It was only appropriate that our last full day in repositioning Betty involve a very long bike ride, thrifting and art in our adopted west coast home of Tucson. We spent the morning prepping for an early Sunday departure to park Betty at Tucson RV Storage while we’re home for the holidays. While Sheri packed clothes, dumped condiments and readied the interior, Eric drained water tanks, pumped antifreeze and secured bins on the exterior. Sufficiently stowed, we took off on the familiar Aviation route of The Loop, over the Palo Verde Bridge and down the avenue to the Tanque Verde … Continue reading The Cactus Pricks

When plans get foiled, sometimes a better plan emerges and the scramble is part of the fun in a new puzzle to be solved. We’re supposed to be in Phoenix now, camping then storing at Luke AFB with a non-stop back East on Tuesday. Turns out Fam Camp in Phoenix is not at Luke, it’s about 55 miles north at Gila Bend, and Luke had no 35 foot storage spaces available. Neither did any private RV storage facility in and around Phoenix. Phoenix is the darling of the desert southwest. But, about 120 miles south of Phoenix, Arizona’s lesser-known sister … Continue reading Roadrunners

At 2,601 miles, we just completed the last stretch of the repositioning roadtrip, from Leasburg Dam State Park in Radium Springs, NM to Davis Monthan Air Force Base, Agave Gulch Fam Camp in Tucson, AZ. It’s been a helluva ride – biked the James River in Gladstone, VA … frontiered at the Davey Crockett Homestead in Lawrenceville, TN … played disc golf at the Cedars of Lebanon State Park in Lebanon, TN … got schooled at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis … magnetized the fridge in Arlington, TX … witnessed the oil boom on the way to Lake Colorado … Continue reading Cactus is the new mushroom

Whites City RV Park is not much to look at. We parked Betty in our assigned spot which entailed turning into a parking lot and stopping next to the power receptacle. Whites is essentially a campground on the shoulder of the road. It gets terrible reviews, but we like it because it is right at the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns National Park and oh so convenient for us bikers. Around 7:30 this morning, we unloaded the Comos and headed up the 7 mile entrance to the Visitor Center, which sits at the top of a ridge line in the Guadalupe … Continue reading Nature Calls

On Highway 90, about 5 miles west of the quirky arts community, is a the Little Reata Ranch, featuring a plywood cutout mural installation “Giant Marfa,” from artist John Cesney of Salinas, CA. The tiny windmill on the left side of the picture below is the one James Dean climbed in the movie preserved with an historical marker. The rest of the picture is most of West Texas. 100 miles later we finished our discussion on the meaning of authenticity, the hopeful melancholy of the barren landscape and what we could fix to eat with the remaining food in the … Continue reading A TON of miles

Fall back had us up at 4:30 in the morning and instead of rolling over, we got up and went, although we were a little surprised to get to the park’s exit and find it padlocked shut. We had a gate code, which we assumed would be a key pad for an electronic open, but it turned out to be the four digit dial combination. Chubby fingers, black night, tiny frozen dials – this was Texas version of Escape Room. Yesterday was Big Bend country. This diverse and remote corner has more than a million acres, two national parks, mountains, … Continue reading Marfa-lous!

En route to Arlington, TX, we called three nearby RV mobile repair companies – one recommended by the campground and two with strong Google reviews. When none of the three called us back, we called Mobile Truck Medic who said they could have a technician available in three hours (not usually a good sign). We said 9am Friday, they said $325 deposit – settle up on $110/hr labor, parts and mileage at the end. Deal. 9am Friday they had an emergency call and we were pushed to 10:30. In the meantime we had packed the fridge and freezer with ice … Continue reading Don’t Mess with West Texas

Driving 500 miles in an RV is work. We left Memphis at 7am after a rough night getting pummeled by rain and losing our fridge. The same things that happen in a home, happen in a mobile home but when you are on the road they are harder to troubleshoot and fix. Sheri had her eyes fixed on Hot Springs National Park, home to 143 degree thermal waters, the Buckstaff Bathhouse and the non-reservable Gulpha Gorge Campground. You can’t call ahead, you just have to show up and hope there is a spot for you. Anyone who knows Eric knows … Continue reading Texas Toast

Halloween rain goblins tricked us last night with torrential downpours that shook the Betty all night long. When our Tiffan Phaeton neighbor baled at 5:30am, we started buttoning up to get out of raintown, and in the process discovered the ghouls killed the fridge. We’ve lived without the fridge before. Two years ago we did 10 days of cooler management, cycling ice bags trying to keep the staples cold. Fully repaired with a new compressor, Eric had some theories about the issue, but we had to get out of the rain to figure it out. So rolling with the roadblocks, … Continue reading Walking in Memphis

VOTE says the billboard just outside Nashville en route to a 42 hour stay in Memphis. We mailed our absentee ballots on the day we started trekking west. Now 936 miles from home, we are camping on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River at Tom Sawyer RV park in West Memphis, AR, where we can watch tugs push and pull barges all day long. Leaving the cedar forest east of Knoxville, we joined I-40 which crosses the entire state of Tennessee.  For your directional information, three interstates join the east and west coasts.  I-10 runs along the southern border, … Continue reading 42 Hours in Memphis