Day 5 - Casa Grande, AZ to El Paso, TX

Flowers from the Findley's garden.

10:00 am we are on the road and heading towards Tucson. The plan was to stop at a Walmart parking lot, unhitch and take the car and toby to Saguaro National Park. But since our trip was delayed a few days, we now are visiting the park on a Wednesday, when the visitors center is closed. So instead we took our time getting ready this morning then drove to Walmart and picked up a few things. Since the visitors center was closed we didn’t stop at the National Park and instead drove straight to El Paso. My back is doing better today. It’s now just sore and no longer in full spasm. I’ve been stretching it a lot and wanted to do the shopping at Walmart so I could walk around a bit which is helpful too. Kyle made us sandwiches while I was shopping and we ate them in the RV before getting back on the road. 

I was able to put away some things and do a bit of organizing while Kyle drove. It’s a pretty boring drive. Kyle listened to an entire audio book and started a second during the drive. Just straight on the I-10 through the rest of Arizona, New Mexico and into Texas. Most of the road was flat, only a few hills here and there, but there are lots of patches that could use some repaving. Makes me feel like I’m on the subway in NYC again when I’m not in the cockpit. The landscape is just desert, long and flat for days with some mountains here and there in the distance. The saguaro cactus in Arizona were pretty neat. But New Mexico and Texas were desert landscapes as far as the eye could see. 

Quilt and matching pillow handmade by the one and only Sherri Parker!

Toby is much more comfortable in the RV today. He just needed a day to get used to it. We have him off the leash and he’s happy on the couch with his fan. If I’m laying on the bed in the back he will join me but he no longer needs to be where I am at all times so that’s good. Chow time also was an hour earlier today since we crossed into a new time zone. That always makes him happy! 

The Toby fan! Keeping our pup cool on the road.

Tonight instead of running the generator while we drove I opened the windows for the last stretch since it was cooler out, I mean not in the 100s. It’s still hot let’s be real. But the wind feels nice. It eventually did cool down into the 70s and it was perfect in the coach. 

We made it into the Fort Bliss RV Park campground just after sunset. It was a really easy to check in and the campsites were really large pull through sites so even easier to set up in the dark. We even took the Camry off the tow dolly since we will need it tomorrow for exploring. The boards dad cut and sent with us worked really well for getting the car off. It was a smooth process. 

Since the car was off the dolly, Kyle went to pick up food on base. He was very surprised at how many amenities the base had! It was like its own personal city. Our last base was in the middle of no where and didn't have this many things. This base is surrounded by a huge city but you would never need to leave the base, everything is there! I guess that's what bases are supposed to be like, but every one we have ever been attached too has a quarter of the things this one has.