Southern Arizona

Southern Arizona

April 10-19

Tuscon/Saguaro National Park

April 10: We left Alamogordo, NM at 7:45 AM to drive the 5 hours to Catalina State Park, in Oro Valley, just outside of Tucson, AZ. The drive through New Mexico was uninteresting, particularly as there was litter all over the side of the road, but once we hit Arizona, the drive passed through a beautiful desert landscape. We realized that we gained an hour because Arizona does not follow daylight savings time, which was a nice surprise. We also saw some cool rock formations along the way, particularly where we stopped at a rest stop for lunch. We arrived at Catalina State Park around 2 PM. Having read how beautiful this state park was, we were excited about this stay. Our original reservations required us moving into three different campsites, what the rangers call the "Catalina Shuffle." Luckily, when we arrived, the rangers were able to put us into the same site for all four nights. The park is beautiful and part of the Tucson Loop,  a wonderful bike path throughout Tucson runs through Oro Valley. So once we settled in, we biked about 20 miles on the path, which was really fun despite being very hot. Along the ride, we saw several Gambel's Quails and little lizards. 

With the daytime temperatures in the low 100s, we were happy to have an electric hook-up to use our air conditioning. After dinner, we sat outside in the cooling  desert evening,  watching an nearly full moon rise over the mountains. We also enjoyed watching and listening to the numerous prairie dogs hear the campsite, as well as bats swooping by, as we planned out our few days visiting the west and east sides of Saguaro National Park, as well as exploring Tucson. 

April11: Saguaro National Park is amazing and beautiful! The park is divided into two districts: Rincon Mountain District (East) and Tucson Mountain District (West). This morning we drove to the west  district to see the large saguaro cacti. By the time we got there at 10AM it was already closing in on 90°.  After a ranger at the visitors center advised us not to hike at all due to the rising afternoon temperatures, we decided to do a shorter hike. So we did the shorter 2 1/2 mile King Canyon, Sendero Esperanza, and Gould Mine Loop. Despite each of us drinking 1/2 gallon of water along the trail, after the 1st mile, we both were beginning to feel very overheated. We went back to the Visitor Center, refilled our water bottles, watched a 15 minute video about the park, and drove the Cactus Forest Scenic Loop Drive. We then came back to the campsite because we wanted to shower before meeting a friend for dinner at the MSA Annex, a really cool spot for good beer and vegan food in the Mercado District of Tucson. We ate at Beaut Burger and had a vegan Reuben, really good spicy sweet potato fries, and vegan ice cream with prickly pear syrup for dessert. Unfortunately, Beaut Burger closed shop a few months after our visit. By the time we left downtown, it was dark. On our way back into the campground, a car was stopped and a man was protecting a snake that was crossing the road. That’s the first snake we have seen on this trip. Thankfully, when the sun goes down, the temperature cools down so we were able to sleep comfortably. We watched an episode of the White Lotus Season 3 and went to bed.

April12: Today we stayed local in the morning. We rode our bikes on the bike path in the opposite direction from when we went the first day and then we rode down to the farmers market in Oro Valley, which was really close by. The market was really fun and I purchased a little wooden food made from acacia wood. Then we rode back to the campground, stopping to pick up a toilet replacement part from an Amazon locker, had lunch, and repaired our toilet for a third time, this time replacing the part that really needed replacing. So far the toilet seems to be holding. After that, we decided that we would go to eastern district of Saguaro National Park in the Rincon Mountain area. It was still in the high 90s so we stopped for vegan ice cream that we found along the way at the Blue Ice Gelato. We both had the coconut sweet potato gelato mixed with a mixed berry gelato. Yum! We then continued on to the park and because it was still so hot, we just drove the Scenic Bajada Loop Drive stopping once to walk the .25 mile nature trail. The east side of the park is beautiful, more mountainous than the west side, but still with lots of saguaros. Returning back to the campsite, we showered and had a wonderful pesto meal with salad. As we were sitting outside hoping for some  coller weather, we saw a very odd light slowly cross the sky. Did we see a UFO?! 

April 13: We have been greeted the last two mornings by a red bunting visiting our campsite. We headed into downtown Tucson for the Rilloto Park Farmers Market, stopping first to pick up some supplies at the best Dollar Store in Oro Valley. The farmers market was bigger than the one in Oro Valley but many of the same vendors were there. After eating a vegan pupusa from Selena’s Salvadorian Food, we headed to the downtown Tucson Presidio District. We were able to find parking downtown, right near the Presidio San Agustín del Tucson Museum where we picked up a map for the 2 1/2 mile Turquoise Trail. Across the street was a really neat art center and courtyard with food and music, all part of the Old Town Artisans area. We walked around the stores for a while and then followed the Turquoise Trail through the Pima County Historic Courthouse which we went into and read the history, including the 1930s bankrobber, John Dillinger. We walked to Number 15 on the trail and then headed up to catch the free Sun Link Street Car over to the historic Fourth Street District. We walked arount there for a while and then caught the street car again to Arizona State University campus. After walking around the campus and surrounding area for a bit, we took the Street Car back down to the Fourth Street District to walk the parts we had missed. And then took the street car back toward the Presidio area where we parked the van. We really liked the Presidio District, the Fourth Avenue District, and the area around the university. The Fourth Avenue District was my favorite, with lots of shops and Pride flags in the area. By this time it was late afternoon and we drove back to the campsite, washed up and had some dinner while watching the sunset. This was a wonderful last day in the Tucson area! 

Stuck in Quartzite: What a long strange week it's been!

