'Back to the future......'

7:39 am - Mountain Time - Tuesday - 41° F, humidity 67%, wind 3 mph out of NNE.....clear blue skies....forecast high is 70° F.  Back 'home'.....

We were up by 7 am (PST) Monday, which was to be a travel day for TLE and I......time to travel 'back to the future'.....or at least one hour into the future which is where 'Mountain Time' is.  After taking a shower, writing the blog, and packing we were ready for our 'until next times' with Chris and TAR*.....it was just after 9 am and we needed to drop by Tim and TBL's** and Nick and Kate's for the second and third round of final 'until next times'.  We found everyone feeling a little under the weather so quickly bid our adieus and hit the road....it was about 9:50 am.

The day was clear, but still in the low 50's as we merged on to California SR-60 eastbound, and it would not get much warmer than 57° F all day.....a perfect driving day.  I drove the first leg to the I-10 Rest Area near Chiriaco Summit (east of Indio) which is just shy of 100 miles from our starting point where we took a much needed bathroom break.......just barely beating the arrival of a couple of tour buses which promptly resulted in a very long bathroom line for those who were most unfortunate to arrive after them.  From there TLE drove to Blythe where we stopped for lunch at Carl's Jr.......once again just barely beating the tour bus crowd....we sat eating our Santa Fe Chicken sandwiches as the tour bus gang stretched the order line out the door.

When we got back in the VW we knew we would be crossing into Arizona, and Mountain Time in just minutes so we went ahead and changed the clock.....it was 1:20 pm PST, however, it now became 2:20 pm Mountain Time.....we were officially back to the future!  We merged back on to eastbound I-10 and within minutes were passing through Quartzite, which is just beginning to fill up for the winter........a few minutes later we exited I-10 to Arizona SR-60.....120 miles to go!  

After making a quick stop in Wickenburg to fill up our tiny VW gas tank (capacity is around 13-14 gallons) we arrived home about 4:45 pm.....just before sundown, which was our modest goal for the day......nothing like an uneventful trip whether in the VW, or the Newell.  We had a wonderful 4 days with our kids over Christmas, but it is always good to get back to your familiar home, bed and routine once again.

On a side note, it appears......so far.....with the loosening and re-torquing of the 'knock sensor' bolt on the VW engine the 'CHECK ENGINE' light issue has been resolved for the present.  We've put approximately 800 miles on the VW since then and the light has not returned, nonetheless, just in case I do have the replacement Bosch 'knock sensor' in reserve.

Thanks for stopping by!

*TAR = The Amazing Rochelle
**TBL = The Beautiful Laila