Swing Low Sweet Chariot

Sunday 10/23/16

So… What’s life on the road really like??? Well, this trip has been full of adventure… The adventure these intrepid travelers started with was not what we had planned…

Heading south Wednesday we were greeted by a steel belted blow out of the left rear inner tire… Which also damaged the outer tire though not bad enough to keep us from limping off of I-15 south and to a tire store…

Two new tires later we were back on the road… Thankful it wasn’t worse… We didn’t die… But in need of a beer… We stopped for the night at a Salt Lake City VFW post… Only to find some additional surprises… Pieces of the steel belt had gone right through and were still imbedded in the floor of the RV… Looking back now I should have taken some pictures… I’ll get some pics of the holes from below and above tomorrow… I’ll also be calling the insurance company though who knows what they can do for me…

The pieces of tire and the shredded floor board have been cleaned up, but the holes are still there and strategically covered now to keep the cool night air out… Luckily they are not in a walk path forward and aft in the RV and thankfully more damage wasn’t done…

Our second night out (Thursday) we camped just east of Spanish Forks, Utah at Diamond Campground… It had been our scheduled first night stop… Nice quiet, but not the scenic Utah campground we had hoped for…

Heading southeast from there through Moab, UT… The scenery and countryside was beautiful and everything we had hoped for… But we drove right past Arches National Park and the surrounding campgrounds full of way too many people… Maybe another time… Maybe a different time of the year, but we wanted no part of the crowds…

South of Moab we found Wind Whistle Campground… Beautiful, quiet, scenic… it would have been great to stay there more than one night, but feeling the need to press on we broke camp again… Leaving Wind Whistle Campground in Utah and heading through Cortez in the southwest corner of Colorado and into New Mexico… Straight south through Navajo Land…

Planning a stop just east of Gallup, New Mexico only to get there and find the campgrounds closed… With the sun setting, sick of driving for the day and yes, more than a little annoyed… We pulled into a truck stop off of I-40 in Milan, NM… Surrounded by big rigs… Many of which left their diesels idling all night… 

Which once one is adjusted to the steady drone and the vibration left me with two thoughts…

Yes, shipmates… You guessed the first one… Sleeping through diesel ops… And in the words of Jimmy Buffett…

“Put in a quarter, turn out the light…
Magic Fingers makes you feel alright…
Feel alright, feel alright…
Magic finger makes you feel alright…”
                   -This Hotel Room

After driving way more than was planned yesterday… We drove only about an hour today and are camped in El Malpais at the Joe Skeen campground… A free BLM campground… With a seven day stay limit and a two mile walk to fill water jugs…

Not needing to arrive in Alamogordo for another week and only 260 miles from our destination… These intrepid travelers will spend a few days here collecting their thoughts and some rays… Well, Simon will sit in the shade… We already know his thoughts… Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner…

I had jokingly posted this Facebook status update a few weeks ago… “My mouth is singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot… #cottommouth”

An old negro spiritual about being set free from a life of slavery… I had one final thought before drifting off to sleep… The RV has become my “Sweet Chariot” freeing me from the slavery of a death sentence nuclear work schedule… Setting me free on the road to adventure…

Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home,
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.

I looked over Jordan, and what did I see
Coming for to carry me home?
A band of angels coming after me,
Coming for to carry me home.

Sometimes I'm up, and sometimes I'm down,
(Coming for to carry me home)
But still my soul feels heavenly bound.
(Coming for to carry me home)

The brightest day that I can say,
(Coming for to carry me home)
When Jesus washed my sins away.
(Coming for to carry me home)

If I get there before you do,
(Coming for to carry me home)
I'll cut a hole and pull you through.
(Coming for to carry me home)

If you get there before I do,
(Coming for to carry me home)
Tell all my friends I'm coming too.
(Coming for to carry me home)

Swing low, sweet chariot

Coming for to carry me home,
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.