Sunday, December 7, 2014

Another Week

 

Hard to believe we’ve been here at McDowell Mountain for 2 weeks already. Last Sunday we moved to our original reservation site, probably one of the best in the campground. No close neighbors, a huge palo verde tree that shades the picnic table, and beautiful desert and mountain views.

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With several cloudy days in a row, the sunrises have been outstanding.

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There was a hummingbird in the tree when we were setting up, so I made some nectar and put up the feeders. Within an hour they were using them. Of course they aren’t the only ones looking for a drink, so I set a bowl of water on the grill for the others.

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I’ve been biking almost every day, and Jim is still walking 3-5 miles and feeling great.

We spotted this lone ocotillo bloom, quite a contrast to the desert browns and greens.

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One day we had to pick up mail at the post office so we combined it with a walk around Fountain Hills. This upscale planned community just a few miles from McDowell Mt. Park was developed by Robert McCullough, the man who brought the London Bridge to Lake Havasu. He obviously had too much money on his hands. The lake in the center of town is composed of 100,623,600 gallons of "chemically treated, recycled wastewater”. No swimming allowed.

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There is a one mile paved path around the lake, and some cute sculptures.

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Because we washed and waxed the car on Wednesday, it rained for hours Thursday morning. Good news for the parched desert, and I had a routine doctor’s appointment anyway, along with some shopping at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s on the way home. Just after we got back Suzanne pulled in, spending a few nights here before flying back to Texas to take care of family matters.

We took a late afternoon walk on the Bluff trail where she caught us up on all the hikes the gang did after we left Utah. Sounds like we missed some fun and challenging adventures.

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Jim twisted Suzanne’s arm and made her take his bike for a ride on the trails with me. We rode my favorite 10 mile loop and she did great for her first time on a mountain bike. She agreed with Jim about the uphill sections being a bitch, but said she felt like a kid again flying along the curves and dips on the downhill. I think I see a new bike in her future.

On another note, when Millenicom folded we ended up going with a Verizon 20GB plan for $99/ mo plus taxes with no contract. After our first month with them, we had gone over by 6GBs. Jim has data usage tracking on all our devices and our numbers don’t match theirs. In fact we can’t figure out how we could have even downloaded the huge amounts they said we did in short periods of time. We were in Virgin, UT then and had a slow connection so it just doesn’t even seem possible. Jim called and the Verizon rep pretty much said their data tracking is accurate and that’s that.

So Friday we received a new 4GLTE/XLTE Jetpack (our old mifi device was having some problems anyway) and are “renting” an unlimited plan from an individual for $120/mo. It seems to be working fine so far, but we’re just going to suspend our other plan in case something unforeseen happens with the unlimited plans over the next 90 days. It will be so nice not to have to worry about this, since we apparently can’t keep our usage under 20Gs. Time to go surf the net…

25 comments:

  1. What a super RV spot. Glad you are doing Better.

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  2. You two may have only been there two weeks. But you have done enough for a month. I love the sunset photos.

    For two months in a row, We went over our 5 gig. I told them that was possible since we were using the Elks Wifi totally. It was our jet pack. We got a new one and all worked. We did not pay for going over. I monitor I separate also.

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    1. Well, maybe it was something to do with our old Jetpack but now that we have the unlimited plan we aren't going to go back and try it again unless they discontinue the unlimited. We'll see.

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  3. It's nice to know who to blame for the Seattle like weather last week. There's a reason to not wash your car... I assume Suzanne found a place to stash her rig.

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  4. Unlimited internet is not conducive to long walks :) Glad you are feeling great, Jim…keep moving.
    Box Canyon Mark

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  5. McDowell is one Maricopa County Park we haven't had a chance to stay at yet. Seems like I'm always too late in booking a reservation. This whole internet data usage thing is driving me crazy. We supposedly used more gigs than in the past and I've been using the RV Park's whenever possible. The sunrises and sunsets are the best in AZ.... enjoy!

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  6. Which campsite do you think is the best? We camp there almost every year.

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    1. We are in site 57, but as you know there is hardly a bad site here. We like most of the perimeter sites from #50-70 in the south loop.

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  7. I have unlimited data, but if I was paying for a limited amount, I'd sure be calling Verizon. I always use so much more than I should be. I was using a lot of data overnight, when I was asleep! I started using the "airplane" mode when I'm done for the night, and that stopped. Who knows how they get these high figures. I clicked over and read about your unlimited data plan rental. That's interesting. I wonder how they do it. I'll bet that's a booming business!

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  8. Great sunrise/sunset photos. And you site looks great.

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  9. There's just something extra special about Southwest sunsets and the views.

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  10. I'm hoping to get to McDowell for some hiking this spring finally. We've never been to any of the areas around Phoenix. Your site looks wonderful.

    How nice that Suzanne stopped for a visit.

    We are in need of a new phone but we still have our unlimited data plan with Verizon for $69.99 a month. The only way for us to keep the plan is to buy our own phone and switch out the sim cards. We are in the process of looking at phones. Verizon won't sell us a phone out right. They have to sell a plan with it:( Hope your new renting plan works:)

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  11. What a wonderful campsite, such gorgeous sunrises. Your pictures are really stunning. I always wondered both about the person who bought the bridge and whoever sold it in London. Seems like a cultural artifact to me. Why would they sell it. I agree, he sure had too much money. Think of the people who could have homes and food on those dollars.

    We rarely use more than 10G a month but then we don't ever download anything and use it only for the blog, mapping our routes and email. We have Verizon too and I find them pretty sketchy but for coverage all over the country they seem to be the only game in town unfortunately.

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    1. Yes, unfortunately there isn't a good alternative to Verizon. We were surprised at how much better the AT&T coverage was in southern Utah but that isn't the norm.

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  12. Those are some fantabulous sunrises! That Suzanne is turning into an adrenaline junkie!

    Back when we had 20G (we now have 40G) we had to turn off automatic video playing...you know how sometimes videos start playing as soon as you hit a website? That was using up a lot of bandwidth in the background...

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    1. We noticed our usage increasing several months ago while we were still in Millenicom so we turned off everything we could think of that automatically plays or updates. That didn't help. It's very frustrating since we are monitoring our usage and it's much less than Verizon's numbers but there is no winning with them.

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  13. The pic I like is the close-up of Sophie and the bird. Wonderful shot!

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    1. With our tinted windows the birds have no idea they are face to face with Elvis and Sophie. It's great entertainment for the cats!

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  14. I'm glad Jim is doing well! :)

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  15. Your sunset photos are stunning, great campsite!

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  16. It's hard for me to believe that you use that much data. Love the sunset pictures, especially the first one. Beautiful.

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  17. Beautiful campground. Glad you are doing better Jim. And the photos are impressive. Is that "Suzanne" the same one as "Angels Landing Suzanne"? Holy Moly! What has been unleashed? She'll soon be hiking the Grand Canyon from the South Rim, catching a raft on the Colarado for several whitewater miles, and then hiking up to the North Rim. :)

    BTW, what is your camp cost at McDowell? Looks like $20 or $30 per day, depending on amenities.

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    1. The sites at all of the Maricopa County Parks just recently went up to $30/night. It kills us to pay that but we love this place and we've done so much free boondocking this year we are trying not to think about it! All the RV sites at McDowell have water and electric.

      And yes, that would be the same Suzanne. I think she might be planning the very trip you mentioned;-)

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