We are finally back in our Sticks-and-Bricks home. Notice I qualified that statement with Sticks-and-Bricks (what homes NOT on wheels are made of), because the Blue Flame is our home also.
Our trip home from Arizona back to New York was uneventful. With the exception of seeing family in Albuquerque, we stopped only to get fuel (Cheap! $1.25 a gallon for diesel is unheard of) or to stop for the night. We weren’t stopped at any state lines. No one threw rotten tomatoes at our New York license plates. We kept to ourselves.
Most of the RV Parks are doing contact-less check in. That is appreciated. You call ahead of time and make your reservation and pay over the phone. Once you arrive, you stay in the RV, are handed a park map and then find your way to your site.
In Albuquerque we stayed at the KOA we always stay at (close to my brother Jim). We picked up from my brother some items from my Dad’s former Arizona home that Jim had been storing for us. I also got to see my Dad from a distance; no visitors are allowed in his independent living facility. It was good to see him in person. If we conversed while he was on his second floor balcony, masks weren’t needed.
Next was a stop in Amarillo, Texas. We ended up staying a couple of days to avoid a massive weather front ahead of us. We took advantage of the time to visit Palo Duro Canyon State Park (Texas State Parks had just opened back up for day use only). Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the country. It’s a very popular park and you have to reserve an entry ticket since they limit the number of people that can enter in a day.
The park opened at 8:00 a.m. and we were one of the first people to get in. There is a paved road you drive to the bottom of the canyon. From there you can take a number of hikes. There are also campgrounds, but they were all closed.
We were underwhelmed by Palo Duro Canyon, much preferring another nearby state park we visited last year, Caprock Canyons State Park. The hiking must be the main attraction of this park since all day use passes sell out every weekend. Unfortunately, the views from the canyon road were “Meh.” We were done and out of there in two hours.
As long as we were in Amarillo, we just had to visit the Cadillac Ranch. From the Wikipedia article, “The installation consists of ten Cadillacs (1949-1963) buried nose-first in the ground. Installed in 1974, the cars were either older running, used or junk cars — together spanning the successive generations of the car line — and the defining evolution of their tailfins.”
The Cadillac Ranch has been the back drop a number of videos and TV shows. If you are so inclined, here is a Brooks & Dunn video shot at Cadillac Ranch. Alternatively, you can watch it at https://youtu.be/LXhZo682W_c.
Our next destination was Arkansas, particularly one of our favorite places, Tom Sawyer RV Park. I think this is our fourth time stopping here. I wrote previous blog posts on this park here and here, so I won’t restate what I have said before.
What WAS different this visit is the park had just reopened up from the Spring floods. Every year, the Mississippi overflows it’s banks. The campground is set inside the levy, which gets you right next to the river, but it also means when the river rises, the campground is underwater. Since the campground had just reopened, it gave us an idea of what it takes to close/open every Spring.
After a few days watching the Mississippi River tugboats, it was time for the final push home. We spent the last night in at a winery outside of Cincinnati and got home a week ago. Finally! It really was a weird RV trip with the pandemic. We were fortunate to be able to isolate ourselves as easily as we could.
How about some final statistics for this trip? I thought I would compare this year to last year’s Spring trip to see how the pandemic affected our travels. If you recall, last year we were gone longer because of Callie’s graduation in Portland.
| Spring 2020 | Spring 2019 | |
| Days away | 129 days (4 months 7 days) | 159 days (5 months 9 days) |
| Total campground fees | $2835 | $4502 |
| Average campground cost/night | $22.50 | $28.32 |
| Number of nights free (boondocking, Harvest Hosts) | 37 | 44 |
| Number of unique overnight locations | 30 | 44 |
| Miles driven in the RV | 7194 miles with 140 hours driving time | 11318 miles with 135 hours of driving time |
| Miles driven in the Jeep | 2026 miles | 7278 miles |
| Total RV fuel cost (note…not only has the price of fuel gone way down, but we also got a truck stop discount fuel card that gives us up to $1 off a gallon of diesel. | $1622 | $3905 |
| Number of RV diesel fill ups | 10 | 18 |
| Cheapest diesel fuel | $1.25 – Arkansas (post COVID-19) | $2.48 – Utah |
| Priciest diesel fuel | $2.65 – Alabama | $4.11 – California |
| Number of states | 15 | 19 |
| Number of zip codes | 32 | 36 |
Now that we are home, Mother Nature played a nasty trick on us yesterday.
We will probably be stationary for a while. There are hopes of venturing out for a quick trip in the summer or a longer trip in the Fall, but we will just have to wait and see what the future holds for all of us. Everyone stay safe. Wash your hands.
Welcome back. Believe —the sun will return (I hope.)
Welcome home! Take care of yourselves. I bet Callie is happy you’re back.