Day 51 Sunday September 28, 2025
Note: We will not have as many photos to share from now on. My camera was damaged during the elk attack and it does not work. I will ship it off for repair when we get home.
We got heavy rain in the early hours this morning. The people of Arizona are probably glad to get it.
After a good hot shower Lena reapplied my bandaids and antibiotic creme. The stitches still look good, no swelling or redness. The skinned knee and elbow will take some time to heal over I expect. I found another big purple bruise on my right hip I hadn’t seen, now I have matching bruises, one on my left upper arm and my right hip.
Lena said she thought the traffic would be light this morning since it was Sunday morning and the Weatherbug app showed just a light change of rain after 10am so we decided to do some exploring in Flagstaff along the historic Route 66. Route 66 runs right through downtown Flagstaff.
Several of the iconic Route 66 buildings are still in use with the old style signs and architecture. We spotted what looked like a Farmer’s Market and parked to check it out. Of course about the time we stopped it started raining again lightly so we walked through the market. Lena checked the price of farm eggs at one vendor and they were $10 a dozen. Later we got a dozen and a half of organic pasture raised eggs at Walmart for $10.47. At home they are $8+ for the same egg brand.
We decided to go to a Historic Pioneer Village near where we were only to find out it is temporarily closed. So we stopped at a coffee shop for a latte and snack. It is still raining so we decided to go to Walmart and get a few supplies and return to the campground.
We decided everyone in Flagstaff was either on the road or in Walmart today. There was a sea of humanity in Walmart. It took us about an hour to get a few groceries, some bandaids and pain patches and check out. So Lena missed her prediction of low traffic and Weatherbug blew their weather forecast for today.
Day 52 Monday September 29, 2025
I did some searching yesterday on the internet for a replacement camera. We have paid a lot of money to attend the Balloon Fiesta and I was looking forward to photographing the colorful balloons. I have found a repair facility in California but there is not enough time to get my camera repaired before the balloon fiesta.
I found exactly what I was looking for on Facebook Marketplace and it was located right here in Flagstaff. It is the exact same camera that we have that was damaged during the elk attack. I made contact with the owner and we set up a meeting this morning at a coffee shop in Flagstaff a few miles from us.
The camera is in excellent condition, to the point of looking new. He said his in-laws gave it to him and his wife and they just didn’t take many photos. I tested the camera and everything worked like new so we come to an agreement on price and now we have a working camera again. Yes I know we can take photos with our iPhone and iPads but using a digital 35mm style camera works so much better for the way we do most of our travel photos.
And to top off the morning we got the best Lattes we have had in very long time and in a ceramic cup no less plus good muffins at the meeting place.
We returned to the motorhome to get our camera stuff organized and then drove about 45 miles to the town of Winslow Arizona. The is the real location of where the lyrics of the song “Take it Easy” by the Eagles happened. The tune/music was written by Glen Frey of the band but the lyrics were written by his good friend Jackson Browne. He was not a band member. This song was the Eagles band’s first number one hit.
The town has been very smart and has capitalized on the fact it happened in their town. They commissioned a bronze statue of a balladeer and a second one of Glen Frey and created a small park at the intersection where the event happened and there is also a “flat bed ford truck” at the same location.
The location is now a very busy tourist stop. That brings lots of tourists dollars to the small town. The town probably has taken in more money from the song than the band has.
Lena bought two T-shirts and we ate at the Sipp Shop cafe right across the street from the corner park. And we are just two people. There were dozens there while we were there this morning and the street is right on the famous Route 66. The food was excellent at the Sipp Shop and priced within reason. The price of food in restaurants/cafes on our trip in this part of the country is pricey.
Then we returned to the campground for the day. We are having trouble adjusting to Arizona time for some reason. They don’t observe daylight saving time so we are three hours behind time in North Carolina but we have been two hours behind for weeks now and it didn’t bother us. It gets dark about 6pm and it seems like a long time before bedtime, oh well we will just have to deal with it a few more days until we get to New Mexico.
