Thursday, May 23, 2013

Flagstaff to Tonopah, Arizona

Wow - guess we've been a little busy - but I'll attempt to catch y'all up to date.

We left Albuquerque almost a month ago and spent a couple of days in Flagstaff. The last time we were here it was late fall and we only spent a couple of hours touring the breweries. We actually didn't do much more than that this time, but I did have some work to catch up on and also got a little shopping in. We were in "traveling mode" and it seems to be difficult for us to really explore an area unless we have at least a week there. We have yet to spend a lot of time hiking and exploring this area but it was on the way west and a convenient place to stop.

We were going to stay on Interstate 40 until we hit California but there were some gnarly 50 mph winds west of us so we made the decision to take the 17 down to the 10 to avoid it. Unfortunately Phoenix was experiencing triple digit heat so we didn't stop to see our friends in Queen Creek where we usually park in their driveway. There is no way I am living in my rv without being able to use both a/c units in 100 degree heat! We thought we might stop in Tonopah, AZ and hit El Dorado Hot Springs, where we've stayed a couple of times, but while I was researching this I noticed another hot springs - Casa Blanca, which was right next door. This place reported to be even smaller than El Dorado Hot Springs, and  the owners were the former owners of El Dorado who had retained some water rights. They had about 4- 50amp full hook up sites and we decided to go check it out.

It was super hot outside but it wasn't uncomfortable at all. We both love the desert heat and we had the place to ourselves. 


 It's extremely rustic and this is the main place to soak. They had a couple of old tubs scattered around but none were being used. There was also a labyrinth in the back and a building with 2-3 rooms for rent. The place intrigued us so much we actually spoke to the owner about some land he had for sale across the street. We definitely could not spend the summer here but I think 3 out of 4 seasons would be pretty good.

After a very relaxing stop we got back on the road towards Palm Desert where we would spend a few days with my parents and hopefully find our friend Levi on his Pacific Crest Trail hike.