CONNIE, WHO HAS PATIENTLY RIDDEN SHOTGUN for five years, is making up for lost time. She loves to drive and has much more experience towing vehicles — even if only behind a tractor — than I and, bless her heart, she drove the entire 900+ miles from Colorado to Arizona.
Despite what the Ford dealer promised and the RV guys confirmed, we weren’t convinced that our 6-cylinder half-ton truck would be up to the task, even with Econoboost™. Happily, it performed as advertised. Our gas mileage plummeted from 22 to 12 mpg with the trailer but with the price of gas today it was still cheaper per mile than with a 1.5 liter munchkin car in Europe. And all-in-all we think our environmental footprint will still be smaller than the average American. After all, we have only one vehicle, our “dwelling” is 10% the size of most houses and our possessions are still minimal.
We decided against camping along the way; it’s easier to park the rig and stay at a hotel off the interstate. We took our time, cruising along at a sane 55, trying for 300 miles a day. We spent our first night in Santa Fe and the second in Las Cruces, NM before arriving at the Grande Vista RV park in Willcox, Arizona. It’s farther from Tucson than we thought but rate is much better — $325 for the month. The wifi is spotty at our site but it works well in the dayroom. Everything else is OK and Bob and Kathy, who run the place, are very helpful.
Willcox is a small town with a little historic area. We can walk to the Safeway and Pizza Hut, there is a medical center nearby and we have already gotten temporary library cards good for DVDs. We are looking forward to taking some long hikes and visiting some of the birding hotspots. This is sandhill crane country and it’s always a treat to watch these giants take to the air in the chilly dawn. And chilly it is. While daytime highs are near 70, it drops below freezing at night so we must diligently keep tabs on our water supply. Even the simple life isn’t so simple.
