2010 » tgif: let's RV

Wind Cave Trail

RV Activities, RV Destinations, RV Parks & Campgrounds No Responses »

Dec 312010

I got up this morning to a cloudy and cool day. After coffee and breakfast I decided to tackle the Wind Cave Trail that is in the Usery Mountain Regional Park just outside Mesa, AZ.. The trail is about 1.5 miles long and ends at the Wind Cave which is not much more then wind-carved hollow at the base of a high cliff. The trail starts out fairly easy with a wide sandy path. The further you get up the steeper it becomes was rocks and boulders you have to negotiate over and around.

Along the way there are a number of places to rest and look out over the park and downtown Phoenix. The guide says to allow 1.5 to 2 hours for the 3 mile round trip but it took me about 2.5 hours. I was in no hurry, stopped to take a number of pictures and just enjoyed the hike. This is the parks most popular trail and even with the cold temperatures I met dozens of other hikers along the trail.

Once you get to the Wind Caves you can go another .8 of a mile to the summit of the mountain but I had enough by that time and decided not to go the last mile.While resting at the caves before my decent I heard some chirping. At first I thought it was one of the many ground squirrels I seen on the way up. But then there was this flash go by my head. Low and behold, it was a hummingbird flying around the few pieces of vegetation that hung from the ceiling of the cave. I tried to get a picture of it but it was too quick and the lighting too dark to get a good picture.

You can view more pictures from my hike in my Photo Gallery or follow my hike on My Spot Adventures.

Usery Mountain Regional Park

RV Destinations, RV Parks & Campgrounds No Responses »

Dec 302010

Yesterday I made it to Usery Mountain Regional Park. It is located just east of Mesa Az and north of Apache Junction AZ. By the time I got here it had already been raining about an hour and it continued to rain all night into the morning. Today the temps are in the 40's with 30MPH winds. So much for escaping to the warmth of the desert! They claim this is the "storm of the winter" and it is not usual. At least I am not back in NM where I was yesterday and the temps are dropping into the teens for the next few nights and they had 6" of snow.

I have signed up to stay 3 days but I believe I will extend my visit so I can let the weather warm up a bit and get out for some longer hikes. The park here is beautiful. This is what most people think of when you talk about the desert. Tall 20'+ high Saguaro Cactus dot the landscape with Barrel Cactus and Mesquite Trees. Each RV site is nicely laid out with a gravel pad, picnic table and fire ring. Water and electric is provided.

Preparing to Move to Mesa

RV Day to Day Life No Responses »

Dec 282010

Today I'll be getting ready to move on. There is a cold front coming through on Thursday and since I'm at a higher elevation it is going to get cold here. They are saying lows in the teens with an inch or two of snow. This is a great area and there are more things I want to see, but I'll jst do them on the way back home. So I have to wash clothes, fill the water tank, empty the waste tanks and load everything up for an early exit.

Right now I am looking to make it up to one of the Maricopa County Parks which is in the Mesa, AZ area. They have a number of different parks with camping that everyone says are great. The main problem is they do not take reservations, it is first come first served. I have heard they are not full so maybe I can slip in to Usery Mountain Park in the afternoon. Temps overnight there are going to be in the upper 20's so that will be a lot better.

I'll report back tomorrow once I get settled.

Driving Coronado National Forest

Geocaching, RV Destinations No Responses »

Dec 272010

When I got up this morning the weather was pretty nice. Temps in the mid 40's, partly cloudy and not much wind. Figured it would be a good day for a drive through the Coronado National Forest. I had already gotten a map from the campground that showed a loop with a few interesting places to stop and that seemed like a good place to start.

Part of the 30 mile loop was paved but about 3/4 of it was dirt forest road. I was told the roads were OK for a truck but too rough for a car.... sounds like an adventure to me! I did check to see if the wee any Geocaches on the way and there were a number of them so I uploaded them to the GPS. I packed my backpack with a few energy bars, a couple bottles of water, my compass and GPS, then me and Spud hopped in the truck to see what we could see.

As we headed into the forest and still on the paved road there was a sign no vehicles over 41' allowed. Doesn't sound bad, most likely narrow roads with sharp turns. A few miles after I entered the forest there was suppose to be a geocache close to a campground. As I pulled up to the campground, it was closed for improvements but was open hiking. I parked the trucked and to see if I could find it. The campground had some really cool campsites and I quickly found where the cache was suppose to be but I couldn't find it. I checked the feedback left by others and it seems like the past 3 people couldn't find it. Figures! All was not lost, it was a nice hike with some really interestingly laid out campsites

K to Q: Van Horn, TX to Rodeo, NM

RV Day to Day Life No Responses »

Dec 252010

Kalamazoo to Quartzsite 2010/2011 Day 6: OK, I know this is a day late for this update. I got to Rusty's RV Ranch about 1:30pm. They were having a Christmas dinner at 3 so I had to get part way setup and then cleaned up to make it in time for the dinner. Then once the dinner was done they built a big bonfire and we sat around, drank beer and told lies. By the time it was all done it was too late for a blog update so I'm a day late with the update.

