Quick update

Just a fast update, while we're waiting at the laundromat... currently in Lake Havasu City, via Quartzsite.  Probably continue to wander north tomorrow. 

Tucson Arizona (again)

In case you doubted that it was getting cold in Texas, that's frost on the left side and roof.  Luckily the sun melted it, but still...

So, as hoped we got back to Arizona on Thursday (Jan 7th) in time to avoid the "Arctic front".  It worked - temps have been around 67-72F during the day and down to 48 - 50F overnight, so far.  Checked out a little piece of BLM land called Snyder's Hill, just southwest of Tucson, and decided it was good to stay for a couple days while we explored.  Here's a view of the other RVs that were there, from the top of the hill:

And here's us:

Don, if you're reading this the spot is a couple miles past the turnoff to Old Tucson... save the coordinates on the link above.  It's a lot more convenient to Tucson than the casino. 

We visited the Desert Museum and Old Tucson of course and also did the drive through Saguaro National Park.  I'm not going to post any pics of those since there's a lot better ones on the websites - just click the links. 

We also took a drive up Sky Island Scenic Byway, and although you can also look that one up on the internet I WILL put some pics in here.  If you're around the Tucson area sometime you HAVE to do this trip.  Over about 27 miles you change in elevation from about 2500 feet to over 8000, and see some pretty spectacular vistas.  Yup, we even found snow (real snow, this time). 

That's about it for excitement.  Today (Sunday) we moved from the BLM site over to the good old Desert Diamond Casino south of Tucson, to give us a chance to get our internet fix again.  I mean, the desert's nice, but BLM is gonna have to install wifi if they expect to keep their campers!  The plan is to head in the direction of Quartzsite again tomorrow (should be in pretty full swing by now) before working our way back north )-;.  Thinking about heading down the Ajo highway for something different, and coming up at Gila Bend.  That's all for now - take care everyone. 

Google map

Texas - came and went

Wifi has been somewhat skimpy lately: both New Mexico and Texas have free wifi at their Welcome Centres, but it's slow (all seem to be connecting via satellite, interestingly enough).  Other than that, (free) wifi is hard to find.  Posting this from the Texas Welcome Centre north of El Paso.  Here's an update on the past few days:

Jan 2nd - Hot springs was a bust.  Although we did make it to the "City of Rocks" state park north of Deming, we passed by the anticipated hot springs just before we got there and discovered it closed.  Apparently it has been for a couple years (some of my travel info is a bit dated, I guess) - according to the park ranger the husband died and the wife wasn't much of a "people person".  Interpret that however you want.  Anyway, good opportunity if anyone wants to buy her out and open it up again...

With the hot springs closed, there wasn't much to keep us in that area (rocks are neat, but we'd already seen a lot), so we carried on to Las Cruces.  Spent the night at the rest area just west of town and up on the hill - a million dollar view if you were to build a house there.  Sorry no pics though: my night ones didn't turn out well and the daytime ones weren't impressive.  Here are a few from enroute, though (the giant roadrunner was actually at the rest area):

Jan 3 - El Paso - From Las Cruces it was only about an hour drive down through El Paso... and back into New Mexico to the Sunland Racetrack and Casino.  When we got there we were fortunate enough to jump the queue and get one of the $10/day electric-and-water serviced spots (dry camping is free, but since it's been cool at nights the power is nice). 

As you can see we had a pretty good view of the track from our spot (#5 of the 8 serviced spots).  The dry camping would have been even better, if you like horses, as you can park right alongside the fence.  We didn't see any races, but there was definitely a lot of practice and track grooming. 

Since we were in and set up early we did a little driving tour around El Paso and even back up to Las Cruces... with no real requirement to find anything we decided to check out the Harley shops - one in El Paso:

and one in Las Cruces:

Can't tell you why, though - it's a secret from Mo. 

Jan 4 - OMG! Snow in New Mexico!

OK you probably saw through that one, right?  Monday we headed back up into New Mexico to check out the White Sands National Monument.  Yup, the sand was white all right, and part of the tour road into the middle of the dunes is built out of the sand itself.  They run a grader over it fairly constantly since the moisture seeps out of the ground and moving the sand around helps dry it out and pack it.  You can imagine driving the non-freshly graded sections by thinking about driving a winter road in the spring when the frost is coming out.  Some more pics:

The one above looks like a bunch of brush, right?  Wrong - it's a Cottonwood tree about 35' tall, with just a few branches above the sand.  According to the sign as long as it has a few branches uncovered it'll survive until the dunes shift again and it's in the clear.  On the other side of the tree is an almost sheer drop down to the desert floor. 

You can rent sleds (plastic saucers, actually) at the visitor centre... we didn't though.  The sand was actually pretty cold, and was covered with frost in the shady spots.  We can get plenty of that kind of sledding at home. 

Gab had a great time running around in the dunes... and paid for it the next day. 

Picnic site at the end of the road.  No campground, unfortunately - too bad, because that would be kind of cool. 

Jan 5th - A day off.  Nothing interesting, as we just relaxed, did laundry, got a service on the car, etc. 

