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:
