Motorhome News from North America 4

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Motorhome News from North America 4
Farewell to Arizona 16th February - 24th February 2006


In bright blue skies and a stiff freezing wind we left The Grand Canyon, heading east on Desert View Drive for farewell views, to implant a final image of this vast chasm; unable to resist the temptation to take yet more photographs - just to be sure. It was lunchtime before we arrived at the Cameron Trading Post, a Navajo retail spectacular with a fine restaurant where the Tacos were so big the doggie bag was brought to the table with the meal. Colourful Navajo rugs, beautifully crafted silver and precious stone jewellery, lovely sand paintings and other locally produced crafts are all sold here in opulent surroundings to rival Harrods; so unexpected, miles from nowhere and on the reservation.

Sunset Crater, our next port of call, lies just west of the 89 towards Flagstaff in Hopi Indian country. The volcano last erupted around the time of the Battle of Hastings, leaving the rolling red desert sand streaked with great swathes of windblown black ash. Much of the lava flow is still intact, principally as a result of the dry conditions in the area - and this year will certainly help its cause. A local Ranger told us there had been only 1.5 inches of snow this winter, an incredible 91.5 inches less than average! There will certainly be no skiing in Flagstaff this year and there is even talk of closing many of the local Parks for fear of fires if things don’t change fairly soon. Sadly, time did not allow us our planned ‘lava flow’ walk and we pressed on south, arriving in Flagstaff, straggling the old Route 66 with its white picket fences and the ever-present Santa Fe Railroad, late in the afternoon.

The road from Flagstaff descends steeply through Oak Creek Canyon, suddenly stunningly green, ponderosa and pinyon pine lining the walls, the clear, sparkling river tumbling over boulder strewn gullies, to Sedona - beautiful Sedona; overlooked on all sides by giant red mesas and buttes, and rugged mountains topped with white limestone against the deep blue of an Arizona sky. Sedona’s low-rise houses nestle under the trees, seeking protected from the ubiquitous UFOs and nurturing the New Age population, spiritual healers and vortexes that abound here. At 4,500 ft, it’s a near perfect climate, perched on the southern edge of the high Colorado Plateau, chilled by the desert wind under vivid skies in winter and cooled by fresh mountain air on the hottest summer day. The town, set against a backdrop of standing spires in Red Rock State Park to the south is reminiscent of Monument Valley in a minor key. This fertile land with natural springs was settled around 1876 after the last of the Tonto Apache Indians were rounded up and dispatched to far-off reservations.

Sedona is packed full of wonderful art, shops and restaurants, but it is not particularly motorhome friendly, so we camped twenty miles away at Dead Horse Ranch State Park (what an evocative name) near Cottonwood. It was good to be at a lower altitude (5,000ft) after several debilitating days at over 7,000ft. Even the early morning activity of putting on socks made us both dizzy and breathless! Huge cottonwood trees tipped with silver and kissed with mistletoe rise from the banks of the shallow Verde River where we went to find some new birds in the late afternoon; crisp sycamore leaves the gift of autumn, crunching underfoot. There were a few winter residents about; gila and ladderback woodpeckers, northern flickers and red napped sapsuckers, for starters. Tempted to discover more, we walked for a few hours with Pat and Kevin the local rangers the following morning, adding a few more exciting birds including not one, but a pair of great horned owls to our list. Now, that’s one big bird! (well, two, actually - with a wingspan of nearly four feet) We’re not sure whether we were having our legs pulled, as we were introduced to the wardens as Pat - and his wife, Kevin.

Now, it’s ‘own up’ time. Those who know me well, will perhaps be aware of my personal aversion to jeans - it’s probably something to do with them not having creases or something. Well, I still don’t have jeans, but I am now the proud owner of a pair of pristine white, all-American sneakers……and a cowboy hat to keep the sun off my head. I feel better for telling you that. Janice has also asked to contribute to this confession session. Todd has a new friend. Actually it’s his floozie, a bleached blonde bear called ‘Oatman Sue’ with Route 66 emblazoned on her jumper. Goodness knows what they get up to when we’re not around. Now, you know we’re both round the bend.

The picture of an army fort in the late 1800’s as depicted in cowboy movies might suggest a stockade with lookout posts around the top, high wooden gates, untidy uniformed soldiers, campfires, and skittish horses tied to railings. Whilst some of that might be true, it was interesting to visit Fort Verde for an introductory talk to learn more of the history and to stroll around the museum and timber-framed buildings with dusty - and surprisingly realistic, displays. Much remains intact; a broad square with a line of officers’ quarters, a medical room - and the cemetery. Fort Verde had no stockade because there was insufficient timber available locally for both accommodation and fencing. The guide started her introduction by stating the purpose of the fort. ‘The soldiers were here to round up the Native Indians and send them off to reservations.’ Now - there’s a surprise!

