A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 354 miles from Sun City, Arizona to Bonita, California.
Author: David
Sun City, Arizona to Sweetwater Summit Regional Park in Bonita, California
We drove our coach 354 miles, about six hours of driving, from Encore Paradise RV Resort in Sun City, Arizona to Sweetwater Summit Regional Park in Bonita, California.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Pulled out of our site in Encore Paradise:
Leaving Paradise:
Exit to I-10 West:
Teacups ride trailer:
Rail crossing:
Dinosaurs:
Another Tiffin Allegro Bus (with poor lane placement):
Oversize load:
Train:
Rest area:
Mountains:
Arizona centennial sign:
Fuel stop before leaving Arizona:
This short handle isn’t all that useful for washing RV windshields:
Spendy fuel, but cheaper than California:
Interesting bridge art:
California State Line:
Welcome to California, and Pacific Time Zone:
Agricultural Inspection Station:
No Inspection Today:
Rest area (with a dump station):
Interesting rocks:
Tecate Divide; Elevation 4140 feet:
Closed immigration inspection:
Exit to CA-125 South:
Arriving at the campground of Sweetwater Summit Regional Park:
Entrance station:
Campground map:
Our site, #134, with a nice concrete pad:
Very level site:
A nice campground; we’d stay here again.
Simplifying posts
I’ve decided to simplify my blog posts a bit. You may have noticed that I’m not following the schedule I used to use (Modification Mondays, Travel Tuesdays, etc); I’m now just posting each weekday.
Since the most useful and interesting posts (to certain audiences) are RV modifications and things we do, I will continue those posts much as I have been. The modifcation posts are useful for other Tiffin motorhome owners; I regularly link to them in Facebook groups to help others with similar issues. For other people, those posts are easy to skip. The exploring posts are more interesting to family and friends (and future us!), to see the interesting attractions we’ve experienced.
But travel and campground posts aren’t all that useful, and all the data recorded for campgrounds was a lot of work, so I’m going to merge those two, much as I did for the New Zealand series. The new format will be like the travel posts, with photos from the journey, but end with a few campground pictures, and omit all the data. So each post will document some interesting sights during our travel from one campground to the next, for anyone interested in that. They will continue to include maps with potential stops marked, which are useful for others traveling this route (including our future selves).
I will continue the travel timelapse videos, at least until after Alaska, since that will no doubt be very scenic. Those are a lot of work too, so I may discontinue them in the future, but we’ll see.
I know that the audience for this blog is very small; mostly just family and friends, and a few others who have seen the blog on Facebook on seen our motorhome on the road (via the QR code). In large part, it’s just a hobby travel diary for my own satisfaction. And that’s enough.
Baseball: Arizona Diamondbacks vs Detroit Tigers
We attended a game of the Arizona Diamondbacks vs Detroit Tigers at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.
Jenn’s game summary:
At Chase Field, the roof was open to a warm desert evening as Opening Day unfolded—pregame ceremonies, a military flyover, and a packed crowd setting the tone. The D’backs built an early lead (Corbin Carroll had a triple and a home run) and held off the Tigers 9-6 to secure their first win of the season. Michael Soroka set the tone in dominant form, including an immaculate inning, before turning things over to the bullpen, which promptly imploded, giving up 6 runs in the 7th inning. The home crowd booed their own squad before the D’backs got another homer in the bottom of the inning to get things back on track for Paul Sewald to close it out. The churro dog was interesting, but it was no Disneyland churro.
