On the Road Again…From our summer job in Almont, Colorado to Cedar Hill, Texas

We left on Sunday, 9/2/18 at around 8am. We had said most of our goodbyes which involved tears the day before but there were more to come that morning. The owner Mark and his wife, Mary Jo were the first to bid us a final goodbye and then many of the other workers stopped by to say their last goodbyes and of course there were tears. The tears were because we really did have a great time this summer, great people, the work was easy, and it is a place we would have returned to but the altitude and allergies for the both of us made that decision for us. We both had a rough time this summer, especially me with the altitude. There were times we didn’t think we would make it through the summer, but we pushed through because of the great group of people and the owners were magnificent.

I must say that since we are now at 800’ and no longer at 8,000’ I am no longer gasping for breath and I feel like an energized bunny walking and doing the normal daily things without being out of breath. Funny, we have worked at several places in the past that were even higher in altitude and I did have a slight issue with it then but NOTHING like what I experienced this past summer. Now on our list of things not to have on a job, we have decided not to do high altitudes, which would eliminate just about all of Colorado.

Our first stop was going to be at a recommended by a coworker RV Park in Del Norte, Colorado which was an easy 117 miles, but instead we drove an additional 35 miles to Alamosa, Colorado to the KOA since we were not comfortable with the first stop. Breathing was a little easier at 7500’ but not normal yet, but we were heading even lower the next days.

The next day we chose to have a Play Day at the Hilton SantaFe Buffalo Thunder Casino & Resort. The casino was huge, not much for dinner options so we had sandwiches at the Deli which were great but very expensive for what you get. The room was excellent, great shower, comfy bed, Southwestern Décor and room to just relax and enjoy.

Our next driving day continued our overheating issue with MayB, Maggie was a champion as usual, but we continued overheating every time we were stuck in traffic. On the highway it stayed at a great temperature but as soon as we stopped in traffic, the temperature began to rise at a quick pace. Once we stopped it gurgled over and then we had to wait to cool and refill it again and move onward.

We stopped in Tucumcari, New Mexico at the KOA as we have done many times and it was a good stop for us.

The next day was a short driving day, only about 100 miles to Amarillo, Texas. We needed a few Walmart items which was nice again to be able to make a one store shop, for wine, groceries and all essentials.

We stayed at the Oasis RV Park as we have several times in the past and as usual it was excellent. We called and asked for an early arrival and were told to come on in and it was before 11am. Love that sort of customer service. We noticed that several times throughout our travels this time. The only issue was at the Tucumcari KOA, even though he did allow us to check in early around noon, he did have to mention that check in time was not until 2pm. There were only a few sites with RV’s, but he came around and ended up being accommodating.

Our next day of travel was a bit rough, we had been fighting with stormy weather every day on this journey and this day was going to be the worst of all. We opted instead of staying in a RV Park with the chance of storms throughout the night with no sleep, we chose to stay at the Baymont in Wichita Falls, Texas. Again, wonderful customer service. Rachel at the front desk called us to inform us that the elevator was broken and our type of room was on the second floor. We opted to stay anyway, and we are glad we did, the storms hit around 1am and we slept mostly through it all. The room was clean, the bed was comfy, and breakfast was good.

Our last day of travel was on roads less traveled and we made the most of it. We found an app on our phones that allowed us to walkie talkie one another which is not the same but at least we could laugh with one another. We are excited that the separate traveling miles are over for now, except our last day when we leave the Oak Creek RV Resort to travel to get the truck and trailer to begin our Fall travels. 

The weather here has been wet, muggy and warmer than we had been used to all summer and we will be working at the shop this week preparing our store and getting our trailer packed. The annual meeting went well, and we had the best brisket of all. The owner smokes it every year and it just gets better every year and this year was the bomb, cannot wait until next year.

We will head out and begin our hotel stays on Friday and begin our travel north to Ohio for our first event. Hopefully, I will take the time to let you all know our adventures during this Fall season.