Wednesday (3/31) rolled around and with it a travel day. The first travel day in 5 months, gee wiz!! I was up at 4am but Diane sleep until about 5:30 so I guess we both were ready to roll.
We took it pretty casual and had the truck hooked up and started rolling at 8am which was 1 hour earlier than our normal departure time on travel days, I think because we were thinking we would travel just over 400 miles and make it to Alamogordo New Mexico before stopping but as it turned out we held up short at 336 miles and found a wide spot in the road outside of Las Cruces New Mexico and spent the night there.
It was as simple as any travel day could be because all we did was get on I-10 and follow our nose. Not our preferred type of road but we just wanted to make time so it worked.
If you remember in our last update Diane made a stew for us to have for our trip to Kansas and boy was it good!
A fun note, we were just cruising along on the freeway and all of a sudden I saw what looked like the rear cap of a New Horizon 5th wheel. Now New Horizons only makes about 35 rigs per year so you don’t just bump into them everywhere so it had me curious.
I had the cruise set at 68mph and we were slowing creeping up on the rig ahead and then we finally got close enough and I could tell that it was in fact a New Horizon!!! Eventually we ended up passing it and we ended up knowing the driver.
As luck would have it there was a rest area just ahead so we pulled in and so did the other New Horizon and it was our buddy Hans!!! Hans picked up his New Horizon 5th wheel at the same time we did 2 years ago.
We have bumped into Hans a couple times over the last 2 years and keep up with each other on Facebook but this oh so unplanned meeting was pretty cool. We visited for just a few minutes before parting ways but we will be seeing each other at the New Horizon factory because he is also headed that direction. It really IS a small world.
======================================================================
(Thursday 4/1) After a not so great night of sleep (neither Diane or I could really sleep for some reason) I was up at 5am and Diane was up soon after, we had a casual morning and then hit the road at 8am again. This day our goal was to make it to Tucumcari New Mexico, another just over 300 mile day so we headed out on I-10 then switched to I-25 in Deming and drove that for about 10 miles until we reached HWY 70 which we then jumped on and drove it to Alamogordo New Mexico and then switched to HWY 54. We drove HWY 54 until we reached I-40 and then took I-40 to the Flying J Truck stop just outside of Tucumcari where we spent the night. Not as good a spot as the night before, truck stops are not normally our thing, but it served the purpose.
Al least well over half of our day was pretty much backroads but we sure hit a lot of construction so it seemed like a longer day than it actually was. Poor us LOL!!!
We were off the road by 2:30 but that afforded us the chance to grab a spot on the end of a run where we could run a slide out and have our MorRyde steps out without any fear of a truck getting to close. We also were able to park Diane’s car next to us so it all worked out.
Speaking of those MorRyde steps, we have mixed feelings about them. They sure are sturdy and they look good but they sure can dish up challenges in certain parking conditions. I think we have a solution to that and we will be sharing that with you soon. I think I might do a video on that as well LOL!!!
We pretty much just kicked back, had another bowl of Diane’s great stew, watched a little TV and got ready for another travel day. From Tucumcari we only had 500 miles remaining until we reached our destination at the New Horizon Factory which we figured to break up into two travel days.
=================================================================
Friday morning (4/2/21) after a pretty solid nights sleep filled with truck engines and refer van coolers running we rolled out of bed “me about 5am and Diane at 6” and went through our morning routine and had the wheels rolling at just about 8am with our minds tuned on a 288 mile travel day to Dodge City Kansas.
We jumped on HWY 54 and followed our noses to Minneola where after missing our turn and doing a quick manuver to get back on track we switch to HWY 283 and continued a few miles to the Loves Truck stop.
Once we reached Loves to our surprise it was pretty full and there were no spaces left that would allow us to have our MorRyde steps out without being in the parking slot next to us not alone have a slide out so that was a issue. That darn MorRyde step, I mentioned earlier that we really like it for what it is BUT it sure has it’s draw backs as well, we will fix than and soon!!
Not only was the parking situation not perfect but dang the place stunk. Now I’m a old farm boy and I don’t mind the smell of money, I mean cow shit but MAN this place was a bit much so we decided that after having a bathroom break to roll about 16 miles up the road to Spearville and check out a small truck stop there.
Once we reached the Spearville Truck Stop the wind was howling and the dust was so bad that neither of us even wanted to step foot out of our rigs so after just communicating through the walkie talkies we decided to just keep going and look for a spot along the way to hunker down for the night. After all it was only around 2 in the afternoon and neither of us were tired.
Well let me make what turned into a long day into a shorter story, as it turned out we just kept driving and driving and ended up making it all the way to the New Horizon factory in Junction City Kansas before we called it a day LOL!!
Yup, it turned out to be a 500 mile day but we are all tucked in in front of the service bay and ready for our Monday Morning appointment.
The plan for the weekend is to wash the coach after our travels, do a good inside cleaning, I have a couple video’s I want to shoot and otherwise just chill until the fun begins Monday morning and BOY do we have a full week ahead that we don’t think you will want to miss. It’s going to be CRAZY!!!!!
Dave & Diane throwing caution to the wind 
The cats head is poking out of the bag!
LOL,, the cat is getting restless.
Whatever is going on, clearly you’re excited – to have driven 500 miles in ONE day! I couldn’t wait to read your blog as I just KNEW you’d let us know what’s going on….but, NO…you just have to string us along even longer! Ha ha…well played Dave.
I will say again, you are so close to the Evel Knievel museum in Topeka. It is WELL worth the visit…just sayin’ (again). Know your week sounds FULL but thought I’d encourage you to see the awesome display at the Harley dealer over there. People have traveled the world to visit it.
http://evelknievelmuseum.com
The other thing I’ve never mentioned is the National Agricultural Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs, KS (at the west edge of KC). I know you love farm implements and stuff – just a thought if you’re heading anywhere east.
https://www.aghalloffame.com/exhibits
I know you’ve always liked to experience as much in any area as you could before heading out…
Now….WHAT’s going on?! LOL
Dog gone it, I’m sorry LOL!!! I fully intended to spill the beans in this update but I completely didn’t think about doing a update about travel days until it came time. THEN once I started the travel days update I realized it would just be WAY to long if I carried on so I decided to break it up. Dad burn-it, I feel just horrible LOL!!!! Ok,, maybe not.
As far as the KC area, we are thinking after we leave New Horizons that we just might head towards KC to check those places out as well as a Chicken & Pickle joint and a Torchy’s So we might go that way and find a campsite for a couple weeks and take it all in. Know of a nice nice rv park?
You’re so dad gummed onery! ALL midwest farmer (like my uncles!). No clue on the nice RV park as we had a ‘nice home’ in that area . LOL
The Union Station is pretty awesome, the WW 1 Museum is there and is pretty incredible, too. There’s a lot to see and do in KC (don’t forget the BBQ!) Oh, and the Capitol in Topeka is VERY pretty, too.