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Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Enough of the big city - back on the road!

We enjoyed our time with Jeff and Star (thanks again guys!), and our first experience with Boondockers Welcome , however we had had enough of the big city. So fortunately, the cold, wet, rainy, windy, and snowy weather system to the north of us has now passed by, and we were happy to be able to head out yesterday morning.

Still, it took us hours to get out of the built up area. We had a few stops to make along the way...

We needed to do a grocery shop, and so the first stop was a Food City store where they have far better fruit and veggie prices than Walmart. Food City has a big Hispanic following, and you almost feel like you're in Mexico when you shop there. Mexican music playing in the background, and people speaking Spanish. We like going there. In fact, we even spoke to the lady packing the grocery bags. She was from Mexico City and she liked that we spoke to her in Spanish!

Deal of the day...red delicious apples for 33 cents a pound!

Next up, we were headed to a Shell station along our route that supposedly had good propane prices, and an RV dump station. I often use http://www.sanidumps.com/ to find a free dump station. We got there, and the RV dump station had closed. This does occasionally happen, where a listing hasn't been updated. (Yes, I updated the listing!)

That's okay, because we're nowhere near full and there are a couple of free dump station in Prescott where we're heading today.

The trip to that Shell station wasn't a total waste of time though because their propane was a good price at $2.59 per gallon, tax included. There is a wide variance in propane prices and it pays to shop around. For example, the nearby U-Haul places that sell propane are at $3.17 per gallon. That's more than 50 cents a gallon higher, and when you've got a 20 gallon tank, that's more than $10 saved.

Next stop was a QT gas station where they have free air and water. The rear tires were a couple of pounds lower than they should be, so I topped them up. There was one guy in front of me, and he took about 20 minutes to put air in his tires. I even asked if he needed help, but he just sluffed me off. Must be the same guy who takes a half hour at the dump station.

And then, (finally!) on the outskirts of the city area we stopped at a Walmart to complete our grocery shopping.

It was already 3:45pm by the time we got out of the big city.

And three lanes became two.

Nice rainbow off in the distance.

We pulled off the Interstate highway at Black Canyon City to look for a place to overnight. We saw a sign for the Black Canyon Trail trailhead, and figured it was worth checking out. Sure enough, it looked like a great overnight spot. No signs saying that we couldn't, so that's where we set up. And it's far enough away from the Interstate that we don't get much highway noise.

GPS coordinates 34.05256 -112.15151

And besides being a great overnight spot, we're right at the trail. So we decided to go out and get some exercise before the sun went down.

Sherman, through the cactus.

It's a really nice trail. Very scenic!

Looking down on part of Black Canyon City.

Back before sunset.

We love free camping!

I was saying last night that if RV parks were free, we'd still rather be here. One of my favorite things about RV'ing is to open our window blind in the morning and see where we are!

Once again, the Jackery external iPhone recharging battery packs are on sale at Amazon.com. These battery packs have great reviews and even at $29.95 it's a great deal. But this is a timed special today, and they're going to be even cheaper for a couple of hours this morning...


Yesterday's drive, 65 miles (104 kms).


23 comments:

  1. If you found your dump station at the Water Treatment Plant outside of Prescott on sanidumps.com, I wrote some of the instructions there. Cuz it's the only free dump in a 50-mile radius!

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  2. I always enjoy your hiking photos and this one of Ruth is lovely! Smiles and scenery...a great combo. :) BLOG: 20 Years From Now

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    1. Thank you Dianne! I wish we could have gone further on this trail because the scenery was only going to get better.

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  3. Thanks for the link to the free dump sites. We didn't even know this website existed. Enjoy the Black Canyon.

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    1. Glad that we could help. As Kevin mentioned though, they aren't all up to date, like the one we went to at the Shell gas station. Kevin has updated it on their website now though.

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  4. Have you had the opportunity to shop at Winco? Great produce there, too.

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    1. No we haven't yet Nan but our Boondockers Welcome hosts, Jeff and Star have told us about it. We will have to try and check one out to see what they are like.

