Rolling in...

We left Benson this morning, with less than 200 miles to do for the day... yes, a much better schedule.  It was a beautiful day in the desert, even though we woke up to temps in the upper 30s.  It was a steady warm-up through the sunny morning.

We stopped at a Flying J along the way to fuel up, and I made an observation: we have not had to wait for a diesel pump anywhere along the way (1350 miles).  We do use Flying Js when convenient, because they have RV lanes.  In years past, there have always been other RVs at the pumps... not so this trip.  Most Flying Js have two RV lanes, and we were usually the only ones there.  Likewise, every RV park we stayed in was not full... in the middle of the "Snowbird Season."  We have not seen as many RVs on the road, either.  Seems to me that there are simply fewer people out traveling for the winter.  The park we are in for the next week is less than half full.  There is some major highway construction nearby, but nothing that interferes with getting to this park.

It was 70º when we pulled in about 12:30.  This park has someone who comes out to make sure you are parked in the right site AND the exact distance they require from the utilities.  When I questioned that a few years ago, I was told, "It is for a fire lane - we are required to maintain that distance."  It seems silly to me, but they have lines drawn in the gravel with chalk where you have to put your tires... it makes it WAY further from the utilities, so we have to add an additional sewer hose and fresh water hose, and make sure that the sewer hose does not touch the ground (an Arizona law).  The sites in this part of the park are plenty wide, but you give up about 1/3 of that width, by having to park so far away from the utility box.  It's easier to smile and say, "Okey-dokey," than argue about made-up rules.

----------------------

Our little girl is growing up!

No, not our daughter; she has been a grown up for a lot of years... I'm talking about little Izzy.  When we are traveling, she is usually between us, on the console, or in her carrier in the back seat.  If we pull in somewhere to stop, she always goes to her carrier without being told.  Just what she did today.  Apparently, we were taking too long to get her out of the truck... I left the driver's window down to give her some fresh air.  A few minutes later, as I finished on the port side of the RV, I saw this...

Yes, the little imp had jumped out the truck window and was waiting at the door of the RV... she is very content in the HitchHiker, and I guess we took too much time getting set up.

But, we are down for a week or so, and are excited to see Steph and Dan!  Home, sweet home...

--------------------------

Other exciting news...

We were in early enough to go out for lunch and stop to get the truck washed - Big Red is shiny red again.  No, that is not the big news.  My buddy, Raymond, from Canon Customer Service responded to my e-mail from yesterday.  Here is the big news...

"The quality inspection of product functions has been completed and your product will be ready for delivery shortly."

Yes, the binoculars are done!  While I have no reason to doubt them on this (insert rolling-eyes emoticon here), I will believe it when the binoculars are delivered.  We'll see how long that takes.  There was never any update on Canon's repair status site, no mention that the binoculars were actually being repaired... it went from "being inspected" to "completed."  And, I only got that update after sending them yet another e-mail.  Raymond said they must have completed the repair just after I sent the e-mail.  (Yep, insert another BIG OL' ROLLING EYES emoticon.)  That seems to have been the timing for everything to do with this frustrating experience.  Speaking of smiling and saying, "Okey-dokey." ;-)