Kit and Carol on the Road

We finally got "out of the house" today for a nice hike in the desert. We went out to the Coachilla Valley Preserve this afternoon and had a 4 plus mile hike, across a ridge, up and down a bit and past a number of palm groves. Now it seems to be clouding up again (I just heard thunder) but there is no rain in the forecast until Tuesday. We are off to Death Valley in the morning so will be out of e-mail range at least through the weekend. No idea how long we will stay. We plan to head to Pasa Robles next--or back to Oregon if the weather continues in this vein.

Frog and I are out for a hike in the Coachilla Valley. You can see there is a little blue sky. It actually passed 70 degrees today. 

When I mentioned the pools in Indio I was talking about swimming pools (warm) but there are also lots of puddles in the park. Luckily our spot is dry but walking on the road is a challenge. We went to see Million Dollar Baby in Rancho Mirage yesterday afternoon. Got caught in a traffic snafu on the freeway going out and came home in the rain, in the dark. The dashboard lights in the truck aren't working so we have to get that fixed tomorrow. Went out for raisins this morning and are soon off to meet Virginia (fellow school librarian) and Ernie for lunch. Tomorrow we hope to get in a hike as the rain should abate. We still hope to head for Death Valley, where there will not be daily internet. So contact us now with any news but don't rub in the better weather.

(Monday)Well, we have arrived in Indio. It's raining. (no surprise) but we have a pool just across the "street" and free wireless internet. Updates later.
(Tuesday) If nothing else we are getting some tasks done--laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning and etc. It just keeps raining. So much for the wild life. At least we did get to go out to dinner last night. Would love to see a movie if we could find one. At any rate, there is always the pool where we can be wet and wild in the rain..

Saturday we ended up spending the whole day “at home”, even though the weather improved a little in the afternoon. Every now and then we need a “do nothing” day.
Sunday the weather improved even more, though clouds still predominate. We decided to go to Wickenburg, a small town about 30 miles away. On the way we stopped at a Nature Conservancy reserve: Hassayampa River Reserve. In a normal year, the Hassayampa River is dry, except for a bit where it goes through this reserve. This year is not normal. The river was brown and raging and most of the trails are under water. Still we had a nice walk through cottonwoods, willows, and palm trees.
The town of Wickenburg is billed as an “old west” town. Like most of Arizona it was originally a mining (gold) town as well as a railroad stop. There are a number of historic buildings though not nearly so many as in Florence.
The highlight of our visit to the town was the Western Museum. This has to be one of the neatest museums we’ve visited , especially for a small town. The exhibits on local history were very well done. In addition to history, the museum features western art. We were fortunate enough to arrive during an exhibit of Frederic Remington’s work—including some bronzes. Several major highways cross through the town, which make it harder to get around on foot. There were lots of tourist shops—mostly closed on Sunday.
Coming home in the afternoon, we got to enjoy the pool and hot tub.Heading to Indio...

Heron in a Palm Tree: Hassayampa River Nature Reserve 

Lake Pleasant was actually a pleasant surprise. We’ve never found reservoirs to be aesthetically pleasing, but this lake with islands and hills and cactus growing down to the shore is quite attractive. Un-fortunately it is raining and raining.
Pleasant Harbor Resort was also a pleasant surprise. The facilities are super, the pool and hot tub are marvelous, and the people are friendly. Un-fortunately it is raining and raining and we’ve only been in the pool once. Carefree (the town and area) was also a pleasant surprise. Un-fortunately, I forgot to take my camera so I have no record of a quite pleasant day. We climbed a peak (well almost), hiked into a canyon (almost), had lunch at a Thai Restaurant, shopped at a farmer’s market, visited Horse Heaven, and did a lot of sightseeing. In the Arizona weather forecast all the flood warnings are for Carefree, Cave Creek, and Lake Pleasant. Guess where we are? Yesterday when we went to visit the Bushues (Guemes friends) in Carefree we had to take a detour because the road was flooded. It has been raining a lot since then. We are supposed to be on our way back to Carefree today but are still unsure of whether we will be able to get there—or more importantly, whether we will be able to get back. It is raining and raining –and cold. Oh for the dry Pacific Northwest.

