Yuma is a popular area for snow birders so we were curious to check it out. Since we had stayed in Mesa to get our final Covid vaccine, it was off-season when we got here. Even so, Yuma doesn’t seem like an area we’d decide to spend any length of time it. We stayed at an Encore Park using our Trails Collection membership, so luckily we didn’t have to pay for it. It is a smaller park by Encore standards but seems pretty typical of most Encore parks.
We did visit the Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, which was interesting. And we had a nice lunch in the historic area. Other than that, there wasn’t much that interested us in the area. But, our house in on wheels! So we have decided to move on to a park a little farther down I-8, which will get us closer to San Diego, which is our next destination!
You know we keep saying we can’t wait to see a beach again? THIS is not what we had in mind!!
We loved our Jayco Eagle, but, after living in it full time for a year and half we decided it wasn’t quite right for full-time RV living. We hadn’t been to an RV show in over a year because of Covid, so we started going to different dealers in the Denver area to do some research (properly masked and with social distancing, of course!). After looking at a good many RVs we were between purchasing a Solitude by Grand Design, or an Alliance. Alliance is a newer company that was actually started by some people who left Grand Design and a couple of other manufacturers. Both companies have great reputations for quality RVs and they both are known to stand behind their products. As you may know, Candi loves to cook and bake and was determined that our next rig would have a nicer kitchen. After much deliberation and many hours going between dealers, we finally decided on a Solitude 3540GK (the ‘GK’ stands for Gourmet Kitchen!). There was a lot we liked about the rig, including color scheme and overall look. Since RV sales are up so much due to Covid, there weren’t many rigs to be had in stock, and, we wanted some options that dealers don’t usually order anyway, so we did a factory order.
All RV factories were really backed up due to Covid, both because of supply issues and the heavy demand. We had been told it would take 10-12 weeks for our rig to come in. Fortunately, we weren’t really in a hurry. When we made the decision we were still in Denver for the summer, but wouldn’t be there long enough to accept delivery there. We already had our winter job lined up for Mesa, Arizona, so we started looking for dealers in the general Mesa/Phoenix area.
We know we could make more money selling our Jayco instead of trading it in, but that didn’t seem realistic now that we have to live in one rig and can’t have the other sitting in our driveway until we sell it. After working with sales reps at 3 different dealers, the best deal with the trade-in was at Lazydays in Tucson. Fortunately, they also have a relationship with a KOA campground right next to their location. They were able to set us up with 2 RV sites right next to each other for several days. This enabled us to take our time (yeah, right!) and move our ‘stuff’ from one rig to the other one. In total moving our stuff took us 2 and a half days, and we were exhausted!
So, with that said – meet Ollie! Which is short for Olorin, which is Gandalf’s high name from the Lord of the Rings. Roughly translated it means ‘dreams’ or ‘dreamer’!
Today we visited a historic prison site in Yuma. The prison operated from 1876 – 1909. Interestingly, for about 4 years after that, they used the prison grounds as a local high school! After a new high school was built, it sat empty until being used to house homeless families during the depression. Most of the prison has been demolished, but the remaining buildings were fun to explore.
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The prison held both men and women prisoners. Some of the prisoners were charged with polygamy, including several Mormon leaders, which led Mormons to claim religious persecution. An interesting bit of trivia is that this prison was one of the first in the nation to have electricity and running water even though most houses in the area didn’t.
Of course, after that we had to get lunch! We went to historic Yuma and had lunch sitting at a nice street side patio area at the Prison Hill Brewing Company. The owner’s great-grandfather had been a detainee at the prison and many of the menu item were named after prison lingo, like The Snitch, The Verdict, and Flew the Coop!
We spent the Winter of COVID (2020-2021) in Mesa, Arizona. This was our second experience workamping for a large Encore resort, and we really enjoyed it. We both worked in the Activities Department, but of course, with COVID, there were very few activities.
We were also wary of doing too much outside of the park, since during much of our stay Arizona had the highest percentage of COVID cases in the world. Fortunately, we were in Maricopa county and most businesses here followed COVID protocol and most people wore masks and practiced social distancing.
We enjoyed our time here and loved the weather, but feel like we really didn’t get to see much of the area or do a lot of the things we’d like to do. Our summer traveling was also up in the air until recently. We had booked an Alaskan cruise that was scheduled to leave from Vancouver at the end of July. Not knowing if the cruise would be canceled or not, we didn’t feel comfortable looking for a job for the summer. And with all of the uncertainty around COVID we didn’t really know how to plan.
A few weeks ago the cruise line canceled our cruise and Arizona made all adults eligible for the COVID vaccine, so we finally feel like we could make some plans! We signed up for the vaccine and made plans to leave a week after our second dose.
When we bought our new fifth wheel, we also recieved a free one year membership to Thousand Trails, which we have wanted to try out for a while.
More to come, but our plan for the summer is to travel around California staying at as many Thousand Trails parks as we can (and to see an ocean again!!).
When we were in Sedona, we realized how close we would be to Winslow, Arizona. We knew we had to go there for the obligatory picture!
Of course, we have no idea what this town was like before the famous song, but now it seems to mostly exist because of the song. There is a street corner just for picture taking, with all the necessary props set up.
While we were there we bought a couple of souvenir t-shirts at the store across the corner and visited the “World’s Smallest Church“, or at least the smallest church on Route 66!” After a nice lunch at the RelicRoad Brewing Company we headed back to Sedona.
A friend had suggested we drive thru the Oak Creek Canyon so we did on the way back to our campsite. We’re so glad we did, it was beautiful. Just don’t try it with a trailer in tow! It has sharp turns and steep grades, but outstanding views!
Our last stop on the way to Mesa for the winter! We stayed at Distant Drums RV Resort, which is about 30 miles from Sedona, but the closest we could get with our big rig. It’s a nice park with sites that are close together but well laid out. And they have food trucks on Thursdays and Fridays!
There was another couple from RVilllage nearby and we met them them at Alcantara Vineyard. The weather was perfect to spend an afternoon outside talking and listening to the guitarist they had for entertainment. And Mike even found a wine he likes!
The next day we went to the Boynton Canyon Energy Vortex (yes, Candi believes in that stuff!). It’s an easy hike to the vortex and somehow we managed to have it to ourselves for about 45 minutes! The energy is incredibly relaxing and we had a great time just sitting on the rock and enjoying the peace.
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Next up we took another Pink Jeep Tour to the Honanki Heritage Site. The cliff dwellings and petroglyphs were awesome and our tour guide shared a lot of information. You can get to this site on your own, but we wouldn’t recommend trying it unless you have a four wheel drive vehicle.
Our final stop was actually near the campground we were staying at, Montezuma’s Castle. An amazingly preserved location due to its difficulty in getting up to it. Tourists are unfortunately not allowed up in the ruins themselves.
We stayed at the Grand Canyon Camper Village. The park was fine and is located one mile from the south entrance to the Grand Canyon in a tiny little town called Tusayan. The proximity to the park was great and there are a few restaurants within walking distance, which is nice after spending a day in the park!
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The first day we visited Mather Point on our own. This is an easy walk from the Visitors’ Center which has plenty of parking. It was fun to catch our first glimpse of the canyon and take a few pictures. We walked along the rim trail which is a flat, paved trail and allows you to see a few different views of the canyon.
Then we decided to take a Sunset Tour with Pink Jeep Adventure Tours. What a great tour!! Our guide, Halle, was amazing! Conveniently, the tour departed across the street from the RV park we were staying at. From there, we took Desert View Drive and stopped at Grandview Point, Moran Point, Navajo Point, then saw an incredible sunset at Lipan Point. Pink Jeep makes it very clear that you can drive to all of these places yourself but it was definitely worth it for the information and expertise our tour guide Halle shared. She was full of information about the park, its geology, and its history and she made it fun!
Our last day we drove in to the park and took the Red line shuttle. This shuttle goes along Hermit Road. Since personal vehicles are not allowed on Hermit Road, the shuttle is the only way to see this side of the park. Fortunately, it’s free and wasn’t too busy the day we were there. The shuttle stops at Maricopa Point, Powell Point, Hope Point, Mohave Point, The Abyss, Monument Creek Vista, Pima Point, and finally Hermit’s Rest. We definitely took a lot of pictures and really felt like we saw a good portion of the park!
The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is more remote and less visited than the South Rim, but since it wasn’t too far out of our way we decided to spend some time there.
The closest big rig park we found was Kaibab Camper Village which was about 30 miles from the park entrance! It was a smaller RV Park in a beautiful setting with nice sites.
Unfortunately, as you can see in the pictures, the California and Colorado wildfires were contributing heavily to the haze we were experiencing. Although we were told that the Grand Canyon is actually seldom ‘clear’ anyway due to atmospheric conditions.
One more national park checked off and more stunning views seen!! It is really incredible how many different types of hills, mountains, and rock formations exist.
These irregular rock columns are called hoodoos, and Bryce Canyon has the largest concentration of them anywhere on Earth! The colors are amazing!
The shuttle really is the best way to see the main area of the park since parking at the overlooks can be difficult. The shuttle takes you to the four main areas of the park. We drove into the park the next day to see the rest of it, but if you don’t have the time to see it all, don’t worry, by taking the shuttle you will have seen the best of it!
Fifth Wheel Journey 