January 2016 – The desert RV scene around Quartzsite, Arizona, is a wild place in January, and has been compared to Burning Man in the Nevada desert and even 1969’s Woodstock in upstate New York.
The sun winks at the RVs boondocked in Quartzsite in the early morning light
But the crazy Quartzsite RV insanity lasts longer, and more people go, and you don’t have to buy a ticket to be a part of it all. Plus — the crowd is decidedly gray haired.
Even though there may be some free love going on in a few rigs in Quartzsite, I can’t say I’ve seen Jimi Hendrix performing there. And rather than one huge bonfire, there are lots of small campfires.
A typical scene around the campfire in Quartzsite
Of course, nowadays, it’s likely that a few faces in Quartzsite are the very same ones that were at Woodstock all those years ago, although they are probably a bit more wrinkled now, nearly 50 years later.
Quartzsite has its share of wacky people. Some even lug their tripod up on their trailer roof to take pics at dawn.
The fun thing is that it is open to anyone that can get there, and come they do, driving, pulling, and probably in the worst cases even pushing whatever kind of RV they can get their hands on.
Any and every kind of RV is welcome in the Quartzsite desert, from ordinary to off-the-wall.
A cool custom bus conversion we came across looked like a fabulous way to go.
Power and cargo carrying capacity to spare.
Some travelers forego the RV all together when they make their way to Quartzsite, and we were quite surprised to see a tent tucked between some RVs in the vendor area of the RV show.
If you can’t swing a rig with wheels, a tent will do the trick.
Getting up off the ground is good when it gets cold, though, and Quartzsite nights sometimes get down into the freezing zone in January. A vintage popup tent trailer we saw fit in just fine with the bigger rigs around it.
A popup can be just the ticket in Quartzsite
Some folks like to add a little class to the antique RV niche in Quartzsite, and we saw more than a few wonderful old Airstream trailers.
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Going retro is cool, but some folks are handy and would rather build from scratch than deal with fixing and repairing an antique. We saw one rig that was totally custom.
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Another one we noticed was not entirely identifiable.
Umm… what’s in the trailer?
At one point we found ourselves driving behind a Funny Car.
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Out in the desert, the love of rollling wheels includes remote control ATVs that scurry around on the hard packed gravel between the rigs.
Whaddya do all day in the desert in Quartzsite? Play!!
Others take to the sky for a bird’s eye view.
What a great way to survey the scene!
We took off on our bikes and found that just a few pedal strokes away from the RV madness are some pretty nice mountain biking trails. It can be a little soft and sandy in places, but the trails go on forever!
A little spin on the bike can take you far from the crowd.
With all the RVs in town, there’s a constant RV traffic jam on the roads, and it’s not unusual to find the local gas stations filled with RVs.
RVs fueling up at the gas station.
The Quartzsite RVing crowd is not proud. We all know what we’re made of and who we are. Wearing a t-shirt emblazoned “Trailer Trash” kinda sums up the sentiment in these parts.
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Well, maybe that’s a little harsh. “My Indian Name is ‘Runs With Beer'” may be closer to the truth for many.
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Not everyone in town is a t-shirt type of guy, though, and the owner of Oasis Books on Main Street, Paul Winer, is famous for wearing nothing more than a thong.
He is very willing to pose for photos with the ladies at his store (I’ve done it too!), and he does his laundry — what little there is of it — right alongside all the RVers down at the Main Street Laundromat.
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And it’s a good thing too because, as another sign at the laundromat says…
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The bulk of the Quartzsite crowd is old enough to have grown children, so, it’s not surprising to see a sticker on the back of a Honda CRV that says, “I love my Grandog.”
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Lots of grandmas and grandpas love their granddogs here, and a few love them to an extreme.
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Not all RV pets are quite so pampered, though, and one Kool Kat we saw in the desert was keeping a close eye on what was happening within reach of his trailer.
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No matter how you come to Quartzsite, there’s fun to be had in the desert, and we certainly had our share this year with the Hitchhiker fifth wheel gang.
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At the end of our ten day stay, our new friends from the Hitchhiker group, Steve and Jean, brought out champagne for everyone, while Christine shared a plate of homemade chocolate covered strawberries fresh from her Mobile Suites RV kitchen.
Did anyone say we were roughing it out here?
Mark shows off Christine’s truly decadent chocolate covered strawberries while Steve pours champagne. This is living!
Everyone raised their glasses in a toast to the great time we shared.
Cheers…and Happy Trails til next year!
Almost every morning and evening we were in Quartzsite, the Arizona sunrises and sunsets lit up the sky in some of the most dramatic and colorful displays we have seen anywhere.
January 2016 – The focal point of the January RV migration to Quartzsite, Arizona, is the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show. This is a wild event, attended by thousands, but the name is a little odd.
The show is geared primarily towards the lifestyle interests of the retired crowd and also has a fair bit to do with RVs. But it makes just passing references to vacations and has very little to do with sports at all!
Quartzsite and its RV Show are as quirky as the camels that greet people on the way into town!
It’s strange name aside, the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show is a total hoot, and during the eight days it is open, thousands of folks from the North America’s senior set walk through the Big Tent in town and wander around the many booths scattered around the outside. If boredom sets in, there are loads of other flea markets and outdoor selling arenas in town that have trinkets, tools and household goodies for sale too.
Walking into the Quartzsite RV Show
The RV Show is a freestyle cross between a county fair and a flea market, and vendors set up shop all over the grounds to keep show goers well fed with funnel cakes and kettle corn and ice cream.
You won’t go hungry at the RV show!
Inside, we found the Escapees RV Club booth right away and got chatting with Mark Nemeth, the magazine’s technical guru who shares his wisdom in every issue in his column, “Mark My Words.”
We met up with RV tech guru Mark Nemeth (in the blue shirt) at the Escapees RV Club booth
Nearby was the tourism board for Alaska, and we snagged a map and learned a little about how to tackle an RV roadtrip to the far north.
Curious about Alaska? This booth has the answers!
Last year, we were charmed by a brief chat we had with Amazon Camperforce representative Nancy, and we were thrilled to find she was at their booth again. She and her husband, David, have worked for Amazon as ambassadors for their unique RV workamping program for several years, and her warm smile and enthusiasm for the program were as infectious as ever.
Even better, they travel full-time in a Hitchhiker Champagne fifth wheel trailer, and although they were camped near town for an easy commute to the show every day, one evening they came out to the Plomosa Road campsite in the desert, where the Hitchhikers were gathered, and joined the group for a potluck dinner.
I was thrilled to see David and Nancy at the Amazon Camperforce booth again this year.
The RV Show is more of a Home Show and Lifestyle Show than it is specifically an RV show, and there were lots of gadgets for sale that are handy in the home whether it rolls down the road or sits on a permanent foundation.
The Sweepa Broom looked like it could be super handy for RVers. Lots of show goers were carrying these brooms, and that had been the case last year too. In fact, last year the booth was shut down by the time we got to it because they had sold out, so we were glad to be able to catch the demo this year. It was amazing how thoroughly it swept up pet hair!
Some of the hottest selling items would be handy in either a rolling or stick built home.
The Sweepa Broom folks still had plenty of stock when we stopped by, but the Chilling the Most booth was plumb out of their product. I have no idea what they were selling, but it was obvsiouly very popular!
Oops… got to this booth too late!
There’s no segmentation or grouping by product type in this show. All the vendors are jumbled together. So we got a laugh when we saw the Vitamix blender booth right next to the National Park Service booth. Well, that’s the RV life, I guess: make a smoothie and go see the Grand Canyon!
The essence of the Quartzsite RV Show: Vitamix blenders and the National Park Service side by side.
Food prep is a big deal at this show, and lots of vendors were giving demos of various kitchen gadgets. The Primo Peeler definitely put my old fashioned carrot peeler to shame. It slices, it dices…
The Quartzsite RV Show is in large part a Home Show — and why not?!
