We have arrived

 That was a long trip from our home in Canada to Huachuca City/Sierra Vista, Arizona. A whopping 3645km/2265miles!

Parked in our favourite area

Benno had planned two different routes to Arizona based on the North American temperature chart and the weather forecast for the estimated travel days. There was a system going through the USA with heavy rain and cold temperatures that we wanted to avoid and we did. So our decision was made last minute to drive the further south route rather than the diagonal Oklahoma City route, which would have saved a bit on miles.

At 9 a.m. on Christmas Day we pulled out of our driveway and once we were through the border control in Windsor/Detroit we took the I-94 west to I-69 south. Next from Indianapolis in the westward direction of St. Louis on I-70 where we spent our first night at a Walmart parking lot in Greencastle, Indiana.

Benno was going to get comfortable and as he was taking off his shoes, the sole of one shoe separated. Those were his favourites Sebago boat shoes, you should have heard him whining!!! He told me to pack light so sandals, crocks, hiking boots or slippers were not going to cut it. Good thing we were parked at a Walmart parking lot for the night and where he found a decent pair in the store to help him out until he can find a replacement. Mind you nobody would have taken notice if he were going to limp into the store :-)

I always wanted to see how those shoes are made ;-)

After leaving the parking lot on the way to take on some fuel the next morning I spotted an Aldi grocery store right on the main road. It just opened up and we did a quick u-turn, I went in to see if there was anything I needed or wanted. They had discounted all the Christmas chocolates and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Marzipan Stollen (German fruit cake) sold for $1.74 (I paid $12 for the same one back in Canada. Dominos at 92 cents and other Christmas chocolates like truffles, etc for 99 cents. I presume we now have enough chocolates in the cupboards to last us to Eastern.

The next day we overnighted at a large parking lot shared by Lowes, Walmart, TSC and other stores in Blytheville, Arkansas on the I-55S. It was peaceful.

In the afternoon on our third travel day we were ready to stay in an RV Park. We needed to get water and flush out our antifreeze so we could take showers. Right on I-30W, at Exit #7 in Texarkana, Arkansas we pulled into the Sunrise RV Park. It had lots of pull-through sites and we got a good spot. We didn’t have a reservation, but it was no problem since it was early afternoon. By late evening the park was chock full of RVs. The price was $34.32

Sunrise RV Park in Texarkana

The next morning we needed to fill up a 30 Ibs propane tank and got the runaround at a few TSC stores until we finally succeeded at one, but had wasted a lot of time. Also the bypass drive around Dallas and Ft. Worth took longer than we had anticipated. In the evening we decided on another RV Park and got the last spot at White RV Park in Clyde, Texas just before Abilene at Exit 298 on I-20. The price was $30.

There must be thousands of windmills in Texas (enlarge to see more)

Day 5 we travelled the I-20 to Kent, Texas where it joins the I-10 and it was kind of uneventful until we decided to look for an overnight spot. There are some rest areas along the way and at mile 100 on I-10 it has unique teepees but not suitable to stay overnight and we could not see anything suitable along the Interstate. Not wanting to drive on in the dark all the way to El Paso, we eventually pulled into a vacant piece of land next to several construction machinery that joined a Flying J Travel Center at the town of Van Horn on the I-10. We settled in and had dinner. Then all of a sudden all hell broke loose. We thought we were in a war zone, but it turned out we were next to the train tracks and a freight train with four engines just passed by us, oh my God, was this a racket. Had we already been in bed we would have fallen out in shock. There were a few more trains during the night. Next morning we were surrounded by several RVs that had come in during the night.

Nice rest area along I-10

Day 6, on December 30th we arrived in the afternoon at the RV Park in Huachuca City, Arizona. It is approximately 10 miles from Sierra Vista, which is a city that offers major stores. We have been to this area before and you can check out those blog entries here.

To tell you more of where we are staying, you have to wait until my next blog update.

Stay tuned and thanks for dropping in.