Wow.  It’s hard to believe we hadn’t been to Picacho

Peak State Park since our overnight stop there on the

way home from our Cottonwood and Prescott, AZ,

trip in May of this year. The Park closed down for the

summer due to the Park’s construction project … a brand new visitor’s center.  Of course, it’s pretty hot in the summer there, so they probably didn’t lose much revenue from being closed. It reopened in October with the visitor’s center scheduled to be finished in Feb ’09 … at least that’s what the rangers told us … keeping their fingers crossed … they really want to be ready for the spring bloom crowd in late February/early March. Having not been there in a while, we were happy to make this long weekend trip to meet Airstream friends, Louis & Sergio from Phoenix. They are members of the Four Corners Unit of WBCCI (Airstream club) as are we, and are hosting a New Year’s Rally at Picacho. They wanted to get the lay of the land before the event. So we all decided to make a weekend camp out of it! We’d just camped with them over Thanksgiving weekend in Bisbee, and we were pleased to be meeting them again so soon...and in one of our favorite haunts.

We got to Picacho about 1:00 PM ... the old ranger’s station has been leveled and in its place a new building is going up…the architecture looks interesting … it should be a very nice facility. In the meantime, there is a little telephone booth affair staffed by a volunteer to take entry fees and give directions to campers and day visitors. The volunteer lady (who we have seem many times before) was so happy to see us … she lit up and said, “Your friends are here already!”  She was very pleased. We learned later that they had arrived about 20 minutes before us and had asked the attendant if she’d seen “another one of these” (pointing back at their Airstream) come in, so she was apparently watching for us.

We caught up with Louis & Sergio on the first of the two electric loops, pulling into a pull-through site in a string of 3 or 4 sites that we particularly like in that

                     loop ... so we took the site right behind them. We did our

                       greetings, then we all got to our respective tasks of setting up

                      camp so we could let the camping begin!

After getting set up and settled in we gathered at our site to have cocktails and cheese & crackers and catch up. L&S brought their signature martinis and Terry fixed a Bloody Mary. Some lady friends of Louis & Sergio were scheduled to arrive later after they got off work to join us for a little tent camping, so we went ahead with our dinner plans ... we grilled hot dogs on the BBQ, Louis & Sergio brought some chili and fries and we combined our efforts to make chili dogs ... it was great comfort food and an easy way to start the weekend festivities. Everything was yummy and we all enjoyed ourselves. We ate outside on the portable fold-up table that they’d found in Bisbee when we were with them over the Thanksgiving weekend. We used our votive candles and our little tea light lanterns along with outdoor trailer lights ... it was very pleasant.

The ladies showed up about 7:00 PM ... Louis & Sergio had already set up their tent, complete with LED lights around the entrance … and pink flamingos by the tent door. It was very festive and welcoming.  It turned out to be three ladies ... Bernice, a long-time friend of Sergio’s, her sister Nicole, and a friend of theirs, Anne. Bernice and Nicole (who live together) brought along “Bella”... their 4-month-old black Pug/Beagle mix ... the cutest and happiest little thing. She was wearing a pink sweater with feather pom-poms down the back ... she was a lickie-lover little girl and stole the show. Annie & Sadie and Riley & Audrey (L&S’s Maltese/Poodles) all loved her. Sadie was particularly attentive to Bella … probably a misplaced maternal instinct, as she had a litter before we adopted her. Audrey is a sweet little girl ... Riley was a little more distant at first, but he’s coming around. They were much more social with us this trip … guess they are getting used to us! Before the weekend was over Riley was happy to curl up next to us.

It had been very nice weather Friday afternoon...almost

warm. We thought for a while we’d have to go put on

shorts, but never did ... then as soon as the sun started to go

down, the chill set in. As the evening grew on we donned

our jackets and as we sat around L&S’s new portable Fire

Dancer gas fire pit (with cool blue crushed glass in it) with the ladies and all the pups ... and all had a pleasant evening of chat and campfire conversation.

That first night it only got down into the 40s so it wasn’t too bad...we didn’t use our heater at all … but is was good that it wasn’t too cold for the ladies who were sleeping in the tent. We thought the ladies were staying two nights and sould have another day with them, but it turns out that one of them had to be back in Phoenix on Saturday afternoon, so they packed up and left mid day. (Unfortanately we didn’t even get any pictures of them ... we were remiss in our responsiblities. Sorry, Ladies!)  Then it was Louis & Sergio and us.

After the ladies left, we all piled into Louis & Sergio’s Expedition (nice wheels, byt he way) and drove over to the Quail Group Camping Area which they had reserved for the New Year’s Rally. The road in was blocked, so we got out and walked in to scout it out. The group area is very nice set in desert vegetation wit great views of the Peak. There are paved parking/RV spaces in groups of five slots around the loop, with a few picnic tables and a small fire ring near each group of five spaces … then there is a grouping of four ramadas with picnic tables in the center of the loop with a large charcoal grill set-up, and stone-borded paths cleared to the ramadas from all parking areas. There are plenty of electrical outlets in the ramadas for small appliances for cooking, etc., too. (There are no electrical or water hookups for trailers ... it’s dry camping.) A set of portable toilets is located on each side of the loop, with showers and flush toilets in the neighboring electrical loop. Of course, rally attendees will have facilities in their rigs, so that isn’t really an issue. It will make for a pleasant gathering, to be sure. 