A very popular booth offered a “detox for life” foot bath. Just soak your feet in a magic forumla in a bucket for a while, and you’ll detox your whole body. Meanwhile, the liquid in the bucket turns a frightening color.
Snake oil or life saving health product? Who knows — it’s Quartzsite!
Detox for Life – just soak your feet in this bucket for a bit.
At some booths, like the detox booth, we had to stretch our imaginations a little to figure out if they were aiming their product at the Sports people, the Vacation people or RV people in the show’s audience. The mini-flipper 4 wheel drive ATV toy and Urban Rail Car and Create A Track train sets really gave us pause for thought.
A toy for the grandkids — or for the kid in all of us!
Suddenly, it hit me. Most of the folks attending the show were grandparents — and they had grandkids to buy for. What could be better for the little tyke than a toy train or ATV?! Funny thing was, when we got back out to our desert campsite, we saw a guy — a full grown guy — playing with a flipper ATV he’d picked up at the show. I guess we’re all kids at heart!
Of course, lots of people have grandkids at home, but they travel with their little pooch when they go RVing. Many of them brought their furry friends along to the show.
Puppy love…
Even though the crowds were thick in the aisles of the show, lots of little dogs made their way from booth to booth in baby strollers.
It’s easier to brave the crowds from the protection of a stroller!!
Seminars were being given on various RVing topics.
We caught up with the folks at Wholesale Warranties too. A year ago we were not so sure how useful an RV warranty could be, but this year we discovered just how important it is to have one for an older RV — our $1,904 four year policy covered $6,700 of repairs in just over a year — so it was great to put some faces with the names of the good folks at this company.
We were also fascinated to learn about their new RV repair facility rating and review website called RV Repair Direct. Since they have a vested interest in having warranty repairs done correctly the first time, they are putting together a database of RV repair facilities where people can rate and review the service providers they have used.
We met the gang at Wholesale Warranties and learned about a new service they have.
What an inventive idea this database is. Lord knows, figuring out which repair shops are good and which aren’t is really important and not easy at all! As I chatted with founder and CEO Jeff Shelton (on the right in the above photo), I was really impressed with his energy and his many creative ideas and his enthusiasm for the RV lifestyle.
RV insurance companies were at the show too, and Progressive Insurance had a long line out the door.
Whatever Progressive was giving away, it had to be good. Look at that line!
And outside we found lots of RVs for sale.
In one area there were a bunch of used Prevost motorhomes for sale. New ones go for about a mil and a half, so we jumped at the chance to peek inside some used ones and see what it would be like to live in a six year old $650k rolling home.
Mark gets a feel for how “the other half” lives.
The Prevost tours were popular, but I think the ice cream vendors were the ones that were really raking it in. This year for the RV Show the weather was sunny and warm, and everyone seemed to be licking an ice cream cone!
Ice cream was a big seller!
Of course, as the afternoon wore on, the outdoor beer and burger venues began filling up too. In the morning when we had first passed the “Happiest Place in Quartzsite” on our way into the show, the seats were all empty. But by the time we left in the afternoon they were full!
The “Happiest Place in Quartzsite” !!
At the end of the day we relaxed with our new Hitchhiker friends around the campfire.
The RV Show is fun, but I think the real draw in Quartzsite is getting together with friends.
What a fun way to spend a few days in the middle of winter!
January 2016 – Before we went to Quartzsite this year, some soon-to-be full-time RVers asked us why it is that RV travelers go there. They were native Arizonans and they knew that Quartzsite is just a truck stop of a town on I-10 between Phoenix and LA. So why would such a dumpy little town swell from less than 4,000 people in July to something like a million people in January, almost all of them living in RVs?
Quartzsite, Arizona, is a gathering place for RVers of all kinds each winter.
We tried to explain about the January RV Show in town, and the 15 mile radius of retirees boondocking all around, and the huge rallies for owners of all kinds of RVs, from Montana fifth wheels to Alpine coaches and Safari motorhomes to dozens of other RV manufacturers.
We talked about the moveable feast of pot-luck dinners, and the campfire cocktail circles at sundown, and the huge outdoor movie screens that folks set up, and the crazy flags flying from all the RV roofs, and the light shows people put on in the dark on their RVs.
Quartzsite is best known for its wild RV boondocking scene in the desert.
“So it’s a social thing?” They asked. Well, yes, we realized. In a nutshell that’s what it really is.
Quartzsite is “The Gathering Place,” and it seems that almost everyone who is living in the southwest in their RV in January swings by for a day or a week or a month. Some even spend the whole season here.
There are RV parks in town with full hookups, and some folks stay all winter — or even all year!
There are all kinds of places to park an RV and to get together with friends. There are RV parks with full hookups, and there are enclosed camping areas called Long Term Visitors Areas (LTVAs) on BLM land near town with toilets and dump stations and water where you can stay for a modest fee. And then there’s the free desert boondocking on BLM land a little further out.
RVing groups and rallies of all kinds come to Quartzsite. Even the Escapes Boondockers “Birds of a Feather” group camps together in the desert
The Sonoran Desert in this corner of the state has a hard-packed gravel surface that is easy to drive on, and there is very little vegetation. So, you can drive your rig anywhere, in almost any direction, and park and set up camp. If you’ve got friends that are coming or if you are part of an organized group, all the better.
All kinds of groups gather together in Quartzsite each January.
There are little signs all over the place pointing to where each social group has convened. The Escapees Boondockers stake out one area, the Off-Road Geezers stake out another, and the Gad Abouts and DV8’s take another. These are just a tiny few of the many dozens of groups we’ve seen.
Are you a Gad About? Park here!
The DV8’s were having a great time not too far from us
Some groups don’t have signs but just wave flags instead, and you have to walk over to the group and talk to them to find out what their group is all about.
A group of rigs flying a big yellow flag with a red crab on it really got us guessing.
Flags fly high from RVs all over the desert. American flag. Air Force flag. Crab flag??
“We’re Crabbers!” An old fellow told me. “We have small boats and trap crabs on the Oregon coast.”
And here they were in the Arizona desert doing the Quartzsite RV camping thing!!
Others just stake out a spot of their own without being part of an organized group. So it has always been for us.
We found a quiet corner and got set up.
However, this year, right after we unhitched our new truck and started leveling our trailer, a couple walked over and told us we were about 100 yards from the Hitchhiker fifth wheel gathering. They were all just beyond the next wash. Since we own a Hitchhiker fifth wheel trailer, they suggested we come on over for happy hour and meet the gang.
The Hitchhiker group was a great bunch to hang out with. And since Hitchhikers are no longer made, there was no problem joining in if you were in some other kind of RV. Two couples were in Mobile Suites!
What a fun group! They all knew each other from the very active Hitchhiker Owner’s Forum, a forum I haven’t frequented for many years since I first researched trailers before we went full-time.
No matter! When we got over there we were welcomed like family, and immediately handed paper plates and forks, and told to go grab some grub from the large table of sumptuous food. We joined the circle around the campfire and had a blast.
Over the next week we spent every afternoon and evening with this really fun crowd.
How cool to find that we were a short walk from the Hitchhiker gathering!!
Campfire storytelling is always a blast, and Lee and Christine regaled us with hilarious tales from their careers as dog trainers for Hollywood’s A-list stars. Steve, Jean and Pat shared great tips from their RV trip to Alaska last year.
Old salts Rick and Virgie told stories of their coastal and offshore sailing adventures between California and Mexico navigating with nothing more than a hand-bearing compass and a sextant back in the 80’s. We were amazed when they described entering the stunningly beautiful but dicey bay of Careyesat night, an anchorage that we loved but that’s so tricky that few sailors trouble with it.
There was a campfire and great food every night.
Our location was about 12 miles north of town on Route 95 and then east on Plomosa Road about 2.5 miles. There are a dozen turn-offs to both the north and south along a three mile stretch of Plomosa Road where you just drive out into the desert with your rig and find a place to park. There were little groups everywhere we turned.
RVers gather all over the place on the BLM land surrounding Quartzsite.
