SIERRA VISTA NATIONAL T TOUR - Days 8 & 9

Days 8 & 9, Heading for home.  When we got up on Friday, there was a severe winter storm warning for AZ on TV.   All the schools in the Sierra Vista area had decided to close,  Fort Huachaca was also closed (where our final banquet was to be held).  It was raining and predicted to turn into heavy snowfall in a few hours, with accumulations all the way from 2 inches to 2 feet depending on elevation.  Sierra Vista is 4600 feet so they were predicting 6" or more.  Considering that Friday was now a total bust, and we might have a window of opportunity to get down to lower elevation before the storm got really bad,  we hit the road for home.

It was definitely exciting, as you can see from the following pictures, getting a little snowy and then a lot snowy as we went along.  At first it was just spitting rain, but we could see this really dark cloud.

Then the rain got heavier,,,,

And started to change to snow, while we sat at this redlight,,,,

Then it started to stick,,,,

By the time we saw this sign, it was old news,,,,

Then we really got into it for 40 miles on I-10 until we got to Tucson.  Careful does it with that trailer back there pushing us.   Saw at least 5 cars in the bushes.  When the lines on the road begin to disappear, you know you are having fun....

Tucson on was no sweat, just occasional rain showers until we crossed into CA.   Lots of mountains with snow all the way home.

Palm Springs area,,,,

On the Grapevine,,,,,

Home at last,  and greeted by our faithful dog who watched tirelessly out the window for us!

In the end, we put 1941 miles on the Bronco, and only 205 miles on the T, since we got shortchanged a couple of T touring days.  Cheapest gasoline was in Tucson at $2.09/gallon.   Bronco took 172 gallons, the T took 16 gallons.  73 cars and 170 folks were listed in the Tour book, but we heard that as many as 40 folks in 20 cars cancelled because of the nasty weather forecasts.   We think there were actually about 50 cars making the tours.  It was definitely an adventure and I don't know about the rest of the folks but I still had fun.