After Organ Pipe National Monument, we headed up Route 85 to Why and then east on Route 86 to Gilbert Ray County Park Campground. The large , natural boulder above is located near the office. Reminds us of a confection laced with butterscotch or caramel.(Hey-- just missing that Valentine candy)
Arizona can present all kinds of wonderful sunsets. Did not expect any color this evening, then-rather suddenly-the whole sky turned pink. Grabbed the camera while we were cooking our hamburgers.
We were told about Tubac by the art store cashier in Mesilla, New Mexico. We head over from Route 86 to Interstate 19 south (of Tucson) to Tubac. A town of artists and unique stores and restaurants.
We found our visit to be very enjoyable. The view above is from the steps of the Center of the Arts. The object in white is an art sculpture we saw as a dancer. The town is nicely planned with unique shops and gorgeous views.
Poppies were just beginning to bloom.
A leather studio, clothing, and furniture.
One very interesting store was furniture like dining tables and coffee tables made from Mesquite trees--very large trees for some.
One huge, beautiful, coffee table was priced at $4500.
New Mexico and Arizona are noted for all kinds of lawn or outdoor decorations. Many very colorful and reflecting the native history and culture.
Above is a metal sculpture titled The Selfie.
A little hard to see with the tree in the background, but the purple boots and hat, the smart phone, and the sunglasses are particularly enjoyable.
An old Hudson draws attention to a jewelry and pottery store.
Definitely was not offered in this color.
The Hudson logo and upside down "V" are unique.
An online picture above of a 1952 Hudson Hornet.
This store was featuring small yard ornaments like Saguaros, plaques, and Terracotta Chiminea. Didn't know much about these, so following is a link to a history and sales website.
Link to History of Chimineas
Wide streets, enough parking for us, and easy walking.
Arizona State Parks have become almost impossible for visiting campers. We tried several times to see if there were any sites available at Lost Dutchman and Catalina , for instance. The girl on the phone laughed when we asked(which was a little disturbing), and then indicated that the sites fill up a year ahead of time--as soon as they are posted. Diehard seekers can line up early in the morning for any cancellations. Laurelee(Quartzsite Lazy Dazer) actually was able to catch a cancellation over the phone.
The picture above was while we had , at least, been able to drive through the Catalina Campground.
From the Catalina park we head north on Route 77 towards Roosevelt Lake. On the way we decided to stay overnight at the Apache Sky Casino. We asked permission inside(generally given to RVers) and had the entire upper parking lot to ourselves. Very quiet with a few coyotes howling.
Thought we were out of Saguaro territory, but many were seen on roadside. Unusual large number or arms.
How about Saguaro and Poppies?
From Globe, Arizona we take Route 188 to Roosevelt Lake.
Roosevelt Lake is in the Tonto National Forest and the campgrounds are National with the Senior Discount applied. If you haven't been here in a while, the fees are now taken care of at a fee machine inside each campground. Our senior price was $12.50 per night. 5 years ago it was $3 per night for seniors. The park was much quieter now. Maybe because the non senior prices went from $6 per night to $25 per night, which is a huge increase for campers watching a budget .
The video above was taken from the Visitors Center.
Such nice color from the poppies and other spring flowers.
The video above was taken from Windy Hill Campground. The lake is 22 miles long and averaging about 2 miles wide. A little hard to tell from the video, but boats appear as tiny specks ,while you are expecting them to be much larger.
5 years ago the water level was way down. Lots of shore showing. The person at the Visitors Center indicated that 5 years ago the level was about 20 to 30 per cent capacity. This year, it is 80 plus per cent full. Like other large reservoirs , Roosevelt level is managed to control water below the dams. This year is more about releasing water.
A cemetery is preserved inside the campground.
3 Blevins children, an unidentified man shot by the sheriff, and 5 others who are unknown.
Nice, large , and separated sites. Many have great views like ours did.
Leaving Roosevelt , we head north to Jake's Corner on Route 188 and then head south towards Phoenix on Route 87. A good part is climbing to around 4700 feet and eventually down some very steep inclines,
What comes to mind is that this must have been either an engineer's dream or an engineer's nightmare to construct .
Speaking of County parks, we were able to find a site here at Cave Creek for 2 nights. That was it. Nothing available before or after. We were glad to have the opportunity, a very nice park.
To get here, we followed Shea Boulevard west from Route 87, then Route 101 north to Route 74 and Cave Creek in Carefree.
From Cave Creek, we continue on Route 74 west to Route 60.
Then north to Wickenburg. From there there is clear signage for Route 93 to Route 89 to Congress, Arizona and North Ranch Escapees Park. We were happy to see a number of cactus with flowers just starting.
The park has the usual full hookup sites and then about 5 spaces for dry camping. We chose to dry camp. Even with the rain, we were able to use our normal amount of electrical usage and still fully charge the batteries every day. Below the park itself are a number of private properties , most with homes--some with storage units and places for RV hookups. Jan and I thought this style was particularly interesting. We like a small footprint.
We are not sure of the name of this cactus. It is small like a Hedgehog cactus, but seems a little larger than Pincushion. What beautiful flowers!
We have seen the cactus like this before with styrofoam.
It seems to protect the buds until they blossom
Toothpick Cactus
We wonder why?
