It was an easy morning as we got ready to leave: we had put away most of our stuff, only water and electric to unhook. We took just the motorhome (leaving the car and cargo trailer at our site) to a nearby Fry's and topped off the gas tank. Bonus: we had a 30¢ per gallon discount, from our February and March purchases in the store. We like Fry's.
Back to the RV park, we hooked up the cargo trailer behind the coach, then Joan took the car to the office to get our deposit refund. While she was there, I checked lights and did a thorough walk-around. We were ready to roll at 9:30...
The RV park is looking pretty empty as we drove out...
Our timing was good as we drove (separate) through Phoenix - no slow downs or congested traffic. South of the city, some signs of the desert...
Yeah, the usual blowing dirt stuff.
And some scenery...
And more yellow signs...
Something new in the photo above: signs on both sides of the road, letting you know what to do in case of zero visibility due to dust storms. Fun.
Rufus rode with me in the motorhome; most of the time on my lap. He looked up at me and said, "I thought we left that lady behind, but... she's following us!" The boy has a sense of humor. I let him know that we'd all be riding together again after today. "Do I still get to sit in your lap?"
"Yes, of course."
"Oh, OK; we can let her ride with us then."
Funny boy.
The wind was calm from Phoenix, almost to Tucson; then a crosswind, turning to a headwind as the road went from SSE to East. The road was mostly decent until we got into New Mexico. Tomorrow, we'll hook the car and cargo trailer behind the coach and continue rolling east. No hard and fast schedule. We did about 300 miles today; lost an hour with the time zone change and will lose another hour as we get into Texas a ways. That's a good number, but it always depends on the weather and roads. We know this road; it seems that there is always a portion of it that needs repair.
We prefer to drive together, but don't want to take the chance that some law officer in Arizona will decide that our configuration of double towing isn't to their liking. We keep our phones on and both have AirPods for hands-free communication. It works.
When we got to the RV park today, we took the time to swap out the cargo trailer and put it behind the CR-V. We'll drive separate to the nearby Flying J, where we both need gas. Once topped off, we'll hook the Honda and cargo trailer behind the coach, and head east.
Speaking of the RV park, we are in a KOA in Lordsburg, NM. We considered making it a short day and stopping in Tucson, but decided to get into New Mexico so we don't have to drive separate for another day. There is a nice KOA in Tucson, connected with Lazy Days RV Sales - paved roads, a nice pool and hot tub, level sites, a concrete patio with a table and chairs, a restaurant. This KOA in Lordsburg is the second crappiest KOA we've stayed in (KOA is generally not our first choice); the crappiest is in Amarillo, Texas. The sites here aren't even close to level - we had to put blocks under our front tires and all of our leveling jacks. I had to use every inch of electrical cable to reach the power pedestal - the sites are "shared utilities", so the site next to us will have their water and electric at the back of their site (where it belongs), and for us, it is all the way forward in the site. If I had pulled any further into the site to get us closer to the utilites, it would have been uphill to the sewer connection.
We called ahead to reserve a site... there were a LOT of RVs on the road today (first of the month, the snowbirds are heading for home). The guy told Joan that we wouldn't need a reservation... I can see why. We pulled in at 4:00 local time (after losing that hour). A bunch more stuff came in after us, and they still have empty sites. We could have driven another hour and stayed at an RV park in Deming (where we have stayed many times) that would have been level and 1/3 the price. I was ready to call it a day. We thought we'd give this one a try. Won't need to do that again.
It has been entertaining watching stuff come in. One Class C drove around the loops three times, pulling through sites. I can only assume he has concerns about the sloping sites (and no leveling jacks). A 5th wheel pulled into that same site FOUR times; then getting out, looking around to see how to get more level, then making another loop. They put blocks under the wheels on one side... it was the high side. Yeah, he drove off the blocks and the wife moved them around to the other side. They are now level side to side, but I don't see any way they'll get the front end of that 5th wheel high enough to get level.
Joan said, "I think we were pretty efficient when getting set up." She's right. I told her what we'd need for blocks to keep our front wheels from hanging in the air (yes, the site is that unlevel). She set the blocks by the wheels, I backed up the length of the blocks, she slid them in place, and I drove up on them. Done. We put the leveling jacks down and I set up utilities. Joan put out the slides and set us up inside. I'm sure in our early RVing years that we provided some campground entertainment. ;-)
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