The big Mesa flea market

Our hosts Jeff and Star were taking us to the big Mesa flea market, but Star has a bad foot and decided it would be too much walking for her. But Jeff said he still wanted to go, so off we went!

Mesa sure takes up a big area. In fact, the whole Phoenix metro area just doesn't seem to stop. There are somewhere around 4.5 million people!

Great first experience with Boondockers Welcome

Yesterday, we drove down from Payson to Mesa to escape a cold front weather system that was forecast to eliminate the sunshine from Payson for the better part of five days. We could have dealt with the colder temperatures...but our electricity supply comes from our batteries, and when there is no sun, our solar panels can't charge our batteries!

And there was definitely no sun when we woke up yesterday morning!

Heading south!

Yep, with this cold front coming through with wind and rain, we're turning around! Heading down to Mesa for the next four or five days to wait for the weather to improve. It's only about a two hour drive, so it's not putting us out of our way too much.

We did enjoy our day yesterday here in Payson though...and it ended with a bang!

Heading north!

Which it turns out is not such a good idea.

Our plan was to spend some time at  higher altitudes and get out of the desert for a while. You know, fresh air, pine trees...that sort of thing.

So yesterday, we drove from 2,100 ft to our current location at Payson, Arizona at around the 5,000 ft mark.

Last day at Burnt Corral Campground

Almost caught up on the blog posts. We'll do another one later this afternoon, and then we'll be current again!

This post was written Thursday Feb 26th 7:30am.

Almost caught in a storm!

We're getting caught up on our three days away from internet, so if you missed this morning's post you can read it here...

http://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2015/02/back-to-civilization.html

The following was written Wednesday, Feb 25th 7:30am.

Back to civilization!

Just back online after three days in a remote campground. So we have to get you all caught up! We'll start here, and post again later today with another update...

Written Tuesday, Feb 24th 7:30am

Yesterday morning, we said goodbye to our great free campsite overlooking Roosevelt Lake. We had seen and done everything we wanted to in the area, so no point in hanging around just for the sake of it.

After all, Sherman has wheels and we have more exploring to do!

Spring is in the air!

I know that those of you in the north eastern part of the continent don't believe it, but here in the Arizona desert, they are saying that we're in for an early spring!

And on our guided hike yesterday at Tonto National Monument, the wildflowers were blooming.

Glad we have the bikes again

One of the reasons we don't tow the little blue car when we're traveling with the motorhome is that we like to use our bicycles. And if we had a car with us, I know that we wouldn't use the bicycles as often as we do.

Yesterday (and today) was a good example of that!

What's around the next corner?

A bit of an overcast day yesterday, but still nice...high of around 75F (24C).

We decided to go for a walk, and left around 11:00am. We weren't planning on being gone long...just heading up the road that leads towards the mountain in behind where we're parked. Still, Ruth brought the small backpack with water and snacks because we have been known to get sidetracked sometimes!

Why do they make it so confusing?!

Yesterday morning, we got up and started driving right away. We were in a cellular dead spot where we had parked in Mammoth, so we had no internet. It was the first time our Verizon mi-fi had let us down.

Plus, by putting on a few miles right away we could use Sherman's engine heat to warm us up instead of using up  propane.

An encounter with the police...

We wanted to get a fairly early start yesterday morning, but we had invited John and Jane for breakfast. Ruth makes the best gluten free pancakes! Too bad we didn't have any maple syrup left. But we did have honey, strawberry jam from Mexico, and a tart cherry jam that we had just bought the other day.

They came over at the prearranged time of 8:30am, and we one last get together.

The World's Largest Airplane Boneyard

We went for a bicycle ride yesterday with Janie and John from Flamingo on a Stick. Tucson has a really good system of cycling trails, so we looked at the map and decided on a route that would take us around Davis-Montham Airforce Base, and the largest boneyard of airplanes in the world.

They have a pickup truck, so we loaded up the bicycles, and off we went!

The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

This is not really a "museum". It's kind of a cross between a museum, a zoo, a botanical garden, and an aquarium. Plus, 85% of it takes place outdoors.

The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum came highly recommended by a few of our readers, and it's one of the top attractions in the Tucson area. So, we decided to check it out.

Busy day with new friends!

We had made plans to get together with Grace and Steve, a couple who we've been in contact with quite a bit over the years. You may have noticed Grace commenting here occasionally as "Grace (in Tucson)" as she's been a regular reader here for as long as I can remember, and she's also on our personal facebook friends list.

Like we really are friends, who simply hadn't met in person yet!