Adios Desert Trails

February 24 - March 2, 2014:

Monday was another work day, fabricating mounting brackets to install a sewer hose carrier under the RV, some repainting of the rear bumper and exterior caulking.  I also installed new gray tank sensors, an alternate design which claims to function reliably without all sorts of flushing, detergents, chemicals additives, etc.  We will see about that, watch for the review ?  

  

Tuesday afternoon was a display of gourds that were done by people in the campground complimented by free food and wine.  There were many really well done gourds, actually they were all really great.  This turned out to be a very popular campground activity.  The show was very well attended as anything with free food and wine tends to be ! 

Twinkles gourd is in the center

All the gourds were great !

A few of the gourd artists

Wednesday morning was busy with dropping stuff off at Goodwill, a trip to "Big O" tires then Camping World.  In the evening, while Twinkles went to the campground game night, I went downtown to LaCocina to see Lana and Kevin play.  They were joined by one of their Portland musician friends, Gabe Rozzell, who was equally good.  Anybody who knows a lot of Townes Van Zandt songs and does justice to "Pancho and Lefty" is good in my book !  They also had one of the LaCocina bartenders join in when his shift ended, who was also a really good guitarist.  It was a good night, I had a front row seat, (Me and Willie), Willie is another old gray ponytail regular like me.  

Mexican eggs, refried beans and tortilla's for breakfast

Lana, Gabe and Kevin at the La Cocina stage

Another trip back to Lazydays to get a change made to the sales paperwork needed to enable our mailing service,  Americas Mailbox, to take care of the South Dakota title and registration stuff.  It sure is nice having someone else handle this !  Then a return to Big "O" tire to get new tires on the Jeep. 

After working on the RV on Friday, relaxing with a beer, only one, I saw something hanging down under the rear axle of the Jeep.  It then started moving and it looked like and was a snake !  I jumped up to get the camera and it moved back up out of sight.  I watched for it to come back out, other people came over, we all looked for it, we opened the hood, started the engine, moved it forward and backward and the snake did not reappear. This story traveled all over the campground quickly and a few people may even be questioning this story, (like Jimmie Carter's rabbit) but I'm sticking with it.     

We are now in the midst of short term travel planning and have determined that the area in Utah we intended to go to in March will still have below freezing temperatures and as a result we will stay longer in central and eastern Arizona.  So many things to see and so paths to take in this RV life, it's difficult to set a fixed course and stick to it.  On the other hand there are time constraints, there is a destination goal in mind for the summer and then you need to time your travel south to stay ahead of the freezing temperatures. 

Twinkles is sad to leave Desert Trails and the myriad of social activities and friends here, but is again ready to resume our adventure.  People tend to return to this place year after year, it has so much to offer, it's hard to beat.  We have a reservation to return next year as Twinkles says she needs this three months with other people so she can stand to be with "Grumpy" (Me) the other nine months of the year.

Friday evening was an interesting, but strange concert at the campground, it was a band doing 60's flower power music.  It started off very roughly since they set up late, didn't have time to get the sound right. Lots of people, mostly older types started leaving, lots of grumbling about it being too loud. Did they expect 60's music to be quiet ?  Anyhow after half the audience left, the band took a break, improved their sound and the remaining people loved the second set, they were grooving to the music !   

Saturday was dense clouds, wind and rain, the first real rain here since December, it was a big deal.  There was actually water flowing in the Santa Cruz River.  Of course, the rain had to start just as we were moving the rig across the campground to a dry camping spot, (dry camping in reference to no water, sewer or electric hookups), where we will stay until Monday morning.  That gives us the opportunity to exercise the water pump and generator before we head out into the wilderness.  

A rare sight in Arizona

Saturday evening we went to dinner again with friends Jack and Carole Cornell and Lilia to "El Charro" restaurant in Tucson. Good food and good friends ! 

Sunday morning I took a short farewell hike into the desert behind the campground.  The sun felt good, the cactus looked perky after the rain and the large puffy white cumulous clouds were mesmerizing.

Desert Trail view

The classic Saguaro pose

The clouds were fantastic

Early Monday we are scheduled back to Lazydays RV to have the Transfer Switch replaced, (there is a recall on it) then we are staying overnight at adjacent KOA Lazydays campground with our free certificate before heading north to Picacho Peak State Park for a few days.  After that we move on to the Tonto National Forest near Roosevelt Dam.  That's about the extent of our plans, we need to get our act together !  

The Lazydays story

   

Onward we go,

Twinkles and Slick