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Winter Quarters Arizona

Pre-COVID19

By Time2Geaux Unplugged

May 7^th, 2020

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill

We left Louisiana New Years Day heading west. We had some RV rallies to attend and then no real plans until we headed north for Alaska in April. We had only briefly visited Arizona on several different trips, once to see the Grand Canyon and our first season when we stopped by Antelope Canyon near Page AZ. Two of our rallies were in January in Quartzite, the RV mecca during winter when several hundred thousand RV’s show up in the desert and to spend weeks to several months boondocking or camping without hookups.

After the rallies we were headed to Yuma for some service on our camper. From Yuma we really didn’t have any plans other than connecting with my brother and his wife who full-time with horses and were wintering in southern Arizona, below Tucson near the Mexican border.

Of course COVID-19 changed the whole world and our world included.

Rallies in the pop-up city of Quartzite

Quartzite, Arizona is a small town on I10 near California that started as a watering hole and later a stage coach stop in the Arizona Territory. The town mascot is a camel which looks out of place until you learn that in 1856 the US Army imported camels and an Ottoman camel driver named Hadji Ali for desert transport. Hadji's new US friends called him Hi Jolly and the name stuck. With the Civil War and changes in military focus the project died but Hi Jolly purchased some of the camels and continued transporting goods in the area. He is a local ledge and his tome is now the center piece of the Quartzsite cemetery.

The town has less than 4000 permanent residents but in January and February the population balloons to an estimated 1.5 million people when some of the largest RV shows and gem and mineral shows are in town. The nice weather, free camping on government land draws RV’s from everywhere. Ever wonder where the snowbirds are?

The big-tent show is full of RV related things, food and entertainment. We ended up staying almost a month with friends here, it was such fun. We watched our LSU Tigers win the National Championship with our friends Vicki and Paul Kinard of WanderU.S. and Renee and Don Hoyt of Adventurous Retirees. We enjoyed morning walks, evening campfires chats, pot luck lunches, mid day happy hours, amazing sunsets, made new friends, ran into old friends and connected virtual friends from social media with the real people. Went to training sessions, stargazing at night, with GEOASTRO RV who brought some bodaciou telescopes, several people had ultralights aircrafts, they are fun to watch. A few evenings we watched a music slideshow and slideshows on varous trips including one to Antartica and learned about RVing to Mexico. Paul, Don and Jeff led a class on solar installation. This was the longest we had boondocked in our camper since adding all the panels on the roof, we definitely learned how to make water and electricity last.

During this long stay we also made a day trip to the Desert Bar, which is a really interesting place. It's a bar located about an hour away from Quartzite, you drive way back down a Forest Service dirt road to get to this place in the middle of nowhere. Bands playing, good food, tons of people and interesting antiques everywhere. The place is solar powered and is open just a few months a year.

Quartzite from the air (photo by San Diego Reader)

Morning walking group at Boomerville (Quartzite BLM)

Utralights flying around the campsite!

GEOAstroRV.com telescope setup, plenty of solar to live in the desert

Grand Design Rally closing bonfire at Roadrunner BLM in Quartzite

JoAnn at the Desert Bar outside of Parker AZ

Lake Havasu City

After weeks in the desert it was time to enjoy the finer things of RVing so we headed to Needles, CA with Don and Renee for a few days at an RV Resort with full hookups. The park even offered rides in a golf cart from your campsite to the restaurant! We were able to fit in a little kayaking and a couple of movie nights during the weekend at Pirates Cove overlooking the Colorado River. Then we headed to BLM land south of Lake Havasu City where we meetup with Vicki and Paul. We enjoyed touring the city and making some hikes. One of the things that Lake Havasu City is famous for is that a local businessman purchased and moved the actual London Bridge from London to Havasu City and reassembled it as the focal point of the new city. After it was reassembled, they dug an inlet from the lake to a marina, under the bridge. Another highlight for us was a hike called, Crack in the Mountain, part of the local SARS network of trails. The hike follows a wash until it cuts through the mountain as a slot canyon.

We all parted ways for a little bit after this stop, Vicki and Paul went to Mexico and Don and Renee went to Organ Pipe National Monument and we headed to Yuma.

Colorado River at Pirates Cove, Needles, CA

From London Bridge, Lake Havasu City, AZ

Yuma, AZ

After enjoying our time with friends, we headed to Yuma, Arizona for camper service. On our way to Quartzite this year we had our first blowout on the trailer. It damaged the skirting on the trailer but Grand Design fixed it for us!

