Arizona 2003 Winter

We started our vacation on Feb 4th. Our first night out, we stayed at a very nice place next to the Willamette River in a new RV Park in Westfir, near Oakridge, Oregon. We ran into some snow as we continued over the pass the next morning. The roads were good. The next day we arrived in Reno and checked into an RV place there, where we stayed for two days and made a donation to the local gambling establishments. Anne was going to meet us there and go with us but she pulled a ligament in her foot and was ordered by her doctor not to drive and stay off of it as much as possible. When we left Reno, our holding tanks were frozen solid and we headed south to warm up, it was 15 degrees that morning.

After Reno, we went on to Las Vegas and stayed at the Circusland RV. We took the shuttle so we didn't have to maneuver the Motor Home through all the traffic and guess what??? We made another donation. We were only here for one day, too crowded for us.

After Reno and Las Vegas, we moved on to Hoover Dam. Before we got to the dam we came upon a security check point that was put up because of the current level of National Security. They gave us, as well as everyone else going that way, a thorough inspection. They went through all of the compartments on the outside as well as inside the motor home. Bill was interviewed by a news team for NBC-Las Vegas about how he felt about the inspection. That evening he was able to watch himself on the 11 PM news. I had already gone to bed so I missed it. The next morning, they showed him again and I was able to see him. Most RV parks have TV cable hook ups and we were still close enough to Vegas see the Las Vegas News. We were now in Laughlin, NV.

The world Famous London Bridge was purchased in 1967 by the McCulloch Corp for 7 million dollars. (The chainsaw people.) It was sold because cracks were developing where it had settled into the Thames River. It was moved and repaired and now resides in Lake Havasu City in Arizona. Pretty impressive. We stayed at Cattail Cove State Park after we left Lake Havasu City on our way to Yuma. This campground was located about 15 miles south of Lake Havasu City and is located on the Colorado River. When we got to Yuma about midday we went to The Yuma Territorial Prison. It is located right next to the Intersatae highway and the Colorado River.

When we returned from the drive around the loop road the heavens opened up again and it just poured down rain. Not only that but the power went off again. I had clothes in the dryer at the time so I was happy when the power came back on after 20 minutes. The next morning before leaving town we drove up to the copper mine where we looked into the very deep open pit mine. A high wire fence surrounded it to keep people from getting too close. We also stopped at their museum that is located near the mine. We found it to be interesting as well. The copper mine is no longer in operation. Mining was stopped when it was no longer profitable to operate. I don't know the specifics as to size, but it was very, very far across and we couldn't see the bottom.

The next morning we continued on toward Tucson, Az. My sister had told us about Old Tucson Studios where a lot of old western movies were made and that it was very worth while to visit. But Bill thought it would be too hard to find so we were prepared to pass. However, he spotted a sign saying it was only five miles away so he took a left turn and had no problem finding it. We never actually drove into Tucson that day. Here was the original Tucson converted into a movie set by the Old Tucson Studios and short shows were presented throughout the day. We watched one called "Gun Belts and Garters" at the Grand Palace Saloon. It had Can-can cuties singing and dancing with cowboys and bad boys mixed in. Then back outside, we watched a re-enactment of the Tucson Bank robbery, from a Charles Bronson movie of the same name. We didn't stay longer as the clouds moved in and it was raining very hard by the time we got back outside the studios. When I say raining very hard, I mean it was a downpour that followed us south for another 30 miles. By this time we are thinking that maybe we are the cause of all of this rain, having dragged it down from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.

We went on from here to Nogales, Az. Nogales, Mexico is directly across the border in Arizona and like Los Algodones, the streets immediately across the border were lined with shops. There were also doctors, dentists, drugstores and other things designed to take the American dollar. Here I got a corn husk doll to add to my collection. Things here were about the same as in Los Algodones so there was no need to stay too long. We basically went to say that we had been there.

We left Nogales about 1 p.m. and drove to the Tombstone Territories RV park at Huachuca City located about 10 miles from Tombstone. We took this one even though it was way out of town because, once again, we didn‘t know what to expect in Tombstone as far as RV Parks. I gotout to register us as a lady came out of the office walking back to her fifth wheel camper that was in front of us. I stepped aside for the lady coming out and fell flat on my face. I got up with a nose and mouthful of gravel and a lot of embarrassment so I had to wash my face off before I could check in. It was all healed up by the time we got home. We did not visit Fort Huachuca but went to Tombstone which was still 10 miles away.

Tombstone is an authentic old west town with original buildings and artifacts. Many of the residents roamed the streets in authentic dress of 120 years ago. We had missed the last re-enactment of the Gunfight at OK Corral the first day but there was still tomorrow. We did watch a series of enactments of other gunfights before heading home for the evening. We had decided to move to the RV place located in Tombstone for the second day. It was the Wells Fargo RV Park on the site of the original Wells Fargo Line.

The second day we went to Boot hill. We also saw a half hour story about the origination of Tombstone narrated by Vincent Price called Tombstones Historama. We went to the exhibits at the OK Corral and then we watched the gunfight show and picked up a copy of the Tombstone Epitaph.

