Chapter 16: Phoenix back to San Diego
January 27 - February 8, 1998
1/27 Taliesin West was a disappointment. Although we're Frank Lloyd Wright fans, we found these building to be of uninteresting design, tacky, almost sloppy construction, and generally not worth the trouble to visit. The place was built piecemeal, with little money and with amateur labor from apprentice architectural students.
Gammage Auditorium, one of Wright's last designs, was another story. This 3000 seat concert hall, on the Arizona State campus, is wonderful. It has Wright's highly original and thoughtfully functional design, but also had input from engineering experts in several fields including acoustics, and was built by a mainstream contractor. Thus, it not only looks nice, but it works. The acoustics are world-class and the roof doesn't leak (unlike most of the buildings where Wright did his own engineering). Some of the other buildings on the ASU campus are also interesting. It's a nice place to just wander around.
Desert Botanical Garden is a very enjoyable place. It can be enjoyed on several levels. It is a well-labeled study collection of desert plants from around the world. But it also is a work of art - with tastefully arranged plant collections which can be enjoyed purely on an esthetic level. Lights have been installed on some of the paths for viewing after dark, and the light and shadow patterns increase the drama of the sculptural cacti. It is also an ethno-botanical museum - showing the relationship between the early native peoples and the plant life of the region.
The Scottsdale Mall is an unusually nice city-center location. We enjoyed walking the nicely landscaped outdoor areas. The public library, on the mall, is a huge attractive building and we spent a while browsing their unusually broad reference collection. Bola's Grill, on the Mall, provided an excellent dinner.
The IMAX film "Mexico" is not up to the usual standards. It's a hodgepodge of photography of various aspects of Mexican geography and culture, with a smattering of history thrown in, all remarkably uninformative. The photography is, as usual, impressive, but I can't say much else good about this one.
1/30 An all-day scenic drive put lots of miles on the truck yesterday. We followed State 88 northeast from Apache Junction to Roosevelt. This "highway" climbs through a succession of interesting canyons and rock formations, past the dams and reservoirs of the Salt River Project. The middle part of this drive is perhaps the worst state highway we've ever seen. The surface is gravel. There are numerous one-lane bridges, and the road itself is often only one lane wide, tucked in to the side of a cliff with no guardrails. At one point we came around a one-lane hairpin curve and met a huge dump truck coming the other way. We both skidded to a stop, only a few feet apart. The truck backed to a wider spot and we squeezed past. Near Roosevelt, we stopped at Tonto National Monument and walked up to the 14th century cliff dwellings of the Salado culture. These people appeared in this area in about 1150 A.D., farmed on irrigated fields in the valley, stored grain and nuts, built elaborate multi-story masonry buildings, and then unaccountably disappeared about 1450 A.D.
We continued on Route 88 east and then south, eventually joining Route 60 near Globe, in the midst of several huge copper mines. Route 60 returned us back to Mesa. It's approximately 200 miles around the loop, and took us eight hours, including numerous stops.
The Boyce Thompson Southwest Arboretum is another interesting and attractive walk in the desert. Although now a State Park, it was built as the private garden of a local mining magnate, 50 miles out in the desert, in a corner of a steep rocky canyon with a riparian section with well labeled large trees. A grand house is sitting up on a cliff overlooking the valley, and several miles of paths have been carefully landscaped with desert foliage from around the world.
2/1 Another month gone, and we're starting the new month in a new location. Yesterday, we packed up and moved north to Escapees North Ranch Rainbow Park, near Congress AZ, a little over two hours driving time from Mesa. The last hour was on small state highways, so we're well off the beaten track. From the park, there's nothing but desert and distant mountains in all directions. The park seems to have almost unlimited boondocking space, and had several empty full-hookup sites last night - presumably because it is far from the tourist attractions. Thus, it makes a good destination during the most crowded season (now). The drive was uneventful, except that during a routine check I noticed the right rear trailer wheel bearing is running a little hot. A month or two ago, I had the impression that this bearing was hot, and repacked and adjusted it at that time. So I'd better hunt up a set of new bearings and seals.
When we arrived, the bathroom door felt funny, and I found the upper hinge had broken off. The middle hinge also had fatigue cracks and would have broken soon. It's a relatively heavy door, with a large mirror on the outside and a big oak towel/magazine rack on the inside. But the hinges are the flimsy little decorative kind which are usually found on small kitchen cabinets. I drilled a couple of new holes and relocated the mounting screws, so it's ok for now.
