Our First Month

Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve

Patagonia AZ

Isn't it amazing how fast time flies?  We can't believe we have been here at Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve for a month now.  We recently found out we were not the only new visitors to the area.  We have a Surprise Visitor....

This photo is from the wildlife camera taken on Nov 11, 2011 - the same day we arrived.  This Mountain Lion crossed the creek a couple of hundred yards from our motorhome.  Our Preserve Manager Matt found signs of the cat in the area recently, such as scat and scratch marks.

Considering the Mountain Lion has been here all month, we are hoping he likes to stay hidden during the day and does his hunting at night.  We would not mind seeing him at a distance...a very long distance.

One night, we heard some strange cries near our motorhome.  Dan thought it was a distressed Javalina, but our manager Matt has not found any traces of a carcass nearby.  Javelina distress call: http://www.javelinahunter.com/sounds/javlinasound13.wav  

 We also learned that our cats make wonderful alert cats.  Sandy first heard Dusty growling and the other cats soon joined in.  Once they had her attention, she started hearing the crying outside (possible Javelina distress call).  We could not see anything and never did verify for sure what made the sounds.

White-nosed Coatimundi

A month ago, we had never heard of a Coatimundi until our manager said they had seen a group of them recently on the Preserve.  Dan and I had to look them up so we could recognize them.  The Coati is raccoon-like, climbs trees, and dig for insects.  Everyday, we would walk through the area with hopes of seeing just one.  No luck.

The other day we had some time off from our volunteering duties and decide to go for a walk.  Dan spotted the White-nose Coati first.  The Coati was on the trail in front of us.  He just stood there on the path staring at us.  We think this is a male since males travel alone.  We did not see or hear any others nearby.

Sandy was so happy she brought her camera for the walk. She almost left it behind for this late afternoon walk.  After taking some photos, moving closer and taking more, he started moving very slowly down the path.

And he stopped..........strike a pose....

Great photo of his paws - good for digging and climbing

Close-up of his paws

He looked back and froze again for several seconds. 

He turned around to look at us again...and froze. 

so cute

Then he turned the other direction to look at us again.  Maybe he was trying to get a better look at us.  This encounter must have gone on for 10 minutes!  It was great!

Check out his turned-up nose!

We think this is when he realized we were going to keep following him, so he ran off the trail and out into the brush.  He was brave and watched us a long time before running for cover.

We will close this post with just a few more photos from the preserve.  As always, all pics are "clickable" for larger images.

Morning Walks (Patagonia, AZ)

Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve

Patagonia, AZ

We are volunteering at a wildlife preserve in southern Arizona this winter. We are 60 miles south of Tucson, and 20 miles north of Nogales.  Preserve website: Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve 

We are parked on site, with 312 acres as our backyard. The preserve manager lives across the dirt road, so inside the fence line we have the place to ourselves after hours and on Monday and Tuesday when the preserve is closed.

We take turns in the visitors center, wandering the trails, or back in the RV. We bring our laptops into the visitors center to have something to do in between visitors. 

We open the gate, open the visitors center, greet visitors and tell them about the park, collect fees, and at the end of the day end of day settle the books and lock up.  In return we have full hookup RV parking and free high speed wifi. We plan on at least 3 months volunteering here.

Visitors center

Our RV site above

Year around creek and large solar array.



We are taking turns taking walks around the preserve while the other stays in the visitors center.  Here are some of Dan's pictures taken as he walks:

Coes (pronounced Cows) White Tail Deer

Click to enlarge to see two Great Horned Owls.

Tarantula Love

 I ran upon a pretty aggressive Javelina. He was snorting, stomping his feet, and clacking his teeth. He was about 7 feet off the trail I that wanted to walk down and I wanted to pass by him.

After a minute or so another adult Javelina and a young one ran past me from the opposite side of the trail and crashed out through the brush towards the creek.

The aggressive one calmed down after that, and I was able to walk past him and on down the trail.

Sandy's Walk......

Good Morning Sunshine!

Bedtime for Mr. Western Screech Owl

We woke up to frost on the ground a couple of days ago.  When the sun started warming the earth, I decided to take a very early walk. Crispy morning air, so bright and clear!