We had a chance to explore the area knows as the Imperial Valley where a lot of our produce is grown. Available water and year around growing seasons make this an ideal place for farms. Lots of different varieties of lettuce, broccoli and dates. We saw the chapel in the middle of a field for the pickers to use. It was fascinating to see how they pic the crops by hand and not use as much machinery.

One of our highlights we visiting the Cloud Museum which is the effort of a single gentleman, Mr. Cloud. He started collecting Ford Model T’s in his youth and has what is believed to be the largest collection. He has rows and rows of them, more than a hundred by my guess along with other historical items. If your in the area, be sure to make a stop, you can’t beat the price!

We were amazed at the process of harvesting vegetables! It is all done by hand, not a large combine tractor like we normally see with corn or sugarcane. What you don't see is that when the workers arrive at the field they not only have bathrooms but hand wash stations where each one is required to wash before entering and after leaving each field.

These guys work hard and appear to have long hours. These are the men and women (yes we did see some women) that put fresh produce on your table. With a year around growing season this place in the desert is ideal for year around growing. We were there in February and the weather was nice but I bet this is a harsh place to be in summer.

Cowboy Time

We headed to Arivaca, Arizona to spend a week with my brother and his wife. They are the ones who full-time with two horses! They were staying at Cedar Creek Horse Camp and this was our first exposure to the RV parks dedicated to horse lovers. The park is much like a regular RV park except that there are corals, hay barns and a club house that has fresh coffee at 6 in the morning. We were lucky to arrive on the night of the weekly potluck where we got to meet the others at the camp.

Doug and Monica had purchased a jeep since we saw them last and we went exploring the Coronado National Forest. We spend a day at Tombstone and went to rodeo in Tucson. We even had a chance to do some prospecting, gold panning and metal detecting! JoAnn and Monica got a chance to do some horseback trail riding, JoAnn said it was so much fun to be on a horse that isn’t programmed to follow the leader.

What a great time spending a week with family!

Tucson rodeo, Doug, Monica, JoAnn and Jeff

Doug and Monica at the Longhorn Grill and Saloon near Arivaca, AZ

Doug and Monica prospecting in Coronado National Forest

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks

After a few false starts, I became a member of the Elks. With our plans to travel to Alaska this year and the other couples we were traveling with were also members, they encouraged me to join so we could utilize lodge facilities during our trip. I came to learn that the Elks is the one of the most generous organizations you have never heard of… I look forward to getting involved in projects that fits into our travel plans.

To become a member you need a sponsor and I had several to choose from. In Quartzite we ran into a coworker from Dow Chemical, Ray and Debra Mangold. Ray was a member also and sponsored me. Both of them along with Don and Renee made an additional trip to Wilcox, AZ just for my ceremony. Thank you guys for that, it was so nice. After the induction ceremony, we headed to Roper Lake State Park at the foot of Mount Graham. We enjoyed a week of relaxing and exploring the area around Safford.

Jeff, Don and Renee at Wilcox Elks Lodge

Tucson

We headed back to Tucson to enjoy some hookups and good connectivity. We stayed at Pima County fairgrounds where we were able to explore Tucson and the surrounding area. Don and I spent the day at the Pima Air Museum which is next to the famous Air Force Boneyard but due to security issues we were not able to tour the boneyard, just drive by and see the row after row of planes in perpetual state of readiness. JoAnn and Renee enjoyed a day of shopping and we all met up for a movie and dinner. While we were in the area we made an unexpected really nice hike at Echo Canyon loop trail at Chiricahua National Monument. What a geological wonderland!

Another highlight was our visit to Mission San Xavier del Bac, south of Tucson. The current structure was completed in 1797, built over an earlier and much more modest mission that was established in 1692 by Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino. The mission is Moorish-inspired white stucco common in Spain in this time. It is the oldest European structure in the Arizona.

And then that's when the Covid-19 virus hit and we said "so long" to our friends. The last night we were able to visit and have dinner together we looked out the window at their camper and the picture below shows what we saw, a rainbow over their camper. We also decided to cancel our our plans to Alaska and we have been sitting still being responsible during this ordeal, ensuring we stay healthy.

Don, Renee, JoAnn and Jeff at Chiricahau NM

What we Learned:

· Memories with friends and family is what really matters.

· Traveling at a slower pace is more enjoyable.

· Arizona has much more interesting geology than I realized.

Next Stop:

In the new normal of ‘social distancing’ and most of the States in a ‘shelter at home’ status we are staying put outside of Phoenix. With a high available hospital bed to population ration and the warmer weather should help.