Category Archives: Arizona

Chillin’ in the Desert

We packed up and pulled out of Mission Bay RV Resort last Friday. I packed most of the stuff that needed to go to the trailer Thursday afternoon. I also pumped up the air pressure on the coach tires. The trailer tires were low from sitting for the past three months – it’s not unusual for tires to lose up to a few pounds of pressure per month. The smaller the tire, the greater the pressure loss generally. I waited until we brought the coach to the trailer to air up the trailer tires – there wasn’t an electrical outlet near the trailer, so I plugged the air compressor into the coach.

By the time I had the trailer tires aired up and loaded the Spyder, it 11:45am when we finally hit the road. We made the familiar trip east on I-8 over Laguna Summit. We usually make a stop at the Buckman Springs rest area for a lunch break, but I continued on this time to the Golden Acorn Casino at the Crestwood Summit. The Golden Acorn has a truck stop and better fuel prices than most places in San Diego. I only pumped 20 gallons to make sure we had plenty to run the generator. The generator will not run if the fuel tank is below 1/4 full. I paid $3.75/gallon there.

We made our way to our boondocking spot for the night off of Ogilby Road near the Imperial sand dunes. It was cold and windy out – much colder than I expected. There were many rigs at the dunes – weekenders with their sand toys. The wind was gusting over 20mph, so we didn’t see many people out – everyone was hunkering down. I shot a photo near sundown – you can see how much dust was in the air from the wind.

Boondocking in our little piece of desert
Desert dust at sunset

Saturday morning we hit the road again. We lost an hour as we crossed the Colorado River into Arizona – it’s Mountain Standard Time in Arizona at this time of year. We stopped in Yuma at Fortuna Road – exit 12. I wanted to buy some water filter cartridges and Tank Techs Rx holding tank treatment at my favorite RV store – Al’s RV and Marine. To my consternation, Al’s RV and Marine store was nothing but an empty storefront. Flyers for specials were still on display in the windows, but it was locked up tight and nothing but bare floor inside. We crossed to the north side of I-8 to the Pilot/Flying J travel center and topped up our fuel tank. Diesel fuel here was $2.95/gallon – 80 cents per gallon less than what I paid in California!

Driving east on I-8 between Tacna and Dateland, I spied a column of black smoke rising a few miles ahead. I told Donna it looked like something was burning on or next to the interstate. I hoped it wasn’t a vehicle. As we got closer, we saw a cargo trailer on the shoulder of the highway and flames shooting 20 feet into the air in front of it. As we passed by, we saw a white Chevy SUV – a Tahoe I think – fully engulfed in flames. People were standing in the desert about 30 feet away from it and a few cars had pulled to a stop ahead of it. It didn’t appear that anyone was hurt. We could feel the searing heat from the fire as we passed it in the left lane. The driver of the car in front of me was gawking and suddenly slowed – a dangerous move that had me braking. The trailer wasn’t burning as we passed, but the heat was intense and it was the middle of nowhere. I figured it would be a while before any fire fighters could respond. About 15 minutes later, I saw a firetruck on the westbound lanes heading toward the fire.

Our next stop was the Ak-Chin Harrahs Casino in Maricopa. We planned to dry camp overnight there and have a short hop to Mesa Sunday morning. The casino offers free RV parking in the back lot where buses park. The lot is fairly level and surprisingly quiet.

We went into the casino to check out a couple of their restaurants. One offered small dishes – appetizer style plates. The other was a buffet and Saturday night was seafood night. We opted for the buffet at $32/person. Like most buffets I’ve experienced, the food was mediocre but there was lots of it!

We left the casino Sunday morning around 10am. We had an uneventful drive to Viewpoint RV and Golf Resort in Mesa. I’d forgotten about the offices being closed on weekends. We checked in with the security and were escorted to our site. I had reserved site 5245 where we stayed the past two years. I unloaded the Spyder and Donna directed me into the site to drop the trailer. We’ve gotten pretty good at this – the security guy seemed to think we were in for trouble but it went without a hitch.

We were set up in no time and I had NFL football on in time to catch the second quarter of the early games. What a crazy season. The Chargers finished at 12-4 but have to settle for the wildcard spot as the fifth seed. Meanwhile 10-6 wins the division in the east. Sheesh.

The temperature dropped below 40 overnight – it was cold in the coach this morning. We’ve had the heat pumps on since we got out of bed. We don’t mind it when the coach is cool while we’re under our blankets and down comforter, but once we rise, we want comfortable temperatures. The heat pumps have been doing a great job and it’s a comfortable 72 degrees inside while the wind is blowing and it’s only 51 outside. This cold snap will probably last until the weekend. Next week is forecast to have highs of 70 degrees. Nice!

We had invitations to a couple of New Year’s gatherings tonight, but Donna is feeling a little run down and it’s supposed to be a rainy night, so we’ll just be party poopers and stay in.

The Heat is On

Last Friday, Donna and I rode the Spyder down from our camp site to Williams. Historic Route 66 runs right through town. It’s split into two one-way streets a block apart with most of the businesses on the eastbound street. The old downtown area is a mixture of old west and Route 66 memorabilia tourist traps. We walked the length of the district from 5th Street to Slagel Street – a distance of about six blocks and back before stopping for lunch at El Corral. I should have heeded the sign which proclaimed “Fine Mexican – American Food.” I have a rule to never eat at a restaurant that boasts Chinese – American cuisine – I guess that rule should extend to Mexican – American. My meal was average at best. Donna enjoyed her taco salad though.

The main drag through Williams

We packed up Saturday morning. We loved our boondocking site in the national forest here but we had a couple of reasons for moving on. First of all, we wanted to find full hook-ups so Donna could catch up on laundry. We had been without a sewer hook up since we left Cañon City. We don’t run the Splendide washer/dryer when we aren’t on a sewer hook up because it uses too much water and would fill the gray water tank. We also planned to meet up with friends and family before we hit San Diego, so we needed to allow a few days for that.

