05/17 to 05/24, 2019 - TT Verde Valley RV Resort & Campground

It was a short trip from Apache Junction to Cottonwood arriving early enough for lunch. We tried site H-47, but it was too hard to get into without scratching the RV, so we tried H-74, but though we fit barely, there was no room for the truck, so we tried H47 again  (coming in a different way and it fit for the RV and the truck but it was so unlevel that the rear tires came up completely off the ground (not acceptable), so we looked for another and settled for H-71, though it too was uncomfortable to sit out and enjoy 'Happy Hour' under the awning which would hit the trees, so we had to sit behind the RV, as Edith was parked in front. At least we had a good view of the mountains behind us, though it was so unlevel that our chairs were either inclined forwards, backwards or sideways. At least the rear view of the mountains was nice. 

 This second site we tried (for 3 days) was so close to the neighbor that we could

have each reach out our windows to pass something to one another (about 4-5 feet.)

 

The grill and picnic table were about 36" higher than the site floor and slanted towards the RV site. On the other side of the picnic table it was encroaching on the neighboring site's utility side. 

 

 

 

 

In the back of the RV the ground was somewhat level, but always in full sun, except for on the side where the ground (like on the passenger side) was slanted towards the RV so sitting was very uncomfortable. But Roxy enjoyed her bed-tent anyway.

 

 

On the passenger side there was enough room to walk through but the ground

was slanted  towards the coach so any chair would also be slanted backwards. 

 

On the driver's side there was hardly enough room to

even walk through without scraping the bushes.

 

The truck had to be parked in front so we could sit behind the RV because there was no room on the sides to sit at all. But in the front the truck had to be angled backwards and leaned right to left.

 
By the second day we had had enough and decided to look for another site when someone left a good one. As it turned out we met a lovely couple from Santa Clara CA, (Mark & Julie Montoya) for drinks and chat and found out that they were leaving in two days and had a perfect spot... amply wide, level, under lots of shade yet exposed enough for our Traveler Satellite to get good signal reception, and it had an ample stretch of grass on the passenger side. So the day they were leaving we got up early and were ready to jump in on their spot as they pulled out. 

 

 


The next few days it got very cool and even a bit wet with occasional showers. So we opted to focus on ROXY. We took her to another vet here to double check her soft poop and occasional diarrhea. A previous fecal lab demonstrated an abnormally high level of Chostridium type A gene, which will cause diarrhea. So she got a Rx of 3 horse pills (Tylosin, 450mg EA) to be administered 2X a day. Thank goodness Bill is an old hand at giving animals meds (and even birthing sows) so he was in charge of that task, while Mary brushes Roxy’s endless shedding. How much hair we brush from her ‘weekly’? Enough to fill a plastic grocery bag. The vet was in Camp Verde (about 17 miles away), which is a 42.6 sq mi (110 km²) town, intersected by I-17, extending 8 miles (13 km) to the West and 10 miles (16 km) to the East of the interstate. Three freeway exits provide local access: Exits 285, 287, and 289. The Town's Historic Downtown is approximately 1-mile (1.6 km) from I-17 and contains a grocery store, physician facilities, shopping, dining, historical museum, Fort Verde State Historic Park, chamber of commerce/visitor center and town offices. Tourist attractions include the nearby Montezuma Castle National Monument (located in Verde Valley). In the town is Fort Verde State Historic Park and Out of Africa (an African Animal Wilderness attraction.  The Cliff Castle Casino, operated by the Yavapai-Apache Nation Indian tribe, is an important gambling destination for north and central Arizona. Fort Verde State Historic Park is located in Camp Verde's Historic Downtown approximately 1-mile (1.6 km) from all three Camp Verde exits.

In Popular Culture, the Marvel Comics superhero characters James and John Proudstar  are from an Indian reservation in Camp Verde. The 1977 horror movie, Kingdom of the Spiders, was filmed in Camp Verde. In the 2011 film Paul, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost plan to visit Camp Verde as a UFO hot spot along with Rachel, NV, Area 51 and Roswell in NM, and Apache Junction AZ. In Cable #7, Camp Verde is a bunker headquarters of the X-Force. Woo Hooo!!!
We have taken several short (1.5 - 2 mile mile) day and evening hikes with Roxy, exploring the gorgeous countryside around the Thousand Trails Verde Valley RV Resort and Camground, as well as a short visit to the Alcantara Winery and Sheep’s Crossing, the latter so named because yearly the sheep come down from the mountains and cross the Verde River at this point, next to the campground, as they are moved from their winter feeding range to their summer range. There was even a Sheep Crossing Bridge, built in Carefree AZ (about 45 miles away from here) to reduce the losses of taking them down to the river and back up again, as often many are lost in the river floodings, but that is a ways off from here, so locally they still cross at the river, right by this campground, among other locations. Roxy loved watching them (after all she IS a Shepherd) but didn’t bother them and like us, just enjoyed watching them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 At sunset.

  

 

 

 

 

 

The cold and wet weather is scheduled to succumb to warmer and drier weather so we are planning on our outings to visit Montezuma's Castle and Tuzigoot (national monument and 2-3 story pueblo ruin), just east of Clarkdale AZ, as well as a visit to Sedona, before heading on to Page, AZ.