It rained hard all night Thursday night and when I opened my eyes a little after 7 a.m. yesterday all I wanted to do was roll over, cuddle up to Miss Terry, and go back to sleep. But alas, she was already up and about. I used my best puppy dog eyes to try to lure her back to bed, but when your face makes you look like you have mange, that just doesn’t work. Besides, we needed to get on the road and back to Apache Junction.
The rain stopped just as we made ready to hit the road, but when I went outside to start unhooking our campground utilities it was still very cold and the ground was so saturated that water was standing in puddles everywhere. But it seemed to be my day for dealing with idiots, and a little bit of nasty weather wasn’t going to keep them away.
The right front tire of our Winnebago loses about 20 pounds every two weeks, and nobody has been able to figure out why, so I just top it off every time we hit the road. I got out my trusty old Craftsman 150 PSI air compressor and began to air it up. That’s when Idiot #1 arrived on the scene. An older gentleman was walking by and stopped and asked, “You’re not going to try to fill that tire with that thing, are you?” I told him I was, and he shook his head and said, “It won’t work. I had a pancake air compressor and it would not fill my big motorhome tires.” I assured him that while his pancake compressor might not have been up to the job, my Craftsman would and had been doing so for years. But he wasn’t swayed and stubbornly shook his head and said, “No, it won’t.” Well okay then, enough of that, I went back to what I doing and tried to ignore him. With 110 pounds of air in the tire, I shut of the compressor and he asked, “Gave up, did you?” I told him that no, I was done and the tire was at the correct pressure. He smiled at me kind of like you do that weird cousin they keep in the basement because he’s 30 and still eats his Crayolas, and shook his head and said, “No, it isn’t.” My Daddy taught me to never argue with an idiot, because they’ll eventually drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience, so I just gave up and drove away on my newly inflated tire.
We got a twofer when we stopped at the new Pilot truck stop a couple of miles up Interstate 10. That’s right, two idiots in one place! I always like that because it saves on commute time. The first was a guy in a car, who came whipping across the front of a motorhome that was pulling in so he could get to the RV fuel island first, even though it was clearly marked as the RV island and the car islands had lots of empty pumps. But hey, those signs are for somebody else, right? He filled his car with gas, washed his windshield and then drove off, finally allowing the motorhome who was waiting patiently to get to the pump.
Enter Idiot #3, a lunkhead who pulled up to the fuel island in a pickup towing a camper and proceeded to fill his tank with diesel, all the while puffing away on a cigarette stuck in his mouth. I have seen this before, and have heard people say that diesel isn’t as volatile as gasoline, so it’s safe. Yeah, that must be why they have all of those No Smoking signs on the fuel pumps, right?
Back on the road, we threaded our way through a long, narrow construction zone between Interstate 10 and Oracle Road (State Route 77) and made our way out of the metropolitan area. From there it was an easy trip, with no wind and only a few sprinkles now and then. Barely enough to get the windshield wet.
Miss Terry was busy with her Canon SX40
digital camera, taking pictures of the rugged Catalina Mountains as we passed them.
Between the snow and the clouds, she captured some great scenes, don’t you think? I wish I had her talent.
We arrived at Santa Fe RV Park and got set up in our regular site, then ran over to Terry’s parents’ place to pick up some mail and visited with them for a while. Then we grabbed a bite to eat, stopped at the grocery store and headed for home before yet another idiot accosted us. Three in a day is my limit.
Good news for anybody headed to an RV show! My pals John and Kathy Huggins of the Living The RV Dream podcasts are currently giving away their pamphlet How to Survive an RV Show…and Make it a Great Experience free on Amazon! It’s RV show season and this will tell you how to make the most out of a day spent kicking tires at a show. Get your free copy today!
Have you signed up for this week’s Free Drawing for an audiobook version of my friend Judy Howard’s COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST. I’ve read it and this is a very moving book. All you have to do is click this Free Drawing link and enter your name in the comments section below. Only one entry per person per drawing please! The winner will be chosen at random on Sunday evening.
Thought For The Day – I would like to apologize to anyone I have not offended. Please be patient, I’ll get to you as soon as possible.
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Nick Russell
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Great pics Miss Terry! I especially like the first two but they are all great.
If I had seen that idiot smoking at the pump I’d be tempted to grab my fire extinguisher and “put the fire out.” Geez, what a numbskull!
In 1982 I bought a new Dodge Power Wagon 4×4 pickup. My uncle is a hardcore Ford man and when I got it he told me that the Dodge was crap and wouldn’t last the 3 years I had it financed for. He went on and on about how bad the Dodge was and what a fool I was for buying it. Well I still have the old Dodge and don’t use it every day any more, but my 4 kids all learned to drive it and each used it for a while growing up. I plow snow with it all winter and here in the UP of MIchigan we got a lot of snow. The truck has over 375K miles on it, and except for a clutch and routine things like brakes and tires it has never had a major repair. I change the oil regularly and take good care of it. I keep it in the barn and it still looks pretty decent. But every time my uncle sees it he still shakes his head and asks why I keep that old piece of crap, that its going to fall apart any day. I can’t count how many Ford trucks he has been through in the last 30 years but its a lot. Idiots Nick – you gotta love them right?
Hummm I wonder if a shot of “slime” tire leak sealer would be in order on that explorer tire after all other inspections have failed to find any problem. Might be worth a try. I’m glad you are collecting all the idiots over there in Ariz. they are leaving me alone here in Pahrump. Merry Christmas Ya all.
The know-it-all who told you that your pump was not up to the task, is a first class jerk. Can you imagine how insufferable he must be every day of the week? And had you offered him the chance to look at your tire gauge, for sure he would have said the gauge was faulty.
Dang. I was hoping to read about Idiot #4.
Oh, we’ll, maybe another time. I often run into them myself here in Texas.
Great post and amazing photos as usual Nick.
A wise lady once told me that there were only 7 idiots in the whole world. They just travel around a lot.
Loved the Thought for the Day too.
Well, you saw some winners today…most of them seem to follow us around, even when we change coasts!! Really too bad they let them drive.