Winter Road Trip (3-5-23)

 Once mid January arrived and the weather was horrible, we looked at a map to see where we could go to explore-we were specifically looking for someplace new.  We decided to make a small loop, staying within the state of Arizona, but hopefully heading someplace warmer.

The trip didn’t go exactly as planned-but we had a great time nonetheless. Our first, brief stop was Quartzsite AZ. This is a haven for RVers in the winter, and the town hosts one of the largest RV shows in the area.  We- the 4 of us- found a spot to park for two nights, and waited for the “Big Tent” RV show to open. In the meantime we met with friends Debbie and Al for lunch and just generally wandered around. Although we spent very little time actually exploring the RV Show, we spent a fair amount of money, since Paul decided our tow bar for the Jeep needed to be upgraded.

Leaving Quartzsite, we headed for Yuma, AZ, where we encountered our first change of plans. We decided we were really enjoying resort life, so we extended our stay for a few days.

Also on the agenda was dinner with friends, and getting the rigs washed and waxed.  The guys were happy with the results, and very happy they didn’t have to do it themselves.

Of course, no trip to Yuma is complete without a side excursion to Los Algodones Mexico.  We headed there for lunch and shopping, buying some of the ingredients for our margaritas.  Liz and I also apparently bought other things, but our memories of the purchases are clouded by the margaritas we had with lunch.

Next stop on the itinerary was a short one at Painted Petroglyphs Campground.  This is a wide open BLM campground in the desert.  Naturally there were petroglyphs, which took about 30 minutes to explore.

We also drove around the area, and ended up unintentionally trespassing on private property. Luckily no one chased us off, and we saw a really interesting grave site.

 

After leaving there, we were headed to Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, but we stopped for lunch in the small town of Why AZ, which resulted in our second change of plans. The town looked interesting, so we found an RV park and stayed for two nights.  After setting up we drove back into town and walked around. The town square was really pretty, and definitely gets plenty of use by the locals.

As an added bonus to our unscheduled stop, we visited Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to hike one of the trails.  Paul and I have been here before but Liz and Randy haven’t.

Arriving at the Wildlife Refuge, we checked in at the visitor center to find out about camping. We know there are close to a hundred dispersed boondocking sites, but wanted some insight as to where would be a good spot for us. After driving around a bit, we found an awesome spot to spend a few nights. Mind you, the weather is still not great, no sitting outside, etc. but warm enough to explore….

We drove the Pronghorn Tour Loop Rd.and although we saw exactly zero pronghorn, I  was amazed at the number of hawks there are on the refuge.  It was the wrong time of year to see a Gray Hawk (which would have been really cool) but we saw tons of red tailed hawks, and  I even saw my first Northern Harrier.

This is when the “Merlin Bird ID” comes in very handy!

The four of us hiked Cienega Trail, which is a 1.5 mile birding trail.  The most interesting things on the trail were the trees.

Paul and I also hiked 4 mile Mustang Trail, and although we didn’t go all the way to the end, it was a good trail, and good exercise.

Our plan was to boondock in the Patagonia area of Arizona, but the recent rains made the roads too slick for us to deal with.  Instead we headed for the small town of Sonoita.  Along our travels, we were trying to find ways to connect with friends who live in the area.  We missed a few due to last minute plan changes, but we did manage to connect with a few as well.

As I said, Sonoita is a small town, and doesn’t have much going on- but it does have a good brewery.  In fact we liked it so much we ate dinner there twice.  The rest of our time was spent driving back to Patagonia to explore.  The Paton Center for Hummingbirds there is a great place to spot all kinds of birds, not just hummingbirds. We found it to be a very relaxing and enjoyable place to hang out.

Although I saw the Violet Crowned Hummingbird ( a new variety for me) getting a picture of one turned out to be an exercise in frustration.  We visited the sanctuary several times over the course of a few days.  I had my good camera at the ready, but it jammed before I could get a picture (this is not my picture.)

The following day Paul and I went back, specifically to see if I could get a picture of this bird- and I forgot to put the battery back in my camera! 

Armed with an annual pass to all Arizona State Parks, we made the effort to check out Patagonia Lake State Park. There is a campground here, but the lake is very popular with boaters, and the campground books out months in advance.  That’s ok, we were just there for lunch.

