Northward Bound ---- Apr 1, 2015

The last post left us at Saddle Mountain, ready to leave after opening that box of chocolates only to find that the refrigerator was without power. I never liked that flavor!  LOL!  I checked everything I could think of and nothing seemed awry...except the no power part.    

I called Carter's Mobile RV in Tonopah on Saturday morning (Mar 28) around 11:30am.  The temps are rising to about 93* - not good when your refrigerator isn't cooling.  Carter called me back at 4:30pm and we agreed to meet in Tonopah on Sunday morning at 9:00am.  The refrig is pretty well insulated and food was still cold/frozen at this point.  So.....all this meant we might as well leave Saddle Mountain and head to our next stop.

Carter is, admittedly, a mechanic not an electrician, but he and a guy he brought with him jiggled wires, unplugged/replugged connections and then took the cover off a box in the outdoor compartment.  Voila!  The fuse is out!  They didn't have one of the old glass fuses, but jimmied an alternative together that used the fuse-type in my main electrical panel.  It worked!  And the charge for all this?  ZIP, ZERO, NADDA, NIL!  He said "no charge" because they didn't really know what they were doing.  There are nice and generous people out there!

So, we're on our way north to Prescott National Forest....free camping for 7 days....and 25* cooler! Nikko will love that!  I can probably put the Frogg Togg Chill Blanket away!  

The ride will take us up Rt 89..... fairly un-scenic, initially, although there are forests of saguaro cactus along the way....but nowhere to pull over to take any pictures.  Generally, tho', this was the view...the mountains are scenic, tho'!

Just before getting into Wickenburg, I decide to pull over and let Nikko out for a few minutes.  Low and behold, there's a golf course right there.  And a nice one, too, with mountain views.  

The temps are getting cooler now and there are trees and grass and flowers!  What a change from the desert...and we haven't gone very far, really.  

Nikko likes it!

Time to get rolling..... Oh, wait.....cowboys are crossing the road!  This is horse country up here, so I'm not really surprised, but it was nice timing!  What a nice life they have around here!

Ok,  now we can go....see those mountains?!  That's where we're headed....

I DO NOT like mountain driving....I never have.....but away we go!  This isn't a couple of mile climb....it's about 20 miles.  Doesn't sound far, but when you're going 15 MPH and feeling sick the entire time, plus all the mental concentration it takes to drive 12,000+ lbs around never ending curves and switchbacks, 20 miles is a L-O-N-G way!  This is about half way....we pull over to let the RV cool down and so I can collect myself!  At this point, there's still 9.3 miles left to go.

Pretty views from here, tho'!

And pine trees are getting more prevalent...

After a few deep breaths, we're off to finish this part of the trek.  Of course, we make it, no problems, but I was glad to get into Prescott.  We stopped at Woody's gas station to get gas and some rather vague directions as to getting to the campsites in the National Forest.  Basically, a main, paved road simply ends after going past some housing subdivisions...... and all of a sudden, it turns into this....

I guess we're heading into the forest!  The directions I got were not good ones!  This part of the road was okay, but I never saw the fork in the road she talked about so we ended up driving on some very rough and rutted roads...thinking there was never going to be a place to turn around...but there was...finally!  We turned around and came back to a crossroads.  I flagged down a guy on a 4WD and he was familiar with the area.  He said....just go up "this road" about 3/4 mile and you'll see a good site for your RV.  He assured me I could drive the RV on it.  YAY!  

So, we turned right onto this road...I was having my doubts as to how this was going to work out....

It wasn't great, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the road I had just been on, nor ones I had been on in the past, so all is good!  We get to the spot he was talking about and maneuver a bit to get into the level area, but here we are! In the forest and it's about 70*.  Beautiful!

I'll stop here for now....there will be area photos coming up in the next posts.  This is a beautiful spot....cool, clean, crisp air....azure blue skies....and quiet!  

The refrigerator is still working!  Thanks, Carter!!