Yuma, Arizona

January 27 – February 27, 2019

After heading south from near the Canadian border in Montana we now found ourselves near the Mexican border in the southwest corner Arizona.

Welcome to Yuma.

Yuma’s got a quaint historic downtown with a couple restaurants and shops. Of course we had to go to Prison Hill Brewery where they have Han Solo encased in carbonite behind the bar for some reason.

Prison Hill Brewery. See if you can find frozen Han Solo

We also made a stop at Red’s Bird Cage Saloon, an old school Western dive bar. Hello 1974!

Red’s Bird Cage Saloon

We had dinner at one of Yuma’s higher rated restaurants, Lute’s Casino. Which isn’t actually a casino, but an old bar decorated with all kinds of random stuff scavenged from the streets of Yuma. Tasty onion rings though.

Lute’s Casino

There’s a weekly farmers market downtown, more arts and crafts than produce but we did get to try some medjool dates which are grown in the area. We wound up going to a date farm and buying a couple pounds later.

Farmer’s Market

Yuma is about 90 miles from the Salton Sea in California, so we made a day trip there to check out Salvation Mountain and Slab City.

Salvation Mountain
Slab City Welcome Center

Slab City
Slab City

Coming to live off the grid in the middle of the desert is pretty cool, but I gotta say a lot of Slab City looks like an episode of Hoarders.

From Slab City it was about a 15 mile drive to Bombay Beach, a resort town in the 50’s and 60’s which was first flooded in the 70’s and then abandoned by the shrinking Salton Sea leaving behind a salt-encrusted mess. Surprisingly quite a few people still live there and art installations made from debris are scattered around the town.

Bombay Beach
What used to be a Bombay Beach vacation home
Salt encrusted pilings in what used to be the Bombay Beach Marina
Bomb Bay at Bombay Beach
Sea Serpent made from debris in Bombay Beach
Bombay Beach Drive-In

 

Yuma is home to the Yuma Territorial Prison, popularized in the movie “3:10 to Yuma.” Now a historic state park, you can wander around and enjoy the miserable conditions.

Jim decided he wanted to try his hand at gold prospecting but first we needed a shovel. Funny story here… we get to the checkout at the local Walmart to purchase said shovel and apparently Arizona doesn’t just sell shovels to anyone! An associate had to verify that Jim was of age (the ripe old age of 16) before selling us this lethal digging device.

There’s Gold spent ammo cases in them thar hills!

Other things to do in Yuma were a trip to a date farm

Date milkshakes at a date farm

Go to the Rodeo

Explore the ruins of gold mining town Tumco

Tumco, or what’s left of it

And visit the parks along the Colorado River

Inmate James Schaedig booked on allegedly attempting to purchase a shovel while under aged

Quartzsite, Arizona

January 21 – 27, 2019

Everyone always talks about taking their RV to Quartzsite for the winter, so after our week-long bash with XScapers we had to go there and see what all the fuss is about. Oh, and to go to the Desert Bar that we saw on some Travel Channel show a few years ago.

Driving through the mountains to the famous Desert Bar

 

The Nellie E Saloon, A.K.A The Desert Bar

We paid a visit to the last camp of Hi Jolly.

The “Naked Guy Bookstore” or so they say, we were turned away the first time and the only guys on site the second time were authors of various western themed books we tried so hard to show interest in yet not be guilted into a pity purchase.  FYI they weren’t naked either!  

The RV show was going on while we where there, set up in the Big Tent, filled with vendors selling everything from sunshades to sugar gliders,

and nearby vendors where you could add to your collection of skulls and antlers,

and finally a stop at Beer Bellys to visit Lou and Nancy!

Lake Havasu City, Arizona

January 12-20, 2019

Our first Xscaper’s convergence, the 2019 Xscapers Bash

So much fun stuff

Beer!

 

Corndogs!

Then the rain came.

 

After several days of cold and rainy weather we took advantage of a break in the weather to hike up the tabletop mountain, a.k.a. Lizard Peak.

Hiking, that’s how it’s described in the brochure but this was certainly mountain climbing territory and I had the bumps, bruises, and scrapes to prove it!  

Yes, there actually is a table at the top!

The Bash was filled with informative and entertaining presentations.

Jim preparing for the Margarita Throwdown!  His mixology skills earned him 18 gold coins landing him somewhere in the top 5

Last but not least the Rave!

Casa Grande, Arizona

November 10, 2018 – January 10, 2019

We spent two months in Casa Grande, AZ.

Casa Grande is apparently best known for having the ruins of a failed computer factory built as a series of domes.

      

A day trip to find this cool Tiki Bar in Tucson was a MUST!  This place was great, the decor, the drinks, and the people felt like a mini escape from the desert.

A couple of breweries to check out…

Four Peaks Brewing Co, Tempe

The Perch Brewery Chandler has a somewhat tropical setting complete with live rescued birds.

We made a couple trips into Chandler which has a lively downtown area.

Unfortunately the polar vortex reached all the way down to Arizona and there were quite a few cold days, but at least it wasn’t 30 below.

Compared to Chandler, Casa Grande’s downtown was more like a ghost town but they did have an electric lights Christmas parade with around 100 floats. Back in Michigan I never would have survived the cold long enough to see more than a quarter of that.

One of the sad things about Arizona is so many people think it’s acceptable to dump garbage out in the desert. Anywhere you go in the desert you’ll find furniture, appliances and piles of trash.

But if you overlook all the trash you’ll see colorful sunsets that are always different.

We made a visit to Casa Grande National Monument, ruins of a pueblo dating back to the 13th century. 

We did some 4-wheeling around the Silver Reef Mountains, checking out old mine sites.

