We return to Phoenix with heavy hearts with the loss of Marcia’s long time friend, lifelong friend, Joyce. While in the Smoky Mountains we found out that things looked real bad. Joyce had walked into the hospital on Thursday, by Friday she was bed ridden. On Sunday we decided to alter our trip to try and make it out to Phoenix as quick as we could with still getting promised visits in with Marcia’s relatives in Indiana, and my doctor appointment, which I moved up, in Arkansas. Well, we did not even get out of Indiana before Joyce passed away on Wednesday from Leukemia. We are here now to see her daughter Laurie, and attend the Celebration of Life on Sunday where all of Joyce’s adult children will be there…many of whom Marcia has not seen for many years.
This is our second or third time at Cave Creek. The first picture shows us in the pull-through, the last available for a week, while this picture above is what our door opens up to. No grass for the kids, but this sandy gravel is something they don’t seem to mind…no stickers to deal with.
This time of year there are few people in the park, although I expect the weekend will bring in a few more. We did not make reservations because that cost extra…and I could tell from the website that there were many sites to choose from for a full week, over half of the spots…so I don’t expect it to get too busy at all.
Our drive down from Camp Verde was not long, about 70 miles, but the wind did not make it easy. About half way there is a rest area, and we stopped just to give my hands a rest because we were being blown back and forth a lot at times. On the outskirts of Phoenix there is a Walmart and a Denny’s…we did Denny’s first so that we would not buy all the junk food that we can’t have. Denny’s are Denny’s, but we had an exceptional server named Candice, and that made Denny’s feel more like a real restaurant this time. Then nearly an hour in Walmart, and getting out of there for under $100, we put our stuff away, I re-hooked up the car, and off we went to Cave Creek.
After a bit of a rest, Skruffy and I stepped outside to see what we could see. Most of the following pictures were taken sitting around this table…
I just love Quail…and I don’t mean the “taste” to Quail, I mean I love seeing them, and hearing them. This one skirted along the road behind the motorhome…when they start a running, you don’t have much time to take the picture.
It looks like the bunny and Skruffy were having a stare down. In the picture to the right, just follow her nose and you will see the bunny. Unfortunately, Skruffy did not see the Bunny at all, even though it was that close. Her poor Diabetic eyes are just not what they use to be. Her hearing and her smell seem to be more enhanced, but she is more startled by loud noises, and if Marcia and I are laughing at a TV show, she will even go hide in the bedroom.
This little guy was just as happy as can be on top of this saguaro cactus. The cactus was far away, and many of the shots did not come out very clear. Not sure what type of bird this is, I know there are many birds that love saguaros…but I think this is a Gila Woodpecker.
This guy walked right in front of us. Skruffy did see it, but she ignores most birds.
This pair were out under the ‘tent’ looking area just outside our campsite. For awhile I thought I was going to have an “Adult Blog” today…but one of them finally just chased the other one away.
It looks like we are a few weeks too late for most of the desert blooms…
But regardless, it is nice to be back in the desert at Cave Creek.
What size is your motor home? Do you have enough storage space? Can you boondock with solar panels or are you tethered to electricity? Is there anything you'd change about your RV if you could? I'm in the market for another motor home and want to downsize from 34' to around 25-26' max. I'm tired of the toad and want to be able to just use the motor home for everything. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Glad ya'll are enjoying your trip. So sorry to hear about Marcia's friend.
ReplyDeleteHi Judy...let me try and answer your questions:
DeleteMotorhome is 28 feet, one slide. We removed the couch and have two Lazy-boy chairs there. If you travel alone, you could easily make the space into an office area.
Storage: Under there is one large space where we keep tools, fluids (oil, additives, etc), bulbs, wheel covers, etc. One could store a chair like one that folds into a bag. There is a space that does not lock where we keep our holding tank stuff. There is a space which holds our electric wires and I have kept the water hose in there, but find it easier to keep in the tow car. There is good storage under the bed too, along with a pantry (see: http://goingrvway.blogspot.com/2015/01/pantry-makeover.html) and closets on each side of bed with two drawers under each, and overhead cabinets over bed, over lazy-boys, and one over sink, with a few drawers under sink and stove.
We have one folding solar panel which I put out and connect directly to the batteries. This has helped us boondock at NF campgrounds, although with two us on computers all the time it does require a little generator time to help out. Generator is built into the motorhome. There is room for perhaps 2-3 panels on the roof, more if the satellite dish wasn't up there (which we don't use).
Changes we made include removal of couch, strengthening slide floor (see http://goingrvway.blogspot.com/2015/05/replacing-slide-floor.html), change pantry, and other than adding solar, which we feel is not justified in our case, I can't think of anything else.
If we did not have a toad, we would have no problems at all parking in a two parking space area at Walmart, in any Cracker Barrel that has RV parking, etc. It is not small enough to pull into a 7-11, park at our Condo, etc...that would take a RV Van, which we might step down to in a few years.
We stepped down from 40' to 32' (which burned in RV storage fire) to 28'. Marcia always feels there is not enough space for storage, but after three years with this one she has adapted well...but misses the Washer-Dryer of the 40' motorhome. At 28', with V-10 Ford engine, this has been a very reliable, and durable, motorhome.
Hope this helps. --Dave