Yuma, Az to Nogales, Az

 Up at 6:30 this morning for an early start.  Only 310 miles to go to Nogales but we like to get in early.  Neither of us slept well last night after our fish taco dinner.  Maybe it was the beans, maybe the fish and maybe who knows what.  Once again it was cheap and way too much food.  Easy to see why so many people are heavy. 

 Heading along I 8 and it's just the way we like it...empty of traffic.  A nice quiet drive.

 Heading up over Telegraph Pass just out of Yuma. 

 Miles of one lane traffic because they had oiled the road.

 Dusty and smelly from all the large feed lots. Not a very healthy place to live.

 This guy had the outhouse cinched down so tight it was compressed.  It would have been a "shit show" if it had fallen off!

 Still really quiet.

 That's a nice looking load of small squares. 

 Lovely Homer Simpson clouds today.

 Up ahead Picacho Peak.

 Just past Casa Grande and we're on I 10 south...Picacho Peak getting closer!

 On the right a field of cotton ready for harvest.

 Into Tucson and now there are five lanes.  We are traveling at about 62 mph and everyone passes us. 

 South of Tucson and now we're on 19 heading towards Nogales.  A quiet two lane road.

Hey...this looks like we're in Mexico already.

Checked into the Quality Hotel Americana in Nogales, Az at about 2pm and tucked in for the night.  We are on the side of the hotel near the front.  Note to self... if we stay here again we'll get a room farther back as there are trains so close we can almost touch them and it's a level crossing so they are sounding their horns.   Nice big room in a non smoking hotel but...I grew up in a house where both of my parents smoked inside and a lot and this room has been smoked in a lot!  Next time I'll ask for a sniff first.  Free breakfast and a restaurant in the hotel. 

Tomorrow we are off to Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico and another 380 miles so we'll get and early start.  We have our tourist visas and vehicle stickers that we got in San Luis when I had to pay a $100. tow bill....and yes I am still really bitter about that!  Eric is much better but still coughing up phelgm but that's good because it means he's getting better.  So far it appears I have dodged the cold bullet. 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

Yesterday was our day to go down to the border crossing at San Luis to get our tourist visas and import stickers for the Jeep and truck.  So how did that all go?  Well it was interesting to say the least. 

 Here we're going through Somerton before San Luis.  They have tamale festivals and the yellow sign says November is corn month.  Who knew?

 Lots of fall crops growing here as well.  Here we are at just over 100 feet elevation which is a far cry from 8000 ft.  I think we both ended up with a bit of altitude sickness from all the changing elevations.  It didn't help that Eric has a cold as well. 

When we arrived in San Luis we parked in the Chase Bank parking lot like we usually do.  We did see a sign saying that the area was patrolled for bank customers only but...no one was in the lot and it was Sunday.  We walked down to the border with our paperwork and it didn't take long to get our tourist visas and stickers for the vehicles.  Very quiet because it is Sunday but there were lots of people returning from Mexico to the USA. 

 Paperwork done we walked over to the port of entry pedestrian area.  If you've never done this you'd find it hard to figure out where you should go.  When we got to the walkway to the US customs it was packed.  Probably over a hundred people waiting in line in the hot sun.  Great.  It took about 45 minutes to get through and then we walked back to pick up the Jeep and head home....or so we thought.

When we got back to the bank parking lot the Jeep was gone!  Towed.  Can you believe it.  Yes I know it was our fault because the sign said we would get towed but we were only gone a couple of hours and it was a Sunday and the parking lot was empty.    I called the number on the sign and the guy gave me the address for the lot.  I said " We're on foot how are we supposed to get there?  He said he'd come and get us.  When he arrived he said he was the owner and not actually working that day.  To say we were a little annoyed would be an understatement.  He wanted $100 cash.  $75. tow and $25 storage even though they'd just towed it.  I didn't have cash so he said we could come back on Monday.  What the heck...we are on foot how are we going to do that.  In the end he said well ....get money out of the bank.  Yes...the one that just had us towed.  I got money and he took Eric to get the Jeep.  What a scam the whole thing is.  A cash cow for the towing agency.  He told Eric the signs are all over town because the Mexican workers leave their cars all over town when they go to work in the fields and that there is a pay lot at McDonald's where we could park for $4 but how were we to know that.  We were the third one we got that day.  Not very good advertising for the town.  Eric ended up calling the guy amigo by the end as there was no point in making him mad because he would have left us there.  No amigo of mine!  

