Monday 25th January 2016
We decided to bust it out of Miami a bit early. The WEST was calling. We needed a change in the humidity level. Miami 95% versus Yuma 15%. We wanted to get back to that moisture sucking nose bleeding dry climate.
Dean found this shedded snakeskin wrapped around one of the motorhome jacks as he was packing up outside stuff. We kept our fingers crossed hoping the snake had not somehow slithered inside the rig for the upcoming trip.
We had hoped to spend some time in New Orleans but it just kept chucking it down with rain. We pounded out those miles and soon were in Texas, 1250 miles and about halfway to Yuma.
Finally we seemed to be out of the rain pattern. Dean lets me know about a hundred miles out when he needs to fuel up and I have a couple of apps to find the cheapest price on our route. Hey, when you are pumping 90- 100 gallons (340-380 liters) of diesel, a few cents a gallon can make a difference.
I found this fuel station in Texas and paid $1.57 a gallon (cheapest for many years). Mind you it was very close to many refineries. It had a really cool store attached. Dean is holding a mega sized cup (we were in Texas after all). I think you get free refills.
The store was packed with just about everything.
A fancy container just to hold the Coke bottles.
A big selection of snake proof boots. Texas has plenty of Rattlers.
We stopped in San Antonio for a couple days to visit with our good friends Linda and Nick. We shared some good memories from our time in the Air Force back in the 80’s.
Back on the road and we made it to Tucson, Arizona in record time. It was time for a rest. We stayed in a nice park with a lovely warm swimming pool. We also managed to get quite a bit of pickleball in. Thank goodness no sign of the snake.
It was great to meet up with our 4 special Canadians. Donna, Tom and Jan and Tom we hope you are having a great time in Mexico. Get all the kinks worked out so we could possibly take a trip there this winter.
Donna gave Dean another french braiding lesson. Dean did the one on the right. I do believe he is getting the hang of it.
Quite a few people at the park had orange trees. I bartered a couple of bars of soap for a gazillion oranges.
Using our fancy squeezer Dean has supplied us with blood orange and tangerine juice. We have a small glass in the morning, then a nice large one with vodka in the afternoon. The best way to get your vitamin C.
Why Oh why did I take a picture of Why. (Population 116) Why, because we had to pass through it to get to Organ Pipe National Monument. Sorry, I just had to do that.
These are the Organ Pipe Cactus. Nice healthy ones on the left and some skeletons on the right.
We even saw a crested Saguaro. Of all the multitude of these cacti we have seen over the years this is only the second crested one.
We hiked to an old abandoned mine in the park and in this little shack we saw an ancient bath tub. Dean did not really want to get in the tub.
I think I look better taking a desert bath.
We got to visit more good friends. Dean used to work with Maxine in Grants Pass. It seems like forever since we lived there but at 12 years that was the longest we had ever stayed in one place in over 44 years.
A nice stopover in the desert. The evening skies were beautiful. On to Yuma.
You are really seeing the country have a great time
Carol
We sure do love this lifestyle. Hope you managed to avoid the bad storm up north.
Oh Rose it’s lovely to hear all your news. You’ve managed to keep away from all that snow then? We have heard all about hear in Oz. So glad you didn’t come up against that snake I would have been have nightmares or maybe not even getting off to sleep. We leave here on Friday for home and maybe the bad weather. Eric and I went down to Melbourne for a week as well, I think he walked my legs off, I don’t think there was a stone left unturned. Are you planning on meeting up with the lads? Lots of love to you both and happy touring. xxxGina
I bet you have had a great time in Oz. It sure seems a little early to be heading back home. I know you have another grand baby waiting on you though. Gotta be tough to them on either side of the planet. Going to see our lads in April. Will have been a year and four months. Thank goodness for the phone and FaceTime.
Sure glad you made the long haul out west safely. I loved the 150s for your deisel fuel. We filled up tester day for 1.56 gal. Reg. Tough on your oil stock though. Hope to see you sometime this summer.
Keep safe with all that bad weather you have up there. Hope we manage to latch up this year.
Sorry we missed you this year.
Rhonda and Duke
Hope to see you next time around.