April14-19 

April 14: Today started out as any normal travel day, getting an early start in the morning with relatively  smooth sailing at first, planning on making it to Joshua Tree National Park by mid-afternoon. As we drove west, we realized that the van was shaking quite a bit. Despite the readings on our tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) being within normal range, we stopped twice to check the tires.  Our first mistake was to not stop near Phoenix to have someone check out the van.  So when we got to Quartzite, a place I wanted to see as the film Nomad Land had influenced our decision to try out van life, we stopped at a tire place. Our back passenger side tire was bulging, and they did not have the new tire we needed, but they said they could put on our full-size spare so we could continue our trip. Unfortunately, what the mechanics didn't realize  is that the lug bolts for the spare tire (on a steel rim) where much shorter than the lug bolts  needed for the normal tires (on an aluminum rim). So when they over-tightened the lugbolts, they  ruined our rear axle. Unfortunately, the part needed might take three weeks to order, we were  completely screwed. I called around and finally found Everett’s Towing & Repair with a man named Glen who thinks that he might be able to help us either by salvaging a part from a local salvage place or by ordering one from a dealer near Phoenix. The tire place that ruined our axle was able to put our tire back on with the stripped lug bolts well enough for us to drive very slowly the 1.5 miles to Everett's. Glen was nice enough to clear a spot for us and allow us to hook to electricity. It is still really hot here, we don’t have much water in our tank. But we made really good pesto. Pizza had a beer and are trying to make the most of a very bad situation. 

As we were sitting in the parking lot drinking a beer, we noticed a very old van with curtains in the windows parked on the street near the service station. We were curious as to whether or not people can just park on the street and sleep for the night. 

Here's the thing about Quartzite, AZ: There are no rental cars and only one hotel way down the road. Roads just sort of end. Most people are either nomadic, or live in vans, old RVs, or RV parks, or mobile homes. There are a few restaurants, mostly closed for the season, two grocery stores, and a Dollar General Market that actually sells limited fresh produce. There  are also a few gas stations and several gem and mineral stores, one that displays the largest belt buckle in the world. And Quartzite is the home to Hi Jolly's gravesite. In short, during the time we were there, the town was desolate and we were stranded. 

April15: Surprisingly, we slept fairly well and got up and had breakfast. It took the better part of the day to figure out how to find a part and how to fix the van. The folks at Everett's finally ordered the part from a salvage yard somewhere near Phoenix and Glen found a friend, Syd, to pick it up tomorrow. We road our bikes around town, stopping at a Greek restaurant, Arslans Gyros, located in the Mobile Station at the local truck stop, which had surprisingly very good food. Not sure what we’re going to do tomorrow, but our situation is a bit of a drag.

Despite being a fairly economically depressed town, Quartzite is surrounded by majecstic mountains. Also, the people we met were really friendly, all with interesting stories. In fact, we have spoken to more people here than we normally do on the road. We understand how people who are lonely or bored engage and create community. And the while van we saw on the road last night turns out to be occupied by an elderly woman who lives on BLM land from September through April, paying $180 for the whole time, but with minimal access to water or other facilities. Despite having many health and van problems of her own, she offered to go shopping for us when we told her why we were there. Amazing! And we were able to take a shower down the road thanks to a woman's who offered $5 showers out of her home. Otherwise, we were taking bucket baths in the van, trying to save both water and gray tank space. This place would make a fascinating sociological study!

April 16-18

We are in the Bermuda triangle and Twilight Zone all at once. The used part we were going to get was bent so we never picked it up. And while people are helpful, we have been quarterbacking every move forward. After calling several places near/in Phoenix, I finally found a new part from Mercedes of Scottsdale for $827. At first they said getting the part delivered to them would take 3-4 days. Somehow they were able to rush the order so it would be available the next day. Glen‘s friend, Syd, said he could go pick it up for $300 cash round-triip, which he did.  But then the lug bolts coming from Blythe, CA, about 20 miles west of us, didn’t arrive on time. After me calling the parts people on Thursday and begging them, on Friday (Good Friday). But then,  Jeff, who was the very hard-working and skillful mechanic working on our van, had a hard time getting the old part off because he didn't have the right tools. Honestly, this was our emotional breakdown point. Four days stranded in Quartzite with everything that going wrong that could go wrong. This is also when I called our Good Sams  Roadside Assistance to see if they could tow us to Phoenix. They said this was an option, which helped ease some of our fears of having to leave Maude in Quartzite. 

Before having Good Sams tow us to who knows where, we had one final "Hail Mary pass." After I  called around to every place in a 30-mile radius, we found Finn Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram in Blythe, CA 22 miles away, who said they could remove the old part and install the new one that afternoon if we could get it to them ASAP. Easy to do if you had transportation, which we didn't.  Thankfully, Jeff’s father drove us there, asking only that we fill his gas tank, a small and humble ask for sure! We waited for two hours for Finn's to do the work and finally, at 5:30 PM we arrived back at Everett's with everything that we needed to get Maude back on the road. 

In the meantime, we completely canceled the California part of the trip and were really hoping to make a Dead & Company concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Saturday night. And in truth, other than feeling very stranded, we always felt safe. 

April 19: Waiting in the morning for Jeff to arrive at the shop, we walked around and  arrived back at the shop to find Jeff putting the axle and tire back together, minus the emergency brake as that was also busted with the axle (which he hadn't realized at until this morning).  We were on the road a little bit before 11AM, drove to the RV Pit Stop to dump our now nearly overflowing gray and black tanks, and headed as fast as we could toward Las Vegas.