On the Way Home

A last look at DeMott Meadows

Leaving this morning took longer than we expected.  The dirt lane from our spot to the store's driveway had solidified and Fred had no trouble bringing the RV down to the parking lot.  Evidently, the getting-stuck-in-the-mud incident at our arrival had damaged the filler pipe to the gas tank; we noticed gasoline on the pavement while filling the tank.  Fred bravely crawled beneath the behemoth, between the dripping sewer line and leaking gas pipe, to fix the problem. 

In order to handle the steepest descents of the trip, I drove the Jeep and Fred drove the RV as far as Bitter Springs.  At a pull-over at the junction of Route 89-A and 89, we hooked up the Jeep and proceeded together.  We went through a part of northern Flagstaff which was burned in the Schultz fire and flooded in heavy rains several weeks later. 

Today's leg of the the homeward journey was uneventful, light traffic and very little road construction.  The scenery paled in comparison to that of the AZ Strip--hazy pastel tints rather than deep, vibrant colors.  We were on the road for 6.25 hours (9:45-4:00) and traveled about 275 miles.


We seem to have jumped from the frying pan into the fire or, more precisely, from the fridge into the frying pan.  As usual, we slept under three blankets topped by a down sleeping bag last night and turned on the space heater for an hour or so in the morning.  As we got further from the Plateau, the elevation decreased but the temperature increased.  As soon as we pulled into our Holbrook campsite Fred hooked up the electricity so we could turn on the air conditioner.