Our boondocking site was about 7,000 feet above sea level. This meant we had cool nights with the temperature dropping to about 50 degrees. We like cool nights with a window open and a down comforter on the bed. Our route west on I-40 was mostly a downhill run. When we reached Kingman, 100 miles later, we were at 3,000 feet. We stopped there to get the coach washed at a Blue Beacon truck wash. It turned out to be long wait – they only had one wash bay and we were seventh or eighth in line. It gave Donna a chance to fix a salad for lunch and an hour later we were on our way.

We left I-40 at exit 9 and took AZ95 south to Lake Havasu City. Lake Havasu sits at an elevation of about 500 feet above sea level. We drove to the Elks Lodge east of town which is higher ground – about 1,100 feet above sea level. The Elks Lodge had full hook-ups and plenty of space to accommodate us without dropping the trailer.

The lake below the Elks Lodge – photo from Donna’s early morning run

We traded high elevation for high temperatures. The weather in Lake Havasu was clear, sunny and hot. The daytime highs were about 105 degrees and it only dropped to about 80 degrees at night. We had both roof top air conditioners running full-time.

Donna cooked up a nice meal for dinner. She made chicken thighs sauteed in white wine with onions and herbs and served over roasted cauliflower slices with garlicky spinach on the side. Delicious.

Chicken thigh with onion and herbs over roasted cauliflower

Donna found pickleball in Lake Havasu City, so Monday morning we rode the Spyder to the community center and played several games. It was great – the players were all friendly, the games were competitive and we had a lot of fun. I’m really liking my new Paddletek Paddle.

We left Havasu Tuesday morning around 10 am and headed south to Parker, Arizona where we crossed the Colorado River and hit CA62 west. We took this quiet route through the desert – the road surface dipped and rose like a roller coaster through some areas. We were familiar with this route as Donna and I traveled it many times while touring on our motorcycles. There’s a stretch that runs parallel to a railroad track for miles and people have created graffiti out of light and dark colored stones and wood rail ties along the sides of the rail bed. It’s amazing how many people have taken the time to spell out their names or put up symbols in the middle of an otherwise empty desert.

If we continued west on CA62, we would eventually hit Twentynine Palms and Joshua Tree National Park, but we turned off onto CA177 and veered south to Desert Center and I-10. This took us up to the divide at Chiriaco Summit which separates the Chuckawalla Valley from the Salton Sea basin at an elevation of 1,706 feet above sea level. From there it was mostly a downhill grade to Indio.

We stopped at the Indio Elks Lodge and have 30 amp electric service and fresh water. We are the only rig in their RV park. Our purpose for stopping here is to visit friends – Kris and Tom Downey. They spent about three years on the road and now live here. Kris picked us up and we went to see their new house, then went to dinner. It was taco Tuesday night. Kris and Tom picked up the tab – thanks again for the tacos and beer!

It’s a little cooler here at night than Havasu was, but we’re still in the desert. Today Donna is going with Kris up to Idyllwild in the San Jacinto Mountains above Palm Springs. They plan to poke around town and maybe do a little hiking – the elevation there is 5,400 feet above sea level so it should be cooler. I plan to make a Walmart run, then stay indoors and read – the temperature here will be around 100 degrees this afternoon. Tomorrow we’ll move on to Hemet, California.

 

Standing on the Corner

We were packed up and ready to roll out of the La Plata County Fairgrounds in Durango, Colorado before 10am Wednesday. Our first stop was only a few miles south of town as we made a short detour on US160 west to the Giant Travel Center. They have a free dump station there, so I dumped and flushed our holding tanks. I’d filled the freshwater tank before we left the fairgrounds. Full fresh water and empty holding tanks – that’s how we like to roll. While I was at it, I stopped at the pumps and topped up our fuel tank – they had a good price on fuel – $3.15/gallon.

Our route took us south on US550 to Aztec, New Mexico. This route follows the Animas River. At Aztec, we hit NM516 to Farmington. I attempted to make a stop at the Walmart in Farmington for provisions but the lot was fairly full and trees made it a challenge to maneuver through. We rolled on south on NM371. In hindsight, I wish we would have taken US64 west to Shiprock. The route south on NM371 entailed a shortcut through Navajo land on BIA5. You know what the deal is with shortcuts – they’re never easy. If it was easy it wouldn’t be a shortcut – it would be “the way.”

BIA5 had little traffic but the surface had some serious frost heaves. It was so severe that launching over a frost heave flung all of the clothes in our closet off the hanger rod! Eventually we hit US491, which is a good road, and made our way to Gallup. There were elevation changes along the way, mostly rising and falling between elevations of 5,000 and 6,000 feet above sea level. The wind picked up out of the west-southwest. We made our Walmart stop in Gallup – it had a much easier lot for us to park in.

From Gallup, we headed due west on I-40. This is high desert country – mostly scrub land with distant mountains and rock formations. Like most desert areas, it isn’t as flat as it appears. You travel through a series of basins – gently climbing out of a basin only to start dropping into the next one.

We gained an hour as we crossed the Arizona border. At this time of year, Arizona time is the same as Pacific Daylight Time. When the clocks change back to standard time, Arizona will be the same as Mountain Standard Time – Arizona doesn’t change their clocks.

We stopped for the day at the Elks Lodge in Holbrook. Holbrook isn’t the most scenic stop – it’s more high desert scrub. For some reason I was picturing Holbrook as more mountainous with pine trees – I guess I was thinking of Heber-Overgaard. We were the only rig there and had a quiet night. This Elks Lodge wasn’t very active.

We pulled the slides in around 9:30am Thursday morning. Ozark the cat had already assumed her new favorite traveling space under Donna’s seat. Ozark takes note of us making the coach ready for travel and hides under the passenger chair. We left her there for last several weeks as we travel and it seems to be less stressful for her to ride where she’s comfortable.

We made a stop 30 miles west at Winslow. Again I topped up the fuel tank at the Pilot/Flying J there, then we parked on the street by the historic La Posada Hotel. We took a walk through the historic district and I bought a breakfast burrito at Las Marias cafe – it was disappointing as it was mostly filled with potato. It had very little chorizo and I couldn’t find any egg in it.

