Arizona Grand

We've been living in Arizona for the last 9 months. Who would have thought that we would have spent so long in one state? Of course, there are reasons... well really only one...workamping! A chance to save money on RV site costs, and possibly boost our flagging budget a little. To be honest, we never anticipated how much the cost of living would have risen since we sold up and left Scotland at the end of 2014, and moved to the States to begin traveling full time with our Heartland Sundance fifth wheel, The Jet, and our trusty RAM truck, aka Benny.

By the time we had passed through 13 states, we realized that gas (petrol) and food prices varied a great deal.  In some states gas was cheaper, in others food was extortionate, but one thing was certain - prices seemed to be continually increasing.  Then the Brexit vote affected the exchange rate, and the value of our savings decreased. Who would have foreseen that particular calamity, when we made our early retirement plans, eh?

One positive thing we learned along the way, however, was that those nice people who work in RV resort offices and show you to your sites, get to stay in parks for free. And with Arizona a top destination for winter Snowbirds, and hundreds of RV resorts catering to longer-term visitors, it was most definitely THE state to visit to look for workamping employment.

Arizona was once part of Mexico, then New Mexico and did not became a state within the Union, until 1912. It was primarily rural with an economic system based on cattle, cotton, citrus and copper. Dramatic growth did not come until after 1945, as retirees who appreciated the warm weather and low costs emigrated from the northeast, and snowbirding became a new phenomenon. Cities like Phoenix and Tucson have grown vastly since then.

Yet it is a state that totally defies what we had anticipated. Yes, it has the world famous Grand Canyon, which we visited in 2010, and yes, we had anticipated desert like conditions (we had seen a fair share of that in New Mexico and Utah), but we had never envisaged how diverse the landscape and the weather could be.

We arrived last November, and stayed a month on the edge of the Mojave desert, to the east of the state. Fort Mohave was originally a mere watering hole along the Colorado River for early western settlers who were looking for mining opportunities. Eventually soldiers were stationed there to protect the influx of westerners from the natives who had managed to eke out a living along the river banks for centuries before silver was discovered in the mountains some 20 miles to the north east. The mining town of Oatman drew all manner of prospectors, and eventually became an infamous stop for film stars from California, taking the newly built Route 66 that crossed the USA. I say mountains – but they are really just arid rocky outcroppings that break up the otherwise flat desert landscape.

Like Las Vegas, in nearby Nevada, gambling is the attraction that has made modern day eastern part of Arizona bloom. Nearby Lake Havasu with it's (at the time) notorious purchase of London Bridge from the UK proved to be the role model for attracting inhabitants and workers to an area that really has very little else to offer. Similarly, modern day Fort Mohave is a little oasis dependent on the Colorado river for its seasonal crops, and it's tourist industry is following in the footsteps of it neighboring desert gambling big brothers, Bullhead City and Laughlin.

The winds roll and blast across the desert, bringing dust storms that sent me and Richard scurrying into the Jet and kept us imprisoned there for days at a time. It was beautiful and yet harrowing. It didn't seem to bother those snowbirds who came back to this area year on year, but by December we were glad to move 300 miles south east to Coolidge, which sits at the same elevation - 500 feet above sea-level, some 60 miles south and east of Phoenix, and the same distance west and north of Tucson.

For the four winter months we were located just between those two cities, we encountered Scottish winter-cold nights (low 40 F and around 4C) and Scottish summer-warm temperatures (65-70F, 14 - 18C) during the day. We slept under winter quilts and wore shorts and tee-shirts during the afternoons.

