FINAL PUSH

Into Arizona and more cones.  I would love to have the contract to supply these things to the states.  We’ve passed thousands of them across the country.  At least these are set back from the traffic lane.  In other places, they’re so close on the right that you’re threading the needle between them and the barrier, for miles and miles and miles.

If we thought New Mexico was high, Arizona . . . well, topped it.  We did a gradual climb and by the time we got close to Flagstaff we were cruising for a long time above 7,000 feet.  The scenery was Western gorgeous.

And now a qualified apology to KOA.  We virtually never stay at KOA’s as they are almost always grossly overpriced, regardless of amenities.  However, we decided to try the one in Flagstaff and it turned out to be rather quaint.  We opted for a no-sewer “back-in” site to save a couple of bucks, and found ourselves back in tent-land. 

This was a nice break from the “big-rig-friendly” parks that were the norm for much of our trip.  This place was full of families in their tents, with kids everywhere having a great time.  It brought back lots of memories of our decades of tent-camping.  But we weren’t swept away by nostalgia.  Even as we watched all of the activity, we appreciate our refrigerator instead of ice chests, our stove, oven & microwave instead of a Coleman grill, and a nice queen bed instead of a bedroll on the ground.  It was a nice, old-timey park.

We got our best gas mileage of the trip yesterday, as we descended from that high plateau country down here to the Colorado River.  We spent last night here at the Avi Casino Resort RV Park,

which also happens to be a KOA franchise.  But this is the cheapest one we’ve ever seen.  $20 for full hookups, and you get access to the resort’s pool and other amenities.  Since it was 105 degrees yesterday, we took advantage of that and spent a couple of hours submerged.  This was a lively place with the 20-something set, with a bar poolside where you could order those yard-long drinks.  We didn’t, but others did.  They also have an 8-screen theatre, so we beat the late-afternoon heat with our first movie in two months.  It was, ah, “entertaining.”  Just suspend all disbelief and notions of logic.  A true popcorn movie for the summer, “Knight and Day” starring Cruise and Diaz.  Utterly ridiculous, but 2 hours of chases, villains, invincibility, and decent chemistry between the two.  Put mind in neutral and take in the eye candy.

Today is the final leg home.  About 300 miles or so, including the dreaded jaunt across all of the greater Los Angeles area to the Pacific coast.  We’re up early, will do the final dump, and be on our way.