Monday April 27th 2020

There was a little more wind today. It kept the high temperature from being as oppressive as Sunday. As long as you weren’t in the direct sunlight the heat was tolerable.

I got in my first walk of the day early in the day. As soon as I got the coffee started I set out on my morning walk around the RV park. The bigger cactus planted in the garden by the office have started to blossom. I tried to get pictures of the blossoms, but only the single picture included in this blog entry was good enough to include in the blog. By my evening walk the blossoms had closed up for the night. With any luck, I’ll get better pictures tomorrow.

By the time I got back to my RV home the coffee was ready for breakfast. Combined with a little internet reading and some TV, the coffee and a couple of cinnamon roles lasted well into the morning. The remainder of the day was taken up with more reading and TV with a short nap thrown in for good measure.

The second walk of the day started a little later than normal. I let the sun get much closer to the horizon before I set out. It was dark enough that the RV park lights were on by the time I got back to the RV. The down side of night fall is the wind went away with the daylight.

Sunday April 26th 2020

When I chose this location to sit out the “stay at home” orders I knew it was going to be warm. I checked the average temperatures for the area. The average high for the area isn’t supposed to get to triple digits until June. Since I plan to leave the area by the end of May, I didn’t think I get too many extremely warm days. Today was the first triple digit day of the year at 101 degrees Fahrenheit. The milestone is about a week early this year. To make matters worse, the forecast calls for five more triple digit days this week. The high temperature isn’t forecast to be in the nineties until next Saturday.

One of the advantages of living on the road is the ability to avoid temperature extremes. In normal times I would be well north of extreme warmth in the summer and well south of freezing conditions in the winter. Following this years plan, I would have been at Lake Powell today. It was in the low eighties in Page AZ, about twenty degrees cooler than here.

I’ve done pretty well avoiding triple digit warmth on my Rambling Road Trip. I don’t recall any extended periods of extreme heat. There may have been a single day high in the triple digits along the way, but certainly not several in a row. I have experienced a few ninety plus humid days in the southeast that may in the overall scheme of things be more oppressive. As the saying goes, this is a “dry” heat. With the wind blowing or a good fan aimed at you, it is possible to survive without the AC if you aren’t in the direct sun. So far, I’ve only turned the AC on near bed time to get the temperature down to sleeping level. In the humid southwest I’d have the AC on around the clock.

I only took one walk today near sunset. It was too hot and bright by the time I was ready to walk this morning. A couple more rigs have departed the RV park and a few more seem to be in the middle of packing. I’m beginning to wonder just how many RVs will be here when I leave just before Memorial Day weekend.

Saturday April 25th 2020

I am afraid all I’ll have to write about for the next few days is the heat. Today the temperature peaked around 98 degrees. Tomorrow will probably break into three digits and by the end of the month a new record for the month of April my be set at 106 degrees. The average temperature for the end of April is eighty eight.

I woke up this morning to watch out my bedroom window as another neighbor hooked up and departed. There are still people here, but there are more empty sites than occupied ones. As the heat of the day increased everybody retreated inside. Most people had the AC running.

I took my morning walk before breakfast to get it in before the heat of the day arrived. It was ninety by noon before reaching the high for the day around 4:30 or 5PM. Occasionally a breeze developed to cool the air off a little, but overall it was a fairly still day. My second walk of the day was as the sun was setting. A few people were back out and walking around by that time.

Friday April 24th 2020

The daily high temperature continues to climb. Today’s high occurred around 4PM. It was in the upper half of the nineties. The current forecast shows an increase in temperature each day through at least Thursday. Several record setting days are possible.

It has been over four weeks since I subjected myself to the circus that is a grocery store, but today I had to make the journey. I’ve been out of bread and milk for more than a week, but I still had plenty of frozen meat, frozen vegetables and pantry goods. The catalyst for the grocery run was water. I was out of bottled drinking water. Consuming large quantities of the tap water in this campground to offset the heat was not a pleasant thought. It tastes terrible.

The shopping experience was not as different as I’d been led to expect by the news coverage. They were regulating the number of people in the store, but there was no wait when I arrived around 10:30AM. The floor had lots of keep your distance decals to remind everyone about social distancing. They had not instituted one way aisles. I wish they had. The shelves were better stocked than a month ago. I found just about everything that I remembered I needed and then some. They didn’t have any paper towels or toilet paper, but I’m not really in need yet. Paper towels may be the next reason I have to return to the Walmart circus in a couple of weeks. Once again I had to buy larger sizes than I would normally purchase. They may be deliberately only stocking the larger sizes. Judging by my checkout receipt, I bought about twice as much as I would on a normal grocery run.

The walk around the grocery store was the substitute for one of today’s walks. It was too hot and sunny for a walk when I got back to the RV park. On my evening walk around the park I found even more residents had departed. The couple from New York across the street were among the departed. They shut up their trailer, took in the utilities, loaded up their SUV and drove away. I didn’t see that one coming.

Thursday April 23rd 2020

Today was another day without much to document in this blog entry. The key feature of the day was the temperature. It made it into the low nineties this afternoon. While the wind was blowing it was comfortable. Unfortunately, there were a few periods without any real wind blowing. The weather forecast is for steady increases in temperature over the next week.

My first walk of the day was shorter than normal. I was late getting started so the sun was high in the sky and I didn’t have sunscreen applyed. Before I cut the walk short, I noticed that six to ten more RVs had departed. The middle of the park is getting empty. Most of the remaining units are around the perimeter and at the front and back of the park. I’m located on the inside of the perimeter road in the back. My view toward the front of the park is now barely obstructed by other RVs.