An interactive map of the ballpark:
Team store:
Dessert first: Churro Dog, a hotdog-like form factor made of a cake donut, churro, and ice cream; not the best churro, but pretty tasty:
View from our seats: Section 319, Row 14, Seats 1 & 2:
Roof opening:
Got a couple of burgers from a mini Chick-fil-A:
Legends mascots:
Opening Day ceremonies:
Play ball:
Dillon Dingler is a very baseball name:
Home run:
Exploring the ballpark:
Bigger Chick-fil-A on another level:
I went to Streets of New York for some garlic cheesy bread:
Play review:
New pitcher:
Legends race:
Home run:
Another home run:
Hat game:
More hats:
Organist:
Baseball Spring Training: Seattle Mariners vs Chicago Cubs
The last spring training game we attended was our Seattle Mariners vs the Chicago Cubs, playing at the Peoria Sports Complex.
The field:
We splurged on club seats for this last game:
Club area with free beverages and popcorn:
Sammy’s On Third:
Not pictured, hot dog:
Selfie:
The temperature was 105° F, so the sun on our backs was not welcome:
We used damp cooling towels to shield our necks and help cool down a bit:
Cal arriving:
Starting lineups:
Cubs vs Mariners:
Umps:
Play ball!:
Sunset:
ABS challenge:
ABS challenge:
Free cookie:
Art:
Retired numbers:
Goodbye Peoria Sports Complex:
Video: Sun City to Tolleson back to Sun City, Arizona motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 37 miles round-trip from Encore Paradise RV Resort in Sun City to Velocity Truck Centers in Tolleson, then back to Paradise in Sun City, Arizona.
Velocity Truck Centers for engine air heater repair
As we were arriving in Phoenix, we got a Check Engine light on our dash. Never a welcome occurrence!
Looking in the BlueFire app, it showed more details of the codes; clearly a short of the engine intake air heater:
Later in our stay, we started the engine again to see if the codes were still there. They were, so I contacted NIRVC to see if they could fix it. They referred me to Velocity Truck Centers, which is a Cummins dealer, and has an RV department.
Travel route, heading south then back north afterwards:
Our appointment was for 7 AM; we considered arriving the day before, since they had a few full-hookup spots, but decided to just go very early in the morning. Probably a good thing, as their RV department was very busy that day; there may not have been a spot for us.
We toaded up just before sunrise:
Sunrise:
Exit to the truck place:
A hot air balloon in the distance:
Arriving at the truck service center:
The RV waiting room was so crowded that one couple brought in camp chairs:
We decided we didn’t want to hang out there, so went to Chick-fil-A for second breakfast:
Then some chores, and to Starbucks to spend the next five hours:
They completed the work in the afternoon; the issue was a metal-wrapped line intermittently touching the heater relay, causing a short. They secured the line, and replaced the relay, since it had been damaged by the arcing. Just over one RV Buck (about $1,300) to fix.
Heading back to the RV park after the work was complete:
Arriving back at Paradise:
Back to our site, which looks a bit weird without the RV there:
A hassle, but I’m glad it was a relatively easy fix.
Apache Trail scenic drive
We did a six-hour drive from Phoenix, including along the scenic Apache Trail Historic Road, a narrow dirt road that started as a stagecoach trail through the Superstition Mountains.
An interactive map of our route, heading counter-clockwise:
Superstition Mountains:
Canyon Lake:
One lane bridge:
Another one lane bridge:
Approaching Tortilla Flat:
Pavement ends:
No vehicles over 40 feet:
Salt River:
Roosevelt Dam:
AZ-188 bridge:
Boondockers along Theodore Roosevelt Lake:
Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers
We tried Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers for the first time.
The fries were disappointing, but the chicken strips were tasty, and the chicken sandwich (which consisted of chicken strips) was also good. And interesting sauce; a bit pepper-heavy, but nice. We’d be happy to eat there again.
Imperfect Foods groceries delivery
Back during the Covid pandemic, while living at our homestead, we subscribed to food delivery from Imperfect Foods. While staying in Phoenix we happened to see an Imperfect Foods truck driving past, and decided to take advantage of being in one location for a few months to try the service again.
Misfits Market boxes:
Groceries:
They use ice blocks and insulation for refrigerated and frozen food:
Our second delivery:
It was nice to be able to use that service again.