The Superstitions near Phoenix

We are camped at Mesa Regal RV Resort—quite the luxurious place, and huge--2000 sites, crowded close, but it has four pools and every activity you can imagine.  This is how the other half of snowbirds live—swimming, happy hour with neighbors, biking around the park, zumba, Bible study, even a concert by Jimmy Fortune of the Statler Brothers.  There is a grapefruit tree at every site.  We are relaxing for nearly a week here while we wait for the snow to melt in Flagstaff.  We want to start north, but it is still winter there.  We are staying here half price with Camp Club USA that we joined in fall.  We rode the tandem bike to church and the concert because the hall was on 4th Street and we camped on 20th, all within the park.

The Superstition Mountains loom over Apache Junction, stark and steep.  We hiked at Lost Dutchman Mine State Park, but did not find the fabled lost gold mine.  Another fabulous hike and another amazing feat for Don to handle the rough terrain.

We drove part of the Apache Trail up into the Superstitions, with hairpin curves, drop-offs and hills.  Canyon Lake is one of several reservoirs on the Salt River that used to water crops for native people centuries ago.  We had great chili at Tortilla Flat—an old mountain stagecoach stop, now with a population of six, but lines of tourists enjoying the drive and the prickly pear ice cream.

I don’t know how these campers got up here—I sure would not drive a trailer up this road.

Queen Creek Olive Mill has great Italian deli food, but we spent way too much on olives, olive oil and tapenades.

At Lost Dutchman Days in Apache Junction, the midway shines below the Superstitions.

The festival featured a rodeo—a first for us.  We enjoyed every event. 

Bareback broncos

Calf roping

Saddle broncos

Bull-riding:  I cringed a few times when the bulls threw riders and seemed to charge them on the ground.  I agreed with the announcer when he commented on the necessity of wearing a helmet to protect the skull that protects the brain that actually advised, “go ride on a bull.”

Phoenix

We are back in Phoenix--the phoenix that rose above the ashes of numerous ancient communities in the Valley of the Sun--first as irrigated farms, then a mecca for snowbirds and now an impossibly sprawling city.  We have been delighted to spend time with our good friend Ruth’s daughters, Gwen and Kari and their husbands and children, who we don’t see much since they moved from Wisconsin.  At that great Super Bowl party, I talked nearly the whole time to Donna who was in the English department at Concordia University with me.  We also had one of the typical Kennedy Middle School retiree two-hour lunches with the Arizona snowbirds.  Great talk with great teacher friends.  That is Lin in blue, whom we haven't seen in years.  All you Wisconsin KMS teachers--wish you were here.

We visited the famous Heard Museum in downtown Phoenix with its wonderfully informative displays on each of the southwest tribes, complete with native art and ancient artifacts.  Again we were struck by the resilience of these courageous, long-suffering peoples, some of whom are long gone, but others who have survived to preserve their cultures.

The Desert Botanical Garden showed us another view of the now-familiar Sonoran Desert, this time with recreations of native people’s homes and lifestyle.  The entrance is enhanced with shimmering glass cacti by glass artist Dale Chihuly.  We have admired his work at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

The Palo Verde are such green, green trees.  It’s like the trunks are painted green, but their color enables them to continue photosynthesis even when leaves are off due the dryness.

White Tank Mountain Park shows how flash flooding over the centuries wears away rock to create big round depressions like tanks in the canyons.

I found out why the teddy bear cholla are called jumping cholla.  I could swear I stayed two feet away from this one to take a picture, but suddenly it embedded its thorns into my leg, through my jeans.  And they are not easy to pull out!

Desert sunset

Joshua Tree National Monument

We finally were cleared to leave Quartzsite with our new wheels.  I am a bit edgy on the highway, but semis passing me do not cause a bit of sway with this rig like they did with the travel trailer.  It's good to be back in a 5th wheel.    It may take a little while, but I'm getting my nerve back behind the wheel.

We headed to Joshua Tree National Monument in southeastern California for a little time in the wilderness.  Being in the wild restores my soul—just us, nature and God.  That is Don down there in the wash.

The Sonoran Desert that we have been in throughout southern Arizona with its saguaro, cholla cactus, dry ocotillo, creosote bushes, and green-bark palo verde trees gives way here as we cross into the Mohave Desert of southern California. 

