Nov 3/18 Weather sunny 65, low 38 in Albuquerque, New Mexico 303 miles
Invariably we always have a day of wind on I40 coming west. Our day was a normal short day and it was a good thing. The wind was gusty coming right into the drivers corner. Not a lot of fun and not good on the diesel fuel mileage. We have crossed into another time zone, dropped an hour. As well we loose an hour tonight ~ Daylight Savings. When you come down into Albuquerque be prepared for quite an elevation drop, have that engine brake on. Our stop tonight is the All American RV Resort. It is a tad noisy with the freeway but a very nice park. Completely paved. Your thinking so, it's paved, so what? Well after tonight its going to get dusty; you'll see.
And then the days of gravel parking lots begins. If you have never been to the desert, do not be surprised by the rv parks. Sometimes you can hardly tell where your site ends and the next site begins. Haha.
Nov 4/18 Weather sunny 75, low 55 in Las Cruces, New Mexico 241 miles. Today we head due south on I25 and drop onto I10. This route is better we find for wind and less elevation as we get into Arizona. Our night will be at Hacienda RV Resort. A very nice gravel parking lot. Wow, it is very busy when we pull in. No we don't have reservations....but they do have a few spots available. Had to laugh at the counter the fellow said it is "all you Winterbirds". I wanted to correct him that we are "snowbirds, not winterbirds". Funny, I let it go.
Nov 5/18 Weather sunny and hot 84/low 61 in Picacho Peak, Arizona 327 miles. We are stopping so tomorrow we can get on I8 which is close by; so this overnight is in the Picacho Peak KOA. It is a dusty gravel parking lot and there are lots of trains going by too, at night it got cool enough we closed all our windows and put the fan on. The grey noise of the fan seemed to drown out the road noise and we slept well. Oh by the way did you notice an extra 100 miles??? Our body clocks were so screwed up with all the time changes, we were awake at 6:30 am this morning. Our bodies think it is 8:30 am. So we fell out of our 2:30 club today :)
Nov 6/18 Weather sunny and hot 82/low 65 in Quartzsite, Az 207 miles. Ok this is the last sleep and tomorrow..... drum roll...... we will be in the Cochella Valley, Palm Springs area! Yeah!!! If you have never been to Quartzsite I guess you should come take a look. A night, 2 nights, a week at the most. It is a totally different kind of town. Basically trailers conglomerated into a mini city in the desert. Right now it is very quiet but come January it will be booming. Flea Markets, Gem shows, RV's boondocking everywhere in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) desert. For us a night is good at Quail Run RV Park. Another gravel parking lot. Pretty much. To get here we came across I8, then headed north at Gila Bend on SR85 which pops you onto to I10 again. We do this to avoid Phoenix. Nothing wrong with Phoenix but I10 goes into it and out and the congestion is very heavy. We figured this out the hard way a few years ago, it becomes a parking lot of stop and go, crawling through the urban sprawl. The city center has grown so much in the last decade they need a bypass around this city.
Tip: A couple of things, can you do this drive quicker? For sure and that is why I put up the mileage. Remember we don't make a reservation ahead so at 2:30 you have a good chance of a site, if you put 500 mile days in you better make a reservation and you might be coming in after the office is closed; you will want to have your after hours site package ready for you to pick up.
Invariably we always have a day of wind on I40 coming west. Our day was a normal short day and it was a good thing. The wind was gusty coming right into the drivers corner. Not a lot of fun and not good on the diesel fuel mileage. We have crossed into another time zone, dropped an hour. As well we loose an hour tonight ~ Daylight Savings. When you come down into Albuquerque be prepared for quite an elevation drop, have that engine brake on. Our stop tonight is the All American RV Resort. It is a tad noisy with the freeway but a very nice park. Completely paved. Your thinking so, it's paved, so what? Well after tonight its going to get dusty; you'll see.
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| entering the All American RV Park |
And then the days of gravel parking lots begins. If you have never been to the desert, do not be surprised by the rv parks. Sometimes you can hardly tell where your site ends and the next site begins. Haha.
Nov 4/18 Weather sunny 75, low 55 in Las Cruces, New Mexico 241 miles. Today we head due south on I25 and drop onto I10. This route is better we find for wind and less elevation as we get into Arizona. Our night will be at Hacienda RV Resort. A very nice gravel parking lot. Wow, it is very busy when we pull in. No we don't have reservations....but they do have a few spots available. Had to laugh at the counter the fellow said it is "all you Winterbirds". I wanted to correct him that we are "snowbirds, not winterbirds". Funny, I let it go.
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| La Hacienda RV Park in Las Cruces |
Nov 5/18 Weather sunny and hot 84/low 61 in Picacho Peak, Arizona 327 miles. We are stopping so tomorrow we can get on I8 which is close by; so this overnight is in the Picacho Peak KOA. It is a dusty gravel parking lot and there are lots of trains going by too, at night it got cool enough we closed all our windows and put the fan on. The grey noise of the fan seemed to drown out the road noise and we slept well. Oh by the way did you notice an extra 100 miles??? Our body clocks were so screwed up with all the time changes, we were awake at 6:30 am this morning. Our bodies think it is 8:30 am. So we fell out of our 2:30 club today :)
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| Picacho Peak KOA |
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| Crossing into Arizona from New Mexico on I10 is really pretty |
Nov 6/18 Weather sunny and hot 82/low 65 in Quartzsite, Az 207 miles. Ok this is the last sleep and tomorrow..... drum roll...... we will be in the Cochella Valley, Palm Springs area! Yeah!!! If you have never been to Quartzsite I guess you should come take a look. A night, 2 nights, a week at the most. It is a totally different kind of town. Basically trailers conglomerated into a mini city in the desert. Right now it is very quiet but come January it will be booming. Flea Markets, Gem shows, RV's boondocking everywhere in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) desert. For us a night is good at Quail Run RV Park. Another gravel parking lot. Pretty much. To get here we came across I8, then headed north at Gila Bend on SR85 which pops you onto to I10 again. We do this to avoid Phoenix. Nothing wrong with Phoenix but I10 goes into it and out and the congestion is very heavy. We figured this out the hard way a few years ago, it becomes a parking lot of stop and go, crawling through the urban sprawl. The city center has grown so much in the last decade they need a bypass around this city.
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| Quartzsite Quail Run RV Park. Like our cactus? And what are those holes all around it? |
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