October 25- March 17
Well, it’s been over four months since my last update here. Or has it been four years, or maybe only four weeks? Who knows? Time has no longer has any connection to reality.
During those four months, we’ve been floating around the Arizona desert seeking out the warmest spots while avoiding the crazies, keeping ourselves healthy, and trying our best to occasionally socialize with friends in a safe manner.
In some ways, we are fairly well equipped to deal with all the challenges that this year+ of pandemic living has brought. Work from home has long been the norm in our house, Zoom meetings are nothing new, we’re used to spending most of our time together in a small space, we thankfully don’t have kids who are suddenly at home all day every day, and most of all, we have the option to live where the weather allows us to get outside!
It hasn’t been all desert rainbows and skipping unicorns though. These last few months have had their difficult moments. Mostly because we’ve spent soooo much time alone. I mean, let’s face it, we would never have lasted this long in this small of a dwelling if we didn’t like each other enough to spend nearly every moment of every day together. But we all have our limits.
Back in the “normal” times, we had developed what felt like the perfect balance of social and non-social times. We would spend a few weeks camped with friends and then go off on our own for a few weeks. We would immerse ourselves in the energy of the city for a week and then go into the wilderness the next week. Now there is no balance. The scale has been tipped in the direction of all hermit all the time, and that’s not good for anyone.
But here we are in the middle of March and while our circumstances have not changed much (we’re currently on week 12 of desert boondocking) there is an undeniable feeling of hope in the air. Our parents are getting vaccinated, there’s a chance that even us healthy folks in our forties will be eligible for the shot sooner than we had originally anticipated, and we’ve started planning a trip east to see our families for the first time since the fall of 2019.
We’ve also been busy planning and even (gasp) making reservations for the summer. So far we have a bunch of reservations at state parks on the Oregon coast, a plan to visit Mt. Rainier, and even a place to stay next winter that is guaranteed to be the complete opposite of the desert. Making these plans has been a real morale booster for us. During those dark winter months when it felt like one day melted into another, even just dreaming about future adventures helped lift our spirits.
Here’s a quick(ish) summery of what we’ve been up to lately. I hope to post more often when we start doing things and going places again!
Tucson
October 25
We left the South Rim of the Grand Canyon ahead of an incoming snowstorm. Sometimes we like snow. Sometimes we even seek it out. And sometimes, we drive as far as we can to avoid it. After a few weeks of chilly temperatures, we were ready for a warm-up. The storm was predicted to bring cold as far south as Sedona and Prescott, so we went farther south than that. Even though it made for a ridiculously long day of driving, we went all the way to Tucson where our favorite area campground, Gilbert Ray, welcomed us with (warm) open arms.
This was our first time back since they implemented the new reservation system. The H loop was still first-come-first-serve until December 1, but we knew we would be arriving late in the day – possibly even after dark – so decided to make a reservation just to be on the safe side. We arrived right around sunset and pulled up to site C13 to find someone already in it. So much for making a reservation. Fortunately, it was one guy car camping without a tent and when I told him that we had reserved this site he immediately offered to leave. Less than 10 minutes later he was gone and we were parked.
Apparently, at the time (end of October) the campground was operating with both reservations and FCFS sites without any oversight. I don’t think the camp hosts start working until November and the office doesn’t open until December which means anyone could come in and grab an open spot regardless of whether it had been reserved online or not. There was actually a sign on the office door that stated, “For those that have made a reservation. If you arrive and someone has already occupied your site, simply pick a nearby site at your discretion.” Umm… so what happens if the new site I pick turns out to be already reserved? Anyway, it wasn’t a big deal and when we returned a few weeks later a slightly better system had been put in place, but I still don’t understand why they switched to reservations.
Our week at Gilbert Ray was as wonderful as always. This is the earliest that we’ve ever visited southern AZ, and even though it was on the hot side (low 90s) we got by with a few hours of AC during the hottest part of the day followed by late afternoon hiking as the cool evening air settled over the desert.
With more hot temps expected and no great ideas for where to go next, we decided to move over to an RV park for the next few weeks. We chose Desert Trails based on favorable reviews and the fact that we know a few people who have stayed there. It was okay. On the plus side, the owners were great at check-in, the price more than reasonable, the outside mail room convenient (getting packages is our #1 reason for staying at RV parks), and the multiple laundry rooms were clean and in working order.