The Sierra Vista area of Arizona has a lot of interesting things to explore.  We have spent some time here but Liz and Randy have not, so we were happy to head back there.  Then we realized the drive to El Paso to check on Paul’s mom would be a lot shorter from here than from our house- so we left the rig with Liz and Randy and took off for El Paso, returning a few days later.

Oh, one of the few things we did while in Sierra Vista is go see the movie ‘80 for Brady’.  I admit I am biased, being both a Tom Brady, and New England Patriots fan, but I thought the movie was a lot of fun. It brought back some great memories. 

The Super Bowl the women were trying to attend was the Super Bowl of 2017.

 Lots of my friends thought at the time that I must have loved the game because the Patriots engineered the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. BUT- we were losing for most of the game! 

 

It wasn’t until there was less than 2 minutes on the clock that we tied it up (from 28-3 to 28-28).

Everyone was shocked and awed when the Patriots won the game 34-28!

What made it extra special is that the original game was played on mine and Paul’s wedding anniversary, and we went to see the movie on our anniversary. Fun day!

From there it was time to head home, since we had visitors arriving soon.  On the way, Paul and I stopped in Phoenix for a couple of doctor appointments. 

November into December 2018

November was a relatively quiet month for us- we did some stuff around the house, and our daughter Jess came to visit for a few days.

That was actually pretty "exciting".
She had never been to the Desert Bar but had been hearing about it for ages, so we decided to take the Teryx there, using the back trail. Sadly, as you can see from the picture, we tipped it over.

Luckily no one was hurt and we continued on our way to the bar for lunch.
















After that excitement, things calmed down for a week or so.  As Thanksgiving approached we realized that other than Jess, we wouldn't be having any company for the holiday. That's unusual, and we got to thinking that there was no point in staying home if that was the case.

We threw out some ideas of where to go, and landed on Joshua Tree National Park.  Jess had never been there, it is only about 2 hours from her and about 3 from us. So, we packed up the trailer and took off.

We had cooked the turkey before we left, and decided to have our family's traditional Thanksgiving dinner- Turkey Enchiladas. We had a great day and had even found a spot in an RV resort with 4 pools and 6 hot tubs!







Joshua Tree National Park is obviously named for the unusual Joshua Trees that live inside the park- but I think its misnamed.

It should be called Boulder Park because the real fun of the park is climbing all over the boulders!

Joshua Tree is a small park and isn't as well known as some other parks, so it never dawned on us that it would be so popular the day after Thanksgiving!  We waited in line for over an hour and a half just to get into the park!

 We decided we might as well wait it out, even though we knew that parking would be an issue. Instead of parking at the hiking trails, which was our original idea, we parked along the roadway and explored the boulders nearby.













It wasn't exactly the outing we had hoped for, but we had a great time, and got to show Jess at least a little bit of the park.







Once Jess left for home, we had no intention of doing the same. Since we were out and about already, we kept going.

Our next stop was El Paso, to check in on Paul's mom.  Since it was a two day drive, we broke the trip up with a stop in Tucson, where we met up with our friends Dave and Nancy.

 After a couple of days with Paul's mom, we headed for our next destination- Bisbee, Arizona.











Our objective was to tour the copper Queen Mine.  We have toured quite a few mines in the past...so many that I could probably have passed on this one, but off we went.

After donning our hard hats, we boarded a small train that took us 1500 feet into the mine.

The tour was actually very interesting, and was conducted by someone who used to work for the mining company.

When I think I am going to be bored, I try to pay attention and find one or two bits of information I can come away with on a tour. I wasn't at all bored on this tour, but still, my favorite take-away was how they would use dynamite to blow an area into rubble. They set an ever increasing circle of dynamite sticks, and connect them together with fuses.
When they are done, they light it and walk around the corner. They don't have to go too far, because the way it is set off, it implodes, instead of exploding. They also needed to stay nearby so they could count the explosions and make sure there wasn't a misfire.

Once we were back on the surface, we drove past the mine on our way to our next destination.










Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument has been on our bucket list for quite a while, and we finally made it there. This national monument is in southern Arizona and shares a border with Mexico.
Pictured is the Organ Pipe Cactus that it is named for.








Our plan was a simple one. Relax, explore, relax some more. And that's what we did. There are two scenic drives- we drove both of them. There are numerous hiking trails.... and most had incredible views.....

At night the weather was perfect for sitting by a campfire watching the sun set.

Once we had had our fill, we headed back home.

And yes, I am on a mission.