Day 77 - 15 Mar - Surprise, AZ to Benson, AZ

Photo: The first Prickly Pear Cactus bloom I've seen on this trip. I'm hoping as it gets warmer towards Texas we'll see a lot more.

Another beautiful day in the Southwest...it was a bit cloudy but made the mountains even more beautiful when the sun would peek through in different spots. We packed up and were ready to head out when we noticed lots of activity in the community centre area behind us. Turns out there was a Vendor's Market....20 feet from the LuvMasheen!!! So much for leaving early! They had some wonderful stuff. I bought a gorgeous light fleece jacket with rhinestones down the zipper..again no surprise eh?..it will be a real hit around the bonfire at Long Lake this summer. Everybody get their sunglasses ready!!

We headed down Interstate 10 East towards Tucson and along the Santa Catalina and Rincon Mountains towards Benson, which is west of Tucson. Everything came to a screeching halt and the traffic was backed up forever. Now, the LuvMasheen might have a few minor problems (continually being fixed, however) but communication isn't one of them. That CB radio that hangs around doing nothing most of the time sure comes in handy when there's a problem! We turned it on and put it on the trucker's channel and found out there was a big accident up the road and where the detour would take you and how to get back on the highway further down the road. It can be very entertaining listening to these guys...they discuss politics, economics, women on motorcycles, and everything else in between. They call cars '4-wheelers' and some of their discussion is halarious...."That f'n 4-wheeler ahead of me must have just got their license...stupid #@$^$#". This isn't the first time we've used it to find out what road conditions are and it's a good thing to have for emergencies or problems anyway.

We are learning to be patient on the road and it's not unusual for us to have to amend our destination because of unexpected things happening. We decided to have 4 new tires put on the van while we were in the States and while they were being installed, the guy said one of the shocks was leaking, so-o-o-o-o-o that was another entire morning lost having that fixed. It's been a helluva trip but it's come with a bit of a price tag. We are going to tell people we are "re-building the van" and it's not much of a stretch!

We are still planning to get to Texas as quickly as we can and perhaps have some time to sit for a couple of days. The temperature is in the high 70s, low 80s, so that will be our last hurrah in warmer temperatures and then it's time to head back to reality. We are hoping that as well as having record snowfalls this year, Ottawa is going to experience a 'chinook' that clears out the snow and brings an early Spring! One can hope.

Until next time, our love to you all. Wayne and I have determined that we each have a tape worm...nothing else can explain this never-ending desire....no NEED....to eat continually. Gotta go....they sell Hagen-Daas ice cream bars at the RV store and it's getting ready to close.......