Back on the road $100 US poorer.  A quick stop at Walmart for beer (I needed a few last night) and buns for sandwiches.  Dinner at the Asian Star again last night and again very good and reasonable.  Eric had shrimp chop suey and I had Thai chicken with lots of vegetables.  Both meals were huge and excellent and we got out of there for under $25.  

Today I got laundry done, picked up butter and cheese for Mexico and tonight we'll try the Las Palapas taco place just across the street.  Tomorrow we are off to Nogales, Az and then into Mexico on Wednesday.   

Ridgecrest, Ca to Yuma, Az

 We were up early again yesterday as we had another 400 plus miles to go.  Had breakfast by ourselves up at the office.  Pretty quiet in the motel.  I asked why there were so many motels in such an out of the way place and the young lady said there is an airforce base there and lots of contractors and workers stay in the motels...who knew.  The night before we ate at the Casa Corona Mexican restaurant and it was quite good.  It wasn't the one we'd planned to go to but it was down the highway in the dark with no sidewalk.  Casa Corona was up the well lit street the other way.  When we arrived  we couldn't believe how busy it was.  Lots of birthday parties and families with kids eating.  We both had a Mexican plate with a chili relleno as part of the meal which we both love.  Eric's was spicy and had his eyes watering!  When we went up to pay Eric commented on how busy it was and the  owner/manager said that it was hugely busy every night.  He'd been there over 40 years and said it was time to retire after 3 heart attacks.  Eric said that maybe he shouldn't eat his own restaurant food...big laugh!

 On the road at 7am and travelling down 395 south.   As we drove along there were lots of small partly derelict mining towns.

 Betcha it was bustling here in the old days.

A pretty morning and just around freezing.

We could see an observatory off in the distance.

I wonder if they've spotted any aliens!

Farther south and we thought it was fog.

Turns out it was dust from trucks roaring along side of the highway.

Solar panels out in the desert.

So...we managed to get from 395 south to the new 58 east which didn't have the best signs and then onto I 40 east towards Needles.   There was a huge amount of truck traffic on I 40.  Speed for trucks is  55 mph but they were likely doing 60 mph.  We like to be slower than the trucks so we don't have to pass but that didn't work out.  We passed them and they passed us.  At some points trucks were in the passing lane that didn't have enough power to make it.  Not a relaxing drive at all.

We stopped in Needles, Ca to get some fuel and and I spotted this guy waiting for RV repairs.  Wheels were off and tires were off wheels etc. etc......not going to miss that!  We stopped here to take on a bit of fuel as it's a ways to Parker Az  where it will be cheaper.

Heading south on 95 towards Vidal Junction.

Quiet today.  On many trips south on the highway there are lots of trucks.

That's quite the skyline.

The ribbon candy highway with it's endless ups and downs.

Here we are in Vidal Junction having lunch.  It's about 28C and windy.

Eric was having lunch and he still had his wool sweater on.  It was about 28 C and it didn't take more than 10 minutes and the sweater was off.  It will be packed away until we head home next spring.

Coming into Parker.

Here we are in Quartzite fueling up.  $3.17 a gallon and it will get cheaper in Yuma.  We saw a high of $5.50 per gallon in California.....just ridiculous! 

Quartzite is a major boon docking area.  No power, no water and no sewer where you are parked out in the desert.  You have to run a generator, use solar power, drag your rig to a dump site and then pick up water there as well.  Did a bit of that years ago but it wasn't for us.

Love the sky.

Another thing to amuse yourself with while you are out in the desert.  Riding quads.  Lots of noise and dust....again not our thing.

Coming into Yuma and the cotton is in bales.

Ready for planting. 

Here we are at about 100 ft. elevation after being up as high as 8000 ft a day or so ago.  Huge vegetable crops growing here.  Lettuce and all sorts of cabbage, kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts which go in after the cotton is finished. 

I haven't managed to figure out how to embed a map into blogger. It was easy when I used Open Live Writer which no longer works for me.  So...here is my cell phone map from our off line Navmii map. 

