The crew and I are all by ourselves today.
Rusty takes off around 7:30 to buy tires in Prescott. Although I enjoy his company, I also enjoy my alone time. My first task of the day is to grill some chicken breasts I took out of the freezer yesterday. The crew and I eat an early lunch when the chicken finishes around 10:45. What difference does it make when we eat!
That’s the way it is when you’re retired.
After putting the remaining pieces of grilled chicken in the refrigerator, I wash dishes. Being a good desert woman, I don’t throw out the dishwater. I soak my feet in it! After that, I use the water to wipe the bugs off the hood of the PTV. And then I wipe down all the lights on the PTV and the BLT. Finally, I clean the rims of the BLT before tossing what little water is left onto a bush.
Arizona is experiencing a mini-heat wave.
I call it “mini” because it’s going to be over by Tuesday. Today it’s in the nineties. There’s a cool breeze on the shady side of the BLT. I open the window and blinds on the shady side depending on whether it’s morning or afternoon. That keeps us cool. In fact, I don’t turn on the 12-volt Endless Breeze tabletop fan until around 2:30. I putter around and watch a little tv.
Around four o’clock I start to wonder where Rusty is.
He pulls in at five and beeps his horn in front of our camp. I go outside as he strides toward the BLT. I can tell he’s not completely happy. “Well, I got my new tires, but they weren’t on sale. The guy was talkin’ about the wrong tires.” I tell him I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m glad he has new tires now.
He sits down and gives me a report.
He drove up to Williams and scouted the boondocking areas north, south, and east of town. “The forest roads are dry down about two inches and under that it’s mud. The roads are deeply rutted. It’s too soon.”
He also tells me he drove up past Red Lake going toward the Grand Canyon. “The Forest Service is burning up there. I saw the smoke. And I heard on the radio that there’s smoke at the Grand Canyon Airport.”
Next week it will be cool again.
This weather makes it difficult to know when to move and where to camp. I was going to camp outside Williams tomorrow and find a dump station there. Now I’ll probably drive down to Chino Valley to empty the waste tanks. It’s an easy drive. No need to chug up that long grade to Williams if I’m not going to camp there.
If I can’t find a window of opportunity for camping near the Grand Canyon weather-wise, I’ll skip it and move out of the area. I don’t want to do that. Maybe after the burn, sometime next week, the conditions will be right for a boondock in the Kaibab National Forest off the road to the Canyon. The heat wave will help dry out the forest roads.
A quick entry with no photos today.
The writer got an attack of laziness and the photographer took the day off!
rvsue
P.S. I looked up the website for the Kaibab National Forest and Rusty’s report is correct. There was a prescribed burn today two miles southwest of Tusayan and west of Grand Canyon Airport.
sure glad you have the cool breeze. I hate to sound trite, but “it is a dry heat” and it does make a difference!
I’m still amazed at how cool it can be in the shade on a 93 degree day. Love this dry heat!
I left NY and moved to AZ 52 years ago and nothing has changed with the dry heat thing. You can still roast turkeys in “dry heat”…..I got in the pool today and once again thanked the Lord for giving me the ability to make that investment when the kids were little. They are gone now, but I am still enjoying it. The pool that is……….
Your stories are good even without the photographs! Glad you gave the photographer a day off!
We have a good friend who lives in Chino Valley, very pretty there!
Thanks, Geri. I do like Chino Valley.
You shouldn’t use the foot water on your vehicle windows. You could get athlete’s windshield.
Oh no! That’s what those spots are!
I was afraid she would get “chicken feet” 🙂
Very good . . . You guys are on a roll!
Hi Sue, I’ve been busy the last couple of days, dr. appointments, etc so was unable to respond.
I hope all our comments are not make it a job of answering us. Do it when you can or when you want. We appreciate your post but don’t expect it every day. We love the pictures but only when you feel like it. like I say, enjoy your day and take a rest. Going to Fort Myers with my sister and brother in-law tomorrow to look at rv’s. Still haven’t sold my car but did have a few lookers. Take care and enjoy your wonderful peace and quiet. Sharon
You’re a thoughtful lady. Have fun looking at rvs!
