The Laffertys' Life

We arrived in Mesa about 3 PM and found a place to park for the week. We are staying at Apache Wells RV Resort. You can see the exact location by clicking on the “Where are we?’ link to the right.

We had the truck and trailer washed in Willcox. They do a pretty good job and sure save my back! When hooked up we are 65 feet long and 13 feet high. That’s a lot of area to wash.

The weather was still cold and we even saw snow on the ground in Texas Canyon. I don’t remember ever seeing that before. Traffic got heavy before we hit Tucson and the interstate from Tucson to the Phoenix area is always very crowded. It was not a big problem, but it did require a lot of paying attention.

We always cause a commotion when we arrive in a new RV park. All the neighbors come out to see if I can really park this huge thing. Then they all want to talk about the truck, trailer, motorcycle and satellite system.  A couple guys even climbed up into the truck to look at the inside.  I enjoy answering their questions, but it does make setting things up take a little longer.

We finished setting up and then made a trip to Wal-mart to stock up on groceries. We called Mom and decided to go see her tomorrow instead of this evening. We splurged and had Western Bacon Cheeseburgers at Carl’s before coming home to rest up for the night. Traveling so far so fast has worn us both out.

We got an early start this morning and gained an hour when we crossed into the Mountain time zone so we went further than we had planned. Even with stopping for fuel in El Paso we arrived in Bowie, AZ at about 3:30 this afternoon. There was no reason to stop anywhere else along the way due to the cold temperatures. It never got above 46 degrees anywhere, it was foggy and we encountered drizzle in a couple places.

Whenever we pass through Bowie I think about the family visit to Ft. Bowie when we were growing up in Tucson, and about the return visit I made with my family several years ago to deliver the crossed sabers I had found to the museum there. Now it is a National Historic Park, but it was just some rancher’s land when we visited back in the 60’s.

There is a lot of snow on the Chiricahuas so it looks very different from the last time we were here.  We will leave here in the morning and stop in Willcox to get the truck and trailer washed. Then it is on to Mesa where we will try to find a place to spend a week or so.

We are on our way west again. We left Denton yesterday and only drove as far as Abilene, TX where we spent the night in a city park by a lake. It was free but we had no hook ups. We were all by ourselves so it was quiet and peaceful.

Today we drove as far as Van Horn, TX. The wind blew very hard and it was no fun driving. Our fuel mileage was also seriously impacted. About 3 pm we ran into rain and the temperature dropped to 36. That was even less fun.

Tomorrow we will continue west and probably stop in Demming for the night. We don’t like to go so far so fast but this weather is no fun. We are hoping for better weather in AZ.

We will be back in Denton tomorrow to spend the Christmas season with Dayna, Chris and the kids.

We headed south as we mentioned in the last post. We spent the first night in Montgomery and had a pretty good shower during the evening and a couple more light showers before morning. That was about it. The next day, Thursday, we drove down to the Escapees park in Summerdale, AL where we had spent a week on the way to TN. We really like it there and since it is close to the Gulf it is about as warm as anywhere in the area. We spent three nights there and just did a little shopping and went out to dinner one evening. Gulf shrimp are good when you buy them near the Gulf!

We decided to return to TX by way of the southern route to try to stay as warm as possible. We spent last night at Poche’s Fish n Camp in Breaux Bridge, LA. It was kind of a neat place, but cold and windy. They have about 10 acres of man made lakes that are stocked with bass. The campsites are right on the lake so you can almost fish from you door. It would be a good place to spend a vacation if you are a fisherman.

Today we came across the rest of LA and into TX where we are staying for the final night before driving to Denton tomorrow. We are at the Escapees park in Livingston.

We saw only a little damage while driving across LA yesterday. We took I-10 and then the I-12 shortcut that goes straight to Baton Rouge instead of following the I-10 loop down to New Orleans. There were a few billboards that were piles of bent metal and a couple light posts that had been knocked down, but that was about it. I guess they have gotten things pretty well cleaned up.

We plan to be in Denton until after Christmas when we will head west, so will probably not post much for the next couple weeks. Merry Christmas to all.

We left Cleveland yesterday and drove to Huntsville, AL. It was only about 130 miles so we got a late start and still arrived before 2PM since we also changed back to the Central time zone. The Rocket and Space Center has an RV park on its grounds so we made reservations to stay here where we could walk to the Center. Unfortunately, the RV park is rather old and it was tough getting in and level.

Today we visited the Rocket and Space Center. This is really the home of the Saturn 5 moon rocket as well as where much of the American Space Program was developed. Werner von Braun led the facility here. The museum was very interesting and we spent over five hours there. Included in the admission were the IMAX theater, virtual reality simulators, a centrifuge ride and a simulated space launch. The space launch was nothing more than one of the rides that shoot you up in the air like those at amusement parks. Dianna (ever the kid) enjoyed it. I felt it would not be a good idea with my back, so I passed. There was a lot to see and we enjoyed it very much. We are both tired from standing so will just rest up tonight. We will continue our journey towards Denton tomorrow, but the weather forecast for the rest of the week looks ugly. We may head south toward the gulf again to try to avoid the coldest part of it. We’ll see. Sure is nice not having to schedule things!

OK Mom, here you go.

This is a close up of their house. The dormers really look nice.  The sun was very low in the sky so there is a lot of reflection from the side of the house.

This is a photo from up the street a little ways. They are on a cul-de-sac with only two houses beyond them. It makes for very little traffic.

We had planned to go to Huntsville on the way to visit Darin, but decided to stop by there on our way back to Texas instead. We stayed an extra day in Summerdale and arrived here in Cleveland on Tuesday after spending Monday night in Montgomery. After all, traveling more than 200 miles a day is taxing when you are retired!

Darin and Diane have a very nice home. They are almost moved in but that is a big job. He still has to move his storage shed to the new place.

We had Thanksgiving dinner there today with just his family and us. It was very nice. Diane cooked both a turkey and ham so we all had too much to eat. Dianna made an apple pie and the world famous Lafferty chocolate pie. I don’t think there is much pie left.

We plan to stay here until Monday and then head back for Texas.

We hope everyone else had a good Thanksgiving too!