2S2G - Day 2 - Carefree, AZ, Sat., June 14

5:30 a.m. the alarm went off. What? It was my Smartphone and I couldn't figure out how to turn it off. After it went off about four times, I finally turned it off.

We dressed, ate a quick breakfast in the lobby, and talked to the night clerk. During the night, a sheriff brought in a family who had hit a deer on I-10 by Fort Stockton. Their car was demolished, but the family wasn't injured. Super 8 put them up for the night. Scary stuff, that.

Our route took us through El Paso, to the New Mexico Visitor Center and Rest Area where we had a beautiful view of the mountains. We added to our load by picking up a New Mexico map along with brochures for the UFO Museum in Roswell and Carlsbad Caverns.

View from New Mexico Visitor Center by Texas border

On we drove across I-10 West. Lunch stop was a Subway in Deming, NM. More I-10 windshield time. Lots of scrub brush. We decided to take U.S. 70 northwest out of Lordsburg, NM and head through Globe, Arizona, through Mesa, then north on Hwy. 101 toward Scottsdale.

The route on U.S. 70 has a low overpass (13' 9") heading out of Lordsburg. There are lots of hills, some of them 7% grade. Plus there are many small towns along the way with lots of stoplights. I-10 is the best way to go if you're in a hurry or in a large RV. Globe has a huge mining operation for copper and gold. We saw huge buildings and tailings for miles. 

Here are shots of scenery along the way along with a minor dust storm...

U.S. 70 in New Mexico

U.S. 70

U.S. 70 heading toward Arizona

We kept seeing dust devils in the distance, then blowing dust, and even more blowing dust.

One short dust storm we encountered

More severe dust storm.

When we left Ft. Stockton in the morning, we had no idea what time zone we were headed into because Arizona doesn't do Daylight Savings Time. When we crossed the border into Arizona, we found our Smartphones had reset to two hours earlier than the time zone we just left. Therefore, we were an hour early to Aunt Sally and Uncle Skip's house.

They welcomed us with open arms. We had planned to take them out to dinner; however, Aunt Sally loves to cook, so she fixed chicken enchiladas and chile rellenos for dinner. What a warm welcome. Thank you so much Aunt Sally.

Happy Anniversary to Aunt Sally and Uncle Skip. Their anniversary is tomorrow.

For dessert Aunt Sally brought out some cupcakes that looked like hamburgers. So clever! Susan and I gobbled those right down!

Our guest room in Carefree, AZ at Bob's Aunt & Uncle's home

Spending time chatting with Skip and Sally is so much fun. Skip is always teasing Sally to get her goat.

Our stay was delightful with all the comforts of home.

Tomorrow we will walk the Encanto Park Volksmarch in Phoenix. It is one of our walk choices in Arizona's state capital. Then we are off to Tonopah via Henderson, NV where we will have lunch with Louise (mother-in-law) and Laura (sister-in-law).

I'm feeling the tiredness kick in from not enough sleep last night, and a long day driving.

Good night. Travel bug out.