9 Months on the Road

In the three months since our half year progress report, we have definitely been able to slow down our travel pace. All but a couple days at the start of 2017 have been spent in the sunny state of Arizona. Once we had decided we were going to attend a few rallies over the winter months in southern Arizona, we only needed to fill in the gaps in between them. We also managed to arrange to meet a friend from Rochester that was coming to Tucson to visit some of her family.

The following map is only for these past three months with each stop denoted by a red pin. The actual order of the stops isn't easy to represent since we have been bopping around all over southern Arizona. Our map for the first 6 months can be found here

We managed to handle 35 nights of boondocking in those three months. Only about half of those nights were free - either in the desert or at a casino. The other boondocking was at two rallies and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. None of those spots were free. To try to keep our expenses straight, I have been keeping track of generator usage and trying to back out fuel costs while boondocking. I was prompted to do this because if I hadn't, our fuel economy dropped to something like 5.2 MPG after our Quartzsite trip. Our typical is closer to 8 MPG. Since both rallies had extra boondocking nights available, they had a price associated with them. So I used those costs and fuel usage to get a camping cost for those nights. This also keeps our motorhome fuel economy numbers a bit more realistic. 

So what are the stats from the last three months?

• We traveled an additional 1340 miles in the motorhome in these last three months compared to the 5900 in the first 6 months.
• We have only added one more state to those camped in, now up to 18 for the 9 months.
• We have stayed at 14 additional sites, up to 51 for the 9 months.
• On days we travel, we only averaged 95 miles these 3 months. This is much lower than the 161 mile average we had for the first 6 months.
• We averaged $0.35 per mile in the motorhome compared to $0.28 for the first 6 months.
• Our nightly camping costs were $25 which is only a bit lower than the $27 for the first 6 months. The lesson learned here is that boondocking at rallies isn't inexpensive.
• The Jeep was driven another 3000 miles which is just a bit higher average than the 8600 in the first 6 months.
• Our geocaching has slowed down as well. We only did 334 caches. Compared to 1091 for the prior 6 months. Some of the reason for that has been cache rationing in remote areas with very few caches. The other reason is that we are trying to time our 10,000 find when we are in the Seattle area this summer so we can do something special for that milestone.

We have definitely been enjoying southern Arizona. There have been some great hikes and remarkable scenery. By not trying to fit in all the touristy things while we are here, we have managed to slow our pace down and leave things to see and do when we get back here for next winter.

Off to the Escapade

Map of this blog's locations click this link to open the map

The drive out of the FMCA rally turned out to be dramatically better than the drive in. Rigs seemed to be pulling out at all times from early morning to mid-afternoon so the traffic flow to I-10 wasn't bad and since we were heading east, we snuck past the long line trying to make the left hand turn westbound. Plus we only had a 60 mile drive to our week long stop before heading to the next rally.

We had driven past Picacho Peak a couple months ago and thought it looked like a good spot to check out at some point in our Arizona travels. Picacho Peak State Park might have been a nice campground but we weren't able to get in for the week we wanted. Turns out the next weekend was to be a big Civil War re-enactment, thus the completely full campgrounds. Just outside the park, about 1/2 mile down the road is Picacho Peak RV Resort. They had room for us and our weeklong stay was just a little bit cheaper than the state park would have cost us.

Setup in the Shadow of Picacho Peak

The plan was to basically relax after the hectic schedule of the last rally. We did have a repair required with the refrigerator. A small plastic tab/pin that allows the meat tray cover to pivot out of the way when the door is opened broke. A simple glue job was not going to cut it so I needed to get a bit more creative. Half of a wooden clothes pin, 2 screws and some epoxy seems to be doing the trick. As it turned out, this place was a very nice park. The only real downside was the proximity to I-10 with all its traffic noise. Plus just on the other side of the interstate was a very active train track. The only saving grace regarding the trains is that there are no nearby crossings, so no whistle was blowing, just the low frequency rumbling nearly nonstop. 

