Young Snowbirds» Travel Day

Day 48 – Tombstone to Van Horn Texas

Rob — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:54:15 +0000

After spending three days in Tombstone, and visiting Bisbee, we pulled out of our Tombstone rv park and began our two day journey towards San Antonio, Texas. We’d be driving clear through New Mexico without stopping to see the sights. Darlene had registered for an HDR Photography course with Ben Willmore that was taking place in downtown San Antonio, so we had a deadline to meet. It was to be a long day behind the wheel with 9 hours of driving putting us 424 miles further east and south into Van Horn, Texas.

424 miles and 9 hours from Tombstone to Van Horn Texas

Thinking about a banner photograph for the top of the blog, I wanted to get some pictures of the motorhome on Freemont street in front of the OK Corral. We were leaving Tombstone for good, and I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity.

Turns out that next to the OK Corral was Tombstone City Hall.

We made our way back through Benson, backtracking a bit before heading east. Just as we made the turn onto the ramp for the freeway, we saw a simple looking, clean shaven and dressed, elderly hitchhiker. We quickly sized him up and stopped to offer a ride. He was carrying a sign labeled “Lordsburg.”

Read our travel tip about picking up hitchhikers in the rv for more about our guest, Ken the traveling missionary.

His destination was Lordsburg New Mexico, so after dropping him off, got some fuel. We pulled in tight behind another vehicle so that the pumps would reach our tank. After topping up for $2.39 a gallon (our cheapest yet), we found out that the guy in the truck in front of us had locked his keys inside. We had to wait 30 minutes for the locksmith to arrive before we could move on.

Next stop was Las Cruces where we made use of the clearly labeled Award Winning Rest Area. Dar spotted one huge roadrunner and went over to investigate. It’s over 15 feet tall and made completely out of garbage. Very odd.

photo by some random tourist Dar gave her camera to

After a short rest, we took off again for Texas, a short ride from Las Cruces. As we drove along, we realized how close we were getting to the Mexico border. Just before crossing into Texas we began to see cows in factory farms back to back to back. We actually stopped talking and got a bit emotional.

After seeing so many cows out in the fields enjoying the sun and the grass beneath their feet on our trip through Montana and Idaho, these factory farms made us very sad. It’s the first we’d seen.

We crossed over into Texas and headed towards El Paso where we’d stop for diner. We wanted to eat close to the Mexico border, so pulled off the freeway and turned West. When roads started getting weird and buildings suspect, we changed our minds. Finally finding a little place in a mall where we could park, we stopped for a very inexpensive meal costing less than $10 for the two of us.

We left El Paso and headed towards Van Horn.

Darlene had three RV parks she wanted to check out in Van Horn, so we plugged them into the GPS and headed further into Texas.

As we pulled into the first RV Park in Van Horn, we heard the train. It was right across the street. After our experience in Tucson at Whispering Palms, we decided to continue looking. Finally finding a KOA further away from the train, but costing nearly $40 for the night, we pulled in. After 424 miles and 9 hours of driving, we were tired and just wanted to sleep, whatever the cost.

Day 42 – Moved Out of Phoenix and Into Tucson

Rob — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:05:42 +0000

After 30 days at Destiny RV park in Goodyear Arizona, we said good bye to our neighbors Bob and Joanna, packed up and began the short 2 hour trip to Tucson Arizona. One quick stop along the way at the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch to feed the Ostrich, deer, goats, mules and Lorikeets before pulling into the Whispering Palms RV Park, just off the I-10 and Prince Road.

Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch

Just south of Eloy Arizona, which is about half way to Tucson from Phoenix, and on a road running parallel to the I-10 we found a place Dar really wanted to go to, the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch.

We paid the $5 each for a cup of animal food which included a little cup of nectar for the Lorikeets and walked straight up to the Ostrich. I’d seem them from a distance when I was on safari in Africa, but this would be the first time I’d touched or fed one.

Dar wanted to get some ostrich photographs, so I distracted them with the little food pellets as she snapped away.

It was bound to happen, and I finally got bit. One big bugger decided that he wanted my whole hand and grabbed onto my finger. They’ve got no real teeth to speak of that I can tell, but their entire beaks clamp down and drag your skin off. My finger and thumb took the brunt of his “kiss”.

