8 October…no sleep at all last night in Flagstaff…the Cracker Barrel parking lot was filled and the traffic noise was spectacular…plus homeless roaming all night…sucked but none bothered anyone.
Drove a few miles down to Seligman…picked up old Route 66 at exit 139 off interstate 40…mostly deserted road so I ran along about 45 mph…thinking about all the history and millions of people who used this road last century to get to California during the depression and the dust bowl years…google it and you’ll be astounded by the misery they were trying to escape…here’s a few shots from Seligman AZ…a town that was forgotten when I-40 took the traffic off Rt66…the town is surviving with a thriving tourist trade these days.
Found a great place to stay for the night a few miles outside Seligman…it’s at an old decommissioned Rt 66 bridge…the bridge is an overpass for the railroad lines…really neat being able to actually park right on an old section of the roadway.
And of coarse I had to get a photo of my beautiful niece’s cup sitting on one of the most famous roads in the world.
Well what I thought was gonna be nice turned out not to be…the trains are coming by about every 45 minutes…no sleep again tonight if I stay here…so…I drove back a few miles to a place I looked at earlier….a little side pull out at the top of a pass about 5 miles east of Seligman…wonderful and quiet…so nice…having a coffee and watching this scene play out…nothing can compare to a higher being’s handiwork…this is why I love to be out in the deserts.
11 October…I’m set up for the night at one of my favorite spots in the dessert just north of Quartzsite AZ…Plumosa Road…only a few other hardy souls around cause the wind is howling about 1500 mph…Petunia is rockin and rollin…85 degrees outside so I’ve got the A/C hummin along…spent the last two nights at my friends Susan and Phillip’s home in Lake Havasu City…always great conversation and food…many thanks for your never ending hospitality!
Tomorrow I’ll head to Santee California outside San Diego to get the suspension work done on the van…the folks at Agile Offroad will do the conversion Wednesday then Thursday the people at Stability Alignment will check to make sure every thing is straight before I start the long drive back across the country…gotta get back cause my niece is pissed I’ve been gone so long 🙂
13 October…had nice relaxing day here at Agile Offroad…suspension is all done and now just parking here again overnight until I can get to my appointment tomorrow at the alignment shop for a quick check to make sure everything’s straight…then it’s wheels up back across the country…again…love to travel.
The folks here are really busy doing all kinds of neat stuff to vans…Petunia’s on the lift
All done…two inches of lift for nice clearance front and rear but most of all, new coil over struts up front, 5400 pound rated multi leaf spring pack in the rear, Fox 2.0 Performance shocks, and 20mm wheel spacers on each corner for a bit wider track to make sure the front tires clear the new coils at full lock…took it for a short drive…the thing rides and drives great…I should’ve done this upgrade a long time ago.
Now I’ll have no worry’s about trailer tongue weight or packing anything I may want to take with me with the new spring set.
15 October …I’m having an efficient but pretty boring drive on interstate 10 back across the country…decided to hop off the interstate at Alamosa and take smaller roads over to Artesia New Mexico… I have a prime parking spot at the Artesia Walmart…life is good
BTW….this trip will be over 8,000 miles by the time I get back to FL…already have the oil, oilfilter, fuel filter, air filter, and cable filters ordered…I do all my own servicing…saves me about $25,000 instead of letting Mercedes do it.
Cant’ wail to hook the trailer up with one of the bikes loaded and head up to North Georgia for a few days next month…I love the area around the Two Wheels of Suches Moto campground…hopefully my buddies Roger and Patrick can meet up with me…always fun sitting around lying to each other about stuff we do 🙂
Most places I park for the night are usually on a slope…with the van sitting a bit higher in the rear than the front, many times I don’t need to use the leveling blocks as much…I just park with the van headed slightly uphill and the extra height in the rear makes the blocks un-needed most of the time…nice.
I’ve been using the Walmart wifi when I park for night at one of their stores…pretty good…I always connect through a VPN…the Walmart network is not secured so a VPN is a must…I use NORD VPN…can’t be too safe these days with all the crooks online trying to steal your stuff.
Crawled in the sack around 2000 last night…I’m listening to Podcast from “Legends Of The Old West”…really good…I’m in the middle of a 10 part series on Billy the Kid and the Lincoln county wars…I’ll be stopping by Lincoln NM next year…they have a great museum and the town is just like is was in the late 1800’s…really cool.
It’s about 0400…all quiet here this morning…got fresh muffins and coffee waiting…planning on stopping just short of Dallas today…spend the night then head around the city….will be Sunday so traffic should not be a problem…I hate traffic.
2 December…been a while…I’ve been in FL visiting friends and family since the end of October…all is good…the drive back across from the west was uneventful…getting ready for Christmas…love this time of year…my beautiful niece is growing like a weed and gets smarter every day..already surpassed me with the intelligence quotient…took a little drive yesterday up to the Cracker Barrel outside St. Augustine for the night…quiet as usual…I explored some nice back roads along the St Johns River on the way up…looked at a couple of boondocking spots along the way…I’m spending the day at Gamble Rogers Recreation Area…I’m parked right on the beach…beautiful day…made pancakes this morning in one of my new cast iron skillets…got it seasoned well and no sticking at all…peanut butter sammies for lunch…the new suspension on the van is awesome… can’t wait to get to Alaska next year…put my Honda Trail 125 up for sale…already got a call about it…we will see.
Will probably head back to the Cracker Barrel tonight for dinner and a sleep…then back home.
1 Jan, 2022…been on the road now for a few days…traveling slow and easy…tonight is my third Cracker Barrel in a row…great they let travelers stay in their lots overnight…first planned area of interest is Lincoln NM…Billy the Kid country…want to poke around the town again…then to Tombstone…love the old west history…running the AC in the van now…temp outside here in Conroe TX is 84f…sucks…a bit of a tearful exit from Florida the other day…my sweet niece was not happy I was leaving for a while…but…she is growing up and learning that every now and then I want to travel and be alone for a bit…was certainly better for her this time…and me…proud of her.
Nice little gathering of vans in Tallahassee the other night…I’m the only one with a step stool to get in and out of the van….
2 Jan…almost across Texas…big place…drove mostly small back roads all day today…tonight I’m at the Super Walmart in San Angelo TX…really nice…huge level parking lot and no crowds…got me a primo spot with a tree for ambiance.
I have 6 gallons of gas for my generator now with the two 3 gallon Rotopax’s….I don’t carry gasoline inside the van.
My brother in law and sister gave me a beautiful Gerber knife to use for my bushcraft and cooking…glued a small magnet on the side of my spice rack to hold it…easy
3 Jan….drifted off to sleep last night wrapped in my old favorite blankie listening to the furnace gently humming along…70F at bedtime…woke this morning to a glorious 13F day…not much to report other than the drive up and over Couldcroft to Alamogosa NM was really beautiful…now at the Walmart…way in the back where it’s nice and quiet…one more day on the road then I’ll be in Quartzsite for a few weeks…decided to skip Lincoln on the way out…been there before…I REALLY want to get out in the desert and set up for a week or so…I’m tired of driving…my cast iron skillet is now well seasoned and cooks wonderfully…I make one pan meals…tonight I had a salad at 5…then two chicken tenders fried up in the skillet at 6…and now, 4 chocolate chip cookies at 6:15 for dessert.
A nice Roadtrek 190 camper van just pulled in a few spaces from me…wonder who’s inside…I meet all kinds of folks on the road…maybe the occupants will be outside in the morning so I can say howdy.
Fuel prices have been between $3.30 and $3.95 a gallon for diesel so far…last year I paid between $1.85 and $2.25…thanks Brandon 😦
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