to skooliepalooza in Ehrenberg down the road…I stayed behind because I didn’t want to put up with the crowds at the event….temps here have been in the low 40’s to upper 60’s…clear skies and hardy any wind…life is good.
19 Jan…up around 0430 this morning…all good…I’m usually am in bed by 1900 and spend a couple of hours listening to podcast…I like the true crime and history stuff…I sleep very well in my little cocoon…the new all cotton, down filled blanket is just fine…before bed each night I give the floor in the van a little vacuum with the DeWalt Hepa (LOVE that thing)….teeth all brushed…in the mornings coffee as usual along with either a Jimmy Dean sausage, egg, cheese cresent roll thing or oatmeal with an apple…then a nice mile to mile and a half walk to exercise the legs…mornings in the desert are wonderful….maybe a second cup of coffee…the extra water tank in the trailer is working great for showers…normally I take a proper shower every few days…with no humidity and a few Pamper wipes I never really feel dirty here in the desert….run the little Honda generator for an hour each morning to top off the batteries…in the winter the sun is at a low angle out here so the solar panels don’t put out full power….not a problem though as I’ve never come close to running out of power….Virginia left the other day to caravan with some of her other friends…they are headed down to Baja the first of next month…me….I have no idea where I’m gonna go…but…it will be where the weather is good and the people are above average.
20 Jan….nice and quiet tonight but I woke up at 0230 and couldn’t get back to sleep…so up and at’em….coffee…I’ve been watching lots of youtube videos about how people heat their campers…it is winter after all…propane heaters, wood stoves, candle with a flower pot over it, electric with a generator…the list goes on and on with folks arguing about what is best…all of them say whatever they are using is almost as good as a diesel heater…hmmmm….I can’t understand why they continue to struggle with the disadvantages of all the other ways of heating when diesel heaters are so cheap these days (cheap chinese heater) and easy to install…when I built the camper I invested in one of the Espar units….very high quality…and very expensive…but you know me, I’m too poor to buy cheap stuff…I wanted to invest in something that will outlast all the cheap stuff…in the long run it pays off with years of good service not to mention peace of mind…I did upgrade to the latest model with the high altitude sensor built-in and super quiet fuel pump and fan…all good…except for about three hours of normal maintenance every year it’s working well…I did have a rough spot with the unit but it came down to operator error…me…when I head off to dreamland I set it for 66 degrees and it holds the cabin temp right there until I stir awake…once a month on the first I set it for 90 degrees and let it run wide open for about 20 minutes to clear out the combustion chamber…all is well.
Gonna take the bike into town today to get some milk and cookies….love the new little Honda…will cruise at 70 mph all day so I don’t get run over and gets great gas mileage….so far averaging over 80mpg since I got her…each day I take a slow ride up and down Plomosa Road sightseeing all the cool campers around me…there are literally thousands and thousands of folks out here enjoying the desert around Quartzsite…the Big Tent Show opens today…I’ll pass on the crowds for a few days before I go and take a look around to see all the cheap stuff the vendors are selling to RV’ers.
Next week I think I’ll move down to a spot I like on top of a knoll near the town of Bouse…Virginia, Anthony and I have camped there a few times….great 360 degree views of the valley and mountains that surround the spot…and quiet…I love the quiet…In a world where you are constantly bombarded with noise and ads for stuff a person doesn’t need but are told it’s what they need it’s like being in Heaven out here…more after the break.
Breaks over…just watched a nice video about a guy camping in the snow…. I want some snow…so…I think I may head up into Nevada next week…I love the little community of Rachel…it’s right outside Area 51 along highway 365 also known as the Extra Terrestrial Highway…you know I love me some UFO’s…my little home on wheels is well set up to cocoon me in comfort no matter what the weather…hopefully we’ll get some white humidity there…I really enjoy having a coffee in comfort and watching foul weather outside…peaceful for sure.
Was thinking about getting another Battle Born lithium battery to add to the four I already have…I came to my senses…I’ve never had a problem with power so why spend another $800 when my niece and I could spend that at Walmart…sometimes I’m not right in the head.
These should bring a chuckle to your head….
Anyway…I packed up and headed to Parker to resupply my water and grub…there’s a great new place in Parker where you can get all the fresh water you want for $4…called the Boondockers Pit Stop…nice lady running the place…I got about 40 gallons…that should last me about 11 years…then topped off the diesel….Walmart for groceries…headed back south to my favorite spot near Bouse for a few weeks…it’s the place Virginia, Anthony, and I have spent many a night telling lies to each other…very few other campers around me and none closer than about a quarter mile…good…here’s a few photos…I’m parked on top of a knoll and surrounded by beautiful mountains…storms always come over the mountains and across the valley right out my side door…I love watching them come towards me…supposed to have some tomorrow…can’t wait.
The fire ring we made a coupled of years ago is still here…I brought the firewood with me.
21 Jan Sunday…great night’s sleep…wakened by a gentle rain tapping on the roof vent above the bed…it’s one of the best ways to greet another day…coffee was as usual, great…the first cup of the day always taste the best…rain is now stopped…I use these times when the van has been rinsed off by nature to give her a little rub down…the rain had removed most of the dirt so a gentle wipe is all it takes to make her purdy again…I have four old cotton towels for the job…when done I hang’em on the rear ladder to dry…doesn’t take very long out here with the low humidity…then a good shake and they’re ready to go again.
I made a cup of tea around midday…have some sweet tasting green tea that appeals to me…I use the Keurig coffee maker with no K-Cup in it to heat the water…works perfect…put a teabag in my cup, set the amount, and that’s all it takes…in the past I used a Jetboil thingy to heat the water…it took about two minutes to come to a boil…the Keurig less than one minute to do the same thing plus I don’t have to set it up and disassemble it like the Jetboil…being a bit lazy is a good thing sometimes 🙂
22 January Monday
Each morning brings the promise of a better day…a small prayer for family and friends…a realization of how small each of us actually are…and here in the desert…quietness…the best medicine…as I step out of the camper the little porch light whispers “good morning”….and most times it is…beautiful…we cannot recreate the beauty and serenity of nature…all we can do is remember the gift of a new day…and a gift it is…many will not see this day…they are moving on…me…the first breath is always the best.
timstravelingcircus.com 