We noticed sore spots on their necks from where they were leaning their necks over the top of the fence and it was kinda sad to see.

Next to feed were the deer.

After feeding a few of them, Dar noticed that their hooves were curling up and way too long for their feet. I’d never seen that before either and we both stopped for a moment to consider what it was that we were doing. We believe that we “vote” on things by how we spend our money. We buy pasture raised chickens and organic foods, knowing that our choices in the food we eat are actually voting for a methodology. One BIG reason we do not eat fast food is because for every burger eaten, it has to be replaced and in replacing it, another animal suffers.

As we stood there feeding the deer, noticing their hooves, we both got a little sick.

As we turned to the goats and the donkeys, here too we began to feel more like we were making sure the animals got enough to eat rather than enjoying our time with them.

Lastly, we entered the Lorikeets aviary where we watched the birds play follow the leader. That was pretty cool.

Overall, I’d say not to visit the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch, unless you feel strongly about feeding what seems to be some poorly fed animals.

Tucson Arizona

We pulled into Tucson and had a quick look at a couple of RV Parks just off the I-10 on Prince Road. We had nothing booked and were just flying by the seat of our pants here. Wanting a campsite for only 3 nights, we found that the rock and gem show was moving into town and the RV’ers had reserved all the spots.

We crossed under the I-10 to another area a few blocks away loaded with RV parks and found one able to accommodate us, called Whispering Palms RV Park.

We parked, got leveled, hooked up and then heard the train.

It was roughly 5:00 Monday night, so we thought we’d go for a drive downtown to scout out what we were going to be seeing over the next couple of days. The idea was that Darlene wanted to see museums and photo exhibits while I wanted to see the Biosphere 2 and Titan Missile Museum. Her sights were downtown Tucson, while mine were 30 minutes away in opposite directions.

Fourth Avenue Tucson

Stumbling upon fourth avenue in downtown Tucson was not an accident (see Fourth Avenue website for more info). We compared it to Whyte Ave on Edmonton’s south side or fourth avenue in Vancouver’s Kitsilano district in that it was a collection of whole food restaurants, head shops, alternative music and book stores and a very cool organic food co-op called “Food Conspiracy” where we stocked up on goods for the coming week. We immediately felt at home.

Fantastic Organic Food Co-op on Fourth Avenue in Downtown Tucson

We noted a few possible places to eat and one Guatemalan restaurant stood out above the rest. We popped our head into a couple of the shops while walking up and down both sides of the avenue and then headed back to our RV for the night.

Just as we closed the RV door behind us, we heard the second of many more trains go by. Not sure where the “Whispering” in “whispering palms” comes from exactly.

Images in this post are available for purchase on the Her View Photography online gallery at Zenfolio.com.

Day 11 – Christmas in Phoenix

Rob — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:41:34 +0000

After sleeping in a bit, we pulled out of Kingman on Christmas morning. Our space heater had kept us nice and warm during the night without having to run the LP gas furnace. It gets surprisingly cold at night in the desert. After a short 4 hour trip through some amazing landscape, we pulled into our RV park in Goodyear Arizona. Joshua tree’s and various types of cacti dotted the countryside along with beautiful rock formations.

Saguaro cacti

At one point Dar said “what the heck is out here” and this sign flashed by ironically. “NOTHING” it was a long stretch where we saw no signs of civilization.

Joshua tree forest

Our trusty GPS brought us to our destination, Destiny RV Park, in the early afternoon. The RV park office was closed, but the watchman guy registered us, escorted us to our parking spot and promptly sold Rob a sewer line trough contraption for $30. He informed us that county ordinance states that RV sewer lines cannot touch the ground and must be on enough of an incline so that they drain properly. The PVC tube and trough contraptions can be seen at various locations around the park, and quite frankly, do what they’re supposed to do, so he parted with the $30.

The very first thing we noticed was the orange tree located 5 feet off our front porch, full of navel oranges. Behind us was a grapefruit tree full of grapefruit and so on all through the park. Citrus is everywhere!
After hooking up the sewage, power and water, we met our neighbors, a couple our own age with their teen age daughter, Bob and Joanne. They sold their house in Washington and are spending a year on the road in their 1962 greyhound bus conversion.

Bob told us about the various shopping districts around the area so our next duties were a scouting mission. We both had our Isagenix meal replacement shakes and then took off to see what the area held.

