Chapter 5 - Day 3 and 4 - MO to Vinita, OK

 Good day everyone. Yesterday was good. Woke up and worked in the Walmart parking lot and then headed across the rest of Missouri (mostly). The drive was uneventful and boring interstate. I stayed in a Love's RV Stop in Sarcoxie, MO. If you haven't seen a Love's with this feature here's an example:

You get enough space to park and a little bit within the hashed area for stuff. It was fine. I needed the water hookup more than anything, so it was fine. But I definitely wouldn't do this type of Love's stop often. It definitely doesn't feel like camping. 

Our numbered area was fine and honestly even with all the truck noise all night it wasn't bad. I turned up the sound machine and slept well.

Today, 3/4/25, I got to spend some time on Route 66. I visited the 'Cars on Route 66' in Galena, KS, stopped for some pics at the Ribbon Road, and took a mess of pictures throughout the little towns. Fun fact, there is only 13 miles of Route 66 through Kansas. It just clips the south-west corner.

Once I was in Oklahoma it was little town central. I love them because there is so much of the original 'flavor' left. Even if it's decrepit and calling apart you can see what was there. Tonight I'm safely stashed behind an adorable Route 66 Diner in Vinita, OK for the night. It's call the Hi-Way Cafe. This is a HarvestHost stop and looks to be fairly new to the site. 

I'm excited for diner breakfast and lunch to go. 

Chapter 5 - Day 2 - Toilet valves, rusty water and driving

 I know, I didn't blog about the first day, but it'll be in here, I promise. AND I will add photos tomorrow. I'm beat but wanted to get the update out there.

I left home around 9am Saturday with 6 hours of driving ahead of me. Had to get propane and gas, so stopped at my favorite family-owned store. Olear's

Then off on I90 I went. The drive wasn't bad at all. We made good time, everything was working, etc. 

We stayed at a RV Campground called Tomorrow's Stars. Not sure if there is a famous person connection or not. I verified with them last week that the water would be running. And, it was... just not cleanly. I ran the hose for 7-8 mins without much clearing and figured, what the heck. I'm only going to chlorinate it and dump it in the morning anyway.

The water was disgusting but I didn't plan on doing anything with it.

Queue 11pm and the sounds of drip-splash. I turned on the light in the bathroom to it flooded. The flooring around the toilet and into the towel cupboard, flooded. The flooring below... flooded.

After some quick expletives I went into action. Outside I went with flashlight in hand to see if I couldn't drain all the water from the fresh tank. Frozen. More expletives. Inside I opened all the faucets and turned off the water pump. Okay, that at least slowed the dripping enough that I could put a metal bowl under it and call it a night.

Instead of going right back to sleep I headed to Youtube for help. Firstly, I needed to know what was leaking. Easy enough seeing there's only one place TO leak. The valve. Okay. Changing it out looks simple enough if you're a contortionist and right handed. I'm neither. But with good knowledge and an idea of where I can go to get a new valve I went back to sleep.

Morning dawned CRISP but sunny. Much nicer than the 9 degrees at home.

Leelu and I had our coffee and headed off to Camping World to get a new valve. Ben and I talked through the logistics but I was sure I could do it.

An hour later I had a new valve in hand and a parking spot in a large parking lot. Let's get started.

First. Remove the main water line in. Easy enough.

Then, remove the screw that hold the ensemble in place. This, folks, is the dumbest placement in all of everything. It can be removed with either a socket set or a flathead screw driver. That's peachy and all, but you can't get either back there to do the thing. Thank heavens Ben had given me a socket set before I headed out that had the bendy bits. Shut up, I'm not a tool person. :D

Once I sweated and swore a bunch I had the screw out. Yay.

Now to depress the two tabs that hold the ensemble into the toilet. I finally got a screwdriver pushing down on the top one and the wrench without a socket on it pushing up the bottom one. Phew. Got it.

Remember I said there's a clamp. Yeah. Well, this was nearly the end of the camper as we know it. I had wire cutters and screwdrivers in there prying and doing whatever I could to get the stupid thing off the hose. I made it, but dang.

With all of it apart it was time to do everything in reverse with the new valve. First, use a NEW hose clamp with a socket-able screw. Check.

Push the new valve into the toilet. Check.

Screw in the new screw. Cue all the swears. There has GOT to be an easier way. This thing is at JUST the right angle and hidden behind JUST the right amount of plastic that you can't get to it. But, I'm nothing if not persistent. By now I'm dripping sweat, Leelu is covering her delicate ears for all the vulgarity flowing across my lips. But we have one last step. Screw the water inlet back on.

