Homeward Bound! - Day 10

Who knew that this day would be filled with the kind of "adventure" that we experienced.  The morning started as usual....You know, loading the car, breakfast, stuff like that.

Well, I think we skipped merrily down the road for about 30 minutes when I started hearing this strange "sound" coming from the back of the car.  We arrived at a check point and after passing safely through decided to stop there and check the trailer.  Good thing we did!  The bearings on the driver's side of the trailer were completely gone!  We would not have made it another 2 miles without it catching fire or something from the friction.

We decided that with all of the things happening at borders nowadays, it would be best to go back over to the check point, explain our problem and ask if we could repair it there.  They were very gracious and said yes.  The challenge was getting the old stuff off.  It was hot and very greasy.

 Fortunately, Chris had all of the tools he needed and happens to be a "gear head" as well.  So, this was going to be easy.........we thought.

He had a terrible time getting the broken pieces off and we lacked shop towels and hand cleaner to help with more leverage.

We drove into town; 13 miles to find a auto parts store.  Yes!!  Auto Zone.....:-)
No.  They don't have the parts, but they can "order it" for us.  Well, that will never do.  We had to keep looking.

There was a tractor supply store down the road about a mile further and we were able to get the parts we needed.

After traveling back to the check point with our parts, we discovered that another piece was still stuck inside the part that needed to be fixed.  It had gotten so hot that it was welded to the inner part of the hub.

Poor Chris tried and tried to get that thing unstuck.  So, now, even though we have the parts we needed which by now have been soiled by our attempts to get it in place; it was simply not going to work.

 I came up with the idea of rather than trying to find a machine shop to unstick it for us, just replace the whole hub!  We traveled back to the tractor supply place and purchased not one, but two replacement hubs.  The second one just in case.  We got it replaced in 15 minutes after having spent 3  hours trying to repair it.  

It is finished and Mr. Chris has to clean up now.  We purchased hand cleaner and shop towels on our second trip to the tractor supply place.  We were happy to finally be on our way, but I was suspicious of the other side of the trailer and felt that we should just replace them both since we were doing it anyway.  But, Chris thought it was fine.

Well, if any thing were to happen, we had the other one in the car.

We traveled back through the town we had just left buying parts and continued on our trip.  This time we knew that losing 4 hours of time would prevent us from reaching our goal of Lubbock, TX.

We also past the biggest pistachio nut in the world! ha.  But time was going quick and we were both tired.  So, we didn't stop to explore the facility that hosted the big nut.

It was good to be back on the road again, but we had to start thinking of where we were going to stay for the night and also gas up for our morning trip.

I must have been mad at the way the whole day went.  I really wanted to be home in my own bed tonight.  It was funny that we passed this sign.  I had to chuckle haha.....  "Ok".  Forgiven!

We came upon this tiny town with one gas station and thought we had better get it and pay whatever they were asking.  After all, we were in the middle of nowhere!  It was also good that we picked up lunch at the last town which was several miles behind us now..

And guess what.......Chris was coming back to the car and happen to look at the trailer on the passenger side and guess what........yep.  Now THAT side was completely blown as well.  We were sooo fortunate to have purchased that other hub and lunch!  

So, it started again.......

there was nothing left to the bearings except where they used to be.  And it was very hot!

We drug the new hub out of the car and Chris got it on in no time flat.  Well, about 15 minutes.

He got the lug nuts back in place and check the other side to make sure they were still tight as well.

All was well.  Now, we have new hubs on both sides of the trailer.  Last year before returning to Canada we completely rebuilt the trailer bed and weather treated it. the tires are new as well. So, I guess the whole thing is pretty "new" now.

We made it to Clovis, New Mexico and decided to stop there for the night.  Now it is 8:51 PM and we are exhausted!  But, we are determined to make it all the way home tomorrow and sleep in our own bed!

"Ruby" "Rascal" and "Raspberry" are resting under their cover.  And I am about to do the same!

See you on the home front!

Homeward Bound! - Day 9

The morning came early.  I think I slept through the night except for one trip to the rest room.  the funny thing is that Chris and I woke up at the same time and decided we might as well get moving.

We headed down stairs earlier than we had been to grab breakfast and hit the road.

We had not heard of this hotel, but we were growing tired of the ones in our normal chain and decided to try this one called the Drury.  It is a private, family owned chain.  I can't believe I had oatmeal for breakfast.  And it wasn't that nasty, mealy, instant stuff either.

the dinning area was quite large compared to the others we were used to.

I'm not sure somebody had gotten enough to eat or enough sleep, but we were on our way nevertheless.

Not too far into the trip we decided we had better get some gas.

We are always pleasantly amazed when we come to the states and buy gas considering we are paying well over 6 bucks for gas in Canada!

Rascal starting giving us problems and the straps were loosening up.  So, we stopped to get that taken care of....again.

I noticed that the highways in Arizona are beautifully decorated with Indian art.....

And the landscape is always changing.  There is often a lot of nothing.....

and then there are what appear to be a field of cactus; some as old as 100 years.....

very cool.....:-).

I was glad that the skies were free of rain.  At least as far as I could tell.  I concluded that they must be a lot of water somewhere as this desert sure featured a lot of greenery.

We/ I try to gas up at every half tank.  The idea of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere without gas or cell service does not appeal to me!

And a potty run!  Don't forget that....haha.  Not too many rest stops along the way in the desert.

By now, it was lunch time and we decided on a spinach and chicken salad for lunch.  It was big and quite filling.

A few miles down the road the scenery changed again.  This time the "dinosaur poo" started to show up.

I call it that because some of the rock formations look like big piles of .......well, poo.  ha

I know it is hard to believe that more hours have gone by again.  But time has gone by and this is another rest stop.  We decided to sit outside of the car for a while and take in some fresh air.

We were getting closer to our home for the night......:-)

\o/ \o/

\o/ \o/   yeah, baby!

 I'm told I fell asleep for this picture.  I don't want to imagine for too long that "somebody" was taking pictures and driving at the same time!  smh.......

At any rate, it was a beautiful shot of a rainbow.....:-).

 When we approached Las Cruces, New Mexico there was a huge road runner bird sculpture on the
hill side.

there is the city ahead.

And there is our hotel.....:-).  Thank God we made it!

 We arrived at our room just after 5:00pm.  Rising at 5:15 this morning brought us to another 12 hour day.

and it is hard to believe that a week has gone by since doing laundry.  It's that time again.

The prices were not as bad as some places, but I wished I had supplied my own detergent.
Somebody looks really tired now.  He is such a trooper doing all of this driving and then helping with the laundry.  Thank you, Christo....:-).

This hotel offers a free meal from 5:00-7:00pm to all of its guest.  The food is not the greatest, but we have never stayed anywhere else where this is done.  I was grateful that we did not have to go out for dinner or make another stop along the way to eat.

He ate a meatball.....hahaha.  I guess he liked it! smh

There is a beautiful patio area outside of the dinning area where I decided to go sit after dinner.

hahahahaha.......  no comment.

What can I say!?  ha

Well, the mosquitos were taking bits and pieces of me away, so I had to retreat to the room and lather down in tea tree oil to stop the burning that they caused me.   After administering "first aid" to myself, I peered out of the window and caught this beautiful sunset.

I'm grateful for a quiet, clean place to lay our heads tonight......:-).

See you on the road....:-).