Every couple of weeks or so, we pack up our worldly goods and head to a new area. Do you ever wonder what that involves? If you’re interested, here’s the basic step by step process.
Prepping for the road
- First thing: isolate cat in front section of bus. We can’t move slides unless we know where he is! He can’t hide anywhere dangerous in the front half of the bus. We bring his litter box up front so he has everything he needs.
- Prep the outside: Pack up any patio items (chairs, grill, etc) and stow in basement. Bring in awnings, if extended.
- Load bikes: Take backflip truck topper off pickup truck bed. Load both bicycles onto carriers on top of truck. Extend Load-All ramp and prep for motorcycle loading. Engage truck parking brake. Drive motorcycle up ramp into wheel chock. Secure with straps. Put motorcycle into “tow” mode. Stow ramp. Load Backflip cover and secure for travel. Release parking brake.
- Prep bus holding tanks: Fill fresh water tank (if dry camping), unhook and stow fresh water hose. Turn on water pump. Empty and flush black water tank, using separate water hose. Empty gray water tank. Rinse and stow sewer hose and fittings. Unhook and stow fresh water pressure regulator.
- Prep interior: Pack/stow any loose items. Shake out and stow throw rugs. Retract and latch “L” sofa section and kitchen drawer extension. Push in dinette table and lock it. Sweep the floor. Lock shower doors. Lock refrigerator & freezer doors. Stow satellite dish. Turn off heating/cooling systems and water heater (gas / electric). Turn captains chairs to front. Take out trash. Check that all drawers and cabinets are firmly closed and latched.
- Bring in slides: Start bus engine to air up airbags, raise leveling jacks, turn engine off. Check for obstructions, then carefully retract rear slides and front slides, keeping eyes on cat. (After the slides are in, he can go hide under the bed if he wants.)
- Final prep for moving: Unplug and stow 50 amp electrical cable and surge protector. Set generator to “auto on” mode. Walk around bus to ensure everything loaded and secure. Lock all basement doors. Verify satellite dish stowed. Plug in toad brake remote indicator at bus dash.
- Hook up toad: Start bus, warm up engine, pull out of site and drive to spot suitable for truck hookup (level, straight). Drive truck to bus, line up. Extend blue-ox tow bar arms and secure to truck. Put truck in 4 wheel down tow mode. (That’s really important!) Pull bus forward to fully extend and lock tow arms. Finish hook up: safety cables, air line, electrical line, dead man switch. Push programmed button (3) to set truck interior brake position for air brake system. Verify truck is in tow mode.
- Final walk around, hop in, and drive!
Driving to destination
- Plot route to destination on RV GPS (also usually on my iPhone as a double check).
- Depending on distance, plan ahead for suitable rest stops and/or truck stop for diesel fill up. Rule of thumb is drive no more than 300 miles in a day, and stop halfway for a break and lunch. We like to arrive at our campground by mid-afternoon.
Arrival at new destination
- Stop at office to check in. Pay fees and receive directions to campsite.
- Unhook toad: Take out of tow mode. Unhook all lines/connections and stow parts in bin. Put cover on tow bar.
- Drive motorhome to new site, maneuver into optimal position, making sure bus wheels are straight. I usually guide Jeff using hand signals, although sometimes the hand signals are creative, and possibly less than complimentary. It depend on how tight and challenging the space is! Park truck at site.
- Isolate cat to front section of bus.
- Check electric pedestal with surge protector. If operational, hook up 50 amp cable. Hook up water pressure regulator, inline water filter and freshwater hose. Turn off water pump, turn on water supply. Hook up sewer hose.
- Extend slides, keeping eyes on cat. He’s getting pretty used to all of this by now, so he’s usually chill. Deploy leveling jacks. Unplug and stow remote toad brake indicator.
- Extend L sofa and kitchen drawer extension. Turn around captains chairs. Turn on water heater and heat / AC. Lay out throw rugs. Unlock fridge and shower doors. Deploy satellite dish. Re-program main TV for local over the air digital channels.
- Choose motorcycle unloading area. Unload backflip cover, set aside. Extend LoadAll ramp. Unstrap motorcycle and carefully back down ramp, drive to site. Retract ramp and stow wheel chock. Install backflip truck bed cover. Drive truck back to site.
- Unload bicycles. Cover motorcycle and cover / secure bicycles.
- Open a bottle of wine!
As you can see, moving day is quite involved! It typically takes us two hours to pack up completely and get on the road. You can’t rush the process or risk missing something important. We are usually on the road by 9 or 10. By the time we reach our destination, check in, hook up and unload — it is a tiring all-day affair.
