Well, I Guess We're Very S-L-O-W Adventurers

Hi, again -

Did I mention that neither Al nor I are really over the colds we picked up when we spent an entire weekend out in our windy, cold garage having a yard sale?   I've got a lingering cough and Al's still got the tiresome "crummies" - not enough energy, still congested, and just beginning to cough effectively.  It makes the adventuring somewhat lacking in romance, I gotta admit.

That's why we're still in Arizona tonight - oh, not still in Tucson - we're about 90 miles east of there in a teeny, tiny little one-road town called Willcox.  I'll tell you how we got here... Oh, and I'll be throwing in some photos of the sights we saw between Tucson and here, just for interest.  Like this:

There are still lots of distant mountains everywhere

See, before all this began, we joined the Good Sam Club which is an RVing club that does helpful things like help plan the route you might want to take, and suggest places to stay, tell you the average cost of gas between hither and thither, and so forth.  It also has ratings for very many RV parks, entered by members who have actually stayed in them, so the ratings are pretty accurate.

The sky was threatening all day

Well, when we joined I set up a route from Chatsworth, Ca to Lady Lake, Florida centering on Route 10 because being such newbies at this, neither of us wanted to chance trying to drive this big, 32' thingy in snowy, blowy, water-freezing-in-the-pipes sort of weather and Route 10 is the southernmost route in the entire U.S.  Okay, so we started to follow their route, which is how we ended up doing about 275 miles the first day!  FAR too much driving for one day!  So between not really resting yesterday and still not getting over his cold, today after working for about three hours Al really needed more sleep (another brief, 4 hour nap).  While he conked out I went to the store in the office at Prince of Tucson and picked up a copy of the Trailer Life Directory which has all sorts of maps and listings and ratings and information about every single RV park in the country and Canada!    Al napped and I mapped, basically ignoring the marathon Good Sam had us set up for and making each day have much smaller sprints.

This was coming into a town called Benson 

So once Al woke up, instead of having a 285 mile ordeal ahead of him he had a 90 mile jog.  MUCH better!

So that's how we ended up in the tiny town of Willcox, Az.  How to describe it?  Well,"rustic" comes to mind.  The whole town is one long street with some real places like a gas station, a few restaurants, um, I'm not sure what else...a motel or two, and a handful of RV parks.  The one we're at tonight "Lifestyle RV Resort" was the best-rated one for the city according to Good Sam.  Well, it's clean; I'll give it that - and that's an important factor.  It also boasted a "Full Service Restaurant" which Al and I looked forward to after huddling for 4 days in the RV feeling like vagabonds.  Okay, I admit it - the restaurant was something out of "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" only not as cheery.  They offered soup, salads and sandwiches - but wait - you could get the meat in your sandwich HOT if you wanted!

Large, beautiful rock formations
wherever you look!

I just liked the shapes of these trees

  Don't get me wrong - these people were very nice and friendly and helpful but Trader Vic's this was NOT.  Yeah, I know I'm awfully spoiled and this trip is really showing me how spoiled I am!  Oh, the lessons we learn!  Anyhow, we happily ate the sandwiches while listening to Sirius Satellite Radio's Christmas songs.  Both the cook and the server wore Santa hats - a nice touch, though I think the hats had seen nearly as many Christmases as their wearers had.  Still, there's much to be said for friendly smiles and helpful natures and these were much appreciated.  At the same time I have to admit that I'm feeling very far from home here in the middle of no place.  Oh, yeah, right - I'm sitting in my home, aren't I?  Until the 6th of January when hopefully the escrow on the new house in Summerfield closes, home is literally where the heart is. Right now it's Al, me, and the birds in the belly of our big, mobile turtle, the Great A'Tuin.  (by the way, if you're not familiar with Great A'Tuin, Google him or Terry Pratchett, his author.  There are some wonderful illustrations...)

This was a large rock formation just across the road from a rest stop we visited.   A lot of the topography of this part of Arizona reminded me of southern California.  No surprise there, really.  Similar climates.

So tomorrow we try to make a big stretch of 193 miles to Las Cruces.  It's actually a good thing that we've delayed our travels by two days (so far) because the weather system I complained about the other day apparently has caused some unhappy road conditions somewhat east of us and I'd rather it was over and done with by the time we get there.  In the meantime, that wind as I got out of the RV to fill up with gas (AGAIN) was C*O*L*D!!!  Poor, spoiled Southern Californian gal shivering as she waits for the gas tank to fill.   BRRRRRR!!!  SO glad we're moving to nice, warm FLORIDA!   Watch carefully as Dru sheepishly gets down off her high horse...

There's adventure out there - I know there is...but sometimes I think you gotta TRAIN to have an adventure! Well, consider us in training.  I'll keep ya posted!