Now, heading west again, we drove though Tucson, on the Interstate, not actually in the city, toward Phoenix and stopped at the Casa Grande Ruins. They are located about 30 miles or so, southeast of Phoenix. These are not Indian ruins, at least the experts don't think so. Although they could have been pre-historic Indians. Apparently visitors were allowed in at one time but they did a lot of damage so now the only big remaining structure is blocked off to entry. We could see signs of vandalism when we looked in some of the openings. Near the remaining structure was a lot of other remains of building but were merely foundations and part of walls. They built an elaborate shelter over the remaining building in order to preserve it from the elements.

For over a thousand years, prehistoric farmers inhabited much of the present-day state of Arizona. When the first Europeans arrived, all that remained of this ancient culture were the ruins of villages, irrigation canals and various artifacts. Among these ruins is the Casa Grande, or "Big House," one of the largest and most mysterious prehistoric structures ever built in North America. The Casa Grande Ruins, the nation's first archeological preserve, protects the Casa Grande and other archeological sites within its boundaries.

Continuing on we made it to Parker, Arizona where we once again stayed on the shore of the Colorado River at a crowded RV Park that seemed to have mostly fulltimers or part timers who keep their spot all year and only use it in the winter months. The next morning, now in California, we were heading towards Sacramento where my younger sister, Anne lives. As we were nearing Barstow, California. we called Anne on the cell phone to let her know where we were and she said we just had to stop at Calico, an old ghost town near Barstow. We took her advice and arrived in Calico about 2 p.m. Calico is a ghost town from the early silver mining days. 1881 marked the beginning of one of the largest silver strikes in California history and the birth of Calico. This authentic silver mining town lives on as one of the few original mining camps of the Old West. One third of the town is original; the remaining carefully reconstructed to recreate the "spirit' of Calico's Old West past. We walked through town and took a few pictures. The negative part about this ghost town is there are modern things to distract from the era. For example there were several popcorn stands and a Pizza joint.They have a RV Park just outside the town so we stayed there that night. Very quiet and pleasant. Only a handful of RVer's there, the emptiest RV Park on the whole trip!

After leaving Calico we drove to Sacramento where my sister, Anne, lives. We got there early having only a short drive that morning up Highway 99 from Chowchilla, Ca. After the hugs and "good to see yous" Anne took us to Black Angus where we had a great lunch. The rest of the day was spend relaxing and getting caught up on all of the activities. One of the important questions to her, was how her foot was doing. It was still on the mend and needed further TLC so this might keep us from doing too much while we are there.

One of the things she wasn't suppose to do was drive so Bill agreed to drive her car while we were visiting. This gave us an opportunity to go to a few places. Because we had been to Sacramento many times before, Anne wanted to take us somewhere we hadn't been before and we decided on a drive to the Delta, an area on the Sacramento River where there is a whole different life than that of the big city which is a mere 30 minutes away. The first stop was the Bogle Winery, in Clarksburg. We tasted a few wines and each bought a bottle. By this time is we were ready for some lunch so we continued down the river dike to a settlement named Locke. There was an eating place there that Anne really wanted us to go to.It would take an hour to describe that town but I'll only say that it is old and very quiet. The only activity we saw was a cat laying in the sun. We went into the tavern/cafe to find the bar full and the eating section nearly full. Now we knew why there was no one outside. There was a problem though, they don't serve lunch after 2 p.m. and it was now 2:10. Now we are hungry, mostly because there was no place to eat. We went to another place further down the road only to be turned away again. Now we are really getting hungry and was happy to find a Mexican restaurant on the way back to the city that would serve lunch after 2 p.m.

The next morning we went to the Farmers Market, which was different for us, knowing that we don't grow crops year round where we come from. Bill did a few fix-it chores for Anne and that evening we took Anne out for a birthday dinner in "Old Sacramento" to a great restaurant named, "Fat City." We had been there before but was happy to go back because they serve great food and has a nice atmosphere. We left Anne's the next morning and drove as far as the town of Rouge River, a few miles from Grants Pass, Oregon where we spent the night in a very nice RV Park right on the Rogue River. The next morning we continued up I-5 to Winston, Oregon where we cut across the mountains to the coast to Coos Bay, Ore. We drove north as far as Depoe Bay, Ore. that day where we spent the last night of this trip. With our motor homes nose pointing right out toward the ocean, not 100 feet away, we watched a beautiful sunset that evening. Life really isn't that bad when you can spend one night parked next to the Rogue River and the next watching a beautiful sunset on the Oregon Coast before heading for home on Washington's beautiful Olympic Peninsula.

We did get home in one piece after being gone for 22 days. We traveled 4200 miles through five states. The only real bad thing that happened is Bill lost his drivers license and two credit cards. Of course we had to cancel them and only had to deal with the drivers license later. But that bad news was remedied when we opened our mail to find the drivers license and the credit cards in an envelope. They were found in a parking lot, in Nogales, Arizona by a very honest gentleman who sent them on to us. They got home before we did. When I get my damaged glassed replaced and the motor home cleaned up we can start dreaming and planning our next trip.

More Pictures of this Trip