There is also a great network of trails behind the park that connects to the larger Tucson Mountain Trail system. Just watch out for those jumping chollas when riding your bike back there!
On the not-so-great side, the sites are close together, and at one point we had an RV on each side and another behind us. I hate this kind of set-up. Because we are smaller and shorter than most RVs, when we’re surrounded on all sides by 100-foot tall fifth wheels (I swear those things are getting taller) it’s like living in a dark tunnel. Okay, maybe not that bad, but my tolerance for living in close quarters with strangers is at an all-time low right now and after two days I was ready to leave.
When our two-week sentence was up and we had recieved our appoximatly 1001 packages, we went back to Gilbert Ray for another week. This time, we didn’t bother to make a reservation. Instead, we showed up on Sunday at 11am and grabbed a nice site in the H-loop which was still FCFS for another few weeks. I can’t beleive that I forgot to take any photos of our site becuase it was a really nice one!
As Thanksgiving approached we made plans for a small outdoor friend gathering at Las Ceineagas National Conservation Area. At this point, we hadn’t socialized with anyone since leaving Idaho Springs way back at the beginning of September. While we desperately wanted to gather with friends, we were also nervous since the pandemic was beginning to pick up speed again around AZ and we didn’t want to contribute to the spread or get sick ourselves. Fortunately, our friends all felt the same way and we made some ground rules to stay safe. Namely, that all social interactions would take place outside six feet apart, and any food sharing would be done with the utmost safety in mind.
Despite some very cold weather and unrelenting north wind that made outside socializing a challenge, it was a great success. It was even cold during the day, but we bundled up in winter clothes and wrapped ourselves in blankets so we could sit around and chat with friends who we hadn’t seen since before the pandemic began.
Thanksgiving itself was very low-key. After the now-required family Zoom gatherings (anyone else find this way of celebrating holidays wholly unsatisfying?) we prepared a small-scale feast. About half our group chose to eat within their own households while a few of us decided to have a pot-luck. It was small but mighty. Eric smoked a (very small) turkey on the Trager grill and we had all the sides, even including a surprisingly delicious jello salad that Lauri made to show off her mid-western roots.
After Thanksgiving, we had two weeks reserved at Catalina State Park on the north side of Tucson. These were the only reservations/plans we made for the winter and I give full credit to our friends Shannon & Dave for giving us the idea. When we saw them back in August they mentioned that they had Catalina reservations. With no idea what the winter would bring, I jumped on it and got ourselves a site for the same time period with the caveat that we could simply cancel if it all went awry.
I had forgotten how nice Catalina State Park is. Even though there’s little to no privacy between sites (because, you know, desert), the spacing is so generous that it doesn’t really matter. Our site was on the corner of the A loop which gave us tons of extra space and some pretty sunset views.
Sadly, there have been several wildfires around and in the park over the past year that left behind some seriously charred landscape. Because of that, we limited our hiking to some of the less affected trails.
Aside from hiking, we spent most of our time at Catalina hanging out with Shannon & Dave. Their site was not far from ours and we met up most days for an outside happy hour. Sometimes went on a walking happy hour around the campground. We also had a couple of weekend pizza parties with dueling pizza ovens, fancy toppings, and even a dessert pizza. We always have a blast hanging out with those two and although we didn’t know it at the time, it would be the last we would see of them this winter so I’m very thankful we had those two weeks.
As our two-weeks came to an end, we started to think about where to go next. By this point, the pandemic was raging in Arizona. Even though the only public place we ever went was the grocery store, it still felt like moving to a location with a smaller population was the best course of action. So we headed to a familiar place where the cactus population far exceeds the human population.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
December 13
When I messaged my friend Jeanette to say that we planned to head to the Organ Pipe NM her reply was, “Great minds think alike! We’re headed that way too!” Perfect. The Twin Peaks CG inside the National Monument operates on an FCFS basis until the end of December and they allow a three-week consecutive stay. That would give us a place to stay and friends to hang out with through the Christmas and New Years’ holidays.
Even though the campground was (possibly still is?) only partially open with roughly half the sites closed off, we had no problem scoring a primo spot in the no-generator loop. In fact, throughout our entire three-week stay the park never filled completely even during the holidays. We stayed there once before during the month of February and it was much busier which leads me to believe that December is not the busy season.
