I stayed pretty busy yesterday so today I kind of stayed home and took it easy. Going to the Saguaro National Park, and grocery shopping taught me that things get kind of busy around here on the weekends so it might be best to lay low and do my tourist thing on the weekdays.

It's starting to get pretty warm around here, every day is in the 80s and seven or eight days from now it's suppose to get into the 90s so that's a good time to be heading east and getting a little higher in altitude so it's not quite that hot in the daytime. Night times are still great getting down into the 50s so the sleeping weather is just about perfect.

This has been a really weird winter for Southern Arizona, it was a lot colder and wetter than I've ever seen it, but if I look at the big picture and say that I've got to be somewhere in the winter and my house has wheels, where do I want to be? Then I would have to compare southern Arizona to other parts of the country and decide which is better. I think using that criteria I could say that Southern Arizona wasn't all that great but it still had way better weather than most other parts of the country.

As I've said in the past you can't underestimate the effect humidity has on your comfort level. A lot of the time the temperatures might be in the high 50s low 60s but because of the low humidity it wasn't all that bad and usually just required a long sleeve shirt to be comfortable. The biggest problem was with all the rain we had the humidity would be relatively high sometimes and along with the chilly temperatures I would have to break out my coat, which is actually just a fleece jacket that used to be a liner for a real coat.

So I guess you could say that a lot of my whining and complaining about the weather this winter was based on the fact that it wasn't a normal Southern Arizona winter but I still realized I was way better off than a lot of folks in other parts of the country. And despite the abnormal amounts of clouds, and rain, my batteries never once ran out of electricity while boondocking, and I don't think I ever even had to go into conservation mode and cut back on my electrical usage this winter.

So with April starting tomorrow, and the sun already high enough in the sky that my batteries are getting fully charged every day way before lunch, I guess you could say the worst is behind me now and I need to change from staying warm mode to staying cool mode.

I make that change every year and every year it's a bittersweet time knowing that another winter is behind me and another Summer lies ahead.  I look forward to the Summer and all the fun and changes it brings, but I mourn the passing of yet another winter and all the happiness and yes even the challenges that winter brings. But nonetheless every year I promise myself that I will always do my best to find joy and contentment in each and every day no matter what the weather brings.

                       theboondork

I started commenting about Linda's comment on yesterday's post and before I knew it my comment was longer than my normal blog. About then my laziness and lack of ambition kicked in and I decided to use my comment as a blog post, it's a two birds with one stone kind of thing.

I have to agree the Pima County Fairgrounds would never be described as a beautiful place to stay, in less your concept of beauty includes a gravel parking lot. But there are things about it that for me more than make up for its lack of natural beauty.

The weekly rate is very fair especially for full hookups, and if your a member of Escapees they give you a pretty good discount on the daily rate.

The Saguaro National Park Eastern version is only about 10 miles away where there's all kinds of scenic stuff going on, hiking trails, picnic areas, bicycle trails, and displays.

About 4 miles away there's a Walmart, and my full-time life seems to revolve around Walmarts. And even better there's a Popeyes, which happens to be my favorite fast food joint, right in the Walmart parking lot.

About 6 or 8 miles down interstate 10 there's the Pima Air and Space Museum that's full of airplanes that I enjoy seeing and usually visit when I'm in town.

And then amazingly enough, right next door to the fairgrounds, there's a shooting range, a motocross track for racing dirt bikes, a go kart track, a dragstrip, and a NASCAR oval racetrack. And all of these venues are less than a mile from where I'm camped.

With all of that going on a person would have to make a serious effort to be bored here at the Pima County Fairgrounds.

The venue that would interest me the most would be the various dirt tracks that you can ride your motorcycle on for a small fee when they're not having races, and there was a time when I would've been over there every day. But that day is so far gone it's just a Misty memory, and the power of the dirt bikes they ride nowadays, and with the kind of skills these kids have I would be nothing more than traction if I was out there, but I would like to go watch.

So yeah you're right the Pima County Fairgrounds camping area is nothing more than a glorified dirt parking lot. I can't imagine what you experienced after a heavy rain. And the thought of spending a week here packed awning to awning during an event like the SKPs Escapade might be enough to make me sell the Arctic Fox and buy a boat. But since I boondock a lot and stay in some very beautiful places, I'm okay with a dirt parking lot every once in a while, as long as the people are friendly, and Walmarts only 4 miles away I can deal with it for a week.

PS. The folks at the office told me that the FMCA rally will be held here late March next year and they bring more RV's to town than the Escapade. So I guess the crowds will be back again.

                           theboondork

I got on the road about 9:30 this morning and had an uneventful drive of about 50 miles into Tucson. I had planned on boondocking at one of the Indian casinos in Tucson either the Desert Diamond or the Casino Del Sol. But as luck would have it it's some kind of an Indian holiday and the Casino Del Sol was closed so I didn't bother going to the Desert Diamond figuring they would be closed also.

I then decided I would try the Pima County Fairgrounds just east of Tucson, and if that didn't work I would just keep on going until I got to Benson and stay at the Escapees Park there. The Pima County Fairgrounds had plenty of room and the lady and her husband behind the counter were so nice and helpful I signed up for a week of full hookups for 150 bucks. I got to the fairgrounds at just about the right time because the campground closes April 8. So even though my timing for staying at an Indian Casino was very poor, staying at the fairgrounds worked out really well.

It's been a long time since I've had full hookups. At Picacho Peak State Park I only had an electric hookup since that's all they have available. So this is going to be great having full hookups for a whole week. For the ole boondork that amounts to luxury living.

                        theboondork