Friday, July 10, 2020

Arizona In July

It's always an interesting trip to Arizona in the summer.  Up until now, it's been rather uneventful.  I cruised through all the construction which was plentiful, navigating the crazy new pathway through Bakersfield.

Up at the crack of dawn when it was relatively cool, the pups and I headed out early to beat the heat.  Too bad, so sad, that was a lost cause.  As I crossed the Arizona border, things began to heat up in more ways than one.
I'm always wary of running out of fuel.  I stick to the upper half of my tank, mostly because the gauge isn't accurate, nor does it subtract generator fuel.  With my dash air not really working, the generator has to be running to keep the AC on.  Always looking for a bargain, I caught a couple of fuel prices.  They ran from $2.63 to $2.85 a gallon.  Cheaper than California!!
By now I'm pretty much feeling like we're in a slow cooker.  It's getting hotter and hotter and we are getting more tender and well done by the minute.  I took this picture going down into Quartzsite just so you could see how super clean the windshield is.  That's because all the bugs died long ago when it was only 100 degrees.  I'm sure their bodies are covering the roadway.
Yup 110 in the big Q town and only 91 inside the motorhome.  Pay no attention to the time in the picture ... this was at noon.  I quickly parked and let the engine cool down before shutting it off.  That's never happened before!!  

An hour later it was 99 inside the rig.  The poor puppies were panting and I was melting.  I knew the AC unit wouldn't keep it at 68, but I expected better.  Come to find out, the rear unit was blowing hot air.  

I soaked the puppies in cool water, which helped considerably.  The good news is the sweatbox turned into a sauna and I lost two pounds!!!  Almost bedtime, there's no way we were going to sleep with that AC unit blasting away.  I tried the back one again and YAHOO, was able to get the rig all the way down to 87 degrees.  Not exactly sleeping weather.
At 5:00 in the morning, we were on the road in 93 degree heat.  But first ... I had to fuel up.  If you're coming into Arizona, stop in at the ARCO station on Riggles Road in Quartzsite.  Diesel was $2.32 a gallon.  It's always 50 cents a gallon cheaper than anything I see on the road.  

You can pull up in front if you have 30 minutes for the tank to fill, or go around back to their truck fueling station.  Be sure to tell them you are an RV so they don't charge you trucker tax.  I saved $35 on this tank.  Worth it in my book!!

Back on the road, there was a very bad accident.  Someone or something caught fire.  There were two huge wreckers, two even bigger fire trucks and lots of Highway Patrol.  Luckily it was going in the opposite direction than I.
Here's the best I could do of the new Pilot station in Gila Bend.  Road construction was terrible.  The lanes were barely wide enough to get through.  The truck in front of me hit cone after cone.  It will be a nice station when they are done.  Hopefully they take the fence across the street down so we can again park there.
Coming into Casa Grande is always beautifully green and refreshing, even if it is over 100 outside.  By this time, my poor little AC unit is barely able to keep the inside at 91 degrees.
At long last, I landed in Tucson.  Someone who shall remain nameless forgot to tell me my offramp was closed completely.  I had to take a detour to get back to my road, but that's okay since my house was a lovely 82 degrees when I arrived.  Woohoo!!!

Wait until you see it.  MY NEW RV PARKING PAD!!!  Not only that, but there were some other upgrades that almost made me cry.  It's beautiful!!  

I didn't unpack much, just Jonathan and the kids, along with their food.  It was just too hot out, something like 103?  My little brain was so cooked by then I didn't know what was up or down.

We all laid on the kitchen floor where it was even cooler until dinner was ready at the Chance house.  These guys they do spoil me!!!  Calabacitas ... I've heard Elva talk about it!!  YUMMY!!!

On the way out the door, I was graced with the presence of this cute little bunny.  Babies abound in the desert.  I bet there are 50 quail babies running around, not to mention all the baby birds.  Even baby roadrunners are in the bushes.
It's a warm 81 ... feels like 102 ... here this morning.  I've got lots of unloading to do, so I best get to it!!  Happy to say I survived 110!!





18 comments:

  1. Welcome back to Arizona. According to the weather report on the Internet, this weekend may be hitting record highs. Do stuff early and relax for the rest of the day. David and I are in Thayne, WY for the summer....arrived in mid-May & will be leaving sometime in September for early October doctor appointments. Take care. Lynn Cross

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    1. Thank you Lynn ... it's nice to be back except for the heat. I'm looking forward to RAIN!!

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  2. Glad you arrived Safely and can now relax for a short while.
    The dry desert heat can feel intense even in the Winter.
    Be Safe and Enjoy getting things done early in the mornings.

    It's about time.

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    1. It's different, I can say that. How everything has turned brown instead of the beautiful green I left.

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  3. Can't wait to see the Rv pad and other things! Glad you made it there without heat stroke! Boy that is HOT! Nice that gas is cheaper there. Enjoy your time there!

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    1. Maybe, just MAYBE, the cheap fuel made the heat a tad bit cooler!

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  4. Bummer the ac is not working good enough. Another project I guess. Can't have a nice RV and no ac. Looking forward to seeing the new pad. Yuma still has skunk smell on his snoot. Hoping it wears off soon.

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    1. Awww poor Yuma. It's really hard to get that smell off. Sunshine works wonders if you have a place where he can lay outside. Jessie just has a bit left on her butt. Either that or I've just become used to it!!!

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  5. Welcome back Nancy. We're back in Tucson after traveling the last 10yrs.
    Haven't missed this heat in that time period. When I was growing up we enjoyed our monsoon weather but not the heat. Hopefully the rains will be here soon. Stay cool and hydrate.

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    1. Well welcome home!!! The heat is a little intense. Sadly I don't see any rain in the forecast for the next week, but at least the temps should drop to the 90's. Woohoo!!!

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  6. Wow. That was some trip! Glad you liked the calabacitas.

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    1. It was probably my worst trip here. I've been lucky in the past to skip the scorching heat in Q. I'm hoping this is not a new trend!!

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  7. Okay, we will not complain about the 90's on our way down state Michigan to see our son and family because at least it does cool down into the 70's at night for sleeping. The Arco Station on Riggles Road is our go to for diesel in Quartzsite. We are going to miss the Shell station in Gila Bend we stopped there at least once a year. Glad to read you made it to Tucson safe and sound. Take care and stay safe.

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    1. I'm missing the Shell station rest stop!! It's Pilot now and it will be huge. Don't know what the prices will be though. I think if it got down to the 70's at night, I could live with it. Today the low was 80 by my phone.

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  8. Yep...Southwest Oregon Coast is the place to be in July/August, no doubt about it! Glad you made it. How did the bird handle the heat???

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    1. Poor Jonathan had his wings out and was panting too. The good news is he comes from the hot jungles of Mexico, so it didn't bother him near as much as the rest of us!!

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  9. Glad you made it to Tucson safely, looking forward to seeing all the improvements at your place. ACs in these RVs will never keep up to the heat you or us are getting now. Trying to keep a rig at 68 when the outside temp is 30 plus degrees higher is not going to happen and the AC unit will never shut off, which in my opinion is not good for them. Basically they are removing moisture to cool the air. I find it is better to set the thermostat at one to two degrees of the the temperature in side the rig so the unit will come on and shut off. When it won't, rest the thermostat higher until it will come off and on again. The idea is to keep the inside just cooler then the outside so you can feel the difference, make sure that your ceiling fan is going counter-clockwise also. That's my two cents worth, hope it helps. Take care Nancy.

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  10. Welcome home to Arizona. Enjoy the a/c inside the house while you can. As Bill said, looking forward to seeing the improvements. :)

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