August 18, 2020 (by Angela)
Arizona, plus one night in California, was our home on the roam for about five weeks during the winter of 2020. I must say that the lack of humidity was wonderful. Days were usually pretty warm, but the nights were cool enough that heat was required. Our first two-week stop was in Benson, which is not too far from Tombstone. We really enjoyed our stay in Benson. Jim made a day trip to Tombstone. Though we had a short visit in the Old West town many years ago, the history lover in him required that he have more time to explore. Jim, Leroy, and I also took a day-trip all the way down to the U. S. – Mexico border to see what was going on with the wall. We passed through Bisbee on the way down and came back an alternate route. This allowed us a short visit to Tumacacori National Historical Park and to tour the Mission.
Starting at top left photos are a mural in Benson, Tombstone sign, Bisbee, Border Wall, and Tumacacori Mission.
During our time in Arizona, it seemed to be all about cacti as we visited several parks focused on the native plants like Saguaro National Park and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. A fun fact is that the organ pipe cactus only grows in a small geographical area, most of which is in Mexico. The U. S. National Monument area is the only place this type cactus grows in the United States.
To the right of each park sign is an example of the key type of cacti in each park.
Jim and I made a quick trip through Yuma and into California after leaving Benson. We needed to spend a night in California and do something other than eat, so we could put our California sticker on our map. We stayed in the Quechan Casino RV overnight parking area, took the free play money the casino gave us, played, and walked out with just a little bit of their money. It was here that we realized we needed to replace our RV batteries. After doing so, we made our way to an RVer’s rite of passage: Quartzsite. Of course, we spent a night there, too, because we wanted to say we’d camped at Quartzsite.
Photos are of the casino in California, the Quartzsite sign, and our campsite just outside Quartzsite.
Next, we stayed a few days at Ramblin’ Roads RV Park. Wildly, we discovered that there is a Southern Illinois connection to this RV Park and friends of Jim and his family. The most memorable part of this stop was the fact that Leroy found a girlfriend, a young labrador named Harley. It was sad when they had to part. Our last two weeks in Arizona were spent in Casa Grande in a really big RV Resort in which I actually was able to spend time at the pool. While here, we had dinner with Frank and Joyce, our son-in-law’s parents who live in Arizona, and we toured Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.
Left side photos: Leroy with Harley and the Ruins at Casa Grande – on the right, the resort pool, Frank and Joyce with us, and the Ruins entrance sign
As we pulled out of Arizona, we began our long journey back home to visit with family before returning to Shawnee Forest Campground in Vienna, Illinois, which is another story.
Home On The Roam 