The Time Has Come and We’re Ready

Walmart, Gallup, New Mexico

On Tuesday, Apr. 12^th it was an early start. Last night after we arrived here in Quartzsite and on into the wee hours of the morning, the winds rocked us. None so bad as when Bill woke at midnight and closed the remaining two open windows. Gibbs and I had gone up to bed at 9:30. Bill said the trailer was really rocking from the winds between 12 and 2 am. I’m glad I slept through it. 

Our morning at Roadrunner BLM

When we woke this morning at 5, it was still windy and that isn’t a surprise if you watch the weather forecasters like we do. Gibbs slept on until 6 but us adults couldn’t stop our minds enough to drop off. We all got up at 6. LOL  While laying in bed, I’d come to the conclusion that I needed to cook my 3 or 4 lbs. of ground beef tonight after we stop. It was thawed and it is something that I make a lot of meals out of. Since we were up so early, I started cooking it right away. 😊 Sometimes my brain works!

Ready for today's journey

Once it was pre-packaged, back into the the freezer it went. It won’t refreeze but that’s okay, they just need to be kept cold. Bill boiled the kettle for my tea and his coffee and we relaxed for a bit.  We both got washed up and pulled out the long pants! When I took Gibbs out for a miniscule walk, I had to really dig my heels in and hang onto the little bum! That wind made it feel colder than the 57F/14C and without full sun, brrr.

Some of our trip signs 
It was an easy route with no wrong turns 😃

We heard of a cold front moving on through so that is what this must be. Thankfully, the winds are coming from the SW so it will be at our backs for most of today’s travel. We pulled up stakes after packing a lunch cooler and drove to La Posa South at 8:05 to meet Gayle and John. We’ve set our gps for today’s destination. They joined us before 8:30 and we hit the road.😊 

Sights along the road
The top Class C that we passed was at Roadrunner Grocery yesterday
and we noticed all these pictures appliqued to canvas boards
and attached all over his rv.
Creative, I must say!

Bill led the first leg of our trip and once we approached Phoenix, we eased onto Exit 124A and took the 303 Loop around the city to I-17N. That was smooth. We planned to stop at the Sunset Point Rest Area for lunch but it was on the west side of I-17N and was blocked off to us today. You can read below about why that was the case and also why the southbound traffic was backed up for at least 10 miles. It’s a horrible story and yet we are still grateful we were going north.

So sad

The southbound traffic was backed up for miles

We traveled on until we stopped south of Flagstaff at a Pilot for a coffee and lunch. I’d made egg salad bun sandwiches so we ate those in the Suite and Gayle made their lunch in their Montana before we hit the road with John in the lead this time. It was a fair bit of climbing on I-17N with grades of 5 & 6% for about 7 miles. It was slow going but just fine.

We saw more saguaros today than we've seen all winter
We are always sad to see our last ones for the season

The scenery changed umpteen times, well, not quite, but we said goodbye to our Saguaro and other cacti although we’ve never seen so many Saguaros in one section! They were beautiful and my camera is full of pictures. ♥ Then, on our route we were seeing flat plains and then green evergreen forests. This is always a nice ride. 😊

This is a beautiful drive,
worth the inclines and declines 💓

Catching I-40E just before 2, we started watching for a rest area but with no luck. If we’d planned a longer stop, we could have pulled off into Winslow and stood on the corner again but we bypassed it this time. It was a ‘fine sight to see’ in 2020 with friends. Great memories! Around 3:30, we pulled into a Maverick station and fueled up once more for $4.75/gallon. We’ll take it!

More landscape changes

Bill led again and we soon found our way to our first nightly stop at a Walmart in Gallup, NM. We jumped ahead an hour, thus confusing our puppy, but also making it later than it would have been on AZ time. The clouds had moved in and with the elevation around 5700’, down and up, our temperatures were nose-diving too. The winds making it feel colder still. Back home is warmer than this right now!

Following John and Gayle, Bill
pointed out the snow-capped mountains behind Flagstaff
I love the top right photo best
with the mountains, the overpass and their Montana

We reached our destination at 5:15 pm MT and were a bit confused when only some of our clocks changed to an hour later. With some researching, it seems that Gallup, NM’s time zone is MDT. Mountain Daylight Time. LOL, my brain hurts! The Walmart parking lot was quite full at this time, of course, every one and his mother, brother, aunt and Grandma were picking up their week’s groceries. 😊

Rocky cliffs and the flat planes
in different dress under the cloudy skies

There were a fair number of rv’s as well, spread around the large lot. There might have been 1 spot long enough for one of us but we wanted to be as close to each other as possible. Across the lot, near the entrance road, W. Maloney, was a gravel lot with room for both of us. We thought we’d stop there until two spots came open but then with the forecasted strong winds tonight, we were wiser to say here snuggled near the big transports. No reefers.

I  missed the state sign, it wasn't over the highway
like it is going southbound but these beautiful rock formations
tell you we have arrived in New Mexico

For supper, I didn’t have to thaw anything since everything is thawed already. It is all still very cold, which is a saving grace. We had bags that were melting and leaking out of the fridge when I started opening things up. Water on the floor and in a couple of the trays. “Hold it together”, I told myself, “just wipe it up and move forward”. ☹

What a good little traveller!
Bottom left: Bill noticed the CN (Canadian National) railway car
Not the city's welcome sign but it'll do!

Let me tell you, I came close to saying to heck with all this and just getting rid of the meat. It’s only the first night on the road! I pulled out 2 huge butt pork chops and the last of a bag of what used to be frozen corn. That was supper. One boiled in a pot and the other fried in my biggest fry pan. I knew I wouldn’t eat all of mine but it got 2 things out of the freezer that had to be cooked/eaten.

Just before starting supper

That was a big pork chop!

We gave J & G the freezer packs to pop in their freezer, 3 of which are theirs. 😊. We’d picked up 2 7 lb. bags of ice at the first stop this morning and they are holding up good. Maybe 2 more in the morning before leave here. After dishes, we discussed tomorrow’s travels between us and I texted Gayle to see what they think. The boys are tired, Bill and John, from the driving.

Last time here, we parked where that white suv is
all 3 of us. 😁

This time, we snug in here with the big boys
protected from the winds

We travelled 406 miles today and that was plenty. None of us are up to the long driving days anymore. This was a good day and will be a quiet evening.

Gayle took this one while
we led
Does the Blue Boy make our butt look big?
I didn't think so! ♥
Good night!

Thank you for popping by. Take some meat when you leave! 😊 hahahahaha