Life gets away from us sometimes (also as you will see below, connections have been problematic in the great American outback). Economy in some areas we have been at has been pretty awful. El Centro has about 24% unemployment, yup. However, lots of alternative economy goes on there.
We visited a very safe border town–10 miles east of Yuma AZ. Algodonas MX, maps have some other name, but that is it’s newer one. Lots and lots of Americans go there for American quality dental and optical work. Food is safe their–even I ate there ok. Bought MX manufactured (at least not India or China) drugs with no prescriptions. I felt like I was buying illegal stuff on a street corner I am so FDA trained. But these were all very nice pharmacies. Below is a compilation since leaving El Centro (we were there a week) and after Quartzite AZ (in the desert for 2 weeks) and after leaving Phoenix January 14th:
Joshua Tree National Park was awesome. Wow, so much to see. One day we put on 150 miles and felt we had barely seen anything! We also got the downpour on one day, so had an at home kind of day, some r&r from the touristing. We really enjoyed the place. No civilization though–no mail service to the visitor center, no phone, no Internet. Campgrounds only 1/4 to 1/3 full. Very quiet and low key. ! Lots of remote dirt roads for Ray to dirt bike ride and explore the desert landscape; Ray is starting to learn to ride in sandy washes & roads. We want more! We were there about a week and it seemed too short
After that we went to Lake Havasu City for a week. Verizon and a local company are locked in court fights we were told, therefore service was poor again. Occasionally I could maybe read email but not compose or reply or even delete. And if we got a connection it could disappear in seconds. All this was tough on people used to instant service. Amazing how we have gotten so dependent. Then the phone service–would cut out at whim on a regular basis so we kept it to short and necessary and had best luck only with local calls.
In LHC we visited with Neil’s brother Craig and wife Marilyn. Did lots of catching up and enjoyed their company. Camping in LHC we spent the first nite in Lowe’s parking lot, then 3 nites at a basic time-share type RV park (for the price of having to endure the sales pitch for 1 3/4 hour–we hardly did anything, nor had any real discussion but he knew we weren’t to be swayed so it was over pleasantly). The price for that was total $19.95 for the 3 nites. Compared to the upwards of $40-50 per nite we would have had otherwise in town. So that stay got us all set up for about 4 days in a fabulous BLM “dispersed” camping area just barely north of LHC called Craggy Wash. Scenery there is beautiful and dirt riding was to be had right out the door!
Also while in LHC we were able to visit a bit with more former Flagstaff friends, Terri and Bob Kline. We only could spend a very long lunch into the afternoon, but reestablished an important connection for us.
In LHC we took the ferry across the lake (free courtesy of free casino coupons from the resort park, otherwise the charge is $3 per person); went out to drive around Pittsburgh Point; bought the rest of my seasonal herbs at Lowes (now planted in pots), had a great lunch at Thai Nakarin on McCulloch Blvd. Very yummy. Then we moved on last Friday afternoon to base in Kingman AZ for 6 days.
Sunday March 1st we drove west to Lake Mohave, on the most southern area of Lake Mead rec area. Fabulous mountain scenery over the two passes on Hwy 68 in about 30 miles. Had a cove and marina all to ourselves for a bit (Princess Cove). Sat on the boat dock and put my feet in the cold clear water. Felt great. We also drove down the block (about literal) to Laughlin NV to check out the retiree hoopla about the area. Mini Las Vegas to us, not as opulent but certainly quite a bit of the gambling and show action. LOTS of places for RVers to park. One is actually on the AZ side, Davis Camp Mohave county campground. They have a line of spaces facing the Colorado River, with palm trees and cabanas at each spot. And lots of openings (economy I’m sure). Wow. $25 per day is a great deal, their $400 for a month is a steal – maybe next year we’ll stay there.
At the Riverside Casino we pulled in and spent lots of time at an amazing (and free) antique car show they have ongoing. Some cars change out periodically and some are for sale and some are art pieces really. What a gorgeous sight! Took too many car pictures. There was a 1938 Cord–red, convertible racing type car that we coveted. We don’t gamble, so we are on the look out for alternative offerings in such locations.
The day before we took route 66 east toward Grand Canyon Caverns, for the drive and a picnic (and restroom). Figured to not do the caverns tour (still glowing from Kartchner Caverns AZ). About 1 1/2 mile from the caverns parking lot the truck in front of us blew out a tire. They were dolly towing a car too. Never have we seen a tire destroyed so badly, amazing. Well, that is a very very deserted area (about 9 miles east of Peach Springs) and they (John and Mary) are from Michigan. We stayed with information, trip to the caverns for bathroom and coffee and company till the tow got worked out. We actually all had a good time together. Very very nice people. You never know how or where you may bump into good folks. It took 5 hours to get a tow, from Seligman (about 20 miles) to them!! Way to go AAA. We said our goodbyes at that point. Gave them our card to hear how it all turns out for them. Likely getting towed to Flagstaff–106 miles. What a day for them. We drove our 60 miles back to Kingman and went out to dinner.
Day before that we drove out to old mining town/now touristy Oatman AZ and fed carrots to the wild burros–took lots of pix. Place looks the same now as it did when MaryAnne was there in 1977. Then drove back thru Kingman and drove up to Hualapai Mountain Park (saw snow) (and overheated the car on the 12% up grade). The mountain is about 8330 feet and stands over Kingman.
Well that’s the last few days after leaving LHC. We are having a home day–tired! In the afternoon we went out to the very comprehensive Mohave County history museum and the Route 66 Museum. Mohave museum has great Indian and Pioneer history and seemed to have endless display rooms! The Route 66 museum covers the Mother Road from early Spanish days. It includes a very moving section focusing on the dust bowl days and the grapes of wrath era travelers. Very heart wrenching. So its not all getting your kicks on Route 66. So if you are in the area or could be, it is certainly worth the stop to check out both of these great museums.
Wednesday we are driving to Congress AZ to stay 2 nites at an RV park that is in our Escapees Club membership. They are extremely basic–but camping is only $5 per nite. We’ll hang out in the desert and look at scenery. Then on Friday we are back at the Paradise Resort in Phoenix for a month, then a week wandering, then about 10 days in Albuquerque for the National Good Sam Club convention. Then eventually back in Denver area about first of May for about a month. Then heading up north Boise bound.
Oh, you may ask why in the world were we in El Centro CA of all places; well I have a dear friend, Sue and her husband Lorenzo and Sue’s adult son Jason, who I also knew from Flagstaff days. While there he was an evaluator of a ‘mock trial’ high schools do like debate team and such (Lorenzo is a state attorney). We went to watch and had a great time and had lots of questions for Lorenzo about court process and strategy afterward. We also toured up to Salton Sea, a neat date tree farm (was there twice, I love dates), and Palm Springs. In Palm Springs we had dinner at a restaurant right next to the town statue of Sonny Bono. And while there it was the nite of the week for the town street fair. Imagine one nite every week vendors not cars line the streets of this busy place. Ray made it out to the Superstition Mountain BLM land for dirt riding several different days; learned about riding in desert sandstorms (don’t do that again!) and watched the Blue Angels practice flying overhead.
We have adjusted to the current economy by driving some less (which is no hardship, there is still toooooo much to see and do along the way) and staying more creatively in less expensive places (again no hardship–and we have had better scenery and views).