Done. Done. Dun.

I was supposed to be staying at a farm, but all the shenanigans made it impossible. Instead I'm in Union Missouri at a Walmart.

Two day driving totals:

13 hours

834 miles

1 Aldi trip

Tomorrow I am going to try the water again at a Love's camping area. It should be lovely and I'll have water and electric. 

Sleep well. 

Mom

Chapter 5 - Arizona or Bust kicks Off in 1 Month

 Hi all! I've missed you and writing about my adventures. But, I took the fall and beginning of the winter off, emptied the water tanks, winterized and have been traveling only during boring ol' car.

March 1, 2025 will be my kickoff trip for the year. I'm heading across the country to Arizona via Route 66. Yes, I know, I went down a good portion of Route 66 last year, but Oklahoma and NM were lightly driven. I was rushing to get someplace. So, this year I'm taking my time and planning on a lot of mini stops to take photos.

As I've shared before I'm a planner, which means I have a crazy spreadsheet going for the trip. If you're interested in a more in depth look at how I plan you can check out this page: Planning

But here's a quick look at the sheet I have going for this trip:

Day one of my trip will be all the pre-camping activities that need to be completed in someplace warmer than freezing. Water tank disinfecting, seeding the black and grey tanks, etc. I'll fill you all in on the shenanigans that come with all of those activities. I'm hoping for less '3 Stooges' and more 'McGyver' this year. 

Have a great February. ~ Mother

Chapter 4 - Weekend 2 - Hazlitt's and Friend Matt's Camp

 7/12-7/14

Ben suggested a quick weekend, which I jumped on. In scanning over Harvest Hosts for a quick location I nearly shouted with excitement when I saw Hazlitt's Winery in Naples, NY. Anyone that is a recreational wine drinker in WNY should know RedCat wine from Hazlitt's. If you're from this area, of age and looking quizzically at the post... go get some RedCat!

Anywho, headed to Naples, NY in the Beast on Friday afternoon. The drive was fine and easy. The Fingerlakes Region is just down I-90 from us, making it a super easy place to head to. Found the HarvestHosts parking sign after a little driving around, then needed dinner. No, we didn't cook. Pfft. We ordered delivery of course. Luigi's in Naples offers delivery, which is good because there is NOTHING offered like GrubHub or others in Central New York.

Dinner was Hawaiian pizza, tossed salad and chicken fingers. After dinner we walked up the hill to Engine 14 Brewery for a few beers and live music. This is a new brewery started by some Kodak retirees and Rochester Firefighters which leads to some cool firefighting decor. They brew a mess of different beers themselves and then bring in local wines. It was a relaxing and enjoyable evening.

The morning broke very warm and sunny. We had coffee before heading up the hill again to Hazlitt's tasting room. Because it was so early there was no one else there. We tasted six wines and came home with a case. 

Shortly after returning to the Beast Ben and I headed off to our friend Matt's camp. On the way we stopped at Brewery Ardennes Taproom & Kitchen. I was looking for something unique and found it. Again they brew a mess of different types of beer but it was the food that grabbed my attention. Corn gazpacho? What? Let me tell you that it was bright and summery.

I didn't get any pics of the camp, but we had a good time hanging out. 

Another great weekend in the books.

Mother and the Spawn's Father :D

Chapter 4 - The Summer of 2024 - Cooperstown, NY

 LOL Sounds impressive doesn't it? Not as much as some of the Gen X stuff I've seen out there about being born in the 1900's and whatnot. 

Anywho, I'll be blogging what little travel we do in the summer, firstly because it's important to keep up with things I've learned along the way, and The Beast deserves her time in the limelight.

This weekend we headed to Cooperstown NY area to do a rail bike adventure. 

June 21 - Home to Pompey, NY

After work on Friday we headed out to Pompey, NY, a small area outside Syracuse. I found a neat beer pub to stay via Harvest Hosts. The ride was fine although we hit a few snags like a totally out of the way detour on Route 20 and a low bridge outside 'Cuse.

Arriving at Heritage Hill Brewhaus we found ourselves at a very cool brewery, event place, petting zoo... basically all the things... kind of place. They were actually closed for a private event when we arrived but the host let us know we could absolutely enjoy the bar and the band.

After giving us directions to our parking spot the host arrived with a golf cart to take us back up to the brewhaus. We'd parked down the hill in a field-ish area. Perfect for a good night's sleep, but far enough from the ruckus. 