Day 53 Tuesday September 30, 2025
Well Happy Anniversary to us, 58 years and still going strong. And they said it wouldn’t last. Yep, we got married young…2 years old to be exact. 🫣🫣
We began today by trying a coffee shop that the man that sold us the camera yesterday said we should try. It is called Macy’s and is supposed to be an European coffee shop. About half way there I realized I had forgotten my wallet so we had to turn around and go back to the campground to get it.
We finally got to the coffee shop and after searching for a parking spot for a while we went in and ordered. The Lattes were good ( served in a ceramic cup ) but not near as good as the ones we got yesterday where we bought the camera. My scone was kind of hard and dry, Lena’s blueberry coffee cake was good. Even if we were staying here longer we would not return here. They were doing a booming business but it was just too noisy for us and we saw nothing that reminded us of anything from Europe.
Then we went to the UPS Store to ship my damaged camera to a repair shop in California.
After dropping off the camera we headed out of town on Hwy 89A towards Sedona to ride through the Oak Canyon Scenic highway. It was a beautiful drive. Parts of it hugged the side of the mountain and the curves were so sharp the speed limit was 15mph. We pulled into the entrance to a state park so we could ride through it and it cost $30 to enter the park. I don’t think so.
Later we found a small parking lot beside a huge canyon so we pulled into there to take some photos. After taking a few photos we saw a sign that it cost $5 to park in the parking lot. Huh! Man Arizona likes to take your money. We left just as a Ranger truck was pulling into the parking lot and no we didn’t pay to park 5 minutes.
Sedona is a fairly small busy town with a beautiful backdrop of rocky mountains in the background. We drove through one of the residential areas that kind of backed up to the mountains. Most of the homes in there were of the adobe style. Very pretty, clean neat neighborhood. They don’t have to worry about mowing any grass. We didn’t see a sprig of grass in the small yards. What ground was not covered in concrete for the driveway had small rocks covering the ground and some western style plants.
We turned around and headed back to Flagstaff with plans to eat lunch at Texas Roadhouse but when we got there at 12:30 they didn’t open until 2pm so we decided to try Fat Olives where they serve brick oven pizza. Mike was our waiter and he gave us a rundown of their pizzas and said his favorite was Miss Piggy so that is what we ordered and it was delicious. We saved half of it for our lunch tomorrow when we get to the next campground. We decided to really treat ourselves and ordered one order of Tiramisu and two Lattes. They served the Tiramisu in a small glass jar and you spoon it out with a long handle spoon. If you are ever in Flagstaff we recommend Fat Olives for pizza and ask for Mike as your server.
We returned to the campground to do laundry and other chores before we pull out of here tomorrow.
Day 54 Wednesday October 1, 2025
Today is travel day so we got out of the campground at 8:30 for our 303 mile drive to Route 66 Casino RV Park outside of Albuquerque New Mexico. We stopped for fuel and got to the RV Park at 2 pm and setup in site 1128.
I think the Casino, RV Park and Truck Plaza is all owned by the Navajo Nation. The campground is nice, has 100 sites, that are full hookup, paved parking pads and paved picnic table patio. Some of the other 14 RVs from our tour is also here including our friends Sean and Lorraine.
After we had lunch and rested awhile we walked over to their site to discuss our trip tomorrow into Albuquerque and getting into the correct parking lot for the Balloon Fiesta.
Day 55 Thursday October 2, 2025
We headed for the Ballon Fiesta parking lot at 9 am with Sean and Lorraine following us so we could get parked together. Albuquerque is a huge city, lots of traffic and where I 40 and I 25 intersect it looks like a big bowl of spaghetti with roads going in all directions. We had to exit I 40 onto I 25 in that mess but with the GPS and Lena following the directions we got from Fantasy on which streets to turn on to get to the huge RV parking lot we got there without any issues.
It took us almost an hour of waiting to get guided to our parking site. The Fantasy parking team did a good job of parking all the RVs in an orderly manner. It is not a real RV Park just a huge gravel parking lot with sites marked off with spray paint for each site. Big Tom was directing each RV into their sites because the sites are close together and to insure each RV has their share of the site and not parked to close to their neighbors. We have 50AMP electrical service and water to fill our tanks if needed but not to stay hooked up to the water source. We came with a full fresh water tank and empty black and grey tanks. Fantasy has arranged for a pump out service on Saturday but I don’t think we will need that service.
