RVing in the time of COVID 2: Some serious wood

So, we took off from Oklahoma, cruised down Route 66 into Edmund, swung through OKC and then headed west  on I-40.  We avoided pitfalls like stopping in Clinton, Oklahoma to visit the hometown of Toby Keith, my favorite C&W singer just as we had earlier avoided Checotah, the home of Carrie Underwood, because "She ain't in Checotah no more."  We sang Toby Keith's lyrics as we drove past

I ain't as good as I once was,
I got a few years on me now,
But there was a time,
Back in my prime,
When I could really lay it down,
If you need some love tonight,
Then I might have just enough,
I ain't as good once was,
But I'm as good once, as I ever was.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldQrapQ4d0Y

Which is so true, I'm 54 and on the downhill side of fifty....life is short....

we then drove past the Punjabi truck stop in Sayre, avoiding RV damage and crazy Indian food, zipped past the leaning water tower in Britten Texas, avoiding road construction in Amarillo and camped in Tucumcari New Mexico

Pearl crescent in Tucumcari

The next day we got up early and crossed New Mexico ending near Holbrook Arizona, camping at a place that probably wasn't open and some squatters charged as a camping fee that they strangely took to the local truck stop and returned with beer.  It was a bit strange.  We stayed there last year. They only wanted cash.  No one else camped there, despite a huge volume of campers on the road.  The amount of people living on the road in RVs is staggering.  I think we'll try a new spot next time.  We should have been concerned when we dropped the car to go to Petrified Wood National Park. We haven't been here since 1991.  Back then I tried to trade an entrance ticket to someone in Utah for a Zion Park Ticket and well, it was like giving away a cow pie.

But it is a beautiful place, and a park organized in 1906.  It is well worth the $25.00 entrance fee.  It is a barren place and there are COVID paranoid people.  Many from California drove with masks on in their cars, which as a doctor, I am at lengths to think of what they are protecting themselves from.  You are more likely to get Coccidiomycosis from mold spores in the air on this desert than COVID on a sunny hot day, but whatever, if it makes them happy....it is the AC buildings that I hate to even go in, masked, PPE'd or whatever.  At least most everyone masked there....

Common Raven

We got to New River Arizona on the weekend, and I expected the place to be somewhat empty due to no Canadians but it was stuffed full.  

There are no masks here, but no cases ever in this community, either....maybe the heavy sun and outdoors, a lot of vitamin D in this community, maybe the highest in America. IDK.  Coincidence?  Not sure.

We got the spot right next to the pool so I can't photograph my rig here, but oh well.  It is still quite hot in the Phoenix area.  We made it and will be stopping here for a month before we decide our next movement.

I will finish off two books.  I got the proof for my spring and summer project delivered here, very proud of this effort.  Pictures turned out very nice.

quite a nice book and finishing the proof for my other 2019 adventure missive. Brown boobies, hairy peckers, and great tits.....yes, a sequel.....I was busy in 2019.

So, we're still healthy and hanging in there....many here in New River have stories for the year, and COVID fatigue is high here....maybe denial, and maybe they have figured out a protective activity, too.  It is not like they are being careful.  Maybe it is the sun exposure?  I may be putting on my MD hat and looking at the numbers....maybe worth a scientific study.  I'm not sure anyone wants to know....I know six such communities, and no cases.....makes me wonder.

So we'll get out and start hiking, I have Gamble's quail on my roof and a female Anna's hummer at my feeder as I write this, what could be better?

I got to go try to get a rock out of a wheel on my car

stay safe, get out in the sun, another Toby Keith song surmises the ranch where we now are, maybe do karaoke with word changes this weekend?  we've parked next to that too

We got winners, we got losers,
Chain smokers and boozers.
An' we got yuppies, we got bikers,
An' we got , thirsty hitchhikers.
And the girls next door dress up like movie stars.
Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, I love this bar.
We got cowboys, we got truckers,
Broken hearted fools and suckers.
An' we got hustlers, we got fighters,
Early birds and all nighters.
And the veterans talk about their battle scars:
Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, I love this bar.....(Ranch) 

I love this bar (Ranch),
It's my kind of place.
Just walk in through the front door,
Puts a big smile on my face.
It ain't too far, come as you are.
Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, I love this bar (Ranch).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fulz4ytZ54

Cheers!

Olaf