3 Weeks, 2 Days

So long, farewell,  auf Wiedersehen, goodbye........goes the familiar refrain from the well known movie, Sound of Music, and the song, "So long, farewell".  Even though we know we will be back to see our friends, Tom and Darlene, within the year, it was still tough to say "until next time".  We spent just over 3 weeks at their home sharing meals, and impromptu driving adventures, and just last summer we spent over a month traveling with them through South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Alberta, Canada.  To say we consider them very good friends seems an understatement.

Little "Missy" watching us leave

One of the first things I wanted to know as we ambled down the dirt lane towards pavement was did my repair of the speedometer drive pin work?  The answer.....drum roll please.....YES!  At first the needle didn't budge and I was thinking my fix hadn't worked, but as we increased speed suddenly it began to move!  With a working speedometer I now have a working cruise control.  You will recall the drive pin broke back in early June of 2013  in Southern Wisconsin, and neither the speedometer, nor the cruise control have worked since.  Hard to believe it has been over 9 months since it broke.

It's alive! (By the way, the sticker was a gift from our friends Chris and Cherie)

Our first destination was the Safeway fuel station I wrote about yesterday.  The drive over was uneventful, and I got to test the cruise control to be sure it still worked, and it did.  We arrived at the Safeway around 10:15 am, and were on our way by 11 am.  We took on 107 gallons of diesel #2 at an average cost of $3.56 per gallon.....that beats the best price we have paid on this journey by 3 cents.....and that was way back in El Paso, TX in February of 2012.

Next up was a dispersed camping area about 20 miles southwest of Sedona, near Cottonwood, AZ.  From the Safeway it was a scant 90+ miles to our destination following first the 303 Loop, then I-17 northbound, but what's the hurry, right?  About 50 miles later we took advantage of the Sunset View Rest Area to make lunch, and take a break.  By 1:30 we had arrived at our boondocking spot for the next 4, or 5 days.....what a view!

This location was recommended to us by some Nu-RVer friends, and what a great recommendation it is......we found a place to park initially and then took a walk looking for a spot that would fit our needs.  We have two criteria for a boondocking spot.....one, we want to face west so we can tilt our solar panels toward the sun and catch the rays all day long as it moves from east to west, and two we want the passenger side of our coach to be in the shade.....it took us about 15 minutes but we found the right spot not too close to anyone, and with a great view.

We wanted to be within a 30 minute drive of Sedona, and Jerome, and this place is perfect.  We are 24 minutes from Sedona, and less than 20 from Jerome.  

Within 40 minutes we had moved into our spot, unloaded the VW, and tilted the solar panels for maximum charging.  We were treated to an amazing sunset on our first night here.

Thanks for stopping by!