| We now live in southern France, so any tour starts with a flight up to the UK. Then a flight across the pond. It seems crazy but it is significantly cheaper than flying direct from France (like half the price!) It helps that we have family
near Luton where we fly into from France. They pick us up and drop us at Heathrow for the long haul.
This year we left home on the 7th May just before the volcanic ash from the Icelandic volcano
Eyjafjallajökull closed the southern French airports. |  |
 | It also impacted on our flight across the Atlantic since
we had to fly further south than usual to avoid the ash cloud which now
covers an area 2000km by 1500km over the north Atlantic. This increased the
flight time by almost an hour. |
| The British Airways 747 was quite full but we managed to
get seats at the back of the wing and it was clear as we took off on what
was to be an 11.5 hour flight as we battled 200mph headwinds most of the way
to Phoenix. |  |
 | The wings are immensely complex especially when the air
brakes are deployed for landing. Our daughter tells us that the maximum wing
deflection as we take off or land is 11 feet! We really don't want to think
about that. |
| Our friends met us at the airport after clearing
immigration (only an hour this time) The RV seemed fine and started second
pull although it was a bit rough to begin with. There were a few snags with
a window winder and the tyres being quite soft but they were soon fixed. |  |
 | It was odd to be back in the land of the cactus although
it had been so dry back home cacti would probably do well in France. But is
is so dry here. The temperatures are in the mid 90's and the humidity is
much lower than we are used to. |
| My eyes were giving me real trouble as the hay fever
kicked in. We think that the mesquite trees were the culprit since even the
locals were experiencing symptoms. |  |
 | We spent a few brief days, recovering from the jet lag,
which seems to take us longer these days. Then we had some serious shopping
to do, restocking the cupboards for the long trip because we will not be near major cities (or even small hamlets)
for much
of this year. This delayed us and meant we
were later leaving Scottsdale and so only got as far as Flagstaff for our
first night on the road. It was a long climb of some 6000 feet. |
| This was about 70 miles short
of Tuba City, our original target. The
campsite was pleasant enough but not as good as where we usually stay.
However it
was noticeably cooler here than in Scottsdale. Flagstaff is at 7000ft. We
will be at higher elevations for some of this year's travels. |  |
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