INTRODUCTION TO THE SUMMER TRIP 2017

After many weeks of planning and preparation, we are “on the road again,” as Willie would say.  Or as high school seniors would say, “We’re off like a prom dress.”  Our first stop is Camping World in Las Vegas where we will pick up a new fan motor for the roof air conditioner.  It should be understood that the a/c died within 24 hours of departure.  This is all a part of SOP.  So we have been fiddling with it, lubed it and thought that we had solved the problem but it continues to pester us.  Our itinerary takes us through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.  With one roof a/c?  We think not.  So as Rob drives, I engaged the hotspot and found a repair shop that can install a fan motor and capacitor tomorrow, all of this for a small fee, obviously, because we all know they have a captive audience.  Any of you who think that the ownership of a recreational vehicle comes with no headaches or price tags should stay home and watch The Travel Channel.  By the way, we do have a suggested alternative:  place a fan on top of a bucket of ice, we were told.  It is commonly known as a “hillbilly swamp cooler.”

Our first campground is Black Bart’s RV Park in Flagstaff.  It is not a designer park, pulling down only 2 stars on most evaluation websites but we have visited the park in the past because attached to it is Black Bart’s Steak House, Saloon and Old West Theater, which prides itself with wonderful food and an enormous quarry rock fireplace.  The waiters and waitresses perform and sing.  It is a great way to while away an evening.  Happily, we got a reservation for tomorrow night.

You may know that Black Bart was really Charles Bowles who was called “The Gentleman Bandit.”   During the gold rush days, he had staked a claim and used the water on his land to rig up a method to wash the silt away from the gold flakes.  Wells Fargo offered to purchase his claim and he refused so they purchased the land above his and cut off his water supply rendering his claim and prospects worthless.  Naturally, ol’ Charles was pissed.  So he took to robbing Wells Fargo and only Wells Fargo stage coaches.  He was deathly afraid of horses and traveled on foot to the ambush points and used a rusty gun that couldn’t even fire, pointing it in a threatening manner to stop the stage coaches.  He never killed a soul.  And always, as he escaped with the loot, he left a small poem at the scene and signed it, “Black Bart.”  He lived a double life with an alias as a foppish gentleman in San Francisco when he wasn’t robbing stage coaches.  When he was finally apprehended, he spent 4 years in San Quentin.  Upon release, he pretty much disappeared and no one is really sure what ended up being his fate, although Wells Fargo stages were robbed a few more times, that little rascal!

It is monsoon season in northern Arizona and the locals guarantee us it will rain tomorrow.  (Our a/c repair man promises us that he will not work in the rain.)  The rain coupled with the absolutely awful, rough, pothole-infested roads that rattled our fillings made the eight travel hours seem agonizingly longer.  We have arrived at the campground and now, settled into a cold martini, we are blessed with a bit of quiet.  Let us see what the next adventure gives us for stories!