The drive here was easy. I was worried about the traffic going through El Paso. I got into town about 10am and there was no traffic to speak of.... I couldn't understand why until I remembered it was Christmas Day.... Duh!

K to Q: Abilene, TX to Van Horn, TX

RV On The Road No Responses »

Dec 242010

Kalamazoo to Quartzsite 2010/2011 Day 5: It thunderstormed last night in Abilene and was still raining in the morning. It's not the most fun thing to break camp in the rain but they haven't had any rain in northern Texas for over 45 days so I won't complain. I was going to delay leaving for a bit but seen the rain would be ending in a couple of hours and figured I'd drive out of it within an hour.

I hit the road about 8:15am and sure enough, the rain pretty much stopped an hour down the road. Once the rain stopped the wind picked up and of course it was coming out of the NW which meant I now had to put up with a 20-30MPH headwind. My next stop in Van Horn is also 4500' high elevation. The triple whammy of rain, headwinds and uphill meant my fuel mileage was in the crapper for this leg. I averaged 7MPG for this leg.... ouch!

K to Q: Mt. Pleasant, TX to Abilene, TX

RV On The Road No Responses »

Dec 232010

Kalamazoo to Quartzsite 2010/2011 Day 4: I've been setting my alarm for 7:00am and that works out well to get me on the road by 8:30am. I was planning on a short driving day today, all I wanted to do was make it through DFW in once piece as I took I-30 straight through. I entered the Dallas area around 10am and popped out the other side of Fort Worth about 11am without any issues. Traffic was fairly light and there was only one place that slowed to 40MPH or so.

The drive to Buck Creek RV Park was uneventful. Buck Creek is located a few miles east of Abilene. Roads were good, traffic was light and even had wind at my back to get a few more miles out of my tank. The short drive got me here about 2pm which has given me some time to relax a bit. The park is pretty nice for being in west Texas. The lots are large and long, there are a few trees between sites, the WiFi is strong and fast plus I can get the 4 major networks on TV. The park is about half full with what appears to be long term residents.

K to Q: West Memphis, AR to Mt. Pleasant, TX

RV On The Road No Responses »

Dec 222010

Kalamazoo to Quartzsite 2010/2011 Day 3: Sometimes you never know what a new day brings. The morning started out fine and I got on the road about 8:30am. About a half hour on the road, even though I went to the bathroom before I left, I had that urge that told me I shouldn't wait much longer. Not a big deal. I looked for a suitable exit and as getting on the exit ramp I seen a sign for a truck & RV wash. Cool I thought, it's about time to wash the Michigan off the trailer.

I did my thing and drove over to the wash bay. There was a truck in the bay and one waiting to go in. No biggie, I've been to the Blue Beacon washes before and it only takes them a half hour max to do a truck. Figured I'd just have a cup of Jo and a cookie while I waited, and I waited and waited. During this time two more trucks pulled in behind me.

Finally after a half hour the first truck in line was done and the second one pulled in. OK, if it takes them a half hours to do this one, I might as well wait. Needless to say, it was over an hour before they got that one done. I couldn't back out before that because of the trucks behind me. While waiting I talked to the two truckers behind me and once the front truck left the bay, all three of us just pulled through and left.

K to Q: Shepherdsville, KY to West Memphis, AR

RV On The Road No Responses »

Dec 212010

Kalamazoo to Quartzsite 2010/2011 Day 2: Got around to leaving Grandma's RV Park around 8:30am and headed to Tom Sawyer's Waterfront RV Park. Looks like I am skirting the weather issues as it is suppose to snow in this area on the 24th. Gotta love leaving in the winter as you never know what storms can pop up.... just have to remember to be flexable.

No problems driving again. It was 35 and raining when I left so there wasn't a problem with ice or snow. Only 50 miles south and the temperature were already up to 50. By the time I arrived at Tom Sawyer's Waterfront RV park to was in the upper 60's. Sweet!

With the time change I got here about 2:30 so I figured I might as well dewinterize the trailer. Took about a half hour to clear all the lines of antifreeze. I put a bit of water into the fresh water tank and then filled the black and gray water tanks and then drained them to give them a good flush.

Kalamazoo to Quartzsite - Day 1

RV On The Road No Responses »

Dec 202010

I headed out from home this morning about 8:15am. There was no snow falling but it was cloudy and 15 degrees. I am bringing my Moped with me and have it mounted on the front of the truck on a carrier. I did run it around the neighborhood to make it worked OK and everything was secure. What I didn't anticipate was that once I got on the highway and up to speed, the seat wanted to detach itself. It's not a whole bunch of fun being on the side of I-94 in 15 degree temperature as trucks are whizzing by trying to bungie cord the seat down. I did get it tied down and was on my way.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. Roads were clear and dry, traffic was relatively light and it warmed up to the mid 30's by the time I made it to Grandma's RV Park in Shepherdsville, KY. I was able to try out the SPOT Communicator and it worked fine, tracking my route every 15 minutes. Was even to send update messages when I left, stopped for gas and food then arriving for the evening. So far it's pretty cool. See the map here.