On to AZ

Hitting the Road Again

After a month of staying in one place, it almost felt like we were starting all over again when I fired up Estella and got on the road. I decided to leave ABQ a day early, so we could make a stop at Saguaro National Park outside of Tucson, AZ. This benefited us in two ways: we could take a southern route and possibly avoid some unsavory winter weather, and we could check another national park off our list.

We took advantage of our Boondockers Welcome membership again and stayed at a ranch off the highway near Willcox, AZ. The sunrise (pic above) was beautiful, and the hosts were very kind and made time to visit about everything from schools to politics to AZ life. I am the type of person who likes to keep to myself, but I’ve tried to be open to impromptu conversations on this journey, and they have not been disappointing.

The next morning, we drove to Tucson and made a stop at a local bakery, La Estrella Bakery, on our way to Saguaro. The donuts and churros were fresh and delicious but – sadly – it wasn’t a tamale day.

When we arrived at the Saguaro National Park, I was stuck by the sheer number of cacti. I caught another park ranger talk in the morning and met two women who were visiting the area from Lakeville, MN, where I used to teach – such a small world. The ranger was also a retiree from, you guessed it, Minnesota. We strolled around the garden area where he pointed out an abundant amount of information about the Saguaro cacti and other plant and animal life in the park. Did you know that the Saguaro cactus is about 60 years old before it starts to grow its first limb and that they are also self-healing?

After the ranger talk, I strolled around the visitor’s center and took some more pictures, and then we traveled out of the park toward Gilbert, AZ, our next stop. This was probably the warmest day that we’ve had so far on our adventure. The sun and the heat felt good after the colder temps we just left in NM.

Mishaps and Maps

A reminder of the Mishap Scale >>> (🍫 = minor; 🍫🍫 = ordinary; 🍫🍫🍫 = embarrassing; 🍫🍫🍫🍫 = terrible; 🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫 = not enough chocolate in the RV to recover)

We had only one real mishap on this travel day. While the bakery was delicious, the parking situation at the bakery was not. You’d be just fine in a car or truck or mini van, but in a 24′ van, it was a little hair-raising. In hindsight, I should’ve parked further away and walked a little bit to get there, but there was road construction near the bakery, and I misjudged the size of the parking area a bit. I was able to park without issue, but the leaving was another story. It was about a 10-point back-up, turn the wheel, go forward, back-up type situation. No damage to Estella or the bakery, but that chocolate-frosted donut tasted even better after we made it out unscathed. 🍫🍫🍫