We're here!

Photos by Kathleen Rolfsrud, co-pilot

The Beeline Highway into Phoenix never disappoints. We chose the scenic route for the final 200 miles and didn't regret the wild, spectacular ride. When we eventually spotted our first saguaro beside the road, we knew we had arrived. That kind of cactus grows only in Arizona and then only at lower elevations.

We had started the day in Santa Rosa after a restless night, thanks to too much salsa and whiskey. It was 10 degrees with a wind whipping snow in from the East and weather forecasters were admitting the 20 percent oversight.
We hit the road at 7 a.m. to try to get ahead of the mess, slid into the entry ramp and onto I-40 to begin a white-knuckle drive in nasty elements we have so much experience with up north. It helped having a tail-wind as we dodged other drivers on the spectacular red cliffs route through Navajo country. The snow never had a chance to stick to the pavement, it stayed cold and dry, so we were good to go.

The Beeline highway has some amazing engineering:
There's a helix where the northbound lane
crosses under the south bound. Very cool and unusual.

We eventually outran the storm, by the time we descended from the high plains down into Albuquerque's ten-lane rush hour, we had blue skies and temps in the 40s.
We turned south from Holbrook, our $2 gas got us to Scottsdale by 3:30 p..m. It was sunny there and 63 degrees, a huge change in a mere eight hours.
The condo looks great. We figured out the wifi. Figured out the DVR and cable. Figured out the water valve. Figured out how to change the thermostat from cool to heat. Found Costco, Target and Basha's.
More later.