It's About the (RV) Journey....: Exploring a new backyard.......

As we left the west valley of Phoenix, I snapped a few pics of the general surroundings...the cotton fields, the housing developments, and the malls. Is it me, or do they all look similar? Makes it very difficult to navigate without GPS because everything looks similar...ahhahahha. Seriously! It is, however, very pretty.

lots of cotton fields

more cotton fields

one of a million residential communities-they all look similar!

shopping mall....hard to read the low signs and see what stores are available...and they all look like this

mountains in the distance...they surround Phoenix

another residential community (with the biggest cactus I ever saw)

We traveled about 2 hours down I-10 to Tucson. There were mountains arising in the distance, but other than that, we were driving through a desert environment with not much to see from the RV. The land looks desolate! We didn't even spot any cows, as we have all across the country. There were many signs along the highway warning of blowing dust, understandably.

traveling down I-10 towards Tucson-note the arid landscape

What?

Ohhh....those are tractors out there whipping up dust

After a while, we thought we were seeing things when we spotted some green grass in the distance. Once we were upon it though, we realized.....ah ha.....a golf course! About the only green in the area is golf courses!! The other cool thing we saw along the highway were the saguaros.

one of many gold courses

roadside cacti

desert environment

we're here....pretty landscape

It wasn't long before we were at our new location. The campground we are staying in is a 55+ community of RVers and small park model homes. This is an experimental thing for us....in this year of learning.....to try different camping "habitats".When we pulled in, it looked so lush! The park is very well maintained, and we were very impressed with the activities available. Tons of activities! Pottery/ceramics, hiking clubs, biking clubs, library, sewing and craft room, exercise rooms. Oh and theater and/or singing groups. Just so many different things to do, whether you are here for a week or a year. Whether you choose to participate is up to you....you can do whatever you want. Anyway, there are many people who winter here (hence the park models), and many just traveling through, like us. There are also some who live here year round! (Must have great air conditioning)! So far, we are happy to say that everyone is so friendly...whether a short timer or seasonal.

entering the campground

view from our RV window (through the screen)

One of our neighbors came over when we were setting up our RV, and warned us that 12 bikes had been stolen in broad daylight the day before. He recommended locking them up. He thought it was kids stealing bikes so they can pawn them for drug money. Not sure how accurate that is, but we took his advice and locked our bikes to the picnic table. This is a first for us since we've been on the road.

what's the combo??

ready to ride around?

Our first full day at this campground, we took a spin on the bikes to explore a bit more of the community. Well, in fact, I had already explored early in the morning while Tom was sleeping....talking with the ceramics/pottery instructor, locating the pool, checking out the other amenities here....all before going to yoga! Since we had nothing planned for the day except getting our tire fixed on the car (I know! we've had a bad week with the wheels!), I also went to the "pool exercises" mid-morning. It was great! So many activities, and I pretty much like all of them. Tom is happy running through the campground-there are miles of roadway here.

As I said, the people here are super friendly, and shared a lot of sight-seeing tips for the Tucson area . Plus, I have my own list. We will be exploring the area in the days ahead. Its beautiful here. Though the skies have been cloudy with a bit of rain since we arrived, the norm here is bright sunshine in clear blue skies. I'm happy with the clouds!!!