First day on the road

Monday

This morning was another round of last-minute errands. We got the title signed over and I handed a check for $10,883 to Judie. (That's $10,000 for Gertie and $883 for the roof air conditioner that they'd had installed last week in place of the swamp cooler.) Gary showed me how to open the awning—it's rather complicated for a one-man job, and I suspect I won't be doing it much! Indeed, Gary said that he and Judie had only used it a couple of times. We relaxed with a sarsaparilla float, which Gary allowed was superior to any root beer he'd ever had, except one: his uncle's homebrew. Then I unhooked and drained the tanks (my first time). Judie took a posed picture of me with hoses and cables wrapped around me every which way, looking panicked.

On the road at last

Finally at 3:30 p.m. I pulled out, amid fond farewells to both me and Gertie. It's unlikely the two of us will be back this way in the foreseeable future, since I'd have to take at least a solid month of vacation to drive out here and back to New Jersey (and that would be rushing it). I headed north and west, feeling a bit nervous at first but gradually gaining confidence. As I've said before, Gertie really handles very well for her size.

My biggest regret about Gertie is that the cab air conditioning doesn't work. I was pretty sure that Judie had told me long ago that it did, but it turns out that while it used to, she and Gary haven't used it in years—and you know what happens when you do that: the compressor seals dry out, and that's that. I sure could have used it coming up here, as the weather has turned rather warm—highs in the upper eighties F. Fortunately it's fairly easy to get a lot of outside air flowing through the cab, thanks to the old-style triangular vent windows...but it's very noisy with all those windows open, and the noise itself is fatiguing. I wish I had air conditioning not only for the cooling but for the reduction in noise it would make possible. I'll look into getting it fixed when I return, but I'm not optimistic about being able to get an old Freon-based system like this fixed for a reasonable price, if at all.

Gertie lumbered along up hill and down valley at a comfortable 55 mph. I stopped once for gas ($47.00 worth—about three times as much gas as I ever bought before!) and proceeded through Tucson and northward on interstate 10, working up a mighty thirst which I quenched with swigs from a bottle of Judie's best homebrew distilled water. (I call it "Eau de Cottonwood," after the house on Cottonwood Avenue where she and Gary maintain a still and also store mounds of their surplus stuff.) It was the first time I can ever remember water actually tasting good—normally I don't care for it. I attribute this more to the extreme dryness and my resulting thirst than anything else...but in any case I guzzled a good liter of the stuff in two hours and was still thirsty when I stopped for the night.

Camping at Picacho

My original (revised) plan had been to drive about halfway up the state and stop at the Tonto National Forest, but given my late departure I would not have arrived there until quite late at night...and Gary and Judie had recommended Picacho State Park, twenty miles or so north of Tucson, so that's where I camped. It was an easy two and a half hour drive. The place was pretty much empty when I arrived—only a few rigs scattered here and there. Well, that's not quite true. The upper parking area, which has water, sewer and electric hookups, was about 3/4 full. But the lower areas, which were just concrete pads, were almost empty. I backed into a space with a spectacular view out the rear windows—that wonderful panoramic vista that's one of Gertie's best features.

After stopping (I didn't even have to level the rig!), I opened all the vents and windows to let a breeze through and turned on the two Fan-Tastic exhaust fans. I had a glass of cold red grape juice and called Gary to reassure him that everything had gone smoothly. I also called my friend Gen on Cape Cod (who travels in a smaller Xplorer motorhome) and told her that I was finally embarked on my big adventure. It was fun describing to her what I could see out the rear windows. I took a few panoramic pictures, and wandered around outside a bit photographing Gertie in situ—right next to a big saguaro cactus.

All this beauty...and yet my nearest neighbors, some folks with a trailer a few spaces away, were watching a presidential speech on television. I just can't imagine ever becoming that indifferent to beauty, even when I'm an experienced RVer! Come out here to this gorgeous spot and then watch TV...! Why even bother leaving home?

I made myself a sandwich of turkey, lettuce and tomato on rye with ranch dressing and washed it down with a big glass of cold milk. Delicious! I followed that with peach yogurt for dessert, while listening to Django Reinhardt on Gertie's music system that I installed last year. Admiring the panoramic view, I felt myself in the very lap of luxury.