Blurry Backside Photo

Pin Epoxied Onto Clothes Pin

Back in Place Working Like a Charm

The resort had pretty good amenities. No free wi-if at site but quite good in the library/exercise rooms. The real nice feature for me was the woodworking shop they had. It wasn't furnished with nearly the tools that I used to have, but dramatically better than what I have with me. I had been wanting to make a small table to go next to the driver side captain chair when it is rotated backward while we are setup at camp. My design only required three boards so the chop saw in the shop would be about all I needed. The top board would require some scribing and fitting to match up with the side console. A band saw would have helped but the one they had was missing a blade. My oscillating spindle sander would have been ideal but without having it, I had to resort to low tech - a couple good clamps and a sharp wood rasp.

We found a Woodcraft store in Tucson only about 40 minutes away. It had been some time since I have been in a woodworking store. I had to remind myself that I really only needed some wood. We decided it might take a lot of effort to try to match the existing wood and finish in our rig so when we spotted some good looking mesquite we decided to go that route. It is a wood that is associated with this part of the country and will always remind us of where we made it. The guy at the store said it is easy wood to work with but can be hard on blades. I only had a few cuts to make and the saw wasn't mine! I just used pocket screws to assemble it so it only took a couple hours and a lot of that time was walking back and forth from the shop to the rig a few times. Chris applied her clear coat finish and a few days later I was able to install it. I think it turned out quite nice.

Handy Table Next to Captain's Chair

Rechargeable Flashlight Has Secure Home

Filed to Fit Against Plastic

One of the "toys" I bought at the last rally was a device that plugs into the engine communication port (sort of like the OBD II port on all cars) and communicates with a Windows PC allowing all sorts of data to be shown in all different manners. For those interested, it is call a Silverleaf VMSpc. I have a couple laptops, but since this will be used while driving, I really wanted something smaller and ideally something that converts into a tablet when we are traveling so mounting it would be easier. We had been stopping at electronics stores in Chandler and also in Tucson but had no luck finding what we thought we wanted.

Finally we resorted to Amazon and found a ASUS Transformer Mini. For some reason, this campground's address was not valid in the Amazon order system. So we tried something we hadn't tried before or even ever heard of before. Amazon has delivery lockers scattered all over the country. The closest one was only 35 miles away in the outskirts of Tucson. Two days later, I receive a text saying it was delivered and then they emailed me a 6 digit passcode and barcode. The one we had picked was actually at a QuickTrip gas station. There is a odd looking locker with a touchscreen interface. I simply entered the passcode and one of the locker doors opens with my package sitting safely in there. A pretty convenient alternative when we are at someplace that doesn't allow shipments or if we don't feel comfortable with the location. When I get the system up and running, I will write a post on my findings.

Amazon Locker at Gas Station

View of Picacho Peak

Lots of Saguaros

During our week at Picacho Peak, we were experiencing a heat wave. Many days in a row with mid-90 degrees. It was hot enough that we needed to run our air conditioning during the afternoon and early evening. We did go into Picacho Peak State Park for a short hike one morning. We decided to buy the Arizona State Park annual pass since it is good for 12 months not just a calendar year. Since we will be here a bit longer and likely back in Arizona next winter, we should get our money's worth.

We did one of the shorter hikes. We will likely make it back this way and can try the hike to the peak then under cooler temps. There were a few others on the trail we hiked but there were many dozens on the longer trail to the peak. It looked like there was some school group that was out for a field trip based in the huge number of kids all grouped together. The trail we went up overlooks the campground we are in.  To sure we could specifically spot our rig but we know it's there.

Overlooking Our Campgrounds - Which One is Ours?

Large Group Hiking to Picacho Peak

A couple days after arriving here, I started to get sick. Nothing too bad. Just tired and a fever (100.4 one day and 101.3 the next day). The ostrich ranch that was just down the access road from us will have to wait for a subsequent visit. While we were here, Chris managed to get a serious head injury. She was working on finishing her boards and had them sitting under one of the slides. As she stood up, she brought the crown of her forehead into the corner of the slide! There was blood everywhere. After cleaning her up, we decided a trip to an urgent care facility was not required. I am probably not the best one to make that call but the bleeding had stopped an there wasn't any loose skin that would have benefited from a stitch or two.

Sunset at Picacho Peak

Our plan had been to head out on a Saturday to get in a day early for the Escapee's rally. But since we are going to be boondocking there and I was still not feeling great and Chris was still nursing her head, we extended our stay where we had electricity for an extra day. When we did leave, we had another 60 mile day. Other than stopping to top off the fuel tank, it was quick. This rally had a similar approach with a couple mile drive to the Pima County Fairgrounds from I-10. I kept expecting the catch up with a line of traffic and have to wait for hours, but surprisingly we pulled in and had no real wait to get into the spot. Part of the explanation was this rally had maybe 40% the number of rigs than the last one, but they layout of the facility and camping areas made for an easier approach.

The View From Our Rig at Escapade

So what is an Escapade, you ask? It is a big gathering of fellow members of the Escapees RV club which we joined when we went full time. Not all members are full timers. Some are snowbirds, others are part timers, but they all enjoy the RV lifestyle. It isn't limited to any particular class of RV, nor to any particular brand. Heck, of the ~950 "rigs" here, three of them were tents! We happened to meet one of the tent campers at a social one afternoon. They were thinking of getting some sort of RV and were taking advantage of the rally to learn. When we ran into them the next day, they commented that while looking at the new/used rigs brought in, it was hard for them to imagine what they would look like in "real" use. Since we had some time before our next sessions, we had them come out to our rig and check it out. I suspect they will do just fine figuring out what they want.

Inside the Fairgrounds

The Escapees club offers its own mail forwarding service out of Livingston Texas and has a series of RV parks scattered around the country. In fact we had already taken advantage of the ones in Summerdale Alabama and Deming New Mexico. At the rally were vendors, training sessions, and an RV dealer that brought in many dozens of rigs, new and used, for people to look through. Each night there was some sort of entertainment along with door prizes to be raffled off. There is definitely a younger vibe with Escapees compared to FMCA. Over sixty children were part of the attendees at the rally and many of them were the door prize "runners".

Not Sure Where One Buys an Orange Suit

For the first couple days, I was still under the weather, so I only went to sessions I really wanted to see. There were not as many sessions going on at the same time (maybe 4 to 6) but there were still a few time slots where we went to different ones to compare notes afterwards. We went to a handful of sessions on various volunteering opportunities. One about volunteering at National Parks or Refuges, and another about construction jobs with a Lutheran church group. The one that seemed to appeal to us the most was Habitat for Humanity. They have builds going on all over the country usually bringing in 5-10 rigs for two week work blocks. Some locations book up a couple days after they get posted while others don't get a full crew.

We didn't make it to every night's entertainment but the ones we did see were pretty entertaining. Woody and the Longboards did Beach Boys and the Eagles so everybody could sing along. The talent show was much more entertaining than I was expecting. One of the younger guys did a solo rendition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody with a ukulele, not the easiest song to perform. Before each night's program, they would raffle off all sorts of donated items. Apparently over $16,000 worth of stuff. Unfortunately we didn't get any of the items.

Children Preform at Talent Show

Bohemian Rhapsody

Woody and the Longboards

We continued to have extremely hot weather while there. Bad enough that we often had to turn on the air conditioning in the early evening while running the generator. Our determination is that boondocking in the cold is preferable to doing so in the heat.  The good thing about this rally is that the rigs were spaced apart much better so there wasn't the constant smell of generators running. This rally might have been a bit more fun than the other one but with us being under the weather, we didn't get to fully enjoy it.

We had scheduled to stay in the boondocking lot an extra day past the rally.  By then, the temperatures had come back to a more normal mid-70 degrees so it was pleasant. There might have been 15 rigs that stayed and we happened to be spaced far enough apart that generator fumes and noise wasn't an issue at all. We took advantage of our extra free day and headed back to Saguaro National Park East. We had stopped about a month ago but had a few more things we wanted to do there. We ended up going to the Javelina Picnic area and walked the Freeman Homestead Loop.

Display at Visitor Center of Saguaro National Park East

Ocotillo in Bloom

Cactus Blooming

Lots of Yellow Flowers in Bloom

Heading to FMCA Rally

Map of this blog's locations click this link to open the map

We had 4 more nights before we were to be in Chandler Arizona for the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) Rally in the Valley. We had already reserved two nights at Leaf Verde RV Resort where we had stayed in mid-January since we knew it was a nice place. Rather than extending that stay, we opted to try out one of the campgrounds in Ajo Arizona. Somebody at the casino in Tucson had recommended Belly Acres RV Park as a decent and inexpensive place to stay. We called ahead and confirmed they had a spot for us for two nights and asked if it would be okay to check in a bit early since we had to check out of Twin Peaks in OPCNM by 11 AM and the drive was a whooping 35 miles. They were okay with that so off we went.

Ajo Welcomes You

As we drove up Arizona Route 85, we could see some odd land shapes while we were still several miles away from Ajo. It was clear they were some sort of large hills, one being nearly white while the other was dark but both were obviously not made by nature. We would come to discover they were the byproducts of an old mine in town - more on that later.

Huge Pile from Mine in Ajo

Belly Acres RV Park was on the smallish size with only 40 to 50 sites, but it was full hookup, 50 amp with cable and pretty good wi-fi. Our neighbors were friendly and the guy next to us, from Alaska, let us borrow a book with many scenic drives scattered throughout the USA. We concentrated on ones west of the Rockies since that's where we will be for some time to come.

While sitting at the computer one afternoon, I saw another motorhome pull in that I recognized. This younger couple that we follow on YouTube called "RV Love" pull a convertible Mini on a tow dolly and have a tandem hanging off their rear ladder so they are easily identifiable to us. I wanted to go out and say hi, but it is usually a bad idea to bother fellow RVers when they are either setting up or breaking down camp. A few minutes later I see him pull around presumably to their site. A half hour later I go out to find them only to realize they aren't camped here. I messaged them through Facebook and they had only come in to fill their fresh water tank and had headed into the desert nearby to do some boondocking.

The town of Ajo was larger than I was expecting but that doesn't mean there is a whole lot to see or do. I suspect that some of the people staying here are using it as their base for visiting the national monument and while this would work, we were glad we had stayed at the campground on site. I doubt we would have gone to all the ranger walks/talks we did if we had to drive 40 minutes each way.

We spent a couple hours one afternoon to visit two museums located in town. The Ajo Historical Society Museum is located in an old church. It has a multitude of rooms all setup with some common theme. It appears to be the place that the heirs of long time residents donate their belongings when they have moved on. The two volunteers working had lots of stories to tell. Most of them were something to do with the mine since it was the main employer until it closed in the 1980's. The one guy had actually lived in Rochester years ago! What a small world.

Display Inside Ajo Historical Society Museum

Museum Exterior Still Looks Like Church

Just down the street from this museum is a small building and viewing area for the mine pit. Apparently there used to be dozens of small mines in the area where people were getting copper, gold and silver. Then someone bought out all claims and turned it into an open pit mine. And what a pit it is! At the widest point, it is over a mile wide and about 2/3 mile across the short dimension. It's about 1000 feet deep. The large piles we saw coming into town were the byproducts of the mine. The darker rock pile were ones that were excavated from the pit but did not have enough precious metal content to send to the crusher. The whitish pile contains what was left after crushing the stone and extracting the copper, gold or silver. Each pile is on the order of 3 or 4 square miles in area and well over 100 feet tall. No wonder they are visible from so far away in this flat area of the state.

