First Day on the Road

By 9:15 am we were ready to head down the road on our first day of RV travel.  Jim is already looking comfortable behind the wheel.

Snoopy thought he would copilot, but I had other plans for who would sit in that seat.  I felt pretty organized with cups of coffee and water ready for each of us.  (Note black cup next to Snoopy.)  Then I discovered why you hold your cup when you go over exit curbs.  I promptly spilled an entire cup of coffee all over the floor around my seat.  Pride comes before the fall as they say!  Jim knows better and had his cup safely secured.  This required a momentary stop along Peart Road so I could mop up and refill my coffee cup before we proceeded  to I-10.  Not ten minutes later I spilled that cup when we stopped at a truck stop for gas.  Not my day for coffee!

As we headed down I-10 Snoopy was trying to figure out just where he could sit.  He tried several places like under the dining table, under Jim's chair and behind mine until he settled down for most of the ride electing under the dining table.  Periodically, however he'd come up behind me and announce his hesitation about going on this new adventure.  We may rename him "Matt Meowler."

We traveled past Picacho Peak, through Tucson and down past Benson and Kartchner Caverns before stopping for lunch at a roadside rest stop.  I fixed scrambled eggs and an orange while we were parked between two eighteen wheelers.  How amazing to cook, eat and wash dishes at a roadside rest stop and then visit the "powder room" without even leaving the coach!  Ok, I am new at this and promise not to go on and on about that.

Continuing onward, we passed near the cutoffs to Tombstone and further on the Chiricahua Mountains and eventually headed into New Mexico.  The weather was fine for traveling with just an occasional gust of wind.  There are lots of trucks on the road.

Once in New Mexico, we climbed gradually and crossed the Continental Divide.  Here the temperature was cooler dropping to only 79 degrees as we reached an altitude of 4,585 feet.  It is hard to realize that this is the Divide when everything around you is completely flat and desert as far as the eye can see.  Somehow I picture mountain peaks with a long climb up and down on either side.

Tonight we are in Deming, N.M. in a nice RV Park called "Dream Catcher" recommended by Phil and Marlene.  It is 66 degrees now and quiet here in this town of about 15,000 people where the median age is 36.  We are now an hour ahead of you.  A small water leak challenged Jim right before bedtime in the kitchen sink for a new filtered water dispenser Norris RV installed just before we got the coach so we'll deal with that in the morning before leaving.

Now off to dream of the road tomorrow and our hoped for arrival in Texas tomorrow.