We kicked off March still stuck in Fredericksburg, TX. Early in the month, the replacement valve body for our truck finally shows up, and it’s junk. Ugh, are you f-ing kidding me? They had to order another one, but this time it got here in a week, and it was good. Miracle apparently happened…. By mid March, we got our truck back and hit the road, finally free after 43 days stranded.

The first stop was an overnight at a campground in Balmorhea, TX, where we were supposed to be after Fredericksburg, way back when. I’m so glad we didn’t break down here. There’s nothing around for like an hour-plus, and being stranded here for a month and a half would have been “less than ideal”. The campground was okay for a night, cheap, had hookups, but 43 days? Not so much. I did manage to break the water hookup, though. It was just a flimsy PVC pipe sticking out of the ground, no support at all. I tripped over our water hose and snapped it right off. Called the maintenance guy, who shut off the water and fixed it, and I helped out any way I could. Other than that, not much to report.

Next morning, we headed out for New Mexico. The drive on I-10 was flat and straight but rough, 40 mph headwinds the whole way, dropping us to like 5 mpg. Worst fuel mileage we’ve ever had pulling the RV. We stopped for the night at Prehistoric Trackways National Monument, where you can boondock for up to 14 days in a parking area. It was busy ranging from from big fifth wheels like ours to camper vans and truck campers. Nice, quiet spot, and everyone we met was super friendly. We took the dogs on a hike, which was great, and it’s a hot spot for Jeeps. Would’ve been a blast to explore on the TWs.

Since our Quartzsite plans were dead, we decided to pivot and spend a couple of weeks in Arizona anyway. First up was BLM land just outside Tucson, AZ, for a week. Never been there, so we had no clue what to expect. It was weird, to say the least. Kinda felt like a homeless camp sometimes, folks living in cars, tents, and some real beat-up RVs. Pretty clear that a lot of them were staying way past the 14-day limit. Every day, at the same time, a military plane flew over. Probably checking who’s there and how long. Some folks would clear out before the flyover and sneak back later. The vibe freaked Jenn out a bit at first, but honestly, it was pretty quiet, and nobody messed with us; everyone just did their own thing. Still, parking our big fancy RV next to people living in cars and tents felt off. Not like we’re better than them, we’re just people too, it just felt a little strange. One morning, I helped some people who were staying in a car jump-start their battery. They were avoiding eye contact, like they were embarrassed, which I hate to see. But Sophie, being our social butterfly, trotted over to say hi. That’s when they asked for a jump, and I was happy to help. Got their car going, I asked if they needed anything else, and one guy said Sophie made their morning. He shook my hand, thanked me, and they headed out. I really hope those folks are doing well, wherever they are. Only big downside to this spot? Broken glass all over the place; the grounds were just covered with it. I was stressed about the dogs cutting their paws the whole time. We did check out Saguaro National Park to see the cacti while we were in the area, which was pretty neat.

After a week in Tucson, we headed north to boondock for a week in Coconino National Forest, east of Sedona. This spot was more our speed, just us, nice and secluded. We had a really good week. We hit up Montezuma’s Castle, Montezuma’s Well, and the Crane Petroglyph Heritage Site, all real close to camp and easy to reach on the TWs.
We also swung by Sedona to check out some shops and restaurants. I got to ride around a bit on the TW, too. The only thing was the free-range cows. While we were looking for a spot, we lost a snap pad from the landing jacks. Once we found a spot, I took off on the TW to look for the missing pad while Jenn walked the dogs. Next thing I know, Jenn and the dogs got surrounded by cows and a bull on a dirt road, and they weren’t thrilled about visitors. Jenn said they were closing in, and she was freaking out, feeling trapped. I tried her on the walkie-talkies we were carrying, and good thing I did. She told me where they were, and I rode down on the TW, shooed the cows off, and got everybody back to the RV safe. Who knew cows could be so territorial? They roam free out there, and we saw them all week, but they kept their distance after that. That incident prompted a purchase of VHF radios with a much larger range than the FRS walkie-talkies we had.