Holbrook!

It wasn't nearly as cold in Albuquerque, as it was in Amarillo.  Perhaps that is because the front moved on to the East!  But for what ever reason, it was only 31 degrees last night.  That extra 10 degrees is a very large difference.  The heaters didn't struggle nearly as much.  They all cycled off and on and I slept much better, not keeping one ear open listening for their cycles.

The highway noise was fairly loud, but with the heaters running, I was able to tune the noise out.  We slept quite well considering.  Loyce is still struggling with the nasty cough that she got with the cold from thanksgiving.  So she wakes coughing.  We really need to find some warm weather!

So we left Albuquerque around 10:30 this morning.  Our plan, was to drive to Holbrook, Arizona, and that is only 230 miles, so that was not much of a travel day.  But it is about the right amount of travel!  I'm certain we are much less stressed if we limit our travel to that amount.

We rolled along and didn't push too hard, but the speed limit in New Mexico on the interstate is 75, so you do tend to roll faster just because everyone else is.  So we rolled between 65 and sometimes 70.  That's fairly fast for us, but still the trucks just roar by and act like we are blocking the road.  Every now and then we get some nasty gestures, from truckers that wish us to be out of their way.

We stopped in Gallup to fill up the motorhome with diesel, as the Arizona tax is quite a bit higher.  The truck stop was an absolute zoo!  So I opted to use the Indian station across the street.  Their price was higher, but the line was much shorter.  Getting the motorhome into the car pumps was a bit of a trick, but by using the end pump and heading outward rather than inward I made it.  I turned around in the side parking before going thru the pumps.  Still it seemed to take forever.

Then as we crossed into Arizona, I was unable to get into the rest area and welcome center. At least it didn't look like the exit was big rig friendly.  That caused a heavy discussion to take place on the two way radio.  But there were no trucks in the rest area, and there was a reason for that.  Perhaps Arizona doesn't want trucks in their welcome center.

But we did stop in a truck stop about 20 miles into the state and had some lunch, and rested for a while.  The day was sunny and bright, and the temps were in the early 60s.  We arrived here in Holbrook by about 3 PM and checked into the KOA.  The fellow looked us up on the computer and knew we had been here in March.  He gave us the same site since we are pulling the trailer and it tends to block the road.

I called the RV park in Mesa about 4 PM and announced that we would be there tomorrow, which is 2 days before our reservation on Sunday.  They looked it up, and our site is free, so come on in!!

We are at about 6,000 feet above sea level here, and it is naturally cooler most of the time.  And tonight is no different as we expect to have a low temperature of 27.  That is cool, but not as cold as the 21 we had in Amarillo.  But tomorrow we are headed over the mountains and into the valley.  As you come down the mountain from Payson, you can feel the temperature rise!  We can't wait!

Retired Rod