Meet Zelda! Part 1

 

New Rig Alert!

As you've seen on the blog over the past few years, we've gone on tons of great adventures with our travel trailer Arlene.  We were lucky enough to acquire the trailer (and the towing vehicle, a white Dodge RAM) right after the COVID lockdowns started in earnest, and it gave us an opportunity to travel even when flights, cruises, and other ways to escape weren't an option.  After my heart scare in June 2020, I really needed a way to get out of town and blow off some steam, and Arlene gave us an incredible method to do so (you can go all sorts of places when you can take your own bathroom with you).

Fast forward to two years later, and while we still loved going on adventures in Arlene, she was starting to feel a bit tight - a little cramped, if you will.  If you read even a few blogs about RVs or travel trailers, you'll often see experienced owners saying don't wait to purchase the perfect RV; you'll likely always find something you want to change about your current rig setup, so buy the one that fits into your budget and figure out what your next one will be as you go.  Since Arlene was our very first travel trailer, we intentionally went smaller to start, then planned to upgrade eventually as we learned how we like to camp, and whether a travel trailer was even something we wanted, long-term.  Once Chris moved to a full-time telecommuting position (something I'd had since COVID started), we knew that we'd like to work from the road at times, and Arlene was just too small to allow us to do so (and that's before you throw in sharing the small space with two boisterous dogs...).  Given all of this, back in spring, we sold both the truck and Arlene, and we went into saving mode, living life as a one-car family for a few months.

During this time, we also did lots of research on what we'd like our next truck/trailer combo to be, keeping an eye on inventory for both items, and taking tours of available rigs to ensure we were picking the right one.  In late summer, we found a screaming deal on the truck we wanted (a red Dodge RAM this time, instead of white - also a diesel instead of a gas engine, and with expanded fuel tanks - incredible for longer trips, not so amazing when it comes to paying at the pump), and in early October, I happened to see an incredible markdown on our desired trailer - a 2022 Grand Design Imagine XLS 23 LDE.  Several Grand Design dealers, including those local to us, had been rolling their 2023's onto their lots, and while a few 2022's were still around, their prices remained high.  However, this one was a good third off.  What a find!  We called the dealer the next day and scheduled a loan signing/pick up/walk through for the following Saturday!

The only catch?  The new rig was currently living on the lot at the Great American RV Superstore...in Hammond, Louisiana, ~1500 miles away.  Within a few days, we had a trip planned (we're pretty efficient at that, she says humbly), and we started to get excited!

There's no quick way to drive 1500 miles, but at least almost all of the route would be straight east on the I-10 (then of course, straight back west).  On Thursday, we both did the early shift at work, dropped off the monkeys for boarding at lunchtime, and by 2pm, we were on the road to start this adventure.

We went past a decent-sized dust storm

just outside the old stomping grounds in Casa Grande.

We actually bought the truck in the CG

and drove through a dust storm on the way home

from that purchase, too.

It's a magnet!

Waving to our friends Bryan and Jen

as we passed the north side of Tucson

It was a bit rainy through Tucson,

but we did get this great rainbow afterward!

Our first day of driving took us around 440 miles to El Paso, Texas, about 6.25 hours.  We stopped to change driving duties about every two hours, which was also a good meal/snack/bathroom break cadence.

Heading into the sunset,

near Willcox, Arizona

New state, who dis?

By the time we made it to the Fairfield Inn near the El Paso Airport, it was about 9:30pm, and we hit the hay pretty hard.

The (almost) full moon

and the truck mirror

Also somewhere near the AZ/NM line,

I think

Hooray!  We made it to Texas!

Getting out of the other side of Texas

would take a bit longer...

While the first day wasn't very exciting, we were on our way!  In upcoming blog entries, we make it to Louisiana, acquire the trailer, and camp our way home!

Later!

Amy