My Time in Congress

Events in this post occurred in September and October 2007.

We awoke to mild temperature and gusting winds on Saturday, September 29^th.  We were going to be moving again in a few days and Kathi wanted to go to Walmart to pick up a few groceries, so she could prepare meals ahead of time, making it easier to eat while we traveled. We enjoyed being outside. I love the wind, but all Kathi could think about was dust. I assured her I would help with housework once we got out of Arizona and the wind and that placated her a little bit – but, just a little bit. After grocery shopping we spent most of the rest of the day at home.

Sunday was another mild temperature day with low 80’s and breezy. We spent a few hours doing laundry in the morning. The highlight of the day was Whataburger for lunch on the way home from the laundromat.

Monday was October 1, 2007 and our last day in Kingman, AZ for this time through the area. Kathi spent the morning cooking and I did a few things outside to assure our RV was ready to travel. I enjoyed being outside in the wind. I remember laughing out loud a few times when a big gust of wind came by. I assume people that live in the wind all the time get tired of it and I could understand why a housekeeper would learn to despise it. Not me. I loved it.

We awoke early Tuesday morning and left the Zuni Village RV Park in Kingman, AZ and drove toward the Escapees North Ranch RV Park in Congress, AZ. For the rest of my life I could tell people I used to be in Congress. We started out moving east on I-40 for about 20 miles, then south on US 93 through the small communities of Wikieup and Nothing before leaving US 93 for AZ 71 and into Congress.

Escapees North Ranch is an Escapees park and they only offered 30-amp service. That would only allow us to run only one compressor on our air conditioner, so we decided to stay only one night. We would have probably been okay with the moderate outside temperature, but there was no compelling reason to stay longer. There was almost no town to see and no bigger towns nearby.

We left the RV Park and Congress on Wednesday morning using AZ 89 south. I tried to make a sharp right turn on US 93 and broke the base plate on our Jeep that is used for towing. Another unforced error that I knew would use up some of Kathi’s casino money. I felt stupid and Kathi allowed me to feel stupid for a while. The worst part was I needed to turn left instead of right to begin with.

I guess in RV vernacular, we limped into Tucson with me driving the motorhome and Kathi following me in the Jeep. Since I was driving I did not get to kick myself in the rear on the way there. We moved into the Prince of Tucson RV Park and paid $27 per night – way too much money for rent, but I needed to regroup and assure Kathi and I were still friends. We were, so not much else mattered. Happy times and bad times, we were still RV travelers spending the days with our best friends.

Side view of piece broken off our base plate.

Another view of broken piece of base plate being held by an erratic RV driver.