THE REST OF THE STORY ... all is well!

Well! Wasn’t that special? More about my “illness” in a minute.

We arrived in Las Cruces, NM on Wednesday afternoon after a very safe and uneventful ride from Willcox, AZ. Penny the Pace was her usual smooth running self but as a precautionary measure, Phil has decided to put some additive into her gas tank next fill up. He thinks we may have gotten some lesser grade gas as we have been worrying more about price than quality the last couple times we filled up her tank. Of course, that is just a W-A-G … honestly … we have no clue what caused her problem last week.

Back in the summer of 2005, we pulled into an RV park in New York State. The last mile or so, Penny was coughing and sputtering and then died as we parked at check in. Since it was very hot (high 90s f) we were pretty sure she had a vapor lock. By the time we checked in, she had cooled down and so started right up. What happened next was akin to scene from an old Keystone Cops moving picture show as Phil experienced the set-up from hell. We were traveling with our friends and they had both of their coaches leveled, plugged in and were ready to go find something to eat in just a few minutes.

Because of our satellite internet receiver, we needed a clear shot of the southern sky … hard to find in an RV park full of trees, especially for satellite newbies like we were at the time. Our friends tried to help and Phil was about to go ballistic (too many cooks, etc.) until finally I suggested they go on without us. Phil and I spent another hour working on the uneven ground outside the edge of the trees and FINALLY we were level and connected. Both of us were exhausted but proud we had accomplished the feat and happy that Penny had not died again with all the jockeying around.

Our expertise has improved tremendously over the years and until we arrived here at the Las Cruces Elk's Lodge I can say it has been a long time since we have had any stressful set up problems. Once here, it took us nearly three hours to get level and connected to the satellite because of the terrible conditions. The spot we wanted obstructed our dish with limbs from the one and only tree on the entire landscape, the first electrical hookup we tried gave our EMS an error message so after almost an hour and a half of trying to get it all together, we moved. Again, Phil had to work all his magic to level us and at last, the dish found our satellite. Success!! On top of all that, this lodge charges $15 per night for W/E and there is no dump. To add insult to injury, they charge $10 to dry camp and there isn’t a level spot beyond the parking lot in any direction. This Elk’s Lodge is probably a very nice facility but with good conscience, we cannot recommend their RV parking area to anyone traveling to/through Las Cruces. Pay a little more and stay in a “real” RV park. You will be glad you did.

After finishing set up, we drove to Wal*Mart and dropped off three of my prescriptions for refills then had dinner at Cracker Barrel. We went back to Wal*Mart, bought a few supplies and some groceries and picked up my meds. On Thursday, I felt fine in the morning but by the afternoon I started feeling queasy. During the night, pardon my French but putting it plainly, all hell broke loose and I spent most of the night in the bathroom. All day Friday I stayed in bed but couldn’t stand the thoughts of food then Friday I managed a few bites and managed to get out of bed long enough to eat them. Yesterday I felt a lot better, had a tiny bit of appetite back but couldn’t stay up very long. This morning I actually felt nearly back to normal but was very weak. Phil and I drove down the highway to Camping World in Anthony, TX then we stopped at the Flying J truck stop restaurant nearby. I managed to eat a fair amount of my “linner.” So far, so good … I think I’m over the worst! Flu? Food poisoning? I doubt if I will ever know but whatever it was it was bad stuff!

Until next time,