On the Rhodes Again

07/28/2026

07/28/2026

Day 10: Today Michael was up bright and early for a work call. He had a call at 7:00am, which was 10:00am in SC. When I got up around 7:00 we realized our AC had frozen over again. So the rear AC wasn’t working like it should. While it felt nice outside this morning we knew the high was going to be 95 today. So we got the trusty hair dryer out to thaw out the coil. That seemed to do the trick! We left to go to the “Cowboy Kitchen” they have here at the campground and ate breakfast. They had pancakes, French toast, eggs, biscuit and gravy, bacon, sausage, etc…. They do it every morning and it’s very reasonably priced. Once we were done eating we went back to check on Rosco and the AC. The good news, it seemed to be working correctly so we could leave Rosco. The bad news, we are researching ways we can get a new AC. We think we will be able to get one when we get to Vegas. Hopefully this one will hang on until we get the new one!!

Today we explored the Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert. They were both so beautiful! God’s amazing beauty across this country has been so fun to see and explore. For the first time we decided to use the app Guide Along. You can purchase tours of different locations. As you drive it tells you the history and about different hikes and overlooks you can stop and enjoy. This was the first time we have used the app and we both said we don’t know why! It gave really cool history and facts about the park, and explained how the wood became stone. The voice guide even tossed in a few Dad Jokes and one of the turnouts, he basically told us to go ahead and skip that one. It tracks location by gps so it knows when to talk about what area. It was so amazing to see these giant pieces of trees that looked exactly like a tree, but were actually stone! The colors and the stripes in the painted desert were amazing. The pictures really don’t do it justice. The trees date back to Pangea and at that time the physical planetary location of this area resulted in the geography being a forest with rivers. Apparently as these trees fell they were washed downstream and buried in sediment that started and promoted the petrification process. Now it’s just almost barren desert landscape.

The painted desert area is pretty cool as well. All these areas of mesas and teepee style earth mounds just rising out of the relatively flat landscape with the magnificent color striping of the earth layers. The audio guide told us something about erosion in some areas basically caused layers that were 200 million years old to be adjacent to layers that were 8 million years old and this 190 million year gap is very unique to find. He called it incongruency I believe. Just so many unique earth features though here. I think we did 2 mile long walks and a few other short lookout view stops.

Once we were done we headed back to the camper. We were all pretty hot and ready for a break. So we laid around, the boys watched TV, Michael napped and I finally finished my book Do Not Disturb! After a little rest we decided to go eat an early dinner at a famous Route 66 diner called Tom and Suzie’s. The food was good and I was glad I didn’t have to cook it. The diner was decorated for Memorial Day and Fourth of July. It had red, white and blue string lights around the ceiling perimeter, flags on the walls, and different American themed decor. It also had a Christmas tree with blue lights covered in mini American flags. Clearly this was something they did for each holiday/season. Carter looks at me and says “what time is their Christmas here?!?” At first I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about and then I realized he was talking about the decorated Christmas tree. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 We all had a good laugh about that one! When we left there we stopped by a grocery store for a few items and then filled up with gas so we will be ready to pull out tomorrow morning!

Once back at the campground the boys were about to die to go to the pool. So they went swimming and I sat by the pool working on our daily post! Michael was on the phone for work most of the pool time. After swimming we headed back for showers and to start prepping to leave tomorrow morning! It always makes things go smoothly in the morning if I can get as much done as I can the night before.

As many of you know the temperatures in the desert are different. It’s hot at 93-95 but not unbearable because you hardly know you are sweating. You remain almost totally dry but you feel your mouth getting dry and thirsty. I had to keep telling Ethan to drink because he doesn’t seem to have that natural thirst instinct and at football camp a couple weeks ago i think he didn’t realize he was dehydrated until he started feeling dizzy. Maybe it’s just his age or slim profile. Carter doesn’t seem to have this issue.

Currently to fill back up from the drive into Holbrook and to be topped off to leave tomorrow, we are in for another $148 in fuel and 195 miles to go tomorrow.

I must say despite the fuel prices, it’s super nice to hit the old remote start walking back to the truck from these trails and have the AC roaring by the time we get In.

It seems as though crossing the border to Arizona has resulted in a spike in fuel prices. Where we’re consistently in the $3.65-$3.80 range we jumped to the $4.50-$5.00 range. Seems this will remain the case at least through Vegas and possibly all through Utah. I havnt mustered up the nerve to search stations further than 4 stops out. In fact my client call tonight who lives in Oregon and is moving to Arizona said the source of the western states oil is different than the source of eastern oil and the west is more affected my the Iran conflict and strait closure. I havnt heard it quite like that before but if he’s right it certainly aligns to the situation. Regardless our options are to claim some desert and call this home or keep feeding my beautiful beastly F250. They don’t haggle pump price, so we roll on. Lol.

07/28/2026

Day 9: Our theme song for the day was “On the Road Again”, Willie Nelson! We were up and pulling out of the campground in Alamogordo, NM at 7:10. We took breakfast from the camper and ate on the road, so no stops this morning!

We learned today that even the Rv GPS will try to take you through “short cut” roads that are simply unnecessary. Was suggested to take a turn once and I swear it was a gravel road. Decided after 100 ft to ignore the gps and get back on the road we were on. Def have to check the map out and look ahead on some of the suggested turns. Luckily no harm no foul

Our first stop was Valley of Fire in Carrizozo, NM. We walked the mile loop through the volcanic rock. It was really cool to see! The pictures don’t do it justice. Apparently there were vents that spewed up lava about 5000 years ago covering an area 44 miles long with this lava. And at 5000 it’s basically infant lava. Once we left there we made our first stop to fill up with gas.

Next was a looooooong drive to Holbrook, AZ! 370 miles today! Along the way, I’ll say the theme of the day was rocks, lots of and lots. Big rocks, Little Rock’s, gravel, boulders, endless open space of nothingness and bits of rock or rock face wall. One really unique thing we saw along the way was the array telescopes that “listen” to space for radio signals. Apparently these dishes are 86 ft wide and form a Y shape across the desert and are always listening. We also saw an interesting concept. A sign along the highway said “road side table”. And sure enough there was a pull off just after with a picnic table under a shade. Apparently a very New Mexico thing. We saw several along 60 west.

One little routing snafu today. Stopped for fuel, ended up trying to go “around the block” to a station but that road was a dead end. Had to back the camper off into a rock covered area beside the road but couldn’t easily see behind us while backing. Claire suggested she’d get out and watch but then immediately spotted a sign on a gate that was open “Beware of dog”. So she decided to stay in her seat and I managed the back and turn myself while we stayed safe inside! Always an adventure.

We also went through a town called springerville that apparently is a big rv area. We asked why because it seemed like nothing was there. We had seen prob 4 rv parks and each one was prob 60-80% full. Apparently being around 7000 ft elevation it stays cool there and people snowbird up from phoenix for the summer and hunt and fish and off road. Except it was flat land. Just a strange feeling to be at this elevations and it’s all flat. Of course the wind was insane today. It had to be 35 steady and gusting to 45. Could hardly open the truck doors at times to get out. Amazingly the camper pulls so well that it’s never a fight, never wiggles. You can just feel the occasional shake but no push. I really can hardly tell when the wind is blowing while driving and honestly at times you can forget it’s behind you going down the road.

We pulled in to our campground a little after 4:00. The boys immediately spotted the basketball court which happens to be right across from our campsite. So while we were getting set up, they were happy to get out of the car and go shoot hoops.

A small issue we are working through. Apparently due to the lack of effort by ADOT and parts of the area served by NMDOT the roads are atrocious. I mean parts of the drive are great and parts the truck is shaking and shifting left and right like going over test course bumps at a ford proving grounds. Some parts were so bad and with dips they put up official signs that say “rough road” but fixing it I guess is off the table. So we arrive at the campground and as I’m hooking up I realize what used to be 3 drain pulls for the grey and black tanks is now 2! After some attempts to see if there was an rv service center somewhere that sold this part I gave up on that. No one here sells anything like that and nearest place was an hour away. So I temporarily solved the problem and will have a new pull handle waiting for me in Page AZ in a few days. (Thank you Amazon) RV life is never boring and there’s always a little surprise waiting for you.