The social aspect of our visit left a little to be desired. The cold north wind persisted most days, and with dark setting in before 5 pm and all of us working during the day, that left few options for outside social time. We had a couple of very early 4:30 dinners together and a fun Christmas day pizza party including our friends Lauri & Jase who drove over from Yuma for a long weekend visit.
We’ve spent enough time in this area that we’ve hiked all the designated trails at least once, but that doesn’t make them any less enjoyable. We repeated all our favorites – including the grueling trek up Ajo Mtn. for the fourth time and made up some of our own trails by following the numerous tracks that the border patrol leaves behind all over the park.
Ajo Boondocking
January 3
After our time was up in Organ Pipe and with no desire to travel far, we moved less than an hour north to Darby Well Rd. near the town of Ajo for some boondocking. Our initial two weeks turned into three, and before we knew it we had stayed in the area for six weeks!
We moved around to a couple of different spots, used the dump station at the Shadow Ridge RV Park in town as needed, and extended our tanks by filling water jugs at one of the water filter kiosks. Ajo has just about everything one needs for extended boondocking including an electronics store where you can have mail and packages delivered and a small, yet cheap and clean laundromat.
The thing that Ajo lacks most is groceries. Yes, the Olsens IGA has a surprisingly robust selection of produce (better this year than I’ve ever seen it) but most other items either cost twice as much or are simply not available. It’s understandable for a town this remote but I can’t help but feel bad for the residents who have to choose between paying $6 for yogurt or driving two hours to a bigger town.
We ended up visiting Olsens once a week for fresh items and driving once to Tucson and once to Casa Grande for large stock ups on items we couldn’t or didn’t want to buy in Ajo. Considering that we stayed in the area for a total of nine weeks, that’s not bad.
The very best part of our extended stay in Ajo was the endless hiking and biking opportunities right outside our door. Since this area was once used for mining and ranching there are countless old roads that zig zag all over the land south of town. These days, the old roads are mostly used by people like us on bikes and foot, with the occasional OHV or Jeep thrown in the mix.
We logged some serious miles during these six weeks – both on and off the roads. After an early attempt at summiting one of the nearby peaks where the loose rocks, steep grades, and plentiful cactus made for a poor combination, we mostly stuck to routes that went around the mountains instead of up them.
Despite all the outside fun and some really great weather, these six weeks dragged on. For a while, we felt that we were simply waiting for time to pass by. Waiting for fewer people to contract the virus, waiting for fewer people to die, waiting for the feelings of sadness and hopelessness to pass. We’ve all had to deal with our own struggles during this year of Covid, and I know that in many ways we’ve been more fortunate than others. But it has still been hard to bear the immense weight of all the people who have died and families who will never be the same. Not to mention the division and hate that seems to permeate every aspect of our society. No amount of “outdoor therapy” can cure these feelings, but we keep trying.
AGM & Return to Kofa
February 14
Finally, in mid-February, we made the decision to move on. During the entire time we were in Ajo we only had one afternoon visit with fellow RVers Michele & Mark, and a couple of conversations with a nice couple from Colorado who parked near us. They probably thought we were crazy people based on how eager we were to chat with them! So when friends told us they were headed to AGM (American Girl Mine Rd) we eagerly agreed to join.
We’ve never been big fans of the area west of Yuma known for its convenient and plentiful boondocking. I am all for the desert landscape, but this barren land takes it a few steps too far.
It is a convenient spot though, especially if you want to cross the border into Mexico for some cheap dental, prescription drugs, or liquor. We didn’t need any of that this time around, but we did appreciate the proximity to Yuma where I happily shopped at Sprouts for the first time in many months and got us take-out from Chipotle marking the first non-home cooked meal we had eaten since December! It really doesn’t take much to excite me these days.
The week flew by and while the wind once again made it hard to socialize outside (the word of the winter was WIND) we managed a few happy hours and even a pizza night with the oven tucked in the back of the truck for maximum wind blockage. Mostly, it was good to fill our social meter again before parting ways for a few more weeks of solitude.
Our next stop was King Road about an hour north of Yuma. We’ve stayed here before. In fact, this was the same place where we spent the first three weeks of the pandemic last March. Kind of a strange coincidence that we ended up back here almost exactly a year later.
It was busier than last year, but not so busy that we weren’t able to get a great spot on the opposite side of the road from where we stayed last time. King Rd is one of a series of roads along the Hwy 95 corrider between Yuma and Quartzsite that provides access to the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. This road is the farthest south and in our opinion, the best one because of the rugged mountain views.
