The drive from our Arizona abode to the Perry fairgrounds was a fast one. I know, I know, many of you take many days, even weeks traveling 1,924 miles. We had to do it in a weekend, a long one but still just a weekend because of a certain word: JOB.
Our original plan was to head northeast through our beautiful mountains and hit I-40 but our gloriously cold winter made us change routes. Gloriously cold? You betcha. Any day I need long pants and long sleeves is a win and I’ll take all the extra cold days I can get. I call it our reward for surviving the summers. We were also going to stop in Norman, OK and have lunch with our oldest son Jeff but that didn’t work out either. He’s on the OU Curling team and they qualified for the national tournament (yeah!) but it was the same weekend we were driving.
We were watching the weather like crazy people the last few days before departure and decided taking the southern route was our best bet. The snow forecast along 40 had subsided but the winds were going to be wicked almost the entire way. Yep, down through Tucson was going to be our path.
Since we were going to be booking it across the country, I was going to get my fair share of driving practice. Let me tell you, driving the RV isn’t bad at all. It’s the construction that makes me crazy. It’s like I have a black cloud over me, every single time I get behind the wheel there is bad weather, construction or both. It’s been that way with every motor home we’ve had to the point that it’s now a running joke.
We planned on driving 8 hours, however far that took us. Mark drove for a little bit then it was my turn. The stretch between Phoenix and Tucson is an easy one. If you run into a problem, almost all of the off ramps are nice and long and very straight. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. I was cruising along, confidence building then bam! That darn construction sign. I swear, in 90 miles I navigated through three different construction zones, one that our trusty GPS did not like as we were detoured to the other side of the road. She barked at me more than once, “please drive to the correct side of the road.”
I relinquished the wheel just before we hit Tucson city limits and I’m glad I did. The traffic wasn’t bad, but the winds had picked up and he is much better driving in windy conditions than I am. For the most part we had a nice tailwind, but when the road turned more southerly, you could feel it. After we passed Benson we saw a whitish cloud low to the ground. Our first thought was a big fire that was extinguished but quickly realized it was a dust cloud. It was a bit hazy driving through it, like a very light fog, nothing bad and thankfully didn’t last too long. I wish the winds had gone away with the dust, but alas, our windy drive was not going to end anytime soon.
We drove through El Paso and decided Van Horn would be our stopping point for the night. Mountain View RV Park was easy off and on and had good ratings, this was our place. The office closed at eight but that wasn’t a problem. The nice lady I talked to told us to pick our spot then put cash or a check in an envelope and drop it in the box. I never got to meet her as we were up and out by 7 the next morning. One perk of leaving so early is the pretty sunrise. I’m used to getting pretty sunset pictures; pretty sunrise pics are rare.
This day was going to be a long one, more driving practice for me! Our destination for the night was Texarkana, TX. Looking at the map we drove from bottom left to top right, maybe close to the longest point-to-point in the state. West Texas sits at a much higher elevation than I expected. There were oil drillers far and wide. East Texas was flatter and a lot greener. It was interesting to see the topography change as we drove.
West Texas also held one surprise, an unplanned stop! President George W. Bush’s childhood home is in Midland and not too far from the freeway. It was still pretty early in the morning and we would be there well before it opened but Mark okayed a drive by and quick picture. Yeah, this practicing for retirement thing was working; not only were we stopping but we were stopping on the left side of the highway. We were the only people on the street, Mark stopped and I promised to be quick. Blocking the street was the last thing we wanted to do. I jumped out and snapped off five pics then hopped back in. It was a cute little house in a cute neighborhood. I was surprised that his house was one of the smaller ones on the street. There was an elementary school nearby and I wondered if that was the Bush children’s school.
Back on the freeway and east we went, taking turns behind the wheel. We zipped through Dallas and were shocked at how light the traffic was this time. Past drives through Dallas were excruciating, traffic wise. We got lucky with the weather, falling in behind the storms and dry roads. We were almost to Greenville when all of a sudden, BAM on the windshield and a big chip. Seriously, it wasn’t even a week from our last chip and only two days after that chip repair. We didn’t want it to spread, especially since we knew we’d have rain in the coming days. Off to Google I went and found one that wasn’t listed as CLOSED, Jarvis Glass. When he answered the phone, I could hear children in the background, and hoped he wasn’t closed as well. He directed us to an exit that had a large place for us to park and told us he’d meet us in 15 minutes. In no time, Mr. Cody Jarvis pulled his truck in front of our Phaeton, pulled out a ladder and got to work. We were back on the road in no time thanks to him. If you’re ever near Greenville, TX with a window issue, for me he is the only person to call.
We arrived in Texarkana shortly after sunset. Just like the night before, we took a long walk through the campground, glass of wine in hand. One more early morning departure was waiting, and one more pretty sunrise.
This day we were driving to Red Bay, Alabama where Tiffin Motorhomes are built. Yes, it was a little out of the way from our Perry, Georgia destination but we couldn’t be this close without stopping. Mississippi and Alabama were two states I had not been to yet so guess what? We were going to add two new stickers to our country map! Red Bay is a cute little town; after setting up in the Downtown RV Park we set out on a town walk. Since it was Sunday, only the local Subway was open. We walked up and down streets, covering a couple of miles then headed back to wipe down the coach and clean the windshield. The wind in west Texas kept the bugs away but east Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama left quite the buggy science experiment on the windshield.
Monday morning, we hustled on down for the factory tour. We toured the Winnebago factory when we picked up our Class C and were excited to see the differences both is technology and construction comparing a Class C in 2001 and a big diesel in 2019. The tour did not disappoint.
After the tour we hopped into the Phaeton and pointed ourselves toward Perry. It was a cold and rainy drive in some of the greenest country yet. We pulled into the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry, GA at 7pm.
Our long drive was done. The fun was about to begin.
That was a fun read!!! Love the pics!