Amazing Mesa, Arizona

We loved our time in Mesa, Arizona. We were pleasantly surprised to find that a short distance (approximately 20 minute drive) from the “city” you will find yourself surrounded with lush greenery, the river, wild horses and beautiful cactuses. This was definitely a plus for us as we wanted quick access to the city to do work, but then camp where it was pretty.

We had read in other blogs that you could park right next to the river and camp for a nominal fee.  This was a true statement a while back, but since then things have changed. We had wanted to camp in Coon Bluff and found that now you can only camp overnight in the parking lot on the weekends and only during certain months (Oct. 15 – April 15). Lucky for us a holiday weekend was coming up and they extended the stay through Monday and it just happened to be the right time of year. In order to stay overnight there, you only need a Tonto National Park Pass that you can get at many of the local stores, like Walmart, Wallgreens, and grocery stores. They are only $8/day and you can pre-buy as they work like lotto scratchers, you scratch off the day/month/time and its good for 24 hours from that time. We were told from one of the park rangers that if you had a tow vehicle there is no need to buy an extra pass for it as long as you keep your RV and tow vehicle within close proximity of each other.

It was a few days until the weekend and we needed a place to camp and dump/fill our tanks. We decided to stay at Usery Mountain Regional Park. It is $20/night for dry camping, but you also have access to bathrooms and can use their dump and can fill your fresh water. It was a nice campground but we preferred to stay close to the water, so this was fine until the weekend. The cactus in this area appeared to be planted perfectly creating the most amazing desert landscape.  As always in Arizona, we did see some amazing sunsets from our camper.

Hiking at Coon Bluff – Mountain Hike

On Friday we packed up and left for Coon Bluff for the weekend. We had our pick of where to park, so we choose a secluded corner and set up. We wish we could have stayed here all along. We enjoyed fishing along the shore of the river and the hiking in this area was gorgeous. The short drive from the city to this spot you could see wild horses with their baby foals. We also celebrated our first Valentine’s Day together here. We used the BBQ’s that the camp had and made a delicious flame grilled steak dinner. We highly recommend the area to anyone driving through. This park does not have showers but there are toilets and BBQ pits to use along the river.

Teri at Riverbound Sports

We were having so much fun fishing along the waters edge that we thought it would be even more fun if we could also fish while on the river in a kayak. We found a store in Tempe, AZ that assisted us with finding what we wanted, RiverboundSports. There were so many options for us to choose from, but Teri, the store owner, guided us in the right direction. She went above and beyond with helping us select the kayak which best suited our needs. Before we had even committed to buying one, she got out the kayak we were most interested in and set it up right there in her store. Showing us how quick and easy it was to assemble, assuring us the kayak was in working order and ready to use right away with no issues. Teri is awesome! Go figure, Teri and her husband are Orange County natives who took something that they were passionate about and turned it into a career. They are definitely the premier SUP and water sport outfitter in the Southwest. We hope to share a beach with them in the future as they are fellow RV enthusiasts who prefer boon-docking. Our kind of peeps! 🙂

RiverboundSports

We had bought the blow up kayak and we were so excited to take it out. We got everything prepared for a day on the water and we were on our way. Windows on Gidget (our Jeep) were down, our hair was blowing in the wind and everything was right in the world. Until, we smelled gear oil and saw that there was smoke billowing from behind us. We quickly pulled over and found that the repair job we had done hadn’t fixed the rear end. Gear oil covered the underside of Gidget and it was a smelly, smoky mess. We were only a short distance from our camp spot at Coon Bluff so we drove back with our sails depleted. We would have to save our maiden voyage on our new kayak for another day…

Gidget Being Towed

We called a few local shops and found a rear end differential shop that could properly fix Gidget. We had her towed to the shop and we packed up our stuff and took off to our next destination in Scotty (our RV) which wasn’t too far away, Phoenix. A friend had recommended we stay at Lake Pleasant in Phoenix. Which was about a 45 minute drive to town where we would have to work during the week. With this new location we could also use our new kayak and go fishing.

So, at this point I completely understand and have experienced my Jeep (Just Empty Every Pocket). It’s a love/hate relationship for sure, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Pretty soon she’ll be brand new with all of the new parts she’s gobbled up. Jimmy says she’s like Cookie Monster. Nom, Nom, Nom.

Gidget is Broken

On our way to Lake Pleasant we picked up a car rental, so that we could drive to work during the week. On the plus side the rental car got extremely good gas milage compared to Gidget, which was helpful for our daily commute from the lake to the city. You gotta look at the bright side of things, right?!?!

Our stay at Lake Pleasant in Phoenix was amazing.  It included the best camping spot we’ve had yet, fishing, spa, and great new friends. Stay tuned for our next post!!!