It was more comfortable during my evening walk as the sun was setting. The temperature was still in the high 80s, but the sun was no longer a factor. A couple of hours later, it is still in the 80s. I’m going to have to crank the AC to get the bedroom down to sleeping temperature.

Wednesday April 22nd 2020

The temperature didn’t quite make it to 90 degrees, but it gave it a good try. It was a clear sunny day with just enough breeze to keep things tolerable. I being a little obstinate and not turning on the AC. So far, with the windows open living conditions have been fine. I’ve noticed some of my neighbors have retreated into indoor mode with the AC cranked. It’s a dry heat. In humid conditions I have the AC on too.

Other than my two daily walks around the RV park, I did a few chores around my RV home. The TV and reading continue to be my primary way to fill the day. This is my 45th day with only essential interaction with people away from home.

Tuesday April 21st 2020

After a calm and cool start to the day the weather changed rapidly. By early afternoon the temperature had crossed the eighty mark and the wind was howling. The wind was strong enough to blow lawn chairs around and the gusts were even higher. Tonight it is calm again.

I paid for another month at this spartan oasis in the desert this morning. I’m sure I’ll be here until at least the fifteenth of May, but probably until the twenty first. A departure on the fifteenth would allow me to catch up with my original travel plans, but that is highly unlikely. My developing alternative plan keeps me in Arizona for another month, but at higher altitudes further north. Arizona has been very good about keeping the state park campgrounds open, so I’m exploring staying at a couple of those for a pair of two week stays. After that maybe New Mexico.

On the day that I committed to staying here longer, several others departed. My neighbors departed for Wisconsin at about 7:30 this morning. I knew they were leaving, but the number of others that departed late yesterday and early today was surprising. It may be that the weather forecast for the next week kicked them into action. Tomorrow is forecast to be in the nineties and starting on Sunday the high is forecast in the 100s through Tuesday.

A neighbors on the other side from Oregon are currently packing. Many of the other long term residents and snowbirds have been stopping by to say good-by. It is a real traffic jam, since most of the visitors stop in the road and hold a proper socially distant conversation. I’m guessing they’re leaving tomorrow. There are still many RVs here, but many are empty. On one of my walks later in the week I may try and count how many of the 350 sites are actively occupied.

Monday April 20th 2020

Not much blog worthy happened today. The bright blue sky with only a little wind allowed the temperature to reach the mid 80s. Tomorrow is forecast to be the last comfortable for a while. Starting Wednesday the high temperature is forecast in the 90s and by the weekend the 100s. I’m not looking forward to it.

In addition to my two walks, I took up train car counting today. During breakfast for some reason I found myself counting the cars on a westbound train across the field to the north of the park. I lost count around one hundred cars on the four engine train. The fact that I lost count caused a minor obsession to find the next train to count. I watched most of the day, but never caught another one from the beginning. I notice the trains more at night. The sound of the train whistles and rumbling carry better in the still night air.

Sunday April 19th 2020

With less wind today the temperature made it up to eighty. There were a few clouds in the sky off and on during the day including at sunset. The clouds added a little interest to an otherwise bland sunset.

I was late getting to my first walk of the day. Chasing internet links on information about places to stay after I leave here next month kept me busy until well afternoon. It was close to the heat of the day before I took my first walk around the park. Another ten or so residents appear to be packing to head out. I won’t be alone, but it is going to be a lot different as next month rolls around.

After my first walk I got back to exploring ideas for the summer. I haven’t totally abandoned my plans to visit Wyoming and Colorado, but any plan needs to consider what the world looks like as the “stay at home” rules change. Right now it seems better to move around as little as possible. Staying here in an area that gets above 110 degrees at times during the summer isn’t going to happen. The next consideration is finding a place with a lot of outdoor roaming opportunities that I can stay in for a few months. Following that is staying a month here, a month there and work my way back toward Florida. The last alternative is to continue with one to two week stays moving in the general direction of Florida. The post lock down rules that each state establishes will dictate what I decide. For now, I need to figure out a few specific alternatives.

My second walk of the day was at sunset. The clouds to the west and a random jet contrail created an interesting sunset tonight. The sky got much redder after I got back to my RV home.

Saturday April 18th 2020

It was another windy day in the desert. The day started cloudy, but ended with a clear sky. The high temperature was a bit of a reprieve as it peaked in the high seventies. Monday may be the first 90 degree day of the year.

I broke up today’s two walk routine with a drive down Interstate 10. I went about twenty five miles toward Tucson to satisfy my curiosity about the Airline industry. The Pinal Air Park is one of the desert locations the airlines use to store jets. If an airline is not planning to use an aircraft for a long period of time it sends it to the desert to keep it away from moisture that can create problems. The Pinal Air Park is a county owned facility about a mile off the interstate. Every time I’ve been by the area a few aircraft are visible. In normal times, most of the jets are waiting to be scraped, but today the large number of aircraft were clearly there for storage. The tall tails with the livery of many airlines were visible all around the air park.

It’s hard to know if the level of traffic on the highway was down because of the “stay at home” order. I found plenty of traffic. As expected there was a lot of truck traffic, but I saw a few RVs to go along with the automobiles on the road. At night I hear the truck traffic on the interstate outside the walls of the RV park. Overall, the short trip on the Interstate broke up my daily routine well.

The number of RVs in the RV park continues to shrink on every walk I take around the park. Today I noticed a couple of departures that I thought for sure would be here for the long haul. I’ve stayed in empty RV parks before and I don’t expect this one to get anywhere near empty. It is just a little disconcerting watching all the people leave.