We Are Ready to Continue Our Journey Eastward

The wind is back.  We are beginning to think that it is a pretty constant thing here.  It does me no good to dust - in half an hour there is a thin layer of dirt everywhere.  When you drive past the unplanted open fields you can see the dirt getting blown away. I’ll wait until we get to our next stop and hope it is better.  My allergies are acting up and I’m sure it is from all the stuff in the air.  I've had enough wind and dust these last two weeks to last me a very long time.

We planned on a nice lunch out today as tomorrow we will be busy with getting ready to leave chores.  We went back to that garden restaurant I mentioned in an earlier entry.  We got spiffed up and everything knowing we were going to a nice place.  We discovered, to our dismay, that if you didn’t have reservations you got to wait an hour before being seated.  So, disappointed, we went off in search of food.   We remembered seeing an Italian place in the downtown area so headed back there.  It turned out to be a very nice lunch - best pizza we’ve had since Steph’s homemade pizza!!  We ate outside (the wind was blocked by the building) and decided we were glad we didn’t get in the other place.  It turns out there was a farmer’s market/craft thing going on in that block so we people-watched while we ate and then checked it out ourselves afterward.  There were many more vendors than the one we tried out on Sunday - but no pie.  Picked up a few veggies and I bought myself a shirt that is handmade in Nepal (Rising International).  Bright, bold colors and pattern and not my usual style but, hey, one has to break out of one’s rut once in a while.  

Stopped at the Wal-Mart again for some fruit to carry us through till we get to Fort Huachuca (pronounced Wa-chu-ka)on Friday and a military commissary.  We brought our own bags, as we always do when grocery shopping, but the cashier got all frustrated and confused because she didn’t know where to put them.  She couldn’t figure out how to load them on her carousel so she tried putting them on the conveyor belt which really threw her into a tizzy - she was working backwards.  So, we had her put the stuff on the top of the carousel after she scanned it and we bagged it ourselves.  She said she always gets confused when people bring their own bags.  Very sad state of affairs.

Roger finished washing the RV after we got back as the dirty side was now in the shade. He drenched himself with the water blowback from the wind, but what a difference some soap and water and elbow grease makes!  It looks so nice and clean and shiny!  We rarely stay at a place he can do it as most RV parks (including Santee Lakes) have rules against it.  You can usually hire someone to come in and power wash it, but you can’t do it yourself.  Supposedly it’s to save water.  Can you spell “kickback?”  

We are fueled up, the outside of the RV is clean, and we are ready to move on.  Tomorrow I’ll do some laundry to use up the money on the card we had to use in the machines (no quarters here - a debit type card).  Most people buy the card for $3 and have it forever, but they did have loaners for $2 which we’ll get back.  We want to give it back with a zero balance.  

Wind, wind, go away until we get out of here.  Next stop is Casa Grande, AZ to visit with our Lake Tahoe friends.  We will pick up I-10 there and stay on it until we reach Pensacola.  Less than three weeks and we see our kids and kidlets again.  Can't wait!