Turns out we’re just around the corner from an organic farm, a safeway, blockbuster video, Ace hardware, Walmart, another walmart and yet another walmart.

Lessons learned today are not to rely on Walmarts, Albertsons or Walgreen’s as landmarks, because they all look the same and they’re located on just about every corner. And… an interesting fact: Walmart makes $3 Million dollars in revenue every 7 minutes. Holy crow eh? Also – find out what is meant when an RV park advertises “WIFI here”, as it was not included with this park’s fees and we have to pay for each of our laptops to connect – ouch!

After heading home, Dar cooked a meal and we watched Inglorious Basterds curled up together on the pull out bed in our front room. Dar had no idea it pulled out into a bed the way it did. Merry Christmas from the dessert of Arizona!

Day 10 – Hoover Dam

Darlene — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:11:02 +0000

As the winds had now died down, we were cleared for leaving. Rob wanted to go on the tour of the Hoover Dam so that was our first stop. When entering the dam area, vehicles have to go through a security check point and they stop all RVs and do a search of the underneath compartments, and inside. We did that, no problems, and they security guard told us that RV parking was lot #13.

We passed that lot and it was too tight a turn and small for the RV and car, so we kept going. #14 was just a roadside turn out and was completely empty. Initially we stopped there but Dar wasn’t happy parking on a slant like that so we decided to go up the hill one more lot.

At that particular lot, Rob couldn’t make the turn and had traffic piled up behind us – so onward we went. We soon realized that was the last parking lot (or first if you come in from the AZ side) and there was nowhere to turn a big rig around to go back. Now we passed out the security on the other side and were soon 5-6 miles past the dam.

Dar knew Rob really wanted to take the dam tour, so suggested he pull over on a wide shoulder, unhook the car and take it back there, while she waited in the RV. That’s exactly what he did.

Two hours later, Rob returned, after having taken the Power Plant tour (was a 2 hour wait for dam tours) but he seemed satisfied with that. Next stop Kingman, AZ.

Arriving in Kingman about 5:30pm (we gained an hour coming into AZ from NV) we wisely decided to stop at Safeway and get food for tonight and tomorrow as stores may not be opened and we’re pretty much out of fresh items. The store closed 10 minutes after we left, so our timing was impeccable.

We successfully found the Zuni Village RV Park, but as expected the office was closed for the holidays already. I’m actually surprised by the self-serve nature of many of these parks. If you arrive after 6pm you just park where you find a spot and they trust you’ll register and put your money in the slot, even if you leave before the office is opened.

The night manager that checked us into our very first park in Great Falls, MT said he is just a guy that lives there and noticed many people leaving without paying so they appointed him night manager. But I wonder how many parks lose money because of this honesty approach??

We spent Christmas Eve pretty much unaware of the holiday going on around us. People keep wishing us Merry Christmas and we’re like “oh yeah, it’s Christmas”. Dar did miss being at her mom’s house for her annual open house though.

***things we saw – a road runner, and some young bighorn sheep. Finally, some wildlife!!!

Lessons learned:

That when you have a parking place for the RV at the Hoover Dam, go with it and don’t second guess it cause there’s no going back.

Day 6 – Two Days in Pahrump Nevada

Darlene — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:56:09 +0000

Drive time today was short and sweet. Left Mesquite without paying (because their system was dumb says Dar, no one in the office and to pay by visa required searching the grounds of their closed hotel/resort to find the open office of the casino) and drove the 2.5 hours to Pahrump, home of Art Bell. We stopped in Vegas to visit the Whole Foods Market and had lunch before continuing up one of the longest and steepest hills Rob has seen so far. He said that the engine temperature reached the hottest he’d ever seen it. What goes up must come down as the saying goes, and it was true here as well.

When driving up hills of this grade, an RV of this weight slows down considerably, not to mention pulling a car as well. Even with the engine gearing down, speeds still slow down to 60 km/h and lower. Once reaching the top and heading back down the other side, it’s important to disengage the overdrive and keep the vehicle below 80 km/h. This is best done by using the engine to slow it down, and using the brakes as little as possible.

We had NO pre-arranged plans in Pahrump, so flying by the seat of our pants, found an RV park called Preferred RV Resort right behind Terribles Casino. Very nice place actually. Fully fenced and secured boasting 3 Laundromats, a pool, hot tub and the cheapest propane in the city!

