Eastward Expansion - Day 1: Phoenix, AZ to Grants, NM

Howdy, y'all (although we'll have carried on by the time I publish this, as I sit writing it, we're in Amarillo, Texas)!  As you might have seen in our two previous blog entries, we sold the house in Phoenix and are moving to the Lexington, Kentucky area.  

Family selfie time at El Morro National Monument

Although we've changed residences a handful of times in the last few decades, these moves were always shorter - either within the greater Phoenix area or just one state away.  The last time we did a long-distance adjustment was right after we finished college (Amy), completed military service (Chris), and got married (both - to each other, in case that needs clarification).  On that trip in early 2004, we loaded all of our worldly possessions into our two cars at the time - a small Acura and a Chevy Cavalier - as well as our doggos, Bella and Luigi, and drove cross country over four-five days.  Thankfully for our bank account back then, we were able to stop and spend the night with several family members along the route, needing to pay for just one hotel room, in El Paso, Texas (given what we could afford, it was not the Ritz, as I recall).

Check out this shot from the 2004 archive - it was titled "Sitting at the Dinner Table."

I believe we still have that set of Skip Bo cards, but the phone book is long gone.

This was in our first AZ residence, an apartment in Mesa at the corner of Gilbert Rd and the 60.

Funnily enough, a friend of mine from work also lived there at one point in time.

For this trip, we'd have the relative luxury of packing most of our household items into PODS and sending those across the country before us, while we took a week off from work and camped our way northeast, moving every other day to a new location.  We departed the morning of Saturday, April 6th, leaving from our friend Courtney's spot in Buckeye, AZ, heading for a two night stay at the KOA Journey in Grants, NM.  We had to make adjustments right away after some last minute winter weather blew in on Friday; although the route wasn't the most direct one, we'd initially planned to head up the 17 to Flagstaff, catching the 40 from there and heading east.  However, the accumulated snowfall and a nasty accident caused the 40 East to close down completely heading out of Flag, and we detoured instead through Payson and up over the Mogollon Rim.  While not our initial plan, it worked just fine, and it gave us the chance to visit this area one more time before we headed out of state.

These might be the last saguaros we see for awhile -

they only grow in very specific parts of the world and only under certain elevations

We made a quick fuel/bathroom stop at the Circle K just before getting into Payson proper

I think the Dems are going to have to do more than offer free donuts to win this part of the state

After turning off the 87 in Payson, we cut northeast and went over the Mogollon Rim, eventually connecting with the 40 in Holbrook.  The storm had been through this area, too, but it was well equipped to handle the additional snow.

You can see the light dusting of snow on the top of each tree branch

Driving through a winter wonderland - in April

Our second stop of the day would be just past Holbrook, at the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest Visitor Center; a quick look at the Google Earth images on my phone showed that the parking lot was right off the freeway and had spaces designed for trucks pulling trailers, two factors that have become very important since we started traveling in this manner.  We knew there would also be good bathrooms (not as essential, since we travel with one, but still helpful) and a fun gift shop; as it turned out, there was also an on-site fenced dog park, so we could let the monsters off leash to run around for a bit.

As we merged onto the 40, we spied the Wigwam Motel, where we've stayed previously.

Mom, Jim, and I stayed here on our very first trip to AZ, way back in 2002 (?)

Trying to coax Bea through the obstacles in the dog park.  She says no dice.

We didn't have a chance to actually visit the Painted Desert or Petrified Forest on this trip,

although we have in the past, and we highly recommend doing so - they're both really cool!

We avoided most of the wind by taking the more sheltered route through Payson,

but once we got here in the open, it was super gusty.  Thankfully, we'd have a tailwind the rest of the day.

Little girl checking out the other folks in the parking lot

Fed, watered, and emptied (and with souvenirs purchased!), it was time to get back on the road for our final push into New Mexico!

Zoe watching the world go by

Lots of lovely, high desert scenery in this part of the country

From State Forty-Eight to State Forty-Seven!

Natural formations worn into the sandstone

This section of the Continental Divide was brought to you by CRST Trucking

Mt. Powell, near the town of Thoreau.  It sure doesn't look like Walden, does it?

Even with the time change and the less than perfect weather, we made it to our home for the next two nights, the KOA Journey in Grants, around 4pm.  Check in was easy and the folks there were friendly; it was super easy to find our site, number 28, which was right on the end of the row (we went for the option with a decent sized patio, firepit, and grill).  It was cold - in the 30s - and windy when we pulled in, so we handled setup as quickly as we could; things were going well until we discovered the slide that houses our couch, fridge, and pantry cabinets was having some troubles.  Instead of slowly pushing out like it normally does, giving us extra (and very valuable) room inside the rig, the left motor came to a stop after a few inches of movement, while the right motor was happily humming along.  We tried several workarounds and tricks we found online, but nothing budged the stuck side, so we resigned ourselves to being thankful it was stuck in the "in" position (versus "out," which would mean we couldn't travel) and having a bit less room than normal.  We don't really know why the slide was angry, but we surmised it probably had to do with the constant series of potholes we fell into on the 40 once we hit the NM side of the border.

Tired of fiddling with things we couldn't fix, as well as cold and hungry, we ordered pizza from the onsite kitchen and settled in for the evening.  Our food was delivered right to our site, and it was delicious, so we made quick work of it.  We all squeezed together onto the couch for the rest of the evening, watching F1 Qualifying and another episode of The Three Body Problem until we sacked out (remembering to undo our water hose before we crashed, since temps would be well below freezing overnight).

All cuddled up, extra close quarters edition

On upcoming blogs, we explore the area and see what the northwestern part of New Mexico has to offer!

Later!

Amy