Lots of RVers that are contemplating a long trip, wonder, how do you deal with your mail. If we are going to be in one park most of the winter, we have had our mail forwarded there, the park usually will accept the mail. Daily we check to see if we have goodies, just like when we are home in the stick built.
However, in years where we hope to be "running" (aka traveling a lot), we have our mail forwarded to Son # 1 and his fabulous wife. She collects it for us, reviews it with us and mails it to us when and where we like. We have had 2 deliveries this trip so far, one while we were in a park (they accept mail) in Las Cruces for the holidays and one just the other day. The delivery here was done in care of General Delivery, Bouse, Arizona. They hold the mail for 30 days, you show your identification, they turn over your mail. Pretty easy, you must verify, however, that the post office you want to use does in fact accept General Delivery mail, as not all will.
The other day, we drove over to Bouse to collect our General Delivery mail. When we arrived this is what we saw, the "B" mountain.
Many of the towns we are visiting have "lettered" mountains. Saw one in Parker the other day, yep, a "P". The one for Quartzsite, is, yep, a "Q". The one in Las Cruces was an "A". I have not discovered why the "A" (yet).
So, we arrived in Bouse, asked a local merchant where the post office was, (was easier and more informative than asking the GPS the same question) and of course, knowing us, Man also inquired as to places to grab some lunch.
Here he is, collecting our mail in Bouse.
Man did indeed find the name of a place to grab some grub. The merchant he asked for recommendations said, well, you don't want to go to this place, nor this place, but this place (name withheld to protect the guilty) is "alright".
So, we went over to the "alright" restaurant. All was sorta alright, until we got our meals, which included fries. Now, don't get me wrong, the food was ok, not great, but, not bad.
UNTIL:
We poured ketchup on the fries and on my burger, from a bottle with a BRAND name on it. (Brand name not reported here to protect the innocent.)
Break time:
Cooking lesson here on Reflections. Ketchup is made from tomatos and a long list of yummy spices and stuff. Every recipe I have looked at for ketchup (disclaimer, I have NOT looked at that many recipes) calls for sugar, white, brown or a combo of both.
And, now, back to our story line:
So, we poured ketchup on the fries and burger. Took a bite of the burger, mmmm, ewww. Took a french fry, dipped into the ketchup, heavy on the dip, thank you. MMMM, more ewwwwwwww.
I am ashamed to admit it took several fries and a couple of large bites off that hamburger to fully appreciate the, mmmm, unusual taste of this ketchup. And, it took me close to 3 minutes to figure out what the heck was wrong (not withstanding the fact that the texture was ALLLLL wrong). Actually, Man nailed it first, NO SUGAR.
After another taste or two (ya, I know, more, ewwwwwwwwwwww), I believe I have come up with the new recipe this "alright" restaurant uses for ketchup: Tomato sauce as the base, mix with tomato juice till it will squeeze out of the BRAND name's ketchup bottle. And, NO sugar. NONE!
I know, I have told you, my faithful readers and friends that THE Trip is all about stepping out of our comfort zone, but this is taking things a step too far. Don't be messing with my ketchup!
Mail retrieved over by the B mountain, lunch over with (with the taste of tomato juice in my mouth that I could NOT get rid of), Man and I headed back to camp. Along the way, we took a small hike. Come on back and visit soon, I'll tell ya all about that in another post.
*Want to thank Nita for guiding us through our first General Delivery mail call!
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12 comments:
Good to know about the mail. We travel quite a bit, sometimes for extended periods, so this is useful information. Sorry about your unfortunate ketchup experience. FYI, don't get coffee in Kingman, AZ. Trust me on this.
Carol We did the same think this year. Since we were not going to stay at one place this year we have our mail fowarded to our son and he sends it once a week I talk to him and he tells me what is there and then if we need it he sends it. Has sent all tax info. Working on that now. Cold here in Texas Not good
Cynthia, I will trust you, is there a specific, mmm, name or store I need to be aware of, or is it the entire town?? If entire town, they have our prayers and empathy, eh?
Ron, we have only needed 2 mail calls since November 15th, not counting drug scrips. My tax stuff is still back in SE Michigan, I will deal with that in a few weeks. Lots of time on that! And, ohhh, cold here too, earmuff weather today.
The letters on the mountains usually is a reference to the local High School. Loving your trip. Keep on writing.
Really Myrna, well, that makes perfect sense then. Thanks for the tidbit of info!
As far as the coffee thing goes, I hate to blame the entire town, but we looked around for a place to have coffee. There seemed to be few options. We stopped in at this one diner that we thought might have something to offer. The woman at the counter was very nice. She said she'd put a new pot on for us. Let's just say, if our coffee was from the new pot, I don't even want to think about what was in the old pot. My husband and I have had a lot of coffee over the years. THAT was the worst. We still talk about it, and that trip was at least ten years ago.
BTW, if you have a chance, check out Oatman,AZ. Definately unique. I believe it's on Rt. 66. I wouldn't take the RV over those roads though, just a car or truck. Make sure you have a full tank of gas. Oh, and if you have a fear of mules, it's not the place to visit. Again, trust me on this...
Cynthia, OK, got it! No java for Carol or Man in Kingman, and Oatman if I can run faster than the mules! LOL
Hubby swears by McD's coffee...says they almost always are good there...so if in Kingman AZ and your desperate try theirs. Oatman is an awesome little town...don't miss it if possible.
Loved this! As a ketchup loather who scolds loved ones for drowning the flavor of whatever they're covering with the detestable stuff (not that I would scold you, of course) I might have had a smidgen of a smirk on my face. In fact, I just may have to "arrange" a stop there some day...
And don't order omelets at truck stops near Norman, OK either unless you're on a low cholesterol diet. Ours arrived without yolks. We've yolked about it for years.
Quick tip on General Delivery Mail:
Always pick a city with one Post Office, if you pick a larger city that might have a number of Offices, only one receives G.D. and of course you'll never go to the right one first.
Oh, thanks PalmsRV! Great hint!
I also wondered about your mail, so that is solved. Enjoyed Nolichuky's comments (I don't use ketchup either). Anyway, loved the little post office.
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