Usery Mountain Regional Park

March 4, 2012 Travel Day to Usery Mountain Regional Park Mesa, AZ.

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I'm always a little uneasy when we start traveling especially after sitting in the same spot for the past 4 months. But this was a good travel day. We got rolling around 8:30 after saying goodbyes to fellow volunteers and campers in our cozy little volunteer campground.  Dara and her husband Marc had come over the night before with their son Noah to say their goodbyes. 
After about hundred miles, I again began to feel comfortable. Paul and Paula were leading us down AZ Hwy 93 and Joyce was bringing up the rear. We made one stop on the 300 plus mile trip at a roadside picnic table. Although it was a long day we thankfully arrived at our campsites in Usery Mountain Regional Park without incident. This has always been one of our favorite parks and its very close to my father's home. The park is full to capacity with some campers staying in the over-flow lot. We had reserved site 67 and Paul and Paula site 66.

We paid $75 for the site for three nights plus a $8 online registration fee. We wanted to stay longer but the time frame just wasn't available at this very popular winter park.

Site 67

Karen and my father prepared a late dinner for all of us at their place. We were happy and surprised to see my Cousin Teri and her husband Rick join us for dinner. After catching up we finally got home and into bed about 9 pm. We were all exhausted from our first travel day in months! Tomorrow is expected to be exceptionally warm at 87 degrees. Glad we have a new air conditioner!

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Happy New Year!

December 31, 2010. Usery Mountain Regional Park

House Finches on Saguaro Cactus

On this New Year’s Eve, we hope everyone has a Happy and Prosperous New year!

The last few days have been spent with my Father and Karen mixed with hanging out in the park with the dogs. A few nights ago we shared a nice campfire at our campsite. It was a cool evening with no wind which made it perfect for the fire. 

Desert sunset from our campsite.

On Wednesday we drove to the local Verizon Store to update our phones. Our phones were two years old and showing their age.  At one point, we had discussed getting a “smart phone” for Joyce to have internet on the road and because she’s always checking her Face Book account. However, we had decided against it due to the anticipated additional monthly costs.

At the Verizon Store we were helped by a very good saleswoman, Lesli who really knew their products and phone plans. Lesli showed us how we were overpaying on our current plans. The plan for our 5 gigs of broadband data on the MiFi had decreased by $10 a month. She said it looked like we were using only 2 gigs a month and they have a 3 gig plan that would save us another $15 a month, but we decided to keep our 5 gigs and just take the $10 savings. Lesli checked our phone records to determine that we averaged less than 200 minutes a month well below our 1400 minute plan. So, she reduced us to a 700 minute plan saving an additional $20. With the savings, we again began considering a “smart phone” for Joyce.  After checking out the Droid phones, Joyce settled on a Droid X. Her phone is like a mini IPad that makes phone calls!

Droid X and Casio Ravine

I picked up a rugged phone (with no broadband service) called the Casio Ravine. So with the monthly service savings, the cost of unlimited internet on Joyce’s Droid was a wash making our monthly phone bill the same. So aside from having to pay the upfront cost of both phones we made out pretty good. After rebates, my phone will be free and Joyce’s will be $199.

After getting our phones we set off in the rain to a theater to watch the newly released movie, True Grit. We missed the 1:30 showing and walked around the shopping plaza as Joyce played with her new phone till the 3:00 show. The movie itself was very good and worth watching if you like “westerns”.

Lately, it seems we’ve done a lot of driving and shopping. Yesterday we visited both Sam’s Club and Costco just because, we like to look around and we were killing time staying inside from the miserable cold outside. I don’t mind the cold as long as the sun comes out. However, it’s been cloudy and cold. In fact yesterday we saw snowflakes here in Mesa and the local news captured pictures of a light dusting of snow that stuck for a few hours in the local area. 

The low last night was below freezing. I disconnected the rig’s water hose last night and let the campsite spicket drip. We used the rig’s water tank and pump for water till late this morning. I turned on a 60 watt drop light in the basement next to the water tank and pump to help keep the basement warm. Our basement and tanks are heated but only if I run the furnace. We had two ceramic heaters running all night but we were still cold. When we woke this morning it was 60 degrees inside and 48 in the basement. I turned on the furnace this morning to chase away the chill. Outside the water in the dog’s water bowl froze solid! It’s suppose to be colder tonight with temperatures dipping into the 20’s! We don’t have any plans for “ringing in the New Year” so we will see what happens.

As some readers have suggested, we can in fact stay here at Usery Mountain Regional Park beyond the 14 day limit. It just requires that we move out of our current site and into another available site. We are undecided on whether or not we will move to another site and stay longer or just press on towards Tucson on Monday.

