Arizona 2007

January 13, 2007

We got a late start in the freezing cold and only made it to Red Bluff RV Park for a quick overnight rest before continuing south. At least it was a slight bit warmer than Grants Pass, though still in the 20's.

January 14, 2007

Santa Nella RV Park was another quick overnight stop and, having forgotten to disconnect the water, we awoke to find our hose frozen solid.

January 15, 2007

A Country RV Park in Bakersfield was a pleasant spot for our third quick overnighter. The day before leaving on this trip, we had a new satellite TV system installed and after discovering an installation error, we spent several hours here tearing the whole front TV section apart until the error was finally understood and corrected. Lucky for me that there was an auto parts store nearby where I stocked up on wire and connectors.

January 16, 2007

Barstow Calico KOA near Yermo was our next stop and it was almost warm outside in the afternoon, though still freezing at night.  Suddenly we feel like we might actually be on vacation and are starting to relax and take it easy. We stayed an extra day to visit the nearby Calico Ghost Town Regional Park.

January 18, 2007

We arrived in Arizona and stopped at the Buckskin Mountain SP, a little south of Lake Havasu. This park is very popular and was a pleasant place to spend a few days.

January 21, 2007

We went back north a bit to spent a couple of days at the Havasu RV Resort not far from Lake Havasu to do some shopping and meet up with some friends who happened to be in the area. Extremely windy while we were there.

January 23, 2007

South to Yuma finally brought us to some warm weather.  The Cactus Garden RV Resort treated us to a variety of sound effects such as frequent helicopters, occasional jet fighters with a couple of sonic booms and the background whistling of the passing trains.  Interestingly, none of this bothered us as we had switched into full relaxing mode by then.

January 26, 2007

Sundance 1 RV Resort in Casa Grande is more of a retirement community.  Very clean and nicely kept up with numerous activities for those who might be interested.  Not much vegetation but, after all, it is in the desert. It might be a possibility for an extended winter retreat.

January 27, 2007

The Benson KOA is pretty much stuck out in the middle of the desert with nowhere to go and nothing to do, though  it is nice enough for an overnight stop and the weather is continuing to be nice.

January 28, 2007

Tombstone Territories RV Resort is pretty much stuck out in the middle of the desert, which in this case makes for a very pleasant stay.

Of course we had to go see Tombstone and the O. K. Corral.

January 31, 2007

Kartchner Caverns State Park is a nice campground in a desert sort of way.  We toured the caverns and then stayed a few more days just taking it easy and waiting for the weather to warm up a little.

February 3, 2007

We stopped at the Mesa-Apache Junction KOA in Apache Junction near Tucson after visiting the Saguaro and Casa Grande National Parks. In Scottsdale we were treated to a great brunch at The Phoenician resort, which was wonderful.

February 5, 2007

A very short hop takes us from the city to the desert where we stop at the Usery Mountain Regional Park. This park has a very "camping in the desert" feeling to it and it's great. Now that we have seen it, we will definitely stay on a few more days, though we may have to run into town and buy some hot weather clothes.

February 10, 2007

We stopped in Bradshaw Mountain RV Resort in Black Canyon City, north of Phoenix, to have access to the internet for a couple of days. The internet access was marginal and even so was one of the highlights of the park, with the other being that they had a decent little laundry room.  The nearby Bylers Amish Restaurant provided a great lunch with leftovers enough to enjoy the next day as well.

February 12, 2007

It requires a few days to take in all the Cottonwood area attracitons and the Dead Horse Ranch State Park made a great base camp for visiting the mining town of Jerome, the Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona areas, the Red Rock State Park, the Crescent Moon Recreational Area, the Tuzigoot and Montezuma Castle National Monuments and finally the Blazin' M Ranch for dinner and a show.

February 19, 2007

Just an over night stop for internet access at the Black Canyon City KOA, on the way to Lake Pleasant. Pretty much a standard KOA campground, though this one seems to have a fair number of permanent occupants.

February 20, 2007

We stopped for a couple of days at Lake Pleasant Regional Park 30 miles north of Phoenix. The Desert Tortoise campground on the south-west lake shore was quite pleasant. We did a bit of looking around, walking around and sitting around. This lake has made it onto our "return next time" list.

February 22, 2007

We crossed back into California and stopped in TwentyNine Palms during a wind storm but still managed to tour Joshua Tree National Park.

February 24, 2007

The Californian RV Resort in Acton made for a nice overnight rest on our way north.

February 25, 2007

We stopped for a couple of nights in the Visalia KOA for a nice family visit, during which I managed to snag a couple of nice paintings from the Mercer studio.

February 27, 2007

We stopped at the pleasant Betabel RV Park in San Juan Bautista to ride out a rain storm, get up to date via the internet and visit family and friends in San Jose.

March 4, 2007

Our last overnighter was at Campers Inn at Dunnigan where we have stayed a few other times on the way to or from home.  Just a few hours north from there brought us to the end of our Arizona trip. It was good to be back home but we also felt like we could have easily extended the trip and continued traveling and seeing more sights for a longer time. That leaves us looking forward to our next, possibly longer, trip.