When you open yourself up to life, Life opens up to you!: Starting Eastbound

Huh for some reason this didn't get posted. So though out of order wanted to post it for my remembrances in the future.

8/23/2021 - 8/26/2021

Waving goodbye to California we made our way deeper into the desert of the southwest. The desert amazes me. When one thinks of the desert one gets a certain picture in their mind, but what I find fascinating is the many facets and changes one sees when driving through. In the past two weeks we have seen the deep desert with nothing but sand and a couple of creosote bushes and hardy desert sage and even they looked dried. There is the high desert with bare brown mountains and giant rocks, then maybe areas with a bit more green and a couple more plants and perhaps even scrub pines.

We went through areas filled with a multitude of cacti, so many types I had never seen before except in books; through farm lands where the waters of the Colorado and other rivers are channeled for irrigation. What truly is amazing is going through areas where they had monsoon rains just days before and the plants were so green, and there were flowers! Red, yellow, orange, purple colored contrasting with the arid greens of the brushes and cacti. Such beauty and such diversity.

One of the sights going across Arizona was Imperial Sand Dunes National Recreation Area, outside of Yuma. Quite impressive.

8/23/2021

Our first stop in Arizona was Tier Drop RV Park in Wellton. A small town about 35 miles east of the California border and less than that from the Mexican Border. Wellton gets its name from its origins of being a water stop for stage coaches and the railroad, Well Town. Tier Drop RV Park is actually a combination Mobile Home Community and RV Park. The mobile home section is well kept but as with most, the site are close together. They seem to be a very active community with lots of amenities including pool, outdoor sports, a activity center/club house with a Billiards Room, kitchen, individual club rooms, church services, and more. The organized activities include pot luck dinners, dances, golf, breakfasts, ice cream socials and so much more. I can see why people would want to live there if only in the winter season.

The RV section is, well, a very large field of gravel with full hookups. But you have full use of all amenities available. Not somewhere we'd want to spend a lot of time but perfect for an overnight, with clean, well kept bathhouses.

8/24/2021

From there we went onward to Tucson, AZ and stayed at an amazing campground, Tucson/Lazydays KOA. WOW, this place is huge, having well over 300 sites, and what a variety of sites there were. From your basic gravel or half gravel half grass site with full hookups, to covered sites, to these really cool Sky Deck sites. These had a wooden raised platform next to the site and to go up on the platform gave you a wonderful view of the desert sunset.

Some sites had fireplaces, grass areas with metal fences around for your pet, oh and they had a pet wash tub for washing dogs. There were also tents sites and these cool looking adobe style cabins. Among the many amenities: pool, hot tub, playgrounds, mini golf, RC Track, typical outdoor sports, and a large store.

There was a great restaurant called BBQ Rush on premises, for eat in or take out, they even delivered
to your site if you wanted. We did partake in the restaurant, oh yummy. It offered pulled pork dishes, brisket, ribs, TexMex, and even bbqued meatloaf, as well as sandwiches, pizza, tacos, and more. They had 2 or 3 item sampler platters so that's what we did. The food there is mouthwatering! We topped it off with a very good local beer. What made it even better is the tables were well placed and there was only 2 other tables in use. Social distancing as I like it! Great place to stay for a couple nights or longer.

We were there for two nights as we took a day trip to Saguaro National Park, home of the giant (and I do mean giant) Saguaro Cactus. Yet another incredible place that everyone should get to and yet few even know of its existence. We were both in awe as we drove through. There are hiking trails but with the heat as it was (100+) we drove the scenic road through the park with short stops from time to time. My next post will be just photos of our drive. If you can, put it on your bucket list and go!

From here we will be heading into New Mexico with a couple quick stop with one being an Alpaca Farm!! FUN