Historic downtown Winslow

Second Street, pictured above, is the old Route 66. When I came through here in 1976 – hitchhiking my way from San Diego to Longmont, Colorado – this was the highway across Arizona and into New Mexico. I-40 didn’t exist here at that time. I remember the town as a small settlement maybe three or four blocks wide with a truck stop, a few shops and lots of Native American people.

Now Winslow relies on tourism and has gone somewhat upscale. I think it’s a little sad that the town’s claim to fame comes from the 1972 Eagles hit song “Take It Easy” written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey. Here’s a short excerpt from a Wikipedia post:

According to Frey, the second verse of “Take It Easy” refers to a time when Jackson Browne’s automobile malfunctioned in Winslow, Arizona, during one of his trips to Sedona, requiring him to spend a long day in Winslow. In 1999, in responding to the lyrics that made it famous, the city of Winslow erected a life-size bronze statue and mural commemorating the song at the Standin’ on the Corner Park.

Of course photo ops abound around the park.

Donna taking it easy

Me, standing on the corner

We continued west on I-40 and as we neared Flagstaff, we were finally in pine forests. Off to the northwest, we could see Humphrey’s Peak – at 12,633 above sea level, it’s the highest point in Arizona. People think Arizona is all desert with saguaro cactus, but the north part of the state along the Mogollon Rim is high country with forests.

We crossed the Arizona Divide at 7,335 feet above sea level and pulled off I-40 at Williams. The main road through Williams is again part of the old Route 66. Williams is surrounded by the Kaibab National Forest. Our intention was to find dispersed camping on public land here. Donna found a reference to a camping area at the Benham Trailhead. We found it, but there were several rigs in close proximity there. We locked up the coach and walked across Perkinsville Road to another forest service road called Dogtown Road. We found a few likely sites there.

Dispersed camping in this area is free and you can stay up to 14 days. You are supposed to camp within 30 feet of established roads and can’t bushwack your way into the forest. As we walked back to our coach, a guy camping near the trailhead offered some advice. He said the trailhead area was noisy – we figured as much with so many rigs there. He said to go down Dogtown Road and look for a site on the south side of the road. He told us that cars and ATVs travel the dirt road during daylight hours and kick up dust – which the wind carries across the north side of the road. We followed his advice and found a good spot. There was a small trailer already parked in this particular spot, but the woman traveler it belonged to invited us to pull in as she would be leaving in the morning. She and Donna had a nice chat yesterday afternoon and said their goodbyes this morning. We plan to stay for a couple of nights. We’re at an elevation of 7,200 feet above sea level.

Our spot in the Kaibab National Forest

Meadow view from our window

I’ve mentioned the Bright Line Eating plan that Donna’s following. The night before we left Durango, Donna grilled turkey burgers. I had mine on a toasted onion ciabatta roll with avocado slices. This is what a Bright Line Eating plan turkey burger looks like.

Donna’s turkey burger salad

Last night, Donna made blackened tilapia and served it with sauteed veggies. She added a serving of spaghetti alfredo to my plate. Even when we’re roughing it dry camped in the forest, we still eat well.

Blackened tilapia, sauteed veggies and spaghetti alfredo

After dinner, we sat outside. I puffed a cigar and we stargazed. There isn’t much of what astronomers like to call light pollution, so the sky was filled with many more stars than you’ll ever see in a city. The temperature dropped fairly quickly – the overnight low was in the upper 40s.

Today’s forecast calls for a high of 81 degrees. The wind will pick up throughout the day with gusts over 20mph this afternoon. Tomorrow should be more of the same after an overnight low around 50 degrees. I think we’ll move on to Lake Havasu City tomorrow where it’ll be warmer, but we’ll be on full hook-ups and can run the air conditioners.

 

Gremlins and a Safe Harbor

We planned for an early departure from Desert Oasis Campground near Bisbee, Arizona Wednesday morning. We were on track to achieve that goal when trouble struck. Actually the trouble was brewing since we were in Mesa, but I didn’t realize it until after the fact.

We’ve had a small leak in our HWH hydraulic system that operates the leveling jacks and room slide-outs.  I rigged a plastic catch basin to contain the occasional drip from it. In Mesa, when I replaced the headlights, I had to extend the generator compartment in the front cap – it’s also hydraulically operated by the HWH system. The generator compartment quit moving after it extended only a few inches. I could hear the HWH pump cavitating.

I knew the pump reservoir must have been low on fluid – lower than I expected based on the amount of oil in the catch basin. I went to the auto parts store and bought a quart of Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) to top up the reservoir. I wasn’t sure how much to add because the dipstick for the reservoir is calibrated for checking when all of the rams are retracted – that means slides in, jacks up. I added about half a quart and the generator extended normally, so I thought I was good to go. While I was at it, I inspected the hydraulic leak again and was able to trace it to a compression fitting. I tightened the fitting – it was about a quarter turn loose.

While we were in Mesa, I had to extend the left rear jack to the end of its travel due to a small sink hole right below the jack. In hindsight, the jack must have been leaking fluid past the seal from over-extending. The dirt where the jack had sunk in was wet and dark when we left.

In Benson, our first overnight stop, everything worked fine. When we got to Bisbee, trouble started. The passenger side bedroom slide didn’t extend  normally. I had to push it open after it moved slowly about halfway out. I thought maybe there was air in the hydraulic line from running the pump low on fluid. While we were in town, I bought three more quarts of ATF. I checked the catch basin to see if we still had a leak and it didn’t appear so. I added fluid to the reservoir.

When we were getting ready to leave Bisbee, the bedroom slide wouldn’t retract. I had to push from the outside while Donna worked the switch for the hydraulic pump. The living room slide retracted to within an inch of fully closed and stopped. I retracted the jacks, then checked the reservoir dipstick. No fluid showed. I added a quart of ATF and saw fluid near the minimum mark. I added more fluid and checked the level again – no fluid showed! I figured air was bleeding from the lines and dropping the fluid level. I ended up adding two and half quarts and I still couldn’t get the living room slide to fully seat – it remained about half an inch open.