Looking into the Ajo Pit Mine

Our next destination is Buckeye just to the west of Phoenix only about 85 miles from Ajo. This was the first time we have stopped at a place we have stayed earlier in our travels. We didn't do a whole lot while we were here. A few chores around the rig and some prep work for the rally we are heading to. We had opted to do the cheaper, dry camping option rather than spots with 30 or even 50 amp electric power. None of the spots have water or sewer but we are only here for 6 nights so by coming in prepared, we won't have any problems.

One Chore was Changing Water Filter - Can You Tell Old From New?

The Rawhide Western Town & Event Center is along I-10 just south of Chandler. The directions for entering the rally have us go one exit beyond where the event is. It wasn't immediately clear why that was until saw just how many rigs were sitting in line waiting to get into their spot. But doing it this way, there was less risk of the traffic backing up onto I-10 and causing all sorts of problems. We came to a stop when we were a half mile or so from the entry point and it took us 2.5 hours before we were finally in our parking spot. There were several hundred other rigs in the same huge parking area with us. Since we were all needing to run our generators from time to time, there always seemed to be fumes in the air.

Motorhomes as Far as the Eye Can See

Rally Location

The final tally for how many rigs were camped here was 2,627 with about 300 of that number being vendors and speakers. Of course with the several hundred new motorhomes brought in for everybody to check out, the total number was likely close to 3,000.

There were a large number of sessions scheduled for everybody to attend. Since there were normally 10 sessions going on at the same time, we had to go over the schedule and decide which ones we wanted to attend. The first one we attended was a standing room only event. The room held 300 but I suspect the actual attendance was close to 400. What did we learn at the first session? Get there early so you don't need to stand for 75 minutes.

Our parking location was a good 20-25 minute walk from all the sessions, so after walking over a couple times, we decided there was no shame in taking the shuttle bus. Over the course of the rally we attended about 8 sessions. Several of them were purely sales pitches while others were of more general information. One of the larger buildings housed the majority of the vendors. With well over 200 vendors there, we had lots of things to look at.

Several large lots were used for all the dealers that brought in various new motorhomes for all the people to walk thru. We spent a fair amount of time looking thru new rigs but didn't really see one that we absolutely needed. On the last day of the show, the saleswoman at the Newmar lot did her best to talk us into a new rig but we didn't bite.

Each night of the rally, there was some sort of entertainment. The rodeo grounds were setup with many hundreds of chairs and a stage plus there were bleachers on either side. We skipped the movie night the first night but did attend the other three live acts. One night was an entertaining comedian- Dick Hardwick. He had a mix of comedy and music that seemed to appeal to the large crowd that came to see him.

Keith Anderson, a country music artist, performed one night. We are definitely not country music fans and had never heard of him before. I suspect that most of the several thousand attendees that came for the show had not heard of him either. Once the nightly raffle (must be present to win) was over and Keith started his first song, many people started to exit. Since the floodlights remained on during the show and many of the people were using canes, walkers, or scooters, there really was no hiding the mass exodus. We stuck around for the complete show. Somewhat out of pity but mostly because we needed to wait for the buses or walk the 25 minutes back in the pitch black. At the end of the show Keith thanked those of us that had stayed.

Overlooking Crowd from Bleachers

Keith Anderson

The last night was a local cover band called Sapphire Sky. This group had much more interaction with the crowd. An area just in front of the stage had been cleared of  chairs to permit couples to come up and dance. I suspect it helped that almost all the songs they performed were ones most of us knew and could sing along with.

Sapphire Sky with Dancers

Finishing Up Rally

So how was the rally? I think it was fun. We met a lot of people. Only bought a few things. And we learned a few things. Maybe the most important thing we learned is that as an FMCA member, we are covered by a plan that will cover many of the transportation costs involved if we were to be in an accident or have a medical emergency. In just over a week, we will be at another rally in Tucson - hope that one goes as well as this one did.