We stayed two weeks and did our normal work/hike/eat/sleep/repeat routine. There are no trails out here aside from the dirt roads, but there are tons of places to hike. Our normal routine involves picking an interesting-looking landmark on Google Maps, plotting out a loose route using the satellite view, and then going for it. Coming from the densely forested northeast this kind of hiking used to be a foreign concept to us. But out here where we can often hike for 4-5 miles and still see our house or the spot where we parked the truck, it’s our favorite way to hike.
One of the coolest things about this type of non-trail hiking is that we often end up in places no one else has visited in a long time and get to see things that would have been picked up/moved/or taken if there was a trail. Like this desert tortoise shell. It was just laying out in the open and had obviously been around for awhile. Such a cool find!
Kofa is also a great place to see desert bighorn sheep. We had two different sightings this time. First, in the same area where we stumbled upon the tortoise shell, and a second time over on Palm Canyon Rd. where we did some desert wandering over to a place Google calls Hidden Canyon. No photos because I only hike with my phone these days and it doesn’t zoom well, but if you want to see bighorn sheep, Kofa is the place to look!
When it was time to leave King Rd we drove north into Quartzite for a tank refresh at the RV Pit Stop and then back south to MST&T road. This is another of the roads that travel back into Kofa and another place where we have spent a lot of time over the years. Since it’s not nearly as scenic as the roads farther south, MST&T is a place that’s best for gathering with friends. We’ve spent several holidays here with friends and honestly, being there with just the two of us was kind of boring.
We didn’t stay long though. The weather was on the crappy side with lots of cold wind and even some rain. We stuck it out just long enough to make it through the work week and then…we drove into California!
As I write this we’re currently hanging out in the Mojave National Preserve where we had a surprise snowstorm a few nights ago. We plan to stay in the CA desert for a couple more weeks before moving north to the coast for spring.
23 comments
Great to see your post. We stayed on MST&T in January 2020 for 5 days. Thanks to you sharing your location a few years back. Looking forward to see about your traveling in this post covid era!
Glad you enjoyed MST&T road. It’s a great spot because it never gets busy. Fingers crossed we can back to some normal travel and adventures this spring and summer!
We had so much fun hanging with you two. Looking forward to our next opportunity to catch up.
Same! I really am glad we had the time together at Catalina. It was a highlight of the winter for sure. Can’t wait to have more fun!
Hi Amanda! I met you at Desert Trails in Tucson! So nice to read your blog of your winter in the desert! I really enjoy your blogs and pictures! Thanks for sharing!
I remember meeting you! Hope the rest of your winter went well. Maybe we’ll cross paths again someday!
So good to see your post, I was afraid you had gone off the road, too—like so many of my other favorite old-time bloggers. It was a tough winter in the desert this year: long, lonely, too much wind. I felt like all I did was work. Parked in an LTVA for 4 months, I won’t be doing that again. Ready for spring & summer, and new adventures! Headed to the Oregon coast myself, with a couple of weeks’ reservations at Cape Blanco—no longer a FCFS park.
Fellow Xscaper,
Long, lonely, windy – that’s a perfect summary of this winter. We considered an LTVA early on but ultimately decided it wasn’t for us. Yes, we are so ready for a new season and some new adventures. Cape Blanco is one of the few SPs on the coast that I didn’t make a reservation at. I did see that it’s all reservation now. Seems to be the way things are going. Enjoy!
It was nice to meet you in the last few years at Sams Family RV Park. You were parked right next to us and I have always enjoyed reading your blog.
This year my wife Jeanette just returned home from having a stroke 10 days ago. She appears to be fine but is on a medication regimen to keep her Blood Pressure under control.
In mid April we will be Camp Hosts at St Vrain State park in Colorado for 6 months before we hit the road again and head back to Sam’s Family RV resort for the winter.
Thank you very much for your blog. We are in our mid 70’s and still enjoy living vicariously through others.
I remember meeting you at Sams! Sorry about Jeanette’s health issues. Sounds scary but glad she’s doing well. Camp hosting in Colorado sounds like an amazing way to spend the summer. Thanks for reading and following along for all these years!
It was great running in to you guys! I hope the coast treats you well!
You too! I love how we randomly run into each other every few years :) Hope you have a great summer!
