2019 SouthWest: Hwy 60 to Scottsdale

We had a quick stop over at Roper Lake SP, to break up the drive to Scottsdale. Roper is a nice little park, with good facilities, some hiking trails, and apparently, good fishing. We  hiked one of the trails after set up, and it was a great way to shake off the white line fever.

Mountain snow...

On our way through Safford the next morning, we spied another of those self serve car washes, and swung right in. That big cloud that passed through us at Oliver Lee, left everything covered in a red dust laden mist. I’m not a fan of a filthy Alto, so it had to be dealt with. Dale and I have a routine down pat. Pull in the Santa Fe first, she runs the high pressure rinse to soak, I scrub with my ever present car brush, then it gets a quick rinse. Move forward a bit, and the Alto gets the same treatment.  We are generally on our way in about 15 minutes. As an added bonus, with Dale operating the spray wand, I get a pretty good cleaning as well.

We travelled Hwy 70 west out of Safford, then caught Hwy 60 at Globe. This road makes its way up and through the Gila & Pinal Mountain Pass, and it is quite the drive. There was lots of snow around, in fact, we passed by a community centre, and the kids were making snowmen on the front lawn. Fortunately, the roads were clear and dry, which was nice, given the route over the mountain.

It was really that much of a nail biter, but definitely a two hands on the wheel event. Even got to go through a tunnel, which appeared out of the blue around a bend. Some of the downhill grades were a bit much, but the road is in fine condition. Lots of abandoned mines to be see, and we read later that it was, and still is, a big copper mining area. Unfortunately, the mining companies have done a number on a bunch of the peaks along the way, turning them into pyramid looking shapes.

Oh joy...a bridge

The rest of the way along 60 was uneventful, and we soon pulled into Usery Mountain Recreation Area. The campsite is gorgeous. We are surrounded by a Sonarran Desert landscape, with all sort of different cacti.

our backyard

This one is for you Carisa & love my t-shirt Meghan!

It was an idyllic, and seriously surreal moment. Our site turned out to be the image we have been carrying around in our heads for so long. One that depicted how we saw our retirement travels, specifically in the SouthWest. We quickly got set up, then sat down to soak in one of those special life moments.