Four Long Days of Travel

Hello all of you readers out there!!  So excited you are supporting our Blog and hopefully our YouTube Channel.  Jerry and I are so appreciative that you take the time to follow our adventures.

Life on the road is not all sunshine and rainbows.  This week was more like thunderstorms and lightning, for most of it at least.  That said, there were some fun elements such as our stay in Missoula at our first Harvest Host, and our visit to the Big Sky Brewery.  It started off GREAT with wonderful beers and hard seltzers brought to us by a crew that could not have been friendlier. 

We called the brewery home for the night, or at least the back parking lot of the brewery.  When we arrived, we were the only RV.  They have very specific rules to arrive prior to 8:00 pm and check in with the bartenders to confirm you are a Harvest Host member.  By 9:45 pm a HUGE motor home was parked in front of us and behind us, blocking us in.  Needless to say, Jerry was not pleased.  In fact the motorhome in front of us almost hit our rig backing up.  Jerry ran out of our RV to yell at them.  Of course, my mouth dropped open in a silent scream watching this happen.  Not a fun evening to say the least.  Of course, we barely slept that night wondering how the heck we were going to get out as we wanted a very early start.  Have I mentioned how incredible my husband is?  He never ceases to amaze me with his skills on driving and maneuvering our 42’ 5th wheel.  He got us out of there without a scratch (on anyone’s rig, including ours)!

We then hit the road to Pocatello, ID. It was quite a hike that ended in us spending the evening at the county fairgrounds.  It was… interesting to say the least, but we figured we could last one night.  Full hook ups were the key!!!  We were in bed by 8:30 that night just wanting to sleep and get on the road early the next day.

The morning came, and we were off to Helper, Utah to a very tiny, full hookup RV park. The downtown was completely renovated to look like the 40’s and 50’s.  The woman, Michelle, that owns it came by with a jar of her homemade preserves.  Jerry was in heaven!  Again, we went to bed very early to drive to prepare for an early jump toward Farmington, New Mexico.  That is where the fun really begins.

Driving to Farmington was beautiful.  We passed through “The Arches” National Park and Moab, Utah.  It was an absolutely stunning drive. Still, it was a very long drive that day (over five hours, which we will never do again).  We pulled into a truck stop for gas and Jerry took a slight wrong turn into the car lines for gas.  We fit the height limit, but not so much on the length.  I had to help him back up, and this is where I lost it!  I was scared to death and actually tears were running down my face as I was trying to direct him backwards out of the gas station.  Again, my hero, got us out of there.  I should never doubt my incredible husband.  But, that’s not all.  We stayed in the Elk’s Club in Farmington, which was definitely not our favorite. There are two driveways to pull into.  Of course, no one told me which one to use when I called.  You guessed it, we pulled into the wrong one and ended up in a parking lot filled with cars!!!  The police station was right below and many police cars were parked there.  Two officers helped us out.  Jerry tried to back out, which didn’t work.  We ended up driving through the cars with only about 12” on each side of us.  This is the part where I had a complete meltdown!!  Yep, hysterically crying and saying I do not have the conviction to live this lifestyle, etc., etc.  Jerry was quite patient with me and let me vent.  Once we found the right place to park and hooked up with power and water, we went out for Mexican food.  Yes, I had a HUGE margarita.  I needed it!  The food was terrific too.  The best chicken fajitas we have had.  That night a HUGE thunder and lightning storm hit the area.  Never have I heard such loud thunder!  Thank goodness it was done by the time we left in the morning.

Arriving in Albuquerque was such a relief until we pulled into the area our club was meeting.  Everyone, I know I might sound like a diva at times, but let me tell you, these fairgrounds are horrible for RV’ers.  The woman organizing this event was very upset with the sites she was given for all of us.  Not ONE site is level.  We ended up moving 3 times.  If you RV, you understand what it takes to set up and tear down.  Imagine doing that 3 times in a row.  If you don’t know, let me just say that it is a PRODUCTION. We had found a place after the first one didn’t work out, set up completely, then were told we couldn’t stay there.  Jerry went looking for a “level” site, which of course there aren’t any.  He found one that was “ok” and we ended up moving again and are still here.  We saved the space next to us for friends we met in Salt Lake City exactly 90 days ago who decided to join us for the balloon fiesta.  One of the saving graces amidst all of this stress has been meeting amazing people like Terri and Dave.  We are so glad they are here with us.  

The pilot that we are crewing with in the hot air balloons this weekend had us crew with him on Wednesday morning as a form of “training”.  It was incredible.  Richard is an amazing pilot and very patient.  There will be much more details on all of this next week.  So stay tuned and subscribe so you do NOT miss out on the adventures during The Balloon Fiesta.  Which by the way, is the largest balloon fiesta in the world!!!  

Just One More…..melt down (I’m sure there will be more, unfortunately)