 The fields had a golden look to them.  I saw a couple of deer in the tall grass, but no luck getting their picture.  As a matter of fact, they seem to be the masters of evading my camera.  I can only see their heads above the grass and then they duck down.  They blend into the woods so well that I hear them before I see them and forget about the camera! By the time I have it up and ready - they are gone!  I'll get a photo of one  sooner or later.

The walk is about 2 miles round trip and it had been pretty quiet until I heard some crashing in the underbrush just below the pathway.  I thought it was deer, but I wasn't seeing them.  Then, I saw the Javalinas.   I stopped to get a photo, but the ravine was too dark and one of the Javalinas started to make grunting noises and blowing loudly through his nose.  Time to move on!  I kept an eye on them just to be sure they were staying put and not watching where I was going.  Yea, big mistake!  This guy was on the path right in front of me!

Okay!  Time to turn around and go the other direction!  I'm glad I did change directions to follow the spring-fed creek trail.  The sun was hitting it just right to cause steam to rise up.  So enchanting!  I looked for Frodo and Sam, but I did not see either Hobbit.  Darn!

Instead, I ran into the three little Javalinas.  They were munching until I started taking their picture.  They all stopped to stare back at me.  Yep, you guessed it - time to move on....

The rest of my walk was uneventful, but very relaxing.  I took this last photo with my Fish-eye lens just for fun.  I hope you enjoyed my walk and photos.

SKP Co-ops, Long Term Plans

Several people have been curious about the posts we made on our blog about the Escapees co-ops we are visiting, and how they work.

Our favorite Casita - back door

We believe all full time RVers should have an exit plan for coming off the road for age, illness, or desire, We have had a rough plan in mind for a while, and are now firming up our exit plan. As with everything else RV related, we may change our plans, or modify them at some later date.

Side patio

Our long term plan is to remain in an RV, but when the time comes to get off the road, park the RV at a SKP co-op. Escapee (SKP) co-ops are RV parks affiliated with the Escapees RV club (designed for full timers who RV 365 days a year).

Patio faces the valley view

We will buy in (lease) a lot in a SKP co-op before the time to get off the road permanently, and use it as a home-base in the meantime, perhaps staying several months a year. We want one not in a city, but near good shopping, 'maybe' a military base somewhat nearby, a VA hospital or clinic is an upside, decent medical and dental care nearby, and maybe even an assisted living facility nearby. Some freezing nights is okay, and an occasional light dusting of snow, but with decent daytime temps to walk or be outside.

The people in the co-op purchase a life time lease on a lot, and then all lease holders jointly own and operate the park, with member elected boards for decision making. They have nice community centers, community activities, and keep a clean and well operated park. The cost of the lease varies park to park, plus the cost of authorized 'improvements' on the lots such as a Casita, storage shed, cement pads, etc. The co-op members help keep the park up to reduce cost of hired help.

When we buy a lifetime lease, we can sell it back early, or if we die our kids can sell the lease back. When finished with the lease, the entire lease cost is returned back to us. The only long term cost is annual maintenance fees, which pay for the community roads, community shared space and buildings/utilities.

The annual maintenance fee includes water, sewer, usually cable TV, usually wifi in at least the community center, garbage, weed control, and more. The only cost to us once we 'own' a lot is electric, propane, and the annual maintenance fee which varies park to park and year to year. Benson was $1,000 last year, so after buying the lease about $100 per month, plus our own electric and propane use.

If we travel, we can at our option, place our lot in the rental pool for other Escapees who are not co-op lease holders to rent while we are gone. The rental pool splits the proceeds, approx 1/4 to the park for overhead, approx 3/4 split by everyone in the rental pool. So overall, after an up front cost of a low of 3,000 for a bare lot in Hondo TX, to a bare lot in Benson AZ for $10,000, to a lot with a very nice Casita in a popular location perhaps $25,000 to $50,000, then thereafter $100 a month average, minus any rental proceeds we earn when we travel. (only the lot rents out, not the Casita itself which will be locked up).

So bottom line, that is our long term plan, for a low cost way to have a home base, