Fall 2020 – Arizona’s Saguaro National Park
10/19/2020: Freedom RV Tucson
So here we are at Freedom RV waiting for service to begin. We are pulled in by 8:00 as that is what time our appointment is scheduled for.
Here it is a little after 3:00 and the MH is still in the parking lot waiting for a tech to bring it into a service bay and begin work. Now we have had this appointment since well before June when we were supposed to have the wood fascia replaced that wasn’t put in correctly in March. We had received a call the Friday before our service was supposed to be on Monday in June that they had lost the part, had to reorder it, hence the reason we are sitting here the end of October! Due to our travel plans, summer volunteer commitment, and continued Covid lockdowns … we had to put it off until our way back to our snowbird spot in Southern California, which is now! Mike has been in constant contact with the appointment scheduler and they have known for quite some time that we would be here at 8:00 am this morning. So as the day progresses Mike is getting more and more frustrated that nothing is taking place…
They finally take the coach in after 3:00 pm and get the oil changed and the generator serviced. We are hoping tomorrow is a more productive day!
10/20/2020: Freedom RV:
Today is definitely a better day. No one shows up to begin service until after 9:00am, but then Larry gets to work. Mike gives him some instruction and we feel good about him working on our coach.
We head out to La Mesa RV to find the door handle part we need (which Freedom doesn’t have in stock). We see not far down the street is a Discount Tire Center and decide to so get some badly needed front tires put on the Mini. While we wait for the tires to be mounted, balanced, and rotated we walk over to adjacent Costco to waste some time. Upon entering we are approached about vaccine shots, which are on our to do list when we return to SoCal. They are giving flu shots and Shingles shots so we complete the paperwork and get that done! Wow; dovetailing many items on our “to do list”…
When we get back to the coach we see the results of the great work from Larry installing the final pieces of the replacement wood fascia. Larry is a great tech!
Other work still needed and discussed include:
- When will the part for the replacement Winegard antennae come in?
- When will the driver-side replacement shade come in?
- We also have him inspect the ceiling damage from two years ago in the bedroom- and they come up with a plan for repairing that. (The problem is that we will still have to wait for these parts to come in…so definitely another visit to Freedom RV is in our future.)
At night we do get a chance to meet up with Mike’s step sister Melanie for dinner at Saguaro Corners Restaurant and Bar out on their awesome patio! It was great catching up and the food, drinks, atmosphere and sunset was just perfect. (Almost makes us feel like old times pre-Covid for a few hours…)
10/21/2020: Freedom RV
Another frustrating day of sitting around with no work being done. We had hoped at least the Wineguard part would have come in and we could have been a step closer to being done but not so. So we felt that today was a wasted day. We stayed at the MH, in the service bay, but no one came to do any work 🙁
Let’s hope tomorrow is better!
10/22:
Parts came in late yesterday so first thing this morning The Wineguard got replaced and we continued to discuss the replacement of the ceiling panel in the bedroom damaged two years ago while driving through Hurricane Michael. Although we had the roof replaced, and the ceiling repainted, the stain continues to reappear. After discussing the issue with the techs from Freedom RV we decide to have the panel replaced. Confirming we will have to wait for the panel to be shipped from Newmar.
Once the morning repairs are completed we depart and head to Gilbert Ray Campground (a county park) to spend the weekend. We know we have to return at least to get the driver side shade replaced, however that part hadn’t come in yet. The county park is about 11 miles outside of central Tucson. The reviews on RV Parky were glowing and it looks like the kind of camping we like to do. Joanne calls to be sure we don’t need a reservation and the woman said “no one will be there this time of year so have at it!”
We arrive at Gilbert Ray Campground, use their convenient dump station and fill our tanks with water prior to driving around to find a site. No trouble finding a site, as the park is large and only about 4 campers in the entire park…. We find a great site (A 39) and disconnect and settle in. No one near us but we know tomorrow being Friday, the weekend warriors will probably descend upon us!
Gilbert Ray Campground…
Site A39… Best site in the park!
Joanne enjoying the campsite at Gilbert Ray Campground…
We notice on the drive in that Saguaro National Park is only about 10 miles from here and the Sonora Desert Museum is even closer!
As we set up, Joanne turns on the Fantastic Fans and the one in the kitchen breaks. Mike has already glued it several times and knows he won’t be able to do any more repairs; parts of it will have to be replaced. He calls Freedom RV to see if they have the part so when we return for the driver side shade we can get that repaired. (Fortunately they haven’t put through the warranty claim yet and they will just add it to the claim. – Our Wholesale Warranty again comes through…
We set the chairs out and enjoy the afternoon in our quiet, peaceful place with amazing views!
We have the time and decide to FaceTime with Joanne’s parents and Mike’s Mom. Always nice to see their faces and we know they like seeing ours… We also get to share our views from the campsite.
A couple of notes about the campground and especially the site we are on A-39:
(This might be the best site in the park. High, dry, private, and some exceptional views in all directions….)
- This site is the highest elevation in the park so better views.
- There is electric on each site (30 amp) and water spigots in many areas. There is one directly across from our site. When we camp like this we try to save tank water for showers and such and use the campground spigot water for dishes, tea…
- This site gives us shade in the morning on the awning side and the shrubs give us afternoon shade on the awning side. There are also tall shrubs on both sides of the site so plenty of privacy.
And the sunsets from this spot are pretty nice too…
Gilbert Ray sunset…
10/23/2020:
This morning we plan to go into Saguaro NP and explore. We get the cooler packed and head over. This is the only National Park we have visited this Fall that has had any type of video/movie running. Even this video has been shortened to 5 minutes of park orientation – with little history… (Ugh Covid modifications…)
As we watch the movie Mike receives a call from Freedom RV. He takes the call outside then comes in to say all the parts (driver side shade and Fantastic Fan parts) are in and they have a 2:00 opening for service. We take a look at some of the diorama display then quickly head back to Gilbert Ray, break camp and head back over to Tuscon’s Freedom RV for the appointment.
While closing up Mike discovers that he no longer has our Lifetime National Park Pass in his pocket. We begin looking all over and finally realize we have to call the Visitor’s Center to see if he may have accidentally dropped it while getting his phone or mask out. Freddie – the park ranger- says no one has turned it in and he goes out to look for it. Nope- can’t find it. So we continue disconnecting, closing up the RV and just as we are about to pull out Freddie calls back and says someone turned it in! YAY!! They will hold onto it until tomorrow when we can come and pick it up. There are some very nice, honest people still out there….
Off we go, back for more service! The shade and fantastic fan install literally only takes about 30 minutes…
Driving on I-10 back to Gilbert Ray campground we come across dead stopped traffic on I-10. Mike slows down and prepares to stop but the truck with trailer attached in the lane next to us doesn’t see it in time. At first I thought he was going to swerve into our lane to avoid the traffic directly in front of him, instead he locks up his brakes and rams the vehicle in front of him, who then rams the truck in front of them!! We never actually have to stop as traffic picks back up and we are not in any way involved so we keep moving forward; but hate to think about those involved on a Friday afternoon; injuries, totaled vehicles…
When we return to the campground we see that many weekend warriors have already started arriving. Fortunately our privacy is still intact but the park is definitely filling up some.
10/24/2020: Saguaro National Park:
Since we had been to the park visitor’s center yesterday we don’t feel we have to spend a lot of time there. We did stop briefly to pick up the lost Lifetime National Park Pass and speak to a ranger about possible hikes and drives. Freddie is probably the best National Park Ranger we have ever come across. He is passionate, informative, and offers so much about the area as well as the park. There is a 5 mile scenic drive but much is on a dirt road. He says it is in great condition and we shouldn’t have a hard time even with our Mini. (We do have a bit of a Capitol Reef/Burr Trail flashback…) He also says that along the drive there is a nice, short hike that shouldn’t be too bad given the temps outside.
