Road Trip Archives - Tena Stetler

Jun 6th Not Quite the Road Trip From Hell, But…

By now you know my trips wind up being the road trip from hell. So, why would I expect anything different? In my defense, who could have known that when we scheduled a California road trip a few days before Memorial Day Weekend, we’d be leaving Colorado in ten inches of snow. Really?! Now keep in mind we’re traveling with our new larger fifth wheel on it’s inaugural trip. The trailer is a little over seven feet longer at thirty-seven and a half feet, verses our old one measuring thirty feet long we’d had for fifteen years. It was time for a change. You would think driving it wouldn’t be much different, but you’d be wrong, the tail swing of the longer one made for an interesting trip. But my husband took it all in stride. Bless his heart. Although our parrot, Taco, was displeased when he fell asleep after a long day of driving when she was conversing with him. LOL Pssst…don’t forget to enter Beach Blanket Book Giveaway below.

We crossed Wyoming in a blizzard leaving several inches of snow in its wake. Spent the night in Rock Springs waking up to more of the fluffy white stuff on the ground. Okay, its Wyoming, we kinda expected that. The state is synonymous with wind and spring snow. But rain and snow showers, including hail across Nevada and Utah was not a pleasant experience. Then lo and behold the sun peeked through momentarily in Zepher Cove at Lake Tahoe. Wind whipped the white capped waves crashing onto the beach. Braving the cold wind off the lake, we donned our coats and walked along the beach. Then we stared slacked-jawed at the twenty something males standing on the beach shirtless, shoe-less, and in shorts attempting to impress their group of friends. I guess we should add clueless to that description! LOL We shook our heads.

Returning to the roomy new fifth wheel, we watched a movie, ate popcorn, and went to bed. The next morning, yep, you guessed it big, white, storybook snowflakes floated through the air, but didn’t stick. Still our friends from Las Vegas, Nevada, who joined us, enjoyed the snow as did their two dogs. By afternoon the sun was back and we strolled along the beach with our dog as wildlife scampered on the shore and ducks paddled across the water. A few gulls screamed as they dove for dinner on the lake.

Family commitments required we leave Lake Tahoe after only a few days and head to northern California where we encountered a bit of rain but otherwise pleasant temperatures. Met up with a friend and fellow author in Elk Grove, CA for lunch and had a wonderful chat. On the trip back to Colorado we encountered windy conditions in Utah and Wyoming, Gee imagine that! LOL But other than that the trip was pleasant. The vibrant colors of the Wind River Valley in Wyoming are amazing. We stopped in Riverton, Wyoming to visit with friends. My award winning book AN ANGELS UNINTENTIONAL ENTANGLEMENT was set in Riverton. Where Warrior Angel, Caden goes, trouble follows until he discovers a badly beaten woman barely clinging to life. Unprepared for the entanglement she brings to his doorstep, will he move heaven and earth to save her?Yep, that was a blatant plug for my book. LOL I couldn’t help it. You owe it to yourself to take a peek. https://www.amazon.com/Angels-Unintentional-Entanglement-Demons-Witch-ebook/dp/B07DYWKLYK

The moral of this story is don’t plan a road trip before Memorial Day, with a new fifth wheel and a strict schedule. Mother Nature will mess with you every time.

FYI, now that warmer weather has arrived. I am participating in Beach Blanket Book Giveaway! Summertime is here and before you head out to the pool or beach to catch some sunshine, check out this a-m-a-z-i-n-g giveaway hosted by N. N. Light’s Book Heaven. Win bestselling and award-winning books both in digital and print. The list is long If there’s a particular book or prize you’d like to win, be sure to say which prize you want when you enter via Rafflecopter. Enter below and good luck! Beach Blanket Book Giveaway: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92db775030

Literary Giveaway Portal: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/literary-giveaway-portal

Have a wonderful weekend!

Posted in My Say What Blog and tagged An Angel's Unintentional Entanglement, Beach Blanket Book Giveaway, Colorado, Fifth wheel, hail, Lake Tahoe, Rain, Reno, Riverton Wyoming, Road Trip, snow, Utah, WInd by Tena Stetler with 3 comments.

Oct 10th A Fun & Exciting Road Trip Rambling Toward Disney!

You’ll remember back in March we experienced the Road Trip from Hell. Bravely we hit the road again in September, hoping Mother Nature was through with us and that Murphy’s Law would take pity on us. They did and we had a wonderful time.

Spent a night in Las Vegas, NV with friends who threw a quick get together for us then it was on to Los Angeles. What is in LA you ask? Disneyland where they start celebrating Halloween September 20^th, my kind of place, and Universal Studios of course! First we took off on the Monorail to get a bird’s eye view of Disneyland, then rode the Star Wars Experience. What a rush!

