Travels With Miranda

I’ve edited my post about the drive to Kansas because my bad luck has had absolutely nothing to do with the fine folks at Cramer Tire in Midwest City, OK.

L suggested that I go get the flat tire looked at today so that it could sit overnight and we could monitor the pressure, plus it would cut down on the Wednesday stress. Great idea!

He fortified me with a blueberry pancake and bacon breakfast and then we slooooowly motored over to Wiechman-Bush Tire.

A tech came right out to look at my tire and would you believe my dumb luck: there was a HUGE hole in the sidewall! He says that the only explanation for that is that I hit something on the way here. He believes that the tire was good and that Cramer did right by me. It was just one of those bad days on the road. He promised to replace the tire with another used one, move the outside tire (the worst of my six) to the inside, and mount the ‘new’ tire on the outside, and that my rig would be ready in a couple of hours.

L and I went off so he could show me a good place to get gas. We then stopped at the U-Haul place where he gets his propane tanks filled to find out if they fill motorhomes (yes).

Next, he suggested we stop in his favourite thrift store, which was great since I was able to score some badly needed sporty summer skirts for just a couple of bucks a piece.

There, I made the most hilarious thrift store find of my life:

I am in Kansas and that is a pair of ruby slippers!

Back at L’s house, he took out his computer to show me a free state campground on the way north. I have five days to kill before I meet PJ and her hubby near Omaha, so the idea is to stop at that campground for a few days before pushing on to Stromsburg and its city park.

We’d just finished do that when my phone rang with news that the rig was ready. L dropped me off there and had a look at the tire. He is very happy with the one that was put on. He headed out to an appointment and I went in to pay the massive $39 bill. No, that is not a typo. That sound you hear is relief.

I then got gas and headed back to U-Haul on Seneca. I hadn’t noticed that the entrance was quite steep and I scraped the bottom of my tow bar getting in. The exit was even worse, so I ended up backing across the lot to go back out the way I came in, but at as much of an angle as possible. I still heard some scraping, but not as bad as when I came in.

Now, I’m back in front of the house. My birthday boy got roadsick, so I’m glad that I procrastinated on cleaning the bedding since I would have had to redo the job. Once the laundry is done, I’ll be ready to hit the road again. I’ll leave fairly early tomorrow, get supplies in Salina (Sal-EYE-na), and then check out the lake.

I went to bed around 9:00 last night and slept straight through to 4:00 (sounds crazy early, but that was 7 straight hours!). I threw OFF a couple of blankets, snuggled up against Neelix (who was snoring to raise the roof; I love me a content kitty), and slept for another three hours! One good night doesn’t make up for a string of bad ones, but it helps!

L had told me to watch for the house door opening in the morning to signal that it was time to come in for breakfast! WOW! That happened around 8:00 and I went in to find coffee, bacon, bagels, fresh fruit, and more. Am I glad to be here! I had a chance to meet his daughter, too.

I have a few projects to work on today, but I’ll get started on laundry at some point and have a shower before we go out to dinner and a movie with some of his friends.

It’s too wet out to get under the rig, but I’m not leaving Monday so we have (ie. L has) time to get some repairs done before I take off.

We looked at a map last night and he gave me a really good compromise route. Instead of going diagonally through Nebraska and the Dakotas on secondary roads (with few overnighting options), I should just shoot north through those states and then swing west through the top of North Dakota; basically the route I took to go east last year. It’s such an obvious option that I’m embarrassed that I didn’t think of it myself!

It’ll be a little more mileage than the diagonal route, but at least I’d be on the US side for gas prices, I’d know where to overnight, and if the calendar catches up with me, I’d be able to go into Canada quickly. So that’s what I’ll do. I just checked the map and if I drive 500KM a day, from Wichita I’m five days from my property on that route.

I was originally going to hang out in Stromsburg, NE, and cannonball from there, but the revised route puts me through Hankinson with the super cheap FHU casino RV park, so that would be a better place to hang out. I may make it back to Canada yet!

Wow, I went almost five full years without having The Law tell me to move along!

Let me tell the story before y’all get up in arms!

I saw the code enforcement vehicle pull up this afternoon. I let the driver come out and show interest in the rig to make sure he was after me before going out to speak with him.

He was very polite and said that there have been changes to some city ordinances and that my motorhome is too big to be parked in a front yard in Dallas. That said, he’s cognizant of the fact that Dallas has no RV parks and that Walmarts only allow a night’s stay. So he usually let’s these violations go if the plate is from out of state and the person is obviously not staying long.

But a neighbour called and made a complaint! I can’t believe some people! How about going up to the very accessible motorhome (windows and door open during the day) and getting some intelligence on the person’s plans?

I told him that I had planned to leave this weekend or early in the week, but that I was packed and could be out and on the road within the hour. He gasped and said, “No, no! I don’t want to ruin your weekend! Just be gone by Tuesday night.”