That is why we are finding ourselves staying longer at each destination. Doing this once or twice a month isn’t bad, doing it every few days would be entirely too much like work!
Sedona is an unusual, magical place. Its red rock buttes and spires emerge unexpectedly from the surrounding desert, casting a rosy glow over the landscape. I can see why the area has been viewed as sacred by peoples for many thousands of years.
The best way to see the area’s beauty is to get out on trails and hike or bike. There are a variety of trails of all levels (easy to difficult), and many of the most interesting and beautiful vantage points can be reached with just a moderate hike. One such point is devil’s bridge, a natural sandstone arch that the brave can cross. I wasn’t that brave. I clutched firm rock from a safe distance away and watched as the courageous waited in line to venture out on what appeared to be a VERY thin bridge hundreds of feet up in the air, in order to get that great Facebook photo. I am told that the bridge was wider than it looked, but I will take their word for it!
The area is also known for the extensive network of mountain biking trails. According to Jeff, it is sweet single track through hard pack clay and slick rock. He liked that most of the trails could be done in loops (rather than out and back) and he never felt truly isolated anywhere (unlike the Big Bend area). He is so busy having fun that he is a couple of months behind in his mountain bike trail reviews!
As we found in New Mexico, ancient peoples left their marks on the landscape here in the form of cliff and hilltop dwellings and petroglyphs. Interesting historical sites in this area include 
Campground Review Summary
Upon arrival, we checked in at the security gate and were shown three site possibilities on a map. Basically, it is a “find your own site” kind of park, so we unhooked our toad and drove around to pick the site that was most suitable for our big rig. One of the three sites was already taken, one site had a soft and rutted surface, and the third had a solid and reasonably level gravel surface, so we quickly nabbed that one before someone else could. The sites were arranged head to toe, which put the utilities between every two sites. The problem was that our travel trailer neighbor actually overlapped the electrical boxes by a few inches, narrowing our site. We put the bus as far over as we could without parking on the grass. Fully extended, our slide missed theirs by inches. That is about as tight as it gets. The patio side was ample, but sloped, so we stepped out onto un-level ground. We fit here, but just barely width-wise. Lengthwise, there was enough space to park the truck behind and the motorcycle in front. It was just a bummer that my only view out the dinette window was another trailer’s slide.
The term “sky island” is something I’ve learned while traveling out here in the desert southwest. It’s not the floating islands seen on the planet Pandora, but it’s still cool nonetheless. A sky island is an isolated mountaintop ecosystem, surrounded by a radically different lowland environment. The valley floor by Tucson is nothing but desert, but travel up into the mountains and you find broad pine forests and a cool, damp environment you’d expect to find in a much more northern latitude. It’s made possible by the mountain elevation that cools the air and snatches moisture from the clouds.
We also visited the Phoenix Renaissance Faire, one of the largest and longest running faires in the country. I’m a big Ren-faire fan, attending the Florida version annually for more than 20 years. I was excited to find a faire near our travels! Unlike the Florida faire, the Arizona faire has a dedicated venue with permanent building structures. It was truly like visiting a (sort-of) medieval village. The 30 acre site was definitely one of the largest Ren-faires I’ve ever been to. It was also hugely popular, with looooong lines at opening. There were 13 stages with almost continuous entertainment, jousting, a petting farm, falconry demonstrations, and a ton of street entertainers. Did I say it was huge? There is simply no way to see everything in one day. My favorite act was “Hey Nunnie Nunnie”, two “nuns” with silly songs and lots of (gentle) religion humor. I loved it and thought they were hysterical. [What do you call a nun who lives upstairs? Nun of the above! What do you call a priest in nun’s clothing? A Transistor!] Another fun act was the Cirque de Sewer which featured cute trained rats and cats. Anyone who can train cats to do anything reliably is pretty cool in my book.
The main reason we visited the Phoenix area was to attend a NASCAR race at the Phoenix ISM Speedway. Jeff bought tickets several months ago, so we arranged our travels around the ticket schedule. It’s not my special thing, but it’s always interesting to be part of the racing experience. The ticket included a pre-race concert by country singer Jana Kramer. I didn’t recognize the name, but I had heard one or two of her songs.
Campground Review Summary
Our long pull through site was the usual full hook up site with 50/30 amp electric, water and sewer. We found the water pressure to be quite high and had to adjust our water pressure regulator way down. The sewer connection was raised about 6 inches off the ground, which made it a bit more work to empty our tanks. But the roads and sites are firmly-packed gravel and nicely wide. The site was also equipped with a picnic table and fire ring, giving us the opportunity to enjoy a campfire for the first time in months. (Cold weather and/or fire bans inhibited our campfire enjoyment for quite some time).