Let me quote from my book, ‘Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee. ‘They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one; they promised to take our land - and they took it.’ (Anonymous Indian.)


Ruins of ancient Sinaguan dwellings feature strongly on the tourist route in the area and we were fortunate to visit two of them. Tuzigoot is a 12C dramatic ruin on a high peak overlooking the winding Verde River near the old mining town of Jerome; and Montezuma’s Castle, a twenty-room cliff dwelling of the same period, is nearby. Both provide a valuable and impressive record of earlier times and both have good, though dated, visitor centres. Our Ministry of Buildings and Public Works (or whatever it’s called these days) would have a fit if they saw either of these monuments, saved - but ruined forever. Portland Cement features quite strongly at both.

A number of Native Indian Tribes have managed to rise, Phoenix like so to speak, from the ashes of despondency. Our overnight stay at Fort McDowell on the Verde River Yavapai Reservation revealed one fine example. The campsite provided free Continental breakfast, free Wi-Fi internet, use of the recreation room, pool and gym and a courtesy bus over the main road to the Casino - all for $22 (£13). Yes, gambling is OK on some Reservations and this one makes enough money from gaming, golf, mining and farming, to provide for the social, economic and cultural well being of the 900 strong Tribal Nation.
Fort McDowell is just to the north of Phoenix where we had planned to collect our license plates and to call in at Camping World for a few more accessories. We took advantage of their special offer to join the ‘Good Sam Club’ for just $2. The Sales Assistant asked for our address. “Where the handbrake is,” I replied without giving it too much thought. She had written ‘WHERE THE HANDBR’ before she twigged with a little help from Janice. We’re now members of several clubs, all promising campsite discounts and other services; mail forwarding (Family Motor Coach Association), ‘hugging’ (Escapees - can’t wait!), roadside assistance etc.

Despite earlier promises, our RV dealer let us down and our plates were not available, the blame being put on delayed paperwork from the previous owner. We would clearly have to sit it out until they were delivered the next day, so we headed north to Lake Pleasant for the night, returning to Phoenix the following day. Winnie now has a shiny new plate registered in Arizona at a total cost of $155 until the end of my month of birth, July, when we’ll doubtless find out how to renew it! Keep your eyes open for a smart Winnebago with the license plate 853 JFE!

Lake Pleasant stands amongst the saguaro cactus, peculiar to the Sonora Desert, and the Regional Parks Service provides a campground there with pitches for around 80 motorhomes. Like most Arizona campgrounds, it had a picnic table with seating for four under a shady ramada on each pitch, electricity, (50-80A) and water, ready to be ‘hooked up’ for $18 (£10.80 at today’s rate). Prices vary from $5 without hook-up, $12 at Dead Horse Ranch, $33 at a sumptuous RV Village and $22 per night at ‘take the tourist for a ride’ Grand Canyon - surely the most expensive place in America to buy postcards. They’re 75c each at GC and four or five for a dollar anywhere else.

A book titled ‘Free Campgrounds’ is the latest addition to our library, listing dozens of free and very cheap sites offered by State and National Forest Services, Bureau of Land Management and National Parks. It must be noted that there are tens of thousands of motorhomes in the USA, almost entirely owned by the ‘retired’ like us. Most of them are down here in the south in winter and they live rather comfortably; some in $1m outfits 40ft long! Before leaving Arizona, we wanted to visit one or two ‘wildlife refuges’ further west. En route, we passed through the town of Ehrenberg on the Arizona - California border, where I think we saw just one ‘real’ house. The rest of the town was made up of mobile homes and motorhomes. Nearby Quartzsite is said to be the ‘Motorhome Centre of the World’. I dread to think what that might be like, but I guess they must all love it. We gave it a miss.

