Arizona

We spent the majority of the winter in Arizona, checking out various state parks and volunteering at the annual Escapade RV rally. We met some new friends during this time, got reacquainted with folks from Rochester and spent time with Amy’s sister and did some more camping with our good friends, Jim & Corinne.

We spent a few nights at Quail Ridge RV Park, one of the least expensive RV parks we’ve ever stayed in. They advertise a rate of $13+ tax per night and at this price, one has to wonder about the place. All the reviews were quite positive so we thought we would give it a try and we were not disappointed. We have stayed in far worse places for several times the cost so it worked for us as a place to hang out before our run of state park stays.

Remembering that Amy’s birthday was coming up, our friends, Rob & Laura, asked where we were going to be for the event. Once they found out we were going to be at Picacho Peak State Park with Jim & Corrine, they decided to join us and brought their friends, Duane and Jean, along with them. We had a great time at the park and celebrated Amy’s birthday with some pulled pork cooked on our smoker.

Next on our agenda was Lost Dutchman State Park, east of Phoenix. In order to stay in the park for the number of nights we wanted to, we were required to change our site twice during our five night stay. We spent the time with Jim and Corinne and spent one afternoon visiting Organ Stop Pizza where we listened to live music on a giant Wurlitzer organ. The pizza was not very good but the experience can now be checked off the list.

We had visited these two Arizona state parks during previous winters in the area. Our next stop would be our first visit to Catalina State Park north of Tucson. We would stay here for 2 weeks, the first few days with Jim & Corinne before they headed back to Las Cruces and then the final week with Amy’s sister, Karen and her husband, Fergy.

During our first few days at Catalina State Park, we got re-acquainted with Hal and Vonda McLenon, formerly of the Rochester area. We had them over to the park for dinner one day and they invited us all over to their place for the Super Bowl. After Jim and Corinne left and before family showed up, we went on a hike in the park with Hal and Vonda. We had a great time getting to know them better and appreciated their hospitality.

Back in January, Dan had ordered Starlink internet and had the hardware delivered to Karen’s place in Colorado knowing that they would be joining us in Arizona. Amy joked that this was the most excited Dan has been to see her sister. We’ve been enjoying the Starlink but have learned that our love of wooded campsites and the Starlink’s need for a clear view of the sky don’t mix too well. When a clear view of the sky is there, our internet connectivity is the best its been since hitting the road. In all honesty, the Starlink isn’t the only reason Dan was glad to see Karen. She brought some beer from their local brewery as well! 🙂

We had a great time visiting with them in Catalina State Park and had a bit of excitement when it was time to move from there to Rusty’s RV Ranch in New Mexico. There had been a bit of rain and high winds while we were in the park and the morning of our departure day, the camp hosts came to our door and told us if we wanted to get out we should move quickly. The water in the wash was rising and was already crossing the road and over a foot deep. We managed to get out and through the wash with no issues and were on our way for a few nights stay in Rodeo, New Mexico.

This was our second time at Rusty’s RV Ranch in Rodeo, NM. We had a relaxing visit, playing cards, taking a short hike and enjoying the park’s Friday night potluck with live music. Soon it was time to go our separate ways. Karen and Fergy headed east and we returned to Tucson to help our friends prepare for the Escapade RV rally later in March. We took this opportunity to have Amy drive from Rusty’s to I-10, about 15 miles. This was her first time towing the RV for any significant distance and she did great!

We spent the rest of our time in Arizona preparing for and attending the Escapade RV rally. We helped with odds and ends before the event got going and we both volunteered on the parking team as the event commenced. The highlight for us was a talk we gave on the first day of the event. We gave a presentation on our experiences last year hiking the Appalachian Trail. We had a good turnout for a talk that was not centered on RVing and the feedback we received was very positive. We got to see a lot of our RVing friends and met some new friends as well. We had a great time.

Once the rally was over, we started our journey east. We made our first stop in Las Cruces to catch up with Jim and Corinne and then worked our way across I-10 and eventually into Georgia to see Amy’s folks. We stayed at a lot of the same state parks and COE campgrounds that we’ve used before with a couple of new ones thrown in. Fontainebleau State park was a new stop and we really liked it there but the sites were really too small for our RV and we’d likely not return with it. We also tried Yegua Creek COE outside of Sommerville, TX. We had a nice site on the lake there and would recommend the park.

We did spend one night at Beerburg Brewing Company, as Harvest Host location. While we were there, a fellow Appalachian Trail thru-hiker that we both had the opportunity to meet on our hike last summer joined us for dinner. We had a great time reminiscing and getting to know each other better. It’s been fun these past several months meeting up with hikers we had met and enjoying time with them.

We are now in Tennessee planning the next phase of life. After 5 years of traveling and living in our RV, we’ve decided it is time to find our forever home. We will post a blog on how all that is going soon so stay tuned.