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Hello, and welcome to the March Newsletter. Spring has sprung. Woot.
Thanks, everyone for subscribing to and reading my monthly newsletters. If you're new or missed any editions, you can always catch up by visiting the Archive Page.
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What's New With Us - Trip Reports
We spent March traveling a U-turn path out of Arizona into New Mexico and back, crossing the continental divide twice. Elevations ranged from 4000 up to 8000 feet. With the high altitudes came some big winds and cold nights as mother nature shook off winter and a spring weather pattern emerged.
Big Blue II continued to amaze me as he almost effortlessly yarded our Cougar fifth wheel up and down the steep mountain grades and into strong headwinds.
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We started the month with a week stay at the Cochise County Fairgrounds down near the Mexican border in Douglas, Arizona. It was an inexpensive base to explore the area from. Water and electric hookups for $15 a day or $80 weekly rate. We were the only ones there!
Highlights included a day trip to the historic artsy little town of Bisbee and an afternoon visit to a national forest park called Cave Creek Canyon over on the eastern side of the Chiricahua mountains.
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Cave Creek Canyon really excited us. The mountain valley landscape is beautiful and chock full of wildlife, especially birds. Camping in the park was a no go with our large fifth wheel, so we booked into nearby Rusty's RV Ranch and snagged a dry camping site for $70 for a week.
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Unfortunately, mother nature didn't cooperate and decided it was time to switch on a giant fan and roll some storms through. After the 5th day, the blowing dust was getting to be a bit much, and we cut the stay short. It's definitely on the return list, though.
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With another even more massive wind storm forecast to swoop in, we headed over into the New Mexico's Rio Grande Valley for a return stay at Lake Caballo State Park. I figured it would be a sheltered location down low in the river valley and less blowing dust near the big reservoir. We spent six days at 8 dollars a night for dry camping spot with gorgeous views.
It turned out it was a good call, we had no dust issues. The winds hit pretty hard peaking at 50 MPH (80 KM) but less than many other parts of the state endured. Not far to the northeast, Colorado had what the weather channel referred to as a "Bomb Cyclone"!
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After the weather settled down it was time to travel back over into Arizona and meet up with some fellow RV boondocker friends. However, I needed a place to split the travel into two days. Pie Town fit the bill.
Not only do they have some free camping next to the tiny town they have several cafes that specialize in homemade pies! I gained some big brownie points with my pie-loving wife, Anne. :)
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After filling our bellies with pie, we trekked out into the boonies of eastern Arizona near St John's. Kim and Jesse of Love the RV Life have a plot of land and invited us to come out and boondock. It was also a chance to reunite with good friends Eddie, Aileen, and Laura of Mobile Homesteading. Good times and lots of laughs.
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A few days ago will bid our boondocking buddies so long after another fun meetup, and pointed our way down Interstate 40 towards Flagstaff, AZ. We were headed to lower elevations seeking warmer temps along the Colorado River. But, it's a long drive so a stopover was required.
We spent a night at the Twin Arrows Casino. It has a large free parking lot area marked out for RVs. An excellent overnight option if you are traveling along Interstate 40 anywhere near Flagstaff. I asked at the hotel front desk, and no registration was required.
Some spots are a bit unlevel as is generally norm with casino lots. They have a $9.99 lunch buffet and $14.99 dinner buffet. We tried the dinner, and I rate it as just OK.
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As March comes to a close, we are on our way back west. Soon it will be time to point the big Ram truck north and head back to Vancouver Island.
As a treat, we have booked a week in the RV Park of the Riverside Resort Casino in Laughlin, Nevada. It's perched on the banks of the Colorado River. We are finally enjoying some warm temps in the mid-'80s.
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They have a promo deal - a week of full hookups, free cable TV, hotel pool access and two buffet meal tickets for $109 plus tax. The huge multi-tiered RV Park is jammed with snowbirds. The RV sites are cramped but still not a bad deal and will allow us to check out an area we've never been to before.
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One more month to go in this season's RV snowbird adventure. Stay tuned.
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