Two, Two, Two Mints in One

April 24, 2024 – Day 40

Lamplighter RV Resort, Payson Arizona – Mayflower County Park, Blythe California

After gassing up we headed out of town. We had a medium travel day today, but it wouldn’t be easy since it was the dreaded, but very beautiful, Route 87 from Payson all the way down to Scottsdale.

You’ve seen this road before since this isn’t our first visit to Payson. It’s still beautiful. This trip you get only one photo of the beauty. (susan here: holler if you want more. We can accommodate. It’s insanely gorgeous up by Payson. We took a LOT of photos but we didn’t want to bore you with a “slide show”.)

Finally down “in the Valley” as the Payson folks call it. Of course there wasn’t a rest area so we found a shopping mall with a big parking lot. It was lunchtime so we had some leftovers. On the way out we passed this fountain.

Really, a fountain in a desert? Isn’t that kind of dumb? (susan here: and a fountain with the word DESERT featured prominently in the name? In an area that has serious water issues? Really !? We see aqua ducts all over the place and they aren’t covered. Can you imagine the loss of water due to evaporation?)

Soon the saguaros gave way to much flatter terrain. (susan here: sorry about the bug smears. Hard to avoid them at 65 mph!)

We topped off the gas tank $3.54 a gallon a couple miles before entering California. Gas is a lot more expensive in CA and that was confirmed once in CA, it was $5.59 a gallon. It’s also the reason for the title of this entry. We haven’t had to stop for gas twice in one day since we crossed Texas towing the travel trailer. Perhaps you remember that we stopped for gas 6 times that day!

California!

They stop all traffic on I-10 looking for banned fruits, veggies and guitars. (susan here: Ha! Guitars! He wishes.) Mostly they are trying to prevent the influx of pests that are elsewhere in the USA but would be detrimental to the California crops. We read the PDF before leaving Payson, AZ. We ate or gave away all our citrus and yams. While sitting in line we noticed we could take a goofy picture of Clifford!

We were just waved through. Susan had her window open and at the ready for questions. Nothing. Just a “hi” and a wave to move on. How disappointing. We were both ready to be boarded for inspection.

We pulled into the lovely Mayflower County Park, chatted with the ranger who told us there was a Great Horned Owl pair. And they had babies! Before we got to our site we saw a beautiful male Vermillion Flycatcher. (susan here: I’ve always loved Northern Gannets. They’ve long been my favorite bird. However, this colorful cutie with its “Batman mask“? How can you not love it? It’s a serious contender for my favorite bird.)

Here’s the view out the RV’s windshield. That’s the Colorado River. Not bad, huh? It was worth the thrash to get here. (susan here: yet again we wonder how short mileage travel days can be so much effort. This seems to be a recurring theme for us. Also, sorry for the buggy windshield. It’s full on bug season here.)

Daily: 257

Total: 3,626

Driving Miles/Day: 259

Overall Miles/Day: 91

Life Birds: 2 (Vermillion Flycatcher, Great Horned Owl)

mpg: 5.81 & 7.41