Joe: The weather has been a bit of a guessing game for us. We have been watching high winds warnings for our selected route, and driving that big 5th wheel, wind scares the crap out of me. We were contemplating either staying an extra day in Oklahoma, or an extra day here in Lubbock, TX. The park in OK was really nice. The place was brand new, new and all the sites were big and easy. However, tonight's forecast was for thunderstorms and potential hail. Hail can really do a number on an RV roof. So, this morning under the light of a pretty significant thunderstorm, we packed up early and made a dash for TX.
The first 2 hours were pretty rough. A heavy rain shower that resulted in a truck stop break that yielded Hostess coffee cake and a Honey Bun. We couldn't bring ourselves to eat the Honey Bun, so we've named her Honey Bunny and stowed her in the glove box. We want to see how long she lasts in there. The winds were out of the southwest, and were buffeting the rig pretty hard in the morning. We saw lots of fog, and the truck traffic was brutal.
Finally, we turned south on TX 70, which is a secondary road with a 75MPH speed limit. The wind became more of a headwind at that point, and we dropped all traffic. I mean all traffic. The pan handle of Texas is and isn't at all what I expected. The first section was very reminiscent of New Mexico. Lots of little canyons and arroyos. After a couple of hours, we traversed up through this canyon and landed on the the table top that is the rest of the pan handle. I have never seen and expanse so flat and huge in my life. A recent addition to this landscape is wind turbines. They seem to materialize out of the haze continuously. With a steady 20mph wind, I have to imagine those beasts generate quite a bit of revenue.
We arrived at the Mesa Verde RV Park around 1pm. I'm happy to report that the levelers worked perfectly, and I'm hoping we've figured out a work around that keeps things working for us all the way to Tucson. I found a wonderful little mom & pop Mexican restaurant, and we at take out next to the camper in the sun in our t-shirts.
Tonight's park highlights the other side of RV living. There are a lot of folks who travel work. Not like me, by choice, but because that is the nature of their job. The find themselves living the RV life because it is affordable, and they can pack up and pull their house everywhere their job takes them. We picked this park, because we knew it was a one night stop, and we could get in and out quickly. A lot of the folks here picked this spot because it is close to work. I'm guessing the shine wears off this live quickly under those conditions.
All in all, today has been my favorite day of travel. Northwest Texas is a beautiful place to drive through without stopping. The farms and ranches were grand and spectacular, and the towns were grand and spectacular in their abandonment. Rural Northwest Texas living is not an easy undertaking for sure.
Tomorrow we had for Las Cruces, NM. A KOA campground with a spectacular overlook view of a cool little college down. I can't wait to try Red and Green!