What’s fun is that the same groups claim the same trees and washes and fire rings in this part of the desert every year.
Little groups in camp chairs can be seen everywhere.
Interestingly, this is the corner where a lot of the single RVers hang out. The Solo’s and the Loners On Wheels were not too far from us, and the WINs (Wandering Individuals Network) were a really big group nearby.
The Wandering Individuals Network are a fun-loving group of single RVers.
The funny thing is that with all of these people busy socializing in the desert with their RVs, there’s a business opportunity for all kinds of RV service people. A really funky undercurrent of the Quartzsite experience is all the vendors who capitalize on repairing and upgrading the RVs that show up in the desert. They take full advantage of serving this captive audience for a few weeks.
Not only did we see them in town, but they were zipping across the desert too, fixing everything from windows to awnings to electrical systems.
No customer is too far out!
Getting it done… in the desert!
Some guys are general practitioners, while others are specialists in one area of RV repair or another.
Nothing like getting the RV awning repaired while having a beer in the desert.
This desert camping is all dry camping, of course, and you can see just about every imaginable kind of boondocking setup out in the desert. Some folks have big, elaborate solar power systems on their roofs, and others have just a solar panel or two propped up on the ground, while many many others simply run a generator for a few hours a day.
Many RV rooftops sport solar panels, and there are all different configurations.
Naturally, cocktail conversation frequently turns to electrical systems, solar power and batteries, and how to keep them charged. Mobile RV service guys that specialize in electrical systems are lept busy all day long. A few solar installers in town have lines out the door as well.
Some mobile RV techs (like Phil & Ann’s RV) specialize in electrical work. What a workshop!
Lots of folks come to Quartzsite looking to upgrade their rig too, and RV retailers set up shop for a few weeks in town with temporary lots full of new and used rigs.
There are RVs for sale on every corner.
Lots of folks come to Quartzsite with dreams of finding a new rolling home.
For us, this was a really special Quartzsite year. Not only did we meet up with a great group of people, but the weather was pretty near perfect the whole time, with warm days and almost no wind (it can be very windy and dusty there!). Best of all, the sunsets were divine!!
Some of the sunrises and sunsets this year were truly spectacular
December 2015 – Before the holidays, we had the opportunity to enjoy a wonderful week-long stay at ViewPoint RV & Golf Resort in Mesa, Arizona. Even though our typical mode of RV travel is to boondock, which is decidedly more gritty than pulling into at an upscale RV resort park, we got a huge kick out of taking a brief time-out from our solar powered lives to enjoy the sweet amenities at this resort RV and mobile home community just outside the big city of Phoenix.
Pretty sunsets like this one ended every one of our days at ViewPoint RV & Golf Resort
It was here that we made the swap from our old 2007 Dodge Ram 3500 to our new 2016 Ram 3500 dually truck. And because the RV park is close to a Valley Metro Light Rail station, we were able to zip into town to see Alice Cooper in concert without having to worry about parking our big new truck in the city.
Our new truck poses for us in our campsite at ViewPoint RV & Golf Resort
ViewPoint RV & Golf Resort is a sister park to the beautiful and action packed Monte Vista RV Resort a few miles away. And, like its sister, it is a true resort community, complete with a lovely swimming pool where a water aerobics exercise class was going on when we arrived.
What a spot for some wintertime water aerobics!
As the name implies, this is a golf oriented resort, and for visitors and residents alike there is an 18 hole golf course just steps away from your front door!
A pretty fountain welcomes golfers onto the course
We aren’t golfers, but the course was being enjoyed by many. If there is a golf heaven on this earth, it has to be in the Sonoran Desert of central Arizona where each golf course you see is more stunning than the last!
An 18 hole golf course is just steps from the RV park
There are lots of other outdoor pursuits for non-golfers in this RV park, and as we explored the community on foot and by bike, we found pickleball courts and shuffleboard courts too.
The pickleball courts were busy!
Championship shuffleboard courts.
This winter snowbird community is largely made up of park model homes, and we had fun checking out the cute houses that line the lanes.
ViewPoint is a pretty community of park model homes that is fun to explore by bike or on foot.
A spacious RV park is located at one end of the community, and the sites are big and nicely spaced out. Each has a concrete slab. Most of the RVers we met there were staying for a few months or for the whole season.
Many of the rigs were actually vacant while we were there, because their owners had flown home for the holidays. But the few who were staying for Christmas said the whole park would be buzzing with activity from January through March.
Santa welcomes us to the ballroom and theater!
This park is really well appointed with amenities of all kinds, and I was quite surprised when I poked my head in one door to find a library loaded with books. This library is very popular, and every time I passed by, I saw several people either reading at leisure or scanning the hundreds of book titles on the shelves.
The library attracts readers with walls of books and comfy chairs
The gym was terrific and outfitted with excellent equipment, including one of my favorite machines that is really hard to find even in the biggest commercial gyms: a good quality rowing machine. Just outside the gym windows there is a hot tub, and we saw people soaking in it every time we hit the gym for a workout.
I really enjoyed my workouts at this gym — a “conventional lifestyle” luxury I miss!
Along with arts and crafts groups and a photography club that produced a hallway full of truly stunning photos in the main building, ViewPoint RV & Golf Resort also offers a huge variety of excursions to nearby and not-so-nearby attractions. A bulletin board lists daytrips and overnight jaunts to all kinds of exotic places, from Rocky Point in Mexico, to Tubac, Arizona, to the Grand Canyon and Copper Canyon and even a trip on the Verde Canyon Railroad.
For those that want to see these special places but don’t want to drive their RV to each one, what a great way to do some fun traveling while using this RV resort as a home base!
Where do you want to go? This travel bulletin board is filled with inviting trips
ViewPoint RV & Golf Resort is a big community, and I was impressed that they have quite a few amenities right onsite, saving residents and visitors a car trip into Mesa. There’s no need to hunt down a hair salon somewhere in the city, because there is a hair salon located right on the resort grounds!
Walk to the beauty salon from your RV!
There’s also a really fun sports bar and restaurant next to the golf pro shop called Fat Willy’s. We wandered in late one afternoon to discover we had hit it on the best day of the week, Monday, when they offer $6 gourmet burgers and $3.50 pints of Kilt Lifter (a yummy Arizona craft beer). The place was so packed they had to set up extra tables and chairs in another room!
Fat Willy’s is a great little sports bar at the resort with delicious burgers at good prices
As one gal said to me during our stay, “If you’re bored here at ViewPoint, it’s your own fault, because there is always something going on!”
This is a popular place for snowbirds looking to get away from winter’s chill up north, and we discovered that lots of people come here along with friends and family who journey down from cold country for the winter.
When we were doing our laundry one day, we got chatting with a long-time winter resident and discovered she had purchased her park model home sight unseen with a phone call from Minnesota so she and her husband could join her sisters and their husbands who already had winter homes in the resort complex.
The community is expanding with new park model homes.
She was thrilled with her winter digs and just loved the community.
We also met several full-time RVers as well as former RVers who had purchased park model homes here either to establish a home base for their travels or because the time had come for them to hang up the keys.
While we were there, ViewPoint RV & Golf Resort was in the middle of a big expansion, with new park model homes going in and some of the common areas getting upgraded.
Having a cute little home base is a nice option for full-time RVers!
Staying at an upscale RV resort like this isn’t cheap, but we discovered the rates can be reduced significantly with a Thousand Trails Camping Pass.
The daily rates at ViewPoint RV & Golf Resort are $51/$65, in summer/winter while weekly rates are $306/$390 for the same periods with 20% off for Thousand Trails members. Monthly rates range from $1,097 in Jan-March to $806 in Oct-Dec to $519 in Apr-Sep., with Thousand Trails members receiving a 10% discount.
Sunset at ViewPoint RV & Golf Resort
For RVers who want to settle into this park for the most popular months of December to March, the Thousand Trails Camping Pass saves $409 over those four months, which nearly pays for the pass itself, making it possible to camp within the Thousand Trails network for very little during the rest of the year.
