I can’t believe it has been a month since my last post. Wow.
On Monday, June 22nd I had my final post op for my cataract surgery and the next day, Tuesday, I pulled the motorhome out of my site, hooked up the truck and drove over to the Escapees Smart Weigh site for my weighing appointment. For $55 I got each wheel of the motorhome and the truck weighed independently. The motorhome was fine, the passenger side was slightly heavier than the driver’s side but overall each wheel, each axle and the total weight were well below the manufacturer’s specs. The truck on the other hand was a bit over GVWR. Side to side was fine, front axle was within spec, but the rear axle was over. Of course I had a bunch of stuff stored in it that was being taken to CORA. On hind site, I should have just pulled it all out while they were weighing the motorhome. I will be removing the truck’s rear seat , unnecessary items and having a set of custom leafs springs with additional capacity made this summer to supplement the current airbags.
My first stop on this trip was a little city self pay RV park in Heinretta, TX called Hapgood RV Park for $15. The sites are all full hookups, 30 amp service pull thru sites. There was only one other rig there. The next day I had planned to stop at the city park in Dumas, TX, which is free, but I arrived in Dumas at 1pm, so I continued on to Capulin RV Park IN CAPULIN, NM, which is just south of Raton, NM. With the time zone change I arrived around 4pm. This set me up to arrive at CORA on Thursday at 1pm.
Overall the drive was pleasant except the Fort Worth, TX area. I setup the motorhome with some additional USB ports on the dashboard so that any electronics needed were plugged in and within my view and reach. I decided to use my iPhone rather than my 5 year old Garmin GPS. Garmin was not able to find all my stops. I listened to an audio book, alternating with music. I also spent a couple of hours each day in silence. This gave me time to let my mind wonder in freeform mode. I had read an article that the mind is most creative when it is bored. So I thought I would give it a try.
The only hassle, was not having a navigator to locate good diesel fuel stops along the way. Nancy always had Gas Buddy up and running while we were driving. I decided that I would not concern myself with finding the cheapest diesel and just fuel at truck stops anytime I was under a half tank. That worked well except when I needed to top of my tank in Canon City, CO. Canon City is the last major town before CORA. Diesel was not readily available, and I finally pulled into a very small convenience store and pretty much blocked half the pumps.
During my 2 1/2 days of travel I had minimal contact with people. One truck stop required payment at the fuel desk, and when I checked in at Capulin RV Park, I did not go into the office, but handed my cash through the door and then was escorted by golf cart to my site. So I had a total of 3 encounters with people and I wore a mask and used hand sanitizer for each. If all truck stops would accept normal credit cards at the pump, if would have eliminated two encounters. RV travel is a very safe way to travel during this Covid pandemic. I don’t understand why some jurisdictions have insisted RV parks close. If a RV is self contained and the RV Park takes your payment through a window or by phone, then there is zero person to person contact. RV Parks could easily close their restrooms and showers and only accept RVs with their own facilities.
Overall, I think I managed pretty well to get into the solo travel mode with the motorhome/truck combination. Things like hooking up the toad, buying fuel, setting up and tearing down, took a little longer, but it wasn’t that significant. I did miss having someone to talk to, but that is just my new normal anyway, even when I’m not traveling. I chose not to talk on the phone while driving. The motorhome takes much more concentration than a car or a truck to drive. I didn’t want to be distracted. Studies have shown that even hands free phone conversations are mentally distractive.
I’m settled in at CORA. The motorhome is probably not moving until mid October. I will be taking some short solo camping trips in Enzo, my F150/FWC Hawk truck camper combination.
Until next time, tight lines and safe travels.
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