We took off on Sunday morning, 24 March, and headed toward Lake Havasu City. We had reserved 5 nights at the Elks Lodge full hookup campground. Very nice! We had an end site, and we were able to enjoy some fabulous sunsets looking over the town and lake. The place was pretty full each night with snowbirds on their migration, so advanced reservations were needed. This was definitely the biggest and most active lodge we have stayed at. Cheap drinks, decent food, and no smoking made it a hit. We came so I could attend a Staycation with the Lake Havasu Quilt Guild I joined back in June.
A quilt Staycation is like a quilt retreat except you get to go home each night! Breakfast goodies, lovely lunch, nice snacks, and prizes were to be had. I took my set of 100 4” finished triangle in a square blocks. I had to arrange them, and the big tables made it so much easier than the motorhome. I got them arranged nicely, sewn together, and then I got the quilt sandwiched nicely. I even started quilting it, but my thread got caught and broke the needle. Even though I tried all kinds of tricks to get the machine working again, I must have tweaked something wrong internally. Sigh. I really wanted to finish the quilt before I got home plus do some other miscellaneous sewing too. I have already made an appointment with a service shop.
Leaving Lake Havasu we gradually headed toward our eclipse reservation in Uvalde, TX. Or at least we tried! We made it a whole 60 miles before we had to pull off the road for wind. That had us spending Saturday night, 30 March, in Bouse, AZ at the Desert Pueblo RV Park. It was a bare bones snowbird park, but very clean and quiet. A single activity room and no pool, but it was only $500 a month plus electricity for winter. We took off on Sunday morning for Casa Grande and another Elks Lodge. This camping area was dry camping, but that didn’t bother us in the least. We stayed two nights since we wanted to revisit the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. Prepare for a photo extravaganza!
This is two shots of the wildflower garden.
The organ pipe cacti here inspired us to visit Organ Pipe National Monument a few years ago.
I love this view of a saguaro forest on a hill. I really want to come back some time in June to see them blooming.
It was an overcast day that threatened rain, so some of the flowers were curled up.
Look at this century plants (agave) putting out huge flower stalks. After blooming later in the season the plant will die.
There were numerous areas of lupines in all colors. I have a weakness for the dark oin of these.
Saguaro are not just popular with humans, but the birds depend on them. The lower bird was headed into a nesting cavity. The top bird had nesting materials in its beak.
We never did find the plant tag for this tall fellow. To compare, Kevin is 5’10”.
Barrel cacti are my favorite type. They come in a variety of shapes and spine types, but these orange flowering ones were showing off through the garden.
I am showing two pictures of these small barrel cacti to give you an idea of scale. The cacti “buds” were 2-3” high, and the flowers tiny but brilliant.
And I just think the white spikes on this succulent is interesting. The Palo Verde Tree behind it was lovely too. Palo Verde trees do their photosynthesis in their green trunks instead of their leaves.
This barrel cactus was in a container right at the entrance. It was a good opportunity to get a better view of the flowers.
These Chihuly glass sculptures were also at the entrance, sparkling even under the overcast skies.
Kevin and I both agreed we need to plan a trip to the area later in the year, heat and all, to catch more blooms.
After Casa Grande, we spent a night in Deming at the Elks Lodge. They don’t officially have a camping spot, but they said we were welcome to park overnight. Dry camping on the edge of bunch of WWII barracks foundations and across the street from an old Army Aerodrome from the same time. The lodge looks abandoned, but then, a lot of Deming looks the same way. We spent Wednesday night in the Van Horn RV Park which meant lots of laundry. They have a decent little cafe there with standard diner food but delicious home made cobblers. Ft. Stockton RV Park was the last stop before we landed in Uvalde, TX where we are staying at Qual Spring RV Park. Very nice place! Live oaks give lots of shade, and the sites aren’t bad sized. We aren’t fond of Texas, but this is definitely one of the nicer places we have stayed in the state. We won’t leave until Wednesday morning, 10 April. Clouds are expected to put a huge damper on our eclipse viewing, but that is the luck of the draw. We talked about trying to chase the totality zone to a place without clouds, but decided it wasn’t worth it.