We have a sky filled with blue and gauzy wisps of clouds. It’s close to 80 degrees and a gentle breeze touching the air. Autumn has started dressing the trees here with color. Barges and yachts cruise up and down the Tombigbee River. Squirrels chatter as they chase each other up and down the trees and along the wooden pole fence. No, I don’t think it could get any better than this! Today is Wednesday… was it only 5 days ago on Friday that our axle broke? Whew…. well let’s go back to Saturday after we left DeQueen Arkansas, we dropped down and did a short 2 1/2 hour trip to Columbia Lake, near Magnolia!
The skies drizzled on us all day!
When was the last time you saw a gas station with gas posted for 91.9 cents a gallon? We were stopped for a dog walk and bathroom break and I had to take a photo. Grandkids will never believe that gas was so cheap!
An hour or so later we ended up at Lake Columbia!
All the colors here helped a gloomy day look better!
Predictions for 60% rain for Sunday helped us decide we were going to stay over one more day. We were still a bit nervous about our new rebuilt axle. Losing an axle is a scary thing!
Lake Columbia is a beautiful campground near Magnolia Arkansas. We had the place to ourselves on Sunday. $16.00 per nights for W/E.
This wooded road was next to The MotherShip, you can see a few autumn colors trying to show through at the top of the photograph. We walked about as far down as you can see in the picture when I was literally attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes! YIKES! We (me and the dogs) ran back to the MotherShip as fast as our ample butts could get us there!
Monday we travelled to Louisiana to Chemin-A-Haute State Park just a bit north of Bastrop LA. We had spent a night here on our last trip from Florida to NM 3 years ago. We remembered it as being a nice clean park. 3 years and we cannot say the same thing now! DIRTY!The restrooms/showers were nasty and the park looked abandoned! I didn’t even bother with photos it was that sad!
So Tuesday finds us on the road for 7.5 hours and over 300 miles! That for us was amazing. We crossed the Mississippi River at Natchez and it was a breeze at 1 pm! No traffic to make me feel rushed or pushed or nervous UNTIL we hit the Natchez side. Holey Moley! Just as I was getting ready to celebrate making across THE BRIDGE one more time, all heck broke loose on the highways! Where did all this traffic come from? I had a hard time keeping up with Chuck and not getting stuck at traffic lights for about 10 minutes until we finally turned off on highway 84 and as fast as all the traffic had surrounded us, it was gone! Highway 84 across Mississippi is 4 lanes of almost non-existent traffic! Very few gas stations and we only saw 2 signs for campgrounds the whole way!
Finally we crossed the Alabama state line and in about 20 miles we located the C.O.E.
Campground on the Tombigbee River. Just a small, simple sign out on the highway that just says “Service Park”. Easy to miss unless you know where it is. Just a bit west of Coffeeville Alabama.
Campsites are right next to the river! We have been sitting around all day watching the yachts and barges go up and down the river.
Yep, this is as good as it gets!
We get to camp next to the river with a great table and fire ring and scenery!
AND Golden Orb Spiders! This beauty was almost palm sized! In case you are not familiar with the Golden Orb, they weave a web that looks like spun gold!One of my favorite spiders!
One of the several barges that were headed up the river today.
The campsites are very large and roomy! There is one campsite between us and the RV you see in the background. Plenty of room leftover for the truck, The MotherShip and my TrailBlazer in our site! As I type this another tug just went downriver pushing 3 barges loaded with coal! So glad we decided to stay 2 nights. The cost for 2 nights was $22! Life really doesn’t get any better than this! This park is most definately on our top 5 list!
P.S, Woke up this morning to a "trick or treat" bag full of candy on our doorstep! Now was that nice or what? This is just one of the many things that make this park so special!
Headed to Florida tomorrow! YaY! So will sign off for now from the crew of The MotherShip Chuck, Geri, DoogieBowser and Radar! Thanks for coming along!
We had just made a left turn at Idabel Oklahoma, and our axle broke! Chuck said he never really felt anything because our truck is so big. He looked in the rearview and saw the MotherShip following at a 20% angle! We were on a 4-lane divided highway. Narrow side shoulders with some grass and then it dropped off a bit to the right down to a rain gutter. Chuck pulled over as much as he could, but the MotherShip was still a bit catawampus to the road, safely off the road… barely! I pulled up behind and put my emergency flashers on. This was about 2 pm Thursday. Chuck called Good Sam Roadside Assistance and after about 20 minutes they located By-Pass Diesel & Wrecker Service. They have 5 locations in Arkansas and had someone available in DeQueen to come take care of us.
Daryl showed up in 45 minutes! He crawled under the MotherShip for over an hour and competently repaired the axle enough for travel. We drove another 45 miles into DeQueen to the repair shop here. Daryl followed Chuck all the way and I followed Daryl in my Trailblazer.
