Update #1 - Canmore To Apache Junction Arizona

Hello Everyone from a warm and sunny Phoenix; well Apache Junction. We left home on November 24th and had an uneventful drive to St. George Utah, our first stop. The skies and roads were both clear, just the way we like it. 

 In St. George we visited our friends Blanca and Pierre, who have a lovely home there. They took us on a hike called the Red Reef Trail which is a SCRAMBLE. I now know what that means. It involved climbing over rocks, ropes, chimneys, and stemming. (I'll let the pictures explain.) They had quite a good rainfall the week before so there were some extra water features to negotiate. Maybe that Masters Climbing course at Elevation Place would be a good idea for situations like this. We all made it and the beer, showers and supper were all well deserved.

The next day we left and took highway 91 to Mesquite Nevada. Good suggestion Blanca. Of course this begs the question; why did they put the Interstate through the Virgin River Gorge?? Highway 91 is a much more gradual downhill into Nevada.

We decided to spend the night in Mesquite and take the anti-freeze out of the motor home and clean up the car and motor home. 

We had a 2 day drive to the north end of Phoenix where we explored 3 of the Maricopa Country parks. Lake Pleasant is a reservoir, part of the Central Arizona Project and of course water activities are the main form of recreation. We did some walking and discovered Two Cow Cove. This lake has many arms and coves that are hidden at first glance. We also rode our bikes into Peoria for lunch one day. This was our first ride and we did 58 kms.

Then we moved over to Cave Creek. This area's claim to fame was mining and gold was the first item to be mined for. There was no gold. One lady made her money mining the clay in the area and sold it as a cure-all. The feeling is that it probably did help those with dysentery.

We spent a day over at Spur Cross Ranch which is the newest Maricopa County park. We're not quite sure of the history of this park as the ranger didn't show for the interpretive hike so we set out on our own. We did find a metate, an oasis and a huge saguaro cactus. There's a huge network of hiking trails in Cave Creek and Spur Cross and in fact you can hike between the 2 parks. We also found several geo-caches while here so have now have over 400 finds. We're now in Apache Junction for 2 weeks. 

 We saw Beth and Ken Middleton while they were in Scottsdale. We went out on the Apache Trail with them. The road was built to bring in supplies for the construction of the Roosevelt Dam between 1906 and 1911. Once again this seems like a difficult way to bring in the supplies as part of the route goes through a canyon and there is a 10% grade. 

This was a traditional route used by the Apaches and also the first settlers. It seems it would have been much easier to come in from Globe. I've read since that the Apache Trail was also the road to Globe from Phoenix. We also did a quick stop to Tonto National monument, a cliff dwelling. 

We've done some bike riding here along the canals with a trip to Bergie's Coffee Shop and also a trip to Gold Canyon. Had supper at Organ Stop Pizza with Ken and Beth. We had a bit of a cold spell here although I know I won't get a lot of sympathy from the folks up north. That seems to be over now and the day time high is around 70 degrees. Travel in the motor home is different. I wouldn't say it's better or worse, it's just different. Drew loves driving it and I love sitting in the passenger seat. Set up is easy. Drew has no issues with backing up. It's very nice to live in and gives us lots of space. Drew is learning about the electronics of this thing. Way too many light switches but I'm coping. A couple of mice took up residence but I think we finally got them. They didn't like our old traps so we bought new ones and some new poison and that seems to have done the trick. Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and warm.

Drew & Donna.

Update # 3 - El Centro Ca to Los Barriles Baja

Hello Everyone;

We had grouped up with our friends Bob and Ann Heit and Pete and Deb Dale in El Centro,California and were on our way to the Baja. We crossed the border at Tecate and it was easy as only tourist cards are needed for the Baja. We decided ahead of time that we would drive straight to the south where it's warmer and start our long stays there. Our stops were Ensenada, El Rosario, Guerrero Negro, Mulege, Ciudad Constitucion, La Paz and Los Barriles. 

Baja has coastline, mountains, prairie, and desert. The road climbs in a twisty, windy way up onto a mesa then goes straight across the mesa and then down a twisty, windy way back to the coast. Sometimes we did that more than once in a day.

The plant life is varied with many kinds of cactus and trees including the Boojum Tree (Cirios). The drive is very interesting with something new around every corner.

The road itself in interesting. Mex 1 is paved. It ranges from narrow with no shoulder to narrow with a small shoulder to less narrow with a good shoulder. Some of the curves have extra pavement. Beware of the pavement in the ditch as it's for the water and ends up in some big hole that is sometimes hard to see. And of course sometimes the pavement is broken at the edges and that can come into the driving lane. Every now and again a portion of the road will be 4 lanes, usually close to a city. 

The Cuestra del Infernio or Devil's Backbone (Not sure how they came up with that as it doesn't really translate) is quite an amazing piece of road. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Also ran into several detours and that usually means driving in the ditch. On coming traffic is always interesting. So far no mirrors have been lost. Once again I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

We're now in LosBarriles till Tuesday. We're in a campground on the beach but we chose not to have a beach front site. It's extremely WINDY here. Sail boarding and kite sailing are the big sports here. The last 2 days have been calm so more sail boards and a few paddle boards are out. The rest of the time it's been kite sailing. The wind seems to be the best between noon and 4pm.

