We packed up and pulled out of Mission Bay RV Resort last Friday. I packed most of the stuff that needed to go to the trailer Thursday afternoon. I also pumped up the air pressure on the coach tires. The trailer tires were low from sitting for the past three months – it’s not unusual for tires to lose up to a few pounds of pressure per month. The smaller the tire, the greater the pressure loss generally. I waited until we brought the coach to the trailer to air up the trailer tires – there wasn’t an electrical outlet near the trailer, so I plugged the air compressor into the coach.

By the time I had the trailer tires aired up and loaded the Spyder, it 11:45am when we finally hit the road. We made the familiar trip east on I-8 over Laguna Summit. We usually make a stop at the Buckman Springs rest area for a lunch break, but I continued on this time to the Golden Acorn Casino at the Crestwood Summit. The Golden Acorn has a truck stop and better fuel prices than most places in San Diego. I only pumped 20 gallons to make sure we had plenty to run the generator. The generator will not run if the fuel tank is below 1/4 full. I paid $3.75/gallon there.

We made our way to our boondocking spot for the night off of Ogilby Road near the Imperial sand dunes. It was cold and windy out – much colder than I expected. There were many rigs at the dunes – weekenders with their sand toys. The wind was gusting over 20mph, so we didn’t see many people out – everyone was hunkering down. I shot a photo near sundown – you can see how much dust was in the air from the wind.

Saturday morning we hit the road again. We lost an hour as we crossed the Colorado River into Arizona – it’s Mountain Standard Time in Arizona at this time of year. We stopped in Yuma at Fortuna Road – exit 12. I wanted to buy some water filter cartridges and Tank Techs Rx holding tank treatment at my favorite RV store – Al’s RV and Marine. To my consternation, Al’s RV and Marine store was nothing but an empty storefront. Flyers for specials were still on display in the windows, but it was locked up tight and nothing but bare floor inside. We crossed to the north side of I-8 to the Pilot/Flying J travel center and topped up our fuel tank. Diesel fuel here was $2.95/gallon – 80 cents per gallon less than what I paid in California!

Driving east on I-8 between Tacna and Dateland, I spied a column of black smoke rising a few miles ahead. I told Donna it looked like something was burning on or next to the interstate. I hoped it wasn’t a vehicle. As we got closer, we saw a cargo trailer on the shoulder of the highway and flames shooting 20 feet into the air in front of it. As we passed by, we saw a white Chevy SUV – a Tahoe I think – fully engulfed in flames. People were standing in the desert about 30 feet away from it and a few cars had pulled to a stop ahead of it. It didn’t appear that anyone was hurt. We could feel the searing heat from the fire as we passed it in the left lane. The driver of the car in front of me was gawking and suddenly slowed – a dangerous move that had me braking. The trailer wasn’t burning as we passed, but the heat was intense and it was the middle of nowhere. I figured it would be a while before any fire fighters could respond. About 15 minutes later, I saw a firetruck on the westbound lanes heading toward the fire.

Our next stop was the Ak-Chin Harrahs Casino in Maricopa. We planned to dry camp overnight there and have a short hop to Mesa Sunday morning. The casino offers free RV parking in the back lot where buses park. The lot is fairly level and surprisingly quiet.

We went into the casino to check out a couple of their restaurants. One offered small dishes – appetizer style plates. The other was a buffet and Saturday night was seafood night. We opted for the buffet at $32/person. Like most buffets I’ve experienced, the food was mediocre but there was lots of it!

We left the casino Sunday morning around 10am. We had an uneventful drive to Viewpoint RV and Golf Resort in Mesa. I’d forgotten about the offices being closed on weekends. We checked in with the security and were escorted to our site. I had reserved site 5245 where we stayed the past two years. I unloaded the Spyder and Donna directed me into the site to drop the trailer. We’ve gotten pretty good at this – the security guy seemed to think we were in for trouble but it went without a hitch.

We were set up in no time and I had NFL football on in time to catch the second quarter of the early games. What a crazy season. The Chargers finished at 12-4 but have to settle for the wildcard spot as the fifth seed. Meanwhile 10-6 wins the division in the east. Sheesh.

The temperature dropped below 40 overnight – it was cold in the coach this morning. We’ve had the heat pumps on since we got out of bed. We don’t mind it when the coach is cool while we’re under our blankets and down comforter, but once we rise, we want comfortable temperatures. The heat pumps have been doing a great job and it’s a comfortable 72 degrees inside while the wind is blowing and it’s only 51 outside. This cold snap will probably last until the weekend. Next week is forecast to have highs of 70 degrees. Nice!

We had invitations to a couple of New Year’s gatherings tonight, but Donna is feeling a little run down and it’s supposed to be a rainy night, so we’ll just be party poopers and stay in.