2020-6
Heading out towards……
Lake Havasu, AZ
Kingman
Hackberry
Seligman
Phoenix/ Apache
Junction
Payson, AZ
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| along Route 66,closed when I drove through |
Campground:
AZLand.Gov (to apply online for the use permit) Lake Havasu Road,
close to the Walmart on the North end of Town. Cost: $15 for a
yearly single person pass. This is considered State Forest Land and
is available for many sports, day use and some locations permit dry
camping.
Scruffy looking
sites, fairly full. Looks like a number of the campers have been
here for quite some time. Those long term campers burn their trash
and yes, everything. Air is thick with the smell of burning plastics
etc. Usually lasts about 30-40 minutes after dark. Great Tv
reception.
Not recommended.
Campground: Lake
Havasu State Park. Dump station and fresh water fill. Cost:
$15.00. Would be a great place to camp right along the waters edge.
But they were full up. Sites are dry campsites, ie. no hookups.
Campground: Lone
Tree BLM. North of Lake Havasu City. I has told this is a great
place to camp, sites are flat. Well they are flat, but mainly on a
sloping angle. Though the sites down into the lower section appear
to have a number of spots that are fairly level. Both areas pretty
open with campers fairly close to each other. Some TV reception.
Spectacular views.
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| Lone Tree BLM site. |
Campground: Yavapai
County, Crookton. Chicken Fry BLM site for about 3 maybe 4 Rv’s.
Just off of Route 66. and east of Seligman AZ. Weak Verizon
signal, no TV reception. Quite location. Pinon pines.
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| original section of route 66 |
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| awesome little site, I would have stayed if not for needing to get back to Apache Junction.... |
Campsite: Private
home in Scottsdale. One night. Visit with friends. Thanks for the
30 amp, water and of course good company.
Campground: Little
Green Valley. Payson AZ Tonto National Forest. Dispersed camping.
Dusty dirt road, with ATV’s, dirt bikes and rednecks kicking up
dust. Not many level sites. Nice forest setting. 5 over-the-air TV
stations. Minimal to no Verizon coverage.
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| entering little green valley, Tonto Forest NP |
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| awesome site, if a bit dusty at times |
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| this was an odd couple with one child. pulled out fast, and left half the stuff behind after the trailer latch opened. they eventually came back... happened to them twice. |
Distance Traveled:
53 miles
Lake Havasu Arizona
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| another nice day for a walk along the London Bridge canal |
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| Add caption |
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| a number of coves for launching kayaks, canoes |
It was time to head
out and start my trek heading north. Parker Az is expected to hit
high 90s to 100 degrees in a few more days. While I’m in Lake
Havasu once again and I’ll be picking up my grocery order from The
Walmart’s here on the north end of lake Havasu City. They had
everything on my list except for one item. Great way to order and
pickup, with no contact involved.
Now yes, I could
have once again stayed at one of the BLM lands on either end of town,
but thought I’d check out the Arizona Land set up. Since I may be
able to take advantage of it in the future. Ok, I’ve been a big
spender today, $30.00. I was actually hoping to get a campsite at
the state park which would have included the use of the dump
station/water. But the campground was full up. So it’s onto plan
B.
Distance Traveled: 100 mile aprox
Kingston Az onward
to a section of Historic Route 66.
 |
| Hackberry, Along route 66 |
 |
| recently read a history on the Coca Cola Company... interesting |
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| when route 66 was the road to travel on |
It was nice to get
on the road and get some distance along my summer journey. I stayed
overnight at a very small BLM spot off of Route 66 east of Seligman.
A town I planned on exploring.
But here’s the
story. After making a few phone calls regarding the paperwork
required to complete the requirements to get my Florida license
plates, I discovered that the dealer had not forwarded the updated
copy to my power of attorney in Florida. I had tried calling the
dealer, e-mailing etc with no response. Soooo after a sleepless
night, I’ve back tracked about 250 miles to Phoenix/Apache Junction
to see the Rv dealer in person. It should be noted that he has
Alzheimers. Come to find out he had e-mailed the paperwork to
Florida, but never sent them a signed copy.
Paperwork finally
secured and mailed out, I spent the night at my good friends Alex and
Steve, who I originally purchased my newer “Big Blue” Chevy truck
from. The following day, I headed up to Payson AZ and the Tonto
National Forest. The drive up, and I mean up as hwy 87 continued to
climb over 5,000 feet in elevation. My 24ft class C diesel engine
ran well, but only at a slow 40 mph top speed. Those were some
pretty steep grades of 6 and 7. Sure wish there had been pull-outs
along the way. I would have liked to have stopped occasionally and
take in the enormous grand mountain terrain. Starting out with
saguaro cactus landscapes gradually reaching elevations with pinion
pines and pine forests. Absolutely stunning scenery.
Unfortunately here
in Tonto NF, the established campgrounds, two pages of them, are all
closed. Only dispersed campsites are available. Making for more
crowding. But I was able to find a good level site and plan on
staying in this area for about 10 days.
High temperatures in
the mid 90’s to 100 degree are dictating my moving on and attempt
to get into higher elevations. I’ll stay here in the Little Green
Valley area for approximately 10 days. I’m close to Payson for
groceries, fuel etc. The campsite I’ve chosen is large enough that
two other campers in Van campers have settled in on either side of
me. Kathy, is a mountain biker and keeps herself in great condition.
Glen on the other side of me is in a van that he has converted into
a camper, doing all the work himself. he’s also into mountain
biking, owning two bikes. He winters in his camper during his winter
work as a ski safety worker. It’s nice to have human contact from
a distance and these two RV-ers couldn’t be more pleasant to be
surrounding me.
Today, around mid
morning, I experienced the red-neck side of camping/atv’s and 4
wheel vehicles. All kicking up dust, driving trucks up steep sandy
hills that should not be tackled in my opinion anyway. A group of
about 4-5 trucks, with one small pop-up camper hung out in my area
for a while. Most of the trucks with a fair amount of dents or
missing bumpers. Young kids, maybe 19-22 years in age, guys all kept
pulling beers out of coolers while others attempted the steep hill
climb. No social distancing in that group. Including the 3 or 4
gals with them.
Although I don’t
have hardly any Verizon signal, I am able to get 5 tv channels. So
with radio/music, some TV for entertainment and a slew of books to
keep me occupies. I’m hanging in there. I’ll do some minor
hiking and touring the area during the middle of the week. Oh, and
did I mention, the temperature is around 80 degrees, sunny blue
skies, light breeze. Yes, I’m doing fine.
So till the next
report, take care, stay safe and we’ll see each other down the road
when this is all over with….
more photos:
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