We take Freddie’s recommendations and head for the the Bajada Scenic Loop drive. We also stop to do the Valley View Overlook Trail. The road ends up being stressful, though we do enjoy the hike. It is through a “forest” of Saguaro’s and the view at the end is super! Altogether the hike is approximately 1 mile round trip through a forest Saguaro’s and many other types of cacti. There are also many interpretive signs along the way. FYI… –Neither of us would recommend driving the dirt road in a low clearance vehicle. We have tried driving on dirt roads several times this trip and not one has ended up being OK. I think we have finally decided that if it’s dirt, we just shouldn’t go…!
They call it Saguaro National Park for a reason…
Saguaro everywhere… each different!
We finish the drive and decide to look into the Arizona -S0nora Desert Museum (also Freddie’s recommendation), though it seems you need a reservation for admittance because of Covid, Freddie suggests going in person to see if we can get tickets there. This is not high season and we may be able to get in, and it is right on the drive back to Gilbert Ray Campground. At this point it is around 2:00.
Lucky day; we get tickets and get right in!!
As I quote form the National Parks Website:
“It is a subtropical desert and the most complex desert in North America. It has great diversity in geological structures as well as the number and variety of plants and animals. One reason for the many plants and animals in the Sonoran Desert is that it receives rainfall bi-seasonally.”
The museum is all about native wildlife, plants… in the Sonora Desert Region. It is a mix of indoor and outdoor exhibits. The map of the museum grounds is a little difficult to follow, though we thoroughly enjoy all the exhibits and spend about 2 1/2 hours here.
– We both agree it’s was a perfect day exploring this special part of the southwest…
Some of the wildlife of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum…
Sunday 10/25/2020: Hiking Brown Mountain Trail right from our campsite in Gilbert Ray Campground, Tucson AZ
Brown Mountain Trailhead…
As we had driven back in to the campground yesterday we saw the trailhead for Brown Mountain Trail. The trailhead is directly across the street from the campground so we can easily walk to it! Other options for the day we discussed – the possibility of driving to Tombstone and Bisbee.
We decide to do the hike and save Tomstone and Bisbee for another day. Ultimately we decided to have a slower day with just walking from our campsite to the trailhead and doing the 4.7 mile hike.
The Brown Trail is classified as moderate because of distance and elevation gain. Joanne had read about it on AllTrails and it had received great reviews. The day is perfect; a little overcast and cooler than the other days we have been here with a good breeze. We head out thinking we might see others on this trail; but we see hardly anyone on the entire hike! The trail is a loop, so if you take the trail clockwise (which is what we did) most of the elevation/climb is in the beginning. Once you get to the top you hike the ridge for quite awhile (which is pretty level). Beautiful views of the surrounding valley’s, mountain’s and looking overtop of the Senora Desert Museum. Once you can see the museum you begin the descent and then the second half of the hike is pretty level. From the campsite, beginning to end, we hiked about 6 3/4 miles and we both agreed it was a great hike! Walking the road for the final few campsites, up to ours, it began to rain and the wind picked up! So happy we were getting back in time to close a few windows and put a few outside things away! Interesting their was NO forecast for rain or wind.
Brown Mountain Trail…
Brown Mountain Trail and the path along the Ridge…
We relax for a bit inside, make some popcorn and binge watch a few more episodes of Schitts Creek ??. Too windy to really sit outside so an indoor evening.
Forecast for the next day are high wind warnings for our departure West all the way to Palm Springs, CA.
Our final sunset in near Saguaro NP and Gilbert Ray campground…
We did discuss staying here another day to avoid the wind though are both ready to forge ahead in spite of the winds as we are ready to get to our Snowbird spot in the Coachella Valley…
We made a a quick stop in Yuma, AZ to connect with Gregg Wilson a vendor we met in Quartzite last year who owns a company called www.RVLEDlites.com The reason was we wanted to get a security light for our front door from him. The light is super bright, weather proof, and also has a motion activated system. It wasn’t difficult to install and really turned out to be a good upgrade! Thanks Gregg!!!
While it was a long day of driving we both were excited when we arrived back to the Palm Springs, CA area hoping for a little respite from the past few months of breakneck pace on this our Revolutionary Journey….
