Pueblo El Mirage

Monday, Jan 4 –Arrived at the Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort near Phoenix AZ site #653. Had an easy drive today – 218 miles, although pretty boring. Never realized how much desert there is in California. Miles and miles of land with nothing but bits of grass and something that looks like sagebrush. Saw a roadrunner today and he was, guess what, running across the road!

Note to other RVers: Yesterday was our last day in Needles and we found the RV park that we should have stayed at – Desert View RV Resort. No view of the river but much nicer and the staff is much friendlier. Also rates were better. If you have to spend a night or two in Needles, this is the place to be.

Something not right with the brakes on the truck so will have to get that looked at. We are glad to be staying put for a whole week. Found Safeway, Starbucks, Walmart and the Arrowhead Mall on Tuesday.

Wednesday, Jan 6 - Had the truck brakes checked and they were fine. Our serpentine belt, however, was cracked so we had to replace that to the tune of $200. Not sure what exactly it is but I guess we needed it.

This is a very nice RV resort, however, we were a little put off by some of the regulations. First off, when we pulled in, we could not back in as far as we would like because the fronts of the RVs all have to line up. This means we have to use two sewer hoses to reach the sewer hookup. Also, the sewer hose must be supported and sloped at 1/4” per foot. There are no dumpsters. Garbage is picked up at your site on Mon & Thurs but you must have it out by 7 a.m. But don’t leave it out overnight! Since we rarely get up by 7 a.m. this could be a problem for us. Recycling bins are way out by the entrance.




The resort has 2 swimming pools, a hot tub, gift shop, fitness center, a ceramics and lapidary shop, arts & crafts & sewing rooms, horseshoes, tennis courts, shuffleboard, lawn bowling area and to Jim’s great delight, a wood shop. The landscaping is beautiful and there are quail running around everywhere. And, of course, there is a golf course running through the park.




Rode our bicycles over to the club house on Wednesday to check out the prices for golf and the driving range. Couldn’t play that day as the men’s club had it all tied up. We told them we would be back on Thursday for the driving range. Showed up Thursday only to find out the driving range is closed on Thursdays. Wish they would have told us that yesterday. Drove over on Friday and they were out of range balls so couldn’t practice then either! Our neighbor said a few days ago he had a tee time of 12:30 but when he showed up to play he was told there was a 2-hour delay!?

There are citrus trees throughout the park although we don’t have one in our site. We did pick some lemons from the neighbor’s tree with their permission. The sunsets here have been spectacular!




Luke Air Force Base is just a mile or so away and their jets are practicing just about every day. Thankfully, they usually stop by 10 p.m. Didn’t get a chance to visit but their website says they train the greatest F-16 fighter pilots. Jim keeps trying to take pictures of them but they are too fast.

We have spent a good deal of time here in El Mirage doing fix up work. First was the truck brakes. Then, one of the casualties early on in our trip was Joyce’s little wooden recipe box. It apparently flew out of the cabinet, bounced off the table, landed on the floor and broke into 4 pieces. 48 years worth of Joyce’s favorite recipes scattered all over the floor. Jim (“Mr Fixit”) glued the box back together yesterday and Joyce spent about 2 hours putting all the recipes back. No more excuses for not cooking.

Then, one evening, when we decided to watch a DVD, the TV suddenly turned to black & white. Those of you who have seen the entertainment system in our trailer can probably imagine the nest of wires and switches involved in hooking up the TV for satellite, cable or antenna, the surround sound and the VCR/DVD player. After a couple of hours of checking cables and one useless trip to a local Radio Shack we drove 25 miles to Fry’s Electronics to buy a new ABC switch. This seemed to do the trick.

Satuday, Jan 9 – Happy birthday, Tim and Auntie Helen! Today we drove to the Park’n’Swap in Phoenix. We were here about 20 years ago and it was much cleaner and nicer. Today it seemed kinda’ sleezy.

So far in Arizona it seems that the speed signs are just suggestions as nobody obeys them. Also, they play a game called “see how close I can follow this car” all the time. Sometimes it looks like they are hooked together. AND...they drive their golf carts on city streets!