Not The Painter

April 14-15, 2024 – Day 27 & 28 Homolovi State Park Campground, Winslow Arizona – White Tank Mountain Regional Park, Waddell Arizona We got up early trying to escape the forecasted high winds. We had more than enough gas to get to Phoenix but when Paul checked the prices he found about a $0.60/gallon difference between Winslow and Phoenix. We were also going to need to fill the propane and suspected it would be equally as expensive in Phoenix. We topped up both tanks and headed off to Phoenix hoping to be parked before the winds picked up. We headed west on I-40 toward Flagstaff where it meets up with…

April 13, 2024 – Day 26 Homolovi State Park Campground, Winslow Arizona Finally, we don’t have to drive today. Sure, we could have but the last 4 days have been a thrash. It was almost 1,400 miles in 4 days, the last two of which were very windy which is fatiguing when you’re driving an RV. Taking a cue from that famous song we took it easy this morning. Later we went off to see the Homolovi II ruins. Somehow we didn’t see these when we were here last time. Neither of us can remember why but likely it was too hot for much outdoor activity.a Around A.D. 1330, a…

April 12, 2024 – Day 25 Sierra Blanca Brewery, Moriarity New Mexico – Homolovi State Park Campground, Winslow Arizona It was a fast and easy departure. That’s one big advantage of Harvest Hosts. We rarely bother to unhook the Jeep and there are no utilities to connect to. We just pull in the slides, retract the jacks, then drive off. We needed to get gas before we headed out. From a previous trip here we knew there was a Denny’s inside the Flying J station. We were tempted to get a half decent breakfast. But we had looked at the weather forecast and it was wind, wind, and more wind.…

April 11, 2024 – Day 24 Route 66 To Go, Elk City, Oklahoma to Sierra Blanca Brewery, Moriarity New Mexico Not much happened, except for the one unusual thing. We left Elk City not knowing where we would sleep that night. If we could make almost 400 miles we’d stay at a Harvest Host in Moriarity, NM. Otherwise, we could stop about 75 miles earlier at a state park. There just isn’t anything out here. So we drove and drove! We saw windmills, lots of them. At one time Susan, who was driving, said, “Is that a gusher?” Paul looked and he was also uncertain. When we got closer it…

April 10, 2024 – Day 25 Cracker Barrel, Joplin Missouri – Route 66 To Go, Elk City, Oklahoma We woke up fairly early in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel, did a quick check (all kidneys intact) and headed out. Today was a much shorter day at 335 miles, but still not a short day. But with an early leave time we could make it to our Harvest Host in Elk City OK, hit up the Route 66 Museum, and grab what we needed at a grocery store ending with dinner at our Harvest Host, the Route 66 ToGo diner. Suspenseful music plays. It wasn’t a diner. One nice…

April 9, 2024 – Day 24 Giant City State Park, Makanda Illinois – Cracker Barrel, Joplin Missouri Today we were going to break camp and hit the road. It would be a long 374 mile day from Makanda, IL to the Cracker Barrel in Joplin, MO. You don’t want to get there too early and take the space of paying customers. The goal is to get there after the dinner rush so the parking lot is empty. It’s also easier to navigate the lot and to park. But first there were morning things to get out of the way which included showers and dishes. We had “breakfast and a show”…

April 8, 2024 – Day 23 Giant City State Park, Makanda Illinois Today is the day! Eclipse day! We clicked and clicked and clicked on our weather apps. Susan eventually hit the lottery and got enough information back from the internets to find out it was probably going to be great! Of course, we couldn’t do anything if we needed to. That was one great thing about our first site in Junction, Texas. It was in the middle of no where. If you needed to drive 200 miles it’s easy to do. Right now we were in between St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville and Memphis. Millions of people, would be…

April 6 & 7, 2024 – Days 21 & 22 Giant City State Park, Makanda Illinois We had a nice quiet Saturday. We went to the dump station, or maybe we didn’t. Maybe it the day before. We can’t remember and we’ve already published April 5th’s blog. We did walk out to the eclipse viewing field. The State Park has half a dozen viewing fields setup all over the park. One was, we were led to believe, just for us in the campground. It was only a 10 minute walk so we figured we’d get the lay of the land ahead of time.. Our first stop was at the campsite…

April 5, 2024 – Day 20 Giant City State Park, Makanda Illinois Giant City State Park is named after the “Giant City” which is a collection sandstone that has split, eroded, and then slid down the hill. This leaves some pretty cool paths through the vertical walls. We asked about the hike, since it was listed as “Moderate.” We like the ones listed as easy. The ranger told us that they have taken pre-schoolers on the hike so we decided “Why not!” and set out to do it today. Why? Today is the first nice day. We’ve had heavy rains, and on and off rains, and drizzle, and just overcast.…

April 4, 2024 – Day 19 Giant City State Park, Makanda Illinois Today is decision day. We must cancel the reservation in Texas at least 48 hours in advance. At 9AM, this is what windy.com tells us. We’re staying! Susan called the Texas campground and the phone didn’t even ring, she got some weird error message. So she emailed them. What else do our intrepid travelers do? We went into the big city of Carbondale to find the library. You see, we needed to upload all the pictures for the blog, and we needed to file our income taxes. Income taxes… We hate you Intuit. It was all set to…