April 9 and 10

Yesterday I amused myself throughout the day with organizing everything in the RV. Does it go home? stay here? will it melt this summer? is there still room in the car? And all manner of bags, boxes, and bins were stowed in the Prius. It's packed tight, the girl scout way, from behind the front seats, to up against the trunk lid. The hat shelf is closed and there's a few more things on top. Spring water bottles under the front seats within easy reach, a shopping bag with snacks behind our shoulders, box of tissues next to it, cooler with lunch up front in the trunk, and Henk's computer bag can be accessed quite easily behind the driver's seat.

First thing this morning, mug of coffee in hand, I admired the rabbits, doves, and quails one more time, while Henk fielded yet another phone meeting; and then we drove the RV to the dry storage in back of the campground. The next few hours we fixed the new cover over the RV - I was on top, great view from there! - and Henk worked a set of solar light in the stony ground along the sides. I spread packets of natural rodent repellent around inside, and Henk put bowls of mothballs on top of the tires.
All this because the problem here is not so much mice, but pack rats. And they don't like mothballs much and stay away from lights. Or so says our RV neighbor.
In the nick of time Henk bought the super-warranty for the cover, which includes wind damage. Because it gets plenty windy here apparently... so now we have four years of wind insurance.

And then, a little sad, we said goodbye to the RV, dropped a set of keys off at the office, shoe-horned ourselves into the Prius, and we were on our way again!

We drove out the little road, took rte 86 towards Tucson, a little piece of 19 and then east on rte 10. We will be on this road for many, many hundreds of miles... last Thursday a bit in California, Saturday the last piece to Tucson; and today through Arizona and a corner of New Mexico to El Paso, TX. Tomorrow on to Houston!

Fun moment at the highway rest stop where we had lunch: people walked by that were on their way to Bedford, NH...

Tonight we had fish and chips in a cute little restaurant, Henk found it on Yelp. The tartar sauce was the best ever. I didn't drink too much tea - would you believe it? - mostly because we're going to bed early and I don't want to lie awake, we're losing two hours in two days because of the time zones. Houston is an 11 hour drive, so we want to leave immediately after the Starbucks in the lobby opens up ;) at 6 A.M. (mountain time).