Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Homeward bound – April 3 -4, 2012

The Wrap-Up post of April 2 was supposed to be the last one for the Mexico trip, but I wanted to share a little of our drive back from Arizona to Colorado.

We left Scottsdale about 8am on Tuesday, April 3 for Fort Collins. While we were loading the RV Penny stayed very close, making sure she was going along! It was cool, but sunny, and the desert landscape was beautiful. We did have our first problem with the another vehicle and the RV today, however. A car passed us throwing a rock onto the windshield, causing quite a large pit which will need to be repaired. We drove 8000 miles in Mexico on their rough roads with no problems and get back to the US to get our first ding!
North of Payson, Arizona we crossed into the pine forests along the Mogollon Rim. I love this part of the drive. The road has been improved over the years and it is quite wide and smooth. The scenery is breathtaking.

We stopped in Holbrook, AZ for lunch and headed east to Albuquerque. We had seen the forecast for bad weather and a friend even called and suggested we delay our return since it was snowing at home, but we were anxious to get on our way. By the time we got to Gallup, NM, the following picture was what we saw! Fortunately, the storm was moving east ahead of us, so we just had light rain showers, although there was a pretty strong crosswind.

The further east we drove, the more ominous it looked. Just before Albuquerque, we noticed this strange white stuff on the ground. What could it be? SNOW … but none on the road. The sky was clearing and we saw blue ahead.

We spent the night at the Sandia Casino where they offer free boondock parking. So how free is it really? Since both Tobey and I spent our allotment of entertainment money  at the casino, we can assure you that the casino came out ahead!

Wednesday – April 4

We got on the road about 7am after a chilly night in Albuquerque – below 40°N! As we headed north, we saw more and more snow on the ground and began to wonder if we should have stayed south. There were some snowplows out clearing the shoulders so the melt-off didn’t cause any splash-back. It was beautiful to see, but I am glad we didn’t’ have to drive in it.

This is always one of my favorite sights as we return from any trip – the welcome to Colorado sign!
As we came down Raton Pass into Colorado we got a view of the beautiful Rocky Mountains. We finally pulled into Fort Collins about 5pm. Penny  was a good passenger the entire trip, but was on the lookout for her street as we got closer to home.

It was so nice to pull into town and see all of the trees starting to bloom. Tobey said it’s nice to come home to Colorado in April.

It was beautiful seeing all the trees in bloom. We had a great time on our Mexico adventure, but it is good to be home where we were treated to a delicious dinner by our wonderful neighbor, Susan. It’s like Dorothy says in the Wizard of Oz, “There’s no place like home.”