Jeep'n Arizona!

Well .. sort of like that

Back in '20 we were supposed to take our RV out that way to Mesa AZ with a Polaris General we'd just gotten to fit in the RV's garage but ... things went sideways. My back was in a bad place and we head to cancel. Didn't do it last year (but Lucy went out for a week with her Sis) . But 2022 would be our year; finally!

Lucy's brother for many years pulls his RV down from the North and parks it down there at an 'old fucker' RV resort (his words not mine) and we'd finally get that way ourselves. He does this for 3 months at a time which has me a lil' Jelly! That was my plan back in '20 which wasn't to be. The twist this year; this time though he was at the RV park, we'd (4 of us) rent an Airbnb that allowed all the dogs we were bringing in, about twenty minutes away from him.

I bought an '02 TJ Wrangler (Moby Dick) few years ago to beat the shit out of .. but hadn't .. yet. Last year, I had the General modified for serious mudding, bought some A/T tires for the desert.... but .... that TJ is in my driveway begging to be beat on. So, loaded it up on my car hauler, hooked it to Biggun ('22 Jeep WS) and off we went. Mama doesn't want to drive this setup and I don't' want to get a room for the night, though we should have, so I'm doing the drive in a single day. Now the real killer is, we'd just gotten back from Mexico two days prior and we're headed out. I'm still dragging a lil; here we go. Overall a pretty uneventful 18.5 hour long drive, but in West Texas we'd hit some crazy winds that took my gas mileage down to single digits; ouch. In New Mexico and AZ the winds settled down and doing 75-80mph most of the way, we'd pull in at 10mpg overall. At an avg. of $5 of gallon for the premium; it was close to $600 just to get there. But, we pull in around 0100 hrs, grab our bags, find our beds and I'm .. out. Five hours later, hearing some horns blaring at 0530 ... I'm up and moving around (bed was hard!) ... we're here. Thought some POS was breaking into my vehicle but turns out the neighbor is just an idiot. No more keeping my window open all night!

Tight Parking

The place we got has a heated pool so we've got it up around 89 deg which will prove to be perfect. Some java, jump in the pool (daily) and we're having some quality time with the Sis'n'Law and Bro'N'Law. They've got two big dogs, we've got peanut and it's a full house! One thing I'm liking about this Airbnb is that they retain in the house what the previous renters leave. I walked into a stash of cheap booze and a fridge full of Ultras; score! (I'll leave a similar amount at the end of the week). That afternoon we roll over to Mikes and Suzie'Qs for some 'old fucker' pool time on a nice warm day and I'm thinking this week is going to rock; it does. Over at the pool which is packed due to Spring Break (grandkids?) we' grabbing grub , margaritas and getting some pool time in. Lot of folks my age and a LOT of really old ones, living their version of the Dream. I could do this annually. We've been talking about buying a place out there the last two years but I'll talk myself out of before we leave. If needed, I'll just rent a place for 30 days. Less BS with dues, taxes, upkeep. After a day of sunshine, we pull the plug. I'm beat.

Over the next few days we'll head out to the Desert a couple of times, one less than I'd like. On the first day after playing on the desert trails Moby Dick is acting like it's got some bad gas. Sadly, 1/2 the tank is two year old fuel mixed in with some new stuff. I'm not sure exactly what's going on but it gets us home. The next day I shove a few bottles of SeaFoam to clean out the water and fuel injection which works to some degree. On our second outing, I'm a lil nervous so I trailer it out with the other guys to the desert, just in case. First half of the day fine, second half its back to bucking around again; arrrrggh... but makes it back and I'm smiling in the big picture. Few days later I'll pass on taking it back out; I've lost my trust. I'll get it back to TX and figure it out; oh well.

Several of the days Mike and Suzie'Q come over with their three dogs (1 monster and 2 tiny ones) and we've now got SIX running around. The cool/crazy thing is they all got along 100%. I thought for sure there would be some problems but .. zero. Zilch. We grilled most every day and had one night out for the three Siblings to celebrate their birthdays, all falling within 2 weeks of the night we went out. Awesome food at a local Steak House and I'm done. Few nights with some Scotch and Bourbon , but for the most part all calm. All early nights.

Seems like we've just gotten here when It's time to hook up the trailer and head East back towards Dallas. The good news is the wind is minimal and what there is, is at our backs. Nineteen hours or so later, we pull up and the mileage is up to 12mph for 11mpg the whole trip average out. Around $1200 bux for the fuel, few thousand of the Airbnb .... great trip!

Next year... we find another Airbnb for ALL of us.... That should make for an interesting trip!