Off to the Big City -- Scottsdale

"Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise."

Quartzsite was left behind on Thursday.  We were on our way to the Big City.  Sometimes it’s fun being in a Big City.  There are many more places to go, a better selection of grocery stores or anything else you might need or want is normally available.  Besides it's much cheaper to buy fuel, food and just about everything else.

Toni took this picture of Parker,  from their RV in Quartzsite.  I loved it so decided to borrow it.

Definitely an Arizona landscape.

Along with big cities also come big freeways.  We all  know what’s on the big freeways …. lots of traffic.  Our trip for the day was only about 140 miles.  It was a good trip and uneventful.  With all the problems we’ve had recently, we’ve come to really appreciate the uneventful travel days.  We still weren’t quite sure where we were going to end up.  There were so many options we were considering.  We figured it might be best if we just found a temporary place to stay while we tried to decide where to go.  That’s what we did.  Scottsdale sounded like a good option.  At least in Scottsdale we were saving another 30 or 40 miles from traveling through Mesa and Apache Junction.  We've never been fond of big city traffic.

Once parked and set up we met friends, Jim and Sandie, at the Texas Roadhouse for an early dinner.  It was sure nice seeing them again.  With all the health problems and operations Jim has had recently, he looked great.   Well, Sandie looked good too.  She’s spent so much time in the hospital waiting rooms recently that she’s almost calling them “home”

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We tried to decide what RV park to settle in so the next day we drove around a bit checking some of our options out. We're not fond of small tight RV parks with spaces so close you can look in each other's windows.  We're not fond of the big, big parks with hundreds of people.  I guess that really limits us when we go to town.  We did have reservations at an Encroe park in Apache Junction though our Thousand Trails membership.  However, we did discover there has been a recent change to the specific sites they allow the transients to be in.  We looked at some of the sites that were available to us as members and decided that's just not where we wanted to be.  I guess we're just too used to the wide open spaces in the desert.

One of the places we visited was Usery Mountain Park.   We’ve stayed there before and absolutely love that place. The spaces are big and in some you can't even see your neighbors!  The problem is no weekly rates are offered and you can’t even stay longer than 14 days.  Usery is part of the Maricopa County Park systems.  We love  their parks.  I'm sure if they didn't limit the stay, every one of them would be packed all winter.

We didn’t make any decisions.  We ended up putting out our mats, chairs and awning and then just paying for a week where we’re at.  That gives us more time to be confused I think.  We certainly didn’t make a decision.   We were the first here so have the end site and it feels like we're someplace else and not even close to the big city.   When we open our door and sit outside we can't even see another RV because the other 7 sites are on the other side of us.   For now we're good and instead of making any big decisions about other RV parks,  we took off to meet Terry’s mom and head to Cracker Barrel for dinner.  We both love that place and I especially love their catfish dinner. 

Usery Mountain Campsite

And, another one there.

Sunday was casino day.  Terry’s mom loves going to the Arizona Casino but hasn’t been since Terry’s dad died in September.  That’s where we went.  We’re still not sure what we’re going to do and where we’re going to settle in for the next couple of months …. or, if we’re going to.  Terry’s mom has been so excited to see us and made us promise we’d do things together over the next few months.  Oh ... ohh ... we really didn’t figure we’d hang around here too long but now we know we’d feel pretty guilty if we pulled out and went someplace else.  We’re not sure what we’re going to do.

In the meantime, our little JAG is sitting on it’s trailer.  It’s not being used.  We would like to find a park where we can ride it but that may not happen around here.  Having a JAG may not work for us .... hmm.  Sure, Scottsdale is full of Jags but not the kind we have.


Thanksgiving is coming up.  I have another dilemma there.  Should I try to head north for the holiday or just hang around here?  I'm certain you know how full those airplanes can be at holiday time and I'm not overly fond of sleeping at airports.

 Don’t you just love dilemmas?

‘Tis life on the road.