This stop was an add-on because I heard and read so much about it from the RV community. A bit of research reveals that the permanent population of Quartzsite is 1000. But in January and February it hosts on average 700,000 visitors, mostly RVers staying on Bureau of Land Management dispersed camping areas. The estimated… Continue reading First Dispersed Camping Experience – Quartzsite AZ
Tag: Arizona
Skyline Regional Park – Buckeye AZ
Buckeye is just slightly west of Phoenix. We recently stopped in this area on our way to Tucson. So this was just a stopover as we now head west to California. We did a nice hike at the Skyline Regional Park, which was just a few minutes’ drive from our campsite. Saguaros not as healthy… Continue reading Skyline Regional Park – Buckeye AZ
Saguaro National Park – day 2
As mentioned yesterday, Saguaro National Park is divided in two different sections. One to the east of Tucson (the Rincon district) which we visited yesterday, and one to the west (the red hills district). Yesterday, the loop drive was paved. Today’s loop drive was just a dirt road, but there were several more trails, and… Continue reading Saguaro National Park – day 2
Saguaro national Park
More unforeseen events today… we woke up to no AC power, and so Bernard spent some time to diagnose the issue, and the resolution involved driving to go to the Nearest Home Depot to buy a voltmeter (we have two perfectly good ones at home…). Problem solved – our “Energy Management System” clearly did not… Continue reading Saguaro national Park
Travel to Tucson, AZ
Today we traveled to Tucson, and to another very nice campground. The sites are very long, and we have a pull through, so no backing-in. Claudette has had a cyst in her back for 3-4 years, and the doctor had said a while back to just leave it alone. But for the last few days,… Continue reading Travel to Tucson, AZ
Scheduled maintenance and Scottsdale & taking inventory
Nothing for the memory books today… On a long trip, maintenance items need to be done. Today it was the truck oil change. We took time to explore downtown Mesa, as well as old town Scottsdale. We walked around the shops and had a coffee at a non-chain business. The weather was wonderful and we… Continue reading Scheduled maintenance and Scottsdale & taking inventory
Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix AZ
Desert Botanical Garden Today, we visited Desert Botanical Garden. Unsurprisingly, this is by far the best botanical garden we ever visited dealing with desert-condition native plants. We were literally stunned by the quantity of visitors, on a Monday… It is well organized with a short central loop that provides a quick overview, and side loops… Continue reading Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix AZ
Drive to Mesa AZ – and down we go
Today we drove from from Camp Verde to Mesa, which is itself a significant community (more than 1/2 a million residents), essentially in the suburbs of Phoenix (the Phoenix Metropolitan Statistical area counts 5M residents, the 11th in the USA by size). It was literally a downhill drive from Camp Verde which is at an… Continue reading Drive to Mesa AZ – and down we go
Tuzigoot National Monument
Today we took things easy Our one major activity was to visit Tuzigoot National Monument. We enjoyed it, and this one too was a quick visit. Claudette said jokingly that the theme of our trip is old rocks … In any case, the archeologist have determined that there were 100 rooms in the original structure,… Continue reading Tuzigoot National Monument
Montezuma Castle National Monument
We visited Montezuma Castle National Monument, which was a very short drive from our Campground. Although the site was looted in the early 1900s, and therefore no historical artifacts remain, it was still impressive to see the structure itself Visiting the above didn’t take much time at all, so in teh afternoon, we decided to… Continue reading Montezuma Castle National Monument