The last day of travel.

So where were we?  Oh, I know, laying in bed listening to the Union Pacific 100 plus intermodal car trains as they zipped thru the center of town at blinding speeds.  But I don't think they can go thru at 79 like Sam from St Louis suggested.  Something about the town, and how big it is.  But you train folks know better than I do.

They double stack the semi truck bodies on really low cars out here, and cars are somewhat nebulous as well, because they share one set of trucks under the ends of two cars without any couplers.  That way two cars have only three sets of wheels.  They are so long that I lost count as to how many cars there were.  But they do have 5 power units, 3 on the front and 2 on the back.

These were about every 15 minutes all night long, and once in a while they passed each other on separate tracks going both ways right in town.  But at least we were several blocks away from a crossing that required the whistle to be blown.  The one West of us required two longs and a short and then another long.  You train folks will have to explain what that means.

But about 4 AM I fell back to sleep, only to be jarred out of bed at 7:30 when Loyce burst back into the room from taking Biscuit out for a potty break, announcing that it was snowing outside.  Or rainy sleeting, if you like.  "Get up right now!  We're leaving!"

So we packed and hit the road, and it rained and Snowed for quite a while as we headed West to Holbrook.   But eventually it stopped and we thought we were out of it...........  Uh, not exactly......  From Holbrook, we usually turn South toward Payson, which caused us to run right back into the storm.

At Heber, you begin to climb up over the 7,600 ft mountain range between there and Payson.  It was a white out, with wet slushy, sloppy, clingy snow.  The car windows fogged over and I was really glad that I had ordered 4 wheel drive for the CRV.  It was quite sure footed, but I think my finger imprints are still squeezed into the steering wheel.

Once over the top, in about 15 miles, we descended back to about 5,500 feet and instead of 27 degrees it was 37.  At that point the snow returned to rain.  The trip down to the valley was overcast and rainy, but not slippery.

We took the back way into Mesa coming from the North, slipping thru Usery Mountain Pass.  That comes out right on the same street as our RV park.  So by about 2 PM we were extending the slides and hooking back up the water on the RV.  Unloading the car took a while, and putting stuff away inside caused a nap to be in order.

We had enough car time in the last three days, so we haven't moved since we arrived.  But tomorrow will be at least a Wal Mart day, because we have no milk or bread or any other perishable...

It was barely 60 when we got here and overcast for most of the rest of the afternoon.  It only cleared up in time for the sun to set..

But we are home to the valley, and I am excited!

Retired Rod