Arrived at last

Leisurely breakfast (they serve at 8:30) and we hit the road . . . only to run into a miles-long backup caused by repaving work. The three-lane freeway necked down to one, and we crept along forever.

It cleared at last and we hummed along into real desert (rock, sand, scrub) and past the strange little town of Quartzsite, where RVs are scattered across the desert like huge, rectangular desert plants. It appears that all you need in Quartzsite is an RV and you're in for the winter. The town is famous for immense swap meets, but we were anxious to motor on.

As we crossed the Colorado and into Arizona we saw our first Saguaro cactus. Very impressive. Saw the roofless stone walls of an ancient house 200 yards off the freeway, with no other signs of civilization around it and miles from any other development. Saw a guy sleeping with his head on his pack just off the freeway. Where nothing grows, everything is visible.

We arrived at the condo about 5 p.m. Nice place. The condo itself is very pretty and occupies the second and third stories of the unit. There's only a small balcony at the back, but a good sized garage under the unit. We squeezed the van and trailer in for the night. At the corner of the block is a Crispy Creme and a Quiznos. We split a sub for dinner.

Having some trouble getting the wireless router working properly. The initial automatic triumph has been followed by peek a boo failures and "connected-but can't transmit" bullshit. I'm about to burn the thing down and Pamela has decided the universe has a problem.