We hit the road and I hoped the air would work out of the system as we drove. It was mostly an easy drive on AZ80 through Douglas then into New Mexico where the road designation changed to NM80. We had a tailwind most of the time, so I was hardly aware of the wind. At Hachita, we turned north to catch I-10 and then we had a crosswind. It was fairly windy but not too bad.

We stopped and shopped for a few items at a Walmart in Deming, then pressed on. We stopped for fuel at the Pilot Travel Center in Las Cruces. We thought we would boondock for the night at a scenic overlook on US80 before we hit White Sands. The overlook was at the top of a steep grade at San Augustin Pass. It wasn’t level and the wind was whipping through the pass. I got out to look it over and could barely close the door once the wind was blowing against it. We decided against staying there.

We moved on to Alamogordo where we had a few options including an Elks Lodge.  We ended up stopping at an abandoned shopping plaza Donna found in the Escapees Days End directory. There were a couple of tractor-trailer rigs in the lot, but everything was boarded up and no one else was around. I parked us close to one of the boarded up store fronts to get a little shade and shelter from the wind.

Then part two of my tale of woe began. The HWH situation is worse than before. Now I can get enough pressure to lower the jacks, but it won’t generate enough pressure to actually lift and level the coach. I only put out one bedroom slide while I tried to see what I could do to fix the problem. After messing about for an hour, I think air entrained in the system was wishful thinking. I think the cavitation of the pump damaged the pump rotor and it won’t deliver sufficient pressure. To make matters worse, I don’t think I can get just the pump. I think I have to get the complete assembly – reservoir tank, pump and motor. It’s doubtful I’ll be able to get this fixed anytime soon because parts will have to be ordered and we’ll have to figure out where to have the work done.

Next, I couldn’t get the roof air conditioning units to operate on generator power. The generator output was fine – I had 120 volts, 60 hertz and all other 120-volt AC powered appliances worked. I haven’t run the roof air on the generator in months and I don’t know what’s up with it at this point. The air conditioners worked fine in Bisbee on shore power.

On Wednesday evening, we received severe weather warnings for south central New Mexico. The wind on Thursday was forecast to reach speeds in excess of 35 mph in Alamogordo and the mountain passes we were planning to head for had warnings for wind gusts up to 60 mph from late morning Thursday until 9am Friday morning!

On Thursday morning, Donna and I were up early. After sunup, the wind was calm, but the severe warnings were still in effect. We discussed heading out right away to get over the mountains ahead of the wind, but thought better of it. The wind was coming from the west-southwest. We’re currently parked on the east side of a large building complex – we have safe harbor on the leeward side of the closed shopping plaza.

Our sheltered spot

By 9:30am, we knew we made the right decision. The wind kicked up and even here in our sheltered spot, the coach was rocked several times. That kind of wind is not something I would want to drive our rig through on a mountainous highway. And it’s increasing by the hour.

Just before noon, a bunch of FedEx trucks pulled into the lot. Apparently they use this lot as a staging area. Five trucks backed up to a larger truck in a spoke-like pattern and they offloaded boxes from the large truck into the smaller ones. I’ve never seen that before.

FedEx transferring packages in the parking lot

Around 12:30pm, I got the Spyder out of the trailer and we rode into town for green chile cheese burgers. I didn’t want to ride the Spyder on the highway in the gusty wind so we went the slower way through town. We had lunch at BZ Rockin’ Burgers. They had great reviews and a unique method of ordering that consists of a printed sheet of paper with boxes you check to to build your own burger. Next time, I think I’ll stick with Blake’s Lotaburger – their green chili cheeseburger is hard to beat.

We made a stop at McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch before we headed back. Donna posed in the wind for a photo.

Donna in a wind blown photo

We went inside the store and had a look around. They had some interesting flavors of pistachios and nut brittles as well as jams and other gift items. We didn’t find anything we had to have, so we headed home to see if our coach was still where we left it.

The wind blew harder and rocked the coach into the night. It’s a little past 7am now and a cool 55 degrees out. The forecast calls for a high of only 60 degrees today – it was 87 degrees yesterday. The weather service extended the wind advisory through this afternoon. After breakfast we’ll make a decision – sit tight or move on?

A Day in Bisbee

After a leisurely breakfast Tuesday morning, we took the Spyder out of the trailer and headed to Bisbee. From the Desert Oasis Campground, it’s about an 11-mile ride although Bisbee is about six or seven miles due west as the crow flies. We headed out on Double Adobe Road then up AZ80 to town.

We hit the historic district exit and followed the main thoroughfare which becomes Tombstone Canyon Road. Historic Bisbee is situated in a narrow canyon – a gulch. On either side of Tombstone Canyon Road, the canyon walls immediately climb. The side roads are narrow switchbacks and the houses are built on terraces – many of which are accessible only by climbing concrete stairs.

House terraced on the canyon wall with stairs for access

The main commercial area occupies about a mile of Tombstone Canyon Road and is geared toward tourism. There are a number of eclectic shops and galleries along with a couple of bars and restaurants. I bought a hat in one of the shops – it’s a western cattlemen style hat with an upturned four-inch brim made of Guatemalan palm.

They hold an event every year in Bisbee called the Bisbee 1000. It’s a 4.5-mile course including more than 1000 steps up the stairs connected by winding roads. Some people enter to run the course competitively while others join in to walk/jog the course and take in the scenic views.

Bisbee 1000

Not for the faint of heart

Another thing they do at the Bisbee 1000 is hold a special competition called Ironman Ice. To compete in this you must carry a ten pound block of ice with old-fashioned tongs up the stairs.

Ironman Ice – look closely, there are three sets of stairs before you reach the top

We figured to get lunch in Bisbee and were told that the best Mexican fare would be found at Santiago’s on Brewery Avenue. When I bought the hat, the gal in the store said Santiago’s was good, but if we wanted the best Sonoran food, we should go to Contessa’s Cantina. It’s been family owned and operated for five generations and she said it’s where the locals go.