We did not stay in Tuscon as long as we might have liked. We did not get to the Air Museum or Historical museum, etc. I did not get to go shopping. WE DID have another really wonderful hike in the NP. Weather is perfect for hiking if nothing else. WE DID have dinner at a Casino in Green Valley with the Privettes and a nice evening. We didn't head east to the fine state park at Kartchner Caverns (too cold/wet). We didn't head back to Organ Pipes. (ditto the weather) WE DID drive up through Tuscon to Lake Pleasant. The RV park here is very fine but internet hookup is limited. We are off today to see Arby and Eleanor. Staying here through the weekend. Rain still in the forecast.

We had a quite nice Valentines Day with cactus instead of flowers. Went out to Saguaro National Park (East) which is quite near our RV park. We think it should be called Prickly Pear National Park. J Drove the loop road and went off on a very nice hike—5 miles of quite easy terrain. But we did have to cross a number of creeks (not dry after all this rain). Luckily I learned rock walking as a child. The weather was overcast and pleasantly warm. Stopped at Safeway for groceries and Kit bought me a chocolate bar. He also fixed dinner –garlic chicken on the barbie. Then we went out to a dance class at the community building here in the park. (country and western dance) Anyway, we had fun.

Three Saguaros. The one on the left is your regulation saguaro--90 to 100 years old maybe. The one on the right is the remaining "trunk" of a long gone saguaro. The odd one in the middle is the rare cristate form of saguaro. 

Well we have come south to Tuscon looking for those illusive sunny skies. The forecast says 70 degrees today but we are seeing cloudy skies and feeling a chill wind. Oh well. Kit keeps saying that at least it's warmer than home on Guemes. We are off to see (and do some hiking?) Saguaro NP East today. We are not far from there at Cactus Country RV Resort. Yesterday we went to look at models in a development famed by Sunset Magazine--where they use solar and other energy saving methods. But alas, the houses they are building are SO BIG.

Florence, says local historian John Swearingen, is Tombstone, without Wyatt Earp. It even had it’s own legendary shoot-out, between a former sheriff and deputy. Founded in the 1860’s at the junction of two trails, the town boomed when a silver mine opened nearby. At one time it had 28 saloons and 1 church. Now it has more buildings on the National Historic Register than any other city in Arizona. (But only 2 “saloons”). Today was the Tour of Historic Florence which was quite interesting. A variety of styles of architecture are represented. Luckily some of the historic homes have been purchased and lovingly restored. Some are still in various stages of decay. The Florence True Value Hardware is the largest True Value in the state. There is also a Rexall Drug downtown and a Market and General Store. But Walmart is only 10 minutes away. There are two historical museums, and the public library is out behind the high school. The major industry today is/are nearby State Prisons.

This cute little bungalow was #1 on the Florence Historic Places tour. The building was once a kitchen for the larger adobe next door. It's now a guest house. 

It's been pouring down rain here all night-- following several days of Oregon sprinkles. We are sitting here surrounded by puddles. No bike riding this year. I mentioned that the park is full but not that every other rig is from Minnesota. The rest have plates from South Dakota, Iowa, Oklahoma, .... you get the idea. We drove down to Tuscon area yesterday to have dinner with friends. Today we are off to the Florence Tour of Historic Homes. More on that later.

We arrived here Wednesday afternoon (2/9)—one of our favorite RV parks—and were lucky enough to get the LAST SPOT for 4 nights. So much for not having reservations. Last year when we were here it was in the mid 90’s. This year looks like we may see some showers.

