$1.67

(I'm late posting this blog entry about Thursday as our dental appointments were at 0800 this morning, so I opted to wait to write the blog until after we returned from our 3 hour journey across the border into Mexico)

Once again it came time to say our 'until next times' to our hosts  (Tom and Darlene) for the past 6 days and head westward to Winterhaven, CA for our dental appointments on Friday, and we began rolling our wheels at 1030 hours.  The weather was partly cloudy and cool all the way to our destination, and we made just two stops, one about 110 miles into the day at a Rest Area for a small lunch and potty break, and then a second in Yuma to top off our diesel tank with 105 gallons at $1.67/gallon.....the best price we have paid in 4 years on the road by 72 cents a gallon!  Our prior best was in Carson City the end of August 2015 when we paid $2.39/gallon and thought it couldn't get much better than that.  We parted with just $175 of our hard earned money and now, God willing and the river don't rise, we won't have to put diesel in our tank again until September.....why you might ask?  Well, we are just 1/2 tank from arriving in South Lake Tahoe for our summer job, so no need to fill up again until we begin our journey back south.

The fuel station we used was at a Fry's Supermarket (Kroger) just off I-8 at the Fortuna Road exit, and what a jungle it was.....since they boast one of the lowest prices in Arizona they were packed with RV's and passenger vehicles lined up out to the street.  Normally this would have given me the heebie jeebies, and I would have just gone to a less crowded station with a little higher price, but for some reason I was totally serene this day, and was able to get the Newell into position to fuel up, and out again without harming any small animals, children, or private property.  TLE, on the other hand, who although looked like a cat on a hot tin roof as she scampered in and out of the coach, and back and forth from one side of the coach to the other, managed to give me excellent directions via our walkie talkies and got me next to the diesel pump without a mishap.

Once we extricated ourselves from the station we were back on I-8 headed for the Quechan Casino just off I-8 at the Los Algodones Road exit near Winterhaven, CA.   They allow you to park your coach in their RV parking lot for $10 for three days.  There are numerous free dry camping, and boondocking opportunities around this exit, but we preferred the more secure environment of the casino parking lot......

 The RV 'ghetto'

The local scenery is not too bad

.....we arrived at the casino around 1500 hours, found a spot facing due west so we could tilt up our solar panels and get maximum benefit from the very sunny weather forecast for the next few days.

As soon as we had registered in the casino for our site we drove directly back into Arizona to Prison Hill Brewing, one of our favorite micro breweries for an early dinner, and a few pints.....

.....yup, I'm smiling now, but Friday I go to have my tooth pulled, and that is a story all by itself!

Deep fried avocados

One thing we love about Prison Hill Brewing (Yelp give them 4 stars on 121 reviews) is they change up their appetizers on a regular basis......this time they offered deep fried avocados.....something I have never had before, and were they ever delicious!  We also ordered a plate of their 'Yard Bird' chicken tenders. TLE and I both ordered a pint of their coffee stout, and then split a third.  One of our tests for judging a micro brewery is that their food must stand up to the quality of the brews, and the food here is exceptional......just like their beer!

We spent the evening watching some recorded programs, and were in bed by 2300 hours.....thanks for stopping by!