We ended up at Contessa’s Cantina and weren’t disappointed. Later, we walked past Santiago’s to go to the Old Bisbee Brewing Company. The bartender there confirmed that Santiago’s was where most tourists were happy to go, but the locals go to Contessa’s. Donna and I split a flight of samplers at the brewery and unfortunately found it lacking. None of the beers were anything special – in fact I found the brewer to be a bit heavy-handed. The IPA had a bitter aftertaste, the Mayan stout had too much chocolate and coffee lending it a bitter aftertaste too and the vanilla porter was so forward with the vanilla, Donna commented that she felt like she just drank vanilla extract.

Stairs between two businesses with beautiful murals

Bisbee is a funky little town – especially in the historic district. It was founded in 1880 and the economy was fueled by mining. The Copper Queen mine was the most successful. In the early 1900s, it was the largest copper producer in Arizona. Small amounts of gold and silver were also recovered from the mine along with a turquoise called Bisbee Blue. The population of the town topped out around 10,000 people and there are 6,000 or so here today.

There are three distinct areas of Bisbee today – the historic district, the San Juan district which is more modern and has shopping centers and the Warren district which was the first planned community in Arizona. It was originally conceived as a suburb for executive and management level people in the mining industry. There’s another area called Lowell that’s now reduced to just a a few streets as the area was dug out by the Lavender pit mine.

The Lavender pit was named after Harrison Lavender – vice president of mining giant Phelps Dodge in 1950. The pit produced 86 million tons of ore and covers 300 acres. The pit has steep walls and is 900 feet deep.

View of Lavender pit from AZ80 looking southwest

Looking east at the Lavender pit

After two nights here in the desert, we’re ready to move on. Our plan is to head into New Mexico on AZ80 which becomes NM80 as we cross the stateline. We’ll lose an hour as we enter the Mountain Time Zone. We have a few options for our destination for the day – we plan to put in 200-250 miles and find a place to boondock for the night.

Our last Sonoran desert sunset – until next time

We should see warm temperatures and clear skies. The wind is forecast to come from the southwest, so we’ll have a tailwind component and hopefully no worries about crosswind gusts.

 

Tombstone and the Copperstate 1000

It’s a rare event for us to leave an RV park when we still have a couple of paid nights on the books. But, that’s what we did in Benson. We paid $50 for a discounted week in a full hook-up site, then we changed our plan and pulled out yesterday after five nights. There wasn’t anything wrong with the SKP Saguaro RV Park – we just felt like we should move on so we could have more options as we make our way to Austin, Texas for the Moto GP race weekend.

We finished packing at a leisurely pace, then I dumped and flushed the holding tanks and packed away our water filtration system. There were dry-camping pull-through sites across from us and they were empty. So I pulled forward into one of the sites and loaded the Spyder in the trailer. We were on our way around 10:30am.

We traveled down AZ80 for about half an hour and entered Tombstone – AZ80 runs right through town a block off of the historic downtown district. We found a great place to park in front of the old school – now closed and the building is up for sale – right on the highway which is called Fremont Street in town.

Tombstone was an old west mining town founded in 1879. When silver was discovered in mines around the town, the population quickly grew from around 100 to 14,000 in less than seven years! Most people know of Tombstone from movies which depict the shootout between the Earp brothers – Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan along with Doc Holliday. They killed murder suspects Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton. This took place October 26, 1881 at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone. The Earps and Doc Holliday were cleared of any wrongdoing after an investigation.

The main thoroughfare in the historic district is Allen Street. Three blocks of Allen Street from the O.K. Corral to the west and the Bird Cage Theatre to the east are closed to vehicular traffic, other than a stage coach which you can ride – for a fee of course.

Allen Street

The Bird Cage Theatre was a theater, saloon, gambling parlour, and brothel in Tombstone. It operated continuously 24 hours a day year ’round from 1881 to 1889. This was the wild west!

Bird Cage Theatre

We walked down the boardwalk along Allen Street and saw something I didn’t remember from previous visits. They had a few placards that described historic action that took place at that particular spot. As always, you can click on the photos to enlarge and read the placards if you wish.

View across the street from the Oriental Saloon

Tombstone stage coach ride – I don’t think the plastic cooler on top is authentic to the period

At the O.K. Corral

We walked over to the courthouse a block to the south on Toughnut Street. We wanted to see about dry camping there – Donna said she saw a sign on the highway that boondocking was available in the courthouse area for $10/night. The girl at the courthouse knew nothing about it. Maybe Donna missed some info on the sign.

While we were at the courthouse, I saw a sign for a new brewery down the street about a block away. We walked in that direction and I could smell boiling wort – they were brewing. They opened last year and have the brewery open to the public from 11am to 7pm daily. We stopped in for a look and had a taster of a couple of their brews. They have a 15-barrel system, so they’re able to brew upwards of 450 gallons per batch. The brews we tasted were unique and very good.

The guy at the bar was only on his second day working there and didn’t have much information. I saw the brew master emptying a mash tun – I wish I would have spoken with him and taken a few pictures. We bought a few brews to take with us. I tried one last night – it’s called Another Exercise in Mediocrity. I think the name is hilarious. It was taken from a troll post on their website when they announced the opening of the new brewery. It’s actually a very good beer made with advanced techniques. The brew master utilizes hop oil and lupulin powder. These concentrated hop extracts allow higher hop utilization without some of the vegetation side effects from extreme use of whole hops. It seems that brewing is moving into a new phase.

Tombstone Brewing Company

We continued south on AZ 80 after spending about an hour in Tombstone. Tombstone sits at an elevation of about 4,500 feet above sea level, so we climbed from Benson to get there. As we rolled south it was mostly uphill to reach Bisbee which is at an elevation of about 5,400 feet above sea level.

It’s about 25 miles from Tombstone to Bisbee. Along this stretch of AZ80, I saw a Jaguar XKE roadster from the mid-’60s. Then I saw a DeTomaso Pantera from the early ’70s. They were both heading north. Then I saw a couple of Ferrari 250GTs from the ’60s, another Jaguar XKE and another Pantera and an Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider. I knew something was up when I saw a Ferrari 512 BB come by. Then it occurred to me – the Copperstate 1000 rally kicked off on Sunday in Tempe.

