DST a week early

After a full day Monday we went to bed by 9 pm, and didn't get up until almost 7 am Tuesday.  As is typical when we have been in one place for an extended period of time I do not sleep well for 1, or 2 nights prior to departure.  I wake up in the night thinking about everything that needs to be done before we roll our wheels, and typically I imagine it taking much longer than it actually does.  Anyway, by the time I went to bed Monday night I was in need of a sound, uninterrupted sleep, and that is exactly what I received.

Tuesday we only had 138 miles to travel to our destination near Wittmann, AZ where we will spend a couple of weeks visiting dear friends Tom and Darlene.  We first met Tom and Darlene back in 2008 just after we had purchased our Newell.  They, too, were relatively new Newell owners having just renovated the 1990 Newell they had purchased during the past year, or so.  They had been on an extended vacation traveling several thousand miles all over the western U.S. and had stopped in Newport Beach, CA on their way back to Mesa, AZ to visit with Georgia and Michael who own a 1992 Newell.  We knew from reading the Newell forum website that Georgia and Michael were spending the summer in Newport Beach in their coach, and we were anxious to meet some Newell owners so we made a date with them to spend the afternoon one Saturday down in Newport Beach.  The added bonus was that we also met Tom, Darlene and their daughter Heather.  Over the next year we became better acquainted via the Newell forum, then in April of 2009 we traveled to Austin, TX for our first Newell mini-rally.  We made arrangements to travel part of the way home with Tom and Darlene as we were both going to traverse the I-10 corridor back to our respective homes.....home for them being Mesa, AZ at the time, and Ontario, CA for us.

It's always a little bit of a gamble to agree to travel with someone you don't know......you're not sure it your travel styles will mesh, or if you like the same things, etc.....you know what I mean.  I know that Tom and Darlene were a little unsure, too, but they agreed, and as it turned out we meshed quite well.....we over nighted at their home in Mesa on that trip before heading home to Ontario.  Our next travel together was home from our next mini rally in Creede, CO that August.  We stopped at their cabin in northern Arizona on the way home, and had a great time together.  When we first started our nomadic journey two years ago we spent 12 days parked in front of their home in Mesa.....we had planned on staying just 5 days, but had some mechanical issues that needed to be resolved, and Tom graciously helped me with them at night after he got home from work.  Our friendship was cemented during that stay.  If you have been reading our blog for a while you know that we spent 3 weeks traveling with them this summer from Sioux Falls, SD up into Alberta, Canada and then back into Montana, so now that I have established the basis of our friendship I will get on with Tuesday's story.

We crossed over the Colorado River just before 11 am Pacific Standard Time, but suddenly it was almost Noon......we were now in Mountain time.  Effective this Sunday both Arizona and California will be on the same time as California will switch to the farce that is known as "Daylight Savings Time".  At any rate, at least we didn't lose an hour for nothing, and we actually lost the hour almost a week ahead of schedule, but on our own terms.

We were trying to time our arrival in Wittmann to coincide with Tom and Darlene's arrival back from Canada where they attended a funeral.  At one point we had to stop in a little town called Aguila on US 60 to kill some time as we were going to arrive before our friends.....TLE made me a great club sandwich, and then we walked across the street to a browse through a small flea market that was in progress.  Tom and Darlene's new property is located a little off the beaten path, so they wanted to meet us a few blocks out and lead us into the property.  Around 2:40 we arrived at the agreed upon intersection and followed their golf cart along a very nice and smooth dirt road to their property.

Tom fancies himself a pirate, so this pirate flag flies continuously over their property.....I like it!

We were set up in no time......Tom is providing us with 30 amps of electrical power and water.  Their sewer cleanout is less than 50 feet away, so it will be pretty easy to empty our tanks.  The afternoon was spent talking and taking a tour of their new home which they are in the process of remodeling.

Around 5:30 we headed over to a country store called Wells Country Store to order some take out from their Deli.  TLE, Tom and I got two hot dogs each.....Tom and I the Chili Cheese Jalapeno Hot Dogs.......We sat out the backyard under their very cool Ramada watching the sun set, eating, talking and laughing.....in no particular order.

After two days of driving the 300+ miles over to Wittmann I find that I still tire easily, and am glad we will be sitting still for a couple more weeks while my body continues to recover.  TLE and I will begin walking Wednesay to help me increase my endurance, and then do some bike riding later in the week.

It is good to have changed our view, and I know we will enjoy this view a lot over next two weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!