Nothing much to write about the last few days, we’ve spent most of the time either looking for fifth wheels or looking at neighborhoods around the Phoenix area. We have found some fifth wheels that we liked but we are not quite ready to buy yet; at least we now have some ideas about what we want in one, and also some more information about owning and towing one since they are different than the trailer. We also found some decent areas in and around Phoenix that may be a possibility for a base for us. The houses here are very reasonably priced and the neighbourhoods seem well maintained. It would take a lot more research before I would want to commit to settling here, and do I really want to live in the middle of a desert with all the dust and the temperatures? We are going to keep looking as we make our way back around the US but we can’t rule Phoenix out completely.
While we have been here we also got to spend some time with some new friends which has been great, hopefully we’ll get to meet up along the road someplace and thank god for Facebook.

Mike: It's just another big city and hotter than hell in the summer! Let's move on!

On the road today for a few hours heading further south to Apache Junction, Arizona. The drive wasn’t long but was mostly along the freeway. While we were driving I looked up the park we were heading to. We already knew that it was a senior park which meant that one of us had to be over 60, but when I was reading about the park I learned that the other half of the couple had to be 45+ and well I’m not there yet. So when we got just down the road from the front gate mike pulled into a gas station and made me get in the trailer while he drove into the park. As it turned out there was no one manning the front entrance when we checked in so we were safe; I’m going to have to keep a low profile for the next few days in case they ask us to leave.
Since there was nobody in the office Mike checked the notice board for check in info and found a short list of spaces that we could park in. We drove around and checked them out and finally found one that will work for the few days that we are here. This is a little bit different than the parks we usually stay at, ok a lot different. I think this is the first one of this kind that I’ve stayed at, there are more permanent mobile homes than anything else with some RV’s scattered in between them. It seems that all the old people from the north of the US and Canada come here for the cold 6 months of the year then close up the mobile homes and head back home for the summer. It’ll be ok for now but it’s not really anyplace I’d want to spend any length of time.

Mike: This a senior mobile home park and were just "trailer trash"!

The drive we were going to take yesterday we did today instead. We started out driving through Cottonwood and
through to Clarkdale. Cottonwood is quite a busy little town with lots of shopping, Clarkdale not so much, but it did have a park. We continued on through Clarkdale and made our way up the hill to Jerome, which is always a cool place to visit. We pretty much just passed through it today though as there were so many people visiting it was impossible to park anywhere. From Jerome we took a beautiful scenic drive to Sedona. The views in this area are fantastic with all the red clay; my pictures are not so fantastic. We stopped in Sedona and had lunch before heading back to Cottonwood and the laundromat. I spent a couple of hours doing laundry while Mike went shopping for man things.

Mike: Man buy man toys and woman go to river to wash clothes! Ugh!

We had originally decided that we would take a drive around the area today but I didn’t want to go anywhere so we stayed home and did chores. We actually got a bunch of stuff done that we have been putting off cos neither one of us really wanted to do it, the main one being cleaning the dead bugs off the front of the trailer. It was super dirty and it was really hard to chip all the dead bodies off but we did it and it looks so much better. We also cleared out all the storage areas and cleaned some other bits and pieces. It was not the most fun way to spend the day but we got a lot done so it was a very productive one.

Mike: Fun day on the ole' homestead. We had a mass funeral.

It’s Thanksgiving again. We got up this morning and took a walk around the preserve; Mike even came for a walk with me. It’s still cold here, the wind is a little hard on the ears, but it’s so much warmer than in New Mexico. We stopped by the store to get a laundry card but they wanted us to pay two whole dollars just for the card; we didn’t get one so we have to head into town sometime on the next few days to find a laundry.
We spent most of this Thanksgiving cooking, both food to eat for dinner and beans for the next few weeks; it was such a nice day that Mike decided to cook outside. This evening we had a nice meal with tofurky, stuffing and all the trimmings, and there’s lots of left overs for tomorrow.

Mike: Was that a Tofurky or a Turducken? What's a Tofurky?

This morning was even colder than yesterday morning. When we left the park at around 8 o’clock the temperature in Serena was 19 degrees. Fortunately none of the hoses froze but there were plenty of little icicles hanging from the bottom of the trailer; it’s definitely a good time to be heading out of New Mexico and into the warmer weather of Arizona.
We headed south from Gallup and made our way to Cottonwood in Arizona. The drive wasn’t too bad and not too long, but the ‘scenery’ wasn’t very exciting and, as with travelling through Texas and New Mexico, it was almost like we weren’t moving because the landscape didn’t change, just lots and lots of desert.



Our surroundings changed quite dramatically right around the time we got to the turn off for Flagstaff, then there were trees in every direction as far as the eye could see. At this point we headed south proper on I17 and dropped around 3000 ft in elevation.





We got to the park just after noon and got checked in. The ranger on the gate wasn’t the most helpful of folk, he didn’t know the answer to any questions that Mike asked – just the kind of person to have checking people in! There was quite a long drive from the front gate to the actually RV spaces and the road was quite steep, but we managed to find a decent space with lots of room around it without too much trouble. The park itself is in a valley with mountains all around so it’s quite sheltered from the weather; I guess that’s why there are so many people who are staying here for the entire winter.

Mike: If you don't like your job, do something else.

Brrr, it was cold this morning, Serena had ice all over, thankfully we didn't have to get on the road too early as we only had a 2 1/2 hour drive to Gallup. It was a very quiet drive as Mike didn't want to talk very much as he was up most of the night cos he was poorly bad. He looked pretty rough this morning and getting hitched up was a much longer process than usual as he was on go slow. We finally got out of Tijeras just before nine and headed west along the I40, across the Continental Divide and into Gallup; we are now on the right side of the States where everything runs towards the Pacific!



We stopped only a couple of times and got to the campsite just after noon. It's an ok place for a stop over, clean and roomy spaces although it's going to be an extra cold one tonight, around 19 degrees. Mike did what he had to outside before showering and getting into bed. He's still there now, I should probably wake him as it's almost time to go to bed.

Mike: I got me a "tummy bug"!!