Which brings us to today - Temps have been pretty consistent since we left Phoenix: highs in the 55 - 60F range and overnight lows in the 28 - 35F range (why we've opted for powered sites when we could, as one of the electric heaters we brought set to low keeps us at a nice temp overnight and saves us from burning propane through the furnace.).  The radio stations are scaring us right now, though, as they're calling for an "Arctic front" to come through by the weekend.  Apparently here an "Arctic front" translates to highs of about 40F and lows of about 20F.  While I'm pretty sure we could survive this "Arctic front", why would we want to?  Checking our backtrain, the Phoenix/Tucson area is forecasting temps of about 70/45F for the weekend, so after (not very much) discussion we've decided to halt the eastward exploration and make a strategic retreat.  There will definitely be other opportunities in future. 

Google map

Kartchner Caverns to New Mexico

Happy New Year, all!

We made it from Phoenix as far as Bensen AZ, and decided to stop off at Kartchner Caverns State Park for a couple days.  We were lucky enough to get on both tours on Dec 31st.  No pictures as cameras not allowed, but there are probably lots of great ones on the website. 

Jan 1st we did a driving tour down through Sierra Vista to Bisbee, then back through Tombstone... Tombstone hasn't changed much since Don and I were there in 2008, still tourist-trap central.  Wendy met this dude she was attracted to but in the end I got her pried away. 

Today we crossed over into New Mexico (hurray, a new flag!) - this is being posted from the Visitor Centre in Lordsburg (free wifi).  We're hoping to get to the state park north of Deming tonight, as there's supposed to be a hot spring near there and neither of us has managed to wet our bathing suits yet... ta ta. 

Dec 26 - 30 - Phoenix

Wow, 3 days in Phoenix and not a lot to say other than we drove around a lot.  I took a few pictures but most turned out crappy so I'll just include a couple. 

Half the people who answered the poll were right - we stayed at the casino for three of the four nights and in the lot at Camping World the 4th.  We did go looking at parks and found a nice one in Mesa for $39/night, but that seemed like a lot to pay when we had pretty much everything we needed - including wifi - already at the casino.  The generator acted up on Sunday so we wound up recharging the house batteries off the car via booster cables, but otherwise no issues.  I had planned to get a service on the genny anyway, and the Bounder was due, so I got an appointment at a Camping World for first thing Tues. AM.  Hence Monday night was in the Camping World lot, as we decided it was more prudent to move at night rather than in the morning rush hour. 

Also tracked down the wiring short to the section I'd done in the car (I wired permanent bulbs into the taillights last winter).  Found one chafed spot but that still didn't do the trick, so would up going retro by buying some magnet-mount lights and bypassing my wiring altogether.  I'll look at the wiring again when I get a chance (much too busy, though, you know).  I still have the old lights, but of course they're on a shelf in the garage doing me no good whatsoever.  Picked up a set from Wal-Mart for $50, which was more than I originally paid at Princess, and than found some at Harbor Freight (after opening the Wal-Mart set, of course) for $20.  Arg. 

We did attend the game last night, where the Canucks managed to float their way to a 3-2 overtime loss to the Coyotes.  Good game - Coyotes deserved to win.  It was funny though that the crowd was just as loud on the Canuck goals as the home ones.  Tip for those planning to attend a game down here: Your GPS will think that Jobbing.com and Jobbing.com Arena are different places, several miles apart.  Make sure you include "Arena" in your address... nuff said. 

We're headed east on I-10 this morning - won't have internet for a few days probably, so I'll say Happy New Year to everyone now.  Take care and stay warm.  If you're going out for New Years, plug in your car because I see it's getting to -31 at home.  Brrr. 

Looking south over Phoenix from the Scottsdale hills.  Can't see much - sorry. 

Seats in the home corner, 20 rows up, $60/seat.  Parking was free in the football stadium lot, a 5 minute walk away.  Place looked about 3/4 full, which somebody said was about double the crowd at the San Jose game Sunday.  Pray for the Coyotes to stay here, cause it's the best NHL bargain around and you can attend in shorts and flip-flops. 

This was the RV lot Thursday AM - varied between 0 and 5 other rigs while we were here.  Building on the right is the hotel.  Picked up wifi with the external antenna, but nothing without it. 

Toodles. 

Bad penny turns up in Phoenix

Hey, I betcha thought that the state troopers had us locked up or something, when we disappeared for a week.  No such (bad) luck, just one of the hazards of the trip when you're relying on the goodness of others to leave their wireless connections unsecured.  Here's a fast recap of the past week:

San Francisco - Of course we left there last Sunday, but I finally got some pics off Wendy's camera so before we leave that alone here's some of the less unflattering ones. 

The Streets of San Francisco really DO look like on TV... Wendy wouldn't let me try to fly her Cavalier like Carl used to do on TV, though.  Probably just as well.  We didn't try it with the Bounder, either...

This big horkin' tree was at the entrance tp Pier 39.  Good thing she took the pic in the morning because you couldn't get near it by after lunch. 

