September 3rd, 2025
GAS: (as low as $2.79) in AZ
Wednesday after our morning routine, we got ready to leave (this takes longer than it did in Matilda, what with having to hook up the truck! but it’s a small price to pay for a bigger living space) and we were out of the campground just after 9 am. We stopped for petrol outside town and made our way to Tonopah (this is about half way to Las Vegas) hoping to wild camp but we had no cell signal at the spot we’d found. There was a signal on the other side of town but we passed the last option and moved on to Goldfield maybe 60 km / 40 miles further down Highway 95. Here we pulled into the Visitor’s Centre that has five long spots for RV’s. We’ve stayed here before and upon arrival were the only campers – a few vehicles stopped to use the bathrooms.
Fran went out to get some steps and took these shots of the pretty much deserted town.
never saw a burro but saw lots of poop on the side walks:
We ended up being alone overnight and it was a fairly quiet night after a quick rain storm in the late afternoon. After tea etc. the next morning, we finished the drive to Las Vegas where we booked into the Kings Row RV Park where we’ve stayed many times. Our plan when we thought we’d be leaving Reno on the 2nd, was to go about 100 miles a day till we reached Pie Town, New Mexico. Since we were delayed a day we did just over 200 mi yesterday and about the same today as there’s time to relax a few days in a cheaper campground so since we’re here, we bought tickets to a show tomorrow night.
It’s very hot as expected – near 40C / 103F with some threatening clouds but so far no rain. We got checked in, added a night to the reservation and after getting parked and unhitched, Fran went to do some laundry (always cheap here) and walked during the washing and then the drying cycle and Doug got his steps elsewhere. The site we are in has a nice concrete pad, power, water and sewer but the Wi-Fi just barely reaches our site. It comes from the rec hall which is only a couple hundreds metres away so when we really need it, we walk over which we did in the late afternoon. Besides the laundry there is also a pool which we may take advantage of tomorrow but no hot tub.
and the pool:
We had a quiet Thursday night thank goodness, with AC and Friday Doug went off for a walk and after Fran did her yoga and was sorting stuff, she heard a small pop and two minutes later saw water in the bathroom and the mat in front of the water pump was wet. She quickly turned off the pump and then opened the cubby and there was water everywhere. She called Doug to come back and began sopping up the water. When Doug returned he saw a hose had popped off. He screwed it back on and all was well (we thought!).
We dried all the towels and Fran enjoyed a nice call with a friend. Then Doug left again to go for blood work. When he returned all was well and we had lunch before heading to the pool for a couple of hours. We got changed in the late afternoon and headed to the Strip. We parked at the free lot at the Treasure Island (there are not many free lots left here) and walked through a few casinos enroute to Caesar’s Palace where we had a nice dinner at True Food Market before taking in the Jerry Seinfeld show. We noticed there were a decent number of people around but no where near what we’d usually see on a Friday. We did hear a few foreign accents but for sure, numbers of visitors to this city are way down. We did get served free drinks 3 times which was better than when we were here in June and this was in a matter of two hours at four casinos. We had fun at the slots, didn’t break even but had fun.
Doug had purchased the cheapest tickets that were on the mezzanine but upon checking in they upgraded us to a better level as they were not sold out; a sure sign of the times. The show was opened with a short stint by a comedian friend of Jerry’s and then he came on for just over an hour. It was very enjoyable with no foul language and we were glad we’d come. It was apparently all new material and it was all relevant to us.
We returned to the car and went home viewing a fair bit of lightning but no rain ever materialized and we pretty much straight to bed!
Saturday it was sunny and warm already by the time we got up and before Doug went off to get an oil change for the Tundra, Fran remembered she’d forgotten to put a fresh towel around the water pump (just in case) and when she opened the cabinet the hose that had popped off looked loose. Doug came and said it needed repairing but we’d just leave it off until he got back and not use water (so Fran filled a few containers first). Later he went out and got a new piece of hose with a better fitting and we are confident this has fixed the issue.
We spent the rest of the day chilling, reading under the awning with the breeze and had a quiet last night here. Sunday morning, Doug did his run, Fran did yoga and then at 9am we had out monthly KEGS call over at the rec hall before packing up, hitching up and leaving.
Here is the link to the gallery of photos to this point.
As we got a late start we didn’t want to go too far so we made one stop in Kingman, Arizona for cheap gas before deciding to make a change of plans to hit the Grand Canyon enroute to New Mexico. Driving the truck pulling the trailer our mileage sucks especially in the hilly areas we’re driving in. Pulling into Kingman the computer said “— miles” left in the tank.
So we pushed on today to Williams and found a free forestry campground to park for two nights about 11 km / 7 miles out of town. – the plan was to leave the trailer tomorrow so we don’t have to haul it up there.
We’re up nearly at 2,134 m / 7000’ so it’s cooler and should be good for sleeping since we’re wild camping. There are no services but you can stay for up to 14 days; luckily, there’s great cell signal! Wink wink!
So Monday morning, we left the trailer all locked up before 8am and headed into Williams for gas and then drive the 100 km /62 miles to the Grand Canyon South Rim. We got parked at the first lot of the Visitor’s Centre just before 9 and walked over to the shuttle bus stop after hitting the loos.