Yesterday evening, I took a walk in the desert. This is cattle country, and it took a bit of searching to find a way through the well-maintained barbed wire fences. After that, it was easy, open, walking. The well-spaced creosote bushes are the dominant vegetation, although there is an occasional catclaw acacia, palo verde, a bushy tree-form prickly pear, and in the bottom of a wash, some mesquite. I saw occasional cattle and horse tracks, and some dog-like tracks that are probably coyote.
2/3 Today's event was a drive up through the mountains to Prescott. We didn't really intend to go that far, but just sort of drifted along enjoying the scenery. Prescott is an interesting city - on a high plateau ringed with mountains (at 5300 feet). It has apparently grown up primarily as a retirement community.
2/4 We walked the trails at the Nature Conservancy's Hassayampa River Preserve. This river flows for 100 miles mostly underground, the water hidden under many feet of sand. But in this area, underlying bedrock forces the water to the surface. A rich, and fairly rare, riparian ecosystem results. It's a birder's paradise, and also has javelina, bobcats, grey wolves, coyotes, and several other animals. We enjoyed the moist, fertile environment in the middle of a desert. Later, we drove up state highway 93. About 30 northwest of Wickenburg, the highway goes through an extensive "forest" of Joshua Trees, extending for many miles along the road.
2/5 Got underway at about 11 AM and drove to Joshua Tree National Park. We stopped briefly at the visitor center and drove on to Jumbo Rocks campground, one of several free primitive campgrounds scattered through this section of the Park. It's not really designed for big rigs. Tent sites, each with a picnic table and fireplace, are located in clusters of 2 to 5 which share a paved parking space big enough for that many cars. We parallel parked in one of these communal spaces, occupying most of it. At this time of year, there are practically no tent campers, so hogging five sites seems to be accepted - I don't know what would happen in high season. While we were there, this campground had half a dozen trailers and motorhomes, parked the same way we are, nicely spaced out.
Just before sundown, we drove to Key's View, an overlook on the southwest-facing escarpment of the Little San Bernadino Mountains. From here, there is a very steep drop down into the Coachella Valley, with the San Andreas Fault running through the center of the valley. The cities of Palm Springs and Indio were both visible in the distance. Far to the south, we could just make out the Salton Sea. On a clear day, the mountains of Mexico would have been visible, about 100 miles to the south. On a typical day, the Los Angeles fog gets blown through the mountain passes and the view can get quite murky.
2/6 We woke to rapidly thickening clouds, with the trailer being rocked by occasional strong wind gusts and the temperature hovering around 40. Dave took an early hike through the local rock - a weird landscape of huge rounded shapes, cut through with narrow passages where softer rock has eroded away. The campsites are tucked into small flat areas among the rocks. We're camped with nice views out all windows. The big window frames a large Joshua Tree, about 20 feet from us.
Helen's sciatica was acting up, so she relaxed in the trailer while Dave hiked the Ryan Mountain Trail. At 5,461 feet, this peak is supposed to have a nice view. But the upper half of the mountain was in heavy clouds. From halfway up, there were nice views out over the valleys to the north, but at the top, I could barely see my own feet. Chunks of cloud scudded by, looking dense enough and close enough to reach out and grab. The wind was so strong that I had to lean far into it, keeping my balance with difficulty. Bundled up in several layers topped with Goretex rain gear, I was warm and comfortable. The Joshua Trees survive even on the summit, and the strong wind made an unearthly whine blowing through the short stiff spiny leaves of these trees.
Starting back down after a few minutes on the summit, I almost immediately found myself in a protected pocket on the lee side of the mountain. It felt surprisingly cozy, almost intimate, to be in this little zone of calm and clear air, with heavy clouds rushing past just overhead. Most of the trail was on the lee side of the mountain, and I was able to enjoy the view of the valley most of the way down, with the clouds following me down the mountain but remaining a few hundred feet. overhead.
It began to rain heavily soon after I got back to the trailer, so the afternoon was spent snugly inside listening to the wind howling and the rain beating on the roof.
2/7 In the evening, we heard coyotes howling. During the night, the storm blew over and the sky became crystal-clear. Helen awoke at 3 AM and went out to look at a spectacular sky show. In the morning, we drove back up to Key's View, to take advantage of the unusual visibility. It was indeed spectacular. We could see the mountains in Mexican fairly clearly - over 100 miles away, across the Salton Sea. After enjoying the scenery for a while, we headed back to camp, packed up, and headed for San Diego. As we were driving out of the park, we saw a coyote trotting along the shoulder of the road.