I suppose in this pic I was trying to look as "criminal" as possible... either that or the lunch burrito wasn't going down too well... I'll save you the bother of trying to zoom in (I don't know why it turned sideways; you'll have to rotate your monitor I guess):

Unlike this next one, where I'm just surprised as heck to be there. 

OK, that's enough laughing for one day.  If anyone wants the original of this next one to blow up for a desk photo, let me know.  I won't give it to you of course, I just want to know. 

This next one was on the fence at the RV park, and outlined in Xmas lights, so she thought it was neat. 

This next one was one that I thought was really interesting.  At a gas station at Novato they had these TV screens on top of the pumps.  I suppose so you don't miss too much of your favourite soap or something.  I thought about asking him to switch to the movie channel while I was filling the motorhome.  BTW, it was also at this station where some guy very loudly told all of us that Canada doesn't have a health care system.  Period. 

Nope, that's not my reflection in the screen. 

And finally, this one was actually from back in the Redwoods but I thought it was a good one to show that we did have some back seat drivers this trip.  One, anyway. 

Dec 20-21 - Bakersfield and Victorville - Spent the night on Dec 20 in the parking lot of a closed down (since Oct) Wal-Mart.  Nice & quiet!  This after discovering I still have a short somewhere in the tail/clearance lights, and having the MH "hood" come loose on one side and drag the ground after a hard brake stop at a light.  Tip: In California, there are advance warning lights at a lot of the intersections like in Canada.  However, unlike Canada, the advance warnings flash continually and not just when the light's gonna change, so they're pretty much useless. 

Dec 21 we stopped off to see Elaine, Mark, and Mark's sis-in-law (sorry, forgot name - my goof) in Victorville.  Getting there was an adventure, because I was soooooo positive that I had the address both written down AND punched into GPS that I never checked until after we left SF.  Discovering that I had neither address nor phone number ANYWHERE that I could find led to a wifi hunt in Bakersfield and again in Victorville to send and receive quick emails.  Thanks Elaine and Jackie.  I STILL think I have that address written down somewhere, in a safe place. 

In any event, we stopped by and had a good visit, then stayed the night at a little strip mall behind the Denny's.  Very quiet there, and convenient for breakfast in the morning too!  Only one pic to show - this one just to prove that they actually do get winter there (why anyone would want to live in a California town that gets snow is beyond me, though). 

Dec 22 - 25 - Quartzsite - In need of a few days of R&R and with Christmas quickly approaching, we'd decided to head for "Q" for some warm sunny days in the uncrowded desert. 

Nope, the Saguaro's not getting held up (as far as I know).  Or wearing glasses.  I hope someone else sees that too, or I've been 'netting too long. 

We got the sunshine and open space, but the temperatures weren't very co-operative as you can see.  I braved the shorts, but had to stay with the jacket and socks since the highs were only getting into the high 50s during the day...

... and down into the high 20s at night.  Yup, that's frost on the car - BRRRR.  Wendy hasn't made it into shorts yet, although she did use the machete in preparation.  Still, I hope these pics elicit some sympathy, especially since I hear the last couple weeks have been so nice back home. 

BTW, in the "shorts" pic I'm holding a Christmas present from my granddaughter, of which we're about to partake.  THANKS FUZZY!  THEY'RE GREAT AT HOOCH TIME!

Thinking ahead, we brought a few Christmas lights with us (solar, of course), so we were able to do a little decorating as soon as we parked. 

Other than the obligatory shopping trip into Q on Wednesday, and a quick run down to Yuma on Thursday for some groceries and a TracPhone, we had a nice quiet hang around in the desert.  I crawled under and re-did all the electrical connections from the rear axle back (didn't help, as it turns out) and Wendy got some good cleaning and relaxing done. 

Christmas in the desert - Christmas dinner was turkey, stuffing, potatoes, yam, and brussel sprouts, of course.  The turkey and yam were on the barbeque, of course, and we decided to have dinner early (3:00) so we could prank call all the relatives and keep them from eating THEIR dinners.  It all turned out wonderful as you can see, and we had an excellent Christmas day.  Hope everyone else did, too! 

(Don't ask where we got the three-legged, one-breasted turkey.  We did pass a nuclear power plant on the way here, though.)

Finally a couple of the obligatory desert campsite shots.  I liked this spot MUCH more than the one in Novato, and it's not just because of the price.  Gotta get that internet thing figgered out, though. 

Dec 26 - Phoenix - Packed up and ran into Phoenix today, to be close by for the Canucks-Coyotes game on the 27th.  One small issue: found out when we got here that the game's not actually until Tuesday the 29th... guess who messed that one up?  Yep, that's two strikes for me now (that I'm counting - others may count more).  Oh well, it's a bit warmer here than the desert anyway, and we're camped out at the Gila River Wild Horse Casino (Don will remember that one, although they've now built a hotel here too) and borrowing their internet.  Debating whether to move to an RV park for a day or two while we see the sites; let me know in the poll what you think. 

That's it for now - more when stuff happens.