Monday March 13th 2017

Today’s topic is the weather. I’ve been hearing reports of the “blizzard” about to hit the northeast. Both the national news and the local Arizona broadcasts are talking about the mega storm about to hit the eastern seaboard. It’s hard to know for sure, but if I apply my experience from a lifetime in New England, they are probably going to get a normal heavy storm. It just isn’t that unusual to get a heavy storm in March. The national news is over selling the storm to some extent and the local news even more so.

Here in Arizona we have the opposite problem. Today was the first official 90 plus degree day of the year. The normal temperature for this time of year is 76 degrees Fahrenheit. I’ve been here almost two weeks. It started out with below normal temperatures and now we are starting a week of near record highs in the 90s. The good thing is that it gets down into the sixties at night for sleeping. The bad part is doing things outside without shade is probably not a great idea.

This morning, I was going to visit the Picacho Peak State Park. It is advertised as a good place to see the desert in bloom. When I got there, I found the park area to be the desert between the interstate and a massive rock known as Picacho Peak. I lost interest fast. From a distance the peak and surrounding desert is very picturesque. Up close it didn’t look like a place I wanted to be on a day that had already reached the mid 80s. Spending seven dollars for admission for a few minutes seemed like a bad value. I still may visit the park, but on a day that isn’t quite as hot. I am probably getting subliminally influenced by the TV people warning of heat stroke. I automatically discount the actual words coming out of their mouths. (I’m not really paranoid, just cynical.)

One of the flowering bushes here at the campground.

I think some of the other residents of this park have decided that spring has arrived. Every day as I walk around the park I find more empty sites. I haven’t actually seen anyone leave, but they clearly are escaping. Even with the heat, I’m not ready to move on yet. Most of the Canadians have until late April or longer on their six month stays so I think they’ll start leaving about the same time I leave at the end of the month. I’ve counted six RVs from Alaska in the park. When they decide to head north is not something I can guess. With that kind of reasoning, the ones that left must have been from the southern United States or the west coast. I’ll be watching to see who leaves next.