Saturday January 20th 2018

I pulled out of the River Island State Park this morning around ten. It was a cool partly cloudy day with lots of wind. Somehow I seem to be able to find the windy day to travel in my high profile vehicle. It wasn’t the worst wind I’ve encountered but it was stronger than the last few days. It was also almost 20 degrees colder for a high temperature.

Site 118 at the Gila Bend KOA. Notice the cloud cover with a little bit of blue sky getting through. As the afternoon continued the clouds thickened.

I didn’t have any problems on my hundred and seventy mile drive. Around 1PM I arrived at the KOA in Gila Bend Arizona. I stayed at this park last April on my trip north. My route today was chosen to avoid Quartzsite AZ. The annual RV show and self proclaimed “The Largest Gathering of RVers in the World” opened today. I’ve seen reports that there may be a record number of RVs dry camping on the BLM land surrounding the little town. More than 1,000,000 people are expected to attend the show. While I’m curious about the event, I’m not ready to hang out in the desert with all those people.

Once I got away from the Colorado river the terrain returned to flat desert separated by ridges of mountains. The roads are generally very straight with undulations up and down as you pass through various washes. The more improved the road the more the undulations have been filled in. On today’s drive I was on a sixty mile stretch of Arizona highway that hasn’t been improved to a level road. I hate roller coasters.

The weather has continued to deteriorate since I arrived at my evening camp. Northern Arizona is getting snow and the possibility of rain exists for the Phoenix area tonight. The overnight temperature is forecast to be in the mid to upper thirties. Tomorrow may be OK here, but the storm may still be lingering in the areas to the east I’ll be traveling into. Either way I’m committed to traveling to Benson AZ.