December 2015 – When we bought our Dodge Ram 3500 single rear wheel truck brand new in 2007, we purchased it to tow our lightweight full-time home, a 7,000 lb. 2007 27′ Fleetwood Lynx travel trailer. For such a big, monster truck, that little trailer was a featherweight. But within a year, we had upgraded our year-round living quarters to a 36′ 2007 Hitchhiker Fifth Wheel trailer, a beast that weighs in at 14,000 lbs. fully loaded.
Our ’07 Dodge Ram 3500 truck and 36′ Hitchhiker fifth wheel trailer — at home on the road!
This trailer was the absolute maximum size our truck could tow safely.
The truck’s GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating) is 21,000 lbs., but our truck and trailer weigh 22,150 lbs. when hitched up and fully loaded. The truck’s GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) is 10,100 lbs., but the truck weighs 10,850 lbs. when the trailer is sitting on its back.
When it comes to safety on the road, we’ve been pushing it!
Our big beautiful trailer maxed out our big beautiful one ton truck!
These upgrades helped, but even though the truck was very happy towing our trailer on flat roads, it worked awfully hard when it was put to the test on mountain grades. Frankly, the transmission and modest rear end were not really 100% up to the task in the Rockies.
We gave the truck’s engine more horsepower and torque by installing an Edge Evolution Tuner
The beauty of having a towable RV is that we could replace the RV’s engine and drivetrain independently without affecting our living quarters (and vice versa). A new truck would revolutionize our driving experience on the road but not cost nearly as much nor be nearly as chaotic as replacing our home at the same time.
We were also toying with the idea of getting a truck camper someday so we could travel to more remote places. The weight of many truck campers requires a dually truck (four rear wheels instead of two to support the weight), so we began flirting with the idea of buying a dually.
We had a lot to learn about the latest trucks, and we studied everything we could about the myriad of improvements that diesel trucks have undergone since we last paid attention in 2007.
Our ’07 Dodge Ram 3500 single rear wheel truck was great, but a stronger truck would be better.
We began test driving new trucks right away when we arrived back in San Diego after our Mexico sailing travels. 2013 models were on dealer lots at the time, and in the ensuing months, the 2014 models began to arrive at the dealerships.
Since then, we have taken Ford, Chevy and Dodge trucks on over 200 miles of test drives, and visited at least 25 dealerships across the country. Mark subscribes to Diesel Power Magazine, and he has studied the subject of diesel trucks endlessly.
When we saw that the centerfold for the 2016 Ram Trucks brochure mentioned Roads Less Traveled, we had to have a 2016!
2016 Ram Trucks Brochure centerfold — It was meant to be!!
Diesel trucks improve every year, and this new one has a whopping best-in-class GCWR of 39,000 lbs as compared to the 21,000 lbs of our old truck. And that was just the first item on a long list of eye-popping stats.
Our only question was where it would be best to buy it. Because of our mobile lifestyle, we could buy it in any state at any dealership.
By the summer of 2015, Mark had come to know more about each option on the new Ram trucks than most of the salesmen we talked to. He also knew exactly which options he wanted and which ones he didn’t want. Unfortunately, this made it nearly impossible to find “the ideal truck” just sitting around somewhere on some random Dodge dealership lot.
Throughout our 2015 travels across 24 states, we checked in at almost every Dodge dealership in almost every town we visited to see if they had “our truck.” None did. We repeatedly searched online to see if a detour of 100 miles in this direction or that would bring us to our dream truck. No dice.
We test drove Ford, Chevy and Dodge trucks all over the country for two years. In Wyoming, we even test drove a custom 2014 Dodge Ram 5500. Very cool, but very stiff!
We soon realized that we would have to place an order for our truck in order to get the combination of options we wanted, and we would have to wait 8 weeks for it to be built and shipped to a dealership.
We were in perpetual motion driving from Arizona to Nova Scotia and back in 2015. Our favorite dealership was Marshall Motors in Salina, Kansas, where diesel truck salesman Alex Thatcher was the most knowledgeable of any we’d met. But we wanted to keep moving to get back to Arizona for the winter.
Logistically, ordering a truck in Arizona made the most sense for us because we were going to be there for a few months. But which dealership would be best?
Mark LOVED our ’07 truck and worried he might not love a new one as much…
We got a tip that Airpark Dodge in Scottsdale, Arizona has an annual Christmas holiday “Buy a Car Get a Guitar” promotion where anyone that buys a new car also gets a glistening new electric guitar signed by rock star Alice Cooper as part of the deal.
When Mark heard that, he was sold — We were THERE!
Mark has been a huge Alice Cooper fan since the day the rock star exploded on the scene in 1971, and we listen to his music all the time. Mark turned 18 shortly after Alice Cooper’s clever and poignant song “I’m Eighteen” came out, and he graduated from high school the year Alice’s hit “School’s Out” soared to the top of the charts.
Alice Cooper and Mark were both born in Detroit, and both spent their adult lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Mark didn’t move across country just to be like the rock star, but he went to a ton of Alice Cooper concerts in both cities over the past four decades, and he dressed up as his idol on many a Halloween night!
Wild eyed fans love to dress up as Alice Cooper, even to this day. Mark morphed into Alice Cooper for Halloween many times!
As a kid, Mark used to have a t-shirt decorated with Alice Cooper’s early trademark mascara eyelashes, and he wore it so much he wore it right through to rags. On the occasional day he didn’t wear it, a friend would ask him, “Where’s your Cooper shirt?”
Before we started traveling full-time, back when Mark and I were avid cyclists, we rode our bikes past Alice Cooper’s house all the time. Mark would always point it out, and we would wonder what life was like behind the huge front doors that had handles shaped like snakes.
There was no doubt that now, if Mark could lay his hands on a guitar that Alice Cooper had actually touched and signed, he would be totally beside himself. We knew exactly where we would be ordering our new truck!
Here’s the TV ad for the Airpark Dodge promo — check it out:
At the end of the ad, after passing out a slew of free guitars for car buyers, Alice asks: “I wonder what you get if you buy a truck?”
OMG — We sure found out!!
To begin with, when we got to Airpark Dodge to pick up our new baby, Mark was given his signed Alice Cooper electric guitar. He was in seventh heaven!
A new electric guitar signed by Alice Cooper – Wow!! Oh…. and a new truck too.
As we admired the Alice Cooper memorabilia on the walls of the dealership, we discovered that the GM of Airpark Dodge is golf buddies with Alice Cooper. To our amazement — and dismay — we found out that the week before we got there, Alice had been hanging out at the dealership kick-starting the promotion.
Oh, man. How did we miss seeing him in person at the dealership?! We were so bummed!!
Alice Cooper hangs out at Airpark Dodge in Scottsdale Arizona so much he has his own office (well, ummm… it’s a broom closet!!)
But then we found out that “Coop,” as his friends know him, was going to be performing at Talking Stick Arena in downtown Phoenix two nights later. Concert tickets were sold out, but afterwards he was going to host a special party at his bar/restaurant across the street (called Cooperstown) to benefit his teen rock center and rock music school in Phoenix called Solid Rock.
With that tid-bit of inside scoop, we dashed downtown on the appointed night, and before we knew it, we were mingling with a crowd of other fans at Cooperstown, waiting for the official concert across the street to end and for Coop to come on over and play at his bar.
Suddenly, a crazy Alice Cooper lookalike in a straight jacket and tall leopard boots grabbed Mark by the neck. Yikes!
Ya gotta watch out for those rabid fans!
He let Mark go, and we wandered around admiring the posters and wacky stage props and guitars and other memorabilia that cover the walls of Cooperstown.
There’s all kinds of cool stuff on the walls at Cooperstown in Phoenix
Suddenly, Alice Cooper appeared. He’d removed his stage makeup from the big concert across the street at the arena and was mingling with his fans around the restaurant. He knew some of them and recognized others from previous encounters.
Alice Cooper chats with a fan who’d brought him a special gift she’d made.