We arrived shortly after 5 pm, or thereabouts. We pulled in to spend the night inside the fenced property to deal with everything tomorrow. We were all exhausted! By morning Daryl realized we were not going to find an axle to replace the broken one. Our axle is a bit wide compared to the norm. However, there is a business nearby that could rebuild it like new and have it back to us by late afternoon!
So off our axle went, on it’s way to be rebuilt about 10 am.
Chuck and Daryl spend the time doing a lot of man-talk stuff and I went to WalMart to stock up. While in WalMart I decided to buy the resident office cat, “Sunny” some treats.
By 3:30 pm the axle was back looking brand new!
As I sit here typing away, Daryl is busy under the MotherShip re-attaching the axle!
It is now 4:45 pm Friday and the axle will be finished in a few minutes. We also had to replace 2 tires and they should be on by tonight!
Daryl was nice enough to let us run the generator so we could get online and post this to you! We found out that not only does Daryl work here, he is the boss of this location of By-Pass Diesel & Wrecker Service! A very nice man and thank God, he is very knowledgeable and competent! He really pulled us out of a not to happy situation! We are now Happy Campers for sure.
So obviously we didn’t make it to Crater of Diamonds State Park, nor will we. We will spend one more night here inside the compound and head out tomorrow for a new destination! I will fill you in later about that!
Keep your fingers crossed that the rest of this trip goes well! We would really like to be in Apalachicola FL in time for the Seafood Festival!
That’s it from the MotherShip and DeQueen Arkansas! If ya’ll are ever out this way in Arkansas and need help… Daryl at By-Pass Diesel & Wrecker Service is the man to call!
Bye for now…. Geri, Chuck, Doogie and Radar!
Chuck and I left Floydada Texas on Oct. 20th and stayed on Highway 70 for 2.5 hours arriving in Crowell Texas to stay at Longhorn RV Park and Steakhouse. It sits 15 miles west of Crowell, entrance is next to a very nice state picnic area off the highway. We cut our day short because we knew the next day we would be heading to Lake Texahoma State Park. From Floydada it would have meant a 7 hour day on the road and we just don’t do those anymore! The Longhorn was a no-frills campground $15 for Full Hook Ups but no restrooms or showers available! We ended up staying 2 nights because I just didn’t feel real good.
We left the Longhorn at 10am Monday morning and drove 4.5 hours on Highway 70 out of Texas and into Oklahoma. Highway 70 is a wonderful east/west highway through the Texas Panhandle into and across lower Oklahoma and well into Arkansas! We don’t do Interstates except in short hops because I hate driving on them! But Highway 70 is very well maintained and very low traffic! We had a great day to be on the road passing huge ranches, cotton and cornfields, horses, cows and more than a few small and unique towns.
We arrived in Lake Texahoma tired, hungry and a bit grouchy! But oh my… this is still one of our favorite stops!
The folks across the road all line up for full hook-ups and no shade!
While Chuck and I were all alone over in the Water & Electric only sites…. in the shade! That’s us on the far right!
Radar and DoogieBowser get to explore off leash and we get the shade from nearby trees! Our site was $15 and next to the restrooms/showers! The hot shower felt great! The restrooms are a bit dated and could use a few updates but I really appreciated a good hot shower. This morning I took the dogs for a walk off leash and they got to run around and act like dogs, even chased a squirrel up a tree! They loved it.
The lake is beautiful! Of you strain your eyes a bit to the center of the picture, you can see a couple walking out to the point to fish. The lake is down a bit but it is still a great place to be. We decided to stay here 2 nights also. Guess we are showing our age, even just driving by the geezer 2-4-4 rule (200 miles, 4 hours or 4 pm) means it’s time to pull in! But we were ready to pull in after 3 hours! LOL!
One of the first things Chuck is going to do when we get to Florida is donate his hair to “Locks of Love”. He lost his mother to breast cancer and he wanted to grow his hair at least one time so he could offer it for wigs for the chemo ladies. “Locks of Love” will be getting one beautiful head of hair when his is donated! I would love to have hair like that, long, thick & curly!
Tomorrow we leave here and head for Crater of Diamonds State Park for a couple of nights. It is near Murfreesboro Arkansas! We have been there once before and liked it. It will be another 4 hour drive for us. Maybe we will be lucky this time, a 14 year old girl found a big yellow diamond just last week! OUR TURN! 
Signing off for now from the crew of The MotherShip , Chuck, Geri, DoogieBowser and Radar!
After travelling from Truth or Consequences NM to Fort Sumner NM on highway 60 East, we pulled into a nice but no frills campground right off the highway. $20 a night for FHU but no showers or restrooms. Valley View Campground. Nice long spaces, plenty of room for The MotherShip and my Trailblazer!
