The long slog home is nearly complete

Hooked and ready to fly

The long slog home is nearly over. But not before a little work and fun was completed at The Voyager. As I promised in my last post I spent nearly six hours washing and waxing the 33-foot trailer. By the end of the work my arms felt like two dead logs.

But the trailer looks good and it was ready for storage. After returning the rented ladder (the one I used to risk life and limb on the trailer roof) I cleaned up and we attended our last Tuesday potluck at the resort.  Still a lot of folks on hand and we said our good byes to the pot luck crowd until next year.

On Wednesday, I returned our mailbox key, settled up our utility account and then began the final process of readying the trailer for towing. At 3 p.m. I backed up the Tahoe and hooked up the trailer in preparation for a really, really early departure from Tucson.

Our last Voyager supper for this year

Before that we attended “Mary’s Spaghetti Dinner” in the Voyager ballroom, which is the season ending event for most folks. It works on a couple levels because the dinner is good and Joan doesn’t have to cook or clean up on our last night at the resort.

We returned to the trailer which was only connected to the electric service. I had removed the water supply and sewer connection before hooking up the trailer. After we finished watching our Wednesday TV lineup I went outside and disconnected our cable line.

We turned in early and the alarm woke us up at 2:50 a.m. We quickly brushed our teeth got dressed and unhooked the electric service before sneaking out of the park.

This has to be a crappy job

The travel was easy, the air was cool and we arrived into Flagstaff about 8 a.m. well early for our 9 a.m. winterization appointment at Camping World down the street from our storage facility. In preparing the trailer at the resort I noticed that two of the trailer tires are starting to crack (probably from the heat and the fact the tires are 8 years old). So before we left Camping World we set up the process for putting on new tires when we return next winter. It was 51 degrees when we left Tucson and only 35 degrees when we arrived in Flagstaff.

Michael's resting place

During out gas stop in Phoenix I noticed a car painted with a Poop911.com logo which struck us funny as Joan’s mother was always fixated on people’s regularity. The company apparently provides a service of coming to your house to pick up dog and cat poop if for some inexplicable reason you’re unable to perform that service for yourself.

After the service on the trailer was complete we drove the ¼-mile to the storage facility and backed the trailer into spot 157 and began the long trek home. First we had to off load all the luggage, souvenirs and leftover non-perishable foods from the trailer into the car. Each year it seems we bring home more and more stuff. If this continues we’ll have to tow the trailer with a 26-foot box truck.

Joan at the Canyon

Before the actual start home we made a 197-mile detour to the Grand Canyon to pay our last respects to my brother Mike. In accordance with Grand Canyon policy we found an appropriate spot to spread his ashes and said a few words. My brother worked at the Watchtower gift shop many, many years ago and it was a place with special meaning to him.

The weather was perfect, the sky was perfect and the Canyon, as always was stunningly beautiful.

After saying good-bye to Mike we completed the circle around the mountain range near Flagstaff and started the real trip home. We cruised through Gallup, New Mexico and arrived at our first overnight stop The Route 66 Hotel and Casino near Albuquerque.

Sign at rest stop

Let’s just say we had a fruitful stop there and Joan and I won enough money to pay for the night’s lodging with about $100 left over. (We ended up giving back about $50 of that at a brief stop at the Buffalo Run Casino near the border of Oklahoma and Missouri two days later.

Day 1 Home:

Mileage out: 16830

Time out: 3:14 a.m.

Mileage in (Flagstaff storage) 17127

Time in (storage) 8:05 a.m.

Mileage in: (Route 66 Casino) 17589

Time in: (casino hotel) 7:20 p.m. (MDT)

Our first night stay

Anyway, we headed for our next stop in Oklahoma City after the night at The Route 66 hotel. We always stay at Governor’s Suites on S. Meridian in Oklahoma City and eat at the Texas Roadhouse nearby when we pass through. Because of our late arrival we had a wait about 20 minutes for a table on Friday night.

While enroute we passed a little black Chevrolet Spark and Joan thought it was funny when I was side-by-side with it and mentioned that “it looks like our Tahoe had a baby.”

Just before crossing into Texas we stopped at Russell’s Truck & Travel Center which we have always passed before. They advertise a “Free Car Museum” so we needed a break from driving so we decided to check it out.

1955 Chevrolet Corvette at Russell's Truck Stop

They had a pretty nice collection of vehicles but the one I was most interested in was a 1955 Chevrolet Corvette that was identical to the one my father owned back in the day. I took way more photos that I can post here, but I’m sure my Dad will appreciate the fact that there are still examples of this fine ride around.

We had some exciting moments as a crop dusting airplane soared back and forth across the freeway spreading something on the fields on both sides of the freeway. The pilot dove and then soared up and over the freeway traffic and then dipped right back down. The pilot banked sharply and did this several times before he flew directly over our Tahoe.

Mileage out: 17589

Time out: 9:34 a.m. (MDT)

Welcome to New Mexico

Mileage in: 18148

Time in: 7:15 p.m. (CDT)

We had a quiet night in Oklahoma City and woke up to thunder and lightning, but the storm moved through quickly and we only drove in the rain for about an hour before it cleared up.

Now here’s a story that has nothing to do with our trip home or anything else for that matter, but it was something I forgot to write about previously.

One morning while working out on the treadmill at the resort during our last two weeks a nice man joined me on the adjoining treadmill and because the televisions weren’t working we struck up a conversation. He mentioned that he had been in Detroit recently because his son is directing a movie and they were shooting it there.

Welcome to Texas

Turns out his son is Zach Snyder, who directed the movie “300” and is currently directing the major motion picture “Batman and Superman.” His father lives at the Voyager. So that was pretty cool.

OK, back to our trip home. While crossing Missouri on Saturday afternoon Joan claims (I didn’t witness this myself) she saw two camels in a field along I-44. I will say in her defense that she saw them before she had a couple of glasses of wine for dinner so it is possible that she did see them.

On Saturday night we stayed in a new city, one about an hour closer to home that where we usually stay. I was worried about the hotel – It is called “Budget Lodging” – but the hotel is nice, the people who run it are nicer and there is a nice little family restaurant about ½-mile down the road. We may make this a regular stop on our way to and from Tucson. The price isn’t bad either.

Welcome to Oklahoma

One more day of traveling and we will be back home in Michigan.

Mileage out: 18148

Time out: 8:55 a.m. (CDT)

Mileage in: 18608

Time in: 6 p.m. (CDT)