The Copperstate 1000 rally is an annual event for cars made before 1973. Participants apply for entry and if they’re one of the 80 entrants chosen, they pay $7,000 for a four-day, 1,000-mile rally through Arizona. It’s not a race – it’s a joy ride for car enthusiasts to take with like-minded individuals in a unique caravan. The entry fee includes hotel and food for the driver and co-driver along with mechanical assistance if needed. The route varies every year and is kept secret – they don’t want gawkers lining streets along the route for safety reasons. The route usually takes either a northern swing from Tempe or a southern loop. The drivers get the route information when they sign in. Obviously, this year they took a southern route and that’s why I was seeing all of these cool old cars on the road. By the way, the proceeds benefit the Phoenix Art Museum and the Copperstate 10-90 Foundation.

We drove through Bisbee and continued south a few miles to Double Adobe Road. This took us to the Desert Oasis Campground where we booked two nights. With our Passport America discount, it was only $20/night plus tax for a pull-through full hook-up site. Passport America annual membership already paid for itself!

Desert Oasis site 22

We’re in the middle of nowhere in the desert about 11 miles from Bisbee and about six miles from the US-Mexico border. Today we’ll go to Bisbee and explore. Tomorrow we plan to head into New Mexico. The weather forecast looks good – it’ll be dry and warm. I’m keeping an eye on the wind forecast – it looks like it should be in the mid- to high teens. If it isn’t gusty, it shouldn’t pose a problem.

 

 

 

 

Dynamite Town

We talk a lot about being flexible in this lifestyle. One thing we’ve learned by being flexible is that we can find something of interest no matter where we are at the time. Here in Benson, things seem really quiet and not so exciting. So, we looked for things to see and do.

Donna went for a 5-mile hike Thursday morning. There’s a water tank on a bluff to the west of the SKP Saguaro RV Park. Donna found a trail that led up the bluff.

Water tank at the southwest corner of the rv park

Once up on the bluff, she had a great view of the area and took some photos.

Trail on the bluff

View of the SKP Saguaro park and the San Pedro River Valley to the east

She saw a large coyote and a snake on her hike along with a variety of desert plants.

Large ocotillo plant

Pencil cholla cactus

View to the southwest – Apache Peak and Karchner Cavern State Park

On Friday, we rode the Spyder into town and had a look around. We had a treat at the Old Benson Ice Cream Stop. The town of Benson was founded in 1880 when the Southern Pacific Railroad came through Arizona. Benson was a shipping point for the booming mining towns to the south – such as Tombstone and Bisbee.

There was some agriculture and also cattle ranches. The San Pedro River provided water. In the mid to late 1800s, the Chiricahua Apaches in the area engaged in warfare. Their most well-known leaders were Geronimo and Cochise. In 1885-1886, the American and Mexican militaries rounded up the Chiricahua and they were relocated to Florida.

Before the town was established, there was stage depot about a mile north of Benson where the Butterfield Stage Line stopped. The depot was guarded by eight soldiers. It was used as a stopover between Dragoon Pass to the east and Tucson to the west.

A smelter was built in Benson to convert silver and copper from the surrounding mines to bullion. Eventually, the overland wagons delivering the ore were replaced by a number of rail lines to the mining towns to the south. Benson became a hub city with more train traffic than Tucson!

I learned much of this history from a paper given to us at the SKP park. While were looking around in town, we wanted to stop at the Benson Museum. It closed at 2pm on Friday and we were too late, so we found the Arena Bar. It’s located on a nearly 10-acre lot on the northeast side of town and is home to a rodeo arena and several buildings. We stopped in for a cold one and found it to be a friendly place. They hold several events there. An interesting note – their liquor license allows customers to take their drinks anywhere on the property.

Arena Bar

On Saturday morning, we went back to the Benson Museum. We learned a little more history of the area including another driver of the local economy – Apache Powder Company – now called Apache Nitrogen Products, Inc.

Apache Powder Company began producing explosives – dynamite and nitroglycerin – in 1922. We were told at the museum that at one time, Apache Powder Company was the second largest producer of dynamite in the country. The explosives were mainly used by the mining industry.

Apache Powder Company display

The museum entry costs $5/person – $4 for seniors. It had a lot of items that were common from the late 1800s to about 1960. It might not have been the most exciting way to spend the day, but we enjoyed learning a little history of the area.

On Saturday evening, Donna grilled lemon-herb marinated boneless chicken thighs on the Weber Q and served it with black beans and grilled summer squash, peppers and onions. The summer squash came from a community vegetable garden here in the RV park.

Grilled lemon-herb marinated chicken and sides

This morning Donna hiked up the bluff again, returning on a different trail. Meanwhile I watched the Formula One race from Bahrain. It was an entertaining race, but it was marred by a pit lane accident involving Kimi Raikonnen and left one his pit crew with a possible leg fracture.

Later we watched the Moto GP race from Argentina. It was absolutely the craziest motorcycle race I’ve ever watched. The craziness started before the start of the race with a penalty given to 23 of the 24 riders, allowing Jack Miller to have a headstart from his pole position – he was the only one without a penalty. Marc Marquez rode like a mad man – he was fastest but he caused two crashes and was penalized twice in the race. The next Moto GP race is in Austin, Texas in two weeks. We’ll be there to see the best motorcycle racers in the world on the most sophisticated and powerful road racing motorcycles built.

This afternoon, I have to load up the trailer – we have the Weber Q out and last night I took out the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker grill to cook up Memphis style babyback ribs – a favorite. We’ll pull out tomorrow and head south through Tombstone to Desert Oasis Campground near Bisbee – a relocation of about 60 miles.

 

 

 

First Time in Benson

We took it easy on Easter Sunday. Donna wasn’t feeling well in the morning and had to cancel her kayak trip on the Salt River with her friends Audrey and Julia. In the afternoon, I spatchcocked a whole chicken (I wrote about spatchcock here), rubbed it with Sweet Rub O’Mine and cooked it on the Traeger. Donna served it with whipped sweet potato and asparagus.

