SW USA 2024: The Canadian Coddiwomplers*

    *Coddiwomple: “to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination."

(Elsie the cow)

Along the Way

The next leg took us through Lamesa and Abilene, TX on the way to the Arlington KOA where we planned to stay until it was time to leave for the Night Light Rally.  As I mentioned before, signing up for this rally sounded good at the time but when we were enjoying our time in Tucson it seemed a bit crazy to be going all the way back to Texas. But then again, we are a little bit crazy.

 

The trip to Arlington, a suburb of Dallas I think, was uneventful and the two overnight campgrounds we stayed in were unremarkable.  We did pass through an interesting village called Gail in Borden County.  The place honours Gail Borden, a pioneer surveyor, newspaper editor and the inventor of the process of condensing milk.  

Does anyone remember Elsie the Borden Cow?  She was a big attraction at the CNE when I was a kid.

Gail Borden, inventor of condensed milk and other inventions.

Historic Buildings in Borden

We were at the Arlington KOA camp for Easter ... our neighbours, who had seven children, so that's nine people all a Class "A" bus type camper, had an Easter egg hunt.  On Easter Sunday, the entire family was wearing clothes made from the same fabric - dresses, shirts and shorts.  It was like watching the Von Trapp Family piling into their large vehicle on their way to church (I imagine).

Our time in Arlington was spent doing chores and relaxing.  There wasn’t anything that sparked our interest.  If you’re not in the habit of dragging your home across country for thousands of kilometers you might not realize that there is a lot of maintenance to be done, along with improvements. Jerry likens the effect on Miss Adventure Too to a small earthquake on wheels, especially if the road is not great.

 

Jerry is brilliant at looking after all that stuff, I mainly have ideas and order things, like a water fountain for Misty.  We discovered that Amazon delivers to campgrounds, (though you should ask the campground first to make sure they accept deliveries/mail). 

 

Jerry tightened sink things, (after note: I later discovered that I had to buy a new part at the hardware store and so that repair was re-repaired 💪), checked tires, and fixed cupboard doors. I managed to file our income tax - I think it was here.  We needed a break from adventuring and so we stayed put, relaxed and puttered around the campsite.

Take good care all

Love from,

Jerry, Elizabeth, Misty, FJ (Flat Jesus), the Guys, Miss Adventure Too and Clifford the Big Red Truck