Christmas Travel

We were up with the shepherds and on the road at 5:30 AM on Christmas morning.

Of course, it was dark but by daylight we were enjoying the rolling hills of Alabama. Much to my delight, the closest route kept us mostly off the freeways. More scenic and interesting that way. A case in point: we took Highway 80 out of Montgomery, AL, and I soon saw a highway marker identifying it as the Historic Selma to MontgomeryTrail. Certainly brought back memories of watching the news in the 60's.

Into Mississippi....

...down Cumberland Road, my favorite in all of Mississippi...

..a quick stop to gaze at those huge moss covered trees.
It never gets old. Enlarge the picture to get a glimpse of the old plantation house, Elgin, that sits back in those trees.

Of course, that wonderful, winding road leads to the home of our dear friends, Bennie and Bobbye, who were gracious enough to share a part of their Christmas Day with us; there was 'room at the inn'. I was so busy enjoying the visit that I failed to get any pictures. Thanks, you two, and blessings.

We went a little further down the road to a strangely vacant Walmart and, though tired from the 12 hour ride, it hadn't been on the back of a donkey and I wasn't required to give birth in a barn when we arrived.
Mary, I can say with Elizabeth, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!"


On the 26th, another early start, in the dark and some rain. Not a good time to begin to have alternator problems, evidenced by dimming headlights and very slow wipers. The problem was intermittent and the road narrow so we continued on to Alexandria, Louisiana, where we were able to find an empty parking lot.Thankfully, George was able to discover and repair a loose wire and the problem was fixed.

Approaching the Sabine River, with Texas on the other side, we saw a 'Low Bridge' warning. Oh, Great. Since we added a satellite dome to the top of the RV we haven't known exactly how high it is.... . So, another pull-over so George could do some measuring, then a very slow approach to the bridge.....will we make it.....?

Whew! Now we know we're under 12' 3''.

We arrived in Cleveland, found a place to park and George hurried off to the mill. However, he wasn't gone long . On arriving at the mill he soon discovered that there was no one there who spoke English. Good grief. Back to the motor home to call his contact who, it turned out, was away from the mill because his son was in the hospital for surgery.

And he came home with, yes, a Yellow Rose of Texas .
Okay, all together now, "Ahhhhh... how sweet!"

Glory to God in the Highest

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--- all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross."

Colossians 1:15-20

Moving on to Georgia

George finished the job in WV and on Monday the 15th we headed south, with a 60 mile diversion east to Greensboro, NC, where George found a business that could repair some of his laser equipment! He has had numerous people in Oregon try and fail. The option of purchasing new equipment was very expensive, so this is indeed good news for us.

Back on course, going through Columbia, SC. The sky was more beautiful than the photo shows. We arrived at our destination, Milledgeville, GA, on Wednesday, found an RV park just 2 miles from the mill (the last job it was a 30 mile drive, one way) and had some time to look around the town and enjoy the beautiful, balmy, 70 degree weather.

This was the first discovery. Milledgeville was home to
Flannery O'Conner!
Unfortunately, the farm is closed for the holidays.

And, some beautiful buildings around town:

On the campus of the Georgia Military Institute is the old Capitol Building.
Milledgeville was Georgia's capital before Atlanta.

The old Governor's Mansion

A building on the campus of Georgia College and State University

Another downtown building
Are you seeing a theme here yet?

Not downtown but the theme continues....
This old house was the summer home of a governor of Georgia in the 1800's. It's close to the mill where George is working and I sure would like to poke around in there awhile!

Double click on the photo for a larger view and check out that metal fencing. I love it.

Good Morning, Moon

I just couln't resist another Moon photo. It was so striking this morning, hanging there on the crest of a West Virginia mountain. I heard later on the news that it was the "brightest and fullest" of the year, being closer to the earth than the other fulls this year.

The campground where we are staying, with the dusting of snow that fell yesterday.

Backing up in time, after a couple days of travel from New Mexico we arrived in Cleveland, TX and had some time Sunday afternoon to explore a nearby flea market.

A new sight for me at the RV park in TX: an outdoor washing machine. Seemed to work just fine.

By George

On passing a church called Overcoming Faith Christian Center: "That's kind of defeating the purpose, isn't it?"
(Eyes Twinkling)

Texas Camels

Have the Iranians taken over the Texas oil fields?!

We both did a double take on seeing camels on the range as we were driving along. I wonder if a rancher got bored with cattle. Anyway, we enjoyed the opportunity to 'visit' with these odd beasts up close. They were quite friendly and even Elle seemed to think they were ok.

I wasn't willing to be quite this friendly! Again, it's a small world; this lady is from Prineville, Oregon and we chatted with her awhile.

Y'all Come Back Now.

Amarillo by Morning?

The RV was ready to go last night at 5 pm! We got it to the motel and all our things transferred, then spent the night at the motel,as we had already paid for the night.

Goodnight, Tucumcari.

And, yes, we made it to Amarillo by Morning.


We don't follow the rodeo circuit but we did meet the coach of the rodeo team for Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari. He was having work done on his pickup at John's and heard me say we were from Oregon. It turns out he is from Kamiah, Idaho, a place where George has ground rails. While in high school and college he worked at the mill as a log scaler. Small world.

