Sierra was just about a mile down the road. The ladies who were working there were very nice and provided excellent service. The price was very reasonable. I highly recommend this outfit. They have 6 locations, 3 in New Mexico and 3 in Arizona. Besides quickly filling my tank and processing the payment for it, they offered me a wall calendar for 2017 and a cap for my tank. (The cap will come in handy as I didn't have one and some places (one in London Ontario) are sticklers for them.) I left there one very happy customer.
I've finally reached the state which is my final destination for this trip.
My first night in Arizona is at the Bear Paw RV Park in Eagar. It is a relatively small family run park on the outskirts of town. There are quite a few seasonal (summer) trailers here with elaborate decks and patios.
There weren't any people visible during my short stay. The site was perfect for me, easy to pull through, level and full hook-ups. I needed a few groceries so rather than unhook the trailer, after I registered and knew were my site was I drove the short distance into town to do my grocery shopping with the trailer still attached. With that chore done I returned to the campground and set up, leaving the trailer connected to the truck for the night. I had a great nights sleep in the quiet setting.
Having had two good casino RV campground experiences I decided to try a third on, this time just outside Globe, AZ, at Apache Gold Casino. What attracted me to this one was that it was relatively close to my next stop in Tucson, AZ and had a golf course. I was hoping to play three rounds during my three night stay. On the website they offer hotel stay and play packages with meal discounts and other perks. I was hoping they would offer something similar for RV'ers, but they don't.
Unlike the two prior casinos registration for the campground is at the on site gas station as opposed to the hotel registration desk. Here you pull into an empty site that you want and then go into the gas cashier to register. I felt sorry for the people waiting to pay for their gas and convenience store purchases behind me, because the registration process takes longer than processing their purchases. They weren't very welcoming and didn't offer the same free or highly discounted nightly rates as the other ones, so it ended up being $30 per night. There were also quite a few trailers that appeared to have been there for quite a while, some in rather poor repair and with clutter around them. There seems to be little caring here. The sites and hookups were fine, though the atmosphere is an asphalt parking lot, which would likely be very hot in the summer time. I rushed to get set up so I could get a round of golf in before dark.
The golf course, called Apache Stronghold also disappointed.
Apparently they had some trouble with their irrigation system during the summer, so the greens were just recovering from getting burnt out, but there were other signs of neglect as well. There was animal feces around the course, railway ties leaching creosote, palm trees that have never had their dead fronds pruned off, and rough cart paths. The nicest thing was well stocked ice chests with bottled water at several tees, but the day I was playing it wasn't all that hot so less water was necessary. The layout was very nice, but it has not been well taken care of, which is sad. At some point since the course opened they switched the 9's around, so the signage at each hole had the "wrong" number on it. One round was enough.
That evening I was in the casino sports bar and met a group of guys from Niagara-on-the-lake, who were on their annual golf trip to the area. They had noticed the deterioration in the course over the years, with this year being the worst, disappointing them to the point of deciding not to return in the future. I don't blame them. I think it will take the course a couple of growing seasons to recover, if it is given proper care.
With golf off the activity list, I looked for other things to do in the area. The following day I visited the Old Dominion Historic Mine Park, with a picnic lunch and my bicycle. Admission is free and there are quite a few artifacts on display and interpretive signage. I knew that mining was a big thing in this area, but didn't really understand how it all was done. This outdoor museum provided some helpful explanation. It is also a good use for the site of the old mine, which would otherwise be unusable.
Afterwards I visited a couple of the pubs in the old downtown, which would have been frequented by the miners during the towns heyday.
Across from the entrance to the casino resort there was a stand set up selling roasted salted Pinions. I had seen them a few other places in my travels and took the opportunity to find out what they were. It turns out they are the seeds from a type of Pine tree, so likely the same as pine nuts used in pesto and other recipes, but these are still in the shell. They only bear fruit every 6 - 8 years and this is one of the years. As such they are a bit of a delicacy and cost $5.00 for a small bag, about 2 or 3 ounces. After trying a sample I decided to buy a small bag.
The following day I visited Besh Ba Gowah, a site of ancient ruins that has mostly been excavated and partially restored. The site visit begins indoors with a video explaining the life and times when the village was inhabited. I was the only visitor during my time there. The employee working there was very hospitable, offering a hot beverage, starting the video and explaining how I should proceed with my visit, both inside and outside. It reminded me of some sites I saw while in Italy a few years ago.
Afterwards I went for a Chinese buffet restaurant, which was touted as being very good, but was somewhat lacking compared to the places I am used to in Toronto. They only had about 20 items, whereas back home they have around 100. The price was right though at $6.79 for lunch. They were quite busy with business folks stopping in for lunch, including apparently the local judge.
I won't be rushing back to Globe.
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