Across the road was a great restaurant, FRED’S RESTAURANT where I ate the best ever blue corn enchilada and Chuck had a smothered burrito. YUMMY! One block east of the campground is the Billy The Kid Museum!
The museum was more than expected. So many artifacts of the old west!
Mr. Sweet is the owner of the museum and this man knows his history! His family has lived here many generations!
At the entrance, mill stones or grinding stones are displayed. I have never seen so many in one place!
Chuck pretending to be Billy the Kid!
There were cases full of spurs…. who knew there were so many differently designed spurs for different purposes?
There were rooms lined with all kinds of guns, one of them really belonged to Billy the Kid!
The museum is a lot larger than it looks! It spreads out through several rooms!
This case had nothing to do with Billy, but it interested me the most. Found in a cave in Silver City… to me it looks like a dragon with wings but the sign below says:
Whatever it was, it was interesting!
We left the museum and headed back to The MotherShip. It was noon and we were ready to hit the road! We got back on Highway 60East headed to Clovis where we also picked up Highway 84S.
We also picked up the wind and the dark threatening clouds and the cold! It went from 60’s that morning to the 40’s within an hour on the road! It was hell on wheels and no other words are available to describe it. Wicked winds fighting our steering wheels the whole three 1/2 hours we were on the road!
We usually check the wind map that gives good solid information about winds on your route! We did not, but here is the link so you have it.
http://hint.fm/wind/
I keep it on my desktop ready to use, now I just have to remember to use it!
We followed 84South to Muleshoe Texas where we picked up 70 East which brought us here to Floydata and the great little city FREE campground!
From the west, you enter Floydata on Highway 70/North 2nd Street, the campground is on the right at Taft.
The Texas D.O.T. is right next door, just east of campground entrance.
I apologise! Yesterday I told you that it was free here for 4 nights WRONG! It is free 2 nights and you can stay an additional 3 night for $5.00 per night!
But there is the 5 night stay rule and you must leave! No Showers, No Bathrooms. But the city of Floydata gives you water and electric and a dump station for free! It’s a cute little town and they want to show off. Folks who camp here seek out the restaurants, gas stations (there is a gas station and a propane station nearby) A good example is the family camped next to us last night, they came back with arms full of grocery bags and Dollar General bags! This nice little campground encourages the tourist dollar to stay and visit Floydada awhile! Certainly helps the local economy!
There were 3 of us camped here last night, and room for several more.
There was frost on the ground earlier this morning, but Radar and DoogieBowser never noticed! Their noses were on the ground reading all the doggie news!
With all the wind and rocking and rolling we were doing yesterday on our drive here, we were not too surprised to find one of our cupboard doors had opened and dumped the contents out on the floor…..
INCLUDING 1/2 quart of honey that leaked out all over everything else that fell out and all over the floor! It was cold and wickedly windy outside, everybody wanted to come in…. but I had to clean up the sticky mess as much as possible before we could let the dogs come in!
What a mess! We have decided to stay in Floydada one more night so I can finish cleaning up the sticky mess and so Chuck can fix our step on the MotherShip. The top bolt has come loose and needs to be replaced!
From here….. still not sure what tomorrow brings…
there is a turn in the road that we are considering!
Happy Trails from The MotherShip and her crew. Chuck, pilot. Geri, co-pilot and our navigators DoogieBowser and Radar.
On The Road Again
T or C has been our home base since 2009. I started writing our blog in 2008. Chuck and I have visited a lot of beautiful places in our time on the road… we were not ready to give it up which made our decision to go full time living in our RV, The MotherShip! But we could have not lived in a town that suited us better than Truth or Consequences NM.
http://phunnyfarm.blogspot.com/2012/02/truth-or-consequences-new-mexico-usa.html
We are down to 3 days before take off! Emily returns from Kansas Tuesday. Wednesday 10/16/2013 we sign the papers turning the mobile home over to Emily.
Wednesday has come and gone! Papers signed sealed and delivered! Emily now has a new home near her son, Jim! Her daughter, Juno, also seemed to like T or C very much… so just maybe we will see her leaving Kansas also for the uniqueness that is Truth or Consequences NM.
We say goodbye to Jake, general manager and imagineer for the beautiful Riverbend Hot Springs. Our favorite soaking place!
Jake provided us with our first workamping job and once here, we fell in love with Truth or Consequences!
http://www.riverbendhotsprings.com/
Thursday we got on the road headed east to Florida! We don’t do interstate travelling very much. You can’t see the heart of America from the interstate! I will try to post every night and show you our camps.
