Benson, Arizona

We left Jim's at about 11AM. Never easy to say "G'bye" but a hug helps, and we'll be back before we know it with tales of our adventures. We did a gas 'n go, hooked up the Honda and headed south to Benson, AZ, a four hour trip.

We FLEW through Tucson! Forty miles an hour, but believe me - forty through Tucson is flying! For as long as we've been driving I-10 Tucson has suffered massive, many-miles-long construction projects. While there's little evidence that they're approaching a finish, they're doing a lot better at keeping people moving.



We holed-up in an Escapees (RV Club) Co-op park. The desert is manicured into a really pretty landscape. The park is a mix of short-term and extended-term rental sites and some long-term leased sites that the tenants can develop (within guidelines, I'm sure). The sites are large (30'X 40'+) and many contain buildings called casitas. Many have a family room, plumbing (Kitchen & Bath) and large shady patios for barbeques and just lounging. Pretty nice living.

Lots of snowbirds spend their winters here. They're bustling about from program to activity to class to movie to concert to card-game to happy hour to tour. Always smiling, they'll invariably greet you with a hearty hello.


Sunset turned the broad view of the valley from yellows to golds to pinks. We walked up behind the park to the open desert and admired the brilliant colors of beautiful wispy clouds as darkness settled on the desert.

Benson has a very handy steakhouse called The Chute-Out. A well-prepared steak there sports a carmelized "sear" on the outside that I'm especially pleased with. Steak fries are oversize, crisp on the outside, and fluffy inside. Every table gets a bowl of cowboy beans that add a festive and flavorful touch to everyones' meal.

Full moon and full tummies - we're snuggled down for the night. It's good to be back on the road.