Earth, wind, and fire...

More music related stuff today.  Sorta.

We are heading back to the Tropical Tip.  Got to see our kid and son-in-law once more this morning before heading out.  A little teary, but good to hit the road with a fresh hug.

Little Izzy looking out the door one last time here...

We planned to top off the fuel tank in Eloy at the Flying J.  50 miles from there we got this warning sign...

Can't read it?  It says: "Semi Fire at MM200 - expect lengthy delays".  Joan pulled up her maps app - yep, traffic is backed up for miles.  There are not a lot of options in this part of the country for alternate roads, but Joan and Jill (the GPS) worked out a plan: a state highway east, then one south, and we will miss the backed up traffic.  We'll also miss our planned gas stop.  Fortunately, we came by a new Sam's Club with a gas station - good price and very easy access.  We topped off and headed down the two-lane...

Not much to look at.  The detour brought us back to I-10 near Picacho Peak...

We figured we only went a few miles further with the detour, but likely saved an hour or more in stopped traffic.  And, the last of the Saguaro cacti that we will see for a while...

Checking weather, we were expecting dry conditions and a tailwind.  That is what we had for the first 140 miles or so.  Then...

Yep; we weren't expecting that.  The wind changed to a quartering headwind.  Of course.  Nothing like we had on that stretch between Palm Springs and Laughlin a couple weeks ago.  Light rain...

We did drive through several rain cells, but nothing significant.  An occasional gust here and there, but the wind wasn't awful.  Looking south, the clouds do look ominous...

The weather app showed that they were getting snow in the elevations above 5,000'.  Our temperature didn't get below 51º; quite a change from the 80s we've seen the past couple weeks.

Just before Benson, AZ, we ran into stopped traffic...

Shoving two lanes of traffic into one.  The signs said "Merge"... apparently, the people in the vehicles weren't playing nice.  We weren't stopped long; did run into several other construction zones where the traffic was down to one lane, but the traffic wasn't thick - it was easy to merge...

Into New Mexico, land of enchantment and blowing dust...

Fortunately, the light rain kept the dust down...

Made it to Deming, NM, for our overnight.  This is the same park where we got hammered with hail last October.  Joan said, "The weather doesn't look great - hope we don't get a repeat of the hail."

With the satellite radio in the motorhome, we were able to play some music trivia.  No one won millions of bonus points today, though.  ;-)