There May Be Rattlesnakes

October 10, 2023 – Day 12

We left Weatherford without any drama, stopped at the local Ace Hardware to buy hose washers. We wanted to bypass the water pump and use “city” water, as well as some misc hardware for other small repairs, and, of course, some spray paint! Are you wondering if your blogging friends have turned into graffiti-painting hooligans? Stay tuned!

Hardware goods acquired, we stopped for gas. We try to find the Pilot / Flying J stops that have RV Fuel lanes. There are two big reasons for this. First, you don’t have to worry as much about tight spots, fitting spaces or making turns to get out (susan here: still it can be a bit of a crap shoot at times.) The second reason to go there is that they have giant windshield squeegees! We clean the windshield every time we stop and it’s still plastered with bug splats within 50 or so miles. The heartland is full of flying insects with a death wish. Susan wishes they’d try to avoid the RV because it’s about a 10 minute ordeal to wash the windshield.

Around 3:30 we pulled into Panhandle Lodging RV Park in Canyon TX around 3:30pm. Always optimistic Paul was hoping for a quick setup and then heading to Cadillac Ranch in the evening light, followed by dinner in Amarillo. It’s nice to have goals.

But first, we had to check in. We were greeted with this sign. Rattlesnakes aka “danger noodles.” So far (thankfully) we haven’t spotted one. Phew, crisis avoided.

First, remember those full hookups we mentioned in a prior post? We needed to hook up to electric for AC (it’s been about 90 in TX) and we wanted the sewer & needed water. Normally we fill the 70 gallon water tank and use our own water pump. We do this because we know we’ll never overflow our gray water tank—the gray holding tank will hold all of the fresh water we take on board. It’s a holdover from our trailer days where we had limited holding capacity. This time we were going to try out leaving the gray tank open so we’d function more like a house as opposed to a holding tank where you’re aware of your water usage.

Getting that city water connection to work right proved to be an exercise in frustration that took us over an hour to solve. It was a slow trickle and not a good thing because we’d have a mud puddle by morning. Maybe a deep mud puddle that one axle could be in. It had to be fixed. Somehow. Paul put in the missing washer, took out old washers and replaced them with new. He tried any combination he could think of and still no dice. Paul enlisted Susan’s help. She suggested teflon tape on the threads. It still leaked! Our hopes for a leak free connection were dashed to the ground in liquid drops! Undeterred Susan kept trying to solve the puzzle. Then she realized that we were using 2 hoses. Sometimes we have a long run so we need two length. At Susan’s insistence, we took off one of the hoses, removed the washer, put new on teflon tape to the newly exposed end and crossed our fingers. We were drip free! The crowds cheered and the angels sang!!! But by that point it was getting a bit late to visit to Cadillac Ranch. We consoled ourself with dinner in the RV and sun setting over the grasslands. Did you feel sorry for us? You shouldn’t. It was a nice dinner and the views were pretty.

Daily: 210

Total: 2,025

Moving Miles/Day: 289

Overall Miles/Day: 169

mpg: 6.49