Three More Stops In AZ!

Leaving Quartzsite behind, we headed to our next stop, Picacho Peak State Park, about a three hour drive. Yes, this was another park we love, having visited it in 2018. We had a blast at the nearby Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Farm and in early 2022 we visited a working cotton farm.

It was a scenic drive especially once the towering Saguaro Cacti started to wave at us from the roadside as we passed by. But our peaceful euphoric bliss suddenly ended when a few hours into our trip on I-10, traffic ground to a halt. Oh no! Turned out that it was due to an accident between semi truck and a small car. Hopefully no one was hurt. Luckily the backup only delayed us by a half hour.

Due to the drought in the Southwest, a notice was posted on the park’s website: “The dump station and showers are closed to anyone not camping at the park. The park is currently experiencing a water shortage.” Also, there are no water hookups at the sites. Knowing this in advance, we were sure to fill our water tanks prior to our departure from Quartzsite

Arriving at Picacho Peak, we settled into pull thru site B10 for our three night stay, which had lovely views of the surrounding peaks.

For anyone who enjoys spectacular sunsets, this is the place to be. Saguaros surrounded us, you get an ethereal feeling seeing their almost human like uplifted arms against the orange and pink hues, as the sun sinks below the mountains.

Except for taking a ride around to see if anything had changed (nothing major had), we spent most of our time relaxing, enjoying the sunsets and warming up. Although I was feeling better, I was still unable to walk much without huffing and puffing, but we did manage to walk the easy 1/2 mile nature trail which is marked with interpretive signs explaining the history of the area. Splashes of colorful flowers were dotting the hillsides. Not in full bloom yet but still pretty!

It would be only a 93 mile drive to Benson, AZ and Kartchner Caverns State Park. We had an enjoyable stay here in 2017 when we had taken tours of the caverns.

Arriving around 1:00 p.m. (check in time wasn’t until 2 p.m.), we quickly learned that they are now quite strict about checking in early, so we were instructed to park in the RV section of the Visitor Center parking lot until 2 p.m. At 2:00 p.m. we moved to our pull thru site #42 which was long enough for both the coach and the toad. Quiet, uneventful, but very pleasant three night stay here.

Next was a really short drive, as in 15 minutes, to Butterfield RV Resort for a 3 night stay. Corned Beef Hash ($10.59) for breakfast at the Horseshoe Cafe & Bakery was the highlight of our stay here and a ride around the area.

Then another short drive, about 50 minutes, to Mountain View RV Park, home of Dwayne’s Jerky in Bowie, AZ – we had stayed here in 2018. Arriving around noon, we checked in at the office where it was pretty busy. After being told to pick out any pull thru site we wanted in a particular row of the park, we chose site #19.

After settling in, we headed out for a ride around to see what, if anything, had changed. Rows and rows of pistachio and pecan trees were still stretched as far as the eye could see. We drove through the town where there were a lot of deserted and shut down properties, then we took a ride out to Fort Bowie Historic Site which we visited last time. Unfortunately I wasn’t up to any long walks.