We checked into the Howard Johnson in Yuma yesterday around 3:30 pm and decided to stay a couple of days.  Eric could use a rest and we needed to go down to San Luis to get our paperwork today as well as ....do laundry etc. tomorrow.

Last night and again tonight we had dinner at the Asian Star which is just across the street from the motel.   It was good and...cheap both times. 

Tomorrow I'll tell you what happened today. 

Susanville, CA to Ridgecrest, CA

 So how did today go?  Well...not too bad.  We were up early at 6:30 am and had breakfast at the motel.  There was a real chatty owner/manager talking to Eric about the area, logging etc.  He said there was no frost on the windows because it is so dry. By 7:30 we were on the road and it was cold.  Got down to -10C at one point but the road wasn't icy because it was dry. Elevation here was 4136 ft. but the rest of the morning was spent at much higher elevations.

 Beautiful morning.

 Lovely.

 Sorry about the window but when it's so cold it's hard to clean it.  Eric is sick and he filled up the truck so I hoped I could clean it at the next fuel stop.  Here we are coming down into Reno which is actually at 4500 ft.  We've never been on this route but Manny said we'd just shoot right through the middle on the freeway.  He was right!  Seemed a bit like going through Boise and there aren't all the ramps like Las Vegas.

 Lots of lanes with cars bobbing and weaving back and forth.  As usual we hold our speed and stay in the middle lane.

 Housing right next to the freeway...not for me!

 Wow....that's a nice bridge.

 Large Eagle at the edge of the freeway as you leave Reno.

 Minden...just another town along the way.

 I love all the old houses along the way.  Eric is doing all the driving as we are towing the Jeep.  I never drove when we pulled the RV and I likely won't drive pulling the Jeep.  Better that way!

 Another reservoir type lake.

 I wonder if these are cottonwoods or ash trees.

 We've come up and are now at about 7000 ft where we stayed until about 1pm in the afternoon.

 Up ahead road work.  We had to wait about ten minutes and then were led through.  There did not appear to be anything going on!

 Lots of high mountain travel today and at one point we were at 8138 ft. which is the highest point along US 395 and the highest point along a US highway in California.  We would NOT be towing the RV along this route. 

 Heading down but not that far yet.   Big fire here.

 Another small town.  I just love all the old buildings.

 Now we are really descending.

 Hmmm.....is that California smoke up ahead?

 So we saw diesel as low as 3.09 per gallon in Nevada and as high as 5.50 on our route in California today.  We needed fuel and had to pay 5.19 and...they didn't have any window cleaning stuff so the window is still dirty.

 Lots of trees here as we head down.

 Hey...it's up to 11C.

 Wide open and not much traffic here. 

 We could have stayed in Bishop tonight but that would have meant we couldn't make it to Yuma tomorrow.

 Brake check and we are going down for about six miles.  Everyone only did 50mph down the hill.

 Down to 5000 feet.

 Down to 3.87 a gallon here but we'd have been out of fuel if we'd waited.  We are getting anywhere from 14 to 20 miles per gallon towing the Jeep.  The RV got around 9 with a low of 7 and a high of 12 if we had a tail wind and were on the flat according to the trucks computer. 

 Isn't that a beautiful building. 

 I wonder who lives there|? 

The last of the small towns before we turned off to head into Ridgecrest for the night. 

The only bad experience today was from an older guy in a pick-up.  We were going by him in the passing lane and he started to drift over and got really close so Eric hit the horn.  The guy went ballistic and laid on his horn steady.  Eric pulled in front of him and then the guy went blasting around us on the paved shoulder, cut in front and then roared into the passing lane.  What the heck...were we supposed to let him hit us.  Could have been a huge wreck on the highway. 

So today we had temps from -10C to 22C, elevations from 8138 ft. to 2290 ft here and a journey of 427 miles.  A full day. 

We are in the Econolodge in Rivercrest in a lovely large room for $85. US.  The temp when we got here was about 22C but it is supposed to go down to 1C tonight.  The nice Mexican lady on the desk recommended a Mexican restaurant close by and that's where we'll go.  Turns out she's from Hermosillo and we had a good chat.  She hopes to return to Mexico when she retires although she thought she'd like to come with us to Mazatlan!  Tomorrow on to Yuma.