Roving Reports by Doug P: 2018-27 Notes from Arizona

2018-27

Notes from Arizona

hwy 93 from Las Vegas to Kingman Arizona
Old roadside attractions

Campground: Tradewinds Rv Park, Kingman/Golden Valley. Kingman AZ. $17.50 PPA discount rate. $3 extra for 50 amp. Nice desert setting, sites are very large, most being pull-thru’s with assistance to site.

Tradewinds RV Park, Golden Valley AZ

Campground: Dazzo’s Country Store and Rv park. (Middle of almost nowhere). $10.50 PPA discount rate. Along hwy 93 heading towards Phoenix AZ. Over night stop, only 30 amp, not adequate as 50 amp required to run to a/c units.

Campground: Triple T Mobile Home Park. Glendale AZ. PPA discount rate $19.50 for 50 amp full-hookups. Nice swimming pool. This is an older MH park which caters to the low income workers. RV sites are up front and close to the swimming pool. Available for one week with PPA rate.

Campground: A Bar A RV Park and storage. North of Tucson AZ $12.50 full-hook ups, 50 amp service. Water is not for drinking at corn fields/fertrilizers have damaged the water supply. Park provides bottled water to each Rv as they arrive.

Distance traveled: 200 miles

Campground: A Deming Roadrunner RV Park, Deming NM. $12.30 PPA half price rate. 50 amp full hookup including cable tv.

I’ve saved a lot of money using Passport America this month while in Arizona. Half off campsites is well worth the yearly cost of membership and I am a lifetime member.

Kingman AZ

Kingman, along historic Route 66

Kingman Visitor Center and history museum
including an electric car collection

Traveling through the Kingman area, along hwy 93 and a section of the famous Route 66, which I must tour more of next time around. The sections of Route 66 in AZ are lots of fun to explore if you like history and seeing old sections of an historic highway and it’s buildings. I even toured an old mining town called Chloride. It has always had people living there, but you can easily imagine it becoming a ghost town. About a mile on up from town along a rugged mining road is an art installation painted by a local artist, opposite some Indian Petroglyphs. With good views looking back down into Chloride and the surrounding mountains and mining endeavors. Though it is still hot in this area, 102 being average daytime temps. So touring has to be done really early morning.

photos from Chloride Arizona, an old mining town,
but not quite a ghost town

Chloride

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Indian Petroglyphs next to the painted art installation

mule deer going into town

Chloride

The hwy 93 section between Kingman and Wickenburg was all new to me. A very pleasant road with tons of awesome desert scenery, rugged bare mountains, some would call it desolate and yes for the most part it is, but for we explorers, it is like being a pioneer traveler except we have a really decent road to travel on.

good bye old faithful Chevy 07
we had many a good day on the open road

I’m heading to Phoenix to purchase a “new to me” truck from friend Alex. It’s one year newer than my 2007 Chevy Silverado diesel. The new truck being an 08, Chevy Silverado, Z-71 LTS. Diesel, 4 wheel drive, lots of extra electronics, larger fuel tank which will be a bonus when traveling across country, sun roof, leather seats and so much more that my basic 07 Chevy I had. And it does not have the DEF system. It also has lots less miles on it. 80,000 for the new truck as apposed to the 189,900 miles my 07 had.

My New 2008 Chevy Z71 2500 HD 4 wheel Drive Truck

Big Blue is taking over the towing duties
he's a 2008, Chevy 2500 HD, diesel 4 wheel drive

Thanks to Alex I got a good deal and even though I had to take a beating selling the old truck to a local dealer, overall it all turned out pretty good and I only needed to take a small loan out from my credit union to complete the deal in a timely manner.

I’m not used to all these high financial transactions, but it has all worked out quite well. Though I did have a bit of a sad moment when I left my old truck behind at the dealership. Had a bit of a lump in my throat. That truck has been awfully good to me over the years on the back roads of this country. We’ve enjoyed many a mile together, though if the truck could hear me singing to Willy Nelson I’m not so sure.

RV TIP:

One of the things I learned from Alex is that if you have a AAA membership, they will do the paperwork to sign over the vehicles and even give you a temporary license tag. No need to wait in long lines at the DMV. Now that was a real pleasure. Actually, because I am not a member, I was charged a $35 convenience fee and it was well worth the cost.

A Couple of days more in the Phoenix area and I’ll head on down to Tucson for a quick follow-up eye appointment. Got a chance to experience all two and a half inches of rain from the remnants of a hurricane. I guess that’s a lot for this area, as they had some flooding and road closures. Back in Florida they can get that amount daily during the summer months. Out here, they have no sewer drains for the roadways and the hard packed desert soil can’t absorb much water runoff.

I did my first towing with the new truck (to me, it’s a 2008) and is in excellent condition. The ride was great, engine is even quieter than the previous Chevy truck.

Upcoming travel plans. I’ve learned that my temporary tenant on my new Rv lot will be vacating it in a few days (10-3-18), which means it is available for me to arrive on it any time. Of course it will take me some time to drive back to Florida, so I plan on being back at Shelter Cove probably by the 1^st of November.

Odd to be in Arizona heading back to Florida, as just a year ago, I drove from Florida to Arizona and was planning on staying out here for a couple of years. Life is so interesting and living an RV lifestyle provides me with so many options along the way.

Exiting Arizona

RV tip.

Ok most Rv-ers know this tip already, but still a good reminder. If possible, travel through big cities on the weekends. I-10 through Tucson is very congested, lots of traffic. However, I went through on Saturday morning between 7 and 8 am and it was a breeze.