6 months on the road

yep, we've passed the six month mark: And, here's the basic stats: Total Days: 183 Total Miles: 9,357 Total gas cost: $2,349 (.25/mile) Total campsite rent: $1,150 (average 6.50/day - includes lots of free places) Total RV maintenance costs: $3,617 Avg miles/gallon: 7.5 Avg Campsite rent: 18 (average of sites where we had to pay) Lowest $/gallon gas price: $1.729 (6/15/04 Indiana) Highest $/gallon gas price: $2.729 (10/15/04 Barstow, CA) Total # of National Parks: 8 (Badlands, N Dakota; Devil’s Tower, WY; Grand Tetons, WY; Yellowstone, WY; Redwoods, CA; Yosemite, CA; Grand Canyon, AZ; Petrified Forest, NM)

RV Service

When we lived in a house, it seemed like anything that needed to be done to the house turned out to cost about $2,000. That's a HMU (house maintenance unit). We were happy to discover that an RMU (RV maintenance unit) was about half that at $1,000. New awning = $1,000, electrical system repair = $1,000. Well, we broke the record today - our new brakes and a couple minor items came to $1,400. That's an RMU and a half! Well, hey, you don't undertake an adventure like this without some cushion. Although we're sad to see the cushion depleted, we're also very happy to have good brakes! Oh yeah, the other 'minor' item was our furnace. Boy are we happy to have that working! It is f*ng freezing here. Weather.com says it 'feels' like 36 degrees. I'd put that at 36 BELOW!! We spent all day at the service place. I finished the book I was reading and still had time to wait. We certainly didn't want to head out on the highway at dark, and it seemed like adding insult to injury to spend $30 for an RV park just to have a place to sleep. So, we're parked in the parking lot at the mall right next to the RV service place. This is what is SO great about living in an RV. Once you're inside, have the generator and the furnace going, have the blinds closed. It DOESN'T MATTER where you are! You're home. And, we're happy. We watched a great video last night. A vintage movie with Lucille Ball and Dezi Arnez called "The Long Long Trailer". It was a riot. Depicting both the inspiring romanticism and the painful reality of 'trailer' life. We had both today.

The Grand Canyon

I did a raft trip down the Grand Canyon many years ago (circa 1988). As one of our group kept saying then, "They've got a serious erosion problem here." If you want to see some great photos of rafting in the Grand Canyon, check out another RVers weblog here. It really is serious erosion! The land all around is just flat, high plains. 7,000 feet high - cold, and windy! Then, all of a sudden: We arrived in the afternoon. The RV park campground was full, so we got a spot in the other campground with no hookups. It was a nice site, and it didn't bother us to not have electricity because we planned to spend most of our time out walking the rim anyway. Since we arrived in the afternoon, we figured on going to the rim trail and hanging out till sunset. They have these great benches every so often on the Rim trail. We brought a bottle of wine to enjoy while watching the sun get lower on this majestic sight. Some people walking by said, "what a great idea" and then insisted on taking our picture! It got WAY too cold and we left before full sunset. Here's what we saw on our way back to camp. Then we got up the next morning to see the western end of the canyon. ... more later - gotta get going - we had some brake trouble yesterday and want to get into service ASAP.

Greetings from Arizona

Oh Boy! We get to put another state on our map. The desert is a spectacular place to see ... at 60 miles per hour! OH MY GOD. We had to get some gas here, because it was the only station for 60 miles. But, luckily, we did not fill up. Right over the Arizona state line we found a Pilot truck stop with gas for 1.99. By the way ... check out this website to learn where to find the cheapest gas prices. We're spending the night in Kingman. We hope to visit the Grand Canyon tomorrow.

Bagdad Cafe

I saw the movie many years ago, and I don't remember much (what else is new?). But, the music was haunting and I remember the opening scene with a woman getting out of the car and left alone in the California desert. It was an underground success, and the title 'Bagdad Cafe' has meant something special for years. You can see the trailer here. So, when we realized we would be passing right by THE Bagdad Cafe - we were excited. It's in the Mojave desert, on the famous route 66. We had the place all to ourselves, even tho our server and cook (I'm sorry I didn't catch her name) told us that a busload of French tourists had just left. Apparently the movie is even more popular in Europe. We had a very nice breakfast/lunch and a good conversation in this historic desert cafe.