The Rally starts Wednesday, 31 December and runs through Sunday,

4 January. We will be making our Holiday/winter trip to a couple of San Diego

                            County Parks and then Anza-Borrego California State Park to

                                meet friends for New Year’s, so we will miss most of Louis

                                 & Sergio’s New Year’s Rally. We are planning to come

                                 back to Picacho on Saturday, 3 January to catch at least the

                                  last day of it … talk about “late bloomers!” Even though

                                   we won’t be there until the end, we are looking forward to seeing everybody who can make it from the Four Corners Unit.

After scouting the Quail Group Camping Area we all drove into Eloy, AZ, about 10 miles up the Interstate because Louis wanted to get some potatoes for the first dinner he planned to cook in their new Dutch Oven that evening. Eloy was a trip. It hasn’t changed much since the last time we were through there, but at least there was a grocery store stocked with potatoes! With our foraging mission accomplished we went back to the campground … and Louis

set out to cook dinner in the Dutch Oven… a nice pork roast with

carrots, onions, celery … and potatoes! For those of you who have

not tried Dutch Oven cooking, it is quite the science … and having

experienced Louis’ great dinner, we are going to dig out our Dutch

Oven and see what we can come up with on one of our future

camping trips.  Mmmm.

While enjoying the aromas of dinner cooking, we sat around the Fire Dancer again and solved all the world’s problems. That happens around campfires, you know. Then Greg and Terry went back to their trailer to take the Girls for a walk before dinner and make a salad to contribute to the feast. And what a feast it was! The roast came out perfectly and dinner was quite yummy, complete with a nice bottle of wine and dessert of  “Sock It To Me Pudding Cake” provided by Terry & Greg. (Store-bought, alas … we ran out of time so

Greg didn’t make the Rocky Road Cake he’d intended to.) But we were all satisfied anyway.

As we enjoyed dinner, it began to get blustery off and on, and colder, of course. We hadn’t bothered to put our awning down, but L&S were all spread out with their vintage style awning  staked down and lined with little blue LED Christmas lights. They had a miniature silver Christmas tree on an outside table with little ornaments and lights on it, too. It was very cute. Luckily, they had it tied down well and the wind didn’t seem to bother it.

As we watched the 10 o’clock news back in the Bambi for the night, it said

we’d have more wind during the night and rain was forecast by early Sunday ...

so we went out and put the chairs in the truck to keep them in our camp site instead of  the neighbor’s ... and dry. We’re glad we did because just

                               we went to bed, the wind really started blowing ... Terry got

                                 up in the middle of the night to close all our vents and put

                                  down the TV antenna before they got blown away ...

                                  neither of us slept well Saturday night ... between the wind

                                   and then the early morning the rain cutting loose. We

                                 thought we might end up in the next county by morning,

                                    and we wondered if Louis & Sergio’s awning was surviving. It rained hard and heavy for quite a while ... we were so glad we’d put stuff in the truck. It didn’t get too awfully cold, though. Our electric heater didn’t go off until early morning.

When we got up Sunday morning, amazingly, L&S’s awning was still up. Some of the stakes had come out of the wet ground after the rain, but all was well. Luckily, the wind was coming from the street side of their trailer, so the awning was somewhat protected ... everything outside was pretty wet, though ... By the time we were up the rain had stopped and we could walk the Girls without them getting wet. That’s always a good thing, as we haven’t made “slickers” for the Girls yet.

While Louis & Sergio packed up we got the fixin’s ready for a waffle breakfast as a send-off. They came to our trailer and we had coffee and chat while Greg fed the Girls and Terry got the waffle iron and batter ready ... everyone seemed to enjoyed the waffles … we had maple syrup, strawberry preserves and whipped cream for our sweet tooth. Not a bad breakfast at all!

L&S took off about 1:30 PM ... We had a very nice time with

them and look forward to seeing them again soon. We all agreed

that Picacho was a great place for us to meet since it’s half way

between our respective homes, so we are sure we’ll have more good times there in the future.  It was sad to see them drive off, though. All good things come to an end, they say. >sigh<

We relaxed the rest of Sunday and took it easy ... it was the first chance we really had to check email, etc...  We are not in the most optimal place for the Internet connection to download quickly ... it seemed really slow this trip. We must have been out of whack with the cell towers in the area, as we have had excellent connections in other parts of the Park before.

It was overcast and pretty cool and we suspected this would be the coldest of the nights yet ... but we are happy to just veg out and stay warm inside with the Girls. We didn’t even do a campfire, which we were all prepared to do. Another time. At least the woodbin will be all ready for our CA trip! Sunday night it was not as windy and the temps were chilly, but not too dramatic. We slept well, and slept in late.

Monday morning we woke up to a dreary, cold, overcast day. Ours was one of maybe three other sites occupied in the loop and the park volunteers were running about in their little carts sprucing up the campsites that had been used over the weekend. We readied the Bambi for the road, packed up and headed home about noon. When we left, there was no one remaining in the loop where we were. Campgrounds can be very empty, lonely places when there’s no one there. We got home about 1:15 PM and had the Bambi unpacked

and put to bed in almost record time.

The weekend was good … the company was excellent … and

the memories are fond. We look forward to more visits to Picacho

with Louis & Sergio … and perhaps some of our other Airstream

friends, new and old.

Click on the Slide Show icon below for pictures from this trip, and you can visit logs from earlier trips to Picacho Peak for more information, links and lots more pictures (since this was not a big photo trip) … some of which are in different seasons. At the end of the picture section you can click on “Other Trips” and return to the main trip page.