Florida or Bust - Day 1

Dear Family and Friends -- It's been an interesting two days. But things have to get better.



We had planned on a fairly leisurely departure, Sunday, Dec. 14. Plan was to go to Corona, NM, about an hour and a half away, to have lunch with Susie's brother, Charlie, and his wife, Sue. They are celebrating their 50th anniversary next week. From there we would work our way up to I-40 and proceed toward OK to see my mother and sisters. We had only one goal on our trip to FL and that was to stop by Red Bay, AL, Tuzigoot's birthplace. Tuzi has some defective paint and/or fiberglass and we wanted to get that evaluated. Friends in the Allegro Club have told us that the manufacturer will likely fix it, but you have to get their OK and then they will schedule your repair, two-plus years from now!



The last I had looked at the weather forecast a winter storm had been predicted for Monday, not Sunday. Early Sunday morning I walked up to get the paper; it was cloudy but not threatening. As I was leisurely breakfasting and reading the paper I looked outside and snow was falling, heavy snow and howling wind. I got Susie up and said we've got to get going. I disconnected Tuzi and backed out of the driveway. The one thing I really worried about all week was getting stuck in our driveway. Adrenalin flowing, I guess, I managed one of my smoothest exits (the neighbors often wonder, How do they get that thing in and out of that driveway?). That was the last thing that went smoothly.



We packed all our foodstuffs and otherstuffs not already loaded into the Explorer. We didn't connect the Explorer to Tuzi, what with being in the middle of a blizzard. The first hurdle was getting out of the subdivision. The driveway slopes upward to the road. Susie got out and signaled me when the way was clear. I got a little run at it and managed to get up the slope and onto the road. So, I guess I have to say that part was smooth, too, or at least slick.



Anyhow, down the hill to I-40, still planning to drive east. The radio reports were saying, Don't do that. Blizzard conditions on I-40 east. I got as far as the on-ramp and decided, No, I don't want to try this. Susie and I conferred in the middle of the road and decided to turn around, go in to Albuquerque, then drive south. We'd have to forego visiting Charlie; also forego the stop in OK. I drove a ways along the frontage road, aka Historic Route 66, and found an intersection where I could turn around. Helpful Sheriff's deputy came along and stopped traffic and I negotiated the turn-around OK. Not particularly smooth, but OK.



Albuquerque was only having light rain. We got on I-25 south and stopped on the south side of town to hook up the Explorer. Tentative plan was to go all the way to El Paso, then head east. This would take us further south than necessary for getting to Red Bay, in NW AL, but we wanted to avoid blizzards. Skies were fairly clear, though, so I opted to exit I-25 south of Socorro, NM, and head east on US 380 across the state to Roswell, NM, then continue on into Texas, eventually connecting with I-20 which would take us east via Dallas toward northern AL. If weather dictated, we could always detour further south.



The wind was howling. Going east it was a crosswind from the south. Susie had mentioned once or twice that a vent cover was partially open and she couldn't close it. It wasn't raining or snowing, and I didn't fully process that information until way too late, so I didn't stop to work on the problem. Some time later, she said the cover has broken loose and is banging around up there. Unfortunately, there was not enough shoulder to pull over and see to it right then. Got a few miles up the road to Carrizoso and pulled over. About that time the cover blew off, hit the road and shattered. I picked up the biggest piece, got a garbage bag and roll of Duct Tape, climbed up on top of Tuzigoot and managed, with a lot of tape, to cover the vent. That took a lot of time: I'd tear off a strip of tape, the wind would catch it, twist it on itself, and not be usable. So, I'd tear off another strip, being more careful in the process. Duct tape has a tendency to split if you don't tear it just right, too. So, that was a lot of fun. Now, when we get to Red Bay, we'll also get a vent cover.



Got to Roswell in late afternoon and found an RV park. The cold front had not gotten to Roswell yet and I walked around in a T-shirt while getting set up. We transferred all the stuff we had thrown into the Explorer, made the obligatory trip to Albertson's, not being near a Wal-Mart, picked up some Subway sandwiches, and settled in for Sunday night football, which I slept through.



Tomorrow will be/was another day. I'll report it in a separate posting.



Cheers,



Susie and Rob