We drive by the RV Geezer 2-4- 4Rule, 200 miles, 4 hours or 4 pm. Whichever comes first, we pull off the road. 10/17/2013 we stretched the rules a bit. 4.5 hours, about 230 miles and we pulled in around 3:30pm. We landed in Fort Sumner NM, very close to the Texas border, near Clovis NM. We left T or C on I-25 to Socorro and highway 60East joined I-25 for awhile the veered off the interstate and headed east. From the I-25, highway 60 meandered through ranches and desert roads until we came to Mountainair NM. A small town that looked like it would be fun to explore… but we drove on! From there Highway 60 ran parallel to the busiest train tracks I have ever seen. Trains pulling endless miles of containers…. full containers headed east and empty containers headed west. Some of these trains were following each other only a mile or two apart!
Highway 60 East from I-25 starts out as very good road, newly paved and wide shoulders. After Mountainaire we lost the new pavement and wide shoulders but the road was still very good and well maintained. We encountered very little traffic and made good time, but we had to make 3 doggie rest stops along the way. No pictures, hard to drive and take photographs! I am driving my Chevy TrailBlazer loaded to the hilt leading Chuck and the MotherShip back east.
The campground in Fort Sumner is right on Highway 60 and impossible to miss. Large clean sites, nothing fancy but for one night very suitable and with Full Hook-ups $20 a night.
Today we will walk next door and visit the Billy The Kid Museum, located next to the campground . Billy is buried nearby and apparently created some history in this small town! I will post some pictures tomorrow.
Today we are headed to Floydada Texas. We will camp at our favorite FREE city park campground.
City provides FREE full hook-ups for 4 nights! They want you to visit and explore their town, eat at their restaurants, fill up your gas tanks, buy groceries and enjoy your stay in Floydada! I will post more photos of the park later! It’s a very nice one!
I just wanted to post to let family and friends know that we are on the road and loving it!
So long from the crew of the MotherShip! Chuck, Geri and our navigators DoogieBowser and Radar!
Happy Trails to you until we meet again!
Finally the day we have all been waiting for arrives! Our mobile home is empty and clean waiting for the new owners to move in!
Emily and family are from Kansas and Emily is moving back to New Mexico where she was raised. They are meeting us at Walmart with a U-haul packed to the max!
I am excited as I see them coming up the hill, Emily at the wheel!
Emily and her housemate Jim peer out….
Chuck takes over the U-Haul as Emily rides with me. Jim, her son, follows with his car as Juno, her daughter follows driving Emily’s truck as we arrive at Emily’s new home on the hill! Chuck backs the U-Haul in from the alley. It’s a tight turn and uphill!
Housemate Jim relaxes under the Mulberry tree as Juno’s dog, Buster, keeps an eye on Juno!
Things are quickly unloaded!
Emily and her son take a break as he tries to locate the insurance company on his cell phone.
Juno takes the opportunity to relax on the futon.
She has decided to take this one back with her to Kansas.
So it’s all over now but the signing of the paperwork!
This is the RV Park where the MotherShip is temporarily docked. Agua Vista RV Park in Elephant Butte NM and Elephant Butte Lake is in the background. Nice, small park with 30 roomy RV slots, friendly folks, most stay several months at a time. Rent is very reasonable at $200 a month plus electric! Great big salt water swimming pool and showers and laundry!
Owner Mike is a super nice man and we have enjoyed our stay here. But we will be leaving as soon as all the paperwork is signed and headed to Florida to see family and friends. We are now truly full time RV’ers!
The water in Elephant Butte Lake has risen about 17 feet due to all the recent flooding here in NM. It all ends up in the Rio Grande and from there into Elephant Butte Lake where it is dammed up and released in the spring for the farmers. Colorado got all the press and their flooding was worse than what we had here, but there was loss of life all over NM. We lost 2 lives right here in Sierra County! They were calling it the 100 year flood!
Ralph Edwards Park sits next to the Rio Grande River and it was totally flooded! Downtown Truth or Consequences also suffered a lot of flooding but the worst happened in southern Sierra County. Ranches were flooded, homes were severely damaged or totally ruined by the flood waters. However, all this water helped put a dent into the severe drought situation that has had a strangle hold on New Mexico for the past 5+ years!
Life goes on and so do we. We will be leaving soon. Chuck and I will miss New Mexico, but we will be back. We are looking forward to seeing our daughter and Glorianne and her husband Chaz and our 4 grandchildren Kyle, Ryan, Annesley and Aubrey!
That’s the news from the MotherShip! Signing off, Geri, Chuck and the K-9 Kids DoogieBowser and Radar!
Lake Columbia is a beautiful campground near Magnolia Arkansas. We had the place to ourselves on Sunday. $16.00 per nights for W/E.
This wooded road was next to The MotherShip, you can see a few autumn colors trying to show through at the top of the photograph. We walked about as far down as you can see in the picture when I was literally attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes! YIKES! We (me and the dogs) ran back to the MotherShip as fast as our ample butts could get us there!
