Last Chance Ranch ... A Driving Test!!

Time flies when you're having fun and there's been a lot of that going on, but it's time to leave the Last Chance Ranch.   I definitely hate leaving Chef Patty's cooking ... that Super Bowl Chili was the BEST!!!

Dan has been gone on an RV retrieval trip to Washington State, leaving me to figure out the next driving test he has for me.  There's always a test ... remember Tom Westerfield taking me through Albuquerque on Route 66 down an 8 foot wide street filled with garbage cans trying to maneuver my 7 foot wide motorhome??  This one isn't as long, but it's trickier.  I have to back up in an S shape down the hill and out the gate, in order to pull forward to the left of the bird feeder and flagpole, only to make a hairpin turn UPHILL without ripping out the water faucet or the home awning!!!  EGADS!!  Not to mention the soft soil on the downhill side from all the rain!!  Patty says I have skills ... I'm just thankful I made it!!!

With sad goodbyes, I drove through Tucson admiring their freeway construction.  I wish they could do this in California.  

Traffic was light the entire trip through Tucson AND Phoenix as I headed North on Highway 17.  The other side of the freeway in Phoenix was backed up a bit with everyone trying to get to the airport, but I breezed right through town!!  Dan's directions and the fact that Arizona paints the highway number in the middle of the road, was a GREAT help.  Why don't they do THAT in California??  

It didn't take long to get back to the desert full of saguaros, but by this time the battery in my little camera died a sudden death.  That means cell phone pictures ... darn!  Has anyone else noticed that every time you update your I-Phone, the pictures get worse??  

Almost four hours of driving and traffic came to a screeching halt.  I saw on the overhead signs WAY back that at mile 248 there was an accident and the highway is CLOSED!!  I thought they were kidding!  The bad news is this is the beginning of a VERY steep uphill climb ... and you know what that means for trucks.  I was stuck here maybe 20 minutes before traffic began to crawl up the hill at about 20 mph, slowed only by one truck smoking on the side of the road.  I never did see any remnants of an accident!  I think the entire town of Flagstaff was heading home from the game though, there was SO much traffic ... and it never let up until another 30 minutes down the road when I turned off on Highway 260.

Most of you probably know where I am now ... just outside of Cottonwood Arizona.  It was a balmy 77 degrees when I arrived, dipping down to 36 last night.  They asked that I leave the water in my sink dripping all night.  Okay, if you say so .....

There were 3 sites left open, so I chose the most level (away from the major construction of yet another permanent site), which wasn't level at all.  I called Patty and Dan to come help me fix it, but they were too far away.  I parked as far away from the middle as I could, since the rig next to me was up against the power pole (he has no slides), which made me even MORE un-level.  I tried to pull forward as far as possible so I wasn't in their back pocket.  I was in a hurry to get a load of wash done and hooked up the sewer hose first thing.  Exactly three seconds later, there was a knock at my door.  I had hooked into the wrong receptacle and he was here to tell me all about it!!  Okay ... I'll move the hose to the one farthest away (which is closer to his outlet),  because the little arrows point that way.  Then he got in his volkswagon bug, backed out and pulled in as close to my rig as he could possibly get!!  Yikes!!!  What's THAT all about??

At any rate, I'm here for maybe ten days ... he's here for twelve ... so I'll try to be a good neighbor while I look for another spot!!  There's lots of exploring around here to do, even though I've been here before.  Amazingly enough, there's a quilt store too, and of course Sedona isn't far away.  The internet isn't the best as usual, so I may have to post at different times, using the one at the Lodge.  By the way, they have a new Restaurant here at Thousand Trails ... just opened.  I'll let you know how it is!!  Let the Cottonwood Adventures begin!!