My concern at this point was that Ms. Cinnamon was going to get a ticket. He said that if I hadn’t come out to speak to him, she would have likely received a hefty fine that she would have then had to contest. But since I was so agreeable, he could issue me a warning and essentially leave Ms. Cinnamon out of it.

So I’m now on record with the city of Dallas!

Ms. Cinnamon will disagree, but I do feel like I have overstayed in Dallas, so it’s good to have the fire lit under me even though I really did intend to leave this weekend. The only difference now is that I have actually figured out my next move.

Going west just isn’t going to happen. I don’t have the money for it. So I’m sticking with plan A and will be going northwest slooooowly. Weather can change very dramatically in a month!

Weather reports from Wichita are making me hopeful that spring has sprung there, so I feel comfortable heading in that direction. There is a rest area about 1.5 hours north of Dallas where I can stay for 24 hours. So I will leave Dallas late Sunday afternoon and arrive at the rest area for dinner.

Same thing Monday, except I’ll head to a Walmart just shy of OK City. Same thing Tuesday, only I’ll head to a casino in Shawnee to finish up the week as I should be able to stay a few nights.

Saturday or Sunday, I’ll head to Wichita. I’ll be on the street there, so I’ll really only have two or three nights. After that, it’s a long day to a city campground in Strombsburg NE that takes donations.

From there, I’ll be facing three days of hard driving (about 500KM per day) to get to my property. If the weather continues to clear up (the 14 day forecast for southern Saskatchewan is surprisingly encouraging), I may continue to inch my way northwest. Otherwise, I will looking for a four-day window of clear weather and just do a cannonball run.

The important thing by this point will be to get across the border. It won’t matter where. I just need to get there before the customs deadline. If I have to, I’ll go straight north into Manitoba. I would rather do the U.S. route for the gas savings, but if I end up shy of the property, I can just drop anchor where I am, catch my breath, earn some income, and then start working my way west for the seminar.

I crossed into the United States five months ago yesterday. So I have four weeks left to get back north. From where I’m sitting, I need four solid days of driving to make it to my property. I’m exhausted just thinking about such a cannonball run!

When I saw that the weather this spring was going to suck, I gave up on my plan of a leisurely few weeks of tourism through the plains. Instead, I thought to spend a few days here in Dallas, one night around OK City, two or three nights in Wichita, and then sit at a donation-only campground near Omaha for three days of clear weather to make a dash for the border.

But Wichita is still freezing at night and Omaha is still getting snow. My village is still sitting at well below freezing during the day.

Ms. Cinnamon, gracious host that she is, is in absolutely no hurry to send me on my way, bless her. I am really grateful to be pondering my options in hot sticky weather! But the fact is, I do need to get going and four weeks are going to speed by. And at the rate we’re going, even if the weather warms up a little, I am still going to be heading into frosty nights and then a sodden piece of property that will turn to liquid mud in short order.

What I need to do hit me like a ton of bricks last night: I should be going straight west across the mountains (UGH) and then north into the Okanagan. I need (spoiler alert) to be in Kelowna in late June anyway so if I can find a cheap place to hang out for two months (big IF), this plan doesn’t really set me off course. But Osoyoos, yuck!

The hiccup is that I have the money to get back to Saskatchewan from here ($600ish), but it could cost me upwards of $1,200 to get to BC through Nevada and California, then up into Oregon and Washington. I just don’t have an extra $600 right now. As you might remember, I gave my truck $600 in New Orleans.

I’m also not too keen about doing any mountain driving. Croft and Norma are presently stranded in Las Vegas, but I’ll be watching their route west closely when they get going again.

There is of course the option of extending my US trip by going to Mexico for a month or two. If I was of retirement age, that’s what I’d do. But I don’t want to push my luck with US Customs. While such behaviour would follow the letter of the law, it would be in violation of its spirit. I told customs I was heading back to Canada in April and that’s what I’m doing, with no excuses. I don’t want to jeopardize my fall crossing.

I picked a great winter to go south, but the worst kind of spring.

Wow, I really didn’t expect the mail to get here this week. I’m a little thrown off my kilter right now.

I’m too busy to leave tomorrow, so I’ll definitely be renewing to Friday noonish. I need to call Teri to see if she can set up that guided walk she suggested in a comment.

With the days being as long as they are now, I could easily leave mid-day and arrive in Dallas with daylight to spare. Google Maps puts the trip at being 4.25 hours. I think I could do it within 6, depending on traffic. It’s 288mi (464KM), so it’s definitely doable in one shot.

We just got tons more rain here, but Teri had nothing to say about the weather when she dropped off mail, so now that the sky is FINALLY clearing, I can relax about having to move to higher ground.

I’m down almost 60AH now, the lowest I have ever gone since getting the battery monitor calibrated. Knowing that I’ll have power in Dallas, I’m not concerned. Plus, I’ll get some charge in on the drive there.