His son Dash got up on stage and performed with his band Co-op (“Coop” with a Dash !!). I had to smile as he leaned over the rail to watch his son in action.
Alice Cooper watches his son perform at Cooperstown
Moments later, he turned around, and we caught him just long enough to get some photos with him. He was very obliging, and oh lordy me, we were both totally star struck!
From Mark’s lifetime bucket list of dreams – Meet Alice Cooper… Check!
Moments after Dash’s band finished, Alice was up on stage with his own band, rocking out just steps from where we stood. Holy Smokes!
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We laughed and sang along and clapped and cheered with everyone else. This was AWESOME!!
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Hot hot hot!
Between singing along, we both managed to snap some fun pics.
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Not only was Alice Cooper phenomenal, but his band was incredible too. His guitarist, Nita Strauss, is stunning in every way!
Nita Strauss is a mind blowing guitarist in Alice Cooper’s band
All of a sudden, Alice Cooper’s son jumped back on stage and began singing with his dad. How cool is that?!
Alice Cooper sings with his son Dash
What a fantastic night this was. What fabulous memories!!
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Needless to say, we were gushingly excited. And we listened to Alice Cooper songs for the next week, nonstop.
Looking down at the stage and crowd of fans in Cooperstown
Oh… and our new truck?
WE LOVE IT!!!
Here are the details explaining exactly what we ordered on our new truck and why:
Also, our new diesel truck requires the use of DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid), and we learned a bunch about where to get it cheaply and how to get it in the truck without spilling…
If you are in the market for a truck, swing by Airpark Dodge in Scottsdale and see if the Coop is in! If he isn’t, talk to our salesman, Ed Kulas.
More Alice Cooper links below…
The hit song “I’m Eighteen” that has captured the hearts of 18 year olds for over 40 years:
“School’s Out” – This song, along with the drinking age dropping from 21 to 18 in most states and the draft ending nationwide — made 1972 a very special year for an entire graduating class of high school seniors:
“Elected” — Very appropriate for the 2016 election year, or for any election year for that matter. Alice Cooper wants to be elected, and he promises the formation of a New Party, a Wild Party… a Beer Party!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i4EnjRKVQw
Nowadays, Alice cooper is a pitchman for lots of companies. Here’s a super cute TV ad he did for Staples during the Back to School sales season:
Here’s a fun ad he did for Residence Inn:
And here’s a cute one for Service Arizona, the online vehicle registration service from Arizona’s Department of Transportation:
Wonder where this wacky rock star came from? Here’s a bio of how Vincent Furnier evolved into and then away from his alter ego Alice Cooper:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAXtZ21c7u8
Here’s Alice Cooper talking a bit about his stage persona, his thoughts on Lady Gaga and music today. Skip 2:17 into the interview and you’ll hear him tell the TRUE story behind the urban myth that he killed a chicken on stage (I sure remember hearing THAT rumor circulating among my teeny-bop friends…yikes!):
Here’s a wonderful interview that gives insights into the now “lovable” and truly beloved Shock Rock star:
An interesting morsel we discovered in all of this was that Alice Cooper was approached and offered tons of money to do a reality TV show about his life today. But when the producers found out he’s a sober, drug-free family man who plays golf six days a week and goes to church every Sunday, they went with Ozzie Osbourne instead.
Here’s Alice Cooper, son of a pastor/evangelist, grandson of a pastor/evangelist and son-in-law of a Baptist minister…on Christianity:
Alice Cooper talks to golfers about how an addiction to golf saved him from an addiction to alcohol:
Here’s a little more from Alice Cooper about his faith and Christianity. Skip 6:05 minutes into it to hear about his foundation for at-risk teens, Solid Rock (the website given in the video has been replaced with www.alicecoopersolidrock.com):
January 2016 – A lot of folks that have never been to Arizona think of it as a very hot and dry place. That’s true in certain parts of the state at certain times of the year, but it isn’t always so!
Snow and mist cover the mountains east of Phoenix, Arizona.
This past week the humidity level stayed above 80% for five straight days, and the rain fell relentlessly.
What a gorgeous morning on Roosevelt Lake!
The stunner of it all was that this moisture showed up as a beautiful blanket of snow in the mountains around the desert floor.
A lone saguaro cactus looks up at the snowy mountains in the distance.
This is a spectacular area at any time, but snow really sets off those mountains!
What a great reward after a soggy week in our RV. We threw open the windows, even though it was only 50 degrees out, and let the sun pour in!
Roosevelt Lake Marina – boating between snowy peaks!
This part of the desert can hit 120 degrees at the peak of summer, but the overnight lows have been flirting with the freezing point on the thermometer all this week. Nonetheless, the occasional die hard boater has cast off on Roosevelt Lake.
An enthusiastic boater takes to the water on the first day of sunshine.
A pack of coyotes lives nearby, and we’ve been hearing them a lot in the mornings and evenings. The other day we spotted one just a few feet away.
A pack of coyotes has been singing and yipping a lot around us lately.
What a gorgeous animal! I was delighted when he turned to look at me.
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And the scenery wasn’t bad either!!
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We were just loving the colors…
What a place!
We hopped in the truck to take a drive and were amused to see cars and trucks coming down from the mountains with snow on the roofs. There were winter warnings for drivers too.
When we crossed one mountain pass we could tell the snowplows had been busy the night before. Wow!
Snow doesn’t last long in these parts, so we snapped as many pics as we could.
So pretty.
This area is beautiful at any time of year, but the backdrop of the snowcapped mountains with the saguaro cactus and Roosevelt Lake was just fantastic.
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Crossing the mountains on our way to Globe, the distant rippling mountain peaks were covered with snow.
This saguaro has upright arms. When one has a droopy arm, it’s often because snow or ice weighed it down for a while!
This was a wonderful fairy dusting of winter. Just enough to give us the beauty from a distance without having to shovel!
A tiny house on a hill…
The daytime temps warmed up to the low 60’s and the snow began to vanish from the peaks in no time. But what a neat few days we had here in “hot” and “dry” Arizona!!
The snow won’t last long, but it gave us a lovely winter interlude!
December 2015 – During our RV travels in central Arizona we took an outstanding volunteer-led tour of the ancient Indian “Upper Cliff Dwellings” at Tonto National Monument. We had already visited the “Lower Cliff Dwellings” on our own, as those are open to the public for exploration without a guide. But a visit to the Upper Cliff Dwellings can only be made if you take a guided tour.
The hike up to Tonto National Monument’s Upper Cliff Dwellings goes through some beautiful scenery.
The cost was just the price of admission to the National Monument ($5 per person or free with a Federal Interagency Pass or Senior Access Pass). But that low cost was deceiving — this was no ordinary tour!
The depth of knowledge and enthusiasm of our guide, Susan Treneer, as she taught us about these ancient Indian ruins was unbelievable, and our whole group was fascinated as we listened to her explain the theories behind the history of this special place.
The hike was uphill but not too strenuous.
A group of about eight of us gathered at the Visitors Center and then hiked the 3 mile round trip up the steep hillside to the ruins and back. We began by going through some lovely riparian habitat (wetlands) where sycamores and other hardwoods were still showing off their autumn color.
A sycamore tree just off the trail in a riparian area.
Periodically, Susan stopped us as we hiked to explain the different vegetation we were seeing and to talk about the people who lived in the Tonto Basin 700 years ago.
Susan pauses to tell us about the Salt River and the people who lived here centuries ago.
We climbed higher and higher on the hillside as we approached the cliff dwellings at the top, and the view of Roosevelt Lake grew more and more expansive below us.
The views of Roosevelt Lake were outstanding.
Right before we entered the Upper Cliff Dwelling ruins, Susan brought out photos of some of the astonishingly beautiful and intricate pottery that the people of this place had made all those centuries ago. They are called the Salado People by archaeologists today, named for the Rio Salado (Salt River) that they lived near and which was dammed up in 1911 to create Roosevelt Lake.
Susan showed us photos of beautiful Tonto Basin pottery made right here centuries ago.
