It's been almost 6 months since we left Phoenix
on our adventure, and today we'll return to
(almost) where we started. It's
over 250 miles from Palm Desert to Paradise RV Resort in Sun City, where we'll
spend the winter, and Vicky had planned that we would break the journey with an
overnight stop at a wildlife refuge near Quartzite, about 15 miles into
Arizona. However, we start right by the
Interstate and it's an easy drive, and by the time we reach Blythe, on the Colorado
River, we've decided to go all the way today.
The first order of business on arriving in AZ is to get some
reasonably priced gas for the RV. So we
pull into a truck stop just one mile over the border, as does everyone
else. We could have saved more by going
further but we're not sure what other options there are, and this one is a big
improvement over California
prices. As expected we have to wait for
a pump and, not as expected, have an unpleasant experience.
We're driving the RV with the car in tow and are waiting for
another RV with tow car to finish filling up.
I've left some distance between us so that cars can get out of the exit,
but somebody in a big pickup truck pulling an RV decides we wants to get
through. He sounds his horn but there's
nothing I can do. I ask Vicky to explain
things to him, which she politely does.
He responds by saying I should back up (not an option in an RV with a
car in tow, as he should know) and then he drives his truck and RV into the
space between me and the RV in front!
I'm afraid he will hit one or the other of us, and there's nowhere for
him to go.
He still wants me to back up, which I do. But he has to wait, while I unhitch the car
and move it. Another RV behind me
sympathizes, and I do have space to back up our rig, so the unpleasant man is
able to get out. I must confess I'm
delighted to see that the RV ahead has already left, so if the man had just
been more patient he would have been on his way earlier! The RV behind pulls up behind me as I fill up
(to get off the road). This means we
have to find a place to re-hook up the car, and this place is very busy. But we manage with no problem.
The rest of the journey is easy, although we hit some
(inexplicably) slow traffic as we approach the Phoenix
area. We get to Paradise
a little after 5 and the security guard helps us park the RV in the space we
chose last Spring. Once we're settled we
feed the cats and then, at Vicky's suggestion, have dinner at Rio Mirage, one
of our favorite Mexican restaurants.
This completes the summer of travel. As you know if you've slogged your way
through all my writings, it's had its ups and downs, but on balance I'm glad we
did it and am looking forward to next summer.
I will continue the blog though the winter, but I doubt it'll be as
exciting as the summer was. Thanks for
following our travels!
No comments:
Post a Comment