1/19 - 1/28/05 Getting Whole in the Sonoran Desert
I'm not sure where the Mojave Desert leaves off & the Sonoran begins,
but soon after crossing into Arizona, I started to see the signature
Sonoran plant form, the Saguaro cactus. I also noticed that this desert
was green! I don't know if it is so green because of the abundance of
rainfall this winter or if it is always this green here in January.
Anyway, the desert is green here in Eagle View RV Park too. This isn't a bad place to be under the circumstances. The weather has been delightful, mid-seventies day after day. We're on the far north east end of greater Phoenix, along the Salt River in Apache country. This is my first extended stay at a pure RV park. We're all on asphalt pads laid out in diagonal rows separated by crushed rock. So kind of sterile, though most folks are friendly, including the people who run the place. I've had to move around the last couple of days because they didn't have a single site that I could book for my whole stay here. Last night I was parked next to a big expensive looking motor home that tows a (get this) Hummer for their get-around car while camped. They give RVers a bad name. Weren't very friendly either.
We arrived Wednesday afternoon & after setting up (discovering the broken slide-out), I decided I deserved a treat (on account of all of the latest adversity). So I took myself across the highway to the Apache casino & ordered a prime rib dinner, washed down with a Guiness. It was pretty good & I felt better after.
In the morning I called my RV warranty contract holder & got an appointment for Friday to get Gypsy fixed. Also called the solar guys & they walked me through some troubleshooting that identified a blown fuse as the problem there. So things were looking up. The wireless internet service was pretty flakey though, so I had to work from the RV park recreation room where they had desk space & good service.
Friday I took Gypsy to the doctor, then dropped Timmy off at PetSmart for a shampoo & do. I found a Starbucks at the other end of the mall & set up there to work for the next few hours using their wireless service to connect. Yes, there I was in classic form, sipping my coffee at Starbucks, logged into work & redesigning a departmental web page. After I picked up Timmy, we parked next to the Starbucks & I finished my afternoon work. Then we picked up Gypsy, now whole again & headed back out of town. After two days of living in cramped conditions, it was nice to push the slide back out when we were parked again.
Saturday was a good day. I replaced the mangled stabilizer jacks, installed my towing mirrors that I've been hauling around for weeks & went grocery shopping. The nearest supermarket was a few miles away in Fountain Hills, famous(?) for its "worlds tallest" fountain. When I first saw the fountain a few days ago from several miles away I had wondered what the heck is that?!? Now I drove by it on the way to Safeway. I have to say, to me it represents colossal hubris to be blasting that much water into the sky here in the desert.
Sunday we took a hike outside the RV park & ended up down along the
banks of the Salt River. I remember seeing the Salt in summer on previous
visits to the area, totally dry. But this Salt is still running high with
brown runoff-laden water. It's obvious from the downed trees out in its
bed that it has been much higher recently. Got word from Mirabai that
she's shipping my replacement satellite transmitter, so maybe soon I can
try independent camping again.
Back to work on Monday, but because of the poor wireless signal at the
outer part of the RV park where we ended up, I had to go back to working
in the park rec room. Whatever it takes... That evening as I was heading
out for a bottle of milk, I noticed the full moon rising above Four
Peaks Mountain as the sun was setting, with rosy clouds hovering on
the horizon. I circled back to Gypsy, grabbed my camera & ran to
a good spot to snap a picture, one of my favorites.
I decided to put my solar to the test this week, so unplugged from "shore" power Tuesday morning. It's not a true test, since I won't be running the computer & satellite modem all day, but it should give me a baseline. Maybe watching 4 hours of PBS on battery power Tuesday evening helped validate my test. And I guess it is only fitting that on Wednesday, the one month anniversary of setting out on our odyssey, the rains came. No sun all day, so no recharging. By the evening, it only took 5 1/2 minutes of microwave cooking to drain the batteries down to "condition red" on the meter.
I've been looking at where to go next. Since I plan to meet up with my sister in a couple of weeks at Bullhead City (south of Vegas, northwest from here), I don't think I want to go any farther east just now. Pleasant Lake, a Maricopa County park north of Phoenix, sounds nice and they tell me they generally have dry camping availability. No long drive to get there and proximity to the city: Sounds good.
Thursday took Gypsy back in to have the water heater & oven fixed & again worked from a Starbucks. Parts on order, so have to go back AGAIN. Good news on the satellite front though: package arrived from Eugene & after replacing my transmitter, I was online in minutes. Yay!
Friday morning on our early walk Timmy & I came across a healthy looking coyote ambling through the brush. We looked at each other for a long moment, then the coyote disappeared down toward the river. Later that morning I learned the parts came in, so we headed back to Mesa to have the work completed. Now everything is fixed & we should be good to go.
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