March 12: White Spar FS campground, Prescott

Wow! No posts since Feb. 27th. Guess we're too busy having a good time!

Really, though, the internet is, more often than not, unusably slow, and this Windows Vista computer is often even slower. Next computer will be a Mac for sure!

Anyway, I'm here by myself at White Spar campground outside Prescott, Arizona. Leah has driven to town for a Goodwilling/rug auction day, so I'm going to update the blog and go for a walk with Jazzy.

Desert Diamond Casino. Randy's rig directly behind us

Let's see...last time we posted we had just arrived at Desert Diamond Casino (left), about 20 miles south of Tucson. Very interesting social stuff went on there: As we were looking for a parking space at the Casino, we passed a familiar (to me) looking truck/trailer combination. It was Randy of the Mobile Kodger blog! I really enjoy his approach to writing and traveling...and here we were, parked right next to him. Actually, there must have been 50 or 60 motorhomes and trailers in the lot--it was vast--and as we later discovered, many of these RVers belong to a loosely affiliated group called the WINs (Wandering Individuals Network). They travel mostly together, though sometimes not, and get together on holidays for a few days or weeks, then part ways for a while. Randy told me later that the WINs plan a 6-month circuit, which some follow for the whole time, while others come and go as they choose. Anyway, we've now met and chatted with two WIN women RVers and one man: Randy. And how did we initiate contact with these folks, you ask? Well, guess who did it? No, it wasn't Leah; it was Jazzy. Lucky me! I travel with not one, but two, social magnets!
 

More RVs at Desert Diamond Casino

Over the 3 or 4 days we spent there, we spoke several times with Randy and two female WINs. All three of them were a pleasure to talk to. I'm struck by what an interesting life-style these full-timers have: they're quite frugal, as they never pay to camp, know all the free dump sites, and have solar panels for their electricity. Like most full-timers, J. (the WIN we spoke to the most) has a small digital flat-panel TV, and pulls in digital TV over her antenna. For internet, she uses a Verizon air card, similar to our Virgin Mobile Mifi device, except that hers works better! Many of these folks have been full-timing for years, including J., who, as we learned, has been full-timing for 8 or 9 years in her Trail-lite travel trailer, pulled by her 10-year old GMC suv. Her rig--full-timers call them rigs--is shiny and new looking, so much so that I complimented her and asked how often she washed it. "Almost never," she said. "All I do is wipe it down with a cloth...there's no rain here!"

J. says she never pays to camp in a campground; there's no need to, especially in Arizona, where there's plenty of BLM land and Forest Service dispersed camping available, as well as Indian-owned casinos, like Desert Diamond, that allow RVers to stay pretty well as long as they like. However, the official maximum stay is 7 days, though it appears this is not enforced. She said that, like many full-timers, she'll stay in one Casino for a week or two, then move to another for a few weeks, then travel a ways to some free BLM land or maybe dispersed camping Forest Service land. (Since we met J. and Randy, we've stayed in some dispersed camping Forest Service land, and a couple of the guys there said that some people have been in the same site for over a year! Even though the official maximum stay in the FS land is 14 days, it seems that the campground hosts allow people to stay longer, as long as they observe all the rules, and the site is not too full). J. is now staying here at the Desert Diamond, but will soon drive 40 miles south to the Nogales Super Walmart lot, where she can unhitch her trailer. That will put her within driving distance of a border parking lot, where she can walk to Mexico for dental work, then walk back. Apparently, the dental work costs a fraction of what it would cost in the US--and is performed by very competent dentists.

We both really like these (American) Indian-owned casinos; the parking lots are large, there are garbage cans that are emptied each day, and security is provided 24 hours a day. So the casino must make money off at least a few of the RVers. I sure hope so, since I feel a bit awkward driving onto their property in an RV called a "Chieftain!"

While we were camped at the Desert Diamond, several people told us we should visit both Tubac, an arts community with quite a few art galleries, and Patagonia State Park, just north of the border town of Nogales, AZ.

As usual, Leah and I are interested in different things: she in art galleries, restaurants, and thrift stores, I in history and in visiting old and deserted places. Well, Tubac had both...and so Leah scoured the town, while I explored the ruins of Tubac Presidio, a kind of fort/community created by the Spanish in the 18th century as an island of Spain in the New World. You can read about it here: http://www.pr.state.az.us/parks/TUPR/index.html

Here's the school as it stood a hundred years after Tubac's founding, when it was in U.S. territory:

...tried to add photos...no luck. Will try again later.Want to post while the internet gods allow.