Mar 13, 2023 (Mon)
It occurs to us that the last Trip Log we sent was along the lines of “We’re staying on the Mexican Cartel Freeway, what could happen?” and then we went dark.
Well, we wish we had tales of barely evading criminals and using Harvey to disrupt a smuggler’s paradise, but mostly we just needed a couple of down days.
12:00 pm BLM boondocking (Lost Horse Tank?)
Robert heads out for a walk in the desert and also to see if he can find any leftover caches of drugs (weapons? Tortillas? What does the cartel smuggle?) that we can sell to help finance the trip. Alas, it’s just desert as far as the eye can see.
Rugged desert. Not the shifting sand kind, but the kind that’s packed full of dry stuff with pointy bits everywhere. It’s hard to imagine how people could survive here, but the Tohono O’odham did. We imagine that you’d have to pay close attention to what your parents and grandparents taught you if you expected to live all the way to sunset.
A lizard! Robert saw a lizard, which is fully 50% of the wildlife we’ve seen in the Sonoran desert since we’ve been here (the other wildlife was a crow).
Harvey in the midst of the Sonoran desert
1:00 pm On the road again
We’re heading back to Joan the Show Promoter’s house for another round of laundry, soft beds, and good company. More time driving, with only the occasional break in the monotony.
Teacups! On the road!
Mar 13, 2023 (Tue)
Relaxing around Joan’s house, Robert decides to do laundry.
“You know what would be a great idea—a combined washer & dryer! Not just stacked on top of each other, but one machine. You put the clothes in and they get washed and then—in the same machine—they get dried!” exclaims Robert.
Yup, Robert once again put the clothes in the dryer and expected them to get clean. Gini is thinking of getting some stick-on letters to label machines around the house…
The three mouseketeers
2:00 pm Lake Pleasant, AZ
After spending three weeks wandering through the desert, we decided it would be lovely to spend the day surrounded by water. Turns out the largest man-made lake in Arizona is just down the road—Lake Pleasant!
The 90-minute boat ride around the lake was nice and we saw a heron. Also, they had a bar that sold Mai Tai’s and Robert says they were pretty tasty.
We saw a heron!
Mar 13, 2023 (Wed)
1:00 pm Anthem, AZ
Harvey pulls out from our anchorage at Joan’s and we set sail down the road!
3:00 pm Mesa, AZ
A long, long time ago (over 100 years!) Roberts fore-bearers trekked across a desert from Utah down to here and decided to found a town. They called the town “Mesa,” because they weren’t terribly imaginative (or maybe they were, we can’t see any mesa’s around here though). Also, they didn’t buy up the real estate, so their descendants are broke.
Still, we have bragging rights!
We pull into Mesa Gardens RV Park. This RV Park reservation was kind of a mistake. See, there’s a show with a comedian we really like (Mike Birbiglia) in Mesa, and we thought we’d get a spot nearby so it’d be easy to get to the show.
Unfortunately, not only is Robert subject to confusion about washing machines, he’s also vague on dates. The show is on Mar 16, but Robert thought it was the 15th and was patting himself on the back for such a shrewd purchase, when Gini pointed out the date confusion.
Not only was it too late for a refund, the park didn’t have an opening for the next day…
Fortunately, it’s pretty cheap ($43) because there’s no electricity, just water and sewer (which puzzles us—most cheap sites are only electricity and maybe water, sewer being an add-on).
As Gini says, “It’s like fancy boondocking.”
8:00 pm Mesa, AZ
We get our second rainstorm here, this one comes with lightning (no thunder, though) and torrential rain! There have only been two rainstorms since we got here, and both of them were at night. Seems very polite of the weather not to inconvenience us too much.
It’s fun to watch the splashes and hear the rain beating on Harvey—especially since Harvey is waterproof.
Guess we’ll get to find out tomorrow if they’re serious about all those “Flash Flood” signs that seem to be everywhere…
Map
How we got here
Gini & Robert
Harvey Staff