2020-6 Heading Out towards.......

2020-6

Heading out towards……
Lake Havasu, AZ
Kingman
Hackberry
Seligman
Phoenix/ Apache Junction
Payson, AZ

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.

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.

original section of route 66

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.

entering little green valley, Tonto Forest NP

awesome site, if a bit dusty at times

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

another nice day for a walk along the London Bridge canal 

Add caption

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

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:

 On the road, Route 66

Lake Havasu, Craggy Wash blm, wildflowers