When we’re dry camped, move days are easier. You don’t have hoses and power cords to deal with. Preparing to leave Lake Pleasant was really easy since we didn’t drop the trailer. In the morning, Donna walked to the pool and swam laps. She showered at the resort before walking back. While she was out, I tidied up the trailer and loaded the scooter.

Donna already had most of the interior packing done before leaving for the pool. When she returned at 10:40 AM she only had a few things left to do. We had the slides in, jacks up and engine running for an 11:00 AM departure. We drove west about 20 miles on the Carefree Highway to its end at the junction with US60. We turned north on US60 and drove about 10 miles to the town of Wickenburg.

I used to make this drive at least once a month when we lived in Mesa. My job included technical support for the Volkswagen dealers in Las Vegas and this was the route I traveled to Las Vegas. We planned to stop at the grocery store in Wickenburg for a few supplies. We came through the outskirts of town and it was mostly the same as I remembered it. Before we reached the old downtown area, where the grocery store is, there was a roundabout. This was new to me. The roundabout is the junction of US60 and US93. I turned out of the roundabout on US93, then I realized this was a bypass of the town.

A few miles up the road, there was another roundabout. I circled around there and returned to town. Finding parking for our rig downtown wasn’t easy. The Basha’s grocery store lot didn’t have room. We drove around the block and pulled up parallel to the curb over several diagonal parking spaces. We weren’t legally parked, but I thought we would be okay if we didn’t stay too long. We were next to a small park and noticed a sign for public restrooms. Donna and I decided a quick comfort stop was in order.

When we entered the building, I realized it was the City Hall and police station. I went into the police station and told the officer at the counter that I had parked my motorhome along the curb, but would only be there for a few minutes. He gave me the okey-doke and we walked over to the grocery store.

Donna bought mostly produce, but we also had a few heavy items. We stocked up on drinking water, beer and wine. We took the grocery cart across the street, past the police station to our coach. I quickly unloaded the cart and wheeled it back to the Basha’s store. While I was doing that, Donna made turkey-avocado wraps for lunch.

We got back on US93 north and drove another 10 miles or so to the junction of AZ89. We turned right there and drove another five miles to the North Ranch Escapees RV Park. The Escapees are an RV organization that offers many services to its members. They operate 19 RV parks across the country. Eight of the RV parks are what they call Rainbow Parks. Rainbow Parks allow non-members to stay and offer discounted rates to members. The remaining 11parks are called SKP Co-ops. You must be a member of Escapees to stay in an SKP Co-op.

We arrived at the park at 12:40PM. They close the office for lunch from noon to 1PM, so we had twenty minutes to kill. We walked into the RV park to look around. I saw an Alpine Coach! We haven’t run across too many of these on our travels, I think we’ve only seen one other and that was at Usery Park. We walked down to take a look and met the owner, Dave. Dave is from Portland, Oregon and has owned his 2005 Alpine Coach 40 FDTS since new. Actually, it had about 6,000 miles on it when he bought it. Western RV was using it as a show coach for various RV shows around the country. Dave bought it on his birthday at the Portland RV show. Dave is very enthusiastic about Alpine Coaches. He told us there were three more here in the park.

When we checked in, I joined the Escapees. We paid for three nights here. As a member, the rate for three nights with full hook-ups and tax was $60. Add that to $44 we paid for four nights at Lake Pleasant Harbor and another $22 for generator fuel and that comes to a the total of $126. That’s  $18 per day for the last 7 days. Not bad.

We had to drop the trailer at our site before I backed the coach in. It took a bit of maneuvering to get things where I wanted them. While I was backing the trailer into place, the coach was blocking the road. A fire engine approached with lights flashing. Before I could move, he swung into our site and went around behind me. Quick thinking and a good move by the driver of the fire engine. Apparently someone had a medical emergency down the street from our site.

It was cloudy outside as we set up. The wind picked up and it was cool – about 75 degrees. Once we were set up, Donna wanted us to take a get-acquainted ride around the park on the scooter. Before I could unload the scooter, rain drops were falling. It wasn’t much of a shower. We waited a few minutes, then I unloaded the scooter.

We took a ride around the park and saw two of the Alpine Coaches Dave told us about. I didn’t see the third one.

When we returned, I tuned the Dish Network satellite in and found the Detroit Red Wings playoff game against the Boston Bruins. It was a tough game with great goal tending on both sides. In the end, Detroit prevailed 1-0. They play in Boston again tomorrow. The park has an Easter lunch scheduled at the club house, but I think I’ll stay home and watch the Formula One race and The Red Wings hockey game.

Last night Donna whipped up Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs. I’ve really come to like the boneless chicken thighs. The Asian glaze was spicy and very tasty.

Asian glazed chicken thighs

Although our present site is only about 50 miles away from Lake Pleasant, the elevation of 2,900 feet is higher here. The temperature here should be a little cooler.

Today, Donna will bike around the park. I want to take the scooter into the little town of Congress and poke around.