From Phoenix to ….

Top of the Hill RV Park, near Boerne, Texas

We left Phoenix by 5:15 am, and it was still dark.  As we got south of Phoenix, the sun was coming up, and we were surprised at the inversion layer…much like we saw over Phoenix.  Stopped at a Walmart in Casa Grande to get eggs and spinach for our morning omelets, and to feed Skruffy at 7:30.  As a diabetic dog, she eats 12 hours apart.  In California that is 7 am and 7 pm.  In Florida we are shooting for 9 am and 9 pm…so we adjusted her to 7:30 when we got to Arizona (which is 6:30 California time), and 8:30 now that we are in Central time, and when we get to Eastern Time, it will be easy to got 9 and 9.

I “wonder” if any of my faithful blog readers remember this view from “their” new home?  

Southeaster Arizona had clear blue skies…and wonderful landscape.

Here is one way to “see” America…but you only get to see views from the rails…

New Mexico had nice blue skies too…

…until you get to town of another one of my blog followers.  But hey, I don’t think it is Las Cruces’ fault…I think much of the smog come up from the south where regulations are not nearly as strong as their are in the states.

And finally Texas…

…where 530 miles later, and a nights sleep in Van Horn, here we are.

So wait…what happened to 500+ miles of “scenery”?  Well, as we headed to Van Horn, it was getting dark.  This morning we left Van Horn at 5:45 am.  JUST as it was starting to have what would be a very pretty sunrise, we hit a fog/cloud bank.  For a bit I thought I was driving between San Francisco and Sacramento, the fog was that thick…well, almost that thick.  Then the temps dropped to as low as 27.  Ice built up on the mirrors, on the wipers, and the tire sensors went crazy with the cold weather.  Thankfully, the road was not slippery…but one never knows so speeds were kept to around 55 most of the way today.  What should have been a 6 1/2 hour trip, took well over 8.  Notice in the pictures above that the car is still hooked up, the slide is “in”, and we only have our electric plugged in.

   

   

So we have completed 1,700 of our 3,000 mile trip back home.  We will be here in Boerne (pronounced “Burney”) for two nights.  It is New Year’s Eve tonight, and we sure did not want to be out on the road very late…getting here after 2:00 was late enough.  It may or may not snow and/or have icy rain tonight, so I we decided to stay for two nights.  Tomorrow I will add water to our water tank, empty our holding tanks, and put everything back away except the electrical hookup.  We had the slide out for awhile today, but with possible ice, I did not want to have problems pulling it in tomorrow or Tuesday.  I also lowered the antenna to where I just get a clear picture…but low enough that I can drive if absolutely needed in case the ice is heavier than predicted. Tuesday we plan to have a late breakfast with my brother Jim and wife Carol in San Antonio, and then off we go…hoping that this is the worse of the weather…it is bound to be the coldest with temps hitting the low 20’s, perhaps the teens while we are here.  But we are staying warm with our DeLonghi radiant heater, and the motorhome’s propane heater periodically coming on and off.

Note:  Why the "...." in the title?  Because Marcia would not let me say Hell  😉

Lake Pleasant, Phoenix Arizona

Roadrunner Campground, Lake Pleasant near Phoenix Arizona

We had reservations for two days at the Roadrunner Campground at Lake Pleasant Regional Park, one of the Maricopa County parks in the Phoenix area.  Previously we had stayed at Cave Creek Regional Park and McDowell Mountain Regional Park.  I like all three parks, and all three have a different feel, and a different view.  Lake Pleasant and Cave Creek are closer to where Laurie, and her mother when she was living, than the other parks.  All of the Maricopa County Parks take reservations, and cost $30 for electric and water…although this looks like it is going up to $32 in the spring/summer of 2018.

This is the lake view we get from our camping site.  Since it is nearly New Years, the campground is nearly full.  It was the only campground within the County Parks System that I could get in for two days.  At Lake Pleasant there are two campgrounds, Roadrunner and Desert Tortoise Campgrounds…the latter of which has Semi-Developed (no electric or water) and Primitive Camping (just a fire ring) at $20 and $12 each, but I think the Primitive is for tents.

A number of folks have Christmas lights going on, including these two sites across from us.  One even played a movie outside in a large canopy tent, but thank goodness the movie ended fairly early.

And with the darkness (outside of Christmas lights), it was a good time to get a picture of the moon.

Laurie gave Marcia this nice picture of her and her mother Joyce, who passed away earlier this year while we were in Indiana and Michigan area…that changed our entire summer plans, and that was good with us.  Marcia and Joyce were friends for over 40 years.  We had a nice visit with Laurie on Thursday when we met at Cracker Barrel, and today when she came to the motorhome for awhile, and then we went to Logan’s Roadhouse for dinner.  It has been a challenge being the Executor of her mother and father’s trust, but she has done a great job handling it, has already sold her mother’s house, and things are starting to calm down in her life. 

As a follow up to last night’s post, I did call AAA to let them know about this scammer in Kingman City.  The hardest part was trying to decide which phone number to call, so I called the Internet Hoax Report line…and they transferred me to the proper person, who took down my report and thanked me for calling.  He said, “If he is not a true representative of AAA, our legal team will be getting in touch with him…if he is, my boss will be getting in touch with him.”  I assured him that I did not think he was a legitimate AAA representative, and that I did not expect to hear back at all…I just thought they should know.  He again thanked me.