Benson, Arizona

Morty is back in Benson, so to speak, because this is the town of the Kartchner Caverns State Park which was his first Arizona stop heading West. This time we picked a campground out of the AAA book which has a heated pool. We found Butterfield RV Resort right near the heart of town. There is a lot to like about this campground, named after the early Wild West stage line.



For starters, it has its own astronomical observatory seating 15 people and putting on a couple of shows every evening. It houses a 16 inch telescope with a GPS star-finder. We looked at star clusters, the Andromeda Galaxy, Mars, Orien's Betelgeuse, Rigel, and the Great Mollecular Cloud  -- quite a show! Another nice activity is Tuesdays' Texas Hold 'em tournament. A complete newbie, I entered the poker tournament, and lasted for over two hours, which was longer than several experienced guys at my table. I even won the first hand, with "pocket pair of fives."

The next day, I bike out of town to explore and find the signs to the airport. First one leads down slope one mile and turn left. Second one is three miles straight ahead up the mountain. I only go a little over two before I start worrying about being too far out in case of a blow-out or other failure. Consequence is no airport photos, but a couple of desert views.

North to Sedona?

Morty's quandary of the day is whether to head North and up to Sedona. The art and atmosphere are alluring, but the temperature reports are too low or variable to be trusted. Some say the lows are in the 40s others say that they are in the teens.

The problem seems to be Flagstaff -- once we make it far enough North to Sedona, the path to the East takes us further North through Flagstaff, where the current temperature is in the 20s -- too cold for snowbirds, even if just passing through.

Temps in the 40s this morning are cool enough. We will stay on I-10 and head towards Benson to the South and East.

Casa Grande, Arizona

Morty rolled East across I-8 to where it meets I-10 and Casa Grande, between Phoenix and Tulsa. We picked up a chamber of commerce glossy book at check-in. This is one very nice community, it is on my list for some in-depth exploration someday -- not too much city, nor too much desert.

We are at the Campground Buena Tierra right in the V of the two interstates. This is a family-run campground in the desert environment, with great modern facilites, and lots of site room.

Morty's mirrors have loosened and need some large socket wrenches to tighten down. When we are at interstate speeds, they seem to need adjusting every five to ten minutes. I approached a neighbor enjoying happy hour to ask about borrowing a wrench. He was kind enough to look but in the process knocked over and broke his full wine glass -- how awkward.

Yuma, Arizona

Marking our one-month milestone, we are by most measures, due to be turning around. It seems like the weather at Yosemite, is just a little too nasty for this trip. After three days relaxing in the California desert, Morty was feeling the need to roll out some east-bound miles. We checked and rechecked the AAA book listings for openings on Sunday in El Centro or Winterhaven, but none were to be had. So we started looking in Arizona, and found a modern, clean and mostly paved park called Las Quintas Oasis RV Resort. Here the discounted rate of $36 per night gets full hook-ups, including cable TV, WiFi, heated swimming and spa pools.

From Casa Grande, AZ

Little Morty is in a pull-through site that is big enough to hold five more motor homes of his  size -- pretty amazing to realize again how much stuff some folks consider essential for their road-time.

Quartzsite Stones

A beautiful day after Saturday's rains. I biked over to the stone flea-markets to see what was available. Post-show prices were very aggressive. Lynne got a turquoise necklace and I splurged a dollar on a one pound piece of petrified wood from Brazil.



We helped ourselves to the free grapefruit at the park office - surprisingly tasty. Also some interesting pictures.

haiku

Desert blooms: Spring
North’s distant snow memory
Rain darts in then out


Snows blow and cold spreads
Turtle scans -- warmth, moves west
Winter rains: deserts green.


Skies of gray: warmth eludes
Tortoise stretches a deep hue
Showers drift in: no, out


Sun-sitting in Arizona
Work puzzle words or numbers
Turtle people doze


Sun emerges: the victor
Snows of winter now evaded
Rains soak the turtle


Sweater snuggler sniffles
Warmth ignored -- Desert plants
Sah-Wah-ro intrigue

Quartzsite, AZ

Quartzsite has no state parks, so we are at 88 Shades, a commercial park selected from the AAA campground guide -- click the link for another view. The park is still recuperating from the Quartzsite Annual RV Show that runs the last couple of weeks of January.

There are mostly permanent residents here now, along with a few travelers like us. One characteristic of the permanently moored RVs are the swamp coolers -- simple air conditioners that work by just water evaporation. There are still a passel of RV dealers and support operations here, and a few gas stations, restaurants, and RV parks, so the rates are very reasonable: $25 per night. The amenities are a little wear-worn, but otherwise fully acceptable.

Reds Fantasy Camp, Goodyear AZ

Morty stopped at the ballpark before leaving Goodyear. The ballpark is adjacent the Goodyear Airport, where you can see many airliners, apparently in parked in "mothballs." There are two team facilities there, one for the Cincinnati Reds, the other for the Cleveland Indians. This was the week of the Reds fantasy camp -- the Indians version was held last week.

We saw a series of three games. The teams were the Players made up of  Reds fans and the Pros made up of retired Reds players. The games were only three innings long, and the Pros were limited to two runs per inning. Still the Pros easily won all their games because they can still hit the ball, ending all but one of their innings by scoring two runs instead of getting three outs. There were very few fans, almost none but family members of the Players. They were throwing foul balls hit into the stands back on the field. There were a couple of exceptions, and I was one of them -- the others probably have shelves full of baseball souvenirs.



At the team store, Lynne found a spring training cap that she liked, and so did I -- so we blew $52 on two caps. But there were a couple of guys ahead of us who where buying for the whole family: six $150 jersies in one hand, and a slew of batting helmets in another -- maybe a little guilt-relief from spending the really big bucks on attending the fantasy camp for the week.

Goodyear, Arizona

Morty took us to the Spring training home of the Cleveland Indians today. There are no state parks in the area so we checked into Destiny RV park. We have a nice site right next to the pool and the laundry. Both of which became the priorities for the afternoon. The tariff is $39 so that is quite a bit higher than we've been used to.

Since the Spring game schedule for the Tribe is not until March, I doubt that there is much to see in the way of training activities. The laundry was getting to be a priority since we have done none since departing three weeks ago. Lynne had five loads, all of which could be handled simultaneously in the huge 30 machine operation.



We are again under the flight path of Air Force fighters departing from Luke AFB. During the day, they are launching about every twenty minutes in flights of two to four planes. More A-10s are also flying overhead. Pretty exciting to watch -- it never gets old.

Didn't bother with pictures yet -- one RV ghetto looks pretty much like any other.The good news is that our rain avoidance travel plan worked again. We had just a few drops before departing Pichaco and none since. In fact since we have been here in Goodyear, it has been mostly sunny with temps in the mid 60s.