Gypsies In A Caravan

Headed South and leaving the snow behind! The trip was a pleasant one with yet another change in scenery.

Lava Tubes

On 93 South (Joshua Forest Parkway) The Aquarius Mountains are on your left and you are at an elevation of 5,000 ft.

We start to see Saguaro cactus as we descend to 3,500 ft.

The saguaro is a large, tree sized cactus. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, Mexican state of Sonora, a small part of Baja CA in the San Felpie Desert and an extremely small area of CA. The saguaro blossom is the State Wildflower of Arizona which blooms in June.

The Saguaro Cactus can absorb a lot of water because the ribs on the plant can expand, a mature cactus can weigh several tons. The root system is very shallow for such a tall, heavy plant. The Saguaro Cactus has one tap root that is only about three feet long. It also has two sets of radial roots. One is a thick root system, which is only about one foot long, and there is also a thinner root system that grows to a length equal to it's height wrapping around rocks for support. Downward pointing spines make it easier to direct rainwater into the depressions of the cactus. The spines help to cool the outer skin, help redirect the wind and insulate the plant. Gila woodpeckers, purple martins, house finches, and gilded flickers like the interior of the Saguaro Cactus because it is the only plant it can hollow out for their nest in the desert. The nest cavity is deep, the parents and young entirely hidden from view. The saguaro creates callus tissue on the wound. When the saguaro dies, and soft flesh rots the callus remains behind, a so called "saguaro boot," which was used by natives for storage.

The Saguaro often begins life in the shelter of a "nurse" tree or shrub which can provide a shaded, moister habitat for the germination of life. The Saguaro grows very slowly -- perhaps an inch a year -- but to a great height, 15 to 50 feet. The largest plants, with more than 5 arms, are estimated to be 200 years old. It can take 75 years to develop a side arm.
Harming a saguaro in any manner is illegal, and when houses or highways are built, special permits must be obtained to move or destroy any saguaro affected.

OK, now that you know all about the Saguaro cactus let's move on...

We had to drive around Phoenix to get to Mesa on 60, 6 lanes of traffic that moves very fast, a little nerving, but what I thought was cool was on the over passes there was designs made from different colored stones.

This picture doesn't do justice but remember I was driving!

Our new home til the end of March.

We arrived around 3pm, checked in, got set up in our site and reported the next day at 10 for duty. Our job is working in activities setting up for events and take down afterwards. We both work 12.5 hours a week for our site with full hookup and trash removal. The garage wouldn't fit on the site with 2 vehicles so they gave us another site 3 doors down and we will work a few extra hours for it. That gives us the whole patio for living space!

We had an appointment for Thursday to get the Caravan's slide fixed so by 9 we were at the Robert Crist RV and back home by 4, they did a great job and all is well. Now we can really get set up.

Check out our orange tree!

Note the table and chairs...$24 at the local thrift store, we will sell them when we leave.

Still a gardener just on a smaller scale.

The extra lot.

Sixteenth Street, we are down on the left.

Val Vista Village is a 55+ community with tons of amenities and yes we are probably the youngest people here. If you are bored here it is your own fault. There are around 95 things to do in one week!

Tennis and Pickle Ball courts. We never heard of Pickle Ball before, it is a mix of tennis, badminton and ping pong, lots of fun!

One of 3 pools.

This is the courtyard where they have bands 4-5 times a week. To the left is the Cactus bar and grill (not in photo). On Fridays we open up all the umbrellas, bring out 2 racks of chairs and then when the band is done we straighten up everything, wipe the tables clean, and close the umbrellas...it's a tough job but somebody has to do it. They have a dance every Friday night in the ballroom which is another event we set up for. We also work the Party Wagon (right up our alley) taking tables and chairs to sites for private parties. The Canadians arrive after Christmas and from what we are told things really get cranked up. At present the park is only half full.

Bird of Paradise.
This area is pretty close to paradise. 70-80's during the days and 50's at night, it would be paradise if it stayed light out til say 7pm but it starts getting dark at 5pm.

We have our own Post Office.

Shuffle Board courts.

Helpful Hint:

The kick stands on our bikes weren't long enough and the bikes wanted to fall over so the Gypsy King fixed the problem with a golf ball.

We had 4 of these teak lounge chairs on our front porch which of course I sold. When we went Thrift Storing (the thrift stores here are great) for the table and chairs we found these for $6.98! OMG, we paid $150 each 10 years ago. They needed to be cleaned and stained so we bought them. We kept the cushions I had made for our chairs so I recovered them. The following week the park had a patio sale (not a yard sale as no one has a yard) so I got busy cleaning, staining and sewing. Above is the finished product and I am happy to report that I sold them for a sweet profit. Always looking to supplement to retirement fund!

All is well at Gypsy Camp.

Well the rain yesterday turned into snow last night!

These pictures were taken later in the morning but at 7am the ground was covered. We rode to Walmart to meet Mark so we could take the caravan to the truck stop while we waited for a spot to open up in the campground. Once again I had to sweep off snow so we could bring in the slides, man we need to get to Mesa. Went to breakfast then picked up the caravan and got setup at Fort Beale RV Park.

This is a great little CG right off of I-40 & Hwy 93. 42 full hookup sites, long pull thru sites in the center, paved roads, pool, wifi, clean laundry and well maintained. Monthly rate of $380, weekly $175 and daily $28. We will definitely stay here again, thanks Terry & Danny for checking it out prior to our arrival. I would rate this park a 5.

We settled in and took a much needed nap. Terry was cooking dinner and making her famous Mac'n cheese for Mark. She use to make this and bring it to Christmas parties that we had years ago and there wouldn't be anything left but an empty pan.

Thank you Terry!!! Dinner was great and I even got the recipe, yum.

On Sunday we or should I say they watched football, we had great snacks, drink some of Danny's home brew beer and enjoyed each others company. A good time was had by all. It was so nice to spend time with friends, thank you both. You two are great hosts!

On Monday Danny took us hiking at Union Pass in the Black Mountains on route 68 between Bullhead City and Kingman at an elevation of 3,563ft. This is BLM and Danny said the fence is usually open but not today so he has us breaking the law by breaking through the fence.

We walked down to this area that use to be sort of a rest stop years ago for travelers. It had a gas station, country store and possibly some rooms back in the 60's. It got water from the other side of the highway in the mountain through a pipe line which you will see later.

Gas Station

Behind these buildings is Hwy 68

Store

Rooms

Water storage

To get to the other side we walked through a huge culvert.

Once through you enter the mountains.

Danny knows his way around and showed us the highlights. He answered any questions that we had and is very knowledgeable about the area as well as the desert in general. We look forward to hiking with him again when we come back. I use to think the desert didn't really have any color but when you actually get out there and see things up close there is alot of color.

Desert Paint Brush

This picture doesn't do the moss growing on the rock justice. It was bright yellow and really stood out.

Brittle Bush

Left to right: Prickly Pear, Cholla, & Barrel

I liked the Barrel cactus, it was very red and almost looked fuzzy.

I was playing with entering text into the picture but can't figure out how to make corrections or remove it. It should say "See the 2 openings on the left". I will figure it out later, moving on.