~Sunday, January 23, 2022~
Day 588 (Travel Day)
We’re sorry to be leaving Apache Junction and this wonderful campground of Lost Dutchman. It has certainly left a lasting impression with us and I am already looking forward to our next visit. Before getting on the road, we took a walk around our loop to jot down a few favorite sites for our next stay. This place is so popular, it helps to have a list of backups. In the end, I think we have about 8 contenders for our next booking.
Today, our drive was short, about 2 hours as we headed southeast to Southern Arizona. Our campground called us yesterday to confirm our arrival and let us know they moved us to a better site. We shall see. They usually don’t tell you your site # until you arrive, as they must shuffle a lot of people around. The park is very nice and the staff very friendly, but their methods are a bit archaic…….no online booking, no email confirmations. Their record keeping is only a black book and a dry erase board. And they only take cash/check. Obviously it works for them.
Everything was going great until we arrived at our destination. This would be our 4th time staying at our location, this time being the longest (1 month). As soon as we pulled up to site #3 (our new site), we both just looked at eachother with perplexity, wondering just how we were going to fit in such a narrow site. It was plenty long, but being pie shaped with the largest width in the front, and a tree in our way toward the back where the site narrows, we had only the option to either put the slides out OR the awnings. Not both. It didn’t take long for us to realize, this site just wasn’t going to work. A few days maybe, but not a whole month. To give you an idea just how narrow the site was, as soon as you stepped out the front door, we could touch the Class C RV next to us.
The site we were originally supposed to get is now occupied by a large Class A and in the end would have been better than what they reassigned. We tried the office at 2:30, but they were gone for the day, leaving me to call the owners at home. The owner, Christine, asked if we could stay put for the night and that she would try to figure something else out for us in the morning. She was very nice about the whole thing. Despite these glitches, the park really is desirable for its desert location (backs right up to stunning scenery) and its pricing. We purposely booked a month at this one location to get the savings (nearly $400).
While setting up for our 1 night, you could sense the energy of football playoffs, hearing people screaming and cheering on their favorite teams. Thank goodness we had good reception or I’d of had one grouchy husband. Both match ups were super intense and oh so close. Though I have a lot of respect for Tom Brady, I was happy to see someone else move on to the NFC Championships and possibly the Super Bowl. Brady’s team, the Buccaneers, lost 27 to 30 to the Rams. So now it will be 2 California teams competing for the NFC Championship next weekend (the 49er’s against the Rams). But I think the most exciting game of the playoffs thus far was the Buffalo vs. Kansas City game today. There was so much back and forth until the very end. With 13 seconds left in the game, Buffalo had just scored a touchdown making everyone think they clinched it. But their defense just couldn’t hold back the Chiefs. The Chiefs did the unthinkable and scored one more touchdown in those thirteen seconds with a final score 36 to 42. It really was shocking! To me, either team deserved the win with both fighting until the very end. Can’t wait for next Sunday!