Travels with Twinkles: Final days at Desert Trails

March 21 - 31, 2016:

It has been close to record high temperatures lately, the air conditioners are running and the snow birds are headed out. We are now down to our last two weeks here and are looking forward to getting back on the road again, new sights, new trails and adventures.

Big Happy Hours for John and Donna; and Bill and Linda (BC Canadians) who are leaving on the 22nd and 23rd. It will be getting quieter and quieter here with each passing day from now on.

Happy hour - John and Donna in center

Going through the classic Cervezas too fast !

We do Brown Mountain hike with two other neighbors to check out the wildflowers which are now blooming quite beautifully.

My hiking companions Twinkles, Laurel and Judy

The Ocotillo are impressive

The Hedgehogs too !

Never tire of the views on Brown Mountain

I finally get around to changing my fuel filter and front shock absorbers which are a difficult job on the Ford E-450 chassis. I swear they intentionally engineer it this way to make you go back to the dealer. If not intentional, they are just lousy engineers. The filter is installed using quick-disconnect fittings that are a struggle to disconnect, even with the special tool as the filter is in a hard to access location. It would be a far quicker disconnect if they used simple hose clamps ? The upper shock absorber mounting fasteners are equally hard to access, particularly on the drivers side. Of course the upper shock mount fasteners are metric size that you don’t have the proper wrench for and the new shocks are a different size. You then have to jack the frame up to remove the shock and compress the new shock to get them in.

Don't they look pretty ?

Getting new rear tires on the Jeep and reading "Automobile" in the waiting room. It is a magazine about mostly high end, European cars. I didn’t care for it much until the last page on which a former editor wrote a commentary that seemed to be totally out of character with the current magazine, it was great, I loved it !

So true !

Grams and Kreiger perform at the campground, they are veteran Tucson blues musicians who are both inductees into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame. They have been playing for decades around Tucson mostly as sidemen in various bands.

I watch a PBS special on the Dave Clark Five twice, amazing stuff, which I remember watching last year also. I never paid much attention to them in their prime days, but they were equals of the Beatles, if not more popular in the early years, with about 30 hit songs and the most Ed Sullivan Show appearances (18) of any band. They quit as a band in their prime in 1970 and became sort of forgotten over the years. They eventually were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, very late, they should have been inducted far earlier.

A final visit to the Chicago Bar for a Ronstadt Generation Band fix one last time before leaving town. I grab a “I love Tortillas” bumper sticker that will be added to the RV's rear bumper.

Western swing at its finest by this couple

Easter dinner was enjoyed at the campground recreation hall, with turkey and prime rib supplied by the campground and campers bringing in pot luck side dishes and deserts, there was a ton of food to eat.

Another happy hour for those leaving at months end, that would be us. This campground really clears out on April 1st.

Last happy hour

I watch several travel blog sites from time to time and am getting a little annoyed concerning the commercialization of some of them. The worst are the sites where there are links to every business they have dealt with and links to products they endorse on Amazon, which if you buy through them gives them a commission. The absolute worst is the obviously well off with their mega size motor homes asking for donations to support their travels or their beer fund !

The cactus behind the campground are starting to bloom. There are many buds on the Saguaro's, but unfortunately they will bloom well after we depart.

The buds are out

A close up of a Cholla ready to flower

These guys didn't drink enough water ?

This has been great a great winter stay, but we’re glad to be getting back on the road again. Funny how the fuel prices have suddenly skyrocketed back to about $2 a gallon ?