And I enjoy the comments . . .
Ugh!, That sounds like “Bait and Switch” to me.
I thought the same thing, Mick, and Rusty probably did, too. He was so happy about the deal which would have put $100 in his pocket, and then he’s hit with disappointment. If that employee did it intentionally, he ought to glue his face to his bathroom mirror.
If it was verbal “bait and switch”, I am not sure Rusty could have done anything but just walked away. If it was in print, and the store did not post a retraction, either in newspaper, or put up a notice near the item on sale….THEN you should say “bait and swtich” to them. That puts a lot of fear into employees in a store. Well, it sure did us, when I worked retail. Until that retraction is in print someplace, they HAVE to give you the item for the posted price. We got our first video camera that way. I noticed a fantastic sale and we NEEDED that camera to cover ourselves when we moved out of the sold house (these days so many crooks and we did get rooked some, but at least we had that video). So I insisted with the manager that I knew they had to give that camera to me for that price. They knew they had to do it, but they were not happy campers. Only time in my life that I did that. But had I not worked retail, I would not have known my rights….the only time I have ever used it and it was for my husband (I still do not really know how to use the thing).
Despite wintering in the Southwest the past 6 years we have never experienced the dry summer heat. Anything has to be better than this miserable humidity we get in Southern Ontario. Have always noticed that shady side/sunny side thing in Arizona. Short sleeves on the sunny side of the rig & a sweater on the shady side during the winter months, Back in late November of 07 there was a tired old RV Park with few people in it about half way between Williams & the South Rim. We stayed there a few days while visiting the Grand Canyon’s south rim. Not many people & it gave us water & electric for a few days. Had it not been for the great mash of people at the Grand Canyon’s south rim I’m sure we would have enjoyed it far more……..My post for our South Rim day is here……….http://thebayfieldbunch.com/2007/11/grand-canyonnorth-rim.html
I read your Nov. 2007 post about your visit to the South Rim. The thought of braving those crowds makes me cringe. And this week, April 21-29, is get-into-national-parks-free week, so I bet the crowds will be even larger. Everything is telling me this is the wrong time and the wrong place. I hate being a tourist among thousands of tourists.
Funny thing … My research had me thinking of camping at a place called “Bedrock City!”
Thanks, Al.
When I was working at the south rim, all the locals referred to Bedrock City as Yabba Dabba Do City! haha! 🙂 It used to be a pretty nice campground actually, prolly still is. 1/2 way between Flagstaff and South Rim and/or 1/2 way between Williams and South rim, it’s in a good location. Did you check out Ten-X a forest campground about 10 miles south of Tusayan on the right (east) side of the road. Prolly far enough from the controll burn on the west side up near the airport!
I’ve decided to skip the South Rim for now. I don’t want the hassle.
Good idea to stay away from the CROWDS at the South Rim this week… we found it quieter and nicer over to the far east end of the park, and enjoyed the view just as much, but a lot less people.
We are out camping right now in our rig in the woods of the U.P. of Michigan. Had snow yesterday morning but sunshine today. Was down to 27 this morning but warming up to about 50 today. Enjoy your desert dry heat!
It’s nice to hear agreement with my desire to stay away from the South Rim crowds.
I’m sending you lots of sunshine. Enjoy your cool camp!
If you have to miss this year, pretty good chance the Grand Canyon will be there next year. I wonder how the first couple of weeks of May would be? Around the Central Plains, it’s the last of school sports tournaments, graduation times until 2nd or 3rd week of May. Know a lot of other states don’t finish school until Memorial weekend or early June.
I’m weary of trying to dodge snow/icestorms and hordes of tourists, find a camp where I’m not going to get stuck in the mud, breathe smoke, etc. I like your thinking, Emily. The Grand Canyon isn’t going anywhere. Spring is too unpredictable and then there’s Free Park Week!
