Sunday, 3-1-98

T oday was another beautiful day and I still can’t get over all the palm trees we've seen. The group of palms behind our motorhome in Indio was filled with date palms. That would explain why there is a ladder mounted on each palm tree, in the grove next to the campground.

We pulled out of the campground at nine o’clock Sunday morning and headed east on I-10. I had to stop for fuel just as we entered Arizona. We pulled in to a Flying J Travel Plaza that was more crowded than I've ever seen before. There were lines of motorhomes and cars at every pump island. I lucked out when a car headed against the flow of motorhomes moved out. I was able to get in because our motorhome is short enough to make a U-turn and pull up to a pump in the opposite direction of all the other motorhomes. They were all too long to make the necessary sharp turn.

After refueling, we drove a few miles to Quartzite, Arizona and stopped for lunch. After lunch I loaded a mapping program on my computer to find a route to follow through "beautiful" downtown Quartzite. With that done, we took a slow drive through Quartzite on the "Main drag."

One of many roadside flea markets in Quartzite

The roadway was lined with flea market after flea market. Out in the distance, RVs could be seen squatting wherever the owners decided to stop. Now I know where a lot of hippie buses have gone. Kay and I saw a huge fishing pole sculpture next to a dry creek bed. I figured Tom would want to take the pole home to set up on his boat dock.

From Quartzite we headed toward Phoenix to check on a KOA campground on the West Side of town. We approached the area at about 3:00PM local time. It was decided as we drove, that it was a little early to stop for the day, so we continued on to a KOA campground several miles east of Phoenix. The traffic was light and we figured it would be better to get across Phoenix today rather than try it tomorrow during the morning "Rush."

Along the way, we encountered a car pulling a small travel trailer that was wandering all over the road and moving slower than the rest of traffic. We all took our turn taking the risk of getting around this road hazard. As we passed the car, Kay looked over and she said it appeared that the two occupants were playing some sort of card game in the front seat. It was apparent the driver wasn’t paying attention to his driving.

We were just east of Phoenix when we saw a lot of emergency vehicles on the frontage road next to the freeway. There were police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, huge tow trucks, and some BLM trucks, all with lights flashing. Finally we saw what all the commotion was about; a tractor-trailer rig had caught fire and nearly burned to the ground. That was about the most exciting thing to happen all day.

We pulled in to the Picacho KOA campground for the night at about 5:00PM. As we waited in line to register, the aroma of barbecue smoke filled the air. It was coming from Jerry’s Steak House next to the campground office. After we all were set up in our campsites, a vote was held and it was unanimous that we would all meet at the local steak house for our evening meal. The restaurant was a simple and homey, furnished with ordinary patio furniture. The menu featured traditional American dishes with reasonable prices. I had the "Oven fried chicken" and it was very good.

After dinner, Tom asked if I could come up with a map to help him find a place he and Nora would visit later. This gave me an excuse to play with my mapping program again. The software found the place he wanted to visit, so I printed a set of maps for him.

It probably would not surprise any of you if I told you a card game broke out tonight. Dave, Barbara, Tom, and Kay are busy right now trying to take each other’s quarters.

Let the card game begin

Now I have to see if there is cell phone service here for me to get a message out.

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