Not only do we have to get back but we’ll also have to unpack the RV entirely or we will be unpacking in the snow: cold, wet and miserable. So, Tuesday early afternoon is our window, our small, skinny slot.
But, we’ve been terribly lucky with the weather we’ve had for our fast journey across the US this week. We found this weather map on the back page of the USA Today we were reading at breakfast and it shows this slot. The large yellow and orange bubble started with us in San Diego and moved east with us such that we are in Kansas City now, right at the top of the bubble. But, we’ve had wonderful temperatures all the way - and now they are going to end as we head further north out of the yellow bubble into the cold blue hovering over Iowa.
Monday morning we arose early in El Reno, OK, and went over to the motel for the ‘hot’ breakfast. Now, at 6:00 when it was put out, it was probably hot but by 6:45 when we arrived, it was warmed over. Scrambled eggs, potatoes, hash, bacon, hot cereal, some bread things with eggs, cheese and bacon and lots of bagels, cold cereals, etc. Pretty much what you would expect and, I probably ate more than I usually do. Then we went back to the RV where Gary ‘winterized’ He had a bucket filled with pink anitfreeze with a hose attached to our fresh water tank. I stayed inside and one by one turned on the hot water and cold water in the kitchen sink, the bathroom sind and the shower. When I could see pink, I knew we had antifreeze in the lines. Gary then did the washing machine, the ice maker and the water heater.
And, we were off for Emporia, KS. I had forgotten to bid for a motel room through Priceline until about 10:00 am when we were rolling down the highway. So, when we stopped for coffee refills, I sat there with my computer, checked the usual prices and star ratings in Emporia. I do not like to pay more than $50: that is what I bid and that is what we paid for a 2 1/2 star (the highest rating in Emporia) room in a Fairfield by Marriott.
We got there about 6:00, parked the RV in the parking lot of the next-door restaurant which is closed on Mondays and went into register. Now, we don’t have suitcases since we’re only staying a night and all of our stuff is in the RV. We’ve got all we need in a tote bag. 2 old people, a little the worse for wear, walking in at 8 pm carrying only a tote bag. Would you let these two customers in? Strange? Well they let us in and - hey, there were cookies here too. WOW, we’re on a roll.
Dinner, in a restaurant across the street was absolutely awful. I ordered a chicken club: I like club sandwiches and usually they are pretty fresh and not greasy. Big mistake. This one had 5 slices of greasy bacon which greased up the cheese, the broiled chicken and the buns. It was awful. The sandwich was so greasy and slippery that everything slid out of that bun every which way. The fries were shiny from the grease. Serves me right.
Dinner, showers and to bed - until the fire alarm went off at 5:45. Gary ran to the door but it was a false alarm. Well, we’re already awake - we might as well get up.
In the morning we had our second morning of motel breakfast. Aha, now, I remember why I like to travel by RV, eating my own food in my own dining room and not by car staying in motels, eating motel and restaurant food. This breakfast was better and much less greasy than yesterday’s. I had fresh fruit, yogurt and a bagel. Ah, much better. We met a couple who were traveling to Arizona. They told us that they had driven all day Monday through pea soup fog - that it wasn’t safe to drive more than 45 mph but that they traveled at 65 mph and watched the cars ahead of them closely. Hmmm.
We also saw a guy come into the breakfast area, get 6 hard cooked eggs, 4 muffins, 3 milks, several yogurt and head on back to his room. He returned a bit later to get 5 more eggs, 4 more muffins, some more yogurt, some fresth fruit and some other things. He must be feeding an army or else he’s storing up.
We got into the RV and headed north. Oops, we forgot to tell the West Des Moines Water Works to turn our water on. I called and they said they’d get it done by 3:00.
We drove through driving rain from Emporia which is 1 1/2 hrs from Kansas City, around KC and to the Iowa border before the rain stopped. This same storm continued on and caused flooding, tornadoes and washouts as it crossed the the eastern half of the US. Luckily, we only saw the rain. As we were heading north we saw lots of RV’s heading south. They must have been wondering why in the world we were heading north. Maybe they think our GPS is broken or was cheap.
But, the Iowa border came into view, then the signs for Des Moines and finally, we were in our own driveway. Whew.
We began in San Diego - how much further from Iowa could we have been? 2000 miles and we were home. Gary rushed into the house, turned on our water from the inside, lit the pilot light for the hot water heater and I ran around checking each faucet. I also turned on the heat in the house since we had it set for 55 degrees. I shut the refrigerator and turned it on also. I then called the Water Department and thanked them profusely for turning on our water with such little notice.
We’re good to go.
We used what remaining light we had to unload the RV and at least get everything (and I mean everything) into the house before the storm hit in the evening. Our scheme is for Gary to get everything into the house where I take over and move it all to where it goes, unpack and put away. We were moving pretty fast, fast enough that we hardly noticed that the house was a bit cold.
As we were carrying the last boxes into the house, we felt the first snowflakes. Whew, we had made it. 9:00 and time for dinner.
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