Sorry to leave those of you hanging that might have been on the edge of your seats wondering.....what happen? After leaving Abilene we headed to El Paso looking for more dry ice, what a hard thing to find when you need it. The ice cream was starting to get soft and the dry ice we got in Jefferson, Texas was about gone and panic was starting to set in. At a gas stop in Plateau, Texas a truck came whizzing by and clipped my mirror on the drivers side of the coach. After about an hour of exchanging info and the bottom of my wooden cane and a small baseball bat of the truckers and a roll of duck tape we were off with a mirror that was just usable. Oh yes and one bungee cord! We searched the internet and called store after store and those few that at one time carried dry ice no longer carried it for whatever reason. Finally late in the day in El Paso Bev found a ice distributor on the internet and called them. They only delivered ice and did in fact carry dry ice so we were waiting to find out where the last truck out was and try and meet him somewhere in the city. After a bit of back and forth on the phone Bev told the gal we'd head to the plant and meet anyone if that would be possible and that's what we ended up doing. We were told to go to the back because the front would be locked up since it was after hours so we did and meet two fella's in the back. They asked how much we wanted (they came in 5 pound blocks) so I said 15 pounds and he came back with 3 blocks very solid so Dave started putting them to use. I gave the guy $20 and said keep it and thanks.................he said do you want another 5 pounds and I said no that's for you. He said wait I'll get another to which I said "free" and he said yes and ran off. Not sure, but I hope he keep the tip that was meant for him.
We ended up eating dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant in El Paso and decided to just hit the road rather than try and find someplace to park it for the night, I'm usually not in favor of night driving anymore but oh well. Early into New Mexico we caught some rain and it started to get nasty so we ended up in a truck stop and parked with the big rigs and got some sleep, but did make it most of the way through the small part of NM before we stopped. The next morning I woke about 5:30 am and showered and jumped back into the pilots seat and closed up slides with Bev still in bed and Dave dozing. The ice cream was doing great on the new dry ice, those blocks where just what the doctor ordered and had gift froze solid in no time. We pulled into Phoenix and home about noon and had a wonderful reunion with the kids and grand kids, it was good to be home but we sure had a good time on the road...............we both agree!
As it turns out we were very over zealous when making the ice cream purchase, we bought a 3 gallon tub and a couple of additional 1/2 flavors for the party. The ice cream was a huge hit but as of this writing we still have about a gallon left and two of the 1/2 gallons..............I could have gotten by with a couple of 2 or 3 half gallons and just put them in the coach freezer and save $150 in dry ice and $50 in ice cream but what the hell, Jack's only 4 years old once! By the way $1.99 a pound at Hy-Vee and $1.59 in Jefferson, Texas and at the ice plant........$1.00 a pound, the only place to buy it and a more solid block too!
The birthday party was a good reunion with friends and family, we had a good first day back and have been going ever since. Dave has settled into the spare bedroom and has already painted the other bedroom and is working on the Jack and Jill bathroom between the two, it's been good having him here with us and look forward to a few more weeks of good times together.
Our reunion at church was bitter sweet, it was good to be back in the church we enjoy so much but pastor Dwight was out of town so we wait another week to hear one of his wonderful sermons. Pastor Norman personally welcomed us back and that was very nice of him we sure do enjoy both of them and our time there. We had to rush our meeting during and after church with our good friends Fred and Ruth but will make it up soon. We hope and pray all goes well for them too!
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