A Little Peak For Now

I have no internet service at the trailer yet, so I have to go to the employee dining room to get online right now. It is hard to write in a public space like that, so for now, here is a peak at my new hometown:

We're Not In Kansas Anymore

We left Wichita on our way to the Grand Canyon this morning. We had planned on going about 330 miles, and stopping early to rest up. We were making good time, so we stopped in Liberal, Kansas to visit the museum there that is dedicated to the movie, The Wizard of Oz. After taking the tour there, and getting our picture taken on the Yellow Brick Road, we stopped at a restaurant west of town to get a late lunch.

The two stops took about two hours, but we were still making good time. A few miles out of Liberal, a man passed us in a pick up truck, and honked his horn and motioned for us to pull over. We had had a flat tire on the trailer, and didn’t even know it!

Our Good Samaritan, Dave Christopher, said he was an insurance adjuster, and just happened to have a telephone book in his truck! How many times will that ever happen? Here is a picture of Dave and Jim:

When my cellphone wouldn’t work because it had no signal, he let us use his phone to call Guymon Tire Service. They sent out a service truck to change the tire.

Raul arrived in about 20 minutes and got right to work. He got us back on the road really fast, and only charged $50.

We stopped in Guymon, Oklahoma at Guymon Tire and bought a new tire for the spare.The whole episode only set us back $167. Not so bad, it could have been worse.

We finally made it to our destination for tonight, Dalhart, Texas. We pulled into the Corral RV Park about 6:30 p.m. The park is level and quiet, and only cost us $19 for a pull through site big enough to park a semi truck and trailer, and it even has cable TV. We hope to be in Albequerque, New Mexico tomorrow night.

Where I Have Been

The last time I wrote anything here was when we had just crossed over the Mississippi River and were stopped for the night in Little Rock, Arkansas. Here is a picture of our trailer home following us down the road: We traveled more than 1000 miles in three days, pulling our home behind us. We usually don't like to go that far so quickly. The main reason why is we get so tired doing it. But, we had to get to USI RV Park in Wichita for a temporary job, so we did.

Here is a picture of the flooding in Arkansas along I-40. I am sure the water is up even more than this because it has rained some more since we went through there.

I like to stop at all the welcome centers for the states we go through. The one in Oklahoma was nice. They gave us free coffee, and Jim took my picture with the Indian guy there:

The Oklahoma countryside is mostly flat. They have a lot of cows there. We even saw a herd of buffalo but I was not quick enough with my camera to get a picture of them.


We went out I-40 west to I-35 north, to Wichita.

The Kansas welcome center is more than 20 miles inside the state line. I told Jim they want to be sure you're really coming to Kansas before they welcome you to their state. There was a McDonald's restaurant there, but they didn't give us anything free to eat or drink, just a map of Kansas so we could find our way out of there when we got ready to leave.

The Kansas countryside in early spring is much like that in Oklahoma, only a little greener.

We have enjoyed our stay in Kansas, but we are leaving tomorrow, because we got the telephone call we have been waiting for from the National Park Service at the Grand Canyon. We will get there sometime Saturday, and start working a day or two later. We are really excited about our new jobs.

We're Traveling Again

Jim and I left Unicoi State Park on Sunday, headed for Wichita, Kansas. Yes, we are still waiting to hear the final word about our jobs at the Grand Canyon, but we can't sit around waiting until we run out of money, so we arranged to work as temporaries at a campground in Kansas while we wait. Doing this is a win-win situation for everyone involved--the campground needed someone ASAP, we needed to be working, it will put us half-way to Arizona when we do finally get hired, and we will be making a little money while we wait. What a great deal. Oh, yeah, it also gets us halfway there before the price of diesel fuel goes up any more.

When I started planning the trip to Arizona, I figured our travel budget as if we were paying $4.89 per gallon of fuel. It is not that high, yet, so we are way ahead in the budget.

On Saturday, the price of diesel fuel in Helen, Georgia was $4.05 per gallon. When we passed by the same gas station on Sunday when we left there, it was $4.10 per gallon. At the Ingle's Grocery Store in Cleveland, Georgia, it was $3.96 per gallon if you paid with an Ingle's gift card (which saves you 3 cents per gallon).

On Sunday, in Douglasville, Georgia, at the station near my mother's house, diesel was $4.27 per gallon!!! We drove right on by. In Bremen, near the Alabama border, it was $3.99 per gallon. We filled up there.

Today, in Jasper, Alabama, fuel was $3.93 per gallon, and in Olive Branch, Mississippi, it was $3.92 per gallon. While these prices are insane, they are nowhere near the price I figured our budget on. We may just have some money left when we arrive in Wichita.

