The Parker Travels

I used magnets that Jeff Fabrizio gave us to hang our wreath on the screen! Our goal of going to Texas is to see Grandma Parker in Abilene and our former neighbors form Maryland in Aledo (near Ft. Worth). But since Texas is so BIG we can’t do it all in a day. Today we are driving half way and stopping in Midland, TX for the night.  It was fairly easy cleaning up the wet lines and its so hot here they  dried out quickly too. The former owner left a handful of random hoses and parts in the RV and my dad sorted through them before the trip. Included is this sewer clean out attachment which is very handy. You can attach a hose to the side of it and open it on full blast and clean out the inside of the tank! Sounds gross but its very helpful! The campsites here are very big concrete pads. So we took advantage of the space and used our mini air compressor, courtesy of Bret Parker, to check and fill up all 12 tires! We were able to load the freshly washed Camry back on the tow dolly ...

Today was the first day we were able to just sit in one place and not have to get up and go or drive hundreds of miles! This cross country trip is so different than our last one. The last one our destinations were meant for long stays and we had very few 1 night stays. But that also meant really long drives in between each destination, With the RV we can stay for 1 night so much easier so we have shorter drives each day but more 1 nighters. Which get tiring after a while.  That being said, we took full advantage of not having to go anywhere and slept in today. I actually made breakfast too! I used the stove for the first time. Our stove has 3 burners but really only 1 can be used at a time. But it fits our frying pan perfectly so I made fried potatoes, onions and eggs for breakfast. Kyle threw his in a burrito and I just topped mine with avocado in a bowl. Kyle bought some avocados in CA, the greenest ones he could find. in hopes that they would last us a while. They have lasted us...

Flowers from the Findley's garden. 10:00 am we are on the road and heading towards Tucson. The plan was to stop at a Walmart parking lot, unhitch and take the car and toby to Saguaro National Park. But since our trip was delayed a few days, we now are visiting the park on a Wednesday, when the visitors center is closed. So instead we took our time getting ready this morning then drove to Walmart and picked up a few things. Since the visitors center was closed we didn’t stop at the National Park and instead drove straight to El Paso. My back is doing better today. It’s now just sore and no longer in full spasm. I’ve been stretching it a lot and wanted to do the shopping at Walmart so I could walk around a bit which is helpful too. Kyle made us sandwiches while I was shopping and we ate them in the RV before getting back on the road.  I was able to put away some things and do a bit of organizing while Kyle drove. It’s a pretty boring drive. Kyle listened to an entire audio book and s...

Finally ready for our journey to begin! Well today was uneventful...finally! We tearfully left Mission Viejo around 9am and headed to Arizona. Kyle pulled over in Oceanside to check the straps on the dolly. Everything looked good. I let the muscle relaxer kick in, fell asleep in California and woke up in Arizona. I slept on the bed in the back, thankfully it’s a newer foam mattress so it absorbed some of the road bumps. It’s a pretty bumpy ride in this RV. Way different than towing the trailer and the smooth ride of the 4runner. It’s pretty loud too you hear a lot of road noise. I take a walkie talkie with me when I leave the cockpit so I can hear Kyle. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to hear him past the living room.  Our final glances of the Pacific Ocean. Toby came and slept in the back with me too. It took a while for him to get used to his new ride. We have the couch pulled out for him but he still just wants to be in the cockpit or wherever I am. We have his leash buckled into t...

My back is a little better today but still in full spasm, we are going to stay here today and get on the road tomorrow morning. Kyle took advantage of staying in Mission Viejo another day and took the RV over to a tire shop to have one of the back tires swapped out. It was the worst of the 4 and Joe, the service guy who helped us on Saturday, recommend we have that one replaced soon. I was able to see my Grandma one more time and Kyle was able to go down to his parents for a visit Kyle getting a new tire put on the RV.

Leaving the La Quinta! Following Kyle over the grapevine. You can barely see the mountains with all the fire/smog. We won't miss this air quality thats for sure! Now that the troubles of yesterday are behind us time to go pick up the car tow dolly and get on the road! We made it to Santa Fe Springs around noon and were able to pick up the tow dolly and get a demonstration on how to set it up and how to load the car. They were very helpful and made sure to go over every detail. All in the RV together with the Camry in tow Toby on his couch. Hes content.  We headed to Mission Viejo next, car in tow, and were going to park the car in the cul-de-sac by my grandmas apartment, thinking it would be easier to get in and out of there than our parents neighborhood. We were wrong. Before we could even park it, we were stuck and needed to unhitch the car. The downside to the tow dolly is you can’t back up with a car on the dolly. Which means you need to make smart decisions and plan out your r...

Our final farewell to the first house we bought. You were a great home for 3 years! Well. Today was supposed to be the start of our trip...It’s already been hassle after hassle.  Let’s start with the tow dolly. We plan on towing the Camry behind the RV across the country. Which means we need a car tow dolly. We booked a tow dolly with Uhaul because it was going to be cheaper than purchasing one. The rental pick up was right around the corner from our house, seemed like it would be a smooth transaction. We went to pick it up and that was easy but the return date on the receipt was for the 12th of October which is only 9 days. We need the dolly for 19 days, till the 21st. So now we have to call uhaul and get that sorted out. After many long photo calls it ends up they want us to pay double what we’re originally quoted to have the dolly until the 21st. Which ends up costing the same as buying one! Kyle worked it out to just return the rental today to the same place we picked it up fro...