Happy New Year!

Relaxing the Day After Christmas

December 26, 2010 Usery Mountain Regional Park.

Pass Mountain

We hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas. On Christmas Eve we drove to Cousin Raymond's House for a family get together and some traditional tamales! We spent Christmas morning at my Father and Karen's home in Mesa. My Father prepared an outstanding breakfast with eggs, potatoes, bacon and tamales. Afterwards, we traveled 50 miles to my Cousin Terry and Rick's home in Glendale, Az where we ate more tamales! We had a great time visiting with relatives, enjoying the holiday and eating too much.
Today was a day to relax and decompress. Joyce went to a few stores this morning with Karen to return a few items and no doubt buy some more! I stayed at home with Maggie and Rico enjoying the cool weather.

Maggie

Rico

Later in the day I took a short walk along a wash in the back of our campground site. There are so many large and beautiful Saguaro Cactus in the park.

Large Cholla in the foreground.

Pass Mountain in the distance.

Phoenix to the West.

Relaxing in the mild climate of the Sonoran Desert. Does it get any better than this? We intend to find out as we continue to travel next year. Stopping to enjoy one state at a time.

Wind Cave Hike in Usery Mountain Regional Park, Mesa

December 24, 2010 Usery Mountain Regional Park, Mesa Az.
Located on the Valley’s east side, this park takes in 3,648 acres set at the western end of the Goldfield Mountains, adjacent to the Tonto National Forest. 
The last few days since arriving have been filled with last minute Christmas shopping and visiting with my Father and Karen. We've done a lot of driving to and fro and I'm sure we will do a lot more as we plan to visit relatives throughout the Phoenix Valley.
We had some rainy cloudy weather as the system that devastated California earlier in the week, passed over the Valley. I actually was looking forward to the rain to wash off the dust on the roof of the rig!

View on the door side of our rig.

Yesterday, it was still cloudy and cool with a forecasted high of 65 but the weather was clearing. We decided on doing the most popular hike in Usery Mountain Regional Park, The Wind Cave Hike.

The park contains a large variety of plants and animals that call the lower Sonoran Desert home. Along the most popular feature of the park, the Wind Cave Trail, water seeps from the roof of the alcove to support hanging gardens of Rock Daisy. The Wind Cave is formed at the boundary between the volcanic tuff and granite on Pass Mountain. Breathtaking views from this 2,840-foot elevation are offered to all visitors

Beginning the hike.

Pass Mountain

The trail was washed out in many areas no doubt, due to the recent rain fall. Much of the trail up the mountain required stepping over large fallen rocks which made it more challenging.

One of the smoothest sections of the trail

Near the top

The Wind Cave is basically a large hollow in the side of the mountain. I didn't include a picture as there were other people in the photos I took. The hike seemed to be very popular. We found a secluded perch near the cave where we sat and enjoyed our snack and the beautiful view of the valley.

Perched by the Wind Cave.

View looking South.

Our campground in the distance looking West.

While seated from my perch on Pass Mountain, I played with my Canon camera using the 40x zoom to capture the picture below of our campsite. You can see our silver Dodge and the Cameo behind it.

Our site from afar!

We climbed back down returning to the Jeep after our two-hour trek which is the average according to the park information on the hike.

We like Usery Mountain Regional Park especially the campground. The views are fantastic. There is a shooting range in the park and I can hear the target shooting when outside but it's not annoying. Maggie and Rico continue to have encounters with the cactus spines on the ground from time to time so we have to be cautious. There is no sewer hook-up so we have to be frugal with water. I have to empty my 18 gallon grey tote everyday. I don't want to fill my grey (rig) tank as then it can be messy draining it into the grey tote. But that's just me!

We are considering staying longer in the valley but it's difficult to find a park that isn't 55 plus. So we may just stay here for another week. You may only stay at Usery Mountain Regional Park for 14 days.

Travel Day to Usery Mountain Regional Park Mesa, AZ

December 20, 2010

We were up by 7:30 excited about leaving. It was an exceptionally cloudy morning and heavy rain was expected in the evening. We made our final preparations, pulled in the slides and hitched up. We backed out of our space and parked. I took the picture above with Lake Havasu in the background, to replace the previous photo at the header of our blog. 

Afterwards we said our goodbyes to the staff, volunteers and interns of Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge. Some of the folks gave us cookies and treats before we left (so we had snacks for the trip). We will miss everyone and hope to run into all these fine folks down the road. We enjoyed our volunteer work at the refuge even though the first month of the four we volunteered was a bit rough due to the heat! We got on the road at 10:15. After 4 months of being parked in the same spot, getting behind the wheel of the rig is initially a bit daunting. After awhile, it all felt right again!

Our trip to Usery Mountain Regional Park was just over 200 miles. We made a rest stop on I-10 at about the halfway mark. Thankfully the trip was uneventful and we arrived at 2:20.  The camping fee is $25 a night. However, they charged us an additional $6 a night for the jeep (an extra vehicle) which is the park's day use fee. So I feel like we got taken considering we didn't have to pay that fee this past May when we were at the park. Oh well, with the bad economy, I bet this will be a sign of things to come!  

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We had several sites to choose from but there was only one site available on the exterior loop which has the best views. We ended up with site 9 on the exterior loop.

Plenty of privacy between sites

Back Yard

We got set up to include setting the satellite Dish on the tripod and getting it aligned just in time to catch this quick photo of the sunset.

We are happy to have made the trip safely and look forward to our stay here in what has to be one of the most beautiful parks we've stayed at. We will be here for at least a week through Christmas. The only downside is that there isn't a sewer hook-up so I'll be using the gray tote for the gray water (shower-sink water).

Blogless in Mesa

May 20, 2010.

It's been a while since I last posted on the blog. We are still here in Mesa, AZ at Carriage Manor Resort near my father and Karen. We've been slowly making preparations and assisting my father in making preparations for our trip to Colorado via New Mexico.

We have to transport Maggie and Rico back and forth to the dog park in Karen's golf cart. We are not allowed to walk them through the resort. However, they both enjoy riding in the cart. We take them to the park at least once in the morning and evening.

The temperatures continue to hover in the low 90's occasionally threatening to hit 100. We are fortunate to have two A/Cs although one could do the job. We usually run the bedroom A/C in the late afternoon. At night we turn off the main A/C and occasionally run just the bedroom unit. One of our readers, Karen Tipton commented about the dry heat. For us, 80 plus degrees in dry heat is comfortable in comparison to the same temperature in high humidity. It's only during the peak part of the day when it's uncomfortably hot and we move indoors. The mornings and evenings are very enjoyable. In fact, it's 10:00 a.m. and I'm sitting outside typing this blog.

At the Carriage Rally in Texas, I had met a couple that had re-positioned the rear basement wall in their Cameo thus giving them more space. Although their floor plan was different, I decided to remove my rear basement wall and see what if any adjustments I could make to add space. So after emptying the basement and detaching the wall, I learned that I could move it back about three inches. Although a small gain, it actually opens things up and makes it easier to move things in the basement. While I had the wall down, I was able to inspect the bathroom drains and pipes and I'm happy to report, I did not find any leaks or obvious problems.

There is a Camping World here in Mesa, so we took a trip to the store and I found a porcelain coated grill grate for my Coleman grill! As you may recall from a previous post, the teflon coated grill grate was worthless. Hopefully we will be happier cooking and cleaning with the porcelain grate.

Last Friday, we had the opportunity to go to downtown Mesa, and check out the Car Show. We walked around and had pizza at a local restaurant downtown.

Last week we entertained the idea of trading in our car for a SUV. So we test drove some models to include the Jeep Liberty, Jeep Patriot, the Dodge Journey, GMC Terrain and a Toyota RAV4. We kept having second thoughts about making a deal and had almost put the idea to rest. However, my cousin Terry and her husband Rick came over one night for dinner. Rick is a salesman for a local Toyota dealership. They arrived in a beautiful pearl 2009 Toyota RAV4 Limited with only 1800 miles on it (that's right 1800). He told me they would be selling it as used and it had belonged to the corporate office. We got to drive it and it was loaded with leather and all the bells and whistles. Long story short, we almost made a deal, but the night before, Joyce couldn't sleep from thinking about it and we again decided to put off making a purchase. Our car only has 66K miles and is in great shape. A SUV is a want and not a real need.  Perhaps it's not the most practical vehicle for our lifestyle, but it's paid for and gets 23-26 mpg. 

Terry and Rick are a wonderful couple of our age and have been married for over 30 years.  They both still look young and fit and have become avid hikers. They have done the hike in and out of the Grand Canyon and were telling us about the adventure. We hope to make plans to do it with them in the near future.

We've continued to travel around the Phoenix Valley visiting Aunts, Uncles and Cousins scattered about. It's great to visit family I haven't seen in years or decades.

Yesterday, I took the opportunity to give the rig a thorough washing. It sure looked shiny when I was done. Again I used the Dawn With Bleach dishwashing soap. 

Well, that about brings us up to speed. We plan to leave on our trip by the end of next week, so we only have a week or so left here in the valley.

Hanging Out with Family, Carriage Manor Resort

May 13, 2010.

