Ingrid's Corner

On The Road Again!

by Ingrid

Willie Nelson is currently on replay.

On the road again
I just can’t wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin’ music with my friends
And I can’t wait to get on the road again

As I type this post, I’m currently sitting in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Yesterday (Saturday) was a very long day on the road. We left Phoenix, Arizona at 5:45 in the morning and arrived in Tucumcari about 12 hours later … 615 miles (990 km). Whew! That was a very long day.

Fortunately, Al and I took several breaks and switched drivers a few times. What also helped was my focus on fueling us properly. Al thinks about the truck and I think about our bodies. The day before departure, I did some serious meal prep knowing we intended to put in some long driving days.

Yesterday, we started off our day with a rare treat … while driving, we had our coffee accompanied by coffee cake. Ok, a sugary breakfast is not necessarily the best fuel, but it’s always a fun (and rare) splurge to start our travels in a festive mood.

Lunch consisted of Turkey club sandwiches on fresh sourdough bread with a side of crisp red grapes. For dinner, we enjoyed salmon patties (that I had prepped the day before) accompanied by homemade potato salad (also made the day before) – dinner prepared and eaten while parked at a rest area. One of the things that was super important to me when we purchased our RV was the functionality of it while the slides are pulled in. I was able to fry the patties and serve dinner and dine at our dinette all while the slides were left in.

Oh, and did I mention the homemade brownies we had for dessert? Yeah, I’d say I fueled us up just fine for the 12 hour travel day. And then the day ended with one of my famous margaritas and a good night’s sleep.

I love RV travel. Because we were able to enjoy meals at our own table, meals I had made, and use our own restroom whenever the urge struck, it enabled us to arrive at our destination with energy to spare … not much energy, but we weren’t exhausted. Staying hydrated, being well-fed, and making regular stops allowed us to crank out some serious mileage.

Today, we plan on putting in another long day of driving, but not as long as yesterday. We’ll be on two-lane roads most of the day today (Sunday) as we angle up toward Kansas City from New Mexico into corners of Oklahoma and Texas and then into the state of Kansas. Unfortunately, we expect to encounter more wind today. Yeah, yesterday as we headed in an easterly direction, we encountered winds from the south ranging from 15-25 mph. Fun times trying to stay in our lane along with the semis swaying from the gusts.

Time to hit the road. I’ll catch ya later!


75 thoughts on “On The Road Again!”

  2. Ingrid, Your sentence “Al thinks about the truck and I think about our bodies” made me smile. Okay, I smiled again on “margaritas” and “sleep.” We have rented RV‘s in the past and yes, I recall swaying in the gusts. I like your addition of the map. A great frame of reference. I look forward to following along. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Glad you enjoyed the map. I feel it gives reference to exactly where we traveled as well as it helps me remember 😏 Unfortunately, the majority of our trip entailed battling winds, but we did make it to our final destination without issue … exhausted but well. I’ll eventually write a recap on the overall trip.

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    1. With the exception of battling winds practically the entire time, we arrived at our destination unscathed 😀 Now we need about a week of rest to recover after driving an insane 1900 miles in 4 days 😯 We’ve already promised each other that we won’t be doing that again!

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      1. Way too many miles in a short amount of time. Rest up and take it easy the rest of the way. Enjoy the scenery. What’s that saying about destination versus journey?

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  5. Wind indeed. It’s been nuts here the past week, complete with a massive thunderstorm last Saturday that very nearly sent a tree through our kitchen window. In the aftermath, I was reading about wind gusts up to 100mph! Hope you guys were able to avoid the worst of the crazy weather and had a safe trip.

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    1. We kept a close eye on the weather the entire trip which is why we drove some insane long days. For the worst of the wind and storms, we sat in Iowa for two days and are so glad we did so. Seeing semi’s rolled over is always upsetting. Funny how when we left Phoenix it was 110 degrees and Al and I were complaining about the heat. I’m now sitting in Hayward, WI and the overnight temps were in the 40’s and the day’s in the 60’s and we’re complaining about the cold 🤷‍♀️ Ah, such is life … all part of the adventure!

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  6. This is a new comment on an old post.
    I made your Blueberry Coffee cake for a friend that recently had shoulder surgery. Well, I made 2 , since my husband wasn’t going to allow the only one to exit without letting me know how wrong that idea would have been.
    Review from my husband is 6 stars, and 10.0 rating from the patient. My friend felt it was Olympic!

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    1. We love traveling with our RV home in tow. Now we’re resting for a couple of days before our final push to Hayward. Amazing how nice it feels to have overcast skies and a light rain.