I am so glad to see your update — been wondering what you guys are up to. Your comments about the loneliness of this long pandemic really spoke to me. We never felt particularly lonely when we were on the road full time, since we get along well and always seem to run into people we knew (or made new friends). But avoiding people on purpose because of the pandemic would make it really hard. We count ourselves lucky that we coincidentally landed in the same place as several other RVers and also started making community connections by volunteering in no-contact ways like trash cleanups. As you said, the weight of so much death and heartbreak was hard to bear, but without those opportunities for outdoor interactions we would have been even sadder….
Yeah, loneliness is not something we’ve really dealt with much until now. As you know, it’s fairly easy to meet new people on the road, and at the very least we used to be able to go to a brewery where we could sit at the bar and talk to strangers. These days I avoid all people I don’t already know, and it’s hard to even spend time with those that I do know! Sounds like you’ve found yourselves a great spot to land with other RVers nearby and opportunities to make community connections. Which reminds me that a new post of yours just popped up in my feed and I need to go read about your house updates!
You’ve been doing a lot more than just ‘watching the cactus grow’! Awesome pics of the cactus, both rested and strange look’n.
Thanks for the updates, but you really don’t have to wait this long next time :)
Thanks Jeff. I’ll try not to let so much time pass before the next update!
Kevin and I were just talking about how many fulltime RVers we know who’ve come off the road recently, especially this past year. The pandemic has been really tough on a lot of people doing what we all do. It’s just uncertainty and instability layered on top of uncertainty and instability. We spent the winter in San Diego which ended up being good, even though it was a virus hot spot and there was a stay at home order in place for part of our visit. We have some very good friends there and simply being able to see a couple familiar faces on a regular basis made a huge difference. I feel for you guys being out on your own for so long and not being able to find that balance we all seek. I remain cautiously optimistic that things will continue to improve and have also been happily making reservations for our future travels. Fingers crossed for continued good news. Stay well.
Yes, so many of the friends we would have normally spent time with this winter either decided to take a break or went off the road completely. It’s been tough, that’s for sure. Happy to hear that you landed in a good spot for the winter. Having friends nearby is so valuable. We just spend an evening with some friends who we hadn’t seen in months and even though it was a short visit I feel like my spirits have been lifted twofold! We too are optimistic that things will improve and looking forward to future plans. We’ll be in the PNW all summer, fall & winter if you find yourself in the area!
Once you write it down it feels like you’ve done more, and seen more people than you thought! That crested looks like something from an Egyptian ceremony – very cool!! Our Arizona winter has definitely been a windy one – I’m sure contributing to a feeling of isolation on top of the pandemic. I can appreciate your frustration with the crazies of Arizona during “these trying times”, too many ignoring common sense precautions.
Our Spring/Summer is taking us up the west coast as well – I canNOT wait for some trees and ocean beaches!! We get to Brookings, OR on May 17 so I’ll keep an eye on where you are – maybe we can do a masked HH if we get close. We’ll both have our vaccines but will mask until everyone else does too :-)
Good to hear from you and know you’re surviving, thriving and planning again.
Yeah, Arizona has been a weird place to be during the pandemic because there were never any state-wide guidelines and the regulations vary so much from town to town. One of the reasons why we stayed in Tucson and then Ajo so long was because both communities had strict mask rules which we appreciated. I too am beyond excited for trees and the ocean! Anything that doesn’t look like the desert will be a welcome change. We have reservations near Coos Bay the week of May 17 and will be moving very slowly up the coast from there. Let’s keep in touch and see if we cross paths during that time. We’re doing everything we can to get vaccinated as soon as possible so fingers crossed we’ve at least passed that hurdle by then!
It was great to see your post, I’ve been following you guys since I was full timing. I’ve settled in a stick house in Denton, TX but it’s nice to relive the full timing experience through you. Catalina was a great stop for us, although it was hard to get level and we thought we were going to flip the rig getting into the spot :)
It really resonated with me, not liking being forced into hermit-hood. I still work mostly remote although I have an office to go into and being forced out of the office without alternates (breweries) to work from was tough. After a few months I was crawling the walls here. I’m on the planing boat too – must be the near end of Covid. I’m starting to look at sailboats and loans, maybe the next chapter is international travel that way. Seems like a few have moved from full time to sailing.
Thanks for letting us all look in on your fun!
Keith
I have been reading your blog over the past few weeks and I have enjoyed it so much. I think you are a great writer; it makes me feel like I am there. Glad to have the update. Take care!
I enjoy reading about your adventures. You write very well. Thanks for the update.