Pahrump Nevada - Home of Art Bell

Speaking of propane, we decide to take stock of our resources.

As it turns out, our propane tank was sitting at about 1/8^th full. Just enough to get through the night, and hopefully (for Rob’s sake) a 2^nd night as propane fills are limited to Tuesdays and Thursdays for one hour on each of those days.

We found that our black water tanks were full too and needed emptying.

Alas, our sewer hose was too short to reach the hookup. We needed to make a trip to an RV supply store or find another place.

We left the cats alone and took off in search of a propane station that had booster tanks (kind of like a Jerry can for propane) and a new sewer hose.

After getting directions and then driving around “most” of Pahrump to talk to various service stations that had propane, survey results showed that they had no idea what a propane booster tank was. Any taxi driver who drove in the 80’s and 90’s knows what I’m talking about, but here in Pahrump…. Nada.

So, we headed to our RV supply store for the next items on our list.

Closed. (it is Sunday after all)

Obviously, the next logical stop was the local winery for a tasting.

Nevada Wine

The Pahrump Valley Winery located just off the freeway on Winery road, of course, (at the intersection with Rainbow road), boasts a wonderful variety of flavors. Only 2 are made with grapes grown locally while the rest are made with grapes grown in California.

After tasting, and buying 2 bottles of their Burgundy, one of their Symphony and some mulled wine spices, we headed for Walmart.

Walmart in this town, or so we’re told, has a large supply of RV accessories. We found a 20’ sewer hose we were looking for decided to leave. Before doing so, Dar found a compact RV type vacuum she liked and so for $35 we bought it too.

Supper was next on the list and after stopping to look at the Chinese Buffet with the “Make it yourself stir fry station” at the Terrible Casino, we opted for another location.

Mexican again it was, el Cancun.

Dar loves Mexican food as it’s a great vegetarian option. She was really low blood sugar and would agree to anything at this point, but Rob made a decision and Mexican it was.

Turns out that it was a wonderful place and the food was great. Rob noted that the bathrooms were the cleanest he’d seen in the US so far, and that’s GOT to be good.

Food was fantastic. Highly recommend them.

Upon returning to the house, laundry and sewage was first on the list.

Well, remember the cats that had been locked up all day?

Someone, and it wasn’t Rob, had closed both doors to the bathroom where the cat litter box was. Dar wondered “do you think they may have peed somewhere in the RV again?” (just for the record Dar says, “technically they aren’t my cats so ROB needs to make sure they’re taken care of)

Rob began work on the sewage system and the emptying of the tanks while Dar got started on the laundry.

After throwing in a load of laundry and emptying the tanks of human waste, we settled in for the night.

We decided to conserve fuel and not run the propane heating system until we headed for bed, so even though we were in the desert, temps began to fall. Dar decided to layer her clothing.

“Why are my clothes wet?”

Oh ya, the cats, locked out of their cat litter box. Not their fault this time.

Back to the laundry again.

***Things we saw: tumbleweeds, a license plate that said “WAY HOT” and clothes littering the highway at one point. An angry spouse perhaps?

Lessons learned:

that there is a fine line between filling up the propane and carrying too much weight, and running it too close to empty.
That the RV park we are staying at only pumps it 2 days a week and only for one hour, and you have to take your RV to the filling station
That Dar gets really cranky when she’s cold, and is really tired of dealing with cat urine
That a black cat out at night is hard to find, and she was scared that nothing was the same, sounds, smells, etc. the flashlight in her face didn’t help, only the sound of Rob’s voice brought her out of hiding under the RV.

Day 5 – 20% Fuel Efficiency Improvement

Darlene — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:52:34 +0000

After being up so late dealing with cat pee the night earlier, we slept in a bit and then went to Walmart first thing in the morning to get cat supplies. The cats have been great in that they could have been scratching a lot more then they have been but have been controlling themselves. Knowing cats very well, Rob could sense the tension building and wanted to give them an outlet. 3 scratching devices were purchased, filled with catnip and laid out in the motorhome. They went at them immediately!

The car was loaded back onto the dolly, tightened down, power unhooked from it’s supply and the RV legs stored away for travel.

For the second time of our journey so far, we left at 11:11.

