In 2016 we took our second long trip in our 'coach,' a 30-foot Class A motorhome (an FR3 by Forest River). The trip was focused on Arizona and New Mexico, with the annual 'Hot Air Balloon Fiesta' in Albuquerque, New Mexico being the impetus for planning this particular trip. During this 32-day trip, we also briefly crossed into southeastern Utah and northwestern Texas, for a grand total of 12 visits at National Parks/Monuments and one State Park.
The 'Hot Air Balloon Fiesta' is held in October, and Chris did a lot of climate research while planning this trip. He chose the route and other stops before and after the balloon fiesta such that we should have decent weather for the entire trip. But 'Climate Change' is upon us! We were very surprised by all the rain we encountered at the beginning of the trip, and the extreme heat we experienced during the second half of the trip. Fortunately, the rain didn’t interfere with our plans much (more on that later), and the dark clouds made for some dramatic photos. But later, the heat forced us to skip several planned campgrounds, in favor of places with electricity for air conditioning.
09/20/17 Tuesday: From Home to Joshua Tree National Park, CA
When we left Thousand Oaks, it was hot (maybe 86 degrees) with crazy humidity (considering where we live), and we were heading for Joshua Tree National Park. It seemed like we might regret heading for a desert campground that didn’t have electricity for running our A/C, but it had cooled down by the time we got there, around 5:15, with a light rain. In fact, we'd had a light rain for the last hour of our approach, and it rained much of the night, with intermittent showers in the early AM hours. Considering how little rain we get living in southern California, we really enjoyed listening to the rain on the roof of the coach.
Barley had probably his second best travel day ever. I sweet-talked him out from under the bed covers and he came out into the front of the coach briefly, then went into the bathroom where Cooper was, and the two of them spent quite a while in there huddled together. Barley also sat on the bench at the dinette with me for a while, and Cooper spent some time under the table, before coming up front and sitting on top of Chris' seat back (behind his head) and on his lap. He went up to the top of the slideout once, but didn't stay for long.
At Jumbo Rocks campground, the campsites are all small, primarily intended for tent camping, and clustered in several loops. There are very narrow roads with tight turns, but after driving all the way through every loop, we finally found a spot we liked that would fit our rig. (Very few spots here are suitable for large coaches/trailers.)
Who says 'rocks' can't be interesting? The rocks this campground was named for are actually volcanic rock called monzogranite, and sometimes are clustered and weathered in such a way that they resemble something well enough to be named, for example, "Skull Rock." I saw one that looked a bit like a ram's head. Granted, it's a bit like seeing shapes in clouds. But if you enjoy that particular flight of fancy, you would probably enjoy looking for recognizable shapes in these rocks!
09/21/17 Wednesday: Joshua Tree, CA to Goodyear, AZ
Today we headed east toward Phoenix. On our way out, we saw several dead trees of various shapes with something hanging from them that looked like Spanish Moss. One looked like a giant Scottie (well, a terrier of some sort). Too bad I wasn't ready with the camera!
We had originally chosen a BLM place to camp tonight (Saddleback Mountain), but as we got closer, the weather seemed to be too hot to go without air conditioning, so we reserved a night at Destiny RV Resort in Goodyear, Arizona instead. We had more rain on the road there, but it stopped before our arrival, at least long enough to get set up. It started up again and we put the awning out a little to hear the sound of the rain better over the noise of the air conditioner (which couldn't really handle the heat & humidity, but it dropped the temp 10 degrees which made it tolerable). We also used our little DC fan to help move some air while having cocktails on the sofa.
After dinner we went to the pool for a quick dip. We joked on the way there about whether or not they'd put a block of ice in the pool today, expecting it to be too warm to be refreshing. What a shock--it was quite cold! After dangling our feet for a bit, I decided to take a quick dip, but oh so quick, 'cause it really was chilly. But it was a good cool-down at the end of a very hot day.
Barley was his usual undercover self, spending the entire traveling day under the comforter on the bed. Cooper has decided that his favorite spot while traveling is Chris' lap. And that’s how things will stay for the rest of the trip.
09/22/17 Thursday: Goodyear, AZ to Sedona, AZ
We're off to Sedona today and looking forward to some cooler temperatures. Again, we had patchy rain on the drive, but a welcome cool-down from Goodyear.
We took Loop 303 that bypasses Phoenix, and it was the nicest road we’ve driven on. It is apparently quite new, and we were one of very few vehicles on it. It was perfectly smooth, nicely landscaped with desert vegetation, and the overpasses were decorated with Native American designs.
We also drove through a brief duststorm, which was quite surprising, considering the recent rain.