Friends…
We left Monticello, UT about 8:45 am this morning heading for Show Low, AZ about 315 miles away. About 80 miles later we were back in Arizona, after making a large loop from Yuma to Las Vegas, then to Los Angeles and Yosemite, next, up the west coast through Oregon and Washington, over to Coeur d’Alene, ID, Billings, MT, and Gillette, WY, and then down thru Salt Lake City, and then to here in Show Low. And all that since the middle of March. Wow!
Overall the roads were pretty good today, except for the first 15 miles or so after we entered the Navajo Indian Reservation and the last 10 miles before we crossed I-40. The road had a lot of deep cracks about every 30 feet or so that just pounded the coach. Even slowing down didn’t help. Luckily it was only about 25-30 miles of the total 300.
As has been the case for the last few days we saw some great scenery. Please excuse the bugs on the window. I just cleaned the windshield when we got diesel in Salt Lake day before yesterday, and then picked up a whole new crop of bugs.
And here’s Jan’s cat, Miss Emma,sound asleep on Jan’s knee. Apparently Emma could care less about the great scenery! That’s a cat for you.
Nick and Terry Russell met us on the outskirts of Show Low and led us in to the Elk’s Lodge RV Park where they’ve been staying for the last few weeks. We’ll stay here 4 days or so before heading east to Austin for the wedding. We still not sure which route we’re going to take. I need to talk more with Nick about the best roads.
We got parked and set up, and got the AC’s turned on. It’s in the 90’s here and it takes a while to get the coach cooled down. The coach air keeps us cool in the cockpit area, but the rest of coach will get into the low 80’s. Last year in FL it was hot enough that occasionally we had to run the generator while we were driving so we could use the two house AC’s to keep us cool. I would be surprised if we don’t have to do that again. It was 96 when we came thru Snowflake, AZ about 20 miles north of here. It’s going to take us a while to get used to this heat again.
Later in the afternoon, after meeting Nick’s daughter, son-in-law, and two beautiful granddaughters, we drove over to Pinetop, AZ to visit Nick’s friend who owns a used bookstore, and then walked next door to the El Rancho Mexican Restaurant for dinner.
The food was good, the company was better, and we had great time recounting our adventures (and misadventures) since we last saw each other several months ago. It seemed like it had been longer than that.
Getting back to the park, we headed over to Nick and Terry’s for Terry’s world-famous cinnamon rolls, fresh and hot from the oven. This, along with cold milk, hot coffee, and good conversation, was the perfect end to a fun day.
Finally, about 9:15, (it was 10:15 for us on Utah time) I could see Jan starting to fade, so we said our goodnights and walked back to our rig right next door.
After being on the road so much lately, it’s going to be nice to just jell for a few days before hitting the road again. And being with Nick and Terry is just a big plus.
More tomorrow…