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  5. I find it interesting that somebody with nothing to do and no place to go is always in a hurry to get there and complain about others taking too much time to take care of their needs.
    Age might change those views.
    Mickey

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    1. You know, we post so many positive helpful things here, and yet the only time you choose to comment here is to say something negative.

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    2. I disagree with this comment, my father has tons of time on his hands and yet no patience for anyone, and he's in his mid 80's so not sure when this "age" idea may take hold, it hasn't worked with him. I get annoyed with people that have such simple things to do (such as filling tires) would purposely take their time knowing others are waiting. It's just plain rude and Kevin has every right to question him on whether he needed help. Perhaps he did? There's taking care of your needs and then there's just plain annoying people on purpose. Seems to me that this guy at the air pump was just being rude.

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    3. Thank you Karen!

      The guy filling his tires looked like he was having a problem and Kevin wasn't sure if it was the hose or him so he went to see if he could help him. We are in a gas station with a 28' motorhome taking up lots of space and we were hoping that we weren't in anyone's way while we were waiting. I think that Kevin was trying to be very considerate

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  6. You two always find the best spots. Hope its not too cold in Prescott. Safe travels!

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    1. Thanks Jane, we do seem to find some nice ones.

      Yep, it is pretty cold here in Prescott at least at nigh it is.

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  7. Sure is nice to get out of the big city we try avoid them. We do miss the morning views out the window of our rv, hopefully soon for us.

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    1. It is nice to see the big cities every once in a while but with the weather as wet as it was this wasn't even possible. We do prefer the peace and quiet out here in the country better though.

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  8. If you go to the town of Cottonwood there is a free dump and Freewater in the center of town
    Do not take your RV to Jerome if you do you'll find out what white knuckles and pucker power is all about that's the reason why Jerome has more saloons and bars per block of any place in the state of Arizona
    And you can ask any local cop where is a good place to get Free Water a free (or low cost )dump an a good place to hide
    If your intention Is to go to Flagstaff ,,The RV parks inFlagstaff pressured the town as to not letting people Boonedock or sleep in your vehicle inside the city limits (although it can be done but carefully and there is a truck stop on the northeast side of town on 89 after that it's free range all the way

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    1. Also if you're thinking you're going to tourist town Sedona check with Grace I'm sure she and Steve know a lot of good Boondocking spots in or near there
      And stay OFF any part of 98A

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    2. Thanks for all that info Mister Ed. We have been warned of Jerome so we will make sure to park on the outskirts and either walk or bike in.

      We will probably stop in Sedona if we have time, we would like to do a nice hike there. We were there once before but that was back in 2005. I think that we will stop in Flagstaff for some groceries and then just head right out of town before finding somewhere to boondock, it just sounds easier.

      Do you mean 89A? If so why? That is the route we are planning on taking. We have traveled it before so we know it is twisty windy with hairpin turns but we are used to that type of driving as we have done lots of that in Mexico.

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  9. Happened to us as we entered Kelowna. We waited as this guy and his wife filled with water and air. I wasn't in a hurry and walked up to ask if we were on the right road to get to the Holiday Rv Park. He literally walked away from me without saying a word. What a jerk. I got over it though. Anyway, I love Arizona and New Mexico.

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    1. We weren't in a hurry either but we were worried that we would be in other people's way while we were waiting. Plus it seemed like this guy was having problems with the hose so Kevin asked if there was a problem with the hose, because if it wasn't working properly then there was no point in us waiting around. It ended up that it was a combination of the guy not know how to use the hose right and the hose not working the best, although Kevin was able to fill our 4 back tires without too much difficulty and we were out of there quick enough.

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  10. Great overnight spot. Thanks for the GPS coordinates. I just don't get people that take their sweet time when someone's waiting behind them. Glad to see you back out in the sticks.

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    1. You're welcome Grace!

      I don't think the guy was taking his sweet time on purpose, I think he was just not aware how to work it properly.

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