The Salado people were extraordinary potters, and their pottery has been found as far away as the Paquimé ruins in northern Mexico, some 350 miles or so southeast of Tonto National Monument.
The people who built these ruins came down from Mesa Verde in southwestern Colorado and from other Colorado Plateau cliff dwelling communities.
Our guide, Susan, excitedly explained that no one really knows why the Salado built their homes in these caves so high up on the mountainside. She explained that the valleys were already filled with people living an agrarian lifestyle. Those old-timers had been raising cotton, beans, squash and corn in the Tonto Basin for 1,000 years already.
The adobe structures had roofs made of saguaro cactus ribs and juniper. These are original!
The cliff dwellers were the newcomers to the area. They may have been artisans who wanted to make a life selling their unique tricolor pottery. Or they may have been workers for the wealthier farmers who lived below them. No one is 100% sure!
The adobe homes, storage rooms and workshops were built right into the caves.
All that is known is that they came down from the Colorado Plateau, and traveled through the Kayenta, Arizona, area, and ultimately set up housekeeping in the Tonto Basin and stayed for about 100 years.
Susan was extraordinarily knowledgeable about the ancient southwest cultures.
Susan’s enthusiasm for the subject was infectious, and it struck me that she was absolutely loving her wintertime volunteer job with the National Park Service at this special spot.
For archaeology buffs, working at a site that is being actively studied by scientists must be a thrill.
In between describing the tools and other relics that have been found at Tonto National Monument, she also told us that archaeology has been her lifelong interest. She hadn’t studied it formally or been a professional in the field during her career, but now, as a retiree, she was able to work alongside scientists and archaeologists studying this site and stay on top of the most recent findings and theories while “on the job” with the National Park Service. How cool is that?!
Most members of our group had traipsed through ancient ruins in Mexico and Central America as well as all over the southwest.
Susan’s volunteer job requires 32 hours a week of work, and she has taken the position for a few months. In exchange, she receives an RV campsite with full hookups overlooking Roosevelt Lake. This may not sound like a very fair exchange if you multiply out the hours worked and the value of the campsite. Even if it were a resort campsite, like nearby Monte Vista RV Resort with its swimming pools, hot tubs, sports courts and art studios, the pay would equate to just $8.20/hour. However, there is a deeper meaning to doing this kind of work, and she was obviously thrilled to have the opportunity to learn about the ancient southwestern cultures in a professional setting and to share her passion with others.
The public can only see the Upper Cliff dwellings on guided tours given on weekends.
Susan told me she has volunteered for the National Park Service for several years and has held similar positions at a few of the most significant ancient cliff dwelling ruins sites across the southwest, including Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon and the Gila Cliff Dwellings.
In one job, she didn’t work with the public but spent her days cataloging and storing ancient pottery. She said that having the opportunity to hold, examine and study 700 and 800 year old pots — some of them perfectly intact — was just thrilling.
These ruins were overflowing with artifacts and debris when they were first studied 100 years ago. In those days tourists were free to take home whatever artifacts they found lying around!
I asked Susan how she got started with the National Park Service, and she explained that when she started as a volunteer, she had to undergo an intensive 40 hour training class and also do a beginner’s stint as a campground host at Big Bend National Park (not her favorite line of work). But it was clear that the personal rewards she has found since starting work at the various cliff dwelling sites have been enormous.
The Salado people weren’t all that short — 5’6″ was average for men, the same as their counterparts in Europe – but the floor of the caves has built up over time.
Her enthusiasm for all things ancient and puebloan — like the small “T” shaped window that looked out from the window onto modern day Roosevelt Lake where the free spirited Salt River once irrigated the farmlands — was truly infectious.
Lots of folks think “work camping” is simply working as a campground host checking people in and out of a campground or cleaning the bathrooms. But as I learned from Susan, if you have a passion for a particular field of study that is a focus of a particular National Park, like the puebloan culture and associated archaeological ruins, volunteering is a fabulous way to apprentice yourself to get hands on experience and learn everything you can.
Susan pointed out a “matate” grinding stone that remains on site.
When Susan started, she was given a two page reading list of books to study. She was thrilled. “I like the intellectual stimulation,” she said. She wanted to spend her retirement not just traveling but learning new things and expanding her horizons in every way.
Corn was similar but a bit smaller back then. This corn cob is 700 years old!
More than once she mentioned the names of the archaeologists who are her favorite mentors. They are pioneering new work on the origins, migrations and lives of the ancient people of the southwest, and some of their theories challenge those of the researchers of prior decades. So, their work is new, their ideas are fresh, and they are breaking new ground in understanding what the earlier people of the southwest were really all about.
A corn cob got mixed into the adobe mud during construction and ended up in a wall!
We were totally impressed by the high quality of this tour. It felt like we were on a guided field trip with a true scholar. Susan had brought materials with her to show and instruct us, and she pointed out relics that were found at the Upper Cliff Dwellings and remain onsite and that the public can’t see without a guide. Best of all, she gave us insights into the lives of the people of an earlier time.
The remains of a shovel used by archaeologist Charlie Steen during the 1930’s excavation of these ancient ruins.
Perhaps even more important, she opened our eyes to the kinds of volunteer work that are possible within the National Park Service and on public lands in general. It isn’t always just cleaning up after tourists!
Susan did say, however, that there is a lot of competition for the premium volunteer positions, and that you have to build your credentials and your resume, just as you would with a paying job. After all, they aren’t going to trust just anyone off the street with handling and cataloging priceless pottery that is centuries old! But once you get yourself established in the system, there are intriguing opportunities to learn and to share — and to get an RV campsite with a view too boot!
Looking out over Tonto Basin from the back of the cave
If you have a chance to travel to central Arizona with your RV, take a trip to Tonto National Monument in the Tonto National Forest and see these wonderful ruins.
If you are lucky enough to be able to RV seasonally or full-time as a retiree, perhaps you too will pursue a lifelong interest by taking a short term volunteer position on America’s public lands!
Volunteer.gov – The website for finding volunteer workcamping positions with the National Park Service, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and many other public land agencies
Monte Vista RV Resort boasts true resort style amenities.
The first thing we noticed when we arrived was the absolutely gorgeous swimming pool under the palm trees. Lots of people were in the water, and all around the edge of the pool folks were kicked back in lounge chairs sunning themselves. Was this really winter?!
What a spot to spend some time!
Nearby, we saw a slew of tennis courts, and each one was in use. A tennis instructor was busy teaching a group of women the basics of tennis while their husbands looked on from the bleachers.
There are tennis courts galore
There were pickleball courts and championship shuffleboard courts as well, but what really caught my eye was the beautifully appointed gym. So often the “gyms” in RV parks are tiny closets with an old treadmill and a few rusty handweights. Not here!
Besides a full complement of weight training equipment, free weights, benches and mirrors, in another room across the courtyard there were new and sparkling clean elliptical machines, treadmills and other aerobic exercise machines.
The weight room – a great place to shed those holiday pounds (yikes!)
But fancy and ritzy amenities only go so far. It is the spirit of a place that makes it fun for a visit, and Monte Vista is a really congenial and friendly community.
On our first night, we heard a knock on our trailer door and opened it to find our next door neighbor holding out a gift bag full of homemade baked goodies and wishing us a happy holiday season. We are accustomed to more solitary living in our life on the road, and it was such a heartwarming surprise to be welcomed this way.
From our next door neighbors to BBQ king Louie, Monte Vista is a very friendly community
The next day we found out that twice a week there is an outdoor barbecue called “Lunch With Louie” that is held in the courtyard. We were amazed when Louie told us he’s been bringing his portable cookout with burgers and hot dogs to Monte Vista RV Resort for 17 years! A few hours later, in the same courtyard, another fellow arrived with a karaoke setup for happy hour under the setting sun. What a hoot that was!
Over in the big ballroom, we poked our heads in the door one evening and found a ballroom Round Dancing class in progress.
A Round Dancing class in the ballroom!
The couple teaching the class elegantly demonstrated the choreographed moves, and then eight or so couples mimicked their steps, gliding across the ballroom floor with fancy footwork.