It’s been a blessing that we travel with our toilet facilities and do not have to stop every few minutes for Dar to relieve herself, but as convenient as it has been, Rob still has to find a place to pull out of the way before he can do HIS business.

Today was to be a 5 and a half hour drive from SLC to Mesquite Nevada according to google maps and traveling the speed limit of 75 mph. However, for the motorhome to achieve a speed of 75 mph, it would have to be a BIG downhill grade and even at that, would not be safe. With our reasonable 55 to 60 mph, we are more fuel efficient but a bunch slower. The 5.5 hour trip will take closer to 7.5 hours.

On one of Rob’s pee breaks, Scipio Utah was chosen, as it was recommended by a photographer friend, Adrienne. She told us at our going away party that there was a set of unique antique gas pumps in front of a gas station there. Scipio is a VERY small town and the pumps referenced were easy to find.

As Rob stretched his legs, Dar took photos.

After a short 3 minute jaunt, Rob discovered a very interesting antique shop down the road. His attention was immediately drawn to a compound bow and arrow displayed outside on the front steps.

Rob once owned a compound bow when he was growing up and for the past few weeks had been imagining owning one again. He visualized the bow and the razor tipped arrows he wanted. Alas, his powers of manifestation were working quite well and the Universe provided. Tagged at an already fair price of $35, a talk with the owner provided a 20% discount for a new low price of $28. Rob asked the gentlemen, “Do you take Visa?” to which he replied, “No, but I’ll take a cheque check!”.

Rob got his bow for $25 cash and stored it away in the RV basement.

Mexican Food In Beaver Utah

We got back on the road heading south trying to make up as much mileage as possible before stopping for lunch.

After seeing all the Mexican restaurant signs in SLC, we wanted some. Signs on the highway indicated Kan Kun Mexican Restaurant in Beaver Utah, so we slowed down and exited the freeway.

After a wonderful vegetarian Mexican meal, Rob got in 20 minutes of walking while Dar took more photos.

Quantum Energy Magnets

We decided to gas up before leaving.

This was our first tank of gas after putting the quantum magnets into play. After testing the quantum energy patches on his Jeep over the past few years and the magnets on the Topaz, we were expecting great results on the RV.

We were right.

20% Increase In Fuel Efficiency on Our Motorhome

Calculations showed that the RV had a 20% increase in fuel efficiency. We were able to travel farther and use less gas.

We got back onto the freeway and headed for Nevada.

As we left Utah, we had to cut through the corner of Arizona before entering Utah. The signs indicated over 12 miles of downhill grade sporting a healthy 5 to 6% grade.

Rob’s short 5 day experience with hills has shown him that the RV is basically made out of lead and proven Galileos theory that an object in motion tends to stay in motion quite dramatically. The best way to tackle a steep grade is to slow down to 80 Kph, disengage the overdrive and let the engine do most of the work slowing down.

We pulled into the Oasis RV park in Mesquite at about 7 pm Nevada time. After putting the legs down and plugging into power, Dar’s initial scouting trip discovered that there were no services here. What do you expect for $16? She was keen to spend the evening washing cat pee items, but there were no laundry facilities working at this park. No key to the bathrooms either, so we packed up to head a little further down the road.

After checking in at the Casablanca Resort and RV park for $21, we found our pull through location around back of the casino. There was NO way in hell that our motorhome, tow dolly and car would fit in that space, let alone make the corner needed to pull in. We would have been 10 feet over the length of the slot.

We talked it over and decided that the hour it would take to unhook the toad and tow dolly, then rehook in the am would not be worth the convenience of the laundry. We drove out and headed back to the lobby. Dar went back to get a refund while Rob drove back to the original RV park a block down the road, and Dar walked back to meet him there.

That single block turned into 15 blocks as there was no left turn and no place to turn around until he found a school with bus access. It’s not easy turning a 34 foot rig towing a 20 foot trailer and car.

All leveled and hooked to power with the car attached, Dar arrived after her 9 minute walk from Casablanca. We settled in and watched the Thursday night episode of Survivor Rob saved 2 days ago.

***Things we saw: llamas, old gas pumps, fog.***

Lessons learned:

get a Trailer Light directory (put out by Good Sam Club) that lists and rates all RV parks.
call ahead to find out about spots, sizes, and parking for the dolly and car

Images in this post are available for purchase on the Her View Photography online gallery at Zenfolio.com.

