On the Road to Mesa

We left Centerville, IA on Saturday morning about 7:30, I knew it would be a long drive, in order to get to the Excel service center by mid to late afternoon, we arrived at four. We had an enjoyable drive, the weather was nice and the roads were good. We traveled mostly two lane roads, a short distance was on I 35 going to Cameron, MO where we picked up US 36 into Smith Center.

Sunday we went to church and then out to the Geographical Center of the USA. There wasn’t a lot there but we got pictures of all of it.

Monday was spent meeting and getting to know the other folks who were at the service center to have work done on their units. Jerry & Ann are from O’Fallon, MO, Bill & Ludella are from Olathe, KS, great folks and we hope to see Jerry & Ann in AZ this winter. You see Bill & Ludella are sitting in the site just behind us in Guymon, OK. They are on the way to Mesa also.

Ted was our technician and he accomplished everything we wanted done to the camper in one day. He managed to get the sofa moved to the area where the recliners were and got it secured so it won’t interfere with the slides going in and out. Ted also showed me the technique they use in the plant to caulk the campers. I will try it in AZ and see how long it takes me to get it right. I also had to buy two batteries because the two we had went kaput. I neglected to check them often enough so now I will add that to my lists of checks each month.

Monday night six of us went to dinner at Pooches Bar & Grill, it was very good food and reasonably priced. I had a pork chop that was an inch thick and six by four, done just right and juicy, I could cut it with a fork.

We stayed Monday night at the service center, free no $$, which is a great thing they do for the Excel owners. We were up early Tuesday morning and I headed in to see if I could get a propane tank filled, I forgot about it on Monday. Jack, the manager of the center, said no problem. I took the tank out of the camper and put it on the scale and headed back inside to wait for it to be filled. Fifteen minutes or so later I moved the truck to the camper to get ready to hook up and dawg gone if the tank wasn’t filled and put back in the camper. You can’t ask for better service than that.

Our goal for the day’s drive was Guymon, OK and as I mentioned above we made it. We arrived at Corral Drive In RV Park, this park has a drive in theater associated with it.

Tuesday night we went to Caktus Jack’s for dinner, Sarah and I split a hamburger, it was huge and very good.

I checked the weather and what to my surprise snow was forecasted along with winds of 30-35 mph gusting to 55+. I told Bill we were going to spend Wednesday at the campground and leave on Thursday. He was fine with that. The snow came down in big huge flakes and was quite pretty but it didn’t stay on the ground. The wind was blowing pretty good all day long and that reinforced my decision of not getting on the road. That night we went to the Pizza Hut to eat.

Thursday we took off about nine and headed for Santa Rosa, NM and the Santa Rosa Campground. It was an easy drive and we arrived early afternoon. We got checked in quickly and after a trip to put fuel in the truck we relaxed the rest of the afternoon. The campground had a restaurant that would deliver to your camper but we elected to eat at the restaurant. The food was ok, my steak was a bit chewy but we had a good time with Bill & Ludella.

Friday was going to be a bit of a drive so we left shortly after eight. I tried to set the GPS to route us through certain towns but I didn’t trust it. We went west on I 40 to Moriarty, NM and then south on route 41 to route 60 over to I 25. We were on route 60 and this guy was walking toward us on the side of the road so I moved over as I passed him and gave us the middle finger salute. Not sure what his problem was but something was bothering him.

I 25 was a good drive there were a couple of good pulls and the truck performed admirably. We arrived in Deming, NM about four and after unhooking and setting up I went to fuel the truck. Then it was time for dinner, Sarah had asked the lady in the office for a good place to eat. She said The Rancher’s Grill was good, well I have to say it wasn’t . I had the 8 oz. rib eye steak, so did Bill, mine was ok but not that good, Bill’s was so tough he couldn’t eat it. I will say they have a very good salad bar. Now in there favor there was a pretty good crowd eating so evidently the locales like the restaurant.

Saturday was going to be another long drive so we left early again. It was raining and windy when we started but as the day went on it cleared up. We drove I40 to route 70 to route 60 at Globe, AZ. Most of the drive was plain but when we left Globe the scenery was incredible. Going up the mountain was quite interesting but going down was an experience in both the drive and the scenery. Here are a couple of pictures.

Most of the down hill was a 6% grade with one 7% grade in the mix. There was also a tunnel, not very long, but a nice change of pace.

We made it to Mesa Regal RV Resort about two in the afternoon. We checked in and were shown to our site. Then the fun began, the site was quite small and it was impossible to get in to it. I was able to miss the park model on one side of the site but the grapefruit tree kept getting in the way. So Sarah went to the office and they gave us a different site, it was bigger than the other one. It took me 30-40 minutes to get the camper situated the way I wanted it. Then the lady who showed us the site came back and said she wasn’t sure we could stay in that site and to check with the office on Monday. Needless to say I wasn’t very happy, so we only hooked up the water and electric.

Sunday was a good day with church and shopping at Wal Mart, Camping World and Fry’s Marketplace. The rest of the day I spent watching football.

Today we were in the customer service office right at eight, I wanted to make sure we were there before anyone else. A nice lady named Melanie helped us with our problem. She verified we could not stay in the site we were currently in so she gave us three sites to look at. The first two were small and would give us the same problems we had already been through. The third site was the one, it was a back in and all I had to do was line up in the street and back straight into the site. We have more room than any of the other sites so this is the one. We got set up and met the neighbors and all is well in the world.

We begin our work this Wednesday, they are short help not everyone is here yet, we have met a couple of the other workers and I believe we will really enjoy this gig.

Remember – Dreams Do Come True.