New park, new state, new people....

Our Location: Quail Ridge RV Park, Huachuca City, Arizona

Our condolences go to Gary Duggan and his family in the passing of his mother Bernice yesterday in Ontario, Canada. 

My day started about 5:30 am today. Reading blogs and checking facebook. A couple of notes to my sister and then I will be up and starting to pack up my bedroom and bathroom. Today is moving day. We're heading into another new state today. Arizona!! This is where we will spend our winter months. Other than a  side trip to Palm Desert, California to visit with my sister in law Janet and her hubby Dennis. We stayed on their farm in Roseneath, Ontario for a couple of weeks earlier this fall. They flew out of Toronto on Nov 11 and have been enjoying the golf course every day since.

Electric cars plug in here...

We were packed up, hooked up and pulling out of City of Rocks State Park at 8:20 am this morning. A drive to Deming to the Valero Fuel Stop and their free rv dump station. We also topped off our fuel tanks while there. A great spot to stop, easy in and out. Big parking areas, lots of space to get around. Separate RV island with gas and diesel. The dump station was free. Diesel was a bit on the high side but we noticed higher on our drive today. It was $3.04 at the Valero this morning, and we noticed a high of $3.13 during our travels today. I don't recall where it was though. An interesting feature at this location is 8 spots to plug in electric cars. I've never seen them before, and to have 8 in a row seemed very innovative with an eye to customer needs. 

I kept looking but didn't see anything.

After our stop there we proceeded on to I-10 West bound which is the main road we travelled today. Beautiful scenery was available out almost every window almost all the time. We enjoyed the long lazy drive today, only 155 miles. We stopped at pretty much each rest stop and enjoyed a few minutes out of the Dogsled.

Those hazy mountains are where we're heading.

It was 10:11 am when we crossed the Continental Divide. I happened to look at the clock so that's how I know. There wasn't much to it, just an imaginary line on the roadway. Still  it was a milestone for us. 

They even tell you what to do if you get caught in a dust storm.

We crossed into Arizona shortly after, pulling into the first rest area we found new to us signs indicating rattlesnakes and poisonous insects. I can tell you I kept looking around but didn't see anything. Love the rest stops here, they are so spacious and inviting. Lots of areas for picnic lunches and exercise for both human and four legged folks. NO grass. Still interesting though. 

The dark at the front is rail road tracks.

Our second rest stop in Arizona had a very unique type of view, a wall of rocks behind the rest area buildings gave one a feeling of being very small. The rocks rose a number of feet dwarfing everything around us. Across I-10 on the east bound lanes the view was just as spectacular. A great choice for a stopping area. Lots of folks taking pictures in this location. It's just a few miles from Benson, Arizona. 

Our first rest stop of the day.

Following the signs for Huachuca City we headed southward. More picturesque views along the way as well. Not a far drive, a very pleasant jaunt closer to the Mexican border. 

We've arrived in Arizona

We arrived at Quail Ridge RV Park about 1:30 pm. A stop at the office we met a fella named Kurt or Kurk who was also checking in, he is from Kincardine, Ontario. He even knew where Manitoulin Island was!! It is a small world!!

Love the rocks!

We checked in, pulled around the end of the clubhouse looking for spot 137. We found it, second from the end and pulled in without any difficulties. We set up house and hooked up our necessaries, and managed to get everything put back where it should be all by a bit before 2:30 pm. 

The Dogsled wasn't even panting in this heat.

Lunch, we were hungry, as we had only had a small snack in the Dogsled and no breakfast. We never seem to eat breakfast on travel days. Instead we have granola bars, or small biscuits to settle the stomach and around 10 am, coffee time, we have another little snack. That will usually hold us over until lunch.

His hideout in the Dragoon Mountains.

I called my dad before we started prepping lunch. Wanted him to know we've arrived safe and sound. He was happy to hear from us. The deer hunt is over or just about over on Manitoulin Island. The four hunters, Dad, my brother Rick, and his two sons Jason and Jesse netted two deer this year. Jason got himself a nice doe, while Dad shot himself a buck. Actually it was more like half a buck, only had one horn. I asked if it was old, perhaps came out and said 'Shoot me please!' He assured me that wasn't the case. 
 

Arizona Rest Stop

Lunch was a quick affair today. A nice big green salad and a chicken taco seemed to just hit the spot for us. Easy to prepare, easy to cook, and easy to clean up afterwards.  

Leaving the rest stop, heading west on I-10

 

   Clean up finished we headed outside to read in the shade. The temps when we arrived today read 81F /27.2C for those Canuckies back home. With beautiful blue skies who could ask for anything more? Not us, we're are loving it. 

Extremely beautiful. 

Around about sunset time we grabbed the camera and walked around our area of the park trying to catch a few pictures for tonight's blog. Love some of the huge plants here, they're bigger than me. We stopped in to check out the laundry, $1.25 a load for washing, and I didn't look at the dryer as I'm certain it will be very reasonable too. They take credit cards here in the laundry room. How cool is that? We also checked out the clubhouse. Nice area. The nice lady at the check in desk told us we can have full use of the full kitchen in the clubhouse and the poolroom building. If you don't want to use your propane to cook your food, you can pop it in the oven in the clubhouse at no charge. Pretty nice of them. From there we headed off around the park and back home. Close to the road but still pretty nice here. 

Love the colours on this plant. See the picnic table, this thing is huge.

Back at the Igloo we left the camera behind and headed two spots over to introduce ourselves to George and Suzie (Our Awesome Travels). Extremely nice, helpful people, we look forward to visiting them a time or two while here in the park. I've followed their blog for a number of years and have enjoyed reading about their journey's. They were extremely nice offering up tips and advice. We very much appreciate it. Nice meeting you George and Suzie!!

Sun sinking quickly.

Back home, I called my sister for a quick chat and catch up. My sister is very crafty and has been doing a new hobby for her, book folding. She's very good at it and has been taking orders and selling her goods for the past number of months. She is currently making the rounds of the small communities fall craft shows. She completed one today and has two more in the up coming weeks. Seems like she is doing well. My sister got the crafty gene from our mother who could knit, crochet, quilt, and garden. My sister also paints, makes hand made leather mittens, and gloves, and does a number of other crafts as well. Me? Not so much. I walk down the craft aisle at Walmart and that is the extent of my craftiness. Glad you're enjoying your new hobby sister dearest! 

Slipping down....

After hanging up from chatting with sister Jan I started editing pictures. We took 215 pictures today and I whittled them down to 51. Don't worry I'm  not going to post them all on here. Finishing those up I opened up blogger and continued on my post.

More pinks to the east in the mountains.

That was our day, a great one in my humble opinion. Seen a lot of new country side, passed into another new state, met new people, and managed to keep the Dogsled between the lines and the Igloo behind the Dogsled. It was a winner of a day!

Mountains to the East of Quail Ridge Rv Park at sunset

Thanks for stopping by, feel free to leave a comment. 

Until next time....take care, be safe, 

Deb