-----Holbrook, AZ

We stayed at the "Root 66" RV Park, and I use the term RV park loosely, last night --- by far, the worst park in which we've stayed. Our coach is parked about 100 ft. from Interstate 40, and the tractor-trailers whizzed by all night. Between that constant noise and Joe's constant snoring, Irene is not a "happy camper" this morning. She also heard "cock-a-doodle-doo" very early this morning --- looked out the window and saw roosters and chickens pecking away. Oi-vay!

We are on our way to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced "Shea") in northeastern AZ, and left Mesa about 10:00 AM, drove for about 5 1/2 hours, including two short stops, to get to Holbrook. There is no where else to camp - we had no other choice, except a KOA a few miles back, which would have been more money, and was probably also on the "40". Silly us, we thought this would be okay, as it is a Coast-to-Coast, Passport America and an Escapee park. We are in Navajo country and there's nothing around. It was not an easy ride, as we had to climb to over 6000 ft. elevation, including many steep roads. Our coach almost overheated.

The bright spot was meeting our camping neighbors, Suzanne & Rich Numainville, who just completed a 13-year stint fulltime rv'ing and are our ages. They just bought a home in Blythe, CA, on the Arizona border and two miles from the Colorado River. As we were chatting away, we found out that they met while living in Fort Dix, NJ, as both of their fathers were career Army. Suzanne went to Cathedral High, an all-girls school at that time, in Trenton, NJ and Rich went to Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ, at the same time as Irene's ex and Connie Francis' brother. We had a lot of laughs, reminiscing about all-girl Catholic schools, Seaside Heights, and the "innocent" 50's & 60's.

We actually visited Blythe, CA for a few hours, while we stayed in Quartzsite, AZ in January for the big RV tent show, so we know the layout of the town. Perhaps we'll pass that way again and stop and visit them in their new home.

For sure, we won't be staying here another night, so we won't drive to the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest today, but just forge on ahead to Canyon de Chelly.