Actually hard to see. But if you follow the red arrow , you can see the head, eye , and beak, facing right of the bird sitting on the nest.
What predator is going to bother them in that cactus?
From North Ranch we jump back on Route 93 north towards Route 40 and Kingman. Beautiful views and Joshua Trees along the way. Kingman turned out to be a good stop for groceries or anything else you might need.
West of Kingman , we take Route 68 to the Davis Dam exit.
The picture above is from part of that drive. About a 6 per cent drop for 12 miles . Sure makes you pay attention!
Makes you wonder how all this was formed millions of years ago.
Upward formation or erosion?
New Englanders are always amazed at how much land in the west and Arizona in particular is uninhabited.
Back to another favorite .
Katherine Landing Campground on Lake Mojave in the Lake Mead Recreation Area
Above is a short video from the south side of the marina. This is on Lake Mojave. Beyond , on the far side of the water is Nevada. Davis Dam is just south and the Boulder Dam is about 100 miles north on the Colorado River. At that point the Colorado River heads east towards the Grand Canyon. California is very close here, just a few miles beyond the far shore.
An interesting name for a pontoon boat.
You can look for it in the following video(very small letters)
The video above is from the dock stretching out into the marina.
The Oleander is just blooming around the campground.
There are pink and white blossoms.
Also blooming cactus.
We had planned about 4 days here(again-one of our favorites) and then Covid19 became a national issue.
Some of you were aware that we had planned to head towards Death Valley and then to Lone Pine and the east side of the Sierras. From there, head north , maybe catching Lassen and Crater Lake and more before heading over to Grand Tetons in Wyoming.
Well-------first we heard that Death Valley campgrounds were closing. Then we thought we could head north through Nevada. The very next day , the Governor of Nevada closed the state parks in Nevada. Then, we had planned to head from the Tetons to New England via Canada and the border to Canada was closed to non Canadians. Today we read that a number of our Escapee parks are full to capacity and not accepting visiting campers. Also, the state park and private campground list of closures increases every day. Today we noted that most of the Corps of Engineer Parks are closed. So-----and maybe this is for the best---we are able to add up to 30 days here at Katherine Landing--National Park Campground--$10 cash per night for seniors. And we will be looking for the best plan forward. The National Park Campgrounds across the lake in Nevada are now closed, so we are crossing our fingers to have some time here---maybe not have this close yet.
We had promised some coverage of our updates and fixes to Lady Blue. We had been seeking answers for months about our solar charging setup that was not charging the batteries to full. The glass mat batteries are supposed to charge to around 14.4 volts. We were just seeing around 13volts--not terrible, but not right. The other problem was it took forever to charge to that level--and we were in Arizona sun. At Quartzsite we went to Discount Solar and were happy to have Clay do a full test of our system. Turns out the culprit is in the picture above. An inline 25amp blade fuse . You can see that the wire is black and the area around the fuse is melted. The fuse itself was still working , but a frayed wire was not letting the full current from the 4 -100 watt solar panels through. The way the wire was placed did not allow anyone to see the melting or black wire. Clay found the problem by a test on both sides of the fuse.
Solving the problem, he wired the line directly into our fuse block. Now the fuse is firmly placed with all the other fuses for Lady Blue.
Now we reach full charge of 14 to about 14.45 every day. Even this morning, after watching TV last night, charging all of computers and phone, plus the 1.2 amps per hour, every hour, that is used by Lady Blue; we reached 14 volts at 9 a.m. What a difference!
And the green light is on Battery %Full, saying 101 per cent. It creeps up there sometimes, but mostly stops at 100 per cent.
We do a lot of dry camping--no electric hookup. So we rarely used our electric space heater. That, and our new one was too big and did not do what it promised. So---we finally listened to what our Quartzsite Lazy Daze friends were telling us--add a propane Wave heater. The first step was to have Phil in Quartzsite add a propane disconnect. He did a very secure addition under the stove area and to the left of the door. It is out of the way , the hose locks in securely, and there is a shutoff lever that disconnects the propane supply before the hose. We had a 6 foot hose made at Pit Stop in Quartzsite.
Our new (as of early February)Wave 3 propane catalytic heater. It has two settings--low and high. Just enough on low to take the chill off. Strong enough on high to provide good radiant heat.
If it does get cold , we start up the propane furnace which heats very quickly--and noisy. Then we can maintain temperature with the Wave 3 , unless it is very cold outside. The furnace can be quite noisy and is also much less efficient(a lot of heat goes outside). The Wave 3 is silent, provides a great, red glow at night, and is super efficient. The connections are sealed and tested for leaks. We have a propane detector on board. So thanks Quartzsite Lazy Dazers--Dan, Steve, Laurelee, and more!
Lastly, we had mentioned that our furnace stopped working as we entered Virginia back in November. We made do with our generator, electric space heater, sometimes our engine heater, and dressing warmly until we reached Escapees Rainbow Park in Livingston,Texas. There we had great service from Price Mobile RV.
Turned out it was the circuit board, similar to one above. Took a bit to pull out the entire furnace, test it, and then replace, but it was then up and working great. Which was a good thing, because we had some seriously cold weather since then.
Please note, we are basically "sheltering in place" , maybe as long as a month---or two. At that time, we hopefully will know where we can go and what is open to us on the way.
