We drove our coach 95 miles, a bit less than two hours, from Verde Valley to Williams, Arizona.

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

Instead of the Thousand Trails park, we originally were going to stay at Verde Ranch RV Resort. But we were glad we changed it, not only because the TT was much cheaper, and with a great view, it was also much more quiet, instead of being right next to the freeway:

A cliff by I-17:

A sign warning of elk:

Hey look, trees! Real pine trees! We’ve been in deserts for months, so haven’t seen real trees for ages:

Snowy mountains:

Arizona divide:

Paladin was comfy in his safe space next to my chair:

Snow by the side of the road:

Approaching Williams:

A sign for the Grand Canyon Railway depot:

Williams arch, “gateway to the Grand Canyon”:

Our destination, the Grand Canyon Railway RV park:

The timelapse video for this trip will be coming later today.

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:

We picked up our coach from NIRVC in Surprise, Arizona, and drove 92 miles to Picacho, Arizona, a couple of hours drive.

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

Paladin wasn’t having a good day, having endured a car trip from the Airbnb, then coach travel:

Driving along I-10, past a stadium:

A freeway tunnel under downtown Phoenix:

An interesting peak:

We stopped for diesel at a Love’s:

Hey, it’s hay:

Jenn filling the diesel via a pump that was falling apart; we haven’t been too impressed with the quality of Love’s stations of late:

Mountains:

Picacho Peak:

An orchard:

Our destination, a KOA:

We departed the Thousand Trails in Palm Desert, California, and headed to Buckeye, Arizona.

Here’s the route map (left to right); 228 miles, a 4 hour drive in our coach:

I picked up Paladin; he looked mildly freaked out by the view out the windshield:

A slow crawl uphill through a pass:

We stopped at a rest stop for lunch:

We had a prefab meal for lunch; Jenn called it Lunchables for adults:

Back on the I-10 freeway:

Paladin snuck behind the driver seat and by Jenn’s feet, which is risky, so I made a barrier:

Date palms:

While on a freeway I use the iExit app to find upcoming rest areas. Here’s a screenshot of it while approaching the California/Arizona border, and the first rest area after the border:

About to cross into Arizona (again):

Welcome to Arizona:

We stopped at that rest area:

Continuing through some hills:

Interesting mountains in the distance:

Cacti:

Once again, Paladin settled down in the safe space next to my chair:

Another rest area exit; it’s good to take a break every hour or so on a long drive; we also stopped here to call our next destination:

Leaving the rest area (yes, we park with the big rigs):

Oh joy, road works:

Our final exit for this trip:

As always, the timelapse video of this trip will be coming tomorrow. Enjoy!

We departed Ocean Mesa RV Resort near Santa Barbara, California, and headed to a one-night pitstop at Rancho Jurupa Park.

Here’s the route map (left to right); 168 miles, a four hour drive in our coach:

Heading onto 101 south:

Paladin says “oh no, not again”:

He settled down in what is becoming a favorite safe space, next to my chair. He likes to be near us, but in a small space that can make him feel more secure:

There was quite a lot of road works; narrow lanes with barriers near the line can be nervous-making when one has a 101-inch wide coach that takes most of the lane:

Freeway driving:

Goodbye coast; not sure when we’ll see you next:

I was amused by the Telephone Road name:

There weren’t any rest stops on the route, so I prepared sandwiches and chips for lunch, so Jenn could eat while driving:

Up a steep hill:

The road name Mulholland Drive sounded familiar:

In California it is legal for motorcycles do lane splitting, i.e. riding along the line between lanes. Seems rather dangerous to me, though apparently some people think it is safer. Regardless, lane splitting next to our wide coach is a bad idea, but many did it (but not this example):

We also don’t like it when a travel trailer gets very close to us; that’s worse than a big rig, as TT drivers often aren’t as familiar with the width of their trailer, and they tend to sway quite a bit:

Heavy traffic:

Glendale city (part of greater LA):

Freeway sign:

Freeway bridge:

While driving, we had a Check Engine light come on, and the Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) gauge jumped from halfway to full. A lot of people have been having issues with the DEF sensors, so we had a fun new thing to be concerned about:

We decided to stop for diesel and DEF, to see if that’d help (our first time at a Flying J truck stop; we’d only done Love’s before this):

But after that, we had a Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL) instead (the red one is the brake):

Concerning. Stay tuned for more on this story in a few days.

Back on the road, we noticed an elephant sculpture on a hillside:

Driving through Jurupa Valley towards our stop for the night:

Tomorrow, the usual timelapse video. Do you watch them? Are you enjoying them? Let me know!