Paul & Lela in The Long, Long Trailer

Saturday April 9, 2016

Friday April 1 we spent preparing to head home. We went to the Mesa Swap Meet / Market to pick up a few items we wanted before heading out. We had an early dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Serrano's.

Margaretville

We left AZ towing The Silver Star (SS) on Saturday then 2nd. It was more of an adventure than we expected.

We slept in and left around 8 AM heading north through Payson on the way to Holbrook AZ on the way to our target destination of Gallup NM. The road to Payson is mountainous but 4 lanes and mostly divided.

US 87

We had been having trouble with the deadbolt lock on The SS but decided to lock both locks for the trip home. That proved to be a mistake. We couldn't unlock the door.

As we traveled Lela wanted to stop to pick up a rock along the highway. While stopped along the road I "messed" with the lock, but couldn't get it open so we continued down the mountain. As we approached Payson a truck pulled along side of us and motioned for me to put my window down. The passenger hollered that the door was open on SS. I guess there is good and bad in everything. The door was sprung, but it was open. I immediately pulled onto a parking area and proceeded to work on the door and the lock. Lela spied an antique store across the road so she left me to deal with the problem.

I completely removed the lock assembly and trusted that I had at least repaired the lower lock, deciding to not use the deadbolt the rest of the way.

Top lock is deadbolt

Then using a 2x4 I reverse sprung the door to where it would fit the doorway. We were on our way again.

We located a nice park in Gallup http://www.usarvpark.com/.

As it turned out, we had stayed there before. I guess we made the same good choice before. We arrived early there as we wanted to watch the NCAA Basketball semi-finals. The park had cable ($2) extra so we kicked back had dinner and watched the game.

We had decided to take more time heading home this year so we slept in each morning and had breakfast in SS. It usually meant we missed heavy traffic in the cities we passed through. It was a good decision as we weren't as stressed as when we hurried.

Our Sunday destination was Amarillo TX. It was about 6-7 hours away. We like to stop at interstate rest areas as the need arises but we use our own facilities in SS. We pulled into a rest stop somewhere in NM for lunch. Upon entering SS we found that a four pound bag of sugar had shifted in the pantry and broken open. There was sugar in the pantry and onto the floor. We cleaned it up as best we could with broom and dustpan as we were not connected to 110 amp power to use a vacuum cleaner. I think a 12 volt vacuum is in our future.

We arrived in Amarillo safely and set up for the evening. The cleanup of sugar was the first order of business. Then it was supper and settle in for the evening of TV (cable included). We stayed at Oasis RV park, which was a sister park to the USA in Gallup. http://myrvoasis.com/

Notice the pic shows an Airstream (Not SS)

We slept in and had breakfast Monday morning before travelling through Amarillo. Our destination originally was to be Tulsa OK, but as we travelled we thought more and more that Joplin was more desirable. As we travelled along, Lela noticed that the rock shield on the curb side of the trailer was coming loose. It was flapping in the breeze but there wasn't a good place to stop and make repairs so we motored on hoping it wouldn't break off.

We made it nearly to OK City and stopped at a Pilot travel center for gas. There was a large, mostly empty parking lot across the road, so we headed there to make repairs. Again, there happened to be an Indian Trading Post on that parking lot so Lela went shopping. It took me about an hour to secure the rock shield with the tools and hardware I had available.

Rock shield

Also Lela had discovered that a plastic latch on one of the cabinets had broken. I had a replacement and repaired it. Lela had fixed sandwiches for lunch so I ate mine on the road. We lost about an hour drive time.

Again we were on the road heading to Joplin. On the east side of OK City after travelling some of the worst interstate highways in the nation, a truck pulled along side and motioned for me to put my window down. He hollered that one of our plastic vent covers had blown off. I immediately pulled over to the shoulder and went inside to see which cover had blown. There are three of them and they were all intact. I climbed up on the bumper hitch to look on top and found that it was the air conditioner shroud which was missing. We got off the highway and drove back to see if we could find it, hoping it would be useable. We located it about three miles back but had to drive about ten miles to the next place to turn around. We stopped and picked it up along with several pieces on the shoulder. We lost about another hour before we got moving in the right direction again.

We decided Joplin wasn't the best option any more so we found a nice park in Tulsa.

http://www.tulsawarriorrv.com/

The park didn't have cable TV so I had to hook up my satellite to see the NCAA championship game. It was a great game. Showers and bedtime after a trying day.

Again we slept in and had breakfast before heading out. Tuesday's destination was home. Travel was comfortable but there was some worry about rain with the AC exposed to the weather.

We stopped to see Aunt Bertie in Springfield. She took us to McAlister's for lunch. She sneaked one in on us and paid for our food. It was a good visit and she and Lela exchanged pictures.

Aunt Bertie and Lela

We were on the road after about two hours.

When we arrived home, Jared and Gen brought Ana and dinner for us. Grandma played with Ana and I worked on top the SS to cover the AC before rain was expected Wednesday AM.

Miss Personality

After the kids left, we unpacked the things we needed for the night and headed to bed, thanking God for our safe trip, although it wasn't without adventure.

James told us
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds," James 1:2 ESV
I tried to see our challenges on the road in that light.

The last few days have been unpacking SS, organizing the office things, haircuts, and settling in at home.

The Cardinal pair on our deck couldn't wait for the Ficus tree to be on the deck. They built their nest on the metal baker's rack as they did a couple years ago.