Day 4 – Mormon Temple Square

Darlene — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 03:47:54 +0000

Got up fairly early and paid for our night at the camp. Actually pulled out of the park just after 10am, got gas and were on our way. Getting gas can take up to 20 minutes just to fill the tank of over 280 liters (75 gallons). Getting into and out of gas stations can be tricky too with the car attached to the back end – we are a long unit with a large turning radius.

After running a couple of tanks of gas through the RV, we had a good benchmark for our initial mileage. We decided that now would be a good time to move the quantum energy magnets from the toad to the actual RV and test the improvement. Rob placed the magnets on various parts of the RV engine and drive train under the “hood” and looked forward to the results.

Back onto Interstate 15 (I-15) which pretty much runs from the border all the way to Vegas and on to Los Angeles.

***Things we’ve seen: outside Idaho Falls was the potato museum. Saw potato cookbooks in the RV office too, they grow a lot of them in Idaho apparently.***

Short drive today, we decided to take a break from driving and stop overnight in Salt Lake City (SLC), Utah. We wanted to get scratching posts for the cats who are starting to claw at the furniture, go to Camping World, and see the Temple. We found a KOA opened in the middle of the city and got there by about 1:30pm. Was a little more expensive at $37 a night but had really nice facilities and a big bay car wash so Rob hosed off both vehicles while Dar registered.

Turns out that the KOA campground was a short mile from the temple square, so very easy access to the sights we wanted to see.

After parking and getting anchored we headed off for lunch at a nearby Whole Foods. We hadn’t had much in the way of veggies in 3 days and were craving some good food. Dar had salmon sushi with brown rice and a spiced pumpkin soup, Rob had a big-ass salad that ended up being $14 (pay by weight). Dar also had quinoa juice which apparently has the same energy boost abilities as caffeine. $45 later, and after filling up our big water jug we popped in to Verizon.

We will likely pick up a wireless internet hug in Phoenix once we get there, will cost us about $60 a month, but at many of the RV parks the wifi connection is sketchy at best. But we got the info and moved on to Camping World.

It wasn’t as big as we thought it would be actually. But they sure have a lot of camping stuff and do dads. We spent $199 on a BBQ that hooks onto the outside of the RV or sits on a table and taps directly into the onboard liquid propane (LP) gas. We also purchased outdoor carpet for the step, towel hangers, RV TP, wheel chocks, and a little step ladder for Dar so she can reach the top shelves. The GPS unit said it would take us over 45 minutes to get there, and they guy that sold it to us said he’s never beaten it. We got there in 25 or less – maybe it was taking into account rush hour traffic at 4:30pm when we headed there?

Driving back into the city center, we got to Temple Square and searched for parking. There were people everywhere – apparently this was the place to be at this time of year. It was gorgeous with all the xmas lights. Two missionaries greeted us in the North visitor’s center and gave us the low down on events of the evening. It was a bit disappointing that we couldn’t actually go inside the Temple itself (which was built in 1853 and took 40 years to complete) but we did get to go inside the Tabernacle and take some photos there.

mormon tabernacle

Around the square were horse buggy rides and inside the south visitor center and assembly halls there were high school choirs singing holiday tunes. Dar met two more missionaries, one from France and one from Uganda. She recognized the little flags on their nametags and the Ugandan girl was very surprised and impressed. She talked a little French with the other girl and wished them Joyeux Noel.

***Things we’ve seen/noticed – there is a LOT of Mexican restaurants in SLC! Like one on every block, just like sushi places in Vancouver.***

Back to the RV about 8pm, Rob went in search of a bottle of wine and dropped Dar off to have a shower. It was only 42f (about 5c) inside as we hadn’t left the furnace on when we went out – note to selves to leave it on low. Dar cranked it up to 73f and waited for Rob and heat. After almost an hour and he wasn’t back, she was panicking. He didn’t answer his phone, or text or Facebook. Luckily Melanie was on skype to talk and distract her until he showed up. Seems there is only one liquor store open in the whole city after 8pm and it was the busiest one he’d ever seen with bottles flying off the shelves faster than staff could put them back.

Crawling into bed and putting on her pajama bottoms, Dar found that yet again they were wet. Yup, you guessed it –cat pee! At 1am in the morning, after a long day, one really does NOT want to deal with cat pee in their bed! You cats, seriously, we need to talk! They are likely just marking their territory in a new environment – but does it have to be in the bed?!

