Casa Grande, AZ

The first half of the drive to Arizona on I-10 was just me and truckers, a lot of trucks, on the road; almost no passenger cars.  It could have been because it was Sunday or Mother's Day, but it was different.  Monday brought a lot of fellow RVers out, mostly heading East.  Around El Paso there was backed up traffic heading East due to an overturned 18-wheeler laying on its side in the median.  A few hundred miles down the road I had the same situation heading West. 

My m.p.g. was even worse that my last move.  I hope this doesn't continue.  I did have high winds this time, and wind gusts, so I'm holding out that that was the issue.

El Paso seemed really nice.  I'll have to stop and explore the city the next time through.  There was a lot of decorative detail on the overpasses and retaining walls; nice to look at.  Tucson is pretty to drive through as well because of the decorative detail, but not one of my favorite cities.

I expected it to be 100 degrees today but it never got over 90.  That was nice.  I opted to stay the night at the Flying J as I needed to run my generator all night for air and that was the one place I knew it wouldn't bother anyone.  I had to fill my tank anyway, and they had a Denny's for dinner.  Surprisingly, the Tilapia was delicious.  The apple crisp, not so much; the apples weren't cooked enough.

I was actually going to stay at a campground in Deming, NM for the night, as two of my camping groups each have a campground there, but it seemed too much trouble to unhook the Jeep and I wasn't ready to stop for the night when I was driving through.

I'm enjoying my short stay in Casa Grande, AZ.  The weather has been great and it seems like a nice area to stay, so I put my name on the waiting list to purchase a site at the campground.  They said it was about a 2 year wait, but I have a friend who just got her site, and in talking with others new to the campground, it seems to be a year or less for the wait.  Casa Grande is a nice, easy stopping point with access to the airport in Phoenix.  I was going to checkout some of the other campgrounds that have been recommended, but this seemed like the best choice, and was the least expensive on the short list.

OK, enough talk.  The only sightseeing I've done this week was a visit to the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.  As you may, or may not, know, Casa Grande means Great House (or Big House).  Four stories high and 60 feet long, with a platform mound filing the first floor, it is the largest known structure of the Ancestral People of the Sonoran Desert.  It was named by the early Spanish explorers.

The Casa Grande Ruins NM preserves remains of an ancient Hohokam-era farming village as well as he enigmatic Great House.

I'll do more sightseeing the next time I'm back to the area.

Tomorrow, Thursday, I head to SoCal to spend time with family and friends. For 3 weeks in June I will be out of the country - Seoul, South Korea and London, England.  I'll try to post some pictures of my adventures.  I'll be visiting family there as well.