It's about time.

Many of you can relate to Working long hours at your career. Raising your families. Buying a home and paying all the bills related to being homeowners and parents. We're now retired and don't need all that work and expense. Now "It's about time" and what we do to follow our dreams.

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Sunday, November 27, 2016

Long Day, Short Drive.


Our Location today is Casa Grande, Arizona, U.S.A. 

I was tired enough last night when we went to sleep in the Cracker Barrel Parking lot that other than to roll over a few times my eyes didn’t open until just before 8:00 MST this morning. Kathy on the other hand seemed to have had an issue with all the surrounding road noise and she also had a little bit of an upset stomach that added to her wakefulness. Within minutes of my getting up Kathy sensed that I was already packing up my CPAP equipment so she immediately got up. This wasn’t a travel day but we needed to find a campground for a few days in the area. 
This is called a Sampler. Good thing it wasn't a serious meal.
Yesterday when we drove from Deming, New Mexico we were having issues with our New Rand McNally GPS giving us the silent treatment so out of desperation to find someplace to spend the night we had taken the Florence Exit into Casa Grande, Arizona. Finding out that there was “No Over Night Parking” at the Walmart we lucked out finding the Cracker Barrel where we spent the night. 

Kathy had spent the evening checking the settings on the New GPS and found nothing wrong with it. After writing the Blog I did additional research as to the location of the nearest Tractor Supply Company as well as a Harbor Freight, the location of a nearby Blood Donor Clinic and an Electrical Supply Store. It seemed they all had one thing in common, their locations are all on Florence Boulevard. 

After closing up the inside of the trailer we noticed we weren’t the only RV that had spent the night at Cracker Barrel. We had a better balanced breakfast this morning having juice and coffee with our meals. We discussed where we were going before Kathy would turn the GPS on for the Campground she had entered in because the GPS doesn’t like it when you ignore their instructions. 

The first place we went to after leaving Cracker Barrel was the Tractor Supply Company. This seemed to be the only chain that carried the Aluminium Angle Material that I can use to mount our Solar Panels on the roof of the trailer. I took the few pieces they had in stock just like I had back in Deming but I didn’t stop there. I also raided the Stainless-Steel Fasteners that I’ll need to attach it all together. 

Continuing down Florence Boulevard in the same direction our next stop was at the Walmart. It was a little tricky finding a place to park because of the way the cement curbs had been installed. Finally parked so nobody could block us in we headed inside. Because we weren’t really traveling today we just started looking around before getting our groceries. Kathy has the unique ability of putting herself in the place of Family Members so by the time we started our grocery shopping we had already scratched Three more Christmas Gifts off the 2017 Shopping List. 

It was past lunch time before we got things loaded into the trailer. During that time period, we watched as two smaller Half-Ton Fifth Wheels that were under thirty-foot in length struggle to get in the lot that I’d had no issues maneuvering our forty-foot unit through. 
Beautiful cool day. Take a look closer at the Cactus.
Just the other side of the curb in the parking lot was Dave’s a new burger franchise we’ve seen in the southern states. With time on our hands we walked over where Kathy enjoyed a wonderful Garden Salad and I had a Burger. We enjoyed the time just sitting there talking and not being in a rush to get somewhere. 
Looks like this Cactus is trying to grab the cars.
By 1:00 MST we had driven the mile up to Harbor Freight. While Kathy stayed in the truck I went inside looking for a Stand to convert my Hand Drill into a Drill Press. That was something from the past they no longer carry but they did have a Small Drill Press that would have been a pain carrying in an RV. 

Since their parking lot abutted the one to Lowe’s I talked Kathy into going for another walk. She looked around the Christmas Decorations while I looked for a Storage Basket. I’d purchased a Mounting Block at Lowe’s in Windsor to mount the Storage Baskets I already had on the basement wall in the trailer. The Baskets we had would not stay in place on that Mounting Block so a different Basket was needed to make it work. They did have the shorter Eighteen-inch Basket even though it is deeper but the longer one was a shelf not a Basket which is not practical holding things when bouncing down the road. The Baskets would help keep the smaller things that are often used from getting lost under the larger containers or furniture in the basement. 

We were now ready to find the Campground so Kathy set the new GPS to the address. Before we left the parking lot it had changed our direction twice and had us pointed towards Phoenix instead of where Kathy had programed it for. Kathy sent me into the trailer to retrieve the old Rand McNally GPS. Even though it is badly in need of an update, Kathy was able to enter the address and within fifteen minutes we were arriving at the Casa Grande RV Resort. 

It was 2:30 MST when we went to register and we found the office long closed for the day. Luckily a gentleman that was walking his dog pointed out the manager’s husband to us. He checked the reservation list and said to park anywhere but the one reserved site and we can register tomorrow. All the pull through sites have FHU and a six-foot by ten-foot patio, and other than the paved roads everything is covered under about six-inches of gravel. I had to put the truck in All Wheel Drive to pull the trailer through that much gravel and when walking through it we were both struggling. 

Kathy made Hot Roast Pork Sandwiches for supper and it was more than enough. Later this evening the wind really started beating up the Slide Toppers before suddenly changing to Rain. Yes, we are getting Rain. We've also added the Walmart shortcut to our computers. Tomorrow we have some errands to run and if I do any work while we are here it will be only minor things. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy! 

It’s about time.
Krackers 

You Might Be a Redneck If 

Four decades of Ford products are represented in your yard.

3 comments:

  1. We always phone ahead to a Walmart to see if they allow overnight parking, that way we are not surprised when we want to stop for the day.

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  2. To us, it seems that a lot of Walmarts in Arizona are making it difficult to get into by placing boulevards and curbs in their lots and some are making covered parking with solar panels. We found Sam's Club will let you stay in their lot.

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  3. Hope to be able to visit before you leave, but we've had a family emergency here. The City has an ordnance regarding no overnight RV parking.

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