4/9/2010 Time to the Hit the Road Again

Our time in Fort Bliss has come to an end, its time to move on.

I did manage to take a picture of our view from the side of the 5th wheel.

My view from the kitchen window. later in the day. (yesterday)

We had nice wide streets and nice sized lots in this FamCamp.

Before we can actually leave El Paso we needed to take care of one more thing. The 5th wheel had to be inspected. We couldn’t get this done on base so we had to find someone in town.

Using the Internet, Bob found one on a road we were familiar with so that’s where we went. We pulled up and parked across the street from the place because after all we are 53 feet of truck and trailer and you park where you can. Well, the fella tells Bob we have to park on his property or he can’t do the inspection. He has an L shaped building with a narrow drive way in front of it and then a concrete block wall separating him from the business next door. And he wants us to pull into this space that one would have a hard time maneuvering a standard sized car in! Bob looked at him like he was nuts. Bob suggested the parking lot that bordered his property and fellow reluctantly agreed after Bob said, “Look, either you want to inspect it or you don’t.” I guess the guy wanted the fifteen bucks.

Inspection passed, paperwork put away, we were on our way to Odessa, Texas! Why Odessa? This is the town where his parents were living when he was born. His dad was working the oil fields all those many, many,,,,,many years ago. Oh wait, what am I saying, Bob is only five years older than me. Let me rephrase that. His dad was the working oil fields in those days that seem like it was just yesterday. Yes, much better!

His family left Texas when Bob was just a baby, not even two years old yet. Remember that, not even two years old.

I don’t know what the state of Texas is thinking! Remember when all we heard was “55, stay alive” and fifty five miles an hour saves fuel. Well, I guess all that has gone out the window. Here’s the speed limit in Texas today.

EIGHTY MILES AN HOUR!!! WHY???? You know if the speed limit is 80 there are those who are speeding and going 90. I’m sorry, its too fast. Nobody has to be anywhere in such a hurry. I would love to see the accident statistics for I-10 in Texas.

At one point we were stopped at Border Patrol and asked if we were both US citizens. That’s all, nothing else, just if we were citizens. How would you like that for a job all day?

This was our view for the longest time, both sides of the road, as far as the eye could see….. As you can see the clouds are comin’ in,

The next overpass we came to we found to be quite decorated.

We occasionally saw an oil well.

The closer we got to Odessa, still an oil town today, the oil wells became much more noticeable.

Something else we didn’t see back east….piggy back trailers on railroad cars.

Its not just a few railroad cars carrying these stacked trailers, its the whole darn train. No wonder this train has three train engines.

As we drove through Odessa we saw all kinds of companies that sold oil wells, oil tanks, oil well parts, anything and everything to do with oil wells lined the road.

This is where the part I told you to remember that comes in. So we’re driving through Odessa and Bob looks at me and says….”Ya know, not a damn thing looks familiar to me”. It took a minute for that to sink in for me.

I got the campground book out when we neared Midland to find a place to spend the night. I called this one place and they had room. The lady asked if I wanted to make a reservation and I told her that we weren’t that far out and that we would just come in. She said ok and we were set, or so I thought. I had to call back because the directions weren’t all that clear and someone else answered the phone. She asked me what size rig we had and I explained to her that I had already called and gave that info and that I just needed help with the directions. She repeated, “What size rig do you have?” I told her and she promptly informed me that they had nothing available. I told her I had just called 20 minutes before and talked to someone else and that she told me there was space. She said, “Yes, but you didn’t make a reservation and now everything is gone”. WHAT? I tell you I’m on my way, that I’m 45 minutes out and you don’t hold the place for us???? NOT a happy camper! NOT a happy camper at all! Soooo,,,,we went in anyway, just in case someone canceled, just in case the second person I talked to was an idiot and didn’t know what she was talkin’ about, just in case…..

Well, there was no room for us but they did give us a sheet of paper with about a dozen campgrounds listed. The first eleven I called…. filled, no vacancies. We found out that a lot of people LIVE in the campgrounds on a fulltime basis. They come to work the oil fields and make the spaces theirs, permanently, which of course leaves very few spaces for snowbirds and full timers to find an overnight space while in travel mode. Just one of the hazards of finding yourself in Midland late in the day.

So here we are in the hometown of former president, George Bush and his wife, Laura, and we finally find a place to spend the night. Bob was really sweating this because we had two freezers filled to the brim and we needed electricity. I, on the other hand, knew that if we didn’t open the freezer doors everything would stay frozen even if we had to drive several more hours to another town.

When I called this place called Westgate I talked with Bev on the phone and she gave me directions to find them and instructions to find a place we’ll fit into and take it. I had to call back because what she told me as far as directions were concerned and what I heard and wrote down, well, they just weren’t matching and we couldn’t find the place. So we finally see the brick building with Westgate on it and we see the Stop and Shop attached to it. We pull into the parking lot and I remembered that Bev said to find a place and take it. Well, the actual RV park is down the street a ways so we proceeded there.

Now let me make something clear here. When we started this journey three and half a years ago Bob and I knew that we would come across the occasional campground that may not be exactly the kind of place we would want to stay in. Granted, they have been very few and very far between but this one….this one took the prize, the cake, first place, it was numero uno, on a scale of one to ten it was a zero…without a doubt the armpit of campgrounds.

As we pulled up to this campground Bob and I looked at each other but kept our comments to ourselves. After all, its been a long day, we’re tired, we’re hungry and it IS seven o’clock in the evening.

As we rode up the first street in the loop we took in the fact that these rigs were definitely here on a full time basis and definitely were not cared for. I don’t think the grass weeds were ever cut, I didn’t see a window on a rig that had ever come in contact with Windex or a rig that had ever seen a coat of wax, heck, they haven’t even come in contact with soap and water let alone a coat of wax. Junk was piled around nearly every rig.

We did see one shiny new motor home that had obviously not been able to find a place either and like us, stuck out like a sore thumb.

Ok, dark is starting to descend upon us and we have to pick a spot. We found 4 or 5 spaces that would be big enough because we were definitely looking for a space where we wouldn’t have to unhook in case the need for a quick getaway should arise. We also wanted one on the outer edge so that we had quick access to the road.

Bob checked the electric boxes on three lots before he found one with stable electric power. We got pulled into the site, plugged in the electric, didn’t even bother putting stabilizing jacks down, remember we wanted a quick getaway, got inside and locked the door. Needless to say there was no cable and we certainly weren’t going to set up our dish so we spent the evening on the computers, reading and listening to the radio.

We kept waiting for a knock on the door for someone to collect the rent for the night’s stay. We saw a sign when we pulled in to see the Camphost at site____. No number was filled in so we figured they would come to us to collect the outrageous fee of $25.00. No one came.