On to Congress

No this is not a political title - I'm sure you've all had enough politics for awhile. Although no matter how you feel about the results of the election, there is no disputing that it is an amazing piece of history.

Anyway, we left our friends outside of Show Low yesterday when we saw on weather.com that wind and cold were on the way. In order to continue our spotless record of good weather, we drove off so suddenly that their heads were spinning.

We headed west on a beautiful stretch of road along the Mogollon Rim of Arizona. The 'Rim' is a 200 mile escarpment along the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau. There were gorgeous views of sandstone cliffs and expansive valleys all along the road from Show Low to Payson and beyond. We even saw three elk trotting parallel to the road. This is a very poor picture taken along the way.


We stayed overnight in Payson at the Walmart. They had the best sign in the parking lot. Although a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm not sure that applies to a sign, so I'll just quote it. It said, "No overnight parking after 24 hours." I think that's just perfect. I really feel Walmart should be a overnight stop and not a destination. And don't get me started about lawn chairs and awnings. Of course we went in and gave a $70 contribution to the store. :-)

So today we continued on to the Escapee Park in Congress, Arizona. The Escapee RV club has parks scattered across the country and we're trying to see them all. North Ranch RV park is about 60 miles northwest of Phoenix. They gave us a terrific spot to park along the edge with an unobstructed view of the surrounding desert.


As soon as we parked, Ron got out there and washed the front windshield so we could see our front yard better.


Right across from us is Saguaro Park - a well planned and labeled garden of desert based plants.


The most remarkable feature of the garden is this giant saguaro. I tried to count the arms, but lost track. The sign said it is appropriately named Methuselah.


It provides homes for numerous birds that I would like to identify as cactus wrens, but I think they were sparrows.