Spatchcock chicken plate

On Monday morning, I played pickleball. Donna still wasn’t feeling 100% so she passed on pickleball but she did go out for an easy 18-mile bike ride. I got a start on organizing the trailer. I went to Harbor Freight and picked up a package of bungee cords and a couple of tie-downs. While I was at it, I picked up cat food at Petco. We had happy hour at Lucky Lou’s and said our goodbyes until next time to our friends there.

We had a last round of pickleball on Tuesday morning – Donna had a good time playing with the 3.0-3.5 group. Hopefully she can get enough pickleball court time over the summer and fall to stay at that level of play. Afterwards, I got serious about packing the trailer and preparing to hit the road. I now have four bicycles to store in the trailer. Donna bought a hybrid type knock-around bike to use in the park or to make a quick run to the store. She got it from a guy in the park for just $25 and it’s in great shape!

I still had a few things to put away Wednesday morning. Our friend Raymond stopped by to say goodbye and wish us safe travels. Raymond and his wife Louise gave us a big bag of grapefruits fresh from their neighbor’s tree. The grapefruits are sweet and very tasty.

I knew I was going to have an issue with the left rear jack before we left. When we set up, the jack pad sunk into the gravel. It was over a little sink hole – maybe water had leaked there before. I had to extend the jack nearly to the limit while we were there to stabilize the coach. When I put the slides in and raised the jacks to the store position, the left rear jack was stuck. Gravel had filled in the hole and the foot of the jack was buried.

I started the engine so the air suspension would raise the coach. I figured this would pull the jack free. I had a “Jacks Down” alarm screaming at me, but I couldn’t think of a better solution for the stuck jack. After a few minutes though, the engine shut itself off! I checked the jack and it was free and moving to the store position. I checked the engine control module for trouble codes and didn’t find any stored codes. I restarted the engine and all was good. I’m thinking there may be an automatic shut down after a jacks down warning stays on for a certain amount of time.

It took a little bit of jockeying around in the street to get the trailer hooked up, but we got it done without any issues. We pulled out of the site at 10:30am. We took the Loop 202 south and followed the San Tan Freeway to I-10. The interstate narrows to just two lanes between Maricopa and Casa Grande. This causes traffic to quickly build especially when a tractor-trailer rig decides to overtake another tractor-trailer but can only go marginally faster. The cars stack up behind the tractor-trailer and everyone follows too closely – it can be a little hairy.

We stopped at exit 208 in Eloy and topped up the tank with diesel at the Pilot Travel Center. Donna bought Subway sandwiches there, then we drove across the overpass to Blue Beacon to get the coach washed. We ate lunch while we waited in line for the wash. Sitting in Mesa, the coach got dirty. There’s always some dust in the air and when it rains, dirt spatters up from the gravel site and coats the lower sides of the coach.

This Blue Beacon had the narrowest entry of any I’ve seen. It said it was 10’6″ wide, but I doubt it. Once we entered the wash bay I had to pass through a sprayer that was shaped like an inverted “U” – the uprights on the sides were barely wider than the coach and I smacked the right mirror. Grrr. No real damage done – just a small scrape.

We arrived at the SKP Saguaro Co-op park in Benson around 3pm. Since this was a first-time visit to this park for us, we qualified for a super discount. Our full hook-up rate is $50 for one week, plus electricity at 11 cents per kilowatt. Can’t beat that!

This park requires all arrivals to be escorted to the site and directed by a park employee. Our site is quite wide and we planned to drop the trailer and back the coach in. When I backed the trailer into the right side of the site, we saw that it was deep enough to leave the trailer connected. I pulled the Spyder out of the trailer and backed the coach and trailer into the left side of the site. Nice!

Spacious site at SKP Saguaro Co-op in Benson

The park is fairly quiet with the exception of occasional trains blasting their horns as they approach the town. We can see a large water tank on top of a bluff to our west. Donna found a trail that leads to the tower and she’s hiking it this morning as I type this. It’ll be about a seven-mile round trip.

This morning, we made a decision to change up our plan. Although we’re paid up here through the 11th, we’ll pull out on Monday the 9th. We’ll head south on AZ80 about 50 miles to Desert Oasis Campground outside of Bisbee. I booked two nights there in a full hook-up pull through site for just $21/night with our Passport America discount. We want to spend a day exploring Bisbee, but we also want to be in Austin, Texas by the 19th. We’re allowing a full week to get to Austin so we can stop and smell the flowers along the way without having to push through long, high mileage days.

The weather forecast for the week ahead looks good. At our elevation of 3,600 feet, it’s cooler here than in Mesa, but we may have a 90-degree day or two ahead. It feels good to be on the move again.

Snowbirds Heading Home

Happy Easter! April first already – we’re a quarter of the way through 2018 and we’ve been in one location the entire time. That’s about to change. I played a lot of pickleball during the last week. I’m trying to play as much as I can before we move to parts unknown. I played two hours a day for six days in a row – and I’m feeling it!

It seemed like everyone had the same thought as the pickleball courts have been full most of the time. A few of the 2.5 level players moved up to play with the 3.0-3.5 group for the last 10 days or so. Donna was one of them. The crowd is quickly thinning out though. The majority of the snowbirds here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort are from Canada.

The Canadians are going home in droves. They have to apportion their time spent in the USA. If they’re in the USA for more than 180 days in a calendar year, they may owe US taxes. Also, if they’re out of their home province for more than 6 months, they may lose their healthcare benefits. I’m guessing we won’t have the pickleball courts full tomorrow. I’ll play Monday and Tuesday, but I also have a number of chores to make us ready for the road.

On Friday evening, Donna and I went to Lucky Lou’s to visit with friends over happy hour. The weather was nice and we enjoyed a couple of cold ones on the patio.

The usual suspects at Lucky Lou’s

We’ll be pulling out of here on Wednesday, so we should have another chance to get together before we say, “See ya next year!”

While we were out, Donna had a pork tenderloin marinating in sesame chili oil with fresh ginger. When we got home, she grilled it on the Weber Q along with baby bok choy and served it with a baked sweet potato.

