Gila Bend AZ - 2019

Hello from Gila Bend KOA.  We plan on hanging around here from 3-8 Apr.  Let's talk about this KOA.  As you may know, KOAs are probably some of the most expensive RV Parks out there.  Of course you can get some that are really fancy, maybe with their own lake, golf course, and air field, but for normal folks, KOAs are probably on the top of the pay list.  But if you are a person that likes to use all the amenities, then KOA is a good choice.  Now saying that, this KOA is no exception.  This park has a nice dog park with toys.  The dog park is split up in three different fenced in areas so you can keep your pup separate from the mean pup next door...if needed.  The park also has a nice pool.  But what they also have is an area to wash your vehicle, and a place to wash your pup.  That's right, they have a room with the big tubby thing that professionals use to wash your dog.  Complete with a hair dryer that we know all dogs love...not.  It does cost a little, $7 I am being told, but that's worth it.  The sites are very large.  I could have easily parked 4 vehicles in my spot along with the RV.   That's a KOA I would go back to.

So what did we do there, you might ask.  Well let me tell you.  The very first thing we did was set up camp and took the dog to the park...oh that's not what you mean huh?  Well we checked out the Painted Rock Petroglyphs Site, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Desert Botanic Gardens in Phoenix.  Let's dive in a little deeper on each.

The first place we checked out was the Painted Rock Petroglyphs Site just outside of Gila Bend.  It was like a big pile of boulders with Petroglyphs written all over them.  Nearby was also a campground that looked promising too.  It was just a spot with no hookups, but I thought I would mention it anyway.  Here are the pictures we took of that place.


Then the next day, we headed to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  (Actually this was the only reason we went to Gila Bend.  Didn't know about the other stuff until after we made our reservations.)  Here we checked out a couple of side roads, but not all of them.  One was 35 miles long on a road that required high ground clearance and four wheel drive.  I don't think we would have had an issue with it, but it being 35 miles long and going at only 10 to 15 miles long, it would taken the rest of the day to do it and we wouldn't be able to see anything else that day.  So we decided to take another road instead.  On the road we took, we found cactus.  Who knew there would have been cactus in the desert.  We even took a hike to an arch...well most of the way to the arch.  Terry didn't want to climb up the cliff to get to it.  Nice views though.  Oh, did I tell you "Killer Bees" were in the area.  We didn't see any, but the ranger said if a bug is running into your chest, you might want to leave without swatting at it.

So you ask, why is this place called Organ Pipe?  Well, that is a cactus that only grows in this area and the northern part of Mexico (just south of the border from here).   I think they lie though.  I saw one at the botanical gardens in Phoenix too.  Anyway, the picture to the left is one of those cacti.  We also sat in on a briefing about cacti.  The lady said when you see the Saguaro cacti, if the arms are up, then they are happy, when the arms are down, they are sad.  Her words, not mine.  You want me to explain that too?  I'm no cactus whisperer, but I will give it a try.  When it rains, the cactus absorbs the water and the ribs in the cactus expands to more round than ridged.  As they use the water, the cactus goes back to it's original shape.  But if they get too much rain, the arms get heavy and can rotate down.  When that happens, the arm stays that way.  It can grow some more and the new growth would start to grow up.  That's when you see the funny looking arms.  Check the pic out to the right to see what I mean.  I hope I explained it goodly.  If not, check out the link for the Saguaro National park.  They might explain it better, or just google it.

The last place we visited was the Desert Botanic Gardens in Phoenix.  What can I say about this place?  Well it's really large.  I thought we were going to get lost in it.  Before we started the adventure through the garden, we had lunch at the little cafe there.  Surprisingly, the food was really good.  I don't know if we saw everything or not, but we did see most.  We just kept making rights and eventually made it back to the starting line.  Here are the pictures of this place.  I also have other desert flowers in this album that you might recognize from the Organ pipe area.

That was it for here.  Our next stop was back in Benson Az, hanging out at the Saguaro Co-Op Campground.  We have been here before and like the place, like I mentioned before (check that story out here).  The only thing we did here other than relax, was we took another trip to Tombstone to check out the Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park.  Here are the pictures for that.  I also slaved at the computer to catch up on this blog and I finished my RV course that I was talking about awhile ago.  I finished the video's, studied for a few minutes, and then took the open book test.  I got 98 out of 100 for a score.  I'm happy with that.

We are now off to Elephant Butte State park in Elephant Butte NM.  See you there.