Ehrenberg to Deming

We left our boondocking spot in the desert near Ehrenberg on January 9th. Rain was in the forecast. We had considered making our night stop at Goodyear at the BLM, but changed our mind as we drove past it from I-10. It did not look like a place we wanted to venture with our low clearance Class A pulling a cargo trailer. We continued on with views of Saddle Mountain, elevation 3,037 feet, on our right and stopped for the night in Tonopah at a truck stop where they allowed overnight parking.

Saddle Mountain

The truck stop was actually a pretty decent place to stop for the night. We parked along the back fence, out of the way, where it would be easy to take Angel out for his potty and exercise breaks. The truck stop itself had a convenience store with a couple of fast food places inside. We opted to get a subway sandwich and take back to the RV for our evening meal.  From Tonopah, we got gas in Buckeye and headed south on 85 to Gila Bend.

A railroad track runs along the main highway going through town. In order to avoid parking overnight where we might get awakened by a train whistle in the middle of the night, we pulled in at a McDonald’s, grabbed some lunch, and John pulled up some apps on his phone to locate other possibilities.

We opted for the Elks, which allowed overnight parking for RV’s for $5 a night, even for non-members. We paid for three nights, so as to kill some time and not use up all of our fuel at once. It was close to the local sheriff’s office and very uneventful except for a helicopter coming and going from the heliport across the street.

Their parking lot was spacious with a lot of room for parking and walking Angel. They had a dumpster at the far end of the lot at the other end of the building. We could probably have gone inside and used their facilities, but did not want to take advantage of their generosity without being accompanied by a member.

Elks sign on building

Elk statue in courtyard

Our rig at far side of Elks parking lot

Beautiful Barrel cactus with yellow flowers in their landscaping

On one of our walks, we noticed that our skid bar located on the bottom right of our receiver hitch was worn clear through and the rear part had caught something and bent backwards. This is part of the hazards of driving an RV that is too low to the ground, probably overloaded, and then burdened with pulling a trailer adding tongue weight to the hitch.

We needed to pick up some supplies, so we drove a short distance to Casa Grande and stopped at the Walmart. They do not allow overnight parking, nor did we want to stay at the Escapees Park there because their sites are rather narrow and hard to navigate with our trailer.

Rainbow and storm clouds over Wells Fargo Bank in Casa Grande

When we came out from doing our shopping at Walmart, we noticed that our solar brackets had broken loose, and the front crossbar had tipped over, allowing the bar to rub on the roof of the trailer. John had no choice but to make temporary repairs. Ratchet straps would keep us from losing anything, but the movement of the bar would put a hole in the sheet metal roof and damage the POR-15 rust sealant and Kool Seal topping. He re-secured the bracket enough to get us somewhere that better repairs could be made.

Ratchet Tie Down Straps - 4 Pk - 15 Ft- 500 Lbs Load Cap- 1500 Lb Break Strength- Cambuckle Alternative- Cargo Straps for Moving Appliances, Lawn Equipment, Motorcycle - Includes 2 Bungee Cord
Sam’s parking lot in Casa Grande, conveniently located to get on I-10 the next morning, was our night parking spot near other Rvers.

We still had clouds as we passed Picacho Peak Road the next morning when we headed for Tuscon.

Clouds over Picacho Peak

Sunday before noon was a great time to drive through Tucson with light traffic, even though we still had clouds above the landscape.

Rocks along highway east of Tucson

Highway east of Tucson on way to New Mexico

Welcome to New Mexico, Land of Enchantment

Of all of the times we have driven through New Mexico, we have always seen trains, and this time was no exception.

Train on track in New Mexico

After our previous visit at the Escapees park in Benson the last time through, we decided to pull into a truck stop west of Benson to spend the night.

In the next post, we will arrive at the Escapees Park in Deming, New Mexico. If you would like to be notified when the next post publishes, put your email address in the appropriate box at the top right of this blog. Be sure to go to your email inbox and confirm your request, so you receive notification.

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