Sunday was a frantically busy day. We woke up in north Georgia, packed up the trailer, and drove 130 miles to Carrollton to spend the night at a campground there. We took the trailer off the hitch, then drove 35 miles back to Douglasville, where we had to go and check our post office box, go to the bank, get our hair cut at Becky's shop. Then Jim, Becky and I met Emily, Tommy, and Spencer at Longhorn Steaks for a yummy scrummy dinner. Spencer's birthday was on April 10th, he turned 6 this year. He has now decided he likes steak, which is a good thing. He posed for me to take some pictures. When he saw this one, he said, "I look like an ice cream cone!" (that's his Mommy, Emily, my youngest daughter with him). After dinner, we ran by my mother's to say good bye to her before we left town. We finally got back to the trailer around 10:30 p.m. What a day!

I checked the Weather Channel online before we left to see if the route we planned to take had any flooding, and found that the Mississippi River at Memphis was at 37 feet this morning, and will continue to rise until at least Saturday, if there is no more rain. Flood stage at Memphis is 34 feet. I took a couple of pictures when we crossed over the Mighty Mississippi this afternoon, the water was high, but I-40 is a high road so it was not flooded.

We got as far as Little Rock today, which is a long way for us to go in one day. We'll arrive in Wichita tomorrow afternoon. I have never been to Kansas, so I can't wait to see it. Don't have a clue what to expect, but I will post some pictures tomorrow. See ya later!

A Campfire Party

We had our first, and last, campfire party with our co-hosts here at Unicoi tonight. The first one, because it is the first time everyone was here and available to get together, and the last because Jim and I are leaving on Sunday.

It was just an informal get together. We didn't even sit around the fire, exactly, because there was food. And to eat it, we had to sit at the picnic table. Joan and Frank brought a yummy 7 layer Mexican salad, and Debbie and Jim brought a hot spinach cheese dip. I made sausage balls, using my Pamela's Baking Mix. It just turned out that everything everyone brought was gluten free, but it wasn't planned that way. I even tried some Redbridge Beer. I though it was pretty good, and even drank two of them. Those of you who know me know I have never drunk two beers in one day, ever. But, Redbridge was that good. Really.

Here is the recipe I used for the Sausage Balls

1 lb pork sausage
2 cups Pamela's Baking Mix
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Mix all ingredients together well in a bowl. You'll have to use your hands to squeeze it all together. Roll in small balls and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

I put them in a bowl that I had lined with a clean kitchen towel to keep them warm. Everyone loved them. Yum!

Spring In Georgia

Jim and I have been volunteering here at Unicoi for three winters. We are usually gone by the 1st of March, as we really do need to work and make some money. But, this year, we are still sitting here, waiting to hear the final word on the job at the Grand Canyon. Because we have always left so early, we have never been here in the springtime.

In the last two weeks, the campground came alive with campers. The whole place has been full, including the tents camping area, and today all of the platforms at the Squirrel's Nest were also occupied. The place is simply buzzing with people. I sold all the firewood we had today. And the excited fishermen bought nearly all of the red wigglers I had, too.

Little children were wading in the creek, which surely must still be ice cold. It is such a change from the gloomy winter days, when we hardly see other people all week.

I'm going to try to get some pictures tomorrow, just so you can see the difference just a couple of weeks make.

Michael and Owen

Just thought you all would like to see my newest picture of my two grandsons, Michael and Owen. They are the ones who live in Maryland, Seth's sons.

Nueva Cocina Taco Fresco

Last week I got this yum package of Taco Fresco Ground Beef Seasoning in the mail from Nueva Cocina. It is all natural and gluten free, and tastes really good. We don’t care much for tacos so I was thinking today I would use it to make some home made enchiladas. The sauce took only about 10 minutes to make, and it was delish!

Home Made Gluten Free Enchiladas

Sauce

1 6 oz can tomato paste

1 16 oz can chicken broth

1 pkg Nueva Cocina Taco Fresco Ground Beef Seasoning

1 Knorr Chipotle Mini Cube

Add all ingredients in a small saucepan, stirring well to mix tomato paste and the mini chipotle cube into the liquid. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 10 minutes until thickened a bit. Remove from heat.

Filling

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ lb ground meat (I use 1/3 turkey, 1/3 pork, and 1/3 beef)

1 small onion, chopped

4-5 garlic cloves, chopped

1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp basil

1 tsp ground red pepper

Add olive oil to a skillet. When heated through, add onion, garlic and pepper, sautee until onion is clear. Add ground meat, crumbling and stiring, cook until meat is browned. Add cumin, basil, and red pepper, stir to mix well.

To assemble:

Pour about 1/3 cup of sauce in casserole dish, spread around to cover the bottom of the dish. For each enchilada, put a couple tablespoons of meat in the center of a corn tortilla. Roll the tortilla, and place seam side down in the casserole dish. Repeat until the filling is used up. Pour the rest of the sauce over the enchiladas. Bake in 400 degree oven 25 minutes. Take the casserole dish out of the oven, cover with 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese. Return to oven and bake for another 10 minutes

We made a salad with a bag of Fresh Express pre-cut lettuce, some canned tomatoes, some pickled garlic, and sliced onions. I also cut up an avacado to put on top of the enchiladas. I thought I would have some left over for lunch tomorrow, but Jim ate a second helping for dessert!