About the People
I have talked about the things we have done since we started out this diary, but I haven’t really said much about the people we’ve met. 
One of the more interesting aspects of our adventure is meeting all kinds of people. It seems that everyone we meet has a favorite place they think we should visit or some new experience we should try out. That’s OK; we really don’t have a strict schedule or plan, and many of their suggestions sound like fun.
While we were staying in Mesa, we met some very nice folks from Illinois. They parked next to us for a month. They come to Phoenix every year for a month to visit their son. 
They reserve the same spot every year because it happens to be in a walkway area. That allows them to meet many of the people staying in the park. They just loved to sit out on the patio and gab with whoever went by. We met some people from New Mexico who were part of the car racing circuit. They recommended their favorite ribs restaurant down in Ahwatukee (unfortunately we never did make it over there.) We also met a couple who had just moved into their trailer and come from San Antonio to look for employment. They thought Phoenix was just too hot and headed back to Texas after about a week. They didn’t buy our assurance that the fall, winter and spring make up for the summer. Oh well. We met a number of people that all worked for the same construction company. It seems to be fairly popular for seasonal workers to live in their RV. That way they can pull up stakes when the work dries up or the weather gets bad, and go where there is better weather or another project.
During the time we have been in Cottonwood, we learned about a number of day trips from the owners of the park. They are full-time RVers too and had good ideas. In fact, we still have some of their suggestions in our “when we get a chance” list. When we decided to install a Fantastic Fan in our trailer, he even volunteered to help. The man who is the groundskeeper for the park makes walking sticks, something we found out the day after we received the walking stick Gary ordered. (Oh well.) Our neighbor for the first month was a man who worked for a contractor that builds roads. It was kind of fun talking to an inside source about the resurfacing of I-17. Since he grew up in Flagstaff, he knew a lot about the area, and he seemed to be pretty well-informed about anything that was happening inside the park. He was the first one to tell us when the owners sold it, and why. He used to get up a bit later than we did, so after we finished with the Sunday paper, we would leave it on his patio. (Our version of newspaper recycling.) He left a while ago because his boss needed him up in Colorado Springs. He seemed quite excited about it until we reminded him that it gets pretty cold in Colorado in the winter. We also met some folks who had full-timed for 15 years and just bought a house this year. They spoke very highly of the Escapees RV club, so we may look into a membership. There are actually a number of websites devoted to RVing, Full-timing, and travel. We have added them to our Favorites as we find them. (You never know when they might have some extremely useful information......)
About a month ago, we met a couple from Phoenix who comes up for the weekend once a month. They asked about the trailer, the truck, diesel vs gas and other questions. We told them everything we could think of that was helpful. Well, they were back last weekend with a brand new V10 Dodge and a Terry 5th wheel trailer. We told them that we plan to go to Tucson next and we traded addresses and phone numbers so that they could keep in touch. They thought they might visit Tucson and we said we would let them know about what we find down there.
What We’ve Learned
Back in July, I wrote up a list of things everyone should know or think about when buying an RV. After six months, we have learned a few more things:
- Park owners have to walk looking like they are very busy. (Otherwise they would have to talk to everyone and they would never get anything done.)
- The male half of any couple seems to have two chores:
morning walks with small mutts, and
polishing or washing the rig. (You would be amazed at how clean your rig is supposed to be. Always makes me wonder if they feel that their house has to be that clean too.)
- Somebody in every park always knows “what’s really going on”.
- People really do still use those pink flamingoes.
- Park Rangers and Forest Rangers are great sources of information about other interesting places to visit.
If you don’t want it, someone else does. We have put several items in the lounge for others to take if they need it, and those items almost never last long. We had a little hand vacuum cleaner that we didn’t want—it lasted about 6 hours, an extra blanket that lasted a few days, and numerous magazines that we are through with. It really is our way of recycling.
- In a teenie refrigerator, Ziploc bags of all sizes are your friend.
- It is very important to check out everyone else’s rig when they pull in. You have to know the brand, the size and, based on where the windows are, the inside layout.
- It seems to be very important to display flags on your rigs. This includes (of course) an American flag, state flag (to show where you are from) and in some cases, a military flag (to show where you were).
- People feel compelled to tell you their life story. In intimate detail. What we have NOT learned is how to let them know that it really isn’t necessary and when we have reached the TMI (too much information) stage*.
* Too Much Information includes stories about personal habits, sex life, surgeries, marital difficulties, financial status/problems, and probably several other topics that we haven’t heard about yet. But when we do, we will know when it is TMI.
Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte
October 19, 1999
You may remember back in August that we took some pictures of Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte. Well we went back and hiked around them both. The trail signs show the circle as a 3.7 mile hike and we figured it would be fun. The first part of the hike goes along the base of the Butte on a trail that is well-used and easy to follow. After about a half hour, we reached a point where the trail crosses a rock shelf and it became less easy to find. Gary asked if I wanted to head back. I figured that returning along the back of the Butte would be about as long as the hike out, so I said no. Then the trail got a little harder to find. We followed a wash, some footprints, some not so obvious paths, some bike tracks and then our noses for about two and a half more hours. It was a great time, out there boondocking not knowing where the heck we were. The pine scent was great because we were walking mostly through a pine forest, and for a good portion of the boondocking part, we were in the shade. Someone had left piles of rocks in several places, which I 
remembered from my old Girl Scout days means “the trail is here”. (Great! So what?) We actually ended up back on the main trail all the way on the opposite side of Bell Rock (which was our destination) pretty tired. In fact, tired is not quite accurate, and as we discovered, we still had about another half hour to get back to the parking lot. Mostly we were just pleased to be back on the main trail, headed to the truck. You have heard the old saying “Remember the Alamo!” Well, from now on, when we go for what looks like a long walk, whenever Gary asks if I’m ready to go back and I say no, he is going to say “Remember Courthouse Butte!” We actually had a good time and since it was the longest walk we have ever been on, we are pretty proud of ourselves for hanging in there all the way. No injuries, (unless you count 1 blister) and no leftover hurties the next day. Not bad for two old fat folks. If they did a better job of piling up rocks to point out the trail over where we lost it, I think we could recommend this hike to anyone.
Looking Forward to Tucson
October 22, 1999
Well, Cottonwood has been a real nice place to stay. It is close to all the places we wanted to visit this summer and the temperature was easier to take than Phoenix. Depending on the time of year and what our travel plans are, we will probably stay here again. We didn’t get to the Grand Canyon this year, so maybe next year on our way through toward Seattle we will. Other than that, we wouldn't change these last three months at all. Now we are looking forward to a couple months in Tucson. We still aren’t too sure about the RV Resort where we plan to stay. We are afraid that the “retirement community” feel won’t be exactly to our liking, but we 
are 
willing to give it a try. Beyond the end of December is still open. We want to wait until after we do some exploring from Tucson to decide what comes next. We hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween and a Happy Thanksgiving. Look for our next update some time right after Thanksgiving.
