Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

September 2017

Last Night on the Road

Holbrook, AZ

Tonight is the last campground stay on this wonderful excursion. We will have covered about 4300 road miles over a period of three weeks. We got as far east as the Mississippi River at Dubuque, Iowa and as far north as Fargo, North Dakota.

Damsel and I both agree that this was a fun and interesting trip. Personally, I got to knock off some “bucket list” items, including visiting the last two of the fifty American states, driving the “Million Dollar Highway,” watching a total solar eclipse and visited and decorated the graves of some on my ancestors.

In the morning, we will break camp after the usual breakfast and chores and head west toward Flagstaff on I-40 and then south on I-17 to AZ 74, over to US 60 and on into Wickenburg. We look forward to being home again and getting back into our routine. The next anticipated road trip will likely be around Thanksgiving when our third great grandchild is due in Northern California.

04 Sep 2017 by Arizona Retirement Wanderlust

Hooked Up in Albuquerque

Albuquerque

We arrived at this campground this afternoon after taking I-25 from Raton, in northern Mew Mexico, down to I-40 and west to the west side of Albuquerque. After passing Santa Fe, the traffic increased by a significant factor and, of course, when getting to Albuquerque, it doubled again.

We stopped for supplies on the way in Las Vegas (the other one). We wanted to purchase some beer and a bottle of wine at the Walmart, but there is a screwy ordinance that forbids sale of adult beverages within a certain distance form schools or churches. Weird.

Since this trip started, one of the daily chores has been to debug the huge windscreen of the RV. I have a scrubber on a long pole which gets dipped in soapy water and that gets followed up with a rinse from the hose and then the long pole squeegee comes out to finish the job. Trouble is, the next drive is only an hour underway and the windscreen is again littered with numerous flying insects.

We are still having a lot of fun even though the trip will be over soon. One more stop in Holbrook, AZ, tomorrow, and then the leg home.

03 Sep 2017 by Retirement Wanderlust

Camping in Raton, NM

Raton

We left La Junta, Colorado this morning and headed west along US 50 until arriving at Pueblo. We chose an indirect route to our evening destination in Raton, NM, for the reason outlined in the following paragraph.

Since we were going on this long excursion after the eclipse, we planned to visit the cemetery where two great grandparents, two grandparents, two uncles and an aunt are buried. After we resolved a GPS glitch, we finally found the graveyard. To make a longer story shorter, we had an almost illegible map of the cemetery, but between some basic intuition and by the Grace of God, we found the family plot. Damsel and I were able to lay some colorful wreaths on the graves. It was a moving experience for both of us.

After the stop in Pueblo, we headed south on I-25, eventually getting back into the mountainous north central area of New Mexico, where we are currently posting this. Tomorrow, more mountains and valleys on our way south to pick up Interstate 40 westbound. We have reservations at a campground near the west side of Albuquerque, NM.

02 Sep 2017 by Ancestors Retirement Wanderlust

La Junta, Southeastern Colorado

La Junta

Today, after “gettin’ outa Dodge,” we headed west on US 50 along the route to our next stop. The trip was mostly uneventful, with a little rain an hour into the drive with clearing the rest of the way.

The road west on US 50 took us through numerous little Kansas and Colorado towns. All very scenic with the usual crops, cattle feed lots and creeks, rivers and railways.

At one point, Damsel had her camera pointed at a passing BNSF locomotive with flatcars behind. The crew must have seen her with the camera, because when they passed us, they blew the diesel electric rig’s deafening horn. That startled us at first but then we both laughed. There was no RR crossing when they did that.

We’re now parked in the KOA and enjoying our evening. Tomorrow, we visit some more ancestors’ graves in Pueblo, CO and then on south into New Mexico.

01 Sep 2017 by Retirement Wanderlust

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