There are a couple of sections of the Rim Road you cannot drive due to crowds this time of year so we had to use the buses to get to a few viewpoints we wanted to go to and then we walked back along the Rim Trail.
Now this place is one of those places where photos just don’t do it justice; no matter how many you take it does not depict the grandeur. But here are a few shots are there are more in the pics galleries (link below). It all depends which direction you take the photos for the colours as the sun was out and affects that (also Fran took pics with both her Nikon and her phone so they capture things differently as well).
Here’s a video from Hopi Point that tries to give the view justice:
It was a gorgeous day and not too busy now that kids are back in school; the temps reached into the mid 20’s C / mid 70’s F and there was a gentle breeze at the rim.
We spent about 3 hours here and although we considered going further east into the park where are you are allowed to drive, we figured we’d had enough as it was getting busier. It was not crowded; we had less than a 2 minute wait to get through the main gate upon entering and many of the viewpoints we had to ourselves. Mind you, we did arrive early and were gone by noon.
Link for photos of our side trip to the Grand Canyon.
We returned to the trailer and hooked it up and began driving southeast. We have a couple of spots we wanted to check out in the Coconino National Forest but don’t want to take the trailer down 36 km / 22 mi of dirt road so after we turned off the I40 on the 89A Doug found a large county park with lots of parking lots. We pulled into one, unhooked, locked up and went into the Coconino National Forest.
It was definitely not a road for the trailer although we did see some in the forestry sites – they must have driven in very slowly and carefully. It wasn’t a real 4×4 road but it was full of large rocks embedded in the road, washboard sections and there were ruts from previous rains.
We found the turn off for the Edge of the World and got out to take in the views looking towards Sedona:
We continued further down the main forestry road to East Pocket Knob where there’s a fire tower (one of two remaining wooden ones in the state) and viewpoints.
We reached a point where the last 1/2 mile of the road was closed:
and then about ten minutes down a trail to see a view that in no way compared with the previous views:
So it was back down the dirt roads to the park and Doug hitched the trailer back up and we headed towards Sedona. Now there are no RV parks in Sedona and no wild camping except well outside the city limits to the west in the forest. The roads were going to be dirt once again so instead we checked out of few pay forestry campgrounds and at the second one, Pine Flats, we found a large enough site for us.
Here we paid $30 for a large site with a picnic, table, fire pit, BBQ, access to pit toilets and potable water. A bit pricey for what we got but it was the best choice. We also had very good 5G cell reception which as you know, is a must for us!
This is the link to all the East Pocket photos.
Wednesday morning, we were up very early and out the door by 6 to head out to do the Boynton Subway hike. We wanted to do it before it got hot and they say the parking lot at the trail head can fill up by 7. It was about a half hour south and there were only a few cars there upon arrival.
This was a 3.7 km / 2.3 mi hike with a little elevation gain but nothing strenuous till the the end where it was up slick rock to reach the actual “subway” but nothing difficult.
When we arrived at the end, we were alone except for two men at the nearby cave.
The two guys joined us before we left and kindly took photos of us and we of them:
This was one of the best hikes we’ve ever done with such a rewarding ending; we highly recommend it if you are in the area. The return trip took less than 2.5 hours. The scenery walking the trail is fantastic red rock and the sky was a perfect blue.
We returned to the campsite, after stopping at Mickey D’s for some Egg McMuffins, Safeway for some fruit, Arco for gas at $2.98 and Ace Hardware to get a funnel. We had showers, filled our water (had to use a bucket and funnel as you could not hook up to the tap), dumped our garbage and left by 11:30. Check out is normally 11 but Fran had spoken with the park host when we checked in, and she gave us until 1pm.
And here you can find the photo gallery for the photos from our hike.
We didn’t have too far to drive this afternoon after stopping in Flagstaff at a free RV dump site before continuing east on I40 to a casino called Twin Arrows that allows free RV parking for several days if you like. We found a good flat section and got parked on our own. A few other were already there, and only a few more arrived later in the day. It was SUPER windy though and we hoped it would die down after sunset (which it did). It was maybe 30C / 86F and cooled off more or less enough over night – down to 16C / 61F but Fran did use her small fan – a breeze would have been nice.
We’d read on iOverlander that you can get a player’s card and receive $10 free slot play so we were in. Drinks are not free here like in Vegas and we didn’t spend any money but managed to come away with $36 in winnings! Not bad, eh?
We took our time Thursday morning; Fran was pretty stiff from the hike yesterday but Doug got his Thursday run. We enjoyed our morning tea/coffee (Doug has become more or less accustomed to cold brew/ice coffee every morning) and spent some time online before heading out for the day’s drive.
Today was pretty uneventful with a stop for gas in Holbrook before getting off the I40 to go south to Show Low where we overnighted at the Walmart.
Fran did a big shop inside and Doug went for a walk. The weather was a mixed bag with heavy rain after dinner for a couple of hours that included some hail. It rained again the next morning before we left for the last leg of the drive to Pie Town, New Mexico. After stopping for gas once again in Springerville, we crossed the state line into New Mexico.