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  8. Woohoo! So great to scratch that hitch itch, huh?!? We’ve done long days of driving like that — beats sitting in a boondock site with nothing to do for hours and hours. Out-running bad weather is a great motivator, that’s for sure! And we, too, have been grateful for our own kitchen and bathroom during our travels. When we did have to go into a gas station or someplace, we used lots of sanitized wipes! Stay safe and healthy!

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    1. Yes, feels great to be traveling again, and like you, see no reason to stop and sit somewhere and twiddle our thumbs when we could be cranking out some more miles. Plus it has been hot everywhere and we’re definitely keeping an eye on the weather.😊

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  9. Wow, you’re making good progress! I don’t think we ever had a 12-hour day on the road, but… it’s all about the destination now! 🙂 Your meals and snacks sound delicious. Well-prepped, tasty, and filling. Have a smooth continuation of your haul and enjoy the lake!

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    1. We lucked out and found a great place to overnight in Kansas with a lake and electric site. Due to the heat, we definitely wanted an electric site instead of boondocking. And today, we arrived in Iowa and snagged a lake view site at Saylorville Lake to wait out some weather. We should arrive at our summer destination on Thursday 🤞

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  10. Your snacks and travel delights are much better (homemade) than the ones we usually take. Continued safe travels north, hope you find a good site at Lake Saylorville.

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    1. We found an awesome site at Saylorville thanks to your help – thank you! We find if we eat our own meals, we feel better and have more energy and thus can put in some long driving days.

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    1. We’ve had three very long driving days. Now we’ll take a break for a few days at a lovely lake in Iowa before embarking on the last leg of the journey. Hmm, more meal planning!🧐

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  16. What a stunning first day. We’d not make that. Glad to hear about your fueling prep. That’s something that can bite you if you’re not careful. Have a safe and happy rest of your journey.

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  17. What a stunning first day. We’d not make that. Glad to hear about your fueling prep. That’s something that can bite you if you’re not careful. Have a safe and happy rest of your journey.

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    1. Thanks! We covered 1,465 miles in 3 days and now we’ll rest up for 3 days before one more long day of driving. We don’t normally travel like this, but there is a method to our madness 😏 namely weather…. weather avoidance.

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  18. Well dang, you beat us out of the area by a week!!! Good for you you road warriors. Travel safe.

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    1. So where are you guys off too? We should’ve been outta Phoenix mid-May, but thanks to Covid and a couple of medical issues, we got detained.

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    1. Yes, I would agree! We ended up doing 1,465 miles in 3 days … insane! Normally we don’t push like that, but we were keeping an eye on the weather and wanted to position ourselves in anticipation of severe storms. We grew up in the Midwest and are all too familiar with the weather. After our little break, we have one more day of driving and we’ll arrive at our destination and not get behind the wheel for a while. We’re pooped!

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    1. If only one of us were driving, eight would most likely be our tops. As it is, we don’t like going over 8 and we switch drivers regularly. Sometimes I end up driving more than Al. This isn’t our normal way of traveling, but we do have our reasons … just can’t remember what those reasons were 😆🤣😆

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  22. I can feel the happiness in your words that you are enjoying traveling again! Safe travels!

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    1. Yep, glad to be on the road again, but I’ll be even more glad when we arrive in Hayward 😊 Hope you guys have a great summer! Is there a boat in your future?

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  23. So you’re on the road again! Glad to hear! YEAH for you.
    Looking at that map of yours, a lot of the roads/highways looks familiar. From our trip to Sedona and Las Vegas last autumn. My report on that is still in the works, though. So far I’ve only done tne very first part, about our plans.
    I still remember vividly US 17 between Flagstaff and Sedona. This was the way we took to Sedona. On our way back we too AZ 17, a very scenic route, but not the best for your rig, I suppose, winding as it is. We really enjoyed the sights there, though. On I-40 I remember the Flying C Ranch stop, between Albuquerque and Santa Rosa, our favourite place for kistch. 😀 And all their billboards that mar the landscape. Talking of Willie Nelson and I-40: maybe you would want to have a look at a video I posted on YouTube, of I-40 just before you reach the Flying C Ranch.

