The clouds and humidity were gone this morning. It turned out to be a fairly comfortable day with lots of wind and a high temperature in the upper half of the nineties.
Cactus blossom of the day.
I don’t have much to write about in this blog entry. It was a very routine day with a walk in the morning before breakfast and a walk at night after my final meal of the day. In between I did a few chores, watched some TV and read some arbitrary stuff.
This is the fifty first day of my exile in the desert as I sit out the “stay at home” directives. In ten days my personal phased approach to returning to travel begins.
After a warm overnight the day turned out to be partly cloudy and humid for the desert. Late in the afternoon Mother Nature really wanted to drop some rain on the area, but it was a poor performance. Most of the rain evaporated before it reached the ground. It was very dark and windy, but not many rain drops landed. The whole event lasted about an hour before the sun made another attempt to brighten the area.
Tonight’s sunset after the rain attempt.
It was a two walk day. My first walk of the day was before 9AM and the second was shortly after 7PM as the sun was setting. In between I did a lot of reading, some TV watching and a little cooking. The bottom line is it was a very routine day.
The snowbirds continue to dribble out of the RV park. Two more RVs departed today. I have given up trying to guess who’s leaving and who’s staying. I’ve been wrong too many times. I was sure one of today’s departures would be here all summer. They went from fully spread out with lawn furniture, plants and whirligigs to a fully packed RV and empty site overnight. The big motorhome towed a twenty foot box trailer packed with a car and lots of extra stuff.
My departure count down is at eleven days and counting.
There were more clouds in the sky today. Along with the clouds came more humidity, so even though the mercury didn’t climb as high it wasn’t as comfortable as some of the previous triple digit days.
It was a two walk day. On my morning walk I manged to find a couple of photogenic cactus blossoms. My walk at sunset was under heavy clouds, so I didn’t get any pictures of the setting sun. On both walks I didn’t see nearly as many people as on previous walks. Departures and the heat have reduced the field of fellow walkers.
One of the things I accomplished between the two walks was making, as opposed to canceling, a couple of reservations. They weren’t major destination reservations, but a gradual return to travel at places with more to do than my current location. My two month stay here is up on the 21st just before the memorial day holiday. The popular places are booked for the holiday weekend. Staying here at a nightly rate is not going to happen, so I’m going to spend the weekend at Picacho Peak State Park. It is just down the interstate from here and isn’t a popular destination this time of year because of the heat. I’ve stayed there before among the saguaros.
After the Memorial Day weekend I’ll move north of Phoenix to Cottonwood for two weeks. I’ve booked two weeks at the Dead Horse Ranch State Park. It’s higher elevation won’t be as hot. I spent two weeks at the park in the fall of 2017 and was heading there again when I decided to make this RV park home for the last two months. The majority of the Arizona State Parks remained open for the entire “stay at home” period. There was one twenty four hour period at the beginning of April that a shutdown order was issued, but it was rescinded before it was implemented.
Arizona seems to understand that most of the state parks and campgrounds aren’t a major social distancing concern. The few that are indoors or in otherwise contained spaces like caves are closed. I think it also helps that none of the nearby states have major outbreaks of the virus. There aren’t many travelers by road to fear at a higher level than your neighbor. People flying in from the virus hot spots don’t typically jump in an RV and head for a state park. Of course this could all change without warning, but right now the Arizona State Parks seem to be a viable option.
I think I’ll be in Arizona most of June. Utah and New Mexico are the options that I’m trying to understand better. Utah is opening up faster than Arizona and New Mexico, but it has a few counties that are more restrictive. Some of the National Parks in Utah are starting to reopen. New Mexico seems to be the most shutdown of the three states. Its state parks are all closed and private RV parks are restricted to 25 percent occupancy. So far, I haven’t read anything about a reopening timeline. I check travel restrictions and options at least once everyday. I don’t think that is going to change anytime soon.
As the sun set last night the clouds moved in. They kept the overnight temperature a little warmer than the previous few nights. I had to run the AC most of the night. Today, that same cloud cover kept the sun from really heating things up. The temperature stayed a little below the century mark in this area. Phoenix to the north was 103 again.
I am surprised this week went by quickly. Everyday has been very similar dominated by staying inside out of the hot sun during the majority of the day. Today I got in my morning walk with the help of the clouds keeping the beating sun away. For my sunset walk the clouds were starting to breakup, so they may not be around to help keep the temperature under control tomorrow. On the positive side the forecast high temperatures are returning closer to normal next week. There aren’t any 100 plus degree days in next weeks forecast (yet).
Another of my late May early June reservations was canceled today. The Idaho State Parks are delaying their opening. I have a couple of private campground reservations that I need to cancel. The first one I tried wasn’t answering the phone, so I need to keep trying. They may not have anyone staffing the office. Understanding what’s open and what’s staffed in any given area is a challenge.
It was only a couple of degrees cooler than yesterday, but there was a nice strong breeze during the heat of the day. It seemed much cooler than the 103 degree high temperature.
The only picture I took today.
I didn’t get my morning walk in this morning. I started reading while sipping my morning coffee and didn’t stop for long all day long. My walk as the sun set was my only real exercise of the day. A few more people have departed for cooler climates. It is starting to look very empty.
The triple digit temperatures were back today. The town was reported at 105 degrees during the afternoon. When I pointed my infrared thermometer at the black paved road in front of my RV it reported a temperature of 145 degrees. The bottom line is it was hot.
