Our Travel Blog

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Driving Miss Donna - what does this mean? Whenever I want to go somewhere, if Don is home he will usually drive. He always says he is driving miss Donna! This blog is for our travels, usually with our truck and fifth wheel trailer, but sometimes in our other wheels. When we are not vacationing check in for updates, although less frequent, about our life at home and our wonderful family:)

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Urban Time

Well we just spent the last week in and around Phoenix. Actually Casa Grande would be a better description. Our time started with an overnighter at Picacho Peak State Park. Yes we actually paid for a site! The cost for a dump and fill in the area hovered around $20 and the campsite was $30. So why not have power for one night? Sadly the only thing we did with that was charge all our devices, which we do anyway on solar, so really we gained nothing. Lost the solitude of boondocking…
There were several reasons or people behind our stop in this area. Ron and Bev who winter in Apache Junction, Don’s sister Karen and Darrell who were vacationing for a week, and Don’s cousin Carol an Richard. Also we hadn’t seen Don’s brother Ken and Brenda yet this year south, and they were at her mom’s literally around the corner from Carol’s.
Anyhow, as we were pulling in Ron texted us to see where we were and what we were doing, and before we knew it we were at Boston Pizza in Casa Grande, having supper with the Edmunds. What a great life right??
On Friday we moved from the state park to a county park that was “almost” free at $10 a night. (We ended up staying for 4 nights) West Pinal County Park is just minutes form Casa Grande and a good place to make our visits from.
We made plans for Friday to pick them up, do some shopping and eating and exploring. As always we had a great day together and ended the evening at the Hitching Post Saloon, where the food was great, the company outstanding, and the music and margaritas were on point.
On Saturday morning we slipped into Carol and Richard’s for coffee. Besides also seeing Karen and Darrell, Ken and Brenda came, and we had a great visit before they had to leave for a hockey game. We returned home and this time Ron and Bev joined us. We picked up a few grocery items then headed to the Dwarf Car Museum. This place is INCREDIBLE!! I am so glad we didn’t miss it. An older gentleman and some of his friends build these half size true working replicas of cars. We were able to see them from the pieces stage to fully road ready stage. The thing you need to understand is that these men hand make these cars from steel with heat, welders and a hammer; and try to keep them as realistic and close to the model as possible. Look it up and read about it, otherwise you just have my photos…





Now that’s not the end of this social season for us! On Sunday we all met again at Carol and Richard’s for a fantastic afternoon of visiting, beverages and of course an amazing supper! It was very generous of Carol to let us fill her house, and give us all a space to visit and share memories!
On Monday Don and I took a roadtrip to Why, AZ. Upon it’s conclusion I can’t say why, but I do know we may never go back. LOL  It is quite popular with boondockers, but I think they are a bit less social than we want to be. But you never know if you don’t visit, right?




Tuesday was our departure day but first we had Carol and Richard and Karen and Darrell for coffee. Finally it was time to say final goodbyes, as we had convinced them to visit the Dwarf Car Museum. I’m sure Karen and Darrell had a great holiday and maybe we will see them down here again next year.

We are headed to Fortuna Pond near Yuma where Ken and Brenda are joining us for a few days on our adventure. Take care!

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Discovering Craggy Wash

Although this wasn’t a hard boondocking area to find as it is quite popular, marked clearly at the exit, talked about and raved about by many, listed on Campendium, etc. etc., it was our first time and we were so pleased. I have no idea how many sites are here as we did not make it to the end, but on the way to the site we selected there were 51 visible units. I say visible because there were many trails leading off to places unknown that we didn’t check out. And there are apparently miles more of road from where we left off. The cell service was amazing, which was no surprise considering the many mountain top cell towers around. I don’t know if I have told you this trip about our amazing solar. Not just for the quick and easy charging and the convenience of no longer pulling out the portable solar at every stop, but that I have toast for breakfast! That’s probably the only electrical luxury I miss. And yes I know I can make toast many other ways, but I happen to like electric toast.
Anyhow, in addition to being thrilled with this new to us boondocking location, we also enjoyed our time in Lake Havasu. From walking the boardwalk and stopping for lunch and a  (you really need to stop by the Blue Chair at London Bridge), to Target shopping, to actually hiking in SARA Park and Cattail Cove State Park, this stop has been wonderful.
We are headed to somewhere in the Phoenix area next so see you later.














Friday, March 8, 2019

February Part 3??

Well I did expect to finish February last time but I got lazy, so here is the end. LOL

We left the Baker area on Monday and headed to Telephone Cove on Lake Mohave. This is one of the all time prime boondocking sports for us. Close to Laughlin, Bullhead City and if you wish many other scenic areas, but the beauty of the site is the draw.


This will be our base for quite a while as I fly from Las Vegas to Saskatoon for the Co-op Conference and Don holds down the fort.

Our days were spent leisurely enjoying the space, and finding solace in the slow pace. We did have a fridge incident that took a bit of time, but we are old hands at deciphering issues and after two removals, all was well. We did have a time of panic where we purchased Styrofoam coolers for the food in case, but in the end they were not used that long. We have experienced this before, where ammonia crystals get caught in the orifice. If not for our wonderful RV "advisers" back home, Red Neck RV, we would not know the trick of pulling the fridge out (easier than it sounds), tipping upside down for approximately 20 minutes, then returning to its' righted position.



I must say that this is way better than a $2000 new fridge. We will keep doing that until it no longer works.

On Friday we headed into Vegas airport and I departed for Saskatoon. It was an interesting trip as I spent Friday through Monday in Saskatoon, then went to Edmonton to Lindsay's house on Monday. I was so thrilled to be able to fit in a short afternoon with my sister, and appreciated that she was accommodating with my schedule! Lindsay and Mason drove me to the ophthalmologist for my eye injection, we met Tracy for lunch, then back to the airport to head home to Don. I was a bit concerned about all the travelling with my eye but it was smooth sailing, or should I say flying:) I took a few Advil to counteract the irritation and just didn't do any reading.

The next day was finally time to relax. All my prep work and reading for the conference was over, and we could spend the day relaxing and visiting.

On Thursday it felt like time to move on. We had previously scouted an area by Lake Havasu City to boondock, Craggy Wash, so that is where we headed!

And that finishes February and starts March. I will try to stay motivated to write, it seems hard not to just post photos.

Friday, March 1, 2019

February Part 2

So the weather held up for us, and from what the forecast was telling, it was time to get out of Dodge. Our plan was to be gone on Tuesday but Monday seemed like the right time so off we went.
Typically we stay our first night in Idaho Falls, then to St. George where we de-winterize and start the warmer weather festivities. Two things were different than last year – one we did not hit ice and storms so made it to Idaho Galls and stayed in the trailer; two it was too cold in St. George so we continued to Mesquite.
Although I say we stayed in the trailer here is what greeted us in the morning!
There it was just warmer enough to accommodate staying in the trailer, an affordable RV wash, a great storage facility that had an amazing station to dump and fill and a casino that offered overnight parking and restaurant choices! We both agreed this is our new second stop.
After getting in the spring mode, we headed to Baker CA. Ivan was camped out and we decided to skip the city life and join him. It was a wonderful and serene stop.



Well we here we did make a visit to Las Vegas Outlet Malls and Costco, and a Costco trip to Victorville. We did do a bit of exploring and drove through the Mojave National Preserve. We couldn't seem to get away form this white stuff! I'm pretty sure it is not natural habitat for a cactus.

After a few days it was time to move on to another favorite - Telephone Cove near Laughlin.

Stay tuned!