Arizona Wandering

 Time in Las Vegas is never dull, but after a week we needed a change of scenery, and headed south toward Arizona. Our daughter attended Prescott College back in the day, so on our way to Tucson we stopped in Prescott for a few days. 

We were greeted by storm clouds and cold temps when we arrived at Fairgrounds RV Park in Prescott Valley. The park is about eleven miles east of Prescott, but is such a great park that we couldn’t pass it up. Each site has a patio with a windbreak fence and is wide and long.

The storm clouds and the sun put on quite a show.

The weather continued to change as we moved into evening and when we got up the next morning we were shown a bit o’ snow!

Prescott College was originally housed in a donated former chapel on the grounds of a convent. This building included classrooms, a mailroom, staff offices and a meeting room. There weren’t many students!

Today the campus provides 840 students a liberal arts education on a large campus.

Prescott is the original capital city of the state of Arizona back in the 1850’s due to the vast number of gold mines and miners. As expected, a bit of gold in their pockets brought the miners to town and the town square was home to so many saloons that they were stuffed in side by side. We took a walk around the square and snapped a pic of Gurley Street, the main street in town.

After a few days in Prescott, we moved a bit south to Picacho Peak State Park. We only had one night here because we had an appointment in Tucson the next day, but the park was extremely beautiful this early spring after more than average rainfall.

We should return!

Zipping on down to Tucson, we dropped the trailer off at Bob Moses Ceramic Coating for their magic exterior treatment. Guaranteed for six years, maintenance is reduced to the occasional wash, and bugs come off with a damp microfiber cloth. Sounds good to me! There are several Bob Moses locations across the west, and we chose the Tucson location so we could spend a bit of time with some Michigan friends. Tiger, the office manager, is one of the most customer friendly people we have ever done business with and went out of his way to make our visit as stress free as possible. Tiger and three associates started work on the trailer as soon as we arrived, and were 80% done by 6 that evening. The product needs some time to cure away from water, so the trailer (and ourselves) stayed in the shop overnight.

We had allowed four days for the process, but they finished early so we slid into the local KOA for some laundry/grocery/dog wash time. We were also able to take a short drive through Saguaro National Park to check out the wildflowers.

Our friend Toni was the most colorful flower in the desert!

Leaving Tucson with a full refrigerator, clean laundry, a full fuel tank, and a sparkling trailer, we braved Phoenix traffic on I17 north toward Flagstaff. It began to rain, snow, sleet, and the wind came up to a reported 50 mph, so we ducked into Verdi Ranch RV Resort with the storm at our heels.

This RV Resort is located in Camp Verdi, AZ, and is a bit pricey for us, considering the gravel and unlevel sites, but…a hundred here and a hundred there…and pretty soon you have some real money!

Tomorrow (weather permitting) we’re outta here, heading north. 

Until next time.

 

 

Familiar Territory

 We’re traveling over well known areas for the first part of our “Farewell Tour 2023”. Like the Rolling Stones, we have to indicate the year because there may be more than one….Farewell Tour.

Our first nightly stop was at Orange Grove RV Park just east of Bakersfield, in the Central Valley of California. We seem to stay here at either the beginning or end of each of our journeys because it’s a great place, level sites with orange trees spaced between them. Its an easy in, easy out, no contact checkin place, however if you need help, there is always someone in the office to talk to. We were unexpectedly held up the morning of our departure a trip or so ago, so I asked for another night….No Problem! Then our problem resolved itself and we asked to cancel the extra night……No Problem! We checked out a bit late and still made our next destination. Nice people!

After a good nights rest, we hit the road again. Next stop Las Vegas! Las Vegas (Lost Wages) is well known for its entertainment, but we were looking for a few days of downtime and a couple of nice meals. 284 miles later we checked into the Sams Town KOA, set up the satellite systems and took a deep breath! The sites here are close together but easy to get into and the park roads are paved and very wide. It’s a bit pricey but, Hey…It’s Vegas!

The next day we ventured into the “Strip” via Uber for lunch. This was our first experience with Uber and it was great! No muss, no fuss, and in a town like Las Vegas, the rides are only five minutes away. We walked a bit, watching people and some not-sure-if-they-are-people. Of course, it was nearing the weekend, so traffic was terrible.

 After awhile hunger got the best of us, and we revisited Gordon Ramsey Burger.

As always, the burgers did not disappoint and we left vowing that we would never need to eat again!

One of our must-see things to do here was to visit the Valley of Fire State Park. It’s locayed 50-odd miles northeast of Las Vegas, and displays some of the most spectacular geological sights you’ll ever

It seems that a lot of other people had the same idea….

Some of the dramatic color changes were unbelievable!

This formation is called “The Bowl of Fire.”

Another of the things on the bucket list was to check out Lake Mead. Unfortunately, while the lake level has risen dramatically and will continue to do so for awhile yet, the overall volume is tragically low.

Next day was our day to stretch our comfort boundaries. Calling Uber for a ride to New York New York for dinner and a show. There are so many choices in Las Vegas that a person could go nuts, so we choose a nice Italian dinner at Il Fornio. We each had a pasta and seafood dish, and evidently I liked it…

Of course we had to have Tiramisu for dessert!

I

Terry Fator is an accomplished entertainer, and as we all know, a visiting star on the television show America’s Got Talent. We knew that he is a ventriloquist, but didn’t know he does over 200 different voices, both speaking and singing! We waited too long to get tickets so we were quite a distance from the stage, but fortunately, large screen televisions were strategically placed so we had a great view of Terry Fator and his many “friends”!

We originally planned to be in Las Vegas five nights, but a high wind/rain event was forecast so we elected to stay another two days. The first of those two days was spent hunkered down in the trailer, reading and watching television, and the second was a laundry day with a quick trip to the hardware store for minor nuts and bolts. It seems that these trailers are continually deteriorating!

That’s a wrap of the first week of our trip.

Stay tuned…

It’s Deja Vu….2023

After an exciting Christmas and New Years celebrations, we loaded the Can Am into the toyhauler, hooked up to the truck, and split for Arizona. 

It was a bit crowded in the rv when we stopped for an overnight stay!

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Several families gathered to enjoy off road riding, lots of food and drink, and shopping at the annual Quartzite RV Show, which resulted in several extra pounds of “stuff” carried home! 

We were able to score a nice quiet spot in the desert where we could have a fire and watch those spectacular Southwest sunsets.

One of our journeys was to the Desert Bar north of Parker where we joined a thousand of our closest friends for an overpriced cheeseburger! The bar only operates on specific days and during specific seasons, but when it’s open, it’s ridiculous!

My nerves (and back) took a beating on the seven or so miles of very rough, washed out, dirt road into the completely solar powered restaurant. The sign hanging from my right ear is unintentionally accurate.

A daytrip in the SxS’s got us into the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge for some awesome sights. The cactus was just beginning to bloom even though it was cold and windy all the time we were in Quartzsite.

We had been advised by our good friend Bill to save a section of a hollowed out tree and create a chimney. It was spectacular!

The desert has a unique appeal, and we enjoyed our time there, but too soon it was time to return to NorCal and prep for our next adventure.

Like so many places this unusual winter, our plans were often interrupted by weather events. An atmospheric river led to an unexpected snowfall and every time we wanted to do something outside, it was either raining or cold or both!  

Eventually, we had all the food packed, enough clothes for a few days, a bag of dog food, and the gas tank full.

Off we go…..

In the rain…..not to return until…..?