One day we learned about another thing in Arizona that can kill you besides the rattlesnakes and scorpions: Bee swarms. They attacked our hummingbird feeder for a few minutes then suddenly left.

Not too far away from our campground was Villago Park, a man-made oasis in the desert. While it was a nice place to go for a walk, it pretty much finalized our decision of where to go for next winter: back to Florida.

Apache Junction , Arizona

Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction, AZ was a pleasant and very scenic park.  Convenient trails leading from our campsite were a bonus, both us and the dogs throughly enjoyed them.  

The sunsets did not disappoint

Aside from the park the Goldfield Ghost Town was their main attraction.  

A trip to find the nearest breweries took us to Chandler, AZ.

 

This calls for a Celebration!

 

Sixteen states, 44 campgrounds, and over 8,000 towing miles later, here we are.  Yesterday marked one year since we said good-bye to our so called normal life and hit the road.  Somedays it’s shocking that it’s been a year already but others it feels like we’ve been doing this a long time, we’ve done more in this first year than some will ever do in their lifetime.  It’s been quite an experience.  As the insurance commercial says, “We’ve seen a thing or two.”

Do we have any regrets?  Sure we do.  We regret not doing it sooner.  Yeah, there’s things we could have planned better and took more time figuring out but to us, that’s all part of the adventure.

Do we miss our house?  You mean, the maintenance nightmare?  No.  Sure we miss things about it, like the washer and dryer, the dishwasher, the fenced in yard for the dogs and of course the beloved Tiki Bar, but those are just things.  We loved our house and we made lots of lasting memories there but we felt trapped and were always wanting to be somewhere else, not having to deal with homeowner responsibilities.

Will we ever settle?  Yes.  I’m sure of that.  This lifestyle isn’t always margaritas on the beach or hiking National Parks.  It can be stressful and it can be exhausting.  We do plan to slow things down, but we have no plans to stop traveling or living in an RV.  There’s still too much to see and do but it’s time to focus on us, and getting back to… reality??  We’ve kind of lost track of time, literally and whether we like it or not there’s still responsibilities in this lifestyle. Sometime in the near future we’ll have to look for a source of income.

Twelve months in and if it all ended tomorrow we would forever be grateful for this opportunity to have done what so many only dream of.   Fulfilling a dream that once seemed impossible is worth every single uncertainty we may have had.  As for you, no matter what your dreams are, I leave you with this quote.

“Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.” ~Wayne Dyer

Red Hills Desert Garden

Current Location: Hurricane, Utah (last stop before Arizona)!

On a day trip into St. George we drove past this place and thought it looked interesting.

Although the pictures are a small example of all that’s there it’s quite a big place.  At nearly 5 acres there’s so much to see.  Streams, a waterfall, tanks with native and endangered fish, plants… even dinosaur tracks that date back 200 million years!  The creative Halloween displays were even pretty cool.

This place was a nice break away from the crowds at Zion National Park.

I would recommend this place to anyone visiting the area, it’s wheelchair accessible, has public bathrooms, and even allows dogs.  Best of all, it’s FREE!

Wrapping Up Our Stay In Panguitch

We’re still here.  One more week and we’ll be off to Zion National Park.  It’s been a reality check for us and confirmation that we could survive in a really, really small town but not something we’re choosing to do at this point (or ever hopefully).  We like our conveniences  (and breweries) too much.  Oh, and this 4% beer HA!  At $12 for a 6pk of 4% beer I think I’ll stick to water!  So yeah, that pretty much knocked Utah out of the contenders of places we might like to live.

The scenery is nice though and up until now we’ve had some really great weather.   However snow is in the weekend forecast.  Yup, it’s time to go!

Now for those greatly anticipated photos!!!

Hiking the Navajo Loop at Bryce Canyon
Bryce Canyon – Hiking Navajo Loop
Bryce Canyon
Fall is coming the Aspens told me so
Cedar Breaks National Monument
Cedar Breaks National Monument
Bryce Canyon
Bryce Canyon

See Ya in Zion!

Panguitch, What? Where?

Just over two weeks ago we arrived in Panguitch, Utah.  It was kind of by accident but just what we needed.  After all the traveling and back to back National Park visits we were desperate for some down time.  Salt Lake City was at the top of our list, unfortunately there were no extended stays available.  The Hitch N Post Campground was the next nearest option.  It’s a small campground in a small town.  By small I mean No Walmart, No McDonalds, No Breweries and ONE tiny grocery store (not open on Sundays.)   Surprisingly there is a Hospital and the world’s smallest liquor store, you know, the important stuff.  We’ve finally had a chance to catch up on many things that had been neglected… all that stuff you thought we left behind, laundry, bills, groceries, cleaning (like the corn syrup explosion upon arrival)maintenance, travel plans, and job searching.  Oh and rest, we got some much needed rest and the dogs are greatly appreciative of that!

So far we haven’t gotten too bored, I mean check this out… cows on the beach!  How many times can you say you’ve seen that!?!?!  Well, probably more than I have so it was quite a comical site to me.We are about ten minutes to Red Canyon and a half hour to Bryce Canyon National Park.  So there’s that, and what a sight THAT is! Stay tuned for pictures from Bryce…

 

 

 

 

Museum of Clean

A two night stay in Pocatello, ID led us to this not so little gem of a Museum.    Possibly the most entertaining museum visit ever.  From the over 400 vacuums on display to the fun, quirky, creations made using cleaning supplies.  It was so much more than expected.  We even had the pleasure to meet the “man himself” Don Aslett, founder of the museum.  Don, is a bit of a celebrity
publishing over 40 books and even appearing on Oprah!  Still going strong at 83, and what a character!  Oh and if you’re wondering the place was CLEAN!

Continue reading “Museum of Clean”