After we got set up and rest a little, it was time for dinner. We ate here at the camper and then went outside for a little while. Michael and the boys threw the football around and made some friends with a few other boys. I took Rosco to the dog park so he could wander around off the leash for a little while. Then we walked around the campground before heading back to the camper. Since the boys were still outside I showered and sat down to read my book enjoying the peace and quiet! This campground is clean and seems well maintained. All
Rock and dirt in fitting fashion. The entire rv campsite area is covered in gravel and the playground is just dirt and a few rock pieces. I read this place gets about 9 inches of rain a year! We are also now 3 hours back from ET even though we are in the mountain time zone. Arizona does not participate in daylight savings so fyi that’s the reason we gained another hour today but stayed in mountain time.

So today was another $202 in fuel. Also the highest we’ve paid for fuel today at $4.79 a gallon at one stop but we bought the min there to get us to town where it’s around $4.30. On a few hills we’d drop to 2nd gear at 50 mph and you can almost watch the fuel gauge slide left, but she pulls right on through with a grunt and a smile.
We are also now approx 2100 miles from home/ into this trip.

07/28/2026

Day 8: We got to sleep in again today! By we, I mean me. Michael woke up around 6:00 and got up around 6:30. He enjoyed coffee in the peace and quiet, outside on the swing. Once I finally rolled out of bed about an hour later everyone was up. So Carter and I made pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast the boys wanted to rent the pedal cars they have here at the campground before it got too hot. You could rent them for $5 for 30 minutes. We started to let them do an hour, but decided we better let them test it out first. Good thing we did! After about 20 minutes they said they were tired and asking how much longer. Pedaling around on the gravel was a little more difficult than they thought it was going to be. Once 30 minutes was up they were more than happy to turn them back in!

Next up was laundry! I had not done any since we left home so it was due. Luckily they have a nice laundry room here. So the boys and I went to start the laundry. Next to the laundry room is a game room. They have ping pong and a few other activities you can do on your own. The boys LOVED the ping pong table. So I sat and read a book, they played ping pong, and we waited for the laundry to be done. While we were doing that Michael was busy fixing a few things around the camper. RV life never seems easy! There is always something!

When the boys and I got back from doing laundry, Michael was done with the repairs he wanted to get done today and had just set up his desk for the other kind of jobs he has to do. We ate some lunch and I was planning to take the boys to the pool so Michael could get some work done. Unfortunately the weather had other plans! We started hearing thunder rumbling and the pool was closed all afternoon due to random lightening in the area. Finally after three it rained a bit. Funny earlier in the day, the lady in the office answered when I asked how much rain they were expecting she said, it might not rain at all, it might rain an inch ( with a tone that implied that was a lot.). This place gets around 11 inches of rain a year. Hence everything is landscaped in rock and gravel basically. By comparison Columbia gets around 47 inches a year.

From the time the thunder started rumbling around lunchtime today the wind started picking up. It was shaking the entire camper and you could hear the slide topper awnings being hammered relentlessly. It did that all afternoon. We made a run to the store for some basic food items and the wind would try to rip the car door from your hand if you were not ready. People seemed like this was totally normal.

Michael was able to get some design work done and made a quick trip up to Lowe’s for some longer screws to finish what he needed to do on the camper. I was able to sweep, vacuum and clean up the camper some.

Tonight we ate an early taco dinner here in the camper and then went to Caliche’s, a local favorite for ice cream. It was delicious! The wind had calmed down for bit. Then we came back, Michael and the boys threw the football around till it started getting dark and about that time the ridiculous wind picked up again. So we had to call that a wrap.

Today was def a rest day and prepare for travel tomorrow. We have a long 416 mile drive tomorrow! I believe we are currently about 1700 miles from home.

