My Trails

Happy New Year everyone!

I’m back at Imperial Dam LTVA again. I’ll be here until I get itchy feet and decide to explore a new place. Richard and Dianna will arrive in a few days and we always have fun exploring the area for fun things to do.

I feel lucky that I can live this nomadic lifestyle and migrate with the weather. Even though the winters here in the southwest can be chilly and windy, it is way, way better than the weather my kids are experiencing back in the northeast. All last week it has been dumping snow and hurtling bone-chilling temperatures over most of the upper USA. I talked with my Daughter, Jen, who lives in Western New York, to hear her tell of a foot of snow and -10 degree temperatures. Here in Yuma I have been inside much of today because the temperature only got to 68 degrees. I’m such a wimp.

It was nice camping with John and Rick at Big River BLM by Parker last week. We had many good talks where we solved most of the problems in the world. Each morning John and I walked two miles for our daily exercise. It’s always better for me to have someone that motivates me to exercise. I’m sure it’s the same for him.

While I was camped at Parker, a pickup pulled in and a man waved out the window. I didn’t recognize him at first. It was Bob, another full-timer I had not seen since Cottonwood last year. We went completely different directions this summer, he to the east coast to see family, and I to the north to see Alaska. But the desert southwest is where many of us migrate to this time of year and hang out for the nice climate.

I purchased a new laptop computer a while ago. It’s a Microsoft Surface that can be used as a touch-screen tablet or with a keyboard that clips on. It’s nice and light and compact but I’m still getting used to Windows 10. Right now, I’m using it as a tablet to write this and it is even more awkward than using my phone. I know the phone key touch well, and it is a new learning curve with this touch keyboard. Santa didn’t bring me the keyboard so I guess I will have to go buy one soon.

It is one of those cold, windy days where the only sensible thing to do is stay inside and maybe take a nap. I’m camped with my friend, John, only five miles from Parker, Arizona. I moved here two days ago and we have had nice temperatures and calm winds until last night. Shortly after I went to bed last night the wind started rocking Minnie and making noises with the roof vents. I didn’t get much sleep.

Every morning John and I walk 2 miles. This BLM campsite is surrounded by mountains and deep washes. There is a long road running back to the foothills that makes a nice place for morning walks. If I get ambitious and the weather gets better, I may take Honda back a few miles to explore.

There are quite a few campers parked in the dispersed pullouts along the road. It’s not crowded. Most of the rigs are Class C’s, vans, and small trailers, and we all seem to find a little corner in the desert to call home. I have found few places to dump and get water near Parker, and I think that’s probably what keeps most of the big rigs away.

The cell service is excellent, and if you rely on OTA TV, there are many broadcast stations on antenna. The nice thing about this location is the fact it is only five miles to Parker and all the perks of a city. Yesterday, I rode to the Walmart, went to see a movie (Star Wars – The Last Jedi), and washed some of the grime and dust off Honda at a self carwash. I used a little restraint and drove right past McDonalds.

I plan to be here until next week and then start back south. As long as I have the LTVA pass, I may as well take advantage of the facilities it entitles me to. It’s only 40 miles south to Quartzsite, where I will camp for a few days, and then move down to Yuma after the first of the year. There are many places in southern AZ and CA I like to visit during the winter and the LTVA pass gives me the option to come and go as I please.

It has been almost a month since I last blogged and a lot has happened in that time. I’m not going to go into long detail of everything I did in those weeks because it was with family – personal and interesting mostly to us. I just want to tell all my siblings, children, grandchildren, and every relative and friend that it was a wonderful time of bittersweet memories I will forever remember.

In February of this year, my Mom passed away in her home in Mesa, Arizona. All five of her children, along with Richards wife, Dianna, Daryl’s wife, Gisele, and Mom’s grand daughter, Heather, returned her ashes for burial in a small cemetery in Western New York where she grew up. It was a sad time of final goodbyes but a happy, nostalgic time of visiting all the places where we lived when we were young. After her burial, twenty five family and friends gathered at the lake house we rented to celebrate Mom’s life through remembrance of her.

My three children live within a few hours of Mom’s final resting place so I spent a few days with each of them. I first flew into Pittsburgh and stayed with my daughter, Karen and her husband, Damon. It was a wonderful time of being together again. They spent one night at the lake house and moved to a motel the next night. Poor Karen came down with a bug overnight and was sick the day of the burial.