The "scenic route" recommended by Street Atlas is also almost the shortest route, and not a lot more time than the fastest route (which would have been all expressway through the Los Angeles suburbs). The scenic route was indeed scenic - through the heart of the San Bernadino Mountains. Our eardrums got quite a workout - we started at 5400 feet above sea level at Key's View, dropped to sea level as we came down the mountain into Indio, then climbed equally quickly back to well over 4000 feet as we left Palm Desert on Highway 74. The route is along State Route 74 to SR371 to SR 79, and then onto Interstate 15 at Temecula. Other than the road itself, there's not much of anything man-made along this entire route - mountains, attractive high valleys, a couple of tiny crossroads communities, a couple of Indian Reservations, and a big gambling casino on one of the Reservations.
Coming through Temecula, just before turning onto I-15, we slowed for a traffic light and were rammed from behind by a pickup truck towing a big trailer containing road-building equipment - a big heavy asphalt roller. We're fine - buffered from the worst of the impact by the mass of the trailer behind us. But our 35' trailer is now more like a 34' trailer. The lower part of the back is crumpled in. The bed frame is crumpled and pushed forward. A built-in bedside cabinet is no longer built in - it's disassembled and tossed forward. The bumper and part of the frame is badly bent. The driver turned out to be driving with a suspended license. The truck is a company truck that is insured, so we're optimistic that we'll be reimbursed. Amazingly, everything essential still works - lights, brakes, etc. The trailer hitch assembly seems undamaged. So after an hour of dealing with police reports, we drove on into San Diego to DeAnza Harbor Resort, where we have a site reserved for the next two weeks. San Diego was expecting yet another major storm, and I spent much of the rest of the afternoon and early evening with sheets of plastic and about a zillion feet of duct tape trying to get the trailer reasonably waterproof and wind-proof before the promised heavy rains arrived. Somewhat surprisingly, the bedroom is still livable and the rest of the living space seems undamaged. We'll spend much of the next few weeks figuring out how to get the trailer repaired or replaced, but at least we'll be comfortable in the interim.
2/8 As is becoming typical on the day after a travel day and the first day of an extended stay, we didn't do much - sat around and relaxed, read, caught up on a little paperwork, walked around the campground talking to people. In mid-morning the power went off - not just to the campground, but for the surrounding community as well. When we left for the evening at 6 p.m. the power had still not been restored. The RV community is largely self-contained and was only mildly inconvenienced - we heard generators start up all over the campground. We felt a little smug, comparing our relative comfort to the thousands of residences around us who had no usable lights, heat, kitchen appliances, etc. Next morning, the newspaper reported that this was one of several extensive power failures, caused by flood water from the heavy rains.
It the evening, we drove up to the California Center for the Arts at Escondido - about a 45 minute drive. The King's Singers were performing, as the final stop in this year's American tour, the main reason we came back here a few days earlier than necessary. They were wonderful, as usual, in spite of having several new faces. The program was their typically eclectic mixture - everything from an early 15th century motet to Beatles songs to some aggressively contemporary compositions. This large concert hall has excellent acoustics, at least from our down-front seats, and is visually interesting. I'm not sure when it was built. The facilities are modern, but the style is aggressively art deco - very reminiscent of the late 1920's.
As we left the concert, the rain was falling, hard, again - our duct-tape trailer repairs will get a severe test. This is not a good time to be in California. The newspapers are full of horror stories about the damage from the series of severe El Nino - spawned storms, which aren't over yet. Listening to the trucker's on CB as we drove, we heard numerous stories of trucks blown over by the high winds. We've been fortunate not to get caught in the severe weather as we traveled - there were numerous tornadoes around us in Georgia and Mississippi, winter storms and ice in Texas, and now this sequence of storms on the West Coast. We've not yet had direct encounters with any conditions we considered dangerous, although we've come within a few hours or a few dozen miles of such conditions on several occasions.
After spending three weeks in San Diego over Christmas, coming back almost feels like coming home. It's remarkable how quickly a place can become familiar. Friends are coming in to visit for a week, starting Friday the 13th, so we'll be here for a couple of weeks, or perhaps more depending on the trailer repair situation. We'll send this report out as soon as we can do a little proofreading and editing.