2015 Trip – Williams, AZ to Long Beach, CA

Mon. 713… (Williams, AZ)  This morning we decided to go see Bearizona.  We’d seen it in the AAA guide and researched it on the internet.  It’s a drive thru a wildlife park, similar to the old Lion Country Safari in the OC. We went to one of these in Idaho on the way to Yellowstone and liked it so we thought we’d go see this attraction.  We knew the animals were out more in the mornings and evenings so we went to breakfast at 9:00am at the Pine Country Inn (very good) and then drove the short distance to the park. It’s just outside Williams.  The cost was in AAA tour book as $18. for seniors but when we got there we found they’d gone up to $19.75.  But it turned out to be well worth the price! 

 

 

We started out with the three mile drive-through portion.  We saw Rocky Mountain Sheep, Dall Sheep, Rocky Mountain Elk, Mule Deer, Alaskan Tundra Wolves, Arctic Wolves, Juvenile Black Bear, White Bison, American Bison, Bighorn Sheep, and Black Bear. Almost all of the animals were out and really close to the road so we got some good pictures. 

 

 

Then we parked and went in to the walking part of the park and our first stop was the Birds of Prey Show, which was really fun.  The bird’s flight path was to zoom inches over the audience.  You could actually feel the wind when they went over!  Cool! 

We walked past the enclosures where we saw smaller animals such as goats, red foxes, porcupines, river otters, swift foxes, and badgers.

Then we boarded what’s called The Wild Ride.  This open air bus went back through the drive-through area, this time with the driver, Jen, telling us the names of all the animals we saw.  That was really the interesting part when we got history how each of the animals came to the park and why.  Like some of the bears were three strikers who tried to snatch munchies from campers in the national forests one too many times! They got relocated here and are very well adjusted. 

We ended up the Bearizona visit with a trip through the gift shop.  It was being worked on but was open for the first time today!  This park is five years old and is privately owned and receives no tax dollars.  Admission prices help take care of the animals and fund the future developments of the facilities.  It looks like this will be around for awhile and is well worth the time to go through.

 

After we got home the girls went back to the train depot gift shop and to the local quilt store to buy souvenirs and check out quilting stuff.  I walked Bailey and ran into a mobile rv repair truck and asked him to come by.  I had a leak in my aqua hot system and thought it was a hose that had worn through.  He came by and found it was a fitting that he tightened.  I also have not had the water pump working.  This was not a problem since we only use it when we are actually driving down the road (we use city water hookups while parked in the campgrounds).  He put a meter on it and found that I had a bad ground and the pump burnt out. It’s a quick fix to change it out and I’ll do that when we get home. We both skipped lunch so after a bit, the girls got hungry and didn’t plan to cook so we took off to town (about 3 minutes away) and chose Rod’s Steak House for dinner.  Turns out to be another highlight, especially for me.  I had liver and onions and it was delicious!  Afterwards, we drove around and checked out the neighborhood to see what kind of homes are here.  They told us on the train that a company is planning on building an amusement park here just out by I40.  Property value is going up.  Nothing for us here though so we drove on home to rest and walk Bailey and work on this blog. Tomorrow we leave for Needles.

 

Tues. 7/14…  (Needles, CA)  The drive today was 170 miles and we were going to Needles so we were in no hurry.  We decided to leave at 10:00am and the drive was no problem. Unless you count the road and a lousy asphalt truck driver!  We finally hit a stretch of I40 that was in really bad shape.  It was about an hour or so west of Williams.  There was a lot of construction so hopefully they will have the worst parts finished by the next time we are on that route.  We had the worst close call of the trip.  We were necked down to the left lane and were working through the coned area when an asphalt truck moved out of the construction lane right into ours.  I locked up and missed him by maybe three feet! Too close for us! Everything that wasn’t secured came forward.  Bailey was on the couch so she was fine. We made the rest of the drive with no problems and we are now at Needles Marina RV Park, Needles, CA.  Price was $36.00 with Good Sam card but they charge $5.00 per AC so we paid $46.00. Temps were in the 80s in Williams but now it’s 107 here in Needles!  I won’t even take Bailey out for a walk until it cools down later tonight.  Rick unhooked his car as they are driving today so they went off to explore beautiful downtown Needles.  They found a few places to choose for dinner and we later headed off to Juicy’s River Café. It was pretty good and easy in and out. Once back at the rig, I walked Bailey down to the river (of course she took a good swim!) then we went over to the pool to cool down.  It was something we wanted to do to compensate for the price of this park.  It was nice and relaxing and we stayed a while before heading back to the rig to watch TV and then hit the bed.  We have the longest drive of the trip tomorrow (270 miles) and want to leave by 7:00am to beat the heat.     

 

Wed. 7/15… (Home)  We got up early and I walked Bailey back to the river for a morning swim. We did leave but it was a little after our planned 7:00am.  I had an issue with the toilet not flushing so that’s another thing to add to the list to get worked on.  We managed to get past the heat by driving early and it was actually a nice drive home.  We hit the usual traffic in the usual spots but no major worries. We stopped at a rest area to walk the dogs and it was here where we did our hugs and said goodbye to Rick & Janie.  They later split off at the 241 toll road to cutoff time and distance.  We really had a good time traveling with them and I apologize for giving each of them trouble along the way but hey, that’s what I do! We got home about 12:30 and set out to unload the rig.  But first step was to fill Bailey’s pool.  We wanted to give her a bath to get rid of the river water smell and the pool was to help rinse off all of the soap after the bath. I worked on the toilet a little but realized I couldn’t resolve the problem so it remains on my list.  I moved the DirecTV boxes back to the bedrooms and got them set up and operational.  We both have things we taped on these boxes so we will need to watch them in the days to come. We unloaded some more and then gave Bailey her bath.  Later, we went out to Five Guys for a quick meal and went home and did some more unpacking and closed the rig for the night.  Tomorrow I will call my mechanic (Bill) and set up a day where he can come look at the things on my list to work on.  Plus I will get an appointment to take the rig in for a wash and wax job. I put the bugs on it but someone else can wash them off! 

Ok, that's it for this 2015 adventure.  Tons of fun and lots of pictures.  Hope you weren't bored with all my narrative!  If not, check in on the last blog which will be a summation and some stats of the entire trip.