RV Adventures

Towards the end of our stay in Green Valley, we finally kicked into tourist mode!  We met Julie and Jon from Lansing, Michigan at the RV Resort we were staying at.

Julie, Jon, Corinne

Jon knew the area somewhat, so we decided we would all climb into our respective Jeeps and visit the Coronado National Forest.  The start at our campground in Amado, drive to Arivaca, make a left and BAM, you are at the forest.  We would leave early (6:45 a.m.), take a quick little drive, then stop in Rio Rico for breakfast.

The route we took. We started north and headed south.

It was fun, but it was not quick.  We made it to Rio Rico in time for lunch!!!

The drive to Arivaca was quick and uneventful.

Driving to Arivaca

It was when we got into Coronado that we realized we were going to be doing some 4-wheeling.  It really was a lot of fun.

Jon & Julie’s white Jeep getting muddy.

The forest borders Mexico, and we saw more of the Border Patrol than we saw of critters.

In the distance is one of the many border patrol trucks that blew by us.

But it was amazing, that after visiting this area for more than 20 years, we had never ventured into this area before.

Max speed of 15 mph was pushing it!

Beautiful!

Then again, I don’t think my Dad would have let us take his van on these roads.  Good thing we had our own Jeep. (Doug…you owe me for plugging your company.)

Our trusty (not rusty) Jeep got us there.

Moving on

The time had come for us to take leave of my parents and let them have their peace and quiet back.  It had been a fun visit.  But we were on a quest for new batteries.  Jim located a guy in Yuma, Arizona who could do Lithium Ion Batteries, a pure sine wave inverter and a new controller.  Google it.

Now, you can get to Yuma via the fast way or the slow way.  We had 4 days to get there, so we decided to go the slow way and make a stop in Ajo.  Why Ajo?  Because it was halfway between Green Valley and Yuma.

It turns out Ajo (which means garlic in Spanish) was a copper mining town.  Now its main business is the Snowbird trade…meaning they cater to all the people than come south for the winter.  The campground we chose was closing April 30 because it gets too dang hot to stick around. Even the owners head north for the summer. As a result of it being late in the season, we had the whole campground to ourselves!

All by ourselves….

Do we look lonely? Nope!  And do you know the best thing about an empty campground?  You have the WiFi all to yourself!!  After suffering for 2 1/2 weeks with substandard WiFi (except at my parent’s house…I told them I was visiting them just to use their WiFi) and cell service, we suddenly had screaming fast connections!!  You all know that made me VERY happy.

We had to visit the abandoned mine.  It’s all part of Jim’s goal to see every mine in the country.

Abandoned Copper Mine.

I really appreciated the “Watch for Snakes” sign.  Yikes!

The mine shutdown in 1984.  This truly was a company town.  The closing must have been devastating.  Kind of reminds me of a company I used to work for!

We had a day to kill, so we decided to visit Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument just south of Ajo.  If we thought the ride through Coronado was long and rough, we had another thing coming!  This road was so remote, I can’t even generate the route on Google maps!  Google thinks the roads don’t exist!  I did find this map.  We did the loop in the lower left (North Puerto Blanco Drive to South Peurto Blanco Drive along the border) and the Ajo Mountain Drive Loop.

Image courtesy of http://www.thearmchairexplorer.com.

There are so many pictures, I put them into a slide show.  If you receive this blog via email, you will have to log in to see the pictures full size.  Sorry!

[Show slideshow]

What we learned from this park…you can go through 3 areas in a small amount of time and see three different plant environments.  We also discovered there were not nearly as many Border Patrol agents in this region as in Coronado.  For whatever reason, people don’t seem to cross at this location.

It is near impossible to appreciate the conditions we were driving thorugh.  So I took a little video and have it here for your viewing pleasure (https://youtu.be/rsd5DlAuZmg).  Yes, it really was that rough and bumpy.

The Quest

If you recall, back in March when we left Spencerport, it was with 4 of our 6 batteries burst and unusable.  Since that time, Jim has been on a quest for the latest and greatest in battery systems.  We have found it, in Yuma, Arizona!  We arrived today and are currently camping in the parking lot of the battery installer.  The place is only open from November through April, and we got the last appointment of the season.  Tomorrow we hand the Blue Flame over to Starlight Solar, go do some shopping and laundry, and when we come back, we will have a new battery system.

The Blue Flame getting ready for battery surgery.

Do you think we look lonely?  Not at all.  We have these keeping us company.

A loud noisy jet.

Apparently we are under the flight path of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.  I just hope they all land before it’s bed time!  Still, I think Jim and I may have to take a drive tomorrow and see how close we can get to the runway.

After we get the batteries, we are heading to campground on a lake the battery installer was telling us about.  Yes, Arizona has lakes!  We’ll try out dry camping with our new batteries for the weekend and show back up at the battery installer’s Monday morning with loads of questions!

We should be home in 2 or 3 weeks.  We have to be in order to move Janelle home from school.  And then we get to turn right around and get Janelle and a car out to Lewiston, Idaho for her summer internship.  She’ll be snorkeling in the local rivers counting salmon and trout.  The best part (other than the practical experience)?  She’ll only be a 6 hour drive from Callie in Portland.  I see some sister time coming up!