While we thought we were on the verge of a committed relationship with Tucson, two flights, thermal temps and a tired landscape crushed our crush and we’re ready to say … Thank you, next!
When we left Davis Monthan in March, Agave Gulch FamCamp was a red-hot RV destination. We had waited 6 long, hot, dry days in overflow before our full hook-up number was called. Now it’s May and OH, how the times have changed. Half the park was shuttered except for a lone hold out in the east campground while the other half was about 1/4 occupied. When the snowbirds migrate to their northern next in April, they travel en masse.
We spent 2 days in the ghost town, stocking Betty with provisions, replacing the rubber rolling gear on the Comos, thrifting Speedway Road and watching the most boring Oscar nominated movie – Can You Ever Forgive Me? (The answer is no and we want our hour and 47 minutes and $1.86 from Redbox back.)
The city felt hot and dirty as we ran our errands. Perhaps it was always that way and we just hadn’t noticed – the novelty of a first visit. Perhaps it was the pending excitement of pushing North in to Utah. Whatever it was, we felt no sorrow as we left. Tucson had served us well as a Betty-repair-depot and travel-and-store west coast location, but we have no plans to return.
Zion check-in is Sunday and it’s 500 miles north so we WiFi’d at the Murphy-Wilmot library and found Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field FamCamp, about 140 miles up I-10 and across I-8. It’s a middle of nowhere emergency landing field advertising no base amenities. The gate guard, a second-career Cape Cod’r who went south one winter and never returned, jokingly told us that the base was closed for the season and the season lasts all year. Other than a dusty RV park, the base has the look and feel of a 3rd world rebel hide-out.
We are not quite sure what happens here and do not really want to wait around long enough to find out. Curiously, the entrance to the facility is lined with a mile of palm trees, just like Beverly Hills.
But we’re not sure if we should drink the water, or do our laundry for totally unrelated reasons …
While the auxiliary landing facility boasts no quickie mart, McDonald’s or shower facility, it does have the absolute best RV lounge in the world. Deep leather couches, slow turning ceiling fans, hundreds of cable TV stations, free WIFI, and comfortable air conditioning make it the true hidden gem of greater Gila Bend. Since it is open 24/7, we are camped out until it is time for bed (and Project Runway). Sorry Betty, but these sofas are dreamy.
