Wow, yesterday was May 1st. We’re already a third of the way through 2014! Where does the time go? It’s been more than nine months since we left our sticks-and-bricks home behind us.

We pulled out of Distant Drums RV Park at 9:50am yesterday. We went around the roundabout on Middle Verde Road and entered the I-17 onramp. We were on our way north to Flagstaff. When we entered the interstate, our elevation was 4,000 feet above sea level. The highway climbs quickly. I was maintaining 55 – 60 mph without working the Cummins diesel too hard.

The trick is to maintain your momentum and to downshift on the steeper grades. I manually downshift the transmission to run the engine near its peak horsepower at 1900 – 2000 rpm. This is easier on the motor than lugging uphill. It also spins the water pump, moving coolant through the engine quickly and keeping the engine temperatures from climbing. There were heavily loaded tractor-trailer rigs laboring their way along at 35 – 40 mph. I tried to time my approach to them by watching traffic in the passing lane, then swinging over to that lane around the slow trucks without dropping my speed. Once you slow down to match the speed of the slow truck, you probably won’t be able to accelerate past it until you crest the grade.

At one point, on a steep climb, a car was merging into our lane from the onramp. He was oblivious and about to enter the freeway in front of us at 45 mph. I held my speed and laid on the air horns. That woke him up. He accelerated ahead.

After 20 miles or so, we were at an elevation of 6,000 feet. The terrain was completely different as we drove through heavily wooded pine forest. Arizona is not all desert. The northern third of the state is high mountain forest. We were no longer in the desert. As we came around a bend in the road, we were facing the San Francisco Peaks. The San Francisco Peaks are a mountain range north of Flagstaff. The highest point in Arizona, Humphreys Peak at 12,633 feet, is in this range.

Snowy peak

We turned east on I-40 and drove about six miles to US89. We followed US89 to our present location, the J & H RV Park. It’s a quiet little park with 51 sites. We’re in a roomy pull-through site and didn’t have to drop the trailer. The elevation here is 7,000 feet above sea level. We have mountain views around us. After we settled in, Donna and I walked a couple hundred yards down the highway to Subway for lunch.

Last night Donna made shrimp with zucchini and tomatoes over spaghetti noodles.

Shrimp with zucchini and tomatoes

The overnight low temperature was forecast to be in the low 30s. Before we went to bed, I turned on the furnace and set the thermostat at 53 degrees. This is the first time we’ve used the propane furnace. The heat pumps aren’t very effective once the temperature drops below the high 30s.

Today, Donna is taking a taxi to the Hertz rental car office. They will reimburse her up to $15 for the taxi cost. She’s renting a car while we’re here in Flagstaff. We’ll have a car to go sightseeing and I can drive her to the airport on Monday. She’s flying to New York City on Monday for a satellite media tour. This morning, after she picks up the car, she’s going into town for a haircut.

We’ll probably head downtown later today. Flagstaff is a college town and there are some cool places to eat and sample local beer.