We be rolling...

Steph and Dan came by our RV site for hugs and good-byes.  Yeah, it always gets a little teary - we love to spend time with them.  Now, they can get back to their routine.  There was some discussion that they may have come by to make sure we are leaving town... April Fools.  ;-)

It is going to be a busy weekend in the Phoenix area: the Final Four is going on at the stadium in Glendale; expected to bring over 70,000 people to Phoenix.  There is a Final Four Fan Experience going on in downtown Phoenix.  The Pride Parade (another huge event).  And, opening day tomorrow for the Diamondbacks - the game is sold out.  Because of this, we expected heavy traffic while going through Phoenix...

Not even a slow-down as we drove past the downtown area.  South of Phoenix...

The least amount of traffic we have ever encountered on this stretch.  They made up for it, but being thick with big trucks and RVs.  The weather has been windy, so I'm thinking some have sat for a day or three and are now on the move; with it being the first of the month, and snowbirds heading north and east, we encountered scads of RVs.

It was nearly bumper-to-bumper as we drive through Tucson.  Separately, by the way, since double towing isn't legal in Arizona.  I missed having my Honey by my side...

And, I think she missed having her chauffeur; she isn't used to hours behind the wheel.  At the far end of Tucson, we stopped for fuel and a bite to eat.  The gas station was a zoo, but I managed to get a spot amongst the car pumps.  It took some maneuvering to get out of there; we pulled back to the truck parking, backed into a slot, and got Izzy some lunch...

She thought she wanted to go for a walk; I promised her a walk when we got down for the night.

We kept seeing this warning sign...

A warning for high winds.  Joan was thinking it was left over from the past couple days - the wind wasn't bad.  Climbing out of Tucson...

Again, lots of truck and RVs, and not all able to maintain speed on the uphill climbs.

The elevation is around 4,000' in this area; some of the pecan orchards are just starting to leaf out...

Rugged terrain; then, we are in New Mexico...

This is always fun...

This was the smallest RV I saw today...

We originally thought we'd stop for the night in Bowie, AZ, but it was still early, so we pushed on.  Lost an hour when we crossed into New Mexico, and rolled into a park in Deming before 4:30.  The didn't have a pull-through site, but a back-in works fine...

We drove separate through this part of New Mexico, even though double towing is allowed, knowing that we'd have to unhook at this RV park anyway.  I called when we stopped in Tucson to reserve a site.  The lady that checked me in said she had to turn a bunch of people away... "And, they weren't happy!"  I got a site; I am happy.  It isn't fancy, but you can't beat the price, thanks to Passport America.  When I was done plugging in to electric and cable, little Izzy reminded me about my promise to take her for a walk...

"Yes, my little furry girl - we're going for a walk."  She is happy.  North of us in Albuquerque, they are getting snow.  It is going to be chilly tonight (in the 30s), but no precip is predicted... I am happy.  We'll hook the "train" up tomorrow and be able to drive together.  And, speaking of trains, we can hear the nearby trains rolling by... Joan likes train noise.  So, everybody is happy!

Heading to Big Bend National Park.  We haven't been there before.  Researching, I saw that it is the 2nd least visited National Park, so (apparently) a lot of people haven't been there.