While we were all gathered together in Cuba, New York, we drove around town and looked at places of our childhood – the house my Dad built, the homes of Grandparents, our school and hospital where Mom worked as a nurse, our favorite cheese store, and all the parks and fields and woods where we used to play when we were little.

The weather was cold and rainy but we found things to do every day. One day we visited Corning Glass and afterwords ate dinner at a favorite restaurant that featured many meals spiced with maple syrup. The time we spent together was very special. I can put it no other way. When we parted everyone wondered when we would all be together again. Mom was the tie that brought us all together, and things would change as we all went back to our dispersed lives.

After the lake house I spent a week with Jen and Louie in Franklinville, NY. It was a fun time catching up on their lives and seeing all the grandchildren again. Grandchildren grow up so fast that in just a couple years they change from kids to young men and young ladies. One afternoon Louie took me with him to the YMCA where we worked out on the exercise equipment. Afterwards, I got to watch grandaughter Lucy practice gymnastics with her club. She is really getting good at all those flips and balance manoeuvres.

I next spent a few days with my son David and his wife, Lisa. They have three precious little girls all under the age of 5. They are the sweetest things, but full of energy and ready to run circles around their tired Grandpa. One evening I took them out to Cracker Barrel, my favorite restaurant, and the next day we went to the Toy Museum near where they live in Rochester, NY.

After a whirlwind trip to New York, I am now taking it easy in Quartzsite, Arizona. It was wonderful to see and spend time with my kids and grandkids. I love them all very much.

I moved to Cherry Creek today. This area of dispersed camping is a lot nicer than Thousands Trails. There are only a few other RVs parked here so it is a lot quieter and cleaner. My friend John has been here for a few days and it was nice to hook up with him for a good visit. We will probably go walking tomorrow morning for some exercise.

The officials around the Sedona/Cottonwood/ Camp Verde area are closing some of the dispersed campsites down. It’s probably a combination of reasons why they are trying to move people out, but it usually comes down to a few people that spoil it for the rest of us.

This area seems to be a magnet for the homeless. A few years ago, homeless people were living in the Walmart parking lot and a confrontation actually ended in shots fired. The Walmart quickly put an end to any overnight parking.

The campground by Thousand Trails has also become a haven for degenerate types. All around the desert is trash left by people that are stupid or that just don’t care. Abandoned tents, pieces of junk RVs, broken chairs, and bags of garbage are just some of what litters the camping area.

I’m sure the RV parks in the area don’t like to lose the business, and some people don’t like the idea of even seeing RVs parked in a tourist area of scenic red mountains, but you can hardly blame the Forest service for moving people out that make a mess and destroy the land.

I’m back in Cottonwood for a few days. I really enjoyed the two weeks I spent in Payson, but I felt it was time for a change. That’s the nice thing about living with wheels. When you want a new view or neighborhood, just pack up and find a new place to stay.

Payson was almost perfect in temperature. The nights were a little cool sometimes but the days were usually great motorcycle riding weather. I rode several back roads around town and near Star Valley to places I have stayed before, mostly to check on cell signal with my new carrier, and also to see how many had found my secret campsites.
I was only five miles from Walmart so it was quick for supplies, and I found a water spigot just three miles from my camp.

When Richard and Dianna took me to explore new places to camp we ruled out the spot I ended up staying because the road looked to rocky to drive my rig on. When I arrived later I decided to check the road again. I got out and walked back to a beautiful secluded site beyond the bad section of road. As I looked the road over I realized that straddling a couple ruts and dodging a couple rocks would get me back with no problems. It was easy as pie!

I stopped at McDonalds for lunch today on my drive to Cottonwood. They had several workers there helping people use the kiosk to order. She offered to go through it with me so I said OK. It’s a little different than I thought, because you order, then take a GPS device with a number on it, and they bring the food to your table. I don’t see how this will be more efficient because now they have to have workers bring the food to your table. It seems like all the retired people there felt the girl running the food was their waitress, and they would ask for extra supplies which they could have picked up at the condiments counter. It seemed like it took longer to get my food, too.

The trip from Payson to Camp Verde always makes me think of my hike on the AT. You start at the bottom of the Rim, drive 2000′ up to the top, then come back down the same side to the same elevation. There should be a road that goes straight across. The AT was like that in places, too, making us climb the mountain and come back down the same side. We would always exclaim, “Come On!!!”

There are a couple people here in the Cottonwood area that I know. I may look them up tomorrow.