Retirement……LOVE IT!

Well, we have finally made our first BIG road trip.  We left Sanger, TX, and headed for Buckeye, AZ, on Wednesday, January 10th.  Our first day we traveled 262 miles to Colorado City, TX, where we stayed the night at Lone Wolf RV Park.  It was our first experience driving the RV in some pretty strong winds.  That was NOT a fun day!  It was stressful and, needless to say, I did not take any pictures.  In fact, the second day wasn’t much better.  It was another windy, stressful day, and another day without pictures.  We traveled about the same distance the second day to Van Horn, TX, where we stayed at Mountain View RV Park.  We traveled 524 miles in the first two days, and we were STILL in Texas!  Texas REALLY is a BIG state!!

Both RV parks the first two nights where nice, but being in such a dry environment takes some getting used to.  There was no grass and virtually no trees as we know them in Missouri.  Poor Zoey only had dirt and gravel, and she couldn’t figure out where to go to the bathroom.  I wish I had taken a picture or video of that!  It was really pretty funny.

The third day we traveled 282 miles and crossed into New Mexico.  Finally the wind had calmed down, the road was smooth, and traveling that day was rather enjoyable.  Plus, I finally remembered to get my camera out because I wasn’t stressed out from difficult, windy driving!

It was such a lovely day, we even stopped at a rest area just to get out and enjoy the sun, walk a little, and enjoy the warm air.  Well, PLUS we had to use the facilities. 😂 I even snapped a few pictures.

We aren’t in Missouri any more, Dorothy! I have to remember to watch out for snakes while walking Zoey!

The third night on the road we stayed at a KOA campground in Lordsburg, New Mexico.  The population of Lordsburg is about 2400.  It’s a nice little town, but I have NEVER seen so many motels in a town that size!  I bet there were at least 20; maybe more.  We ate a local Mexican restaurant for supper and it was really good.

The next day we traveled into Arizona.  I have seen the desert once before when we flew out to Las Vegas for a short vacation, however, traveling THROUGH the desert on the ground for several days in a row is totally different.  I kept thinking about the early pioneers traveling to California in their covered wagons through this very desert.  I can only imagine how difficult it was and the strength and perseverance those people had back in those times.  Had I been born during that time period, I’m not sure I would have survived very long.  The desert valley with groups of mountains “popping up” every so often is really beautiful.  We even had our first experience going through a border patrol check point!

The trucks exited first and were all in the lane on the right. The cars then exited and were in the left lane.

Our next stop was at Picacho Peak, AZ.  We planned to spend two nights at the Picacho Peak RV Resort.  This was a REALLY nice RV resort but it was out in the middle of NO WHERE!  It was located at the base of Picacho Peak Mountain and Picacho Peak State Park.  There were two gas stations on the other side of the interstate (one had a Dairy Queen and the other had a Subway Sandwich shop) and that was it.  If you needed a WalMart, you had to travel twenty miles in either direction.  There was a Flying J truck stop about 10 miles west of the RV park that had a Denny’s.  Anyway, the view of the Picacho Peak from the RV park was beautiful.

On our second day at Picacho Peak, we decided to explore the Picacho Peak State Park.  There were lots of hiking trails, two campgrounds with RV hook ups, several picnic areas, and lots of beautiful views of the surrounding desert.  The lady at the park entrance showed us where we could go if we wanted to see a beautiful desert sunset that evening.  We went back to the RV until about an hour before sunset.  I set up my tripod and good Sony camera and waited.  The pictures of the sunset I’m going to share with you now are the ones that Jack took with the camera on his iPhone.  I’ll share the sunset pictures from my Sony as soon as I have some time to upload them to my laptop.  Here are some pics of the state park and the sunset.

Again, these sunset pics are from Jack’s cell phone camera.  However, I must say, they are pretty good!

Pretty amazing sunset pictures from Jack, aren’t they?!

After spending two nights at Picacho Peak RV Resort, we headed out on our last leg of the journey to Buckeye, AZ.  It was only about a 90 minute drive that day (which is the way we planned it).  We decided to NOT go through downtown Phoenix.  We took Interstate 8 west about ten miles south of Phoenix over to State Highway 85 north.  We checked in to Leaf Verde RV Resort around 1 p.m. on January 15 and set up camp.  So far we really like this place.

Jack drinking his morning coffee out on our “veranda.”

I’ll post my sunset pics soon.  I will also keep you updated on our “adventures” in Arizona in the coming weeks.  We will be in Buckeye until March 15.

So, for now ….. “On the Road Again!”

Betty