Friday, May 1, 2020

Day 85, 86 - Gordonville and Amarillo, TX - TT

Thursday (85) - In preparation for a couple of days of possibly dry camping on our way out of Texas, I am preparing some quick meals. One is an experiment that I’ve heard about which is slow cooking pork in Dr. Pepper. Basically pulled pork. We’ll see how it turns out. The other is two vacuum sealed packages of boneless chicken thighs with salt, pepper, garlic, unsalted butter, and herbs de provence spice blend. These can be used for things like tacos or salads. Given that we are heading into blistering heat, I think that either we find small (cheap) RV parks with at least electricity or the generator will get more than a little use.

When I stopped at a Dollar General store to pick up a Dr. Pepper, they actually had small bottles of hand sanitizer on the shelf. Pretty shocked at that. While in this part of Texas, I’ve been using Brookshire Brothers grocery stores. Smaller but usually carrying most of the things we use on a regular basis. And they take Apple Pay. Super convenient and much more secure than simply using a debit or credit card.

Friday (86) - Today was a hot driving day. From about noon until we stopped for fuel outside of Amarillo, we had the generator running to power both roof air conditioners. There were some grades on 287 from the southeast and at 96°F and cruising at 63mph, I turned off the dash air to keep the engine temperature lower.   The norm is just under 200°F but it would climb to 210°F if the dash air was on. The temperature dropped right back after the dash air was turned off. Marginal cooling system.

Bridget found a small, full hookup RV park in Amarillo so we can have the a/c running. This is not the weather for dry camping or lot docking. Plus, the 50amp electric will allow not only both a/c units but the electric water heater, instant pot, and the convection oven all at the same time. I had picked up some cookies that need to be made.

BTW, using the TSD Logistics fuel program, diesel was $1.267/gallon. The price on the sign and the pump was $2.399/gallon. A 47% discount!

We got the dreaded call from Encore/TT this afternoon. The Arizona governor extended the shelter-in-place until May 15th so our Casa Grande reservation was cancelled. Bridget got on line and found another non-TT/Encore RV park in Casa Grande that was still allowing check-ins and the Passport America price is $26/night. Not too bad at all. So it looks like we’ll still be able to get the windshield fixed!

4 comments:

  1. The world has become a strange place, eh? Looks like while your travel plans are currently getting hampered our country is taking little steps into normality again.

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    1. Kind of a pain but still not really a problem. It looks like the west coast may be shut down for a while longer so we will head north after the windshield gets taken care of.

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  2. Hoping you guys are able to stay cool! I don't understand why TT is canceling reservations in AZ when other parks, such as the one we stayed in, and the one Bridget found, are able to take reservations. It can't be a statewide order. Weird.

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    1. I think it’s because they said that anyone already there can extend their stay for a week after the stay at home order expires. Arizona extended their until May 15th (so far).

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