Starting Our Slow Drive Home: Northeast to Payson, Arizona

Eric and I are taking a leisurely drive across the United States to Upstate New York.   Today's drive takes us northeast to Payson, Arizona.

Starting our drive on
Interstate 8 East...

Looking across a valley

with farm fields

A is for Aztec, Arizona.

We stop at a Rest Area

to switch drivers.

Eric takes a pic of me

driving.

We will leave Interstate 8 for

Arizona State Route 85.

Eric & I reminisce about our

visit to Organ Pipe Cactus

National Monument.

I follow signs to Interstate

10 East.

Traffic through Phoenix is light.

Electric signs urge

Social Distancing.

I take the left exit, in the
HOV Lane, to Arizona 
State Route 202 East.

Construction continues during

the Pandemic.

I pull onto the road shoulder and Eric takes over the driving.

Exit 13 takes us to Arizona
State Route 87.

We enter the Salt River Pima
 Maricopa Indian Community.

This mountain, & others, 

"go green" in the Spring.

We will watch out for horses.

Payson is 65 miles away.

Tonto National Forest

It's fun to take photos of

the changing landscape.

Saguaros are abundant in this
region of Arizona.

Eric reads the sign & downshifts.

He's got this.  On our drive north through British Columbia, Eric negotiated a 13% Grade with a corkscrew turn.

The Runaway Truck Ramp is
blocked by orange construction
cones.

This is the first time we've
seen this on this type of ramp.

The road ahead hugs the side

of the mountains.

Fire Danger is moderate.

Roadside maintenance work

We stop for diesel at the
Speedway in Payson.

Eric cleans some bug splatter

off the windshield.

We are using grocery bags to

pump fuel too.

Settled in at the Payson Walmart...

We used OvernightRVParking.com
to find this free overnight spot.






For now, we soak up the sun...  It's going down into the 30s tonight.  BRRRR!!!!!

Eric & I Follow the Music @ Yuma Lakes RV Resort

This stay at Yuma Lakes
RV Resort is very quiet.







On March 30 Governor Ducey's Executive Order encouraged Arizonans to stay home and to practice social distancing in public. 

One afternoon Eric and I heard music inside our well-insulated motorhome.  The songs are Rock 'n Roll Standards AND it's live music.  Let's take a walk...

This impromptu band entertains RVers throughout the afternoon.

Some sit in small groups; Eric & I stand apart from others.

Let the good times roll...  at Yuma Lakes RV Resort.

Yuma Lakes RV Resort in Yuma, Arizona is Quiet This Time of Year

Eric & I left Suni Sands RV Resort
& relocated to Yuma Lakes 
RV Resort.






The cost for a week of camping with our RPI Membership is $70.00.

It's April, well past high season for RVing in southwest Arizona, and the Resort is very quiet.

The Pool & Spa are closed
because of the Covid-19
Pandemic.

The Shuffleboard Courts
are empty.

No one is playing Horseshoes.

The RVs under trees have
been here since last
December.

Yuma Lakes Estates has

leased lots.

Some homes have been
closed for the season.

This lot is waiting to
be leased.

This entire section of the Resort
has emptied out.

It will reopen in December.

Eric & I settle in at

Yuma Lakes RV

Resort again.

The Laundry Room is where the few remaining RVers congregate.  I am fortunate to have the small space to myself each time I do our laundry.

Our Ride North of Yuma, Arizona

Eric and I went for a drive north of Yuma.






The Heritage Center
on the grounds of the US Army
Yuma Proving Ground

The Heritage Center is

closed right now.

A mile or so up the road is the Wahner E. Brooks Historical Exhibit of items tested at the Yuma Proving Ground from World War II to the present.  

There's an assortment of
Howitzers.

Most are towed.

This M107 175 MM Howitzer
is self-propelled.

XM51 Little John

Rocket

Honest John Rocket

M2A1 40 MM Towed

Antiaircraft Gun

M42A2 "Duster"

Antiaircraft Artillery

Self-Propelled

Used in Vietnam

M91 115.4.5 Inch Towed

Multiple Missile Launcher

Sergeant York 40MM 
Antiaircraft
Weapons System
This is an experimental
weapons system.

M4A3 Sherman Tank

Used in World War II

M74 Tank
Recovery Vehicle
Used in the Korean War

M47 Medium Tank

Used in the Korean War

M728 Combat Engineer
Vehicle
Used in Vietnam, Desert
Storm, Saudi Arabia

M551 "Sheridan" Armored

Reconnaissance Airborne

Assault Vehicle 

Used in Vietnam & Saudi Arabia

M113A1 Armored 

Personnel Carrier

Used in Vietnam &

Saudi Arabia






Yuma Proving Grounds has millions of acres for military training.  I can imaging Howitzers being towed to locations, secured and shells fired at targets; armored tank drills, and rocket launches in this vast and lonely terrain.

Watching the Skies Over Yuma, Arizona

Life at Suni Sands RV Resort is quiet.

The pace here is slow.

It's a good place to watch current
events unfold.




Each day more news about the worldwide Covid-19 Pandemic is coming out.  Takeout is common at restaurants.  Beauty and Nail Salons remain open, as do Barber Shops.

The Yuma International Airport and Marine Corps Air Station are on the other side of  East 32nd Street.

Single-engine planes fly out

of Yuma International.

I missed a passenger plane coming in for a landing.

Marine aircraft fly daily.

A CH-53E Super Stallion 
Helicopter

It's the most commonly

seen military aircraft.

The distinctive Osprey
in the skies over Yuma.

A shot of an F-35 Lightning II

Fighter Jet.

Eric and I while the day away doing chores and binge-watching TV series.  We are caught up on Manifest and Succession.  The Morning Show was a great find.