Friday, January 27, 2012 (Travel to Val Vista Village RV Resort, Mesa, AZ)

Although we were up early...and watched a beautiful sunrise...Steve really couldn’t get outside to get started with his pack up until it got light out...so it was a little later than we had planned to get away by the time we were ready.   It was 8:45 as we pulled out of our camping spot and made out way to the sani-station.  There was already a line up but not as long as we have seen it.  We sat in the line up for 35 minutes before it was our turn to pull into the dumping station.

After finishing there, we pulled over before leaving the camping area so that Steve could clean the truck windows.  He had just finished when a fellow came over to say hi...we had met Len last year while at the RV park in Tombstone.  I really couldn’t remember him but Steve thought he was vaguely familiar...but of course, Len knew us...he recognized our truck.  We chatted with him for a bit..so it was just before 10:00 by the time we were finally on the road and heading east back to Mesa.  There was a light cloud covering today and it was also very hazy out...not the clear blue sky that we like on our travel days.

After stopping in Buckeye for lunch, we arrived at Val Vista Village RV Resort at about 1:45 p.m.  We were just pulling through the security gate when we looked up and saw Dennis and Suzanne...what timing!  They had been out for a walk and happened to be on the main street in just as we arrived.  They greeted us as we pulled up in front of the office and got out of the truck.  Dunkin was with them, though...he was recuperating back in their motorhome with a pulled muscle in his leg...poor little guy.

After our registration was complete...we had been assigned a site right behind Dennis and Suzanne...perfect!...a “ranger” met us at the truck to lead the way to our site.  Unfortunately, he took the wrong road to our site and after a very difficult time manoeuvring a corner, we had to go all the way around again to get positioned correctly to back into our site on.  Considering this is a huge RV resort, I’m surprised that the street intersections are not a little more “big rig” friendly.

We managed to get backed into our site (which is directly behind Dennis and Suzanne...perfect spot!)with little difficulty and after getting levelled off and unhitched, we joined Dennis and Suzanne for a drink before the rest of our set up.  After a bit of a rest, it was time to get back at it...after 9 days boondocking in the desert, I wanted to give the inside a good vacuuming. 

Once we were all finished, we re-joined Dennis and Suzanne outside on their patio.  They had dinner all planned for that night...very nice not having to cook after our travel day!  We are looking forward to spending time with them over the next couple of weeks while our truck is in getting a bit of a paint job (graphics to match the trailer).