Dance classes are open to everyone that loves music and dancing!
There is so much to do at this RV resort that lots of folks stay within the grounds all day long. And no wonder. If you have the slightest artistic inclination, there is a some kind of craft available with an incredible studio and good instruction waiting for you at every turn.
I was astonished by the range of arts and crafts studios, the quality of the instruction and the beauty of the work being created!
The stained glass and fused glass studio blew me away. After a few hours of instruction, which is given regularly throughout the winter season, the studio is open for folks to come and create whatever their imagination can conceive of. An experienced monitor is present to answer questions, offer suggestions and give guidance. The works of art being created in that studio were just gorgeous
How fun to learn how to make stained glass artwork like this!
For those that want to make jewelry or cut and polish gemstones, there is a lapidary and a silversmithing studio as well.
If you aren’t afraid of using a torch, the silversmithing looks like a lot of fun.
Again, an intro class is given to newcomers regularly, and monitors are available during the copious hours that the studio is open so you can design and make whatever jewelry pieces you wish. One fellow told me he had made so much for his wife that she was decked out head to toe with jewelry all the time. Lucky her!
A gemstone on its way to becoming a pendant for some lucky woman…
Some folks aren’t into holding a torch or soldering metal. They prefer the enclosed flames of a kiln and the soothing tranquility of making pottery and painting ceramics. For them, there is a pottery studio (learn to throw a pot on a wheel!) and a ceramics studio as well.
The ceramics studio has shelves of paints in every color of the rainbow.
All this stuff got my creative juices flowing, and like so many visitors who stop in for a week, I began to contemplate sticking around for longer.
The ceramics studio
Many of the people in this community are snowbirds who own or rent a park model, but others are full-time or seasonal RVers who want a place to unwind and relax during the cold winter months. Lots of men who have lived in an RV for a while really miss their workshop, garage or down-and-dirty Man Cave back home. Well, the size and variety of the power tools in the wood shop at Monte Vista are probably better than the equipment most guys have in their garage or basement at home!
From stump to bowl… how cool to create the transformation!
The wood shop has its own building and there are several rooms of power tools and workbenches available for use. The smiles on the faces of the men designing everything from elegant cutting boards to artwork for the walls to larger furniture pieces to wooden bowls gave away the fun they were all having.
I was astonished to turn a corner and find a room devoted entirely to lathes. Then I met a fellow who was building a beautiful replica of a carousel merry-go-round.
A carousel…what a marvelous work in progress!
Every year there is an Annual Spring Expo in the ballroom (March 12th in 2016) where the beautiful works created by Monte Vista’s artisans are put on display for everyone to admire.
More than one person told me the quality of the artwork at this expo was superior to that of the professionals that show off their wares at the nearby Fountain Hills Art Fair each winter. Having been to the Fountain Hills Art Fair many times, and now having wandered through the artisan studios at Monte Vista, I would have to agree!
It isn’t all specialty artiwork, though. One studio is set aside for a kind of “Art du Jour” freestyle class, and the day I poked my head in the door a group of women was making beautiful Christmas cards to send out to loved ones.
Making Christmas cards is fun, but doing it with friends and lots of cool materials is even better.
With stencils, doilies, construction paper, scissors, glue and various trimmings, they were enjoying a lively conversation among themselves while reviving the long lost art of handmade Christmas greetings.
Not only are there sports and arts and crafts, but the card sharks have their own private, dedicated room as well, with Bridge tables set up just for that purpose.
A lively Bridge game was going on when I peeked in the “Card Room.”
The intriguing thing we found during our stay was how many people we met who had come to Monte Vista for a week or two at first and then returned for a much longer stay the next season.
Full-time RVers Larry, an avid woodworker, and Jacquie, who was in a singing group, told us they had stopped in at Monte Vista for a week last winter and were so intrigued by all the activities that they decided to spend a full six months there this year so they could take advantage of everything on offer while at same time resting from their summer travels.
This makes a lot of sense. Freestyle wandering around the country is a dream lifestyle, but every so often it feels good to stop for a few months and catch you breath. And what a place to do it!
Care for a dip in the hot tub?!
We visited Monte Vista RV Resort during the off-season (October-December) and I was surprised at the reasonable rates. It was ~$500/month or ~$300/week. During the peak season of January-March, the rates jumpt to ~$1,000/month, but they drop to off-season prices again in April, a beautiful month in central Arizona.
There is an active photography club here too with some really skilled photographers in it. The many fountains in the park are a favorite subject, so we had to try our hand with the fountains too!
Monte Vista RV Resort is part of both the Encore and the Thousand Trails networks of RV Parks. A ~$550 Thousand Trails annual membership will net a 20% discount on the daily and weekly rates or a 10% discount on the monthly rates. Apply those discounts to any stay, and much of the year’s membership will be paid for, leaving you with 30 free overnight stays within the Thousand Trails network for the rest of the year (and just $3/night after that).
That’s a pretty good gig!
Our buggy settled in very nicely here!
The only caveat about Monte Vista RV Resort is that it is a very popular place. We thought it was hopping during our stay in mid-December, but everyone told us it was actually “slow” at that time because many people had gone home for the holidays!
So, if you want to be there when things are in high gear between January and March, be sure to book early!
2015 was a year of extraordinary adventures for us as we gallivanted around North America in our ninth year of full-time travel. Looking back at our year of RV voyaging, it is astonishing to re-live the wide ranging experiences we had on the road.
A view of New Hampshire’s White Mountains gives us pause for reflection on our sensational year of RV travel to the eastern states in 2015.
Gas prices were at an unbelievable low at the start of the year at about $2.79/gallon in Arizona, so we realized this particular year would probably be a great one to travel a long distance. After pondering Alaska versus Nova Scotia as destinations from our starting point in Arizona, we decided to head to the northeast. What a boon it was to watch fuel prices decrease all year long, hitting $2.09 a gallon when we returned to Arizona at the end of the year.
“Buses by the Bridge” VW Microbus fest in Lake Havasu Arizona
In January, the death of a cherished mentor of mine, Toller Cranston, made me realize with more poignancy than ever before that life is precious and we must savor every moment we have here on earth.
Thousands of sandhill cranes fill the sky near Willcox, Arizona
Boondocking in the wilds at Big Bend National Park in Texas
The Caverns of Sonora, a few hundred miles east of Big Bend on I-10, gave us a chance to explore a truly gorgeous underground world in a massive cave, but a scary ice storm on the highway as we made our way from there to Fort Worth jolted us back to reality.
The Caverns of Sonora in Texas are among the world’s prettiest
2015 turned out to be a year of major repairs and upgrades on our trailer, and we had no idea of what was to come when we did our first big trailer upgrade in Fort Worth, Texas. We replaced our trailer’s electric brakes with electric over hydraulic disc brakes. This turned out to be a perfectly timed upgrade, as the traffic, hills and chaotic driving in the northeast tested our trailer’s braking system again and again for the rest of the season.
Our first big upgrade in 2015 – Trailer disc brakes
New batteries, new inverter and new converter – yay!
One of our more unusual discoveries this year was The Ringling in Sarasota, Florida, a one-of-a-kind estate where we found fabulous art created by the European masters from the Middle Ages to the 19th century that had been collected by one of the founders of Ringling Brother’s Circus.
“The Ringling” in Sarasota – An estate and art museum full of treasures from the circus
A sandhill crane mom checks on her chick in the nest
I flew to Massachusetts for a week and reveled in the delights of the seaside town of Rockport before we packed up the buggy in Florida and began our long trek to the northeastern states.
Quintessential New England beauty in Rockport, Massachusetts
The Carriage Roads in Acadia National Park – A gift to all of us from John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
Taking our RV further downeast, we were delighted by a series of lighthouse sightings, first the candy-striped West Quoddy Head lighthouse and then the red crossed East Quoddy Head lighthouse at Lubec (Maine) and Campobello Island (Canada).