Lessons learned:

put the furnace on, even on low, before you leave for the day so that when you get back it’s not almost freezing in the rig
put the stairs up when you leave so people don’t have to flag you down on the interstate to tell you
get something for cats to mark as their own so they aren’t doing it on the bed

Images in this post are available for purchase on the Her View Photography online gallery at Zenfolio.com.

Day 3 – Cattle Country (leaving Montana to Idaho)

Darlene — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:43:41 +0000

We left Montana, had clear weather most of the way. Dar slept through the only rough bit where is snowed and was foggy, good timing on her part, Rob was thankful.

We stopped for lunch in Butte, MT at a mall and had Chinese food. We’ve decided to eat mostly vegetarian or Oceanarian (only veggies and seafood) while in the US unless we buy the meat ourselves from a local farmer or market and know it’s organic with no hormones, antibiotics, etc.

Not much to note, stopped in a little town called Clancy to stretch our legs and take a 10 minute walk. Things we’ve noticed along the trail were that we’ve seen a lot of cattle outdoors actually eating grass, and we’re quite happy about that.

Got to Idaho Falls about 7:30pm and picked a stall at Snake River RV ($30/night). Dar had called ahead and they had lots of spots. The offices of most parks close at 4pm or 5pm so after that you just self-park and check out and pay in the morning, or put it in a night drop box. Rob was getting set up and putting the leveling legs down on the RV, Dar was inside setting up. As the legs for leveling the unit were coming down, they slipped on snow and ice underneath the RV and the rig fell back onto the tires and the legs bent backwards. Dar screamed and freaked out, thinking they were now broken and we’d be stuck in Idaho for an infinite number of days getting it fixed, need to stay in hotel, etc, etc. Rob just put the legs back up (they went inside fine) and we slept in the unit on the wheels, just a little wobblier than usual.

Then Dar was sitting on the couch doing email in her PJs when she discovered her butt and back were all wet. Cat pee!!! She had another breakdown, couldn’t find any other PJs and went to bed without eating anything. This is the third incident of cat pee, they also peed on the cat bed we bought for them at home – and the first day when Rob was covered in it.

Lessons, things learned this day:

that the washer fluid for the windshield wipers takes a really long time to get up to the window and it isn’t broken
that when putting up the leveling legs you need to start the engine and wait for the rear air suspension to fully inflate, otherwise you end up with the rear legs stuck down.
that when putting the legs down, always check underneath for unlevel surface and ice that may cause a problem, and if in doubt put down the metal plates for them to sit on.
Rob also learned that when you sneeze while driving, the sneeze will not hit the windshield as it is too far away.
Dar is constantly learning that Rob is much calmer at handling any issues that arise and to trust him to do it, and not so quick to jump to the “it’s a disaster” conclusion

Day 2 – Border Crossing

Darlene — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:40:02 +0000

First order of business, smuggle the cats out of the hotel, even though the clerk looked the other way when we checked in – we still had to get past the day shift staff. No problems, only a cleaning lady giving a strange look when she saw the litter box. Boo ended up in the RV by herself for 30 minutes and she wind up hiding in the closet all day and being mad and scared, poor thing.

We got our hot showers and hit the road by 10:30am. Behind schedule again but clean and warm this time.

We found a 12 volt plug in the RV bedroom to charge up the GPS unit, so that was good go to but Dar had to keep going to the back to check it. We stopped in Lethbridge for $100 worth of gas cause we wanted to wait to fill up on the US where it’s cheaper.

***Things we’ve seen: just north of Lethbridge, the wind turbines that generate wind energy. Could be used by Enmax which provides clean, green energy to Alberta***

Got to the US border crossing about 3:30, and noticed we had no radio and cellular signals within 500 meters of the port of entry. Rob’s theory is they jam it there on purpose. The border guard didn’t think twice about any of our answers to his questions, even about what we did for a living and how can we afford to go away for 6 months like this, until he asked about foods. He asked if we had any meat, eggs, vegetables or fruit and Rob said “yeah all the above”. Upon closer examination their concerns were over the bison and ostrich meat and oranges. We got sent inside to wait for an agent. An hour later we were on our way after having to eat the oranges and hand over the Asian apple pear to the agent, and she checked that our bison and ostrich had commercial labels on them. We were able to keep all our meat and didn’t have to show papers for the cats after spending $150 to get them up to date on shots, but you just never know what they’ll ask so you gotta be ready.

