Finne's Follies: February 2023

Remember the comic strip, Ally Oop? Well, we happened to stumble across its home town last week looking for a comfortable landing spot as we gradually head east.

There's a little hole-in-the-wall town off the beaten path of I-10, called Iraan, Texas. Iraan is pronounced "Ira-Ann", primarily because it was founded by Ira and Ann Yates, who bought up a bunch of ranch land and then discovered oil there in the 1920s. The Yates oil field is still producing today, but I'm afraid Iraan has fizzled away into a shabby little place with very little to recommend it.

The city created a cute little park in the comic strip's honor, which we visited. I was a bit disappointed that is was so poorly kept up--looking not at all like the picture we saw on the internet. We were the only visitors the day we went, and the little museum, which claimed to be open during the time we were there, was closed.

Perhaps our impression of the town was skewed by the drab winter landscape-- dry and brown, dusty and weedy. It may be an entirely different place in the summer, when trees are green and lawns are grassy and flowers are blooming in gardens.

But we weren't there for the scenery. We were there for the campgrounds, and they had three, all managed by the city and very affordable at $15 a night. The only catch is you can't book in advance. We didn't think we'd have any trouble finding availability in the middle of the week in the middle of the winter, and we were right. The first of the three we stopped at was full, but the next one, Rocky Top, was wide open. We stayed five days.

We'll be bumping around Texas for the month of March, checking out the southern end of the state...where it's warm.

That's all, folks!

Happy Trails!

This is what eating the "carnivore" diet can do for you! 😆

This past September marked the beginning of our fifth year on the road. Our initial plan was to give it five years and see how it goes. And here we are, still going strong.

There are a few things we do differently now than when we began. One change is our daily mileage. We've slowed down significantly. In the beginning, we were doing three to four hundred miles a day, and arriving at our destination exhausted. We've cut that in half. We fuel up at truck stops now instead of any ole station that sells diesel. Mark's discount fuel programs have helped with that. Pulling into regular gas stations with this 40 foot bus made me absolutely hate fueling up. (We've had a few hairy experiences along the way.) But with truck stops, it's an easy in, easy out, low anxiety activity.

One of the things we haven't changed, but need to change is seeing the sights. Usually we plan to see something in particular, like a National Park, or some other attraction, But most of the time, we're on the way somewhere or other, and even when we stay in a place for several days or weeks, we don't make the effort to explore and see what interesting things that may be nearby. We're sitting home like two old fuddy-duddies and missing out on the best parts of a traveling lifestyle. That is something we want to work on changing this year.

We spent a week in Mesa and did mostly nothing. We hung out with my friend Jenny and her husband, Troy, twice and, on the spur of the moment, decided to go to Barleen's Dinner Show just before we left. They have six different shows; we chose the matinee country music show, which was delightful. This is the same company that has a dinner show in Cody, Wyoming, which we saw (along with a rodeo) a couple years ago. It's great fun! If you ever have an opportunity to be in the Phoenix area, check them out. They're in Apache Junction.

From Mesa, we stopped again in Benson, Arizona, which is about 50-60 miles east of Tucson, and stayed a week. Our single excursion was to Tombstone (a 30 minute drive from Benson), where we did not attend the re-enactment of the Shootout at OK Corral, which would have been the most interesting feature of that trip. I'm kicking myself for that one. But we did visit the Boothill Graveyard, which was quite interesting. (Pictures below.)

From there we had planned to visit our Roadrunner friends, Dave & Vicki Minelli, who used to own an Alfa but sold it and bought a real house in a little out-of-the-way place called Nogal, New Mexico. They invited us up for a visit, but the weather turned bad on the only two days we had planned to be there -- it snowed! Snow is something we no longer abide. We avoid it at all costs whenever we can.

Instead, we spent four days in Las Cruces in a little RV Park right off the freeway called Coachlight Motel and RV Park. I don't think I'd ever want to stay in their motel (yesterday, there was a fire in one of the rooms and the fire department showed up in full force to put it out). But the RV sites are spacious pull-throughs with full 50 amp service, and the price was acceptable, thanks to our Passport America membership.

Our trip from Benson to Las Cruces was interrupted by a dreadful traffic accident caused by a dust storm just over the New Mexico border, which resulted in the closure of I-10 both directions. It ended up delaying us by roughly an hour and a half, but when we saw the aftermath of the accident, we were stunned at the wreckage. It was a sober reminder of the uncertainty of life-- everything we take for granted can change in an instant.

On a brighter note, there was one place I've been curious to stop at every time we've made this trip across I-10.

That's right-- The Thing. The teaser billboards are nearly irresistible. This time I had to stop and check it out. What was I expecting? A two-headed snake? A creepy giant bug? A circus freak? I don't know. The place is a wonderful gift shop for Arizona memorabilia. And then there's the "Museum"... if you can call it that, and they do. (Pictures below.) I wasn't expecting an alien twist on history. Fortunately, it costs less than a Starbuck's coffee to get in, and so I chalked it up to good entertainment.

This afternoon we made a day trip out to White Sands National Park, which is an hour drive from Las Cruces. It was a cold day-- about 40 degrees-- and we didn't do too much walking around because we left our winter hats at home, but we drove the loop through the dunes. And I finally bit the proverbial bullet and bought my lifetime Senior Pass while we were there, something I dragged my feet doing back when it was only $10... until the price went up. Way up. I'm kicking myself for that one too. But now I have it. We've got quite a few more National Parks to visit still, and having my own card is sometimes advantageous.

Tomorrow we set off for Texas. I absolutely hate driving through El Paso. The I-10 lanes through that city are so narrow, it feels like barely inches between our rig and the semi trucks barreling by. But it is the path we must take.

That's all for now. God bless, and safe travels!

Picture Gallery