The campground is equipped with a heated pool, laundry facility, bath house, playground, and lounge area. It also boasts a seasonal onsite steak house which is quite the local favorite. We ate there one evening and thought it was decent food at a moderate price. And you can’t beat the convenience! The restaurant is only open for a few months: Dec 1 to about May. A few weekly scheduled events includes potlucks and karaoke night, but the timing didn’t work out for us to be able to participate.
The saguaro cactus is an iconic symbol for the desert southwest. However, I learned that I have mis-pronounced the word my entire life. The proper pronunciation is “su-WAR-o” (no “g” sound). The cactus is long lived, up to 400 years, and can grow to 4 stories in height. Slow growing, it typically doesn’t bud its first arm until age 75 or so. 
Growing up in the Midwest and then living so long in Florida, I knew very little about the desert. After spending time in several desert areas, I have learned that there are very different desert ecosystems with completely different plant and animal life. The museum does a fantastic job explaining and providing examples of the four different desert ecologies in the US. Of course, the animal exhibits are always engaging. It’s the kind of place that you want to take kids, with tons of hands-on activities.
Birds
The cliff dwellings are homes that were built into several large caves, halfway up a cliff face. Archeologists say that the structures were built by Puebloan people between AD 1276 and 1287. They farmed the fertile Gila River valley and hunted area game. During a time of many migrations, they moved on around 1300, however others used and lived in the structures after that time period. The caves are accessed by a steep 1 mile (round trip) loop trail that takes you up and through the largest caves. The cave roofs are stained by years of camp fires and 700 year old corn cobs still litter the floor of storage bins. It’s literally a walk through time. Cost is $5, free with the National Park Pass.
Closer to home, Las Cruces hosts a downtown Farmers Market every Saturday morning. It literally takes over 7 blocks of Main Street and is home to a multitude of vendors including fresh produce, arts/crafts, food items and household goods. One of the vendors makes THE very best kettle corn that Jeff and I ever tasted. I watched as the owner made batch after batch as quickly as possible, never quite catching up to the long line of people patiently waiting for the sweet/salty goodness. I’m serious. Best. Kettlecorn. Ever. And Jeff is a popcorn expert, so that’s saying something! A huge overflowing bag of still-warm goodness cost only $7. We went twice.
We paid a visit to the 
Another interesting vineyard stop was the Dos Viejos Winery near Alamogordo. It appeared deserted at first with a “for sale” sign in front, but we stopped in anyway and it turned out to be open. We were the sole customers in the wine tasting room. The vineyard was established by two partners (Dos Viejos means two old guys) and did a good business until one of the partners injured his foot severely, putting him out of commission. Shortly after, the other partner developed pancreatic cancer and died within 6 months. A historic cold freeze five years ago killed most of their vines and they have tried three times to replant, unsuccessfully. The owner is hoping that a young vintner will purchase the property and revitalize the business. Meanwhile, they are selling out their stock, all of which are well-aged, silky smooth vintages at least 10 years old. We tasted some delightful wines including their brandy-fortified dessert wine that rivals a good vintage ruby port. We departed with a bottle of the dessert wine and their last bottle of 2006 Sangiovese. I hope that this vineyard will see better times in the future.
White Sands was established to protect and preserve the largest gypsum dune field in the world. Giant deposits of gypsum in the surrounding mountains are washed down by rain and snowmelt into low spots that act as evaporation ponds, allowing the gypsum to crystallize. During the dry season, winds break down the crystals into fine powder, blowing and forming the giant field of blindingly-white dunes. Water just under the ground surface actually helps to glue the gypsum down and prevent it from just blowing completely away.
The site is only partially paved; unpaved roads into the dune section are kept open only by constant plowing. Driving through this area is surreal, giving the momentary impression of a giant snowfield. One of the favorite visitor activities is sledding down the dunes, just like down banks of snow! Photos can’t really capture the perspective of the dunes that rise over 30 feet in height. The park also offers a nature trail and a boardwalk with interpretive signage. It’s a completely unique place to visit and well worth a stop.
I have never seen such a concentration of ancient rock art – it was a veritable graffiti wall of petroglyphs! I’ve included just a few examples here. Researchers never know exactly what they mean, but it is always fun to speculate and imagine life as it existed hundreds of years ago.
Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost 