We've moved. We had a final good walk, and a fascinating sky. Note the arrow pointing our way: go north now, it seemed to be saying.
We had one final campfire, and intended to have one final outdoor-kitchen dinner so that he could cook his beloved hash outside. I have no photos of that, because the mechanical gods decided to have their laughs with us again: within minutes, the propane bottles for both our lantern and our (recently converted) Coleman stove ran out. We don't have more. The lantern's propane bottle usually lasts a full season. This one lasted no more than a month. Converting the stove to propane was easy and, I admit, a more convenient fuel source, but it appears that the fuel doesn't last nearly as long as the liquid Coleman fuel. I'm glad we still have the old cranky pump and tank, and the fuel. He cooked inside. We thought it was better than usual. Perhaps he's been cooking it at too high heat all this time.
The next morning we packed up, with a few minor electrical misadventures related to using the pickup to charge the trailer's batteries. Nothing that we couldn't overcome. Then, with considerable reluctance, we hit the road and headed for Arizona.
We had a fine tailwind the whole way. Traffic on the freeway seemed to be a bit down, but the biggest changes we could see were the nearly-empty parking lots. The Pullman, above, looked like it had no business although it has a large parking area where people can camp overnight. It's supposed to be a truck stop. It's competing with the major chains some 20 or 30 miles east. We stopped there a few times in earlier years, and liked the young (east) Indian couple running the place. We couldn't tell whether they were still open. We didn't stop, of course: we have plenty of road food, at least for now.
While we were setting up at our next place - a KOA campground with hookups and healthy distance between units - my darling groused yet again about the weight of the coolers that we originally brought to fill with citrus, as we have in previous years. Those coolers were filled with overflow pantry and refrigerator items when we left home. The plan was to have them empty by New Year's, when we would have been visiting our old ranch. Our route never took us that way. Once I knew we weren't going there, I began feeling free to stock up at Trader Joe's and other favorite shops I can't visit at home.
"These are magic coolers!" he groused. "We've been traveling with them for 6 months and they're no lighter now than when we started!" What an ingrate. I ask you: who wouldn't like such a gizmo in these times? So I promised to cook from them last night. I warned him that it would mean more partially-used containers in the refrigerator.
The puff pastry and the pancetta came from the freezer, actually. The pancetta I found while defrosting last week. It's traveled all the way with us from Duluth! I didn't finish it, but I finished the puff pastry.
Puff Pastry "pizzas" with marinated artichoke hearts, pancetta, and sun-dried tomato. I remembered the asparagus after the first pie was in the oven.
He was pleased at my keeping my promise. We were both pleased with the dinner. It will be interesting to see how the leftovers are today.