Ocotilla gets green leaves up to five times a year when it rains.  This is the first time we saw one with leaves.

Teddy bear cholla—that fuzz is really sharp spines.

The Mohave at this higher, somewhat moister, elevation has juniper, yucca and especially the strange, beautiful Joshua tree.  Mormon pioneers were reminded of Joshua, arms upraised, leading the Hebrews.  It is actually a large yucca that branches when touched by a hard frost.  It can get to nearly 40 feet tall.

The park also has fantastical blocky formations of ancient granite.

From Keyes View mountain, we saw the San Andreas fault far below.  This range shifts several inches a year to the southeast compared to the Santa Rosa Mountains across the valley.  The fault is just in front of the low hills in the middle of the picture.

The Tundra is officially totaled.  Insurance check is on the way for the camper. Our new truck is a mean-driving machine, but all luxury inside.

New Wheels--8 of them

We are still in Quartzsite, AZ.  The money transfers just came through on Saturday, and the dealership is still doing final prep on the camper.  Today we went to a Southern Baptist Church (no Lutheran church in town) to thank God again for our safety.  They had a potluck at noon and insisted we stay.  Very nice.  We are feeling so much better than a few days ago.  God and the Steamroller and lots of people in Quartzsite have taken care of us.

The new condo-on-wheels is a 5^th wheel—no more travel trailer for me.  It is a 2006 Keystone Copper Canyon Sprinter with a big slideout.  Very clean and beautiful.

The truck is a 2010 ford F250 with only 3500 miles on it.  Used meant $10,000 off.  It was ordered originally for towing so it is all decked out with big power extension mirrors and everything and fancier than we are used to.

Accident aftermath

We have had a horrible few days, homeless, driving a truck that is now questionable, and having to pick through the wreckage for bits of our lives.  We found the “happy camper” frame in five pieces, but never found the picture of us and the grandsons that had been in it.  Broken glass is everywhere and salsa among other things splattered on everything.  We take turns melting down and comforting each other.

The steamroller has helped.  Somehow we were taken over by a local insurance adjuster/collision repair specialist/teddy bear/steamroller of a guy named Roy.  He said, “You two have been through too much to be in that Super 8 in Quartzsite; you need to relax at the casino.”  Next thing we knew, we were in a room at the Parker, AZ, casino, looking at the Colorado River and the mountains beyond, sitting in the hot tub to soak away the aches from the accident, enjoying good meals.  The next day he had us in a class C motor-home toy-hauler (meaning the back is a garage for motorcycles or whatever).  It's just what we needed to store what we could salvage from the wrecked camper and to sleep in.   

It appears that our truck is totaled because the cost of repairs would be more than 60% of the value.  I am feeling a bit skittish about the accident and thinking maybe we don’t want to tow again with the Tundra after it had been twisted and hung up in the air.  We decided to get a new bigger truck.   Quartzsite right now is the best place to buy a camper, because they have more RV dealers per square mile than any place else on earth, and they want to move the campers now because most dealers are just here in the winter.  Today we bought a Ford F250 in Blythe, CA and a 27 foot 5th wheel in Quartzsite--a lot of money in one day.  We fell in love with both at first sight and think we got good deals.  We have always saved up and never financed any vehicle, but this was a bit sudden and we haven't had  time to transfer investment funds--another strange thing for us, to have to finance.  It will take another couple days to get a 5^th wheel hitch installed and the camper set up.  To avoid paying California or Arizona sales tax and just pay Wisconsin sales tax which is less, we have to take delivery in a different state.  So we drove across the bridge from Blythe to have a Notary Public witness that we took delivery in Arizona.  Same thing with the camper—buy in Arizona but show that we took possession in California.  So weird.  The insurance still has not been settled, and we can’t go until that happens.  We still have not hit the flea markets and shops Quartzsite is famous for, so we hope to do that too before we head back to Phoenix.