It was indeed a strange induction to the Sonoran Desert winter. We had exchanged one desert for another, but we had moved into a totally different existence. Whilst the Mojave desert was left pretty much unchanged by man until the last two centuries, this area had once been cultivated by the Hohokam people (also known as the Ancestral Sonoran Desert People) a thousand years ago. They turned this flat land into a fertile plain with their innovative use of irrigation of the Gila River (which runs west from New Mexico through Arizona to join the Colorado River). A hand dug network of canals provided the means to grow food and clothing. Innovative use of the caliche soil – mixed with water in pits to form a concrete like material, allowed the creation of walls up to three and four feet thick to take shelter from the scorching heat in the summer, and the wind storms. Damage done by monsoon rains was quickly patched up. They developed successful communities that were able to grow beyond mere subsistence to social hubs, inviting trade, and developing sophisticated cultural and religious traditions. A legacy of that civilization is the “Casa Grande”,

the Big House - a three story building that still stands proud and commands the area around it, and is now a National Monument. And the canals? The originals were rebuilt, and continue to supply modern day farmers with feed for cattle and cotton.

So we had encountered desert twice, but we didn't get an inkling of another attribute of the landscape of Arizona until our March visit to the Arboretum at 2000 feet of elevation an hour's, drive to the north east. https://azstateparks.com/boyce-thompson/

Spring had sprung and we began to see a few of those familiar yellow desert spring flowers we had encountered in New Mexico and Colorado.

Their lifespan seemed much shorter however. From our visit, we learned how the effect of a natural spring or creek can change the arid landscape. In our 2 mile walk round the Arboretum, we encountered Sonoran cacti and roses co-existing within a few hundred yards of each other. Yes, it was amazing what difference a couple of hundred feet drop or climb in elevation can make. With steep gorges offering shade, and gurgling springs along the bottom, the fauna we encountered totally defied our preconceptions of Arizona.

By the time we hit the White Mountains in mid April we left behind temperatures in the 90's (30C). Heading to our summer work camping location in Heber, we were educated enough to appreciate that you can indeed shiver in the snow at 7000 feet of elevation in one part of this diverse state whilst 6000 feet below in “the valley”, the residents bake.

The White Mountains form part of the Mogollon rim, a 3000 foot (1000 metre) high escarpment that extends some 200 miles towards the New Mexico border.

We have spent the summer workamping amid Ponderosa Pine forests that were once also home to the ancient Mogollon peoples.

In the meantime we have endured cold howling winds for most of May – sweeping up valleys and over the exposed Rim (we are situated about 3 miles away), no-one warned us about that! However, a wonderfully pleasant June followed, spent hiking along creeks and lakes, with not a mosquito around, 

and we plan to do more hiking on our days off, once the Monsoon rains abate (as soon as possible, please). Monsoon rains, I hear you ask? Oh yes – daily thunderstorms that flood the lower end of the RV resort, and send temperatures plummeting. Suddenly the flat plateau landscape looks green from a distance. Low lying weeds and some wild grasses abound at the side of the roads, but there is still no escaping the gravelly desert soil that supports very few trees or other flowering plants. To be honest, I am getting tired of the Monsoon. Yes, the thunderstorms can be pretty dramatic, but all that rain is starting to remind me of Scottish summers. I didn't sign up for that at all! And Richard is pretty fed up with all that weeding!

Last week we traveled back to Colorado for a small family reunion, and drove through a section we had not yet visited, between here and Gallup, just over the border into New Mexico. The plateau became more and more arid, and extended as far as the border to the east. I guess the natural change from flat land to rock outcroppings was a logical place to set a state border.

To the north, Navajo Nation reservation remains pretty flat, but chasms do occasionally appear, such as the Canyon de Chelly. You can look 500 ft down onto fantastic red rock formations and great pinnacles like Spider Rock,

as well as spy brick dwellings built by ancient peoples into ledges high up the canyon walls.

In the very north eastern corner, the red monolith rocks of Monument Valley

command the increasingly sandy desert. And then further to the west, the Grand Canyon opens its massive jaws to reveal lower levels of valley carved upon valley of ancient tributaries into the great Colorado River miles below.

We haven't yet explored the southern part of the state, near the Mexican border. I've been told to expect rolling hills! We hope to visit that part of this grand State this fall (automn), after we finish working here.  Then, like true snowbirds, we'll be heading back to Coolidge to meet up with former friends, and enjoy the winter warmth.