Not The Painter

Just 5 photos each today and tomorrow, but since we’re typing this tomorrow, it is 5 photos each from yesterday and today. Got it? It is fun, at least for us, to see how differently we shoot, standing next to each other with similar, but not identical equipment, but certainly not similar perspectives. (susan here: Since we wanted to see the sunrise we were up early. Last night we agreed the one who woke up first would get up and wake the other one up. I woke at 4am and prodded Paul to get up. It sounds fiendishly early but we crashed last night about 8pm. We are not yet…

Just 5 photos each, today and tomorrow, but since we’re typing this tomorrow, it is 5 photos each from yesterday and today. Got it? It is fun, at least for us, to see how differently we shoot, standing next to each other with similar, but not identical equipment, but certainly not similar perspectives. Susan Paul

April 1, 2026 — Day 8 Undisclosed Location Yes, the Grand Canyon! We’re here for 3 sleeps. This is why we kept up Beast Mode when we had put in 3 or 4 days without incident. We had expected to be in Tonto National Forest, or maybe the Painted Desert, but one of us just said, “Hey, the Grand Canyon.” Super lucky to get a campsite. And here’s the maps and data from yesterday’s entry. Daily: 330 miles Total: 2,672 miles Driving miles/Day: 382 miles/day  Overall miles/Day: 382 miles

March 31, 2026 — Day 7 Junkyard on 66 Brewery, Grants, NM — Undisclosed Location Over breakfast we watched many trains go by, we finally had a chance to count one. 105 cars plus 2 or 3 locomotives. But how long is a train car? Most of the train cars you see today are articulating well cars. It turns out the come in 3, 4, and 5 car bundles. You can see this as they ride, you sell 3 containers close together and then a gap, then 3 and a gap, then 4 and a gap. We had never noticed that before. The top container can be longer than the…

March 30, 2026 — Day 6 KOA, Tucumcari, NM — Junkyard on 66 Brewery, Grants, NM Our friend Ann had made awesome waffles when she was visiting a couple weeks ago and made extras for freezer road food. Since we were at a real campground, with a some morning time to spare because we were done with Beast Mode, we had her Waffles for breakfast. They were so good and thanks for making us extras! Our secret destination is too far away to make it today, it would be our longest day ever, we’re tired and tired of Beast Mode. But this part of NM doesn’t have too many options. The…

March 29, 2026 — Day 5 Route 66 Bowl, Chandler, OK — KOA, Tucumcari, NM We got a nice early start heading to a Flying J about half an hour away. Minutes into todays adventure we figured out it’s one of those super windy days. This is not going to be fun. On the way out of town we passed Chandler’s Route 66 Visitor Center. They claimed to have RV parking but the entrance was nasty tight and they looked closed. Two strikes and we’re moving on. There was a lot of construction next door, maybe that the future parking lot? 2026 is Route 66’s Centennial, so all the towns…

March 28, 2026 — Day 4 Cracker Barrel, Fenton, MO — Route 66 Bowl, Chandler, OK What a great day we have in store for you. We’ll talk about it all but what struck us the most as we were getting ready for bed was that today was just a fun day. It started with signs of spring right in our face! If you want to go on adventure, you gotta gas up! We can’t believe we’ve never gotten this shot before. It may be spring on the calendar but it was pretty chilly this morning so we’re still wearing winter coats. Susan really enjoyed this really wide load passing…

March 27, 2026 — Day 3 Cracker Barrel, Springfield, OH — Cracker Barrel, Fenton, MO One of the first things we do in the morning is enter all the stops into the GPS. Paul usually does this, we find gas, if needed, and put 2 destinations in. Today we were going to make it to Fenton MO for certain, but we also add a reach destination in case we are feeling good about the travel. We’re not fond of pushing, but on this trip, pushing means there’s a payoff at the other end of this trip. We have gained enough time to spend a couple of days in the Painted Desert.…

March 26, 2026 — Day 2 Cracker Barrel, Rochester, NY — Cracker Barrel, Springfield, OH When you winterize your RV you put the RV antifreeze in. Its pink. We guess is so you know when the lines are full of it, and when the lines are empty. To de-winterize you just run all the taps until they run clear. Last night Paul really didn’t want to deal with the ice maker, but Susan was on it. She had it making ice all day! Of course the first few runs are slush, and even some liquid, you see, it is anti-freeze, not pro-freeze. And what is driving an RV like? It…

March 25, 2026 — Day 1 Keene, NH — Cracker Barrel, Rochester, NY And we’re off on the Let ‘Er Rip tour. But first, mad props to Susan who pretty much loaded 99.999% of the stuff in the RV since Paul was still recovering from his surgery. (Paul here, I’m fine…) So why Let ‘Er Rip? That’s the tagline of two YouTubers we watch, The Hanks, they’ve been full timing in a 5th wheel for, what, 7 years now. They’re great fun to watch on Thursday night when they publish their weekly vlog (that’s a video blog for you non Tubers). If you do check them out, look at the…