After battling the CA roads which shook the heck out of us, our camper, and poor Riggs, we were thrilled to come up on AZ via I-10 East, which is a wide, smooth, gorgeous and well- maintained freeway. Yahhhsss!! We had to fix our bedroom door and some of the molding as we walked through the camper assessing damage.

Our campsite is beautiful and we are literally at the base of the Superstition Mountains. It took us almost an hour to back into our campsite, over a 90 degree turn on one-way camp roads. First time I backed in the trailer with Clark directing. Win! While we were late to seeing our friends the Dadas and Villas for dinner in Gilbert, we couldn’t have asked for a better evening with our amazing friends.

Today, Monday is a clean and prep day paired with relaxing. Clark heads in to Tempe to work Tuesday, and either Thursday or Friday. While we thought we had full hook ups, our site doesn’t so we are back to dry camping this week. There is potable water as well as bathrooms and showers just a walk away, so we’re all good.

Tonight we had our first call and response from a coyote band, Riggs wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that and gave out a good growl.

We are expecting rain Tuesday! The desert always smells so good after a rain- it’s the creosote leaves. I’m thinking we will focus on school prep and trip prep- pulling out the atlas and doing some research for how we want to move across NM and TX. Ben also wants to gather up soils from each state, at the the suggestion of Dr Morgan, Ben’s St. Francis science teacher.

Because we don’t have hook ups, we learned that our computers won’t change. We also don’t have great cell reception. So, we did a pivot and spent time researching our NM and TX route and then went for a hike in the rain. We actually ended up crossing over the state park to Tonto National Forest.l via Jacob’s Crosscut, #58 in the Superstition Wilderness.

Wednesday weather is looking good. There’s a trail I’m eyeing named Siphon Draw Trail. According to the AZ State parks website it is “4 miles round trip, a very scenic hike, this trail winds up into Siphon Draw Canyon. It is possible to hike up the Flatiron (5.8 miles roundtrip), although it is not a designated, maintained trail all the way. It’s advised that only experienced hikers in good shape attempt to hike to the top, as the climb is steep and difficult to follow. Allow at least five hours for the Flatiron hike, up and back.”

We don’t get much sun until 9am as it begins to rise over the Superstitions. It’s amazing to watch the sun go up over the valley and finally splash over our campground. We’ve learned a lot over the let week about how we want to travel moving forward. Less dry camping. Using more renewable energy. Lower volts and slower power trickle. Must have good signal and or WiFi for school/work from the site so we aren’t driving around looking for libraries everywhere. We ordered solar panels which we have shipped to the KOA in Alamogordo.

Wednesday we hit up the Apache Junction Library. At 11am it was slammed, but we managed to wiggle our way into a few spots.

Wednesday afternoon Clark received a text from our pal, Rob Villa, offering us some free tix to see the Suns play the Pacers. We had dinner prior with Cory and Crush, who we have known for years. So wonderful to see them so in love and happy. Crush has traveled extensively by motorcycle throughout NM and TX and gave us some ideas on places to consider along our route. We love getting suggestions!!

Thursday was back to the library and then into Tempe to give Izzy a tour of Clark’s work HQ. We headed over to Fate Brewing and had dinner with a couple of Clark’s colleagues, Dan and Roberta. Riggs was able to join us outside while we ate dinner and listened to the band. Weather was an awesome 71 degrees.