Firstly, the beer and drinks were great. They brew and have local beers as well. Ben tried a few different ones while I stuck to mules of different kinds. What? I like my mules. :D

The event going on was a fundraiser put on by Spatchcock Funk, a vlog, youtube channel, whatnot. basically they are into good, funky music, parties and FOOD. They were throwing Smoke-a-palooza at the brewhaus to raise money for the local PBS station. The band, Sophistafunk, was rocking while we drank and enjoyed from the bar. We did pop into the barn for a few minutes to listen and it was funk-tastic. 

We slept fine. The party ended around 10pm I think. We were back at the camper by then, attempting to enjoy a fire but the mosquitos were BAD. Someone, me, forgot to pack the bug spray. I didn't need that in Utah.

Oh, Strawberry Moon as well.

June 22 - Pompey to Milford

We grabbed lunch at the bar again before heading out. I had something they call The Goat. So good. And Ben got a burger. The best thing were the pickle fries. Don't knock them, they were fantastic.

Then off to Milford, just south of Cooperstown. That's when we ran into the detour on Route 20. The farm we visited in Milford was a Harvest Hosts location as well. Sunny Acres Swiss is located right on Route 28 just south of Milford town. They have a farmstand with all kinds of goodies to include beef, milk, eggs, bagels, pies and more. The coolest thing about the stand is that they are open 24/7 with a self pay setup. Very progressive and honestly ingenious.

After a very short nap we headed back into Milford for our rail bike adventure with Rail Explorers. It was about 82 degrees when we parked. I was NOT looking forward to a leg workout in those temps. But, I shouldn't have worried. Their battery-assisted rail bikes are so easy. Honestly Ben did a quick pedal-pedal to kick start it and then really didn't need to pedal anymore. Of course he DID pedal more, because it would make the rail car speed, but he didn't have to.

At the halfway point they stop us all, turn the cars around and back we went.

It was really fun and definitely worth doing in the fall when the leaves are changing.

We grabbed dinner at the Rusty Bison in south Cooperstown. I had a fantastic fish sandwich and Ben had brisket and mac n cheese. I'd asked if we could do perogies as an appetizer and they obliged, I'm really glad they did because the perogies were really good.

About 20 minutes after we'd parked for the night it started to rain, torrentially. Is that a word? Thunder, lightning, wind, downpour. I'm glad we were in the camper and parked.

June 23 - Milford to home

After coffee, and some pie, we headed off to the KOA outside Cooperstown to dump the tanks. 

I'm going to rant a little here about New York and the lack of 'stuff'. Dumps for RV's are plentiful outside of NY, or at least anywhere I've gone. Not only do the campgrounds and RV parks all allow you to pay a nominal fee to use theirs if you aren't staying at a location, but many, dare I say MOST trucker stops have one you can pay to use. Hell, in a small town in Oklahoma one of the town parks had one for free. Today I had to call around to find a campground on our way that even ALLOWED for someone to pay to use their dump. KOA did, obviously because that's where we went, but for quite a bit more than any other place I've gone. 

Ok, so after taking care of that we headed to BassPro and lunch. Food was acquired at Casa Azteca across from BassPro. It was a good mexican restaurant with good food and atmosphere. BassPro was it's normal self. We came out with a couple fishing lures and swivels.

Homeward bound gave us some wind and raindrops, but the way was fine. We got home, unpacked and are relaxing. A fun weekend out with the Hubs and The Beast. 

Love and hugs, Mother and the Hubby

Chapter 3 - Day 34 through 40 - The Long Journey Home

 5/4 to 5/10/24

The original plan was for me to stay in Utah for an additional week and then take the slow roll home on Route 20. That pathway is supposed to be similar to Route 66 in it's historic and nostalgic overtones. BUT... that's not what happened.

Instead I dropped Ben at the airport in the morning on the 4th and started heading East. Good thing, too, because there were storms brewing with the promise of 75+ mph wind gusts across the mountains and plains.

The drive home was a blur. I stayed the first night in WY (Saturday). Then was stuck in Nebraska for three nights because of the winds (Sun, Mon, Tue). Wednesday night I was in Iowa, then Illinois Thursday. Friday morning I woke and headed east with the plan to stop at somepoint and sleep. Instead I powered through and made it home Friday at 9pm.

I didn't take photos, didn't stop at sights, didn't try to find cool things to do. I just needed to get home. But what photos I did take are below: