We continue to work on the balance between planning and serendipity. While the broad strokes of our trip really do need to be planned carefully, once we arrive at a site we allow for a fair amount of wandering and the associated delightful discoveries.

A few of those experiences: 

Tanque Verde Swap Meet: The night we arrived in Tucson, we decided to take it easy and hang at the RV park. They had a “Friday Night Wined Down” that evening, and we wanted to check out the on-site BBQ restaurant. The wine and live music were fun, but we realized too late that the restaurant closed early (and ran out of food even earlier). But heck, we were in Tucson! We assumed that we could find a great taco place nearby. What we didn’t realize was that the taco truck we chose was located inside the Tanque Verde Swap Meet (admission $1), a weekly event that features vendors of all sorts. Not only did we have delicious burritos (although it took us longer to find the taco truck inside the swap meet lot than it did to find the lot itself), but we bought some yummy fresh tortillas, heard some entertaining live music (we think it may have been karaoke), and continued to feed Michele’s jamaica habit (no, not that kind of habit!) Jamaica is a delicious, refreshing drink made with hibiscus leaves—Michele is on a mission to perfect her own jamaica recipe (perhaps the only recipe she will ever actually perfect). 

Lake Havasu: We spent a few days in Needles, CA specifically to visit the RV show in Quartzsite AZ (we needed to purchase new lithium ion batteries that would allow us to boondock a bit — stay in places without access to water or electricity). On our way back from Quartzsite to Needles, we chose a different, longer—and what turned out to be incredibly beautiful—route. Lake Havasu markets itself as “Arizona’s playground” and it really does offer a surprising range of activities among stunning red rock hills, along beautiful coastlines, and throughout a fun little city (complete with the old London Bridge purchased by city founders and brought across the Atlantic!) Of course, we also managed to find a funky brewery in a small local airfield.  

Horseshoe Bend: [Full disclosure…Andrew knew this was on our route to Scottsdale, but Michele thought we were just taking a stretch break, so it was a discovery for her!] This stunning space, created by the Colorado River, is roughly 1,000 ft deep—the overlook is reached via a short path from a parking lot right off the main road. Not every place we visit is fully accessible to people of all ages and abilities…it was very cool to see little kids, grandparents, and everyone in between walking to experience this extraordinary site. It was also really fun to look down and realize that those teeny colored dots we saw were tents—people boat and camp along that stretch of the river. We can only imagine what it feels like to be looking up from that vantage point! 

Horseshoe Bend is also an example of what happens when folks play well together. According to the National Park Service: “Boundary lines are very close in some places. Horseshoe Bend itself, and that part of the Colorado River, are a part of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. About nine miles downstream is where Grand Canyon National Park begins. US Highway 89, the land north of the trail to the Horseshoe Bend overlook, and the parking area for the trailhead are in the City of Page. The land south of the parking area and the trail and overlook are on the Navajo Nation. This mixture of jurisdictions provides a unique opportunity in the management of this magnificent trail and overlook.”