My morning walk was short. The sun was high enough in the sky to be dangerous, so I only made a walk around the perimeter of the RV park. My evening walk as the sun set was full length. It was still very warm, but the sun was not beating down.
Between my walks I worked on travel research and contemplation. It is interesting to note that at this time last year I hadn’t started my summer travels. I was still in Florida planning out my path to the northwest and the places I might visit. I passed through northern Arizona the last week in May heading for Utah and Bryce Canyon National Park. This year that seems unachievable because of the uncertainty of the reactions of governments and business to the virus.
Planning is a challenge. It is hard to give up my well developed plans. This is the first year that I planned heavily and made a full half year of reservations. Once I made the plans, I developed a strong sense of anticipation around the places I would be able to visit. Now I need to come up with another plan that accommodates the mitigations necessary to travel in this virus plagued world. It is hard to know what to do or to develop any real enthusiasm for the task. I want to get moving, but when and where are big unknowns. I think the best I’m going to be able to plan is a month in advance, just like I did last year.
It was another slow lazy day. This blog entry will not have much content. The Phoenix high temperature was in the triple digits today. In this location about fifty miles south and a little east the high didn’t break the century mark, but it was still hot.
On my morning walk I was rewarded by one cactus blossom. When I first spotted the blossoms a few days ago it was a little later in the morning. With the current temperatures, I’m not going to be walking later in the morning. Driving to take a couple of cactus blossom pictures seems a bit extreme, but that may be what it will take.
On the last couple of late evening walks I’ve watched the moon get bigger in the eastern sky. The full moon isn’t until later in the week, but I went back out after dark to take a couple of pictures of the moon.
I was up early enough to get in my morning walk around the RV park before the temperature started to climb. The cactus blossoms weren’t cooperating today. None of the blossoms were fully open. I don’t understand what conditions cause the blossoms to open or how many days they open before they’ve achieved their purpose. It looks like there should be more blossoms opening in the next few days, but that’s a guess.
Rabbits are replacing the people in this RV park.
The day passed quickly. I got engrossed in trying to re-plan my summer travels. With less than three weeks left on my stay here in the Arizona Desert, I need to make up my mind. Over the weekend I was convinced the solution was to catch up with my original set of reservations in Wyoming at the middle of June. Today I’m rethinking that approach. The ideal solution given the circumstances would be to find a place to stay for a month or two. It would have to be in an area with outdoor things to do preferably at altitude or in a northern climate. After a day of research, I don’t have an answer. I just have a few more ideas and a few more unknowns.
While I was doing my research I got a message canceling another one of my May, early June reservations. Things are opening back up but not at a consistent pace. It is also may take longer than anticipated. Bouncing my travel options against the various state travel restrictions is daunting. New Mexico has closed all roads in and out of the community of Gallup. I fear that more of that approach to limiting the impact of the virus will become the norm. It might have value containing the virus, but it makes travel into and through an area problematic.
There are still more unknowns than knowns. The result is that flexibility is required. To be flexible I need knowledge. To get the knowledge, I need to continue my research.
It was an incredibly lazy day. I was late getting out of bed and skipped my morning walk. It was still cool enough to walk, but I just wasn’t feeling it. The temperature peaked just south of the century mark at 99 degrees.
I spent the day reading with the TV on. At one point I woke up from an unplanned nap. Hopefully, the nap doesn’t take away from my ability to sleep tonight. My only accomplishment of the day was dumping the holding tanks. I waited until almost sunset, but I’m good for another week of showers and what not.
Even my evening walk was shorter than normal. I only walked the perimeter of the RV park. Usually I walk up and down every road in at least one direction. When I’m in the mood for more exercise I walk each road in both directions. The difference is around half a mile walking just the perimeter to about 2 miles going up and down all the roads in both directions.
The run of days with above normal high temperature continues. Today was only about ten degrees above normal at 98 degrees. The current forecast has the highs returning to the triple digits next week and the above normal highs continuing most of the month.
During my morning walk it felt like I’ve been abandoned. The turn of the month seems to have caused several more departures. In my area of the RV park there are many open sites and a few empty RVs. On my “block” there are only 3 of 32 sites occupied. The “blocks” nearer the entrance have a few more occupied sites and the perimeter is fairly full. Overall there is a lot of empty space and a lot fewer people out and about.
My RV on the corner with one nearby neighbor and many empty sites.
The focus of my internet surfing today was summer travel planning. I am working under the assumption that enough RV parks and campgrounds will be open by the middle of June to allow me to resume traveling without extreme issues. As of today travel is complicated by campgrounds that aren’t open, places that only take single night stays, RV parks that only take two week stays of longer for self quarantine and places that are only open to locals. Everyday the situation evolves. I have a theory that it might be easier to find places to stay this summer as vacationers decide to stay home. So far that hasn’t panned out. The nice places near major tourist draws are still fully booked for late June, July and August. Maybe people are waiting until the last minute to cancel like I am for some of my late May reservations.
My overall focus for the foreseeable future is to avoid crowds and focus on outside activities like hiking, bike riding and overall sightseeing. I will avoid museums and indoor activities. Ideally I’d prefer to stay in one place for long periods of time, but unless my theory of vacationers canceling their plans come to fruition, I’ll have to settle for mostly one or two week stays in more obscure locations. My goal of reaching Florida before fall remains the same.
Rob's Rambling Road Trip 