Tonopah, Gila Bend - Jan. 28 - Feb. 12, 2006
Tonopah: When last you heard from these intrepid travelers we were desperately seeking a long shower and a laundromat after our stay in Quartzsite. We found both at the Saddle Mountain RV Resort in Tonopah, Arizona, about 40 miles west of the Phoenix urban area. Never heard of Tonopah? Neither had we. We decided to attend a rally in Gila Bend, Arizona for RVers accessing the Internet via satellite. Tonopah was on the way, so there we were.
After some serious freshening, we checked out our new hometown. Tonopah is a 20th Century ghost town, working on becoming Phoenix's western most suburb. The town was established to provide housing, services and schools for the folks constructing the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in the nation. When the plant was completed in 1988 Tonopah's population moved on.
Saddle Mountain RV Resort, located 8 miles from the plant, provided housing for the workers. Behind the park is a rather large, modern and abandoned school. There are driveways leading to foundations and clotheslines - but no houses. Next to the park are rows of olive trees in large planter boxes - also deserted. Another exciting aspect was the emergency siren that went off periodically. Weird! And pretty darn scary until we were assured they were routine safety drills for the nuclear plant.
Since Phoenix was experiencing severe air quality issues, we only went into the city once to take care of business. That was enough for our lungs and eyes.
We took a day-trip to Wickenburg, an old mining community turned up-scale horse community, in the hills northwest of Phoenix. It was pretty cool to see equestrians riding through town or waiting for the traffic light to change. After a stroll around town and a yummy lunch we went to the Desert Caballeros Western Museum a must for any cowboy or American West enthusiast. The museum boasts a very respectable exhibit of western art, but we were most impressed by all the cowboy paraphernalia. Who knew there were so many types of lariats, lassos, and ropes?
The museum also had a very impressive special exhibit of Navajo weaving. The weavings were of wearable quality, soft and vibrant. Our friend Sue Horn is a weaver and we wanted to transport her directly to this gallery.
We also did a little geocaching while we were in Tonopah. One of our geocaching adventures was on Bill's birthday (Yay! one year closer to retirement). He chose caches that were a bit off of the beaten path. We loaded the bikes on the truck and drove about 10 miles toward Saddle Mountain. From there we rode our bikes several miles on rutted desert roads, then abandoned them to climb some mountains with our trusty GPS in hand. The caches were a bit challenging, but a lot of fun. While returning from our last cache find, Bill discovered the wonders of the "Jumping Cholla". A segment of a cholla cactus stuck to the inside edge of his right shoe. On his next step he drove the cactus segment deep into his left ankle... OUCH!!! (or words to that effect). Shortly after that he discovered that cholla spines go in much easier than they come out. Each of the 15 spines came out with more choice words on his part. This was an effective way to learn a healthy respect for desert flora and fauna!
Gila Bend: On February 8th we moved on to Gila Bend to attend the Internet satellite rally. Trust us, Gila Bend is not a destination spot. However, if you are in the area, we highly recommend Augie's Quail Trail RV Park. It is new, the people are very friendly, the Club House is nice, the laundry facilities are good and the sites are large - and while we were there the place was bristling with satellite dishes.
The rally was fun and we (read Susan, Bill already knew most of it) learned a lot about the workings of the satellite system. We met a lot of folks that shared our interests and enjoyed the social events in the evening.
