We took US60 west from Tonto National Forest into Phoenix. When we had planned to meet Michele and Gino for dinner, we looked into urban camping options in Phoenix and found that one of the Gila River Casinos was probably our best bet. We didn’t have much on the agenda for Phoenix other than visiting the Capitol, so we stopped at the Casino on our way into town to make sure it was okay. We hadn’t realized that there are three Gila River Casinos, and we first went to the wrong one which has a hotel and doesn’t allow overnight RV parking, but the very friendly and helpful security guards we spoke with directed us to the right one, which was only about 5 minutes away. We checked with security at that one to make sure it was okay, checked out the place where we were told to park, and then headed for the Capitol.
The Phoenix Capitol is a small but elegant building surrounded by a memorial park, with memorials to just about anything you could think of, including veterans, civic servants like firemen, and even K9 police dogs. Our favorite feature of the entire complex is that all of the ground is covered with grass, which made our dogs really happy after over a month in the desert. Kismet made a gigantic pain of herself because we couldn’t walk more than four or five steps without having her throw herself on her back in the grass for a good roll and rub. But, we couldn’t really blame her since she loves to roll in the grass and she hasn’t had much opportunity lately. We didn’t see too many people around, but the capitol complex gets points for an easily accessible free parking lot that had room for our camper, and an obvious effort to keep it clean and appealing. We saw a few obviously homeless people but only a few, which surprised us until we drove out of the area and found a sprawling homeless encampment between the Capitol and downtown. We wandered around and read many of the memorial plaques, and then headed back to the casino.
We found that a few more campers had pulled into the casino while we were gone, but we had no trouble tucking in next to a large class A. The casino supposedly has a 24 hour parking limit, but it was pretty obvious that a number of the campers there were parked for the long haul. But, it was a safe place to leave the dogs (& cat) while we went out to dinner, so I texted Michele and they came and picked us up and took us to one of their favorite Italian restaurants. We had a delicious dinner, but mostly had fun catching up on all of our Rochester connections as we compared who keeps up with whom. Between us, we *think* we now know what everybody who matters is doing. We had an interesting discussion on our definitions of “home,” since Michele and Gino still call Rochester home, while Tom and I think about it every time we say the word. Right now, we don’t really have a home, but Belize has been home for over 16 years, and Rochester will always be home since that’s where we spent most of our adult lives, and even New Jersey will always be home since that’s where we grew up.
Michele and Gino delivered us back to the camper after dinner, and we decided during the night that we are going to try to avoid casino parking lots as camping places. It was probably better than paying $100 to stay at a city “RV resort,” but between semis pulling in and out all night, and the Class A neighbor who thought it was a good idea to turn his generator on at 4:30AM, we didn’t have the best night’s sleep. We packed up fairly early and headed west, with a planned stop at Quartzsite.
The planned stop at Quartzsite turned into a fairly rapid drive by. Since Quartzsite is known as a mecca for the RV lifestyle, we wanted to see what it was about, and we weren’t impressed. I know I’m going to sound snobby, but our view of the RV lifestyle is traveling in comfort to see a lot of different things. Apparently others define the RV lifestyle as living as cheaply as possible and parking in one spot while your vehicle collapses around you, as the garbage piles build up around you. I understand that many people aren’t fortunate enough to be able to do what we’re doing, but somehow I don’t think that a lack of funds justifies living in filth. It’s not that hard to find a dumpster for your bag of garbage, but apparently it’s not worth the effort for a lot of people and they just chuck it under their campers. After this drive by, when we reached the Ehrlenberg BLM land where we decided to park for the night, we decided to watch the movie Nomadland, which is about this issue of people losing everything and living in their vehicle because it’s all they can afford. The movie was great, and considered a lot of these issues, but still didn’t address how many people seem to have just given up caring about anything.
Michele and Gino delivered us back to the camper after dinner, and we decided during the night that we are going to try to avoid casino parking lots as camping places. It was probably better than paying $100 to stay at a city “RV resort,” but between semis pulling in and out all night, and the Class A neighbor who thought it was a good idea to turn his generator on at 4:30AM, we didn’t have the best night’s sleep. We packed up fairly early and headed west, with a planned stop at Quartzsite.
The planned stop at Quartzsite turned into a fairly rapid drive by. Since Quartzsite is known as a mecca for the RV lifestyle, we wanted to see what it was about, and we weren’t impressed. I know I’m going to sound snobby, but our view of the RV lifestyle is traveling in comfort to see a lot of different things. Apparently others define the RV lifestyle as living as cheaply as possible and parking in one spot while your vehicle collapses around you, as the garbage piles build up around you. I understand that many people aren’t fortunate enough to be able to do what we’re doing, but somehow I don’t think that a lack of funds justifies living in filth. It’s not that hard to find a dumpster for your bag of garbage, but apparently it’s not worth the effort for a lot of people and they just chuck it under their campers. After this drive by, when we reached the Ehrlenberg BLM land where we decided to park for the night, we decided to watch the movie Nomadland, which is about this issue of people losing everything and living in their vehicle because it’s all they can afford. The movie was great, and considered a lot of these issues, but still didn’t address how many people seem to have just given up caring about anything.
Ehrlenberg BLM land is wide open and starkly beautiful. Tom didn’t really see the beauty and described it as a wasteland, and the thought did cross my mind that it was basically a gigantic gravel parking lot, but it’s surrounded by mountains, and anyone can park just about anywhere, so you needn’t be bothered by other people. Some campers had parked in groups, which seems to be some people’s preference, but we had no trouble finding our very own gravel field with a remarkably level spot for the night. I don’t know that I’d want to vacation there for a week, but for a quiet night’s sleep, it sure beat the casino.
In the morning, we packed up and headed west towards California, which was only about 2 miles away across the Colorado River. We crossed into California and followed the river north towards the Mojave Desert Preserve. We’d read the warnings that you should gas up before heading into the desert, and we were very lucky we decided to check gas prices in Needles, which turned out to be right on the Arizona/California border. We headed back into Arizona to get diesel for $4.31/gallon, where if we had waited had had to buy it in California, it would have cost over $7/gallon. We are now well into California in the middle of the Mojave Desert, so we’re probably going to have to suck it up and pay California prices from here on out. In the meantime, we’re enjoying the beautiful desert and planning to get out for a hike if the wind ever stops rocking the camper.
In the morning, we packed up and headed west towards California, which was only about 2 miles away across the Colorado River. We crossed into California and followed the river north towards the Mojave Desert Preserve. We’d read the warnings that you should gas up before heading into the desert, and we were very lucky we decided to check gas prices in Needles, which turned out to be right on the Arizona/California border. We headed back into Arizona to get diesel for $4.31/gallon, where if we had waited had had to buy it in California, it would have cost over $7/gallon. We are now well into California in the middle of the Mojave Desert, so we’re probably going to have to suck it up and pay California prices from here on out. In the meantime, we’re enjoying the beautiful desert and planning to get out for a hike if the wind ever stops rocking the camper.
