Destination...

We arrived at our desert southwest destination around 1:00 today.  Uneventful, except for the idiot in an old silver Suburban in Tucson who was determined to move into my lane as he was coming out on an entrance ramp.  I couldn't move over, so I tapped the horn to make sure he knew I was there... he was out of lane and had to hit his brakes, traffic in the lane next to me, so I couldn't move over.  He floored it, came up alongside the motorhome and emphatically flipped me off.  That is nastier than a normal flip-off, along with an ugly sneer on his weaselly face.

I smiled and waved.  Apparently, that didn't make him feel any better, because he intentionally swerved his old Suburban at the motorhome.  I moved over to avoid him.  He sped off.

That was fun.  So, if anyone is in the Tucson area and sees a guy with dirty blond hair and a scrufty beard driving an older Suburban with paper plates, you might explain to him how that whole "merge" thing works.

Continuing north, you see Picacho Peak ahead...

And, proof that you are, indeed, in Arizona...

Saguaro cacti up the slope of the mountain.

The "infotainment" center in the motorhome, is more than a rear view camera: it also has the AM/FM radio, satellite radio, and full-featured GPS in it.  This is the screen I use most often on the road...

64 miles to go.  About 38 miles of city traffic, going through Phoenix...

Not being on a schedule, we planned our timing again, and never got below 60 mph as we rolled through.  And, not a single other person flipped me off on this stretch.  Some were down right polite as we moved from one lane to another.

There is construction happening at the exits around the RV park where we'll be here - instead of getting in the thick of that, we ran to the next exit and back-tracked on a secondary road.  Easy.  I pulled into the RV Registration Lane at the park...

It is, literally, right down the middle of the street in front of the office.  Really, it is marked on the pavement... still, there are people driving in who look at you like you are being a road-hog.  Maybe it is just "resting bitch face" on their part?

We can't get into the site we have reserved starting tomorrow, so for one night, we are in the "back 40"... these are pull-though sites... very narrow...

When I say "narrow," that is the neighbor's sewer connection right at the corner of our small concrete patio.  Nice ambiance.  ;-)

This is the park that doesn't allow cargo trailers in their monthly rentals.  We offered to pay the weekly rate, and stay back in the skinny sites for a couple months... nope.  They don't allow that.  Even though the price is higher than the monthly rate.  They will allow a cargo trailer in the "transient area"... for a week at a time...

There was one season we spent back there several years ago after having a "discussion" with the manager.  It is much more convenient to have the cargo trailer at our site: it is a place to keep our stuff (scooters, bikes, patio chairs) out of the weather.  They also have a storage yard next door, so they can charge you $60/month to store your cargo trailer.

This is only an issue that sticks in my craw (and I'm not sure what a "craw" is) the first couple days we are here.  I'm thinking about putting a still out in our patio area, and buying a ratty old car to put up on blocks when we get to our other site here... 'cuz there are no rules against that.  ;-)

Playin' On The Radio...

We left Deming, NM, this morning... it was 29º when we got up.  Heading west...

If you said, "It looks a lot like West Texas," you are right.  More high desert, around 4,500' elevation.

We were due to make a change to "the train" today: double towing isn't allowed in Arizona.  We pulled off the highway a couple miles before the Arizona state line, and unhooked the Honda from the motorhome.  Then, unhooked the cargo trailer from the Honda and hooked it up to the motorhome.  We'll be driving separate from here.  My view when I got behind the wheel of the coach...

We were considering driving into the Arizona and stopping to unhook at the first rest area, but that has been closed the last couple times we drove through here.  Back onto the road...

Yeah, it looks pretty much like southern New Mexico and west Texas.  Oh, and that rest area...

Yep, it's open.  No big deal - there was no traffic at the lovely hamlet of Steins, where we unhooked.  That place looked mostly abandoned.

For most of the ride, we have been practicing the art of conversation.  Occasionally, we listened to something on Joan's phone or satellite radio.  Riding by myself, I tried out the FM radio in the motorhome... we've had it two years now and have never listened to regular ol' radio.

This sign suggested a radio station - don't think I care to check it out...

The first station I found (well the radio's search feature found it) was a hard rock station: Jimi Hendrix, Yes... I kinda enjoyed it... 'till the station started to fade away.  Oh, yeah, that's what regular radio does when you're making miles.  Hit the search button and it came up on... New Country.  I only listened to 3 or 4 songs, but it might as well have been one long song; it all sounded pretty similar.  Search... Today's Top Hits.  I didn't recognize the first two songs... I guess I am out of the "Top Hits" loop?  Third song: Justin Bieber.  Search!  Mexican music - that's a lot of accordian.  Then, it was time for a stop.  Whew!

We pulled into a rest area.  I don't think we'll take Izzy for a walk here...

Snow on the top of some of the mountains here...

Checking the rear monitor, it is now the "All Cargo Trailer, All The Time," channel...

Joan is following behind in the CR-V.  Her view...

More mountains...

We could have made Phoenix today, but the timing would have put us going through the Valley of the Sun at afternoon rush hour.  We decided to pull into an upscale RV park in Tucson...

You can tell it is upscale by the nicer gravel.  ;-)  Oh, there are other amenities.  It is a very nice park; should be - it cost about 4 times more than where we stayed last night.  It's all about the averages.  Oh, and the close proximity to a Waffle House, 'cause my belly was telling me it was time for a Texas Cheesesteak Sandwich.

Back to the coach.  A short nap, then a walk for little Izzy.  She is now content to keep an eye on the dogs being walked...

The mountains of West Texas...

Really?  Well, it is mostly high plains, but there are mountains, too.

We hit the road, heading west, with the sun shining bright...

