Retirement

Gila Bend

We are in a really nice RV campground tonight. We have been blessed on this adventure to have stayed in many really nice RV parks. This park, the Sonoran Desert RV Park, is located in Gila Bend, AZ, and has a number of nice amenities. Our camp spot has it’s own fenced-in dog run, a concrete patio with charcoal grill and a propane “fire feature” where you can sit around and enjoy the warmth of a fire.

Tomorrow, we will be headed home. We are less than two hours from Wickenburg and expect to be home in the early afternoon. It has been quite the adventure and even though it has been enjoyable, we are now anxious to be home again.

Back in Arizona

We are in Benson, AZ for the evening. We have elected to take short trips per day to reduce stress and weariness, therefore we will not be home until Sunday, having one more camping night on the road at Gila Bend, AZ, tomorrow evening.

We selected tomorrow’s campsite specifically to avoid driving through the Phoenix Metro area, which is stressful given the driving crazies and construction in that area. Last fall, we made the mistake of driving through that area and vowed to avoid it as much as possible.

As for today’s campsite, Benson is a nice town along Interstate 10 in Cochise County, AZ. We selected this campground since it is far enough away from the Interstate to be quiet overnight, yet is convenient to get back on I-10 without any hassle.

We’re both looking forward to getting home, since we’ve been on the road for almost a month. Don’t get us wrong, though, since we have had a lot of fun, good eats, relaxation, adventure (seeing new places) and, most of all, another eyewitness of a magnificent solar eclipse.

Mountain View

Damsel and I walked down to the “scenic walk” area of the RV park here in Las Cruces to see what we could see. The view of the area from atop the Picacho Hills, west of Las Cruces proper, was very nice. I aimed my camera phone toward the rugged mountains we crossed getting here and got the (clickable) image above.

Those peaks are the so-called “Organ Mountains” which have this interesting appearance due to being formed by igneous, rather than sedimentary rocks. The organ name comes from some early notion that the peaks resemble a pipe organ.

Tomorrow morning, we head to the west again in continuation of the trek homeward. We shall (God willing) blog from Benson, AZ tomorrow evening.

Las Cruces KOA —
  A Hilltop RV Park

We arrived at our campground today without incident. We drove straight through the planned route and stopped only once in Alamogordo to take on fuel.

We were pleasantly surprised that our campground RV park is elevated above the southwest end of the city of Las Cruces – actually a pretty big town in this region of New Mexico. In the image above, you can see our rig parked with the mountain ranges in the distance and the urban sprawl below.

Later this evening, Damsel and I took a walk down to the front of the park where there is an overlook of the area. I used my S23 Galaxy phone to photograph the city lights:

In the above image, you can dimly see the mountain range beyond the city we crossed coming here today. We also crossed the Rio Grande River, which flows through the area on its way to the Big Bend and thence to the Gulf of Mexico, where we were just a few days ago.

Click on either image to open the image viewer.

Camping — Fort Stockton, TX

We made it to Fort Stockton, TX and are camped in this nice Hilltop RV Park just west of town. We drove from Junction, TX west along I-10. We made some stops along the way for fuel, rest and provisions.

This is a nice RV Park and the photo above does not do it justice; there are 360° views of the area, the WI-FI is streaming speedy and there are full facilities for campers of all levels. Although the campground is on the I-10 frontage road, there is no significant road noise.

Tomorrow, we plan to head away from I-10 and go northward into New Mexico.

Camping — Junction, TX

We’re camped in Junction, a little town just off of I-10. The town is located a hundred miles or so west of San Antonio. It’s a pleasant rural-ish RV park alongside the Llano River. We’re staying here for a couple of nights just to relax for the weekend. We have already had our dinner and are settled in watching TV and surfing on the internet.

The ride out of San Antonio was even more of a nightmare than the arrival last night. It took us a full hour to just get of the urban area and head west on I-10. Traffic was backed up horribly due to freeway and other construction. The departure was very annoying and tedious. I recommend staying out of San Antonio until they finish their road projects.

On Monday, we will continue west and probably stay another night in West Texas before heading back into New Mexico. We’re going to have to be home by late in the week to take care of some appointments, etc. there.

We thank the Lord that we have been safe thus far, and pray that He will continue to bless us.

San Antonio

Just a quickie to let you know that we’re in San Antonio at the Alamo KOA. The trip here from Port Lavaca KOA near the Gulf Coast was pretty good except for the last few miles on I-10 Westbound where there was massive road construction underway. All that was exacerbated by some heavy traffic, making for a tedious final approach to the off-ramp.

We’re here for tonight and will be continuing westbound where we’re booked in for a couple of nights in Junction, TX for some needed R&R.

When we leave in the morning from here, we will do a drive-by at the Alamo in the morning for a photo-op (perhaps).