The drive from Raleigh to Peoria, Az

 As many of you know, we had hoped to leave Raleigh on December 10, 2010. Instead we did not leave until the 20^th. In my opinion the ten-day delay was worth it as it gave us the necessary amount of time needed to make sure that the towing gismo connecting the Toyota truck to the RV worked as it should.

The cats behaved pretty well. We had obtained stress relieving medication from our vet in Raleigh. After the first day, only Natasha received it twice a day. I would not say she was relaxed, but she certainly was not freaking out at every unexpected noise she heard. So we did not have to remove the dashboard to rescue her.
Mowgli of course, was the cool dude. He slept on the dashboard most of the trip and woke up when he was hungry.

Mowgli catnapping the miles away

Do I smell food?

 Because we left later than anticipated, we gave up on the idea of traveling on I-40 via Santa Fe, much to my disappointment. Instead, we decided to go the southern route via I-20 and I-10. The 4 day drive to Arizona was uneventful. We stopped about an hour west of Atlanta for the first night. The second night we were in Shreveport, Louisiana. We made it to Pecos, Texas for the third night.

At the Flying J- Eloy, Az

 Around dusk each night we pulled into a Flying J truck stop. These truck stops have designated spaces for RVs  and it is very convenient. The only draw back is that these are usually close to the highway. So the highway noise and the constant movement of trucks in the truck stop does not lend to a good night's sleep. In the picture to the right, our RV is the last one in line. There were actually 5 such vehicles in this stop that night.

mile after mile of tedium

 Once we were outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth area, I found the drive to be very tedious. The scenery was boring – nothing but brushes and sand on either side of the highway - nothing to break the monotony. It was very depressing to drive by a small town or city and see the rusty and run down buildings. It was only as we approached El Paso, Texas, did the terrain change a bit.

Finally some change in the topography

Driving through El Paso, Tx

 We had our first checkpoint when we got into New Mexico. The border patrol (with big German Shepherds on leashes) stopped every vehicle that went by into New Mexico. I happened to be at the wheel, and when I stopped beside the border patrol guy, he wished me a good morning and asked me how I was doing. Later, it occurred to me that he was perhaps getting a feel for my “american-ness” (if there is such a word). I answered that I was doing well and hope he was too. He then asked me if everyone in the vehicle was an American citizen and upon my assuring him we were, he waved us through. I did have my passport with me, but did not have to produce it.  That certainly broke the monotony of the drive on I-10.

We had originally planned to spend some time in Tucson. At Pecos we met another RV couple who recommended a place outside Phoenix. So we decided to go there. After stopping in Eloy, Az (between Tucson and Phoenix) on the fourth night, we pulled into Pleasant Harbor Marina and RV park in Peoria on Friday morning. This place is about 25 miles northwest of Phoenix and about 20 miles from Scottsdale. We signed up for a month and so will be here until January 23, 2011.