Still in Tucumcari, the old and the new.
This HUGE wind turbine is a part of the community college and is used in training students to be maintenance techs. When it's running it can provide power for the school and 500 homes. The coach said GE guarantees graduates of the two year program starting pay of $25.00 an hour. Not Bad.

Still Waiting....

.....but while waiting we've looked around a little.

It's a bit stickery up close.

Not so bad from a distance.

And George found a fellow pepper lover!
Speaking of George, he mentioned having to watch out for Clint Eastwood showing up here in Tucumcari. Clint isn't in this clip from the movie 'For a Few Dollars More' but you'll see the connection. We saw this movie (and two others starring Clint, a triple matinee) at the old theater in Sonora back in 1971 or '72. I had forgotten the movie but not the music! George remembered this scene.

The Big Engine That Couldn't

After 5 years of chug chug chugging us faithfully (for the most part) all over this country, our big engine had to admit defeat and confess "I Can't." Poor broken thing.

We went to visit him today at John's Truck Service.

Out with the old (right), in with the "new".

The shop's owner and a friend drove 500 miles to pick up the replacement engine in Texas and drove all night to get it back to the shop this morning so work could begin early today. And he did it for less than it would have cost us based on the IRS per mile cost used to calculate tax deductions. So, I'm hoping the motor home will now have the heart of a true Texan: Cowboy Up and Git 'er Done.

Tucumcari, cont.

Bad news. The problem isn't the one George was hoping for and we will be here a bit. We should know more tomorrow. However, George 'sweetened the lemon juice' with a few simple words. "Well, we weren't in a wreck."

This is home for tonight. Unfortunately, the Free at the bottom of the sign is referring to the WiFi, which doesn't seem to work, and a continental breakfast, yet to be tried. More Route 66 to come for my little guys that enjoy Cars. It's a bit like finding yourself in a time capsule.

Settling in to new surroundings.

Tucumcari Travel Trials

The day started rosy!
However, our travel motto, James 4:13-15, was soon remembered.

Around 1:30 pm George noticed a loss of power, checked all the gauges and they looked good, glanced in the side mirror and saw smoke. Not a good sign. He pulled to the shoulder, did a visual check and saw where the smoke was coming from. Not wanting to be so close to the traffic, he drove slowly to a rest stop a few miles down the road. Thank you, Lord.

He can see generally where the problem is and thinks it might be bad valves, hopefully.
There are other worse possibilities:(

So, when life hands you a lemon.......


Barbecue!


And enjoy the view.

We are about 40 miles west of Tucumcari, NM. I checked online and it looks like there are several truck and RV repair shops there. Being it is Sunday, we figured they were probably closed and will drive the truck in tomorrow, Lord willing, and see if we can get some help. I just looked out the window and it is.....SNOWING! This could be interesting. We have fuel for the generator and propane for the heater, so we should stay warm. Yikes.

Random Thought

OK, has anyone else noticed that the Word Verification codes on Blogger have gotten easier as far as letter combinations?

The Wanderer Returns

Good Morning from somewhere between Tehachapi and Barstow, CA. After a couple hours driving in the dark and some light fog, the sun was a welcome sight. We were both amused at the flying saucer cloud that hovered above the mountains. But back a couple days.....

We had the privilege of spending Thanksgiving Day with Mom and Larry
and a blessed time it was!

Larry's fresh cut centerpiece...simply beautiful.

Cooks in the kitchen, vigilance required :)

Thanks and Blessings, Larry, for all you do there.

Headed West!

Well, first we had to go north, up the middle of Arkansas,

through the Ozarks,

a stop in Independence, MO, and a chance to visit with Jean, Paul, Melissa and Mallory, during which time the only picture I got was of Jeans's apartment :( Too busy talking.

and up the west side of Iowa.

In South Dakota we really turned west and spent the night at a rest area.
The day included a stop to find and fix a fuel leak after we started smelling diesel, a messy, smelly endeavor. We got an early start on Sunday (3:30 am) and were rudely interrupted by a flashing red light on the dash and the sickly sweet smell of antifreeze at 5:30, right after passing a rest stop exit. But we were able to get off on the shoulder enough to not be a road hazard and after another messy, smelly hour and a half George got the water hose replaced and we were on the road again.

We made a stop in Sturgis, SD, to take in the sights of the final day of the big motorcycle rally. I've never seen so many bikes in one place and most of the people had already left. We enjoyed looking at and listening to the motorcycles, however the general atmosphere wasn't all that great for the most part.

If you click on this photo to enlarge it you can see a pretty awesome paint job.

I liked this one, too.

Enlarge and notice the logo on the back of this man's shirt.

My favorite photo. Don't you love it?

And then to Spearfish, 20 miles from Sturgis, where the reality of the bike rally's impact on the surrounding area's economy hit us when the RV park owner said the cost to stay the night at this less than impressive campground was $60! I would guess that the rest of the year it would be between $20 and $30. But it was close to the mill and had a nice laundry room where I was able to get 6 loads done in good time.