Another trip…

Grab yourself a large cup of your favorite beverage, this one has over 100 pictures from an arboretum to enjoy…

Nearly four weeks passed before I got my Winnebago back on the road. During those weeks, I did all sorts of stuff you’d associate with moving out of one RV into another. So much stuff to move. Certainly easier than moving out of a old house into another, but still, lots to do. Had a continuous yard sale on the picnic table between the sites where my RV’s were, but really didn’t sell too much. While doing all that, had to get the old Bounder all presentable for sale. Cleaning really took a lot of time but it’s easy work so I don’t regret having to do it. I was really excited about getting the Journey on the road again for another road test but I had a little argument with Progressive Insurance. I wanted to have insurance on both rigs for 2-3 weeks so called them up and trusted the salesman to give me a deal because I now had two rigs covered, but only one driver. Sounds like a good deal for them doesn’t it? But when I checked online, incognito, it turned out they were charging me $260 freakin’ bucks more than if I’d bought insurance for the Journey without mentioning I was already insuring the Bounder.

So I called them up all indignant like and got nowhere. They would not budge, or give me a discount. OK, screw them. I cancelled the insurance on the Journey and only used the Bounder to go shopping. So the Journey sat without being driven for nearly four weeks. It ended up costing me $60 extra over what I paid for those 3 weeks where it was covered. They have an admin charge if you cancel. And though I’d paid with a CC, they only refund by check, taking 2-3 weeks to do so. Seems as though they like to punish people for cancelling. A-holes.

What I did was wait those 4 weeks, until my Bounder sold, then cancelled it’s insurance, went online and re-bought insurance for the Journey. Saved $200. And yes, they do have the best price for RV insurance so I stayed with them. I did research online and using Progressive saves me over $300 per year.

By March 29th, the day I either had to leave the RV park or pay for another week, the Bounder had been sold, I had the Journey insured and ready to travel, I had purchased all the RV’ing accessories I needed, and it was time to get back to being a full time RV’er. My first stop was going to be a Passport America RV park out in Tonopah off US I-10. About 70 miles due west of Mesa. Hmm. That’s not far enough. OK, I’ll head back up to that arboretum I’d passed on the first trip I took (see last posting) and visit that for a few hours before heading out to Tonopah. Why stay in the Phoenix area? Well, I could not find the Bounders title so I had to reorder it, have it sent to my brothers house, have him ship it to me, then get together with the new owner and sign it over. This can’t be done by mail, has to be in person, so…I had to stay nearby.

And off we go for another RV trip east of Mesa on AZ-60 towards Global. Not that far this time, just up to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum and then due east to Tonopah. It was all cloudy most of the trip up into the hills.

We’re getting higher, and the mist is still hanging in there.

And still cloudy when I reach the arboretum but at least most of the mist had cleared. Not all of it, but most. They’re trying to sell some plants. Except for the misty look to the background, this was an interesting view that doesn’t come out nearly as nice as just looking at it in person does. This one came out a bit better. Same hill, less mist. After I paid my $10 and walked out onto the pathway, turned to get this shot of the building. I kind of expected there to be a nice coffee shop with a cappuccino available but no such luck. No hot drinks at all. Just cold coffee drinks in a cooler. I passed on that. Wore long pants, a jacket, and a hat. And sandles with socks. Heh. But wasn’t going to let the lack of hot coffee stop me so off on the trail I goes… Oh, succulents. My mom’s favorites.

Pine trees from Australia I think… Someone or some group built this replica of an old pioneer’s cabin and homestead. Or they dismantled it from some old homestead locally and rebuilt it here. I don’t recall. Off in the distance, an idyllic setting for young lovers. Aren’t any here today though. This is far too small to be a river, still too small to be a creek, so it’s called a ‘seep’. Seems as though it drizzles water down the hillside most of the year. This isn’t original to the area, put in during the 1920’s as a puzzle circle. One thing you notice right off along the trail is how healthy nearly all the plants are. The wild doesn’t have so many nice looking plants…most of them look unhealthy. But not here at the arboretum. So many species of barrel cacti. This is a telephoto shot and it just looks like a rock, but from a distance it looks like a carved human head. They all look fat and happy, don’t they? There’s this tiny man made lake here. The main reason the plants lower down the valley look so healthy. A steady supply of available water from this lake. A creek supplies it, and it was dammed up during the early days, eventually creating this lake. Back when this was a homestead. Some kind of duck. All by himself. Didn’t have any family I guess. He let me get within a couple feet. This is the creek bed. Every once in awhile the flora thins out and you can see a little water. This was the property owner’s home. Boyce Thompson. He was a big fan of growing things.  Not much water in late March this year. They’re in a long term drought here too. I love these suspension bridges. As you might imagine, this creek can put on quite a show during rainy spells. There’s been a 5 year drought here so any water is underground now. Mostly. After crossing that suspension bridge, I’m on the ‘upper’ trail, looking down and across the valley to the ‘lower’ trail.  It’s not a very long loop, maybe a mile, and you cross the creek again to join up with the lower trail. After that hike, it’s relaxing time next to the bubbling fountain.A couple hundred feet more and you enter the ticket building again. This part of the building is used by people during the heat of the summer to rest a bit. It use to be a science lab, and right outside is the old glass greenhouse. Still has the old mechanical crank up roof windows. Here’s an explanation of the building I showed earlier while I was hiking. Wild roses. And that was the end of the arboretum tour. Enjoyed that quite a bit. And had a nice hike to boot.

Now was time to head to Tonopah, through downtown Phoenix…oh, wait, I took the bypass so not actually through downtown. But was caught in a traffic jamb anyway just a couple miles past where the shot below was taken. No big deal, it was still early in the day. Eventually, I’m on the outskirts of Phoenix and the average speed creeps up to 55 MPH. I’m good with that. And an hour later I’m parked and settled in at Saddle Mountain RV Park. It’s an OK park, does do the Passport America half pricing ($16/nite)…but only for 3 days. Has WiFi but they charge a freakin’ fortune for it. $4/day, $13/3 days, $40/month. It’s free all over the US, but here, $40/month. Screw that. I’ll just stay the 3 days, then I’m outta here.

The weather was pretty nice though. And the gravel covered RV pads are nice and flat. Gave me a reason to check stuff, like why that one jack passenger side rear was retracting slower than the others. Didn’t figure that out, but did find I needed to add a quart of ATF to the tank, and sprayed all the jacks with lube. They have a bunch of park models here. Some snow birds come here and spend all winter enjoying the (mostly) sunshine.

And that’s all for this posting. Next time, I move even further away. But still within a couple hours drive to Surprise, Arizona.

See ya all next time! Thanks for reading!