07/28/2026

Day 6: Phew! Another early morning day! Up at 5 and pulling out at 5:45. We headed to Buc-ee’s to fill up with gas and grab breakfast. Then we were on our way! By 7:00 we had already stopped twice 🤣 And let me tell you, stopping with the fifth wheel is not easy. When a kid yells from the back seat “Mom, I have to use the bathroom!”, we can’t just pull off at the next exit and into the closest gas station or fast food place. First, the parking lots of most places (especially fast food) are way too small! It has to be a large parking lot so we have room to turn in and out. The orientation of the gas pumps makes a HUGE difference. Truck stops like Pilot’s or Loves have been our go to stops, but we have to plan ahead for those. The nice thing about basically pulling your house behind you is, if we can’t find a stop we can always pull off the exit and over to the side and use the camper bathroom! At least we know it’s clean!😂. So our very first stop this morning was a visit to our private facility right on the side of the road in the wide paved emergency lane of the 2 lane highway with farm houses off in the distance.

Our first sightseeing stop today was Roswell, New Mexico! We walked around downtown where even the street lights look like little aliens. We went to the UFO museum which was dog friendly so even Rosco got to go!! The museum was just “meh”, it was a lot to look at and read. In fact when we went in the guy at the desk/register said, to go to the library room first, as that’s a great place to start. Um, yea, I’m gonna walk in to what looks like a forensics documentation, books, and records lab with two young boys! Ok. I mean we are here to see a piece of mangled alien craft, not file folders and book cases. It didn’t hold the boys attention. Michael said he wanted and expected to basically see Will Smith holding a dead alien in there, like in Independence Day. There was some cool interactive screens that gave you a sense of how small we are in the universe. After the museum we went to the UFO shaped McDonald’s for lunch. The boys were so excited it had a play space. I mean, a McDs with a play space at all is kind of alien so that tracks. So they played while Michael took Rosco back to the truck and moved it closer to the McDonalds. Yes we had parked 2 blocks down from the museum in a parking lot of a former title loan business long closed. So, I (Michael) got the truck and drove 10 blocks up to the McDonald’s and found another parking lot of a former business long closed and left it there across the street. The remote start feature using the app on Michaels phone came in clutch. Rosco was able to stay cool in the truck with the air running while we ate a quick lunch. It shows you exactly what minute it will turn off and you can just swipe your extend the run time. After lunch, we decided to check out the “famous” welcome to Roswell sign. We start towards the address which is about 6 miles away. Well, as we approach, what we thought was going to be a 40 ft tall 3D style vintage roadside sign was actually about 8 ft tall and we almost missed it. Then came the shocking revelation that we are now on a 2 lane road headed out of town to the east and we needed to be going west. After a couple miles of no sign of any business with a parking lot we could see this could get really long. I mean this is basically the desert and about a half cup of rain water. More than the straight cactus type. Finally I see a gated “driveway” off the road. The gate was probably 75 ft back off the road. So, yea I (Michael) executed a 3 pt turnaround by backing from the road into that driveway and turning the 64 ft long beast around and heading west again. We then filled up with gas and headed down the road towards the Sacramento Mountains and towards Alamogordo.

I had a migraine and had to take some migraine medicine, so unfortunately I was out for most of the drive through the mountains. Michael of course did a great job getting us here safely! Lots of manual mode and watching trans temps and engine temps and rpm and spark timing and engine braking but it was really a smooth drive and the truck did great towing 14k up over 7500 ft and back down.

We rolled into town and off in the distance we can see the white sand of the dunes. Likely several miles away but a cool sight. We got to our campground which is really nice the folks are super friendly. All zero scaped with rock and a nice paver patio at our campsite with a private grill, chain bench swing, and a cushioned table and chair set for 4 right at our door. Once set up we all took a nap. When we got up the boys were dying to go for a swim. So we took them to the pool for about an hour and Claire and I just had some delicious pasta salad and apple slices while they swam.

We are here for the next three days so stay tuned for more adventures!