February 28, 2023 — Day 13 Next morning I added the emergency 2 gallons of water to the tank. This gave us some water, but more importantly, it let us know that we had just been out of water, we had worried that something else had gone wrong with the plumbing, like a clogged line. After breakfast and some phone calls we found a NM state park in Radium Springs that for just the day use fee would let us dump and take on water for only $5. This was a good deal. It was slightly out of our way but it also meant we got to see parts of…

February 27, 2023 — Day 12 We woke early, very early by the clock, and earlier still by our body clocks. We’re still on East Coast time. Loaded up, closed up and headed west. Today was going to be the big miles day. We wanted to make El Paso. The winds were a concern, overnight the weather forecast was for 45mph with gusts to 85mph north of where we were traveling. I was thinking we should pull out before dawn, before the sun’s heat would make more wind. But overnight the forecast for Monday got ever so slightly better so we headed out early, but not 4AM early. The terrain…

February 26, 2023 — Day 11 We both got up pretty early, I think our bodies are still on East Coast Time, but that’s ok, we need to move. We’re pretty good at packing up and moving out, but it still takes too much time. Much of that is caused by trying to manage weights. I drained 6 gallons out of the fresh water tank and moved 2 gallon to the front. As you might imagine, this is not exciting work or work that either of us want to spend the time on. Then I couldn’t find my 3/4″ socket to raise the stabilizers. Eventually we were ready to go…

February 24, 2023 In the morning we said goodbye to our new skoolie friends Mike and Shayna and hit the road right after them, well, almost, we’re still pretty slow heading out but we’re getting better. They gave us all sorts of tips for traveling. We immediately had a problem, the Garmin GPS had been telling us that our on ramp was closed, and even once offer to re-route, but when we headed out, it was no longer closed. Except it was. So Susan had to drive over a big scary bridge twice, just to get back on track. We came across a sign for the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area,…

February 23, 2022 We were not killed in our sleep, nor did we wake up in a bathtub filled with ice minus our kidneys. So overall the Cracker Barrel experience was “positive”. We’ll probably never do it again unless we can’t find a better place. (Donna & Bill, we suspect your rig has far better soundproofing and a more secure feeling.) I couldn’t fall asleep, I can blame Artemis by Andy Weir which I finished around midnight and returned to the Keene NH library electronically, but that’s not being fair. I just couldn’t sleep with all the noise and commotion. Susan conked out immediately, but woke around 2AM for a…

February 22, 2023 We’ll get to Mister Browne shortly… Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels. We woke early, hoping to make it to the Angel Oak tree, the largest living oak (live oak actually) east of the Mississippi and one of the prides of SC. It was also on the way out of town. We met Moses the dog and his people. Moses’ people have the same trailer as us. We chatted for a bit and they mentioned how the road to Angel Oak is nasty, but worse, we’d find it impossible to turn around. We were also running late and I didn’t want to rush the…

February 21, 2023 We both took showers this morning. I know you’re happy to know that. But let’s back up a second. We’re staying in the Johns Island State Park Campground. It is a pretty big park with tiny spaces. It is also fairly expensive. But the online pictures made our site look wooded and private. It is neither of those things. I can see a shuttle bus parking lot and a construction dumpster and very few trees. Oh well, these things happen and one just learns to roll with it. We had made 2pm reservations for a walking tour in Charleston SC but we just had a slow morning,…

February 20, 2023 Each day we get further from “normal” life, yesterday’s Random Observations showed that, but today we really hit the South. But let’s back up, I need to show at least one more shot of Susan feeding the horses. Susan got one of me feeding them also. We went through a whole bag of carrot chips and then some of our full size carrots. Tilly, the horse above, is a miniature horse with a big attitude. She pushes the mini donkey and full size horse around. Susan made a wonderful, uhh, thing for breakfast with the fresh eggs with ham, and “stuff”. You cook the tops of the…

I woke up at 1AM again, comforted by the tick of the furnace. Ok, it wasn’t running, it is much warmer down here, I think our low was 50 degrees last night. I remembered all these random thoughts I hadn’t blogged about, so here they are! The trees are funny down here, then they got even weirder. We first started seeing these weird pines trees, the needles are in giant, almost spherical, clumps. I need to find out what they are. Then Susan saw a palm tree. I figured it was just planted. Now we see lots of them. Interesting. Flowers and buds! We’re seeing daffodils on the medians of…

February 19, 2023 I wake up at 1AM. The furnace is running but making ticking noises. This is one of two things, either we have run out of propane and the ticking is the igniter trying to light the non-existent propane, or the furnace is making a ticking sound. I choose to ignore it and pull the covers up over my head. That seems to work. At 8AM we’re still pretty warm. Ignoring problems might be a good idea here. I have cereal and Susan has oatmeal for breakfast. This might seem odd since we just got those amazing eggs yesterday. (Ok, I’m cheating, she picked them up from the…