Back to Cottonwood

After spending a great week in Mesa we headed back to Cottonwood.  Tom suggested rather than take the Interstate to take 87 north then 260 west.  Turned out to be a nice drive, still had some hard climbs since we went from 2000 ft. elevation up to 7200 ft. then a steep drop down to 3500 ft.  I spent some time talking with Tom about mountain driving and combined with having the engine and cooling system checked out and cleaned found that the coach handled the steep climbs great.  I thought the overheat warning light came on at 200 degrees then shutdown was at 205.  So when then engine would get over 195 I'd get pretty concerned and my anxiety level would shoot through the roof while I was frantically looking for a place to pull over.  Tom explained the warning is at 206 and shutdown is at 210.   So on this drive up when it got to 195 I kept my rpms above 1800 and found the temperature held steady and didn't climb higher.   Actually if I kept the rpms above 2000 the temp. started dropping a few degrees.  So my "Mountain Driving" seminar with 8V92 guru Tom worked great!
We're here at the same campground in Cottonwood and getting the coach ready to put into storage.  We'll hopefully leave around noon tomorrow driving the jeep and should make it just past Albuquerque.  Then if all goes well we hope to be home (the one without wheels) in Thibodaux on Friday or Saturday.
So we'll have been gone 3 months and we both have enjoyed our travels, we've seen some awesome sights, met some nice people, and after our Europe trip in August plan to return and continue our travels.  At least until Thanksgiving, then we'll return to the coach in the spring and head over to California and travel along the west coast northward.
Can't wait to see Ella and the rest of our family.   Some boiled crawfish would be nice, but we're not looking forward to the humidity and mosquitoes.  We haven't seen a mosquito since we got past Houston.  Well we did see one when Scott was here.  I think he snuck one in his luggage....    We've gotten pretty used to the low humidity.  Yesterday I was helping Tom work inside his coach and looked at the thermometer.  It was 95 and actually didn't feel hot at all!  I wasn't even sweating, well I was but it evaporates so quickly it cools you down.  Gonna hurt when we get home.  Hope we don't smother!  Or melt!