Grilled pork tenderloin, baby bok choy and sweet potato

Things are heating up here in Mesa, Arizona. The temperature reached 90 degrees yesterday. After six straight days of pickleball, I spent most of Saturday afternoon relaxing with my Kindle. I was feeling a little beat up – my right wrist and shoulder were sore.

Donna went to the pool to relax and read. While she was out, I jumped on the Spyder. I wanted to fill the gas tank and decided to make another pit stop. I picked up a Belgian ale – a bottle of Abt 12 from the Trappist monks at St. Bernardus Abbey in the west Flanders region of Belgium. It’s brewed in the quadruppel style – a nice balance of maltiness and bitterness with some spice flavor. It’s strong at 10% ABV, but not hot at all or excessively heavy.

Abt 12 ale

For dinner, Donna made scallops in a brown butter and lemon sauce with capers. She served it over whole wheat orzo with green beans on the side. We dined outside in the shade of our coach. We ran the air conditioners to cool the coach in the evening.

Scallops in brown butter lemon sauce

The forecast calls for another warm day today with a high of nearly 90 degrees. I plan to cook a chicken on the Traeger for dinner. Tomorrow I’ll clean the Traeger and load it in the trailer. Hopefully I can get most of the trailer things organized and battened down tomorrow. On Tuesday, I’ll put away the wheel covers and windshield cover, then set the tire pressures. Then we’ll be just about ready to go. On Wednesday morning, I’ll dump and flush the holding tanks, hook up the trailer and load the Spyder. We’ll be rolling down the road to Benson, Arizona before noon – I’m shooting for sometime between 10 and 11 am.

Coffee Snob

For years, I was a coffee snob. Grinding whole beans with a burr grinder was my morning ritual. I would brew coffee in a drip coffee maker or use a French press. Then I bought an espresso machine. I was very particular about my coffee and preferred dark roasted beans. My all-time favorite was a coffee bean called Harrar which came from Ethiopia. It became scarce around 2005 and now I haven’t seen these beans for years.

When we were living in Michigan, Donna did spokesperson work for Keurig. They sent her a few of their one-cup coffee makers and several boxes of K-cups. We started brewing individual cups of coffee with the Keurig machine. It was fast, easy and convenient. Back in the workday world, I would rise from bed at 6am, have coffee with my breakfast and head out before Donna woke up. So, brewing one cup at a time worked out. I also took a Keurig machine to work and would brew my own coffee at the office.

My employer provided coffee, but it wasn’t fresh and the drip coffee makers there used a heating element to keep the pot of coffee hot. Keeping a pot of coffee on a heat source for more than 40 minutes or so changes the coffee. It becomes bitter and some of the water evaporates, changing the strength of the brew. When I retired, I gave the office Keurig to one of the guys that worked for me.

When we hit the road, we brought a Keurig with us. We liked the convenience. We bought Kirkland Signature Pacific Bold K-cups at Costco. The hard water here in Arizona and in southern California meant frequent de-scaling of the Keurig was necessary or else it wouldn’t brew the coffee correctly. This was becoming tiresome. We decided to go back to our old method.

Donna ordered a Mr Coffee 10 cup thermal coffee brewer. A thermal brewer heats the water, then drips it through the coffee grounds and into an insulated carafe. There’s no heating element for the carafe, it keeps the coffee hot through its insulation, therefore the coffee doesn’t get over-cooked. The carafe will keep the coffee hot for a few hours. I also ordered an electric coffee bean burr grinder. I prefer a burr grinder over the blade type because you get more consistent results.

Yesterday, Mike Hall let me use his truck for a Costco run. I stocked up on a few things we’ll be needing in the coming months on the road. I also bought a three-pound bag of whole French roast coffee beans that were grown in Sumatra.

Whole coffee beans, thermal coffee maker and burr grinder

I’d forgotten how good a cup of coffee made with fresh ground coffee beans was. It takes a little longer for me to get the coffee on – the Keurig was fast and easy. But, I think this is worth five minutes or so to brew an excellent cup of coffee. I need to experiment a bit with the coarseness of the grind and the water/coffee ratio, but I’m sure I’ll get it perfected in no time. The counter space foot print is about the same as the Keurig machine, but we do have an extra component with the grinder.

While I was at Costco, I decided to try another Kirkland Signature branded product. They had a Speyside Scotch whisky that looked interesting. It’s aged for 18 years in oak ex-bourbon barrels, then transfered to an Olorosso Sherry cask for six months to finish it. The price was $54 – I haven’t seen 18-year-old single malt Scotch whisky for under $90 for a 750ml bottle before. I thought it was worth a try.

18-year-old Speyside Single Malt Scotch whisky

After dinner, I poured myself a dram. It was fantastic. Complex flavors with hints of honey, vanilla and spices. I think I’ll pick up another while it’s available. Kirkland Signature branded Scotch whisky is bottled by Alexander Murray. Alexander Murray is an independent bottler that buys Scotch whisky from a dozen or more distilleries and re-brands them. They bottle for Costco, Trader Joe’s, Total Wine and others.

Alexander Murray was founded by Steve Lipp. He grew up in Scotland although he lives in California now. The name Alexander Murray was his uncle’s name. His uncle taught him about Scotch whiskey and he used his name for the company. I read that they bottled over 180,000 cases of whisky in 2016. Some of the Alexander Murray branded whiskys reveal which distillery it came from. However, Costco, Trader Joe’s and Total Wine keep the source a secret. I’ll never know who actually distilled this 18-year-old Scotch, but they made a good one!

Speaking of dinner, Donna sometimes keeps it simple. Last night she grilled chicken feta spinach sausage with Southern fried cabbage and bacon. A simple and delicious meal.

Grilled feta-spinach chicken sausage and Southern fried cabbage

The weather has been near perfect. We hit the low 70s yesterday with a few clouds. Today there isn’t a cloud in the sky and we should see 75 degrees. By the end of the week it’ll be warmer – maybe 90 degrees by the weekend.

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!