It took a lot of work… but we’re finally back on the road!  Goodbye ol’ house 😐

On Thursday, with the help of my Dad, (Thanks again Dad!) we finished up some last minute details on the house and then concentrated on loading the Harley into the pickup along with any last minute forgotten items.  Back at the Elks Lodge, Stilla had some of her German friends come by the Coach to say goodbye.

On Friday morning, (our travel day), I found myself up on a ladder trying to get as much ice off the roof as I could.  I had to use a hair-dryer and broom to get the chunks of ice off the slideout awnings so we could retract them.  I gave up trying to get the ice off the roof.  A lot of the snow had melted the previous day and turned into 1 – 2 inch thick ice that stubbornly refused to break up and fall off.

While I was working on the ice problem, good friend Danny surprised us by stopping by to say goodbye.  Bye Dan! We’ll keep in touch.

We finally decided it was best for Stilla to follow me (at a safe distance) in the truck.  I didn’t want any of the ice chunks falling off and going through the truck windshield.  So, down the road we went… with ice chunks slowly melting and falling onto the highway behind us… goodbye cold Colorado… we’ll see you again when it’s warmer.

It took 70 miles before enough ice had fallen off the roof of the Coach so we could hook up the truck up for towing.  We even stopped at the rest stop just before Pueblo, where I got out the ladder and tried to break up some of the ice, but it was still too thick.

Just as it was becoming dusk, we stopped at the casino/gas station after Santa Fe but before Albuquerque to get fuel and noticed that my running lights weren’t working on the truck.  The brake lights and turn signals were fine, but the driving lights wouldn’t come on.  I’ve had this problem before.  I think it has to do with the Vansco Multiplex system the Coach employs.  I’ll have to work on it once we get to Quartzsite.  Since we didn’t have tail lights on the truck, and I didn’t want to just hook up an emergency flasher light, (which I carry), we decided to spend the night at the casino.

They charge $20 for electrical hook-up at the casino but gave us each a $10 players card.  We enjoyed their buffet for $20 and spent another $20 playing the slots.  Fortunately, we won just a little at the slot machines so we pretty much broke even by spending the night there.

On Saturday morning we got rolling about an hour after the sun had come over the horizon.  We made it to Casa Grande just as it was getting dark again.  Whew!  Time to refresh ourselves for the night, catch up with brother Steve & Cheryl, Mom and Stepdad Jimmy.

This morning, (Sunday), I’ll download the Harley from the truck and upload the ATV which has been stored here at the farm.  Hopefully, we can make it to Quartzsite at a reasonable time this afternoon.  The party already started there and we’re late…  I’ve already heard from some of the Alpine Coach group that are there, hope they saved us a spot in the desert 🙂