Blogs from Camp Verde, Arizona, United States, North America

Going on a bear hunt, gonna catch a big one! I hope I see more than bears at Out of Africa safari park. I was greeted by the nicest lady at the entrance. There was a long line up going in but she took me into the gift shop to get signed into the park and no one could have been more pleasant. My special safari tour was booked for 2 p.m. but she checked and there was one open spot for 11 a.m. so she signed me in for that one. Then another person came in and apologized but she had missed one person in another group and needed that one seat after all. No problem with me. I wasn’t expecting to get my tour until 2 any way. She took me out and showed ... read more

Preparations have been going on for a while now for my departure on March 16. I keep having to jump hurdles - first snowstorms when I’m trying to get the motorhome out of the barn; next the van won’t start. I mean really won’t start - despite the fact that I started it regularly over the winter and let it run to keep the battery charged. Even a jump start won’t keep it going. As soon as the booster cables were removed, it quit. SO…tow truck to take it to Eichenbergs for a check up. Seems like it’s either a defective battery or alternator. It was so sad to see my disabled baby slowly trailing behind the tow truck. But better now than when I’m going through a desert in the South West. I thought I ... read more

There is a train trip on the Verde Canyon Railroad that I have been wanting to check out for a while. It's just a small 20 min trip up one way, and back the same way. We finally got some time and motivation to go try it out a few weeks ago. They have a special "Ales on Rails" all through the month of October to celebrate Oktoberfest, and we managed to get reservations for the last weekend. This 4 hour trip leaves out of Clarksville, which is a small town about 10 minutes north of Jerome on highway 89 and 2 hours north of Phoenix. It meanders up through the Verde Canyon along the Verde River to Perkinsville, an old abandoned ghost town. There, the engines switch to the other side of the train and ... read more

Train ride--Yahoo! On Mother's Day our friends Kat and Woody joined us on the Verde Valley Train to get yet another view of this area of Arizona, settled by a Copper baron. The campground has filled with pickleball players on the move from their winter locations. After 7 months in the redrock area of Arizona, we say our goodbye and hit the road again. Where I-17 meets I-40 we stopped over in the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. The painted desert is beautiful and not commercialized like the Grand Canyon. The layered reds, purples and grays must have inspired the Hopi Indian artists from this area. And the ancient Petrfied Forest, created during the Mesozoic period of tectonic movements of the earth's crust, was nothing like we imagined it would be. Side by side, they hold ... read more

4/10/2010-4/13/2010: Two long travel days fighting the wind all the way. First night - The Elk's Lodge in Needles, California. Second night - The Elk's Lodge in Visalia, California. The wind continued with rain, lightening, and thunder added to the mix so we waited out the storm by staying a second night in Visalia. Wind much better and no rain when we drove on to Red Bluff on the 13th. 4/13/2010-4/26/2010: Red Bluff, California: Settled in at Durango RV Resort for a couple of weeks with friends Fred & Lani. The first weekend we were in RB was rodeo weekend so we walked downtown and watched the parade. Quite a looong parade, too. One of the great things about Durango RV Resort is that it's easy walking to downtown and RB has a great downtown with ... read more