March 25-26, 2015 Scottsdale, AZ to Fort Collins, CO

We had a busy week in Arizona with our moms after returning from Baja Mexico. The RV got a thorough cleaning (inside) and waterline blowout in preparation of our return to “cold country.” We decided to sell the scooter and it sold quickly – maybe we should have asked for more money.  The guy that bought it was happy with it – duct tape and all!! We looked at a couple motorcycles and Tobey went for a test drive on a Suzuki UT250. We didn’t buy one yet, there are still more options to check out.We rounded our week out with a birthday celebration for my sister-in-law. It was great to spend time with the family!

Wednesday morning we said our goodbyes and were on the road at 7:15. It was a rough day! We had head winds, cross winds, then more head winds, and cross winds from the other direction! We finally got to Denver about midnight and found a quiet spot to park for the night. We had an 8:30 appointment with an RV repair shop because I found a small hole in the bathroom floor next to the bathtub and wanted to have it checked out. They concluded it was not structural, no water leaks, and we could repair it ourselves with some quarter round molding. YEAH! They also suggested we just shim next to the microwave to keep it from rattling so much. Fifteen minutes later (and no charge) we were on our way home. DOUBLE YEAH!!

We got everything unloaded and put away in just a few hours. It’s amazing how quickly it went! I still need to wash the outside of the RV and should do it since the weather in Fort Collins has been beautiful (in the 70s!), but part of me resists. Maybe it’s because I keep thinking we will have more snow and it will wash some of the junk off … maybe I am just dreaming!

TRIP RECAP

5721 Miles – Total Mileage (December 18, 2014 – March 26, 2015, Fort Collins Round trip)

3779 Miles – Scottsdale, AZ to Quartzsite, and onto Baja, then return to Scottsdale, AZ (January 16 – March 17, 2015)

EXPENSES:

Gas (and one toll road) – $1443

Oil Change – $46

Camping – $402

Dining Out – $345

Groceries – $290

Propane – $41

Entertainment – $152

Souvenirs – $55

Tel-Cel (Internet cell modem) – $55

Tourist Visa – $48

TOTAL – $2923

While we were in Mexico, gas prices were $13.57 pesos/liter. Most of the time, our conversion rate peso/dollar was 14.5 pesos/1USD, so the cost per GALLON was about $3.55 USD. YIKES! During the same time, gas prices in the US were about $2.15 per gallon.

I realized I forgot to record our gas in December from Colorado to Arizona in December. Whoops. In December, gas prices were about $2.00 per gallon and we would have used about 100 gallons, so we would really need to add $200 to the total trip expense, making it $3123. Still not bad!

 

Penny seems happy to be home and so are we – at least for a while!

Right now our next trip out is at the end of May – guess I have time to get the RV washed before we go!