An easy drive from Tucson to the far west side of the Phoenix "Valley," Buckeye to be more specific. The 202 Bypass eliminated a lot of I-10 traffic through Phoenix. Not a surprise to us, but road construction on I-10 for about 15 miles, centered on Buckeye - it went from 6 lanes on each side to 4, then down to 3, and finally 2 lanes. Mostly. It's a lot of traffic to funnel into those two lanes. We got down to about 15 mph for a couple miles, then it picked back up to about 45 mph. We'll know to avoid that stretch of I-10 as we come and go.
You can tell it is the first of the month by the number of RVs on the road today. Most parks have monthly rates, and that seems to get people to check in/out on the 1st of each month. Like "musical chairs" for RVers in search of a place to stay. When I booked this place last summer, they only had a couple sites left for this time period.
We got into the RV park just before 2:00; it took about 20 minutes to get checked in. When I first scheduled at this park, the lady on the phone stressed that "this is a family park, not a 55+ park, so there will be plenty of kids here." That's just part of it.
The other parks we have stayed in here have been 55+. They have all been quiet. I wasn't prepared for the noise level here, and it isn't just the kids. We are in a site close to the entrance to the park... there are scads of loud pickups and Harleys coming and going. Multiple times it seems. The 5th wheel across the street behind us had 5 young teens running in and out while we were setting up... oops, make that 8 young teens. And they are not quiet at that age. Now to be fair, maybe it is the neighborhood hang-out and they don't actually have that many kids. The travel trailer next to us is a young couple with one toddler... there is a constant "thump, thump, thump" coming from it, as the kid runs from one end of that trailer to the other. Hopefully, he will wear himself out and go to sleep early.
It took us about 3 hours to get set up: Joan put out and staked down two patio mats; I set up utilities, we switched the cargo trailer from bike hauling mode to "garage mode;" uncovered the e-bikes from the rack on the back of the Equinox, took them down, and got them set up; removed that rack. Joan got out patio chairs and tables while I took Rufus for a walk. He got to meet a pitbull from down the block named Hades... yeah, that doesn't sound intimidating at all. Another couple ooohed and ahhhhed over him. He likes the attention.
Getting the site set up...
The sites here are close together. There is one site between us and the main road in the park (with all the noisy traffic). I was hoping a big motorhome or 5th wheel would pull in there, to give us a "sound block" from that traffic. Nope, a very small conversion van is our neighbor; and from what she said, she is staying here for the same amount of time as we are.
A little after 5:00, Steph and Dan came by to welcome us here... and brought along Blaine, the black lab pup that they are working with for Guide Dogs For The Blind...
It was good to see them. And fun to meet Blaine (he kind of disappears into Dan's black coat, but he is there). We sat outside and visited until they had to leave... and I had to go inside because it is damn cold in the desert when the sun goes down. They have busy lives, but we will all make time to spend together. This park in Buckeye is about 15 miles from Steph and Dan's house; the park we used to stay at is about a mile and a half. But, we crossed that park off our list due to stupid management policies (foremost: they don't allow you to have a cargo trailer on your site... well, they did allow it, then didn't... then did, then didn't... then, did, but we had to go into the "overnight area" where the sites are way close together... and then now they don't allow monthly stays in that "overnight area). So, rather than give that other park our money, we are trying this one... we'll see how this works out.
And now settling in for the evening. With some heat running. All three of us are tuckered out.
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