Sunday, Feb. 2 (Ground Hog’s Day)

Loud trusts of air woke us up this morning. Since we’ve been in so many locations in the last few days, we didn’t know where we were. The solution to that is to look out the window. All I saw were hot air balloons. Were we in Oz, or maybe Kansas? No, we were at Cave Creek Park near Phoenix. The balloon launch nearby was a fun way to begin the day.

There’s another regional park outside of Phoenix that is hard get a site, but we luckily found one for tonight. It’s another perfect day in Phoenix when we got to Usery Park. The beauty here is everywhere. We took off on a desert trail and enjoyed the scenery and sunshine. When back in the Ham for supper, the people with seven dogs came walking by. We still can’t image what that would be like RVing with that many dogs.

Carol and I celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary tonight. We had bought a bag of popcorn that is drizzled with white and black chocolate. Oh my!!!

Monday, Feb. 3

The Phoenix weather is going to remain great, so we drove an hour west to White Tank Regional Park after making a few supply stops. We’ll be meeting up with our Norton neighbors there.

Soon after we arrived, Kathy and Davis came walking by. They had bought a new RV and were picking it up in two days tomorrow. They asked if I could help them with the move.

Out on our morning hike with the girls, we were enjoying peaceful silence in the desert until military jets from Luke Air Force Base flew above. The F-35’s  would roar across the sky and then go silent. A few seconds later, a thunderous boom shook the entire desert. It was fun to watch them streak away in formation.

The rest of the day was spent sitting the sun, taking pictures of a bird and just relaxing.

Tuesday, Feb. 4

Today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday. 

Wednesday, Feb. 5

Up early today for a quick dog hike before leaving with yours neighbors to pick up their new RV. The plan was for them to sign some papers, make the move and be back in the campground by lunch. I’m leaving out all of the details, but seven-and-a-half hours later, we were being driven to the staging area where the move was to take place. We asked the salesman how long do moves usually take for new owners. He said the record was one week, some people take a full day, but most people take about four hours. It was 5:30, I was irritable and very hungry. After waiting around for over 7 hours, I had formulated a plan. With Kathy and David in the new RV and me in the old, I transferred everything out as fast as they could put in. Thirty-five minutes later, we were done. A new dealership record! They had some more papers to sign and we left. It was nearly 7:00 when we got back to camp. Carol and Lois had spaghetti and meatballs sitting on the table for a wonderful dinner. What a treat after our long day! 

Thursday, Feb. 6

This was our last day before starting our trip back east. We made it another relaxing day.

Friday, Feb. 7

February in Arizona is a busy time for RVers. It’s hard to find a site anywhere. The only place Carol could find was at the Pima County Fairgrounds, east of Tucson. The campground was an enormous gravel parking lot with RVs squeezed one beside another. We agreed that the Walmarts that we have stayed at were better. The only good thing though was that they had a laundry room and we hadn’t washed clothes in over a month.

Saturday, Feb. 8

It’s time for lunch, so we got off on the Lordsburg ramp. The dry, desert park I found wasn’t the most inviting, but the fenced-in baseball field gave Christy a good place to run loose. We never take Lucy off-leash. After our playtime, we returned to the Ham for lunch. During lunch, Carol noticed that Christy’s “Adventure Dog” tag was missing from her collar. The tag was special to Carol, so we retraced every step in the park. No tag. We unhappily drove away. 

We were getting closer to City of Rocks SP, NM and started wondering where these rocks were. There were no mountains around. Finally, when we turned on the last road in, we spotted a large island of rocks in the distance. The closer we got, the more interesting the “city” became. It was like a mini Jumbo Rocks. The day was getting short, so we immediately hit the rocks. The climbing was easier here, so Carol and Lucy got to get up close to the rocks. After a long time in the rocks, Carol and Lucy returned to the Ham while Christy and I adventured on. When supper was over, I moved through the rocks to get a view of the setting sun. While waiting, I kept hearing an owl in the distance. I walked through the maze of rock in the dark, searching. The hoots seemed to keep moving. It was almost total darkness now and getting difficult to see. I’m going to maneuver around one more mound of rocks before returning to the Ham. There it was! I took my pictures and returned to the Ham.

Click on this link to tour the City. https://photos.app.goo.gl/f7YxMRcvvNaMUNAP7