Travel Day! We are headed east about 7:30am PT to start our journey of a little over 2,000 miles back to Ohio. Last evening we met another couple who have an Airstream. They are on their way to Big Bend National Park for 4 days and are camping here at the Chiriaco Summit BLM campground behind the museum. Very nice people and always glad to hear about others adventures.
At our last campground when we visited the dump station, we discovered that the Valterra adapter for our sewer hose was broken. This is not convenient or sanitary since sewage came leaking out as we emptied the tanks. Ron (with gloves) was able to hold it together to complete the dump, but we knew this wasn’t a permanent solution. Our next couple nights is dry camping so no worries on dumping but that will need to happen soon.
In researching where to buy a replacement, we discovered there are available but only online and Amazon has them at a good price. They also have hub lockers at various locations and since we knew we were heading to Tucson on 1-10, we picked out a location to have the parts shipped there. Delivery is scheduled for Sunday, and we have 3 days to pick up the parts. Whew – literally!
Tucson is a 5 1/2-hour drive from Chiriaco Summit and since we have 3 days to pick up the parts, we picked out a campground that was a 4-hour drive. Sonoran Desert RV Park is located on the outskirts of Gila Bend, a small town about 1 1/2 hours northeast of Tucson.
While driving there we got a call from Joe and Shannon and learned the windstorm over the weekend created some issues at the house. A small pine tree was uprooted near the pond, some facia had pulled loose on the garage roof, and with the electric being off for over 24 hours, the garage door keypad would not work. News to us that happens with them but unfortunately, this is the way in for them and the extra keys are in the garage. Hindsight is 20/20, we should have given them an extra set of keys or hide one somewhere other than the garage in case of emergency, such as now. We called a local locksmith there and even though it was Sunday and cost us double, she was able to get out to the house and get Joe in. So, problem solved – whew!
Sonoran Desert is a super nice park and won a Campendium Award in 2022 and upon arrival we can see why. After checking in, one of the staff on a golf cart, drove us to our site and made sure we were good to go before heading it. Our site was level upon pulling in with no adjustments needed side to side or front to back and that doesn’t very often happen. After getting set-up and taking a couple steaks out of the freezer to fix later, we walked up to the dog park first and it’s super nice. We then checked out the showers and they are the best we’ve seen on the entire trip. They also have laundry facilities and decided to take advantage of them as well.
With hot showers, T-bone steaks, and clean clothes, and catching up on our TV series, and getting both problems solved, the day ended on a high note! Tomorrow, we head to Tucson and pick up our parts, then continue east on I-10 towards New Mexico.
2025 Airstream Travels 