Westward HO !! - Day 1

Westward HO !!
Has been a trip Debbie has wanted to make now for over a year. Jump in the RV and drive over to California to visit Jessica, our eldest daughter. Sounds simple to me. Finally the plans are set, and we are ready to go – It’s September 11th –

September 11, 2008
I wanted to leave the house around 4am in order to miss all the morning rush hour traffic, since we needed to depart from the most northern part of the DFW Metroplex and virtually exit the most south western part, heading west on Highway 20. There wasn’t much support for that plan, as we both worked into the night and really never packed (except for the bikes)

- until we got up at 3 am.....Oh well. So we left the house at 5:05, Nicole was up and obliged us with a few trips to the camper with stuff.....We pulled away and immediately remembered ear rings, and the walkie-talkies....a quick call back to Nik and she ran them up to the corner where we were waiting - there was no way i was trying to maneuver the camper back to the house...i hadn’t even had a cup of coffee yet :>(.
Surprisingly, we moved southwest without a hitch [no pun intended] we were at DFW Airport in about 30 minutes and exiting Weatherford Texas at around 6:15....smooth sailing and light traffic still at this hour.
The trip west in the state of Texas is very boring for those of you who have never taken that route.....Today we were met with several rain showers, which kept the anticipated desert sun, hidden and the temps very cool. Didn’t see any tumbleweed meandering across the highway with the help of a stern south wind. But we did see an increase in WIND FARMS since my last trip thru Western Texas. These pics are from the Roscoe Area.

Another added attraction to the relatively desolate West Texas landscape is more and more drilling rigs out there. With the price of oil I suppose its worth someone’s money to dig more wells and harvest that liquid gold….
Speaking of fuel, my rig – truck and camper registered a dismal 10.5-11.0 MPG this first day on the road. Seems like I was always pulling over to get diesel. I hope tomorrow is all down hill.

We finally called it quits around 4pm at Van Horn and came to roost at the Eagles Nest RV Park. Situated between Carlsbad cavern and the Big Bend National Park, Van Horn, has as many RV parks albeit they are empty for the most part. It seems the energy crisis is taking its toll on RV park operators. The gentleman that owns Eagles Nest, has it up for sale and ready to move back to Pennsylvania.