After the FMCA convention, we drove 237 miles, over four hours, from Pima County fairgrounds just south of Tucson, Arizona to Verde Valley, Cottonwood, Arizona.

A longer drive than we prefer, but not too bad. We try to keep drives to about 200 miles or three hours where feasible. We like to follow the 2/2/2 rule: drive no more than 200 miles in a day, arrive by 2 PM, stop every 2 hours, and stay for at least 2 nights (so the rule really should be 2/2/2/2, but some people omit one of the middle clauses). There’s also the 3/3/3 rule, with the obvious variations, but that seems a bit much to us.

Here’s the route map, going from bottom to top:

On departure day from the convention, there was a pretty constant stream of RVs leaving the fairgrounds. Here are two Tiffins departing:

We noticed once on the road that I had neglected to remove the Magne Shade from the small side window, so we pulled off on the side of a freeway onramp to remove it:

Passing Picacho Peak again; such an interesting pointy bit:

A couple more Tiffins:

We liked the quote from the Lord of the Rings: “Not all who wander are lost”:

Since this was a long drive, we stopped at rest areas where available:

Paladin sitting between us:

Passing by downtown Phoenix:

Paladin in his dash bed, briefly; I still hope he’ll get comfortable enough with travel days to sit there while we drive:

Cacti:

Yay, gusty winds; super fun in a high-profile vehicle; fortunately not too bad:

We passed through several hills, including this 5% downgrade:

I was amused by the sign for Bumble Bee and Crown King:

Another hill:

A stop at Love’s for fuel:

And DEF:

Chips and sandwich for travel lunch:

On another hill, a runaway truck ramp; a deep gravel upward slope to stop a truck that loses its brakes:

6% grade:

Quite the view from the hill, though:

The Cottonwood exit:

There were several traffic circles:

Another nice view:

Our destination: