The Drive to Camp Verde, Arizona: Grass, Trees and Flowing Rivers

With mid-day temperatures reaching into the 90's at Apache Junction, the time had come to look for more moderate weather. Our stay at Apache Junction, combining time at Carefree Manor and Budget RV, totaled nearly two weeks and our 'feet were itchy' again.

The next destination, Camp Verde, Arizona, was about 130 miles north of Apache Junction.  It took an hour to drive through metropolitan Phoenix, traveling east along highway 60 and then north on I-17 between the Prescott and Tonto National Forests. 

See the grass and weeds...

Along the way we drove out of the cactus filled, dusty, flat desert and climed to 3,000+ feet elevation where, in place of the beautiful succulents, we saw clumps of grass and weeds along the roadside. Later we saw medium sized trees. 

The air got cooler as we drove higher on this highway into Flagstaff, where we will not go as the night temperatures are regularly well below freezing. 

Here's some more of what we saw:



Grassy roadsides.






The trees are getting bigger...

More green.  Some grasses and weeds too.

The trees are taller here.

We begin to see cedar trees reaching some 20-30 feet.

We called ahead to be sure the Western Horizon at Camp Verde Campground would honor our CampClub USA membership. Our site will not have sewer and has a 3-day limit. There is a real river (more like a stream) that runs along the edge of the campground.  At $15 a night, that works for us.  We arrived in early afternoon and settled in comfortably. The daytime temperature is in the mid-70's.  Ah ha and oh joy!



Our site.  It has grass but no "doggie sidewalk".
  Lexie has not seen grass since December.
She does not like walking on it. Prefers dust.




See the "real" trees on our campsite.
The trees are budding.



ASU at Tempe, Phoenix and Scottsdale



Along the interstate these symbols are put
into the decorative highway concrete.



Another very warm day is expected and we opted for a few hours via car so we packed ourselves up for the short ride from Apache Junction into the metropolitan area of Phoenix.  We are both very favorably impressed with this area.

It is clean and beautiful -- even along the interstate highways.

The most common image we've seen in this area is the Kokopelli. It is a whimsical figure in Hopi Indian legends and represents a mischief making musician trickster or Minstrel, the spirit of music. This symbol is seen on everything from clothing to concrete. The photo below was taken of the side of a convenience store!

Kokopelli

 



The monorail system is quiet and fast.



Southern entrance to SunDevil Stadium
Rocky cliffs are on each end of the field.

Apache Junction is only about 30 miles from Tempe and we easily found our way to Arizona State University's SunDevel Stadium.



From Tempe we drove into Phoenix and visited the grounds of the state capitol building.

Lexie doesn't remember much about walking on grass
... so she chose the little "doggie sidewalk" again



At the front of Arizona's capitol building.
And about all that pigeon poop...



He's her favorite... when he has "tweets"

Because we've never been there, we took a ride on over to Scottsdale and enjoyed a quick visit to Old Town where we apparently just missed a San Francisco Giants spring training game. We did manage to get ourselves in gametime traffic -- naturally. This place is much like the tropical cities of Palm Beach and Boca Raton in Florida that we love.


Going into Scottsdale.  The signs say this is Red Mountain. 
They are RED too -- and solid rock.



This one looked like it was making a face at me.

Doesn't every city have a Ferrari / Maserati  dealer?

In historic Old Town Scottsdale.  This place is beautiful.

How Do We Find These Places

Our week of discount rates at Carefree Manor ended and our site was reserved for the following week so we began looking around for another campground. The next place simply MUST have a doggie sidewalk as the tiny sharp gravel hurt Lexie's feet and the black asphalt sealant is certainly no good. 

We found a really good rate in the remarkably clean Budget RV Campground about 3 miles east along Highway 60. It's even closer and has a still better view of the beautiful Superstition Mountain.   Notwithstanding the terribly unmarketable name of "Budget" it is a surprisingly pleasant place and is filled with some 120 or so nice motorhomes, fifth-wheels and trailers. No tents or seasonal park models.  Most importantly, there is a concrete doggie sidewalk where Lexie can trot along unconcerned about dust or sharp stones


The sign states "small pets only" which we like.
Three big dogs nearly "got" us in the Yuma park. 
I now carry pepper spray.



Entry into the campground. 
Nice and clean with gravel sites.
Looking the other direction, you can see Superstition Mountain.
You can see the narrow "doggie sidewalk" in the picture.



Thats our motorhome, third on the left, just past the Legacy fifth-wheel.

The one eye-sore for the campground.
There's more junk here than could fit in a moving van.
These folks are leaving thanks to an invitation from management.
Wonder what took them so long...

Superstition Mountains, Lost Dutchman, Tonto National Forest, Weavers Needle, Canyon Lake and Tortilla Flats

On recommendation to see Roosevelt Lake and Dam and all points between, we took a day trip up the Apache Trail on Sunday. The sun was bright, the temp was in the low 80's and the sky was clear and blue.  Here is some of what we saw:

The Apache Trail goes through Tonto National Forest



This is the same view of the mountain we have from our campsite.   Just closer.
Photo taken from the entry to the Lost Dutchman Park and Campground




No, we didn't hike up to Weavers Needle but the stop was nice.  



At Canyon Lake

Canyon Lake was created by the building of Roosevelt Dam





Just above the caption I've put on the photo is the small village of Tortilla Flats

In Tortilla Flats

Also at Tortilla Flats

There's a nice National Park campground at Tortilla Flats.
The road was waaaay to curvy and hilly for us to attempt this destination with Mona,
but there were some pretty large motorhomes in the park.

One of the campsites

The rocks behind me in this photo were pretty special. 
They had light green moss growing on them.
It doesn't show well in the picture though.

Just another beautiful scene along the way.

 

At Canyon Lake

Our first pee-pee walk was at the Weavers Needle stop.

Apache Junction

After 45 days in Yuma, we had "itchy feet" and felt the need to move along. Having so much of Arizona yet to visit, we drove northward on Highway 95 and stayed overnight in Brenda, Arizona. The next morning we headed east on I-10 through Phoenix which we found to be beautiful, clean and so very scenic. The metropolitan area is huge as it took quite some time to drive through west to east to our destination: Apache Junction.




This town isn't "old" like I expected it to be.
I watch too many western movies, I suppose.



Carefree Manor Campground honors our 50% CampClubUSA discount. The streets are paved but recent resealing causes Lexie's feet, legs and underbelly to get black, but the rate is good and it's as clean as a pin.

We're on the left near the end of Happy Hour Street here in Carefree Manor. 

It's an "old folks" place.  The "adult" notation doesn't mean it's X-rated.
 You've gotta  be at least 55 years old to stay here. 
The pool is heated so we like it.

The first day we took a day drive east on Highway 60 to see Queen Valley, an oasis in the desert valley.  The terrain is very different from Yuma and there is less dust and more desert growth. 

That's the Superstition Mountain Range in the background.
The plant life here is beautiful.

Typical yards here contain cactus.
Looks strange to a southerner.  No grass anywhere.

We drove through Gold Canyon. 

Haven't seen this sign much.  But it's pretty standard 'round here.