We've been having some rest days, walking on the beach, doing chores in town, playing “Joker”, walking around the town and doing a couple of driving trips on the coast. The first day we drove south of Los Barriles. We took the first turn to the coast and ended up on a dirt road. It took us to a very nice little town called La Ribera which had paved roads. If we'd gone further we would have come in on a paved road. A little further down the road was a nice RV park, , Trinidad RV Park with a restaurant. We stopped for a coffee and a chat with the owner. 

Our next stop was Cabo Pulmo which is a national park. It was originally a pearl diving area and in the 20^th century a fishing village. There is a coral reef here which is the only coral reef in the Sea of Cortez. The locals decided in 1995 that the reef needed to be preserved and with a lot of hard work a national park was established. In the first 10 years the fish population on the reef quintupled. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site which also includes the islands just off shore in the Sea of Cortez.

 All along this coast are numerous housing developments which is a surprise as the road is a sandy wagon track at worst and a gravel road at best. Even the paved part of the road close to Los Cabos is broken up and it looks like 1 more good rain will take out several sections. Today we drove north on the pavement to El Carondel and came back on the dirt road.

El Carondel is a fishing village with a pretty pink church on the hill. There's actually a pretty good looking RV Park here although it didn't seem to have anyone in it. Once again there were quite a few housing developments on this road. Stopped at a beach with some tidal pools. Lots of coral pieces were washed up on the sand.

Till next time. Drew and Donna.

Update #2 - Apache Junction to El Centro Ca

Hello Everyone from a Sunny and Warm El Centro:

When I left you last time we were still in Apache Junction. We did a hike in the San Tan Mountains south of the Phoenix area. We did the loop trail and it was easy by Arizona standards; no big rocks to climb over.

We drove over to Scottsdale and did a bike ride along the Grand Canal and down the Arizona canal. This is all part of the Salt River Project. We saw some swanky neighbourhoods, some not so swanky neighbourhoods, the Torvea Castle, the Wrigley House and the Arizona Biltmore which is definitely out of our price range.Next time we're in the Phoenix area we'll have to tour Torvea Castle and the Wrigley House. 

Another day we went with Gerry and Marlene, friends from one of our caravans, and did the Hieroglyphic Trail. This is a short hike up a wash to a pool where the surrounding rocks are filled with petroglyphs. There was hardly an area left without a drawing. 

Another day we did some geocaching by bike which took us from the Usury Mountains and then out towards Lost Dutchman State Park. We managed to find 15 that day which brings our grand total to 419.

It was time to leave ApacheJunction and head over to Tucson. Plan A was to take the motor home over to a fellow who was going to change the oil in the generator. We left the park at 6:30 am. I drove behind the motor home in the dark, in the rain, on a freeway I've never driven on before, and in rush hour. I broke several rules in less than an hour. Then the fellow couldn't do the job till the afternoon so we decided to go on our way. We'll stop in Florence for breakfast. There's no cafe on Main Street so we went to McDonald’s. So much for trying to give the locals business. We made it to Tucson and met up with the Backyard Group. It was great to see everyone again and catch up on all the news.

 

Sunrise @ Voyagr

Christmas @ Voyager

Christmas was just around the corner. Doris and Gerald who own a home in the Bay offered their place for Christmas dinner and New Years Eve. We set up tables and chairs in the garage and Marna and Karen did a great job of table decorations. On Christmas Day Drew and I went for a 10km walk on the desert after our Pillsbury Cinnamon buns.

At dinner there were 20 of us so needless to say there was LOTS of food. We all went home with a bag of ham, a bag of turkey, a bag of stuffing, a bag of mashed potatoes and a bag of sweet potatoes. We had dinner for 2 more nights!!! 
 

We did a lot of biking in Tucson both on our own and with the bike group. There's a few more improvements on the 55 mile loop. It sure is nice having the JulianWash section so close to the RV Park as we don't need ride the 10kms on Kolb to go anywhere. We did have a visit to the Loop Bicycle Shop on the Santa Cruz Pathway. Nice little shop with a good selection of maps, tools, clothing and odds and ends one needs for cycling. 


Drew did a hike to Seven Falls with a few of the guys from the hiking group.

It was time to say good bye to our Tucson friends and head over to Yuma for a couple of days. We actually had 2 calm days here. We had a good bike ride here with no wind. Walt and Jan came over to coffee, cinnamon buns and beer. We had a good visit.

I've managed some sewing days and a trip to Grandma Jo's in Yuma. We saw the movie “Saving Mr. Banks”. We've had lunch and dinner with friends. Gerry and Marlene in Apache Junction. Sheri and Gerry in Gilbert. Marna and Ed in Tucson. Went for breakfast at TTT with the Backyard Group.

We're now in El Centro with Bob and Ann getting ourselves prepared for the trip to Baja. Pete and Deb should arrive today. It looks like we'll be making another trip into El Centro for some groceries and one more time to Costco.

I think we're in the warmest part of the country at the moment. Even the southern parts of Texas and northern Florida are getting some cold weather. Hope this finds everyone staying warm and happy and healthy where ever you might be!

Drew and Donna.