Thursday we moved to the Phoenix area to Desert Gardens RV park in
Florence. It is our first really disappointing park. The price is high, (most
expensive park we have stayed in since hitting the US) but customer service and
amenities are lacking. They are a Good Sam park, but only gave us the discount for the first night, a first for us. They have a separate wi-fi provider that you need to pay for service on-line, but in speaking to other
rv'ers the bandwidth isn't good. The "party line" here is they are too
remote to be able to get a good signal. There is a RV park next door and we have
been able to piggy back on to their free wi-fi. Has anyone ever heard of a dryer who's temp
can't be changed? This RV park has those special dryers. But every now and again
you have to choose a loser, it makes us appreciate the rest.
Friday morning we went into Florence to McDonalds to use their wi-fi. John
posted last week's blog and I had a few minutes chat with John's Dad, but I was standing
outside and hearing was difficult. We then went shopping, replacing our old sleeping
bags that have lasted us more than 10 years. Afterwards, of course, we watched women's
curling.
Saturday we watched some more curling and then headed for Casa Grande Ruins
National Historic site. The Casa Grande was abandoned around 1450 C.E.by the
ancient Sonoran Desert People. Since there was no written language left behind,
written historic accounts of the Casa Grande begin with the journal entries of
Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino when he visited the ruins in 1694. In his
description of the large ancient structure before him, he wrote the words "casa
grande" (or "great house") which are still used today. More became known about
the ruins with the later visits of Lt. Col. Juan Bautista de Anza's expedition
in 1775 and Brig. Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny's military detachment in 1846.
Subsequent articles written about the Casa Grande increased public interest.
During the 1860's through the 1880's more people began to visit the ruins with
the arrival of a railroad line twenty miles to the west and a connecting
stagecoach route that ran right by the Casa Grande. The resulting damage from
souvenir hunting, graffiti and outright vandalism raised serious concerns about
the preservation of the Casa Grande. President Benjamin Harrison set aside one
square mile of Arizona Territory surrounding the Casa Grande Ruins as the first
prehistoric and cultural reserve established in the United States.
After our educational stop we went to Don and Jackie Scott's for dinner.
Jill and her three boys where there so we had a nice visit with them. Don BBQ'd
for us, we had a really nice dinner out on their patio. Always wonderful to met
up with good friends when we are both enjoying different parts of the world. They
will be heading back to Calgary about the same time we are, so who knows we may
meet them somewhere along I-15.
Sunday we wanted to go for a hike. The rv park people didn't know where
there was hiking around so they suggested we go into Florence to visitor
information. Off we went, only to discover visitor info isn't open on weekends.
Why would someone who's business is dealing with tourist know that????? We then
decided to follow the Arizona state map and do a scenic drive. Part way into
the drive we say a sign to the Picketpost trailhead.
Today was the day of 2 happy accidents. First we tripped over this hike. What a neat hike. We met a number of
people on the trail and one fellow gave us tips for further hikes in the area.
He was a local hiker who commented that hiking season was pretty much over
because it was getting to hot to hike.
The second good accident was while
driving on a dirt road across the desert, a short cut back to town between 2 highways, we
came across a "town of Rocks". At least that's what we named it. It was very
similar, but smaller than the City of Rocks state park we saw in New Mexico. The
Rocks in this area seemed very much like the ones in New Mexico, so could well
have been the result of a volcanic eruption.It is on private land, not protected
from people adding graffiti. Unfortunately no amount of research could find out
what caused this anomaly in the area.
We got back to the trailer in time to
watch the gold medal women's curling final.
Monday we headed to a hike up Peralta Canyon, which was recommended by the fellow we encountered Sunday.
It was a special area. The hike was much more rugged and had far more elevation
gain than we expected, but the views were spectacular. We almost felt as if we
were in the Canadian Rockies. We even found a stream with water. We have decided
that in the future we will come back to the Superstition Mountains to do more
hiking.
Tuesday we moved again. We have come to the conclusion that making
reservations isn't necessary. We headed for Needles California. We
thoughly enjoyed the drive. Great scenery, Mountains with wonderful colours, the
red rocks of the Colorado River are starting to appear. The fact the temp has
climbed into the low 30's was terrific, considering the high in Calgary was - 7
C. We arrived at Desert View RV park about 3:00 P.M. A really nice park, ok
wi-fi, level, decent sites. The host took us to our site and a while later his
wife appeared to collect the fees and let us know we can stay as long as we
like. Our belief that reservations are a waste of time seem to be proving true.
About an hour after we got settled the hostess came by to invite us to a steak
dinner the next night. Lucky us. The park owners have a steak BBQ in
appreciation for their guests at the end of the winter season. We are included
because we are here. What a deal. Our evening was spent vegging in front of the
TV as well as looking for hikes for tomorrow.
Wednesday we spent exploring Needles. It looked like a tired little town. When
talking to people from the park, we find this area was specially hard hit by the
recession. The nicest part of the whole town is this rv park. We visited the BLM
office to pick up some information and maps. After coming back to the trailer
and lazing around all afternoon before heading over to the appreciation dinner. We
met numerous fellow campers and had a great steak dinner. This is a park we
would definitely return to, if in the area.
Thursday was moving day. We were on the road before 8:00 A.M., a very early
start for us. We stopped at Searchlight Nevada for diesel and breakfast. While
there we chatted with a couple who were heading back home to High River Alberta (we noticed the t-shirt).
They live only a few blocks from Trev and family. I warned them that this morning
it was snowing in Calgary and area. They had checked the weather out on wi-fi,
but their health insurance runs out on April 1st, so have to go back.
Our route to Valley of Fire State Park took us through Lake Mead National Rec Area. We got some nice photos along the way.
We arrived
at Valley of Fire State Park about noon. They have a few sites for rv's with
electric and water. Luckily we got the last one available. We are back
in red rock country, a favourite location of ours. Nevada state parks are fairly
costly and do not have the same amenities we had come to take for granted in the
Texas state parks. but the red rock scenery can't be beat. Just before dinner we
spoke to some neighbours that had an Alberta licence plate and a Shaw satellite
dish. It turns out they are from Okotoks and like us are working their way
slowly back to Alberta. However they have to be back within the week, as their
insurance runs out April 3rd, we are good until April 17th.
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