Feline Happiness...

It was a long day today.  We started out with an RV park in mind, but the woman who answered the phone was a bit snippy.  I don't spend money with people who are snippy.  We (I) made the decision to push on and stop where we generally do our first day out when leaving home, and last stop before heading for home.  It meant a 450 mile day.  With a less than favorable cross/head wind.  The coach can handle the wind, but the gas mileage sure suffers.  About 30% less... which, in the grand scheme of things is a smaller single digit number.

Once the decision was made, we agreed that it would be fuel stop only, lunch while rolling.  Yes, even for Rufus.  Is that the "Feline Happiness" in the title?  Umm... no.

Rolling.  Rufus on Joan's lap...

He has gotten big enough that it is a bit snug to have him on my lap while driving, so Joan gets most of the kitty loving.

Over 400 miles of west Texas to cover today.  Most of it looks like this...

On the bright side, it was overcast until about 50 miles west of San Antonio.  Instead of looking at scenery, I enjoyed views of Joan and Rufus...

This is my "half way across West Texas landmark"...

It probably has a local name - I call it "Nipple Peak."  Yes, I am still an adolescent... just in an old guy's body.

Back to Rufus...

That is one relaxed, happy cat.

I make this joke every time we cross this area: "I am the meanest hombre west of the Pecos..."

"And now I am the meanest hombre east of the Pecos."  If you said, "Yosemite Sam," you get 25 bonus points.

Back to Rufus...

He is getting his head and neck rubbed.  Kitty ecstacy.

This is my boy...

Yep, still adolescent.

More west Texas...

The spring flowers are in bloom, but darned if I could get a good photo...

If you look real close, you can see them in the median.

The down side of this long driving day: having to go through San Antonio during late afternoon rush hour.  The traffic was reasonably light, but the road (I-10) is in shit shape: lots of construction, making for bad road surfaces as the lanes are in a constant state of change.  Potholes abound.  Lanes get narrow.  The occasional stupid driver (not as bad as El Paso).  Working together, we made it through unscathed.  I stay focused on keeping the circus train between the lines, Joan lets me know when turns are coming up.

We pulled into the RV park about a half hour after the office closed, but the night host was expecting us.  He escorted us to our site, and we are down for the day.  I hooked up utilities and leveled the coach, while Joan got everything set up inside and put the slides out.  We will relax tonight, get the holding tanks dumped in the morning, and have the coach ready to unload... when we make it home tomorrow.  A day ahead of schedule, thanks to this longer driving day.

We generally get a double site at this park, so we have plenty of room for our rig...

After getting settled in, I went for a walk - it helps relax the muscles after gripping the wheel today.  Joan is making a pizza for supper.  Rufus is sitting beside me as I write this.  Yep, pretty darn relaxing.

With home only a day away, there is less stress about making this trek now.  There were some unknowns about what to expect along the way... it is obvious that there is less travel happening right now.  The RV parks we stopped at were open, with spaces available.  Gas was $1.99 across most of west Texas... that is definitely less than what they normally gouge - I mean: charge, considering we paid $1.48 east of El Paso.  We did not stop at one single fast food place this whole trip: Joan made every meal in the coach.  I do admit I may have drooled a bit at the site of a Mickey D's billboard.  Gas pumps were easy to come by, since people are traveling less; but if a pump didn't give me a receipt at the pump, I did not go inside to get one.  Other than registering at RV parks (and wearing gloves), we weren't around any other people.  I did stop at an occasional rest area or parking area to check the rig (tires, connections, look inside the cargo trailer), but never close to anyone.

We are taking all the precautions, including lots of hand-washing and sanitizer.  This trip is to get us home; no stops for the fun of it.  The motorhome is the way to go.  And, it is Rufus-approved.  ;-)