To reach our selected wildlife refuges we crossed the wide plains on ruler straight roads to the southwest, through a billiard table of green baize twenty miles wide between the mountains; fields of alfalfa and cantaloupe, irregated by courtesy of long drains from the Colorado River. These huge, hedgeless, treeless, featureless and soulless flat plains stretch way down the river and into California where alfalfa lies baled in fields and onions, spinach and cotton await their summer growth

The National Wildlife Refuge System has reserves throughout the US, each with visitor information, friendly wardens and lists of local flora and fauna. The facility is run by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and our recent visits would suggest they are doing a good job, with well qualified staff and volunteers. Our main interest is birds and the exercise needed to find them! Our first refuge was the Bill Williams River Reserve, where bright leaved cottonwood and aspen lined the river, winding like a green serpent through the sombre desert. We walked for several hours below high mountain peaks enjoying the first signs of spring, seeking out the hummingbirds, turkey vultures and red-tailed kites, canyon wrens, flycatchers and dozens of other little brown jobs hiding in the creosote bush and mesquite amongst the rocks. Sandhill cranes drew us further south to Cibola on the Californian border, where hundreds roost each day. There we also saw our first snow geese - and coyotes, five of them, setting up great flocks of pintail ducks and huge swarms of Yellow headed blackbirds preparing to move north for the summer. Our bird list now exceeds 140 species, just about all of them new to us.

OK; “You’re going the wrong way,” I hear you cry if you're checking us out on the map, but these places are hard for us to resist! In the past week we have made our way south and then west from The Grand Canyon at 7,000ft, down close to the Mexican border around 120miles east of San Diego, to Salton Sea, a 35mile long lake, 227ft below sea level! The flat lands continued into California between far off mountains lost in the haze of smog from stubble burning, following the straight line of the Union Pacific Railroad with its mile long freight trains, but the Salton Sea held its rewards. The birding on the Sonny Bono Salton Sea Reserve was amazing; burrowing owls galore cheekily poking their heads out of their holes in the ground to check us out, thousands of snow geese and white-faced ibis. Janice has promised a bird report on the blog sometime soon for those of you who might be interested. There are many very keen and well-informed birders here, both locals and visitors from far away States - and they’re helping us to identify some of the more difficult species.

Winnie is performing remarkably well for such a sophisticated piece of kit, a bracket on the front roof vent gave way recently and the cooker hob ignition has now packed up, which is quite common - we had the same problem with Smiley. I have already replaced the drawer runners under the wardrobe with more substantial ones and, just in case it ever rains, I’d like to check the weather sealing on the roof. This machine weighs an amazing 6.5 tons compared to Smiley’s 3.5, but we wouldn’t be without any of those extras: the big fridge, the LPG tank, the slide-out bedroom - and the air conditioning in particular this week! We complained when the temperature reached 84 degrees one day - and it’s only February! I dread to think what the summer temperatures might be.

Arizona has been good to us and we leave with fond memories: of dramatic scenery beyond imagination, arid desert landscapes, high hillsides wreathed in pine, rocks and mountains a full palette of oils, and enough geology to fill a library. Then there are all those friendly people - and the continuous sunshine. We can count the overcast days on one hand with three fingers missing, and it has yet to rain! In six weeks we have travelled 3,000miles in a huge circle around this great State and each day has offered new excitement and interest. We have loved every moment.

As spring fast approaches we will be heading north over the next month, through California, skirting Los Angeles we have visited before and have no great desire to see again. There will be lots to see and lots to do, so let’s sing it, all together now - ‘California, here we come!’

We met a motorhoming man from Minnesota recently who offered some sound advice. “Man should be as bright as the goose,” he told us. “Go south in the winter and north in the summer.” The story goes that this holds good particularly for Minnesotans. So many leave in winter it’s empty - and the last one out has instructions to turn the lights out.

On that note, we’ll say, ‘Good night, till next time.’

Janice and David, the grey-haired nomads.

Quote of the week: Young lady at the supermarket checkout. “I like your accent. Where are you guys from?”
“England,” I told her, in my best London accent.
“Gee. That’s real cool,” she replied, wide eyed in apparent awe. (From all reports, it’s not cool - it’s freezing back there in the UK!) I think we made her day.

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Photos

Desert View - the Grand Canyon
Awesome!

Sedona
Glorious!

Cottonwood trees
At Dead Horse Ranch State Park

Great Horned Owl
One of a pair at Dead Horse Ranch State Park

Todd and Sue
Our companions; on Teddy Bear Cactus - ouch!

View from our free campsite
Oxbow Lake off the Colorado River

Coyote and Sandhill Cranes
Stand off at Cibola Wildlife Refuge

Sedona
Cowboy shop - got any good hats?

English tourist
How about those white legs - and the 'all American' sneakers!

Comments

[Tyranica]

L&C
Lewis and Clark discovered this tree., !!!! :-) ] xoxox Luv always