I am glad parents are taking their kids to see all the natural wonders in this country; it’s what my parents did with my brother & I and it inspired a desire to seek more. Now that am retired, I want peace and solitude and not too many people around. You probably have 3 weeks before the hordes of tourists become consistent, in that part of the country, for the next 4 months. Better find a hole-in-the-wall somewhere!
Already getting busy here at Zion! Memorial Day is considered the starting gun! Busy and Crazy from that day on!
Sue, the Grand Canyon is worth seeing, but the best time is in the winter because there’s no one there. Lodging is cheap then also, and it’s just beautiful with the snow. You could actually camp in your little Casita, but you’d burn some propane and would need to shut down the water systems.
The rest of the year is intolerable there if you don’t love crowds. I would suggest you skip the south rim and head for the north rim, it’s much less crowded and just as beautiful, maybe more so, as it feels wilder. Park the BLT in Kanab and use that as a base, it’s not that far on up there. With the lack of snow, the N. rim should be opening soon. Also, Kanab is a pretty little redrock town and you can visit Best Friends (I used to write their webpage), as well as Coral Pink Sand Dunes (you could camp there) and some of the surrounding country, which is gorgeous, then head on over to Zion (go through Fredonia and miss the tunnels). 🙂
PS Kanab country should be nice right now and not as hot as where you are.
The North Rim opens May 15th. The temps where I’m at now are good. It’s nice not having to turn on the heat at all, and the days are very nice, just have to stay out of the sun in the mid-afternoon. I’m leaving because I need to dump tanks and get propane, and also because it’s time.
I appreciate all the good info. Thanks.
I’ve never gone to a sewage treatment plant. I haven’t found it difficult to find dump stations, either in campgrounds or gas station/truck stops.
When I needed 4 new tires I called around to get prices, and Costco quoted me a price about $80 cheaper than the others. I asked again to be sure that was the total “drive out” price, and the guy assured me it was. So, I drove right over there, and then he realized he had made a mistake and quoted an incorrect price. He called his boss over, explained what happened, and the boss said “sell them to her for the price you quoted over the phone.” I was surprised but very happy they did that. Good for Costco. Bad for Wal-Mart for not doing the same for Rusty. It’s not like Wal-Mart can’t afford it!
I thought honoring a phone quote is common practice! I’ve learned from Rusty’s and your experience. If I get a quote over the phone I’m also going to get the person’s name and a promise that the price will be honored. Then I can quote the name and the promise!
Ohhhhhh, GREAT idea!!
I wish I was in the northern part of AZ, I am in a rv resort in Tucson. I am getting ready to start my big adventure in about a month and wanted to stay in my motorhome somewhere close to home in case I had any problems. And I did, the water heater decided not to stop working. One call to the dealership and it was fixed in about an hour.
I really enjoy reading about your adventures and I have also camped at Burro Creek campground, but that was in my tent camping days. It is really a nice place.
Have you seen many motorhomes when you are boondocking. I have a 22 foot and hope I can get it into some of the quieter places. Like you, I also enjoy my own company and a good book.
Hope to see you on our travels.
Pat
Hope you get to see the canyon both sides. It’s worth it and I can’t imagine May on the south will be crowded. But I agree, were I to return again, I’d skip the south though I really am glad I saw it especially the buildings designed and funished by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter. She’s really something! Especially to have her position at the turn of the 20th century. Check her out if you go to the South.
Sue
I like the way you put that ( Because its time) lol
I translate that to mean hey I need some alone time ,too crowded here ,got to get out of Dodge.
I can laugh because I get the same way.
I have to say I disagree with some of your posters , I do expect a post every day ,get nervous and depressed when I dont get at least one fix a day. I am kidding but I always enjoy your post.
Ron
I can see the smoke from the North Rim. Wouldn’t be pleasant camping.