    And something else: just now Mary and I are seriously considering some RV-ing ourselves, so that we can travel, but won’t have to stay in motels. We think we might be safer in our own accommodation. Of course, we wouldn’t buy one but rent it. So far, Cruise America’s standard size sees to be the thing for us. As I said, we’re just thinking of renting one. We’ll wait some to see how all things Corona will develop, and then decide, if we rent one to go to the coast [Port Aransas] for our anniversary in August for a week. That, we believe, would be a good trial run as it is not too long a distance, and as we would stay in one place. If we do that, and if it turns out good we might rent one and do a trip to the Southwest [NM, AZ, NV, and UT] in the autumn. I’ll keep you posted.
    Meanwhile, have a safe trip and stay healthy,
    Pit

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks for sharing all this Pit. I think you and Mary would enjoy renting an RV. You might want to consider renting a camper Van with a bike rack. That might be a little easier to get around since that’ll be your only vehicle. You can rent privately through companies called “Outdoorsy” and “RVshare”. Feel free to email me anytime if I can offer some guidance or recommendations.

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      1. Thanks, Ingrid, for your answer, and thanks for your offer to be of further help. Much appreciated. As to a camper van: I agree, it’s way easier to get around with it, but even if we’re only two people, we’d like to have some more space around ourselves. We don’t like, for example, to have just one bed over the driver’s and passenger’s seats, so that in the night one has to climb over the other to go to the bathroom. Talking of bathroom: these small RVs seem to have no shoer curtain or so. We expect to (have to) use the shower sometimes at least and wouldn’t like to have the toilet seat wet. Two small items,but important to us. If we rent at Cruise America in San Antonio, we won’t have any choice anyway: the Standard RV is their smallest anyway.
        Thanks for mentioning “Outdoorsy” and “RVshare”. I’ve already looked there and not – yet – found anything we’d like at a reasonable price. But I’ll keep looking.
        Thanks again for your help, and safe travels,
        Pit

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  24. Glad to here you are “outta there”! 🙂

    enjoy your trip to cooler country – all is well here at FV, and we are doing a day off work – which means laundry, RV repairs etc….

    Drive safe,

    Dick and Steph

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    1. We stayed in Phx way too long this season. But things happen for a reason. We’re glad to be traveling again and have found a couple of awesome places to camp for the night… lake views and loving it. Can’t wait to hear all about your summer!

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  25. Excellent. “I’ve been from Tucson to Tucumcari
    Tehachapi to Tonapah
    Driven every kind of rig that’s ever been made…” Well, not me, but you are well on your way. Enjoy!

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    1. Haha! Sounds like you’ve seen some sights. We took a new to us route this year and we’ve enjoyed the drive. However, our days have been a tad too long due to our attempt to avoid some incoming weather. Hopefully, in the fall we’ll stretch out the drive back to Phoenix and stop a bit more.

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    1. I know you can relate! As much as we like our RV Park and regular visits with family and friends, we were definitely ready to roll.

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  27. Yay! So glad you were able to hit the road again! We always listened to Willie’s “On the road again” On our RV trips. Great meal planning for your first day. We ate many lunches at rest areas! And I remember those winds! Thinking of you getting to Kansas today.

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    1. Two days of side winds was rough and exhausting. I was so relieved when we pointed the RV north. We’re now hunkered down in a lovely CORP campground with a lake view just north of Des Moines. We’ll wait out some weather for a couple of days before completing one more day of driving.
      We enjoyed taking a new to us route this time.

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  28. I bet you are giddy with excitement to be on the road to cool summer temps, Ingrid. Wind is not fun while driving a rig. Your food choices sound delish and should be festive as you start your journey north. On our trips, we always hit a McDonald’s for egg mcmuffins and a coffee refill. I usually pack healthy snacks but sweets and yummy carbs find their way into the cooler. Stay safe and have a blast!

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    1. Yeah, we used to love snacking on potato chips and stopping at fast food places while road tripping, but found our energy would plummet. We really do try eating right so we can manage the long days. Hope you’re able to get up to Spokane soon!

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    1. I would read your posts on some of your long driving days and think “you guys are crazy” and now here we are doing the same thing. We don’t normally like to push like this, but incoming weather had us wanting to be in a certain location to wait out the storms. Al is looking forward to his summer of fishing, but now I’ve thrown at him a potential remodel project 🙄

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  34. I’ve done that route before. But I did not have fresh turkey clubs and crisp red grapes. That’s why I felt drained! You make a great point. To have a kitchen, dinette, and bathroom that’s yours — really, other than a firm mattress, aren’t those the aspects that make a home feel like home? Good for you! Safe driving.

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    1. It’s a long drive, that’s for sure! I can’t imagine traveling this long of a distance without an RV. It makes such a difference to travel with my home in tow. We sleep great and eat well.

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  35. You made a great start. I hope you all didn’t tick-off any Klaus Kinski type hunchbacks while in Tucumcari.

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      1. Have you seen “A Fist Full of Dollars” and “For a Few Dollars More”? They are great. They are Spaghetti Western versions of Kirasawa’s “Yojimbo”.

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