Wednesday - The Return Trip

We started early as planned after topping off the RV diesel tank ($125.38 - thank you) and heading East. The Garmin evidently didn't know we could bypass Phoenix via AZ 85 and IH-8 but we drove that way anyway. It was a good decision and part way down the road, the Garmin caught on and led us the rest of the way into Benson.

We stopped at the Pardner RV Park which turned out to be pretty small and nearly full of slightly decrepit trailers (the monthly rate was $195 - go figure). The Manager was helpful and the daily rate was $20 instead of the $24 listed on the web site. The Manager didn't seem to know what a web site (or the Internet for that matter) was so we didn't press the point.

We decided to try some caches in the roughly 90 minutes of daylight left and found TWELVE ! Benson is a hot and cache friendly place.

We ate at Reb's Cafe (where the food was edible but nothing to write about). Dexter got his obligatory evening walk and we're posting caches and writing this Blog before bedtime. It will be an easy drive from Benson to Las Cruces tomorrow. I think I have Steve & Raymond's number and their directions to the RV Park. We'll send an email and/or call when we hit town. We hope Las Cruces is as cache rich as Benson.

Our only photo is of the Benson,AZ, Welcome sign and a couple semi-decent cache picture.

Day 8 - Christmas Day 2009 (Friday)

Today was a beautiful day. We had ham & cheese omelets for breakfast and then headed out for some caches. Dexter went with us and the experience reminded us of why we don't take the dog. Tomorrow, he stays home and sleeps.

Tommy got to do some serious 4-wheeling with the Explorer on the back trails near our campsite and Old Yuma Road. We only grabbed 3 caches but that puts us at a new milestone of 2700. Attached is the 2700th cache photo - Dexter is looking away from the the camera.

After lunch/dinner around 3:30pm, I walked halfway up to the nearest hilltop peak. The 2nd photo is the summit I did not reach. The sun had moved past the peak and the shadows were too dark. We agreed that we'd all walk up there Sunday morning and get some decent photos.

The last photo is of our campsite after I walked back down to find Tommy and Dexter under a blanket as the sun was setting. It was a great day for us and we didn't spend any money on anything!

Tomorrow we head to Blythe, CA, to get some California caches and see what is in Quartzsite on a Saturday afternoon. We plan to hit the road Wednesday early and drive to Las Cruces to meet Steve & Raymond at their new mountain home.

Day 6 - Wed (Geocaching & Desert Searching)

We decided to stay in town one more day and do some Geocaching. It was great and we should have done this yesterday. We saw many sights in the NorthEast Quadrant of the city. We even went off-road and grabbed 5 along the Sunset Trail. Attached is only one of the many cache pictures we took.

We had lunch at the Grubstake Chuck Wagon and it was very filling. Tommy got the #15 (3 Sliders) and could only eat one of them! In general, it is expensive to eat in Quartzsite. Most lunches have been $10 for each of us and that's without the drinks.

After lunch, we grabbed Dexter and went back to the Tyson Wash area of the La Posa LTVA and tried to find the TOW group or the Stonewall BOF group from their directions. We found the roads, found the washes, and found the turn in but didn't find any people other than 2 different man/woman couples who were trying to be out alone by themselves. Some of the roads were not suitable for the motorhome as the washes were too steep, the entrances too narrow or the rocks too big to avoid scrapping bottom. We found a space near road 561 past the 2nd wash that we'll drive to tomorrow morning. This is our last night in town and we're doing laundry and loading up water to be ready for six or so days of boondocking.

It was clear and sunny all day with a hint of a north wind but not too bad. I see Dallas is getting some cold weather but we're staying in the moderate range.

Here is Tommy with a cache in the middle of some tall cactus.

1st Cache!

We entered a less flat area and came to the end of IH-20 where it merged into IH-10. In a picnic area where a strong cached signal was calling, we found our 1st Geocache of the trip. Photo of the Cache Log signer attached.

It is on to El Paso now and then into New Mexico. Lunch will be due by then.


Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the speed limiut is 80 MPH here along the straight, barren stretch of road. Another photo is attached to prove we are not kidding!

1st Day (evening actually)

We set out on our journey from the Dallas area to the desert near Quartzsite, AZ, on Friday evening after traffic thinned out. It was 7:45pm when the bus hit the freeway heading west.

Only one heavy traffic area was encountered on IH-820 where Haltom City and Ft Worth come together. We moved through the area in about 10 minutes and were soon on our way west. Just around 10pm, we pulled into an IH-20 rest area (mm 390) and stopped for the night.

Everything worked on the RV except for one pesky alarm on the Inverter that sounded when we were in a place where stopping was impossible. Once we got into the rest area, a quick check showed it had shut down but without any alarms. I turned it back on and it ran flawlessly through the night. 110VAC is important to us as the coach is all-electric and our Amana refrigerator is happier when the power in on.

Breakfast was a set of Owens breakfast Tacos and we started out again around 10am Saturday morning.

The cache in the rest area had been claimed earlier so we decided not to seek any caches until we were in a new area for us. That will be around Pecos, TX, or another 8 hours of driving.