After 4 months stationary, I must admit that I felt a bit of moving-day performance anxiety. This was the longest period our bus had ever just sat in place. We started packing up the day before our move, to ensure we had plenty of time to complete all of the break-camp steps. Happily, everything worked as designed. The jacks went up (although a bit squeakier than usual), the slides went in, and new slide toppers retracted uneventfully. We checked and double checked each other, just to be sure we hadn’t forgotten anything after so long!

We left a day earlier than we had originally planned in order to change out our four drive-axle tires. They were the last of the original Goodyear tires, and at 5 years old were due for replacement. We bid goodbye to our Tucson friends and headed out early to the tire shop for new Michelins. We had figured on spending the day getting this done, but were finished around noon. We called our Sedona-area campground and were able to check in a day early! All in all, our travel day went quite uneventfully — which is the way I like it!

We’re settled in at a brand-new campground in the small town of Clarksdale, about 30 minutes from Sedona. Rain Spirit RV resort didn’t even exist when we were here three years ago. It’s relatively small, with about 65 RV sites, and only a dozen or so big-rig capable sites. But the sites are solid, level and open, and the facilities are beautiful. There is a pool and hot tub, a small exercise room, and a small lounge with a lending book and DVD library. The individual bathroom units are tiled, clean, spacious and comfortable. It’s a fantastic little RV park, and super affordable. It’s also in a very pretty setting, with a view of hills all around. The only negative is the internet signal quality in the area. After months of high-speed internet, it is tough to adjust to a minimal bandwidth again!

Cottonwood’s “Old Town” is just a couple of miles up the road with its shops and restaurants. We’ve already found a couple of new favorite eateries. Hog Wild BBQ has some of the best ribs we’ve ever had. And Mai Thai on Main makes some absolutely fantastic curry. It’s a great home for a month!

And of course, there’s nearby Sedona! Our very first day here, Jeff called me mid-bike-ride. He said, “I forgot how just how beautiful it is here. Please, can we come back here next year?!”

You bet!