Back in Salton City some Canadians told us that if we were coming to Ajo we should definitely go on down to the Playa Bonita RV park in Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico (on the Sea of Cortez). After that we talked to more people—some very enthusiastic –and some not so. So we decided to go down and check it out. It is 5 miles from here to the border and then 63 miles (of total nothingness) down to Puerto Penasco (or Rocky Point as it’s known to Americans). We had to get Mexican insurance for one day. ($13 liability only)
The border crossing, by the way, is much easier than in and out of Canada. No lines. They didn’t even ask for our passports either coming or going. So we arrive in what was once a Mexican pueblo but is now a giant American tourist trap. They are building huge condos everywhere but the roads are still basically packed sand, with mangy dogs lying about. There are a number of RV parks and we had a hard time finding the one recommended. To make it short—we were not impressed. You are packed in like sardines and though there are some ocean front sites, those are reserved years in advance. As far as we could tell there were darn few remnants of Mexican culture to be found. Down on the Malecon where we went for lunch it was again tourist city—even the Mexicans speak English (to get your business of course). We picked a restaurant for lunch with a tour bus in front which turned out to be no great recommendation. Enough said. Been there, done that. We’ll save our Mexican experiences for Oaxaca.

Perhaps I should mention that before we left Ajo we had to make a detour to NAPA (the local garage) and get all our trailer tires replaced, as Kit discovered another one was nearly flat. That done and the diesel tank filled we were on our way to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. (This was Friday 2/4) This is one of the nicest campgrounds we’ve ever been in and would indeed be perfect if the generator hours weren’t during afternoon siesta time. We are nearly at the end of the world—out of cell phone range and it’s 5 miles to the nearest pay phone. Also there are no internet hookup or laundry facilities within 30 miles. There is a dump station and water fill up site in the campground so the only worry is batteries. There are excellent programs at the amphitheatre in the evenings which means an hour or so of not using our lights. Our first full day we did a 4 mile hike in the morning and a 10 mile up and down bike ride in the afternoon. The next day we went to Mexico which is another subject. On Monday we paid up for two more days. But that day turned out to be cloudy and chilly—no sitting in the sun. Some short hikes and indoor chores. The hike up Alamo Canyon was amazing—water holes in the desert and green galore. Wednesday we plan to be on the road again. But we will return. We are seriously thinking of becoming volunteers at this park, at some future time.

Our campsite at ORPI. 

Here is an Arizona small town a LONG way from Wal*Mart. I am putting it on my short list for nice small retirement towns in warm places. There is an IGA across the street, for which we are thankful. And there is a Napa Auto parts for which we are also very thankful as we discovered that our trailer (Alice) had a very flat tire. (We had to buy a new one) The town center has a beautiful old mission style church and a Spanish-style square with some shops (including an old fashioned department store. and the local library. This really nice library is part of a county system. We enjoyed our visit to the historical museum. Ajo was a Phelps Dodge Company town -- built around the open pit mine, which once employed upwards of 2000 people. There is a neighborhood of aluminum houses, which fascinated us. This weekend is the Old Time Fiddler’s contest in Ajo. We are off to the “show” tonight at the Ajo Country Club.
Note for RVers. We recommend Shadow Ridge RV park—where we are NOT staying.

Wednesday we drove down from Ajo to this National Monument near the Mexican border—through some of the most amazing desert country in Arizona. We fell in love with the campground, (it’s even cooler than Gilbert Ray for those who know) so we are moving down there on Friday for at least 3 no-hookup days. At the visitor center we learned that the longer drive through the park is closed but we could do the shorter Ajo Mountain Loop—with at least one really good hike. Can you believe we were hiking in the desert at noon bundled in sweatshirts and wind-breakers. Despite the sunny day, the wind chill factor was at play most of the day. We had a 3 mile hike up a rocky path for some awesome views and then down through a valley with an amazing variety of plant life—AND lots of green grass and flowers. (in addition to all the cactus, cholla, palo verde, creosote and all the usual desert plants)

Organ Pipe Cactus