Where are Cheryl and Dennis?: Tucson, Texas and Oklahoma

04/05/2019 – 04/08/2019

Friday – 04/05/2019 – Today we attended the Voyager Flute Festival. This is a two day event at the Voyager RV Park in Tucson. Besides multiple flute makers selling their flutes there was workshops and performances by various flutists. I purchased two flutes from Kenny King. One in the key of A made of maple with a purple heart mouth piece. The second flute in the key of E made of canary wood, paduak and maple. I also purchased a small pocket flute from High Spirits in the key of G made of cedar. We listened to a couple of performances including a guy playing the didgeridoo. We returned to the our RV park to go to happy hour and grab dinner. Then we returned to the festival to watch flutist Timothy J. P. Gomez. What a awesome performance!

Saturday – 04/06/2019 – Moving day! We left Tucson around 8:00. Pretty early for us but I think we were both ready to get on the road. Destination today was Sunland Casino and Racetrack in El Paso. As we neared El Paso we started noticing a conflict between the GPS and the directions on the billboards for the casino. The billboards said to take exit 13. The GPS said use exit 19. We passed by exit 13. Then there was construction around exit 19 which was closed. The alternate route would have taken us down town then wound back to the casino. There was also signs saying eastbound I-10 was going to be closed on Sunday and Monday. It just seemed prudent to keep going and avoid the mess. We drove another 90 miles to Van Horn where we found a nice little RV park to stay the night.

Sunday – 04/07/2019 – The destination today was Wichita Falls and Horseshoe Bend Vineyard to visit Scott, Linda and Gabby. Hopped back on I-10 heading east then picked up I-20 through Odessa and Midland and the oil fields. You would think fuel would be the least inexpensive in this area but no...it was the highest we had seen this year. Diesel was over $3 a gallon. At Sweetwater we left I-20, turned onto 70, then 180 to 277. Took 277 all the way to Wichta Falls. The Texas Blue Bonnets were blooming along the roadsides.

The vineyard is a great place to stay overnight and it was wonderful to visit with Scott, Linda and Gabby. In addition we picked up some wine to take back home to be donated to Ritchies benefit party. A few months ago Scott had added the vineyard to Harvest Hosts, a program where Rvers can find a place to stay overnight. Shortly after we pulled in, another camper pulled in. They had found the place through Harvest Hosts. We all sat outside the winery and visited until almost 9:00.

Monday – 04/08/2018 – Another long travel day today. Destination today was a casino near Joplin Missouri. We stayed off the freeway for a while until we picked up I-40 at Stroud, OK. This route avoided Oklahoma City. It was pretty nice but of course we had to go through a few small towns which did not help our fuel mileage. It was very pretty though as the fields in OK were green, green, green. The Black Angus in the fields provided great contrast. There were lots of wild flowers blooming as well as Redbuds in the woods. We arrived at Downstream Resort and Casino in the late afternoon, set up and went inside to register. One night camping is free when you sign up for a players card. It was two for one at the buffet so we took advantage of that as well.

We traveled over 1200 miles in 3 days. That is a lot for us. Partly because we are trying to make it home by Saturday to attend the benefit for Richie Ramminger. We could be home by Wednesday but they expect 2”-5” of snow. Stay tuned!

Where we are Parked: Far Horizons Tucson Village RV Resort – Cal Am Resort – Site 633 – 665 sites. Pool, hot tub, activities, laundry, rock, silver and glass shops, bocce ball, pickle ball, shuffleboard. We stayed one week free as we took advantage of a promotional program through a Cal Am Resort in Yuma. See attached fee schedule for rates.

Where we are Parked: Desert Willow RV Park, Van Horn TX – We parked across the street in the pull-thru area. 40 some sites with full hook ups including cable TV. Also has showers and laundry facilities. We paid $22.50 with a Good Sam discount. Didn't see they were an Escapees park until we had already paid. Escapees rate was $13.50. Still a great rate and a nice overnight stop.

Where we are parked: Horseshoe Bend Cellars Vineyard – parked in the field next to the winery parking lot.

Where we are parked: Downstream Casino and Resort – Site 4 – First night free when signing up for a players card. Otherwise $30 per night. Electric and water. Note: Lots of semi-trucks nearby running their engines. Stay closer to the east end as there are no marked spaces for semi-trucks.

Voyager Flute Festival