Accident in Quartzite

Well, here is a blog I never thought I would write.  We left Phoenix Monday morning after the fabulous Packer Superbowl to go boondock in the desert for a couple days and see what all the fuss is about in Quartzsite.  I moved over on I-10 to give room to a DOT truck pulled over on the shoulder.  Moving back into my lane, the trailer started to sway.  I have felt this a couple times before, and it is scary.  This time I could not pull it out; the camper fishtailed and I watched it in my rearview mirror as it flipped over, coming to rest across both lanes of traffic with the truck upright, but hanging up in the air facing semis coming at us with a 75 speed limit.  Truly God was with us.  Everyone stopped; no one was hurt.  Once the tow truck got my truck back on the ground, I drove it away.  The camper is totaled.  The axle was so bent, they could not tow it; they had to load it on a flatbed.  Then we searched through it at the salvage yard, looking for a few pieces of our lives.   I found my computer as you can tell.  When the policeman asked what was of great value in the camper, I looked at my hand and said, “I must have forgotten to put on my wedding ring this morning.”  In the wreckage of the camper, I found the trinkets box I keep my jewelry in.  It had not spilled out.  The rest was jumbled, but there all alone in the top compartment was my wedding ring.  God put it there.

We are fine; no one else hit us.  A few aches are to be expected.  Tomorrow we will go shopping for a new camper—no more travel trailer though.  It will be a 5^th wheel again like our first one.  We have been sorry since we bought this camper that we didn't realize how much more difficult travel trailers are compared to 5th wheels.  Quartzsite is an RV mecca.  There are at least eight RV dealers with big sale and clearance signs out, so we will look carefully.  We do need to clear our stuff out of the wreckage though soon.  The contents of the refrigerator are splattered all over everything.

I didn’t think to take pictures until the camper was pulled back on its wheels.

Thank God with us for keeping us safe.

Tucson 2011

Our first month of four is finished, and we are already a little tired of the dust and dryness of the desert.  Then we landed in Tucson Mountain Park.  Wow!  We are camped amid the saguaro and other cactus, surrounded by mountains and peace.  At sunset we see “purple mountains’ majesty” looming above us.  This is pure Sonoran Desert, the main habitat for the majestic saguaro which grow a foot higher every ten years and don’t develop their iconic arms until they are 60-70 years old.

Teacher friends Alice and Jerry took us to Tumacacori, a ruined mission near Tubac south of Tucson.  We also were in awe of Mission San Zavier del Bac, a restored, still active mission founded around the same time in the late 1600’s by Fr. Kino.  The O’odham native people in the area found themselves subjects of New Spain, then Mexico, then the United States without ever moving. 

A visit to the Arizona State Museum on the U of A campus made chillingly clear what we have been learning in New Mexico, at Chiracahua, and here, how ruthlessly the native people were exploited, massacred, and removed from their ancestral homelands.  We have seen how tribe after tribe was comfortable in their way of life and then forced onto reservations, where the conquerors tried to educate them in foreign ways and fed them poorly.  If the natives had been left alone on their land, the US would not have had to provide for them.  They had been doing just fine.

Teacher friends Joan and Dave took us to the Tucson Gem Show where we were awed by huge geodes of amethyst and other mineral spectacles.  I had to buy a pearl/mother of pearl pendant, of course, since I forgot my jewelry at home for the winter.  Marie in Silver City helped me find some rings and earrings, and we set some stone pendants, so now I have jewelry to wear.  Don teases me that I forgot my jewelry at home deliberately so I could buy replacements, but honest, I didn’t.

The Desert Museum just up the hill from our campground in the desert is a fantastic place to see all kinds of desert life—plant and animal.  We even saw some organ pipe cactus which was great since we have decided not to go to the Organ Pipe Nat’l Monument due to that area being a funnel of illegal activity crossing the border with Mexico. 

The raptor free flight of Harris hawks enchanted all of us.

We crossed paths again with Jean and Ron from the Las Cruces Habitat build, and went out for pizza at the Open Range, a little place out in the desert—way, way out in the desert.  They don’t serve alcohol, so we took a six-pack.  The pizza was huge and loaded with just everything, including a few too many jalapenos, but oh, was it good! 

Tucson and Phoenix get much of their water from the Colorado River, hundreds of miles away.  The water’s ph damages the city’s pipes, so they run the water into ponds where it soaks down to replenish the water table before being pumped up in wells to serve the city.  The ponds are carefully monitored so the water percolates down rather than evaporates.

Saguaro National Park gave us a glimpse of petroglyphs and  lovely walks in  the serenity of the desert.  It is definitely growing on us.  

The saguaro sometimes take almost human shapes.  The native people respected the desert and the saguaro as symbolic of the generations of ancestors before them.