What's that?  The sun doesn't come up in the west?  We had to go a short distance east on the service road to get to the highway.  Heading west...

It was 31º when we got up this morning.  We cleaned up and had breakfast before hitting the road; and giving the sun a chance to warm things up a bit...

39º at 9:14.  Yep, that's brisk.  256 miles of west Texas to go.

Those mountains I mentioned...

Joan drove for a while, giving me a break.  And, more mountains...

Before we came to El Paso, we stopped at a rest area and switched drivers.  The traffic in El Paso can be crazy; we planned to roll through here on Sunday, hoping for less traffic...

Light and easy.  It is a good 35 miles going through El Paso.  We generally stop at Exit 0 (right at the Texas/New Mexico border) to gas up.  Not much headwind today, and an improvement in the gas mileage.  Between Las Cruces and Deming, there is a Border Patrol checkpoint...

The guy in the car at the front of this line was having a very bad day.  They made him pull over, took him inside, and 3 agents were going through his car.  The guy in the pickup in front of us had to show ID.  When we got to the agent, he asked, "Just you two in there?"

"Yes, sir."

"Have a great day."

Plenty of signs warning about strong wind and blowing dirt...

Fortunately, it was clear and a million today, with the light wind.

We called to get an RV site at a park in Deming.  Less than $14 for the night, with full hook-ups including cable and wifi, thanks to Passport America.  It isn't fancy, but it beats the heck out of the Walmart parking lot...

Yeah, we stopped at Walmart before heading to the park.

Jacks down, slides out, electric and cable plugged in.  And down before 3:30.  Still looking for the chocolate covered peanuts.

Even with all the gravel, it is reasonably quiet in the park, so Izzy wanted to go exploring.  I hooked on her leash and out we went...

"Is that me on the license plate?"

"Looks like they may have printed the plate a bit orange, so it isn't as cute as you, Izzy."  She was good with that.

Nice to not be "pushing against the wind" today.

A system...

It was 41º south of San Antonio when we got up this morning.  A gentle rain through some of the night... that meant all the utilities that were out were cold and wet.  I put on a jacket and went after it.

We were rolling by 9:00.  The traffic going through San Antonio on a Saturday morning was... easy.  For the record, San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the US; we have been through here a lot, so we have our system.  And, going through SA on a weekend seems to work for us.  It is a "spaghetti bowl" of turns and lane changes to get from I-37 to I-10 West; working together, we threaded the "train" through.

We did get to see one bit of driving expertise when a guy driving a Mercedes passed us (on the left), then proceeded to make an abrupt right across our nose and 4 other lanes of traffic, to just barely make the exit!  That maneuver, by the way, IS on the Texas State Driving Test.  I would give him an A-, because he had to brake hard, then accelerate to cut in front of the car that was in the proper lane for the exit.  Extra credit for style points, however.

The weather weasels got it right with the west wind - right on our nose.  Not much at first, building to the mid-teens.

Once through San Antonio, we pulled off at a picnic area to do a "walk around" and check all the tires and electrical connections.  All good.  I didn't see any picnic tables...

That's OK - it was 44º out.  Too cold for ants, so we passed on the picnic.  I consider everything west of San Antonio to be "West Texas."  Starting at about Mile Marker 565 or so.  That's a lot of West Texas.  I won't do my usual rant about it; let's just go with ruggedly desolate...

A lot of up and down terrain, which makes the cruise control work too hard on this rig.  To add to the fun...

Right on cue, the wind changed to a quartering headwind and increased.  The Aspect has plenty of power for the load, but the wind and hills dropped our fuel mileage average; instead of getting around 8 miles per gallon, we were burning around 8 gallons per mile.  Yeah, I'm kidding.  A little.  They make up for it with higher gas prices in this area.  Yeah, the area where they pull the gas/oil out of the ground.

You may have seen me write about the 2/2/2 Rule of traveling 200 miles or less per day, pull off the road by 2:00, and stay two days.  Or, if you are just passing through, have two drinks.  I am now going with the 3-30 Rule: try to keep the travel to 330 miles or less per day, pull off the road by 3:30, just have one drink, but three pieces of pizza and 30 chocolate covered peanuts.  I'm making this up as we go... could be: three drinks, then 30 minutes peeing.

More of West Texas...

In the spirit of Yosemite Sam...

... I am now the meanest hombre west of the Pecos.

We are down for the night in an RV park we haven't stayed in before.  And we have covered this stretch of highway a time or 50.  They said they have a site to accommodate our length - they gave us two sites for the price of one...

It is a gravel lot.  All we need is a place to park, hopefully quiet.  It is going to be 33º tonight, so I am glad to not have a hose out.  No cable TV, no TV channels to be had on the antenna;  I offered to put out the satellite qube, but Joan is happy streaming movies... we have faster internet with my phone as a hot spot than the park's wifi.

When we first started RVing (almost 30 years ago), finding a park with cable TV was a big deal.  Seems that many of them have dumped cable and gone with wifi... but it is rare that they have the speed necessary for streaming.  Yep, a first world problem.

And little Izzy?  She does fine traveling.  She comes out of her house for lunch, then goes back to it.  When we got down for the day, she wanted the door open so she could look out... "It is 50º out there - I'm not leaving the door open."  She decided to lay by her Momma...

Now, I need to find some chocolate covered peanuts.  ;-)

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On edit:  Little Izzy wanted to go for a walk.  The lady at the campground office said there would be a pretty sunset tonight, so I took my camera in my coat pocket.  No clouds, so not a lot besides the sun above the horizon line...

Izzy's fur looks like it is glowing in the last rays of the day...

One last look before we went back inside...

On the way in, Izzy looked at me and said, "Why is it so cold here?  We aren't staying here are we?"

Just tonight.