Maine’s West Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Lubec
New Brunswick’s East Quoddy Head Lighthouse on Campobello Island
These lighthouses were just a warm up for the incredible evening we experienced after we crossed the border for real into Nova Scotia and watched the setting sun play upon the Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse in south-central Nova Scotia.
Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse on the south coast of Nova Scotia
Wild skies at Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse in Nova Scotia
The visual wonders kept us in awe throughout our stay in Nova Scotia, first at Lunenburg and Mahone Bay on the southern coast, then on the Northumberland Shore on the north coast.
The classic colorful fishing village of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
The Cabot Trail winds through the highlands of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia
Seaside camping at the northern tip of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
At this point, in early July, we turned around and began the long journey back south and west. Our first stop was cute (and remote) Eastport, Maine, followed by the fun town of Bangor where we spent precious time with very special friends.
A bat on the gate protects the house of author Steven King in Bangor, Maine
While we were in Bangor, we underwent the first major repair of the year when we got our trailer’s rear axle replaced. The original axle had been bent by the bad roads in Nova Scotia, and we were extremely grateful that our newly minted RV warranty came to the rescue.
The service team at Harvey RVs in Bangor Maine did an outstanding job replacing our rear trailer axle.
From Maine, we zipped west to the White Mountains in New Hampshire where we summitted Mt. Washington, the tallest peak in the northeast. We did it the easy way by taking The Cog Railway.
The Cog Railway climbs a 37.5% grade straight up Mt. Washington in New Hampshire’s White Mountains
A community of Amish people make their home in the New York Finger Lakes
The farmer’s produce auction – a glimipse of another era.
The rural countryside of the Finger Lakes was lovely, and we were just delighted when a pair of fawns and a fox paused at the edge of the woods to check us out.
The New York Finger Lakes have their wild side!
A rainy daytrip to exquisite Watkins Glen State Park proved to be an ideal way to see this jewel, as the overcast light and flowing waterfalls were perfect for taking photos.
The waterfalls at Watkins Glenn blew us away.
From the Finger Lakes, we dropped south along the Ohio River until we spotted a pretty town on the far shore that turned out to be the unusual and historic town of Maysville, Kentucky.
We were charmed by the historic buildings and warm hospitality of Maysville, Kentucky
From the brick streets to the wonderful old buildings to the towering flood wall that holds back the Ohio River when it swells to threatening heights, we were enchanted by Maysville, Kentucky.
In Maysville, Kentucky, everyone loves to gather in the streets, especially outside O’Rourke’s Pub!
A stop for a beer at O’Rourke’s Pub introduced us to a warm community of newfound friends who went out of their way to make us feel welcome and special in their town.
We watched tobacco being harvested — an industry that once thrived but is now disappearing
We toured tobacco farms, ran local running races, saw a fabulous car show, enjoyed free music concerts, learned about Freemasons, checked out the historic village of Washington and even met the Mayor.
We were shocked and touched when the local newspaper published a story about us on their front page.
This was a glorious introduction to Kentucky, and we had high hopes of seeing more of the state and to swing through Tennessee as well, but our refrigerator died and the closest place that could do a quick repair was in Indianapolis. So, off we went to get a new RV fridge. Again, thank goodness for that RV warranty, as this repair was covered too!
Our refrigerator quit working, but some fast footwork got us back on the road quickly.
With the beer sufficiently cold in our fridge once again, we headed to Missouri and visited the incomparable Spacecraft Manufacturing plant where luxurious, ultra rugged and fully custom fifth wheel trailers are designed and built.
The great plains of Kansas gave us some great skies!
Continuing west and south through Manhattan Kansas, we arrived in Humboldt, Kansas, just in time for their unique Biblesta celebration that unites the entire community as they share, retell and re-enact the stories of the Bible.
The Biblesta Bible celebration in Humboldt, Kansas, is one of a kind.
This quiet celebration in rural Kansas and a fun fall festival in Welch, Oklahoma both took place not long before tragic world events unfolded in Paris, and it was a bittersweet moment when we reviewed our photos later and reflected on our memories of peaceful Paris, Texas, set against the ongoing chaos in its namesake City of Lights in France.
Tiny Tatum, New Mexico, is loaded with fun metal art by two extraordinary artisans.
Nature’s rock art at City of Rocks in New Mexico makes a fabulous backdrop for camping
When we crossed the border into Arizona, we had come full circle, ending an extraordinary year of RV adventures on the road. Autumn was in full regalia and it felt wonderful to be “home” as we explored Mt. Graham, the area around Roosevelt Lake and the ancient Indian Ruins at Tonto National Monument.
A late November return to Arizona brings us in during the peak of Autumn splendor.
After arriving in Arizona, to our utter astonishment and chagrin, we had to turn to our RV warranty for a fourth time in as many months. We replaced our trailer’s entire suspension system (shocks, leaf springs and axle hangers) which had failed badly due, in part, to weak springs on our new trailer axle, and had left the coach’s tires nearly touching. I haven’t shared that story here — I just haven’t had the heart to write about another round of trailer repairs as of yet — but believe me, we sure were glad to have that warranty. This last repair brought us to a total of over $6,700 in repair reimbursements that were all covered by our $1,904 contract.
Our trailer suspension sagged so badly between Maine and Arizona that the tires almost touched.
Repairs aside, as we look back on this magnificent year of travel, we feel truly blessed to be living this life, and we know just how fortunate we are. We feel grateful for and awed by every day that dawns. Throughout 2015, and in an all our years of RV and sailing travel, we have been the lucky recipients of many deeply fulfilling and truly life changing experiences.
These are our happy golden years…
This memorable year of RV travel was very different from all of our prior years because we covered so much distance and were on the move for so long. We drove our truck a total of 19,837 miles, about half of which was towing our trailer. We stayed in 108 different locations, 50 of which were one night stands and only three of which lasted 3 weeks or longer.
ViewPoint RV & Golf Resort has an RV park tucked into a community of park model homes, and right now there Christmas lights decorating every row of RVs. Even better, the sunsets and sunrises in the last few days have been just gorgeous.
What a great sunset — and Christmas lights to boot!
This is a place that lots of so-called snowbirds flock to for winter warmth and entertainment. And at the holiday season, the RVs and single wide park models throughout the community are lovingly decorated to the hilt.
Pretty decorations on a park model at ViewPoint RV & Golf Resort.
The Grinch is plotting how to steal Christmas at Monte Vista RV Resort
When our escort (we got an escort!) brought us into the RV park at ViewPoint on his golf cart, we saw a cactus with Santa hats on every arm in front of a park model we passed. We had to run back after we got set up and check it out. How cute!
Christmas in the Arizona desert
Mesa, Arizona, sits between downtown Phoenix and the towering rock cliff faces of the beautiful Superstition mountains. How cool to see the mountains peaking up between two park model homes on the golf course.
The Superstition Mountains rise up behind park model homes on the ViewPoint golf course.
Just across from us, a fifth wheel trailer has a tree with gifts in front all ready for the big day.
A tree and presents at sunset
I love walking around admiring Christmas lights at this time of year, and staying in these two RV resorts has given us a chance to see some great displays in front of both RVs and park model homes.
A beautiful sunset and Christmas lights at ViewPoint RV & Golf Resort
A few rows down from us, a motorhome that is polished to a glistening shine mirrors the reflection of a lighted Christmas tree in their yard.
When one Christmas tree becomes two!
Nearby, a park model just begs for Christmas carolers to stop by…
Living large in a tiny house at Monte Vista Village RV Resort
Snow and ice can make for a beautiful White Christmas up north, but spending Christmas in an RV down south here in Arizona is pretty special too.
Let It Snow!! (ahem… up north only, please!)
Ho ho ho…
Merry Christmas to all our RVing friends
For more info on these two RV resorts, check out these links. These parks are affiliates of the Thousand Trails RV park network, and with a Thousand Trails membership you can get a 20% discount on nightly and weekly stays or a 10% discount on a monthly stay. Good deal! I’ll be posting more info about our visits in both parks soon:
