The Blitz West Finale: Nicole Takes the Wheel!

This blitz west was not without the drama.

We had to tow through floods.
Then we entered Texas, prepared to spend a LOT of time there.
We eventually decided to embrace Texas' giganticness and spend even more time there!
Then our truck's gas gauge started acting wonky.
Then dust storms forced us off the road.

We expected far more uneventful travel days than we got, but that's RV life for ya! Now here we are, just one drive day away from finally arriving to our destination of Tucson, AZ.

We were so grateful to Dream Catcher RV Park for accommodating us after we barged into their office. It was only 11AM when we stopped over there, but we were immediately given a wonderful spot to overnight, with the added offering to stay as long as we wanted the next day. Being at Dream Catcher immediately put us at ease, despite the wind storms being extra gnarly outside our trailer. We got a good night's sleep and were ready to take on our final stretch to AZ, preferably in less wind.

The morning was looking good, but by early afternoon, the gusts would strengthen yet again. We had a small window of opportunity to get as west as possible, where the winds weren't supposed to be as bad. The problem was, because we were supposed to complete our drive that Wednesday, Anthony had a day full of work meetings on Thursday. He was able to move one, freeing up his afternoon a little more, but we had the choice of either leaving after his morning calls (around noon), or squeezing in some miles around 9:30AM before stopping so he could take his 11AM call. Once I saw that the winds would be picking up later in the day, I made the call for us to leave at 9:30. We needed to cover as much ground as possible to try and get out of the area that was predicting the strongest winds.

We were back on I-10 by 10AM, hoping to get to the next main town that was 60 miles away. It would be tight on a good day, and this wasn't a good day. We almost immediately hit traffic due to road construction.

The delay from the traffic jam was so bad that we ended up pushing our limits to even get to the next exit by Anthony's call at 11AM. We saw on the GPS that we either had the choice to get off the exit or drive a couple miles further to pull off at a rest area. Getting off the exit would give us more choices for parking, but it would take longer. Needing to get off the highway and over to a parking lot or travel center eats up a lot of time, and we barely had minutes to spare. The rest area might be crowded and we might not find a place to park, but if we took the chance we might get lucky and pull into a spot in seconds. Both choices had their trade-offs, so I let Anthony make the decision. After all, he was the driver and the one who needed to hop on a work call.

Anthony decided to just continue to the rest area. Surely there would be a place to pull over for a while, even if it's not an official parking spot. So off we went, past the construction, past the exit, and to the rest area.

New Mexico should really consider posting signs to let drivers know that the only rest area for nearly 50 miles was temporarily closed. Perhaps post a sign before the exit so that drivers can get off if they need to. Novel concept, I know. But sadly, New Mexico hasn't gotten the memo, and they think it's cool to post the closed sign at the rest area ramp. We were pretty angry at this point, but I optimistically said that maybe they just mean the building and not the whole rest area. No. We drove a few more yards and saw this.

The poor truckers who also hoped for a rest area respite needed to squeeze onto the shoulder of the road to take a break. We weren't comfortable doing that for a long period of time, and Anthony's call would be at least a half-hour. Because we need to put our steps down, we wouldn't be able to get as far onto the shoulder as the trucks. Safety was an issue here. We had only a few minutes to make a final decision, and so I told Anthony to run inside and get his laptop, and he can take his call from the truck while I drove. A few minutes later, I was behind the wheel, pulling back onto the interstate.

From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to learn how to tow. Actually, I wanted to learn all the steps of RVing so that, in case of an emergency, I could fend for myself. I'd never want to feel like a sitting duck if God forbid Anthony couldn't perform his tasks for RVing. This is why we both practiced maneuvering the RV when we first got it, and also why we both took an RV driving lesson before we launched full-time. That said, I hadn't towed in 14 months, since that day at driving school (unless you count the 10 feet I towed last year when Anthony was in the bathroom at a rest area and I pulled the rig up to make room for trucks to park behind me). Anthony is the primary driver because we can both drive pretty well, but when it comes to navigating, I am the person for the job. I multitask really well, keeping track of multiple GPS devices, finding places to pull off, and also keeping an eye on the pets, TPMS, and surroundings. Anthony gets lost going 3 miles away, even with directions up. He's had times that I'm navigating him, and I tell him to go right and he goes left. The answer was clear: Anthony is a much better driver than he is navigator, and therefore I should be the designated navigator. He's done really well with towing and has grown very comfortable behind the wheel. I was out-of-practice, but I'd be getting back in the swing of it now. Fortunately, we would be on I-10 for close to 200 miles, so Anthony didn't need to do any navigating and could just focus on his meeting.

I happened to be behind the wheel during the windiest stint of the whole drive, which made for some dicey moments when trucks whizzed by, or when we saw an Ultra Lite trailer in front of us starting to fishtail. Some dust clouds rose in the distance, but nothing like the day before. The gusts seemed to be around 45mph which is doable, but they did make me anxious because I had never been in the driver's seat for wind gusts that strong. The trailer handled fantastically as always, and I eventually got used to the buffeting of wind against the side of the trailer when trucks passed by. In a lot of ways I was glad to have the chance to brush up on my skills. Even though the situation wasn't great, it was certainly better than if I was ever thrust into a situation where I had to tow during a real emergency. The stress level was low enough and the morale high enough for me to embrace this turn of events.

About 40 miles later, Anthony finished up his call. I was out of the wind zone and doing well, but I knew that sooner or later I'd need to get back into the navigator's chair, if for no other reason, to take photos as we crossed into Arizona! So I pulled off at the next exit and found my way into an RV spot at a tourist info center. I hadn't parked the rig in over a year and was really proud of how seamlessly I pulled into the parking spot: perfectly straight, in the lines, and leaving plenty of room to put our steps down.

We made this our pit stop so we could drive the rest of the way in one swoop. The final stretch was gorgeous. We crossed the AZ border and were immediately greeted by snow-capped mountains in the distance. We were also greeted by a lot of potholes which was a little less idyllic, but we didn't care. We had finally made it to our last state on our blitz west! Coincidentally, fishtailing Ultra Lite somehow caught up to us and ended up right in front of us again (earlier when they were swaying, I ended up very carefully passing them). Out of the wind their trailer was handling much better. I wish I knew who these people were because I snapped some really incredible photos of their RV in the surrounding vistas.

We often talk about how thankful we are to have a heavy trailer. When we first brought it home, my parents kept commenting on how crazy big it seemed, but the size definitely helps us feel more secure on the road, especially in wind zones. I give these Ultra Lite owners a lot of credit for staying the course and keeping their speed down during the challenging sections of road.

We made our way to Tucson and turned off the interstate to head to our campground. It wouldn't be a true finale without one more struggle, though. The county campground where we were staying was beautiful. We couldn't wait to live among the saguaros! Only problem was, when I was booking the site, the description led me to believe we would fit with no problem. I still don't really know what happened because I remember pouring over the site map for about an hour, trying very carefully to choose a spot. I looked at satellite views and everything, but it wasn't enough. Our site was a very tight squeeze. The toughest part was making sure we could get our steps down on one side and fit the truck on the other side. We made it work after some finagling, and once we were in, we could enjoy a really amazing site with an even more amazing picnic area. The struggle was worth it.

We had arrived! What a crazy journey from South Carolina to Arizona, filled with drama, trauma, and some really fun adventures. Now it was time to hang out in Tucson for a few days before heading out of town for the very reason we made this blitz west:

We are getting solar installed on our RV!

That's right, the announcement is official. We have big plans for our solar install and all the new camping opportunities it will bring us. We can't wait to share the details, but first, it's time to recap our grande detour to Big Bend National Park, our first National Park of 2023. That series is coming up next, so stay tuned!

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