On May 11th, we moved from Usery Mountain Regional Park to Carriage Manor Resort. My father and Karen own a couple of lots in this resort, however theirs are occupied. Karen made arrangements to have us stay on their friend's corner site. Their friends our currently out of the state for the summer and they offered through Karen to have us stay on the site for free. Although very gracious, we will at least pay for our electrical usage. We can't be this deal.

Although we miss the beauty of the desert at Usery Mountain Regional Park, we had become concerned for Maggie and Rico. There was a marauding rattlesnake in the back yard coupled with potentially dangerous spiny cactus, we were concerned that the dogs would get stuck or bit by something. One morning I found a small scorpion in Rico's outdoor bed. Moreover, the park didn't have sewer hook-ups so an extended stay would be a hassle with having to use the dump station. 

Carriage Manor Resort is a resort park with all the amenities to include a pool, gym and dog park. The pool will certainly come in handy as temperatures are expected to hover around 100 degrees! But hey, it's a dry heat! The only downside is that we can't walk Maggie and Rico through the resort. All dogs have to be transported to the dog park. So, my father and Karen loaned us one of their golf carts to transport Maggie and Rico. They now love to go for a ride in the golf cart! Joyce and I looked for parks in this area to stay for a few weeks and discovered that the vast majority are all 55 plus resorts, so our pickens would have been slim! This arrangement will be perfect.

Carriage Manor Resort is a 55 plus resort, because we aren't there yet, we can only be "guests" for a couple of weeks. However, at that time we will be ready to leave on a trip to Colorado. My father and Karen will go with us pulling their fifth wheel as we travel to Colorado via New Mexico. So our plan is move on at the end of the month.

Travel Day to Usery Mountain Park Mesa AZ

May 7, 2010
Yesterday, we spent the day at home cleaning our Cameo and our vehicles. I checked the air in the tires and installed the transponders on the Cameo's valve stems for our TST tire pressure monitor. We packed up and prepared for our early travel day on Friday, May 7.


Today, we got up at 6:30ish and we were hitched up and on the road by 8:00. It was expected to be windy today as is common in the West! We wanted to get an early start as we expected to spend 6 hrs. on the road. Our plan was to travel to Usery Mountain Regional Park in Mesa, Az.

View 3939 N. Usery Pass Road Mesa, AZ 85207 in a larger map

We had good weather, mild winds and rolling hills.

A beautiful day for traveling on the road.

We just wanted to get to Mesa AZ early to beat the heat. It was forecasted to reach 93! You can see the snow capped mountain in the distance on Hwy 70 near Safford, AZ.

We stopped in Globe, AZ at a McDonalds which advertised RV parking. When we got back on the road headed west on Hwy. 60, we ran into a traffic jam just outside of Globe. We inched forward till I was able to speak with a police officer in the median. He said the Highway Patrol was working a fatal accident and the road would be closed for at least an hour! He suggested we turn around and take Hwy. 77 to Hwy. 177 looping around to Superior, AZ and back to Hwy. 60.

So, we turned around and headed back through Globe, Az. and found 77 west toward Winkelman. We took the route and were soon headed down hill at a steep grade coming into a beautiful saguaro desert. However, it was a 50 mph road with winding curves and a steep rolling hills so it was too dangerous to risk taking pictures. Soon the temperature was 94 degrees and we were committed to climbing and descending some very steep hills/ mountains. I saw signs for 7% grades, then 8% grades and a sign for a 10% down hill grade for 4 miles.  Signs warned trucks to use lower gears and of truck runoffs. At one point I radioed Joyce following behind me, that I was climbing in 3rd gear and floored to maintain 2500 rpms. I thought that was the worst of it till we hit another climb where I had to shift to 2nd gear to make the climb at about 25 mph! That must have been a 10% or greater grade! Needless to say it was a white knuckle detour that I would not want to make again. 

After our 50 mile detour we made it into Mesa and Usery Mountain Regional Park. It was 93 degrees so we rushed to set up and get the two A/C's cranking. Our trip was 320 miles from which I got 9.9 mpg towing. I was surprised it was that good considering the steep climbs. As a side note, at their max, my TST Tire Pressure Monitor system measured the tire pressures in my Goodyear G614 tires at a pressure of 125 psi and 105 degrees. Cold pressure was 110. 

We have a beautiful site with a great view surrounded by various (dangerous) cactus and saguaro cactus.

There is plenty of space between sites as depicted in the photo of our nearest neighbor's site with Superstition Mountains in the background.

This is another shot down the road in the opposite direction.

And finally for today, a shot of our view out the back window. Love the view. What you can't see from this view is the city in the valley to the left. Last night we could see the lights of the city in the far distance and it was a beautiful contrast to the star fill night sky.