The rest of the way to Great Falls was uneventful except for it was really windy. Dar and Pumpkin slept on the couch for an hour and after gassing up at a small town we checked into Dicks RV Park in Great Falls ($24/night), Montana at around 7:30pm. We were going to take a taxi to a nearby restaurant for dinner (we still can’t cook as we haven’t unwinterized yet and have no water) but it was going to cost us $22 (set rate) so we bit the bullet and unhooked the mud soaked car and cleared the windows and headlights with some snow the best we could.

As we took time to get the furnace running (okay it was Dar’s request and Rob did it) we didn’t get going until after 9 and found all the restaurants closed at 9pm. Apparently they roll up the streets here early. We managed to find a hotel/casino that had a restaurant and found something decent to eat. Rob even got a beer bought for him by two local guys after we had an odd interchange with them. Waitress was really nice and interested in our trip and even asked for Dar’s web site to check out her photography.

So first night to sleep in the RV, furnace runs, have electricity – all should be good. Stay tuned. . .

Lessons or things learned:

Always have commercial labels on any meat when crossing the border.

Hills and wind affect a 17,000 lb, 34’ vehicle towing a 10’ car – just as you would expect.

Also learned we don’t have a coaxial cable to plug in to get TV reception.

Day 1 – Hell day!

Darlene — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:38:01 +0000

So today we learned a lot of things, like for one – leaving in an RV in -25c is not optimal! The day unfolded and things didn’t go so smoothly as we’d hoped. Packing the rest of our stuff in it took longer. Cleaning the fridge (which was a disaster) took forever since we had packed all our cleaning supplies. Hooking up the car to be towed took longer. Then our front tires were 20 lbs low on air but our little air pump wasn’t doing the job and after 20 minutes had only put in 5. It may have been frozen, or the directions that say only run it for 10 minutes, then rest for 10 would have been good to read first. Or better yet had we thought about it earlier gotten it started while packing/cleaning was going on. We were both freezing already, and hungry, Darlene was cranky and miserable.

RV loaded up and ready to go

Putting the cats into the RV, Pumpkin did NOT like the cold and peed on Rob on the way outside. One more thing to deal with and we were still in the driveway.

Next stop was to get weighed. It’s self-serve, you just drive over it – take your ticket in and they give you the info. Took us two tries to get it and then it said we were about 250 lbs overweight for the RV’s capabilities. Wes our RV expert said not to worry about it and just go, so we took his word and headed out.

Then we had to stop at a Fountain Tire to get our new tires torqued, the best one to stop was now Leduc as it was already 3pm and we weren’t even going to make it to Red Deer by 5pm when they closed. So 4-5pm was spent at the Leduc tire place, finding it, waiting to get it done – but at least we had some time to thaw out a bit. Darlene traveled most of the way in the -10c rated sleeping bag with it up over her head, and Pumpkin crawled in with her for a while too.

So off we left Leduc at about 5pm already (we were hoping to be long past Calgary by that point) stopped in Red Deer for a bathroom break at 6:30 and pushed on. It was after 9pm when we pulled into Calgary and as we couldn’t get our generator going and couldn’t find an open RV park in the city, we stopped at a Super 8 motel to defrost and get hot showers and dinner. A little side adventure was when Rob took the right fork instead of the left and ended up in the Walmart stock area out back. He had to get out and make sure we could get through and out the other side – Darlene had visions of having to unhook the car and back it all out of there, but Rob safely navigated through the maze with inches on either side.

The really nice man at the front desk of the Super 8 let us bring our cats in and he actually said, “I didn’t see any cats” with a wink. He even gave us a bigger King suite (such as it was) for the same price. So $120 later we were off for dinner at 10pm at Boston Pizza, the only place within walking distance, as we didn’t want to unhook the car. $50 there and it made for quite an expensive day.

Lessons or things learned for the day

Darlene’s: trust the universe – we should have left Nov 30^th as planned, and trust that the renter would just show up. Then the snow and cold weather could have been missed altogether.

Rob’s: put a cat in a cat carrier and wrap her in a blanket BEFORE taking her outside into -25c weather