Day 41, Picacho Peak State Park, AZ

Site B24

While it rained off & on overnight, by morning there were clear blue skies. I hung around the campground until 10:30 since I only had to drive 55 miles or so. I'm in site B24, an electric only (as are all the sites at Picacho Peak) for two nights at $32.50 per night ($30.00 for the site & a $5.00 reservation fee. I appears to be a handicap site, although that wasn't indicated on the on line reservation form. The campground office doesn't seem to have a problem, although I feel a bit guilty using it.

After setting up I took a shower, then headed 14 miles west on I10 to Eloy to do laundry. Two loads at $4.50 per load for a double sized front loader, and $2.00 each for two dryers at he Family Maytag Laundromat. Clean, but the bathroom was sealed closed.

Back at the trailer I did a bit of reading, then paid some bills. That was about it for the day.

Dinner was a Chicken Pot Pie Hot Pocket.

Until Next Time -

Day 40, Gilbert Ray County Park, Tucson, AZ, Day 5

It is Raining!

A good day to sit inside the trailer. It rained much of the night & early morning hours, and at 11:00AM is still drizzling. We did have some nice color to last night's sunset. More photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

I spent the morning, like most mornings, reading. I skipped a walk around the campground for the first time on the trip; I don't like walking in a cold rain. It is 46°F outside. Warm & toasty in the trailer with the cube heater blasting away.

I'm cutting it close on the fresh water tank. While the readout shows empty, looking at the tank shows about an inch of water in the bottom. I hope that is enough to get me through until tomorrow morning when I head to the dump & water fill stations, then on to Picacho Peak State Park. Picacho Peak has a notice on their web page that they are experiencing a water shortage & no filling of water tanks allowed. I'll put in at least 1/2 a tank when I leave Gilbert Ray.

Around 2:00PM it cleared up enough for a walk. Still cool at 50°F, but the sky is clearing, at least on the horizon to the west. Still lots of cloud cover. The folks in the other Escape 21 left around 1:00. My guess is the campground is about 1/4 full. Much better than trying to visit in February. They required check ins and waiting until a site emptied before you are allowed to drive past the registration building. I talked with one of the hosts and they confirmed that at least part of the campground will be moving to reservations starting in January.

Dinner was a microwaved Innovasian General Tso's Chicken Dinner.

Until Next Time -

Day 39, Gilbert Ray County Park, Tucson, AZ, Day 4

Happy Thanksgiving!

So far, not much of a storm. A bit of rain overnight & in the morning, heavy clouds with little sun. While it hit 70°F during the afternoon, with the wind it didn't feel like it. I did a couple of walks around the campground, read some blogs, forums & journals, and finished Joe Hill's Full Throttle. Again, I don't often read short stories, but some of them were quite interesting. I started Bloody Genius, a Virgil Flowers novel by John Sandford, another library book on the Kindle.

I talked with my brother on Nantucket Island, my son in Oswego, and tried to reach Don & Anne, but no luck, at least with FaceTime. I'll try a straight phone call after dinner.

After my afternoon eye drops I started my Thanksgiving dinner. It is the last of my frozen "Thanksgiving in July" leftover turkey dinners. Kind of difficult to cook a full sized turkey in the trailer oven, although Safeway did have turkey thighs, my favorite part of a turkey. In any case, it will be turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, creamed onions, squash & cranberry sauce. Not as good as fresh, but OK. I could have waited until the usual evening meal time, but the tradition at the Vermilye's has always been an afternoon Thanksgiving dinner, so that is what I did.

I'll snack later.

Until Next Time -

Day 38, Gilbert Ray County Park, Tucson, AZ, Day 3

Gilbert Ray Cactus

A bit cooler than last night - I ran the electric heater turned down low to keep the trailer at around 62°F with an outside morning temperature of 48°F. I didn't do much (just like the last couple of days) other than sit around reading both the computer for forums & journals, and my Kindle. I took a couple of walks around the campground. While there are still RVs & tenters arriving, it doesn't appear that there are a huge number people staying for Thanksgiving. Lots of empty sites.

I hauled my D800 with a macro lens on one of the walks to photograph some of the cactus in the park. It is hard to believe that they grew naturally this varied in types & as close together, but they are beautiful. I won't try naming them, but here are some examples, all of which are growing within 50' of my trailer.  Check today's LakeshoreImages page for more.

As you can see, it is a heavily overcast day, with a high of 67°F. My weather app says we are going to get rain for the next two days with a flash flood watch. I tried sitting outside to read, but unless doing some activity such as walking, etc, it is a little cool for just sitting, particularly when the wind kicks up. I pulled & folder up my large 9' X 12' ground cloth and replaced it with a small 3' square rug.

Dinner was left over pizza & a fruit cup.

Until Next Time -

Day 37, Gilbert Ray County Park, Tucson, AZ, Day 2

A fairly warm night. I didn't plug in the electric heater, and the furnace came on for the first time around 6:30AM. 48°F for the lowest overnight temperature. It was partially cloudy and took a bit to warm up; a high for the day of 70°F, although that was under the propane cover in the sun.

I took a long walk around the campground before breakfast, then read some forums & journals. I have to admit I'm hooked on having the internet available. While I enjoy reading, when I'm in a place like Sunny Flats, where there is no internet or live radio other than XM Radio I feel like I'm missing out. I don't know why, but all of XM Radio feels "canned", maybe because they don't include Morning Edition or All Things Considered, two of my contacts with the outside world. In any case, I now have live radio & full internet availability.

I finished Christopher Stasheff's The Outbound Wizard, and have to say Anne McCaffrey & George A. A. Martin have nothing to worry about. I probably won't pick up any more of his books. I started Joe Hill's (Stephen King's son) Full Throttle, a collection of short stories. While I generally avoid short stories (I'm not sure why), this was a library book on the Kindle, so I'm giving it a try.

I met a couple from New York City that are traveling full time in a Class B van during one of my walks around the campground, and later, during the afternoon, another couple traveling in an Escape 21.  We chatted about the trailers for a bit. I noticed some hummingbirds while chatting with the NY couple, and set up my feeder when I got back to the trailer. It took about 5 minutes for one to find the feeder.

That was about it for the day.

Dinner was a couple of chicken tacos & steamed potatoes, made from a Instant Pot cooked chicken breast.

Until Next Time -