At Disneyland, my hubby and I negotiated our way through the ghosts, ghouls, fairies, the Beast and Maleficent at Micky’s Halloween Party. Did I mention dancing with the Pixar Pals at the Halloween Dance? Then it was on to the Headless Horseman Rides Again pre-parade, the Frightfully Fun Electric light parade and topped off the evening with A Villainous Surprise in the Skies Fireworks display over the castle. Yep, we’re just kids at heart and Halloween is my favorite holiday!

The next morning, it was off to Universal Studios and Wizarding World of Harry Potter where we selected our wands, were sorted into Gryffindor, and got Tee Shirts to prove it. LOL Transformers was next then onto Jurassic Park where we avoided being eaten by a dinosaur. By that time a ride on the Universal Studios tour tram looked great. Though I wasn’t too sure about slowing down at the Psyco house or sorting through the plane crash scene but the back lot sets were incredible!

Family obligations were next on the agenda and we left our fantasy land gliding into the reality of Northern California for a few days. As we began our trip back to Colorado, we rendezvoused in the enchanted land of fellow Wild Rose Author, Mary Morgan, and lunched at the Black Bear Café. Not a Fae warrior in sight. Darn it!

But Mother Nature was not to be ignored. We encountered a bug storm of epic proportions in Northern Nevada, 20 miles of smashed bug guts covering the windshield until we had to stop and clean off the bugs so we could see where we were going. I kid you not the truck and trailer were covered. Wish I’d taken pictures that night. Anyway, it was snow and sleet in Wyoming, but we made it to our destination in Riverton, Wyoming where the morning dawned in bright sunlight. Spent a day with friends and left the next morning to arrive in Colorado totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, “WOW what a ride!”

Posted in My Say What Blog and tagged Black Bear Cafe, Bug Storm. Snow, Disney, Halloween, Road Trip, Universal Studios by Tena Stetler with 4 comments.

Mar 20th Ever Been on A Road Trip From Hell?

I never had such a road trip until the last two weeks. The first day out, we made it to Gallup, New Mexico relatively unscathed. The next day, sustained 55 mph winds with 75-86 mph gusts derailed our plans, nearly derailed our fifth wheel, and put us a day behind, not to mention destroying a window in the trailer. After a pickup truck and trailer were flipped over ahead of us by the wind, we pulled off in Flagstaff, the wind was way to scary to continue.

The next day we made it to Las Vegas where hubby attended ConEx, a construction conference. At the trailer, I did a final check on A Warlock’s Secrets and sent it back to my editor. Should have a release date soon. A reveal of the swoon worthy cover and exciting blurb are on the horizon! I can’t wait for you to read it! We played tourist with friends, local to Las Vegas, visiting the dancing fountains of the Bellagio and attending a performance of the Cirque Du Soleil show KA. Fantastic show! After we finished up in Vegas, it was on to California and disaster struck again.

As we headed down the highway, passing through Bakersfield, a trucker pulled along side us and waved — pointing to our trailer. We pulled off at the next exit to find smoke rolling out from behind the right front wheel of our trailer. Thank God for truckers. Upon further examination the bearing had failed and melted to the axle. Now these bearings had less than five-hundred miles on them. It was Friday at 5:00 p.m., all the parts places were closed, so we limped our trailer on three wheels to A Country RV Park approximately 2.8 miles away. What luck to find one so close! We couldn’t have asked for a better place. The staff were friendly and very helpful!

Saturday morning bright and early hubby started calling RV Parts places. He learned that an axle needed to be ordered and would take a few days to arrive, since the warehouses wouldn’t open until Monday. Being a glass half full type of guy, hubby went outside and re-inspected the damage, made a couple of phone calls and yanked out the trusty tools he always packs on our travels. After a visit to an RV parts place and several hundred dollars, he had the parts to fix the damage. Yea!!

Nope that was not all. As my hubby began work on the axel, I received a phone call informing us a good friend had a heart attack and was being rushed to the hospital. My heart sank. Back to the mechanical situation – a few bouts of expletives from hubby and four hours later we were on our way again.

Finally we arrived at our destination in California, visited a few days with relatives, and traveled on to Riverton, WY to meet up with friends, then home to Colorado without further complications. The daffodils, crocus, hyacinth and tulips in our yard are bravely poking their sprouts above ground. Spring is here along with it a lot more camping adventures (as soon as we get a new window). FYI, our friend survived her heart attack and is on the road to recovery! So as they say, (never figured out who they are… but…) all’s well that ends well. Thankfully! Have you ever had a road trip like this?

Posted in My Say What Blog and tagged A Walrock's Secrets, California, Colorado, Heart Attack, Las Vegas, New Mexico, o, Road Trip, RVIng, Wheel bearing by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.