So Long, Podner! Last Longish Drive, We’re Baacck!

Pilot Knob RV Resort

It was a chilly start on Monday when we all pushed ourselves to get up at 6:30. We could hear the wind from the bedroom, whistling around the slides. It was 46F/8C but the sun was making its ascent so we knew it would be another nice day. We highly recommend this out of the way campground if you are coming this way with a rig. They are talking about full hookup sites so I don’t know what changes that could entail

Our morning start up looked like this
and just improved as the day went on.

Just at the edge of our site we saw this fenced in area.
I ventured over for a picture. It's just a really deep hole
that they've filled in as best they could, with boulders.
Saves a few broken ankles, I'll bet!

We were packed up and pulling out of Tombstone on US-80 at 7:35. Turning onto AZ-82 first, we eventually caught AZ-90. It is always an enjoyable trip into this old western town. The costumes alone worn by town folk and staff, not to mention visitors like us, are worth a gander indeed. Lawmen should all dress like that! ♥ 

Goodbye Tombstone! 

It was a pleasant drive as we next got onto I-10 through Tucson and then headed west on I-8. Enough lanes that it was no trouble although they were working on improving the interstate.

We began to see lots of Teddybear Cholla cacti
and this lovely Saguaro.
It doesn't count though, in Tucson, could
have been planted there.

Before long, we were passing by where our friends, Nancy and Ken, stay for the winter months. Picacho Peak is a recognizable mountain here in the southwest and their park is a lovely one. We waved but are on a schedule and didn’t stop on this trip. It’s hard with a 40’ rv behind you to pop in for a visit. 😊 Then, we started to see desert Saguaros. I saw 3 in Tuscon but not sure if they were planted as décor.

Picacho Peak Mountain

It truly spells Arizona to us when we see all of the native cacti. ♥ I love seeing the arms and legs sticking out in all directions on the Saguaro, often I laugh as my imagination runs wild. It makes us sad to hear that the extensive heat of the past summer caused the demise of many but good to see so many healthy ones have survived. They are hundreds of years old!

Some are the worse for wear and trying to zoom in to capture
sure distorted the one on the left even more.
They still amaze me, how they remain standing.

These definitely count for me!
Naturally grown out here.

We drove through a bit of a dust storm and although it means clean up inside, it isn’t snow and the roads are bare. 😊 A large tumbleweed which I missed on camera, was no match for the likes of Black Beauty and got demolished when it crossed our lane. Then it cleared and all we saw was southwest beauty again.  We stopped for fuel in Eloy, the skydiving town, and Bill got .08¢ off in the Pilot using his card. 

I've mentioned in past posts how down here in the southwest
you can park to boondock almost anywhere.
Here is a prime example. State owned property, if you
can get in to it with your rig, you can stay. 

At 11:30, we see the sign Rest Area – 26 miles. Good, that will be a break for Bill plus lunch. We get to it and it’s closed. LOL, so we ate our sandwiches while driving. That works for a while but soon we had to stop for those nature breaks. 😊 Luckily, there was another one not too far down the highway, near Roll, called the Mohawk Rest Area. We are 53 miles from Yuma.

This was a cool drive. I took a video and posted it on
my Facebook page. Can't seem to get them to download on here.
Love hearing the comments from back home. ♥

We saw these unique solar panels coming into the
foothills of Yuma.
We've never seen anything like them.

Temperatures have risen to an Arizona-like 81F/27C. We’re smiling as we’ve heard they have snow in some areas back home. If you love that stuff, then enjoy it. We don’t! We said we wouldn’t come back because the price increased so much, that’s what we said. However, never say never as we pulled into Pilot Knob RV Resort at 2 pm. We’ve decided to come into a park with full hookups rather than boondock behind the park, for a few reasons.

Yes, we are definitely entering the agricultural industry of Yuma.
Three stages here. The preparing of the fields, seedlings are
sprouting in the top right field, lower right, whatever is growing here
is soon ready to be harvested. It is a stark change from the desert.

We’ll just bite the bullet and pay the daily price for 2 nights. Reason 1: the hookups, water, electric, dump. Reason 2: tomorrow we are going to Los Algodones and leaving Gibbs at home. Reason 3: because it will be hot, the a/c can be on for the little guy. Reason 4: this one didn’t pan out as their laundromat (& pool) are under ‘construction’. That’s okay, they weren’t deal breaker reasons anyway.

Arrival in Yuma and arrival at a very
familiar park. However, it has changed a lot with
the new ownership.

The price turned out better than we thought with our Good Sam membership so we’re happy and settled into Site #51. We were early enough, that was planned, so we left Gibbs in charge and drove in to Yuma for groceries and fuel at Fry’s, CVS for cash for Mexico and a quick nip into Harbor Freight (of course!) and the .99¢ store. I was craving chocolate so had to see what I could find. 😊

Coming back from Yuma, into the sun
The sand looks nice but it isn't what we talk about down
here as being the desert we camp on. We'd never get our rigs
in and out of it. We park on a hard packed rocky dirt surface.
This sand is in the dunes for those who love taking quads out. 

We did well on the groceries, mostly meat and managed to get enough for at least 15 meals for under 90$! I also bought potatoes and Caesar salad (we need to eat more of the latter and less of the former) plus a pre-roasted chicken! We unloaded, I made a tea and we did the banking stuff.

Supper was gooood and easy after a day of travelling.

The boys had a snooze while I got things ready to eat. The chicken was a bonus and will last us two nights at least. It was very good, cooked perfectly, too bad I can’t take credit for that. We loaded the dishwasher and then relaxed for the evening.

We don't have to leave our site to get sunset pictures. ♥

Here we are for at least 2 nights.
The dental visit tomorrow will determine if that is true. 👌

It was early, only 6:15 when we finished so Bill read while I finished my blog post. He isn’t writing one tonight, in case you’re looking, so I hope my gives you the idea. He set up the StarLink so there will be tv to watch later too. This was a great day, getting us closer to where we’re going and what we’ve got to do. 😊

yesterday afternoon we listened to shoot outs.
Today, we listened to a sound we love: military aircraft
and like at an air show, we had a great view too!
Good night y'all!

Thank you for stopping in!