Shortly after we got parked in our site I discovered there were sand spurs all over the ground. I told some of the others around us about them. It wasn’t long before we began to see people out walking their dogs and the dogs had little boots on their feet to protect their paws from the sand spurs. Some of the dogs wouldn’t wear booties so the owners had to carry them to a patch of green grass that Fantasy provided for dogs to have a place to do their business.
After getting setup and having lunch we went to the Fantasy Hospitality Tent to register, get our name badges, tickets for events and an itinerary for the event.
Then at 3pm we returned to the tent for orientation, social hour followed by some door prizes (we won a $25 Starbucks gift card) and then a meal was served cafeteria style by the Fantasy Team. A local company catered the food. It was very good.
We met several couples at our table and talked about traveling with Fantasy RV Tours. After our meal we returned to the motorhome so I could prop my leg up. After setting in a less than comfortable chair I wanted to elevate it some.
Day 56 Friday October 3, 2025
We went to the tent for breakfast and watch a few balloons that were practicing early this morning. Then at 9am we boarded a Fantasy chartered bus to tour the Nuclear Science & History Museum here in town. It had a lot of information about nuclear energy that was way above my knowledge. But it had the first in person display about the Atomic Bombs that was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII to bring that long war to a close. There was also a B-29 airplane outside similar to the airplane that was used to fly the atomic bombs.
Then we boarded the bus and was taken to the Moose Lodge for a very good box lunch. After lunch the bus took us to The Turquoise Museum. The family that owns the museum also make and sell all kinds of items made from turquoise. We thought the museum was housed in an old church but we heard one of the staff telling one of our group that the building was actually built as a house. It look like a large mansion. The fifth generation of the family is now running the business with several family members working in the business. One of the prior generations actually collected the items in the museum before it became the business it is now. They told us one piece in the museum was worth 8 million dollars. I guess that is why the fence that surrounds the museum is lined with razor wire and spikes on top of the fence.
They gave us a demonstration on grinding the turquoise down to a useable piece that can be made into jewelry, etc. And then we got a talk on silversmithing which is part of the process to making jewelry with turquoise. Then we went into the silversmithing workshop to see a few things they were working on. The workers were not at their stations because the owner said they didn’t like to do their very delicate work with someone looking at them.
Then the bus took us back to the fiesta grounds to our RVs.
Fantasy had a social hour at 4:30 and then a BBQ catered meal at 5:30 followed by a country band after we ate. We listened to the music for a while before returning to the motorhome for a shower and some rest. We have to get up early in the morning.
Day 57 Saturday October 4, 2025
Early morning. We got up at 4:30, went to the tent for breakfast and boarded a school bus that took us over to the balloon field where all the hot air balloons are. I had noticed on the list of 100 or so couples here on the Fantasy RV Tours for the balloon fiesta that there was one couple from Wilmington NC. And on the bus ride over to the balloon field we discovered they were sitting across the aisle on the bus from us. What are the chances of that happening.
After we got off the bus we had to get in a very large/long line of people to show our tickets and go through security before getting out onto the field.
We had to walk a long ways to get near where we could see about a dozen balloons already inflated. It was still dark when we picked a place to set our chairs down and a little cool. It was just about 60 degrees this morning when we got up so we didn’t wear a jacket but kind of wished we did because it was a little cool sitting outside in the dark.
As the sun came out the crowd swelled to a sea of people and balloons all around us setting up to fly. It was quite a spectacular sight as every direction we turned there were balloons. It takes several people to get the basket, which holds the propane fired burners set up, then the balloon has to be stretched out and attached to the basket and then as they blow air into the balloon to begin the inflation process someone that is strong/heavy has to hold onto the rope that is at the tip end of the ballon. As the balloon gets filled with air that person is pulled along until the balloon is almost upright. It is quite an interesting sight to see. At this ballon fiesta the spectators are allowed to be all over the place where the balloons are being setup so we got a really good experience seeing them setup.
All of the balloons were supposed to lift off at the same time which is called the Mass Ascension but due to high winds aloft that was cancelled and the balloons will not fly today. It is too dangerous to fly the balloons when the winds are strong because the pilot doesn’t have much control on the direction of the flight other than following the wind currents.
We were told that the reason Albuquerque is so popular for hot air balloons is the wind currents in the morning go in one direction and then in the afternoon the wind currents reverse and sometimes the balloons land with a few feet of where they lifted off. But we will not see that today. Maybe tomorrow.
We boarded the school bus and returned to the motorhome about 9 am. They get school buses from the area to use as shuttle buses. We probably would be shocked if we knew how much money the balloon fiesta brought into Albuquerque. Our tickets were included in our tour package with Fantasy. We noticed the price was $15 a person to get onto the balloon field and there were lots and lots of people on the field.
At 12:30 we had a demonstration by a hot air balloon pilot. The pilot, his wife, his son, his granddaughter and another man was the team that did the demonstration.
They had the wicker basket and the burner on display but of course not the actual balloon. Plus the wind was blowing about 15-18 mph.
I have never been as bored in my life at a demonstration. He tried to be funny and fell flat of his face, in my opinion. And he didn’t know when to shut up. He got way too deep into the weeds. We were supposed to eat at 2pm and he was still talking. Finally the Fantasy team cut him off, thankfully. Then the Fantasy team had to set up the tables and chairs again before we could set down for our meal. Then he had to go over to the other Fantasy tent and do it all over again.
The Fantasy team served us “loaded nachos” and margaritas after they got everything setup. The couple from Wilmington that we met this morning, Ed and Shelia, sat at our table and we had a good conversation. They are originally from Indiana. I asked them what brought them to Wilmington 20+ years ago. Well Ed said “drugs” (The legal kind).
The wind is still really blowing. We hope it is calm tomorrow morning so the Mass Ascension can take place. That is when all balloons lift off at the same time. We heard there were 391 balloons here this morning but none could fly due to the winds. There were some events this evening on the balloon field but we didn’t think they would take place with the strong winds so we didn’t go.
Day 58 Sunday October 5, 2025
Another early morning. We got up just after 5 am, went to the tent for breakfast and boarded a shuttle bus to the balloon field. The driver’s nickname was Mr. Sparkles. He had the inside and outside of the bus wrapped in tiny led lights of all different colors.
It didn’t take us long to get through the ticket and security gates. We were a little later than yesterday morning. And it turned out to be a great day for flying a hot air balloon. Again we were able to get right up to where the balloons were being setup.
They get the basket out with the liquid propane burner, lay it on its side, then stretch the nylon balloon out on the grass. Then attach the balloon to the basket and use a big fan to begin blowing up the balloon while the crew stretches the balloon material out. When they get it partially full of air they hold the throat open and then light the gas burner to heat up the air inside. This raises the balloon upright as the air heats up inside the balloon. The crew holds the balloon down with their weight until it is time to lift off. Before the balloon lifts off the ground a “Zebra” clears the people away in an area in front of the balloon and basket. When the Zebra gives them the signal the pilot fires the burner and the balloon rises off the ground. A “Zebra” is a person man or woman that wears a shirt that is stripped like a zebra. They clear the crowd away from the path in front of the basket in case it slides across the ground before it lifts off and gives the pilot to go ahead to lift off.
We heard there were over 500 balloons and probably 40,000 spectators or more in this morning and to our knowledge there were not any accidents. We didn’t see anyone messing with the balloons while they were on the ground. The balloons are made of nylon and very expensive and are normally not handled unless the person is wearing leather gloves. That keeps the body oil off the nylon material. Being that close to the action makes the experience amazing.
On the way back to the shuttle bus we stopped at the Krispy Kreme booth and got three glazed donuts before returning to the motorhome. We made lattes and had our donuts.
Then at 11am we went to the tent for brunch and mimosas. After that it was nap time.
At 3 pm we had an Ice Cream Social and drawings for gifts and a presentation on some of the tours available from Fantasy RV Tours. The couple we met from Wilmington won a $100 travel voucher. But it can only be used as a credit towards a tour booked while here at the Balloon Fiesta and they didn’t book a tour. So they offered it to us but we didn’t book a tour either so we couldn’t use it but Sean and Lorraine was sitting with us and they had booked a tour so they offered it to them. But since they didn’t actually win it we weren’t sure if Fantasy would let them use it. Lena called Kara, the Fantasy Ambassador Coordinator over and we asked her and she took my ballpoint pen and endorsed the voucher so Sean and Lorraine could get the $100 credit. It is good to know people. 😂
Between 5-8pm the following activities were taking place on the balloon field…Skydiving, Balloon Glow (this is were the balloonist raise their balloons but don’t lift off just fire the burners so the balloon glows after dark), Drone Light Show and the fireworks. I had planned to go back over to watch, Lena didn’t want to go but I decided I was also too tired to go back over. But I walked over to tent along with several others in the group and watched the drone show and the fireworks. I did see three of the skydivers come down also.
It had been an exciting day but I think most everyone is tired.
Day 59 Monday October 6, 2025
We hadn’t plan to go back to the balloon field this morning so we slept in past 5 am for a change. We got up at 7 and we began to hear lots of excitement outside so we got dressed and went outside and the sky above us was filled with balloons. The wind this morning brought them right over our RVs. A few landed near the tent and one landed just a few yards from the tent so several people from our group jumped in to help them hold the basket down and keep the balloon from getting damaged on some metal fence post along the road. Another exciting morning. Everyone seems happy to watch the balloons, I guess because it is kind a rare opportunity to see them fly with all the different shapes and colors and then to be so up close to them.
We got some breakfast in the tent then boarded a bus provided by Fantasy to take us to Old Town Albuquerque. They had buses running about every 45 minutes. We enjoyed walking around the old town. Most of the original buildings are various shops now and the adobe buildings are well preserved. There were several little courtyards between the buildings with flowers and colorful red peppers hanging out to dry.
We went into a photo shop where professional photographers from the area have their photos for sale. There were some beautiful work on display. We talked to the photographer running the shop this morning and he attended colloquial at Duke University. He lives here now and he showed us some photos he took this morning and yesterday from his house of the balloons on the field and in the air.
The Fantasy crew had told everyone that the Church Street Cafe was a good place to eat and it was very popular and not very big so we got there just before noon and before the rush and got a table. The food was good and so was the Prickly Pear Margarita that our Wagonmaster told us about. Our waitress asked us if we wanted some sopapillas for dessert. We kind of gave her a blank look because we didn’t know what that was so she said I just bring you some. She brought out two that had just been cooked with some honey. Wow, were they good, little and airy and the honey just set the taste off. And what was even better she didn’t charge us for them. I guess she figured our bill was going to be big enough.
Later we boarded the bus back to the motorhome for some rest before our afternoon activities begin.
We went to the tent about 5pm for part of the social hour before our farewell dinner at 5:30. The catering company prepared a good meal. This will be our last night as we depart tomorrow morning.
Day 60 Tuesday October 7, 2025
We got up just before 7am and got a few things ready before our departure. Then went to the tent for some breakfast and to watch the balloons again. They were able to fly this morning because the winds were really calm. Some of the balloons seemed to be hardly moving the winds were so calm.
We were given instructions last night on how to exit the RV parking area and if the balloons were over the RV parking area we were to wait until they moved on for safety reasons. So far we have only heard of two balloon accidents during the fiesta this week. Two got tangled up in some power lines but there were no injuries and only a brief power outage.
We got everything ready and hooked up and pulled out about 9:30 after saying goodbye to the people we spent the most time with. We have 283 miles to drive today.
Not long after we got on I40 headed East we drove in fairly heavy fog for probably an hour, even had the emergency flashers on part of the time. Then all of a sudden the fog cleared like someone turned a switch.
The terrain today on our drive was mostly flat with some small cedar scrub trees. Lot and lots of mostly nothing. We stopped and topped off the tank at a Loves Truck Stop. We didn’t like this truck stop. The entrance was located kind of weird and the pavement was full of potholes and not much room to maneuver. We had thought about parking and making a cup of coffee but decided the next rest stop was a better option so we left.
We stopped at the next rest stop, started the generator and Lena made us a Latte while I did a walk around to check the Jeep and motorhome for any obvious issues. This was just about halfway to our stop for tonight so it worked out good. The temperature is mid 50’s this morning.
The pavement on the last several miles of I40 in New Mexico was horrendous, almost continuous potholes. It was so bad I drove down the middle of the road if no one was close behind us. Then when we crossed the state line into Texas it was like night and day different. Almost perfectly good road surface.
We got to our destination in Amarillo Texas just after 4pm. It was Oasis RV Resort and Cottages. We checked in and setup in site 68 a nice level concrete pull through. This is a nice RV Park.
While I dumped our holding tanks Lena fixed our lunch and then we relaxed the remainder of the day.
Day 61 Wednesday October 8, 2025
After a goodnight sleep and breakfast we pulled out at 8:30 for another 283 mile drive. This time to Choctaw Oklahoma a few miles East of Oklahoma City.
A couple of miles from our campground beside the frontage road for I40 is Cadillac Ranch. A eccentric millionaire took 10 Cadillac Sedans and partially buried them in the ground with about half of the car above ground. Don’t know why he did this but it sure has become one of those strange road side attractions.
It doesn’t cost anything to walk the couple hundred yards to the car and people are free to take rattle can spray paint and paint anything they would like on the cars. Normally there is a small trailer there where you can
T-Shirts and spray paint but we got there before they set up this morning.
We walked out to the cars and could have painted something on the cars because there were several partly empty spray paint cans setting around. There is so much paint on the cars you can hardly make out the original shape of the cars.
The road pavement is also spray painted. Amazing how something like this draws so much attention.
The scenery today was much different than New Mexico. We began to see some farm land again with corn and what I believe was millet and several small herds of cattle. The land in Texas was mostly flat but changed to rolling landscape as we got into Oklahoma. But it sure is good to see green grass again.
We drove about an hour in rain but it was not a heavy rain and the traffic was not really heavy so it was a pretty good travel day. We stopped at the Oklahoma Visitor Center for a short break. There was some road construction delay in Oklahoma City but it only slowed us down about 10-15 minutes.
We got to our stop for the next two nights about 2pm. We are staying at a Loves RV Stop which is a RV Park across from a Loves Truck stop. This is our second time staying at a Loves RV Stop. This one is similar to the other one we stayed at in Muscle Shoals Alabama a couple years ago. We have seen some that we would be reluctant to stay in. Some of them are very close to the truck stop and you would have truck noise all night long.
The RV Park has a fence around it and an entrance gate that is locked. You get a gate code via email a couple days before arrival. The driveway off the street up to the gate was shorter than it should have been for a long RV like ours and for some strange reason the entrance gate was the left side of the gate rather than the right side. I didn’t realize that until I had started my turn towards the gate and had to switch to the other gate. This caused the rear wheels of the motorhome to ride up over the curb and both tires on the passenger side of the Jeep. But it didn’t damage the tires. I drove really slow after Lena entered the gate code to open the sliding gate.
We set up in pull through site 8 and had to put our riser boards under the rear tires of the motorhome because the concrete parking pad was almost 4” out of level. It still amazes me how a construction company doesn’t know how to level a RV pad. They make an electronic transit that will show them what level is.
When you stay at a Loves RV Stop the email you get with the gate code has a place that you have to click to say that you have arrived. That turns on the utilities for your site. On the day you depart it automatically turns the utilities off so no one can sneak in an setup camp and get free utilities. There is not an onsite person to monitor the RV Park. If you need assistance you have to call them. There is also showers, restrooms and a laundry available.
Our friends from the Western National Parks Tour and the Balloon Fiesta are staying at a KOA campground about a mile down the road so when they got their motorhome setup we picked them up and we drove about 7 miles into the small town of Choctaw and had a great meal at Johnny’s Italian Restaurant. Lena and I even shared a piece of the best Tiramisu we have had sent we were living in Germany and eating at an Italian Restaurant in Landsthul. I found out the family that owns the restaurant is from Sicily.
We dropped them off at their campground, said our goodbyes with the promise to visit sometime in the future.
We returned to our RV Stop campground and lo and behold the two couples (the wives are sisters) from North Carolina that was on our Western National Parks Tour and the Balloon Fiesta are parked in the two sites to our left. What are the odds of that happening. They didn’t know we were coming here and we didn’t know they were coming here. So we sat and chatted until just after sunset. The couple that is in the site to our right has also just come off a different Fantasy tour. They came over and introduced themselves.
Day 62 Thursday October 9, 2025
We went across the street to the McDonald’s at the Loves Truck Stop for breakfast. Then we drove to Oklahoma City about 20 miles away to visit the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. I don’t think we have ever spent 3 hours touring a museum until today. This museum was kind of unusual, very interesting and very big and Lena said very cold.
Then we stopped at a Whataburger to try out their hamburgers. I follow a couple of RVers on YouTube and he is crazy about Whataburgers. We both ordered the Original Junior Burger and it comes with a drink and fries. Neither one of us were all that impressed. Maybe a different burger would have been better, we don’t know. I sent the YouTuber that likes the Whataburger a comment on his latest post to YouTube and asked him what his favorite was. He likes the Spicey Bacon and Cheese Burger.
Then we filled the Jeep up with fuel and stopped at Sam’s Club for a couple of items before returning to the motorhome to catch up on laundry and other items.
Day 63 Friday October 10, 2025
We got stated a little later this morning but we only had about 250 miles to go so we got hooked up and pulled out about 9am.
We had a pull through site but with the tight turns getting out the gate Lena suggested we back out of our site and then hookup and we can drive straight to the gate and that worked great. Women’s intuition.
We pulled out of the RV Stop and pulled over to the Loves Truck Stop across the driveway to top off the fuel tank. After we fueled up and were making our way back to the street we noticed an Entegra Motorhome that appeared to have stayed the night in the truck parking lot because he had his tow vehicle unhooked and his slides were still extended on the motorhome.
Loves doesn’t forbid this and I understand trying to save a few dollars traveling but if you can afford a 1 million dollar motorhome and nice tow vehicle you can afford a $50 campsite and not take a trucker’s parking spot. Truckers can’t go to a campground and sleep, they depend on finding a vacant spot at a truck stop or at a rest stop to get off the road. They are only allowed to drive a maximum of 11 hours within a 14 hour period, then they must be off duty for 10 hours.
We would be desperate if we stayed in a truck stop parking lot overnight. First of all that is taking a parking spot from a trucker and then there is the noise factor of trucks coming and going around you all night. We have really noticed on this trip that the states need to provide more places on the interstate highways for truckers to get off the road to rest. On the first part of this trip about half of the rest stops were closed down for whatever reason.
We made a quick rest stop just before the Arkansas state line and got to Ivey’s Cove RV Park in Russellville Arkansas about 1:30 and setup in pull through site 3. We stayed here in September 2022 on the way back from Alaska. The routes we take when we travel we rarely stay in the same campgrounds.
We have our leftovers from Johnny’s Italian Restaurant for lunch when we got setup and then we sat outside in the shade for a while. We are almost 5,000 miles into this trip.
Day 64 Saturday October 11, 2025
We departed again at 9:30 this morning and headed for Batesville MS about 240 miles away. Before we got to Memphis TN we exited I40 and headed across lots of farm county. We despise to drive through Memphis TN on I40. The traffic is usually horrible and the road surface worse than horrible. Last year we hit a huge pothole that knocked out the alignment on the motorhome.
The scenery was also better and much less traffic traveling through the farm land. They grow corn, soybeans and lots and lots of cotton in this area. We stopped at Walmart in West Helena Arkansas for a break and to get a few items we were short on.
Not long after we left West Helena we crossed over the Mississippi River. Then for about 10 miles the road surface just about rattled our fillings out. But finally got on some good road where we were surrounded by cotton fields. There were a couple of cotton gins beside the road where the farmers bring their round bales of cotton.
We got to our campground in Batesville MS about 3pm and set up in site 17 of the 20 site campground. This is a small nice campground that is part of the town Civic Center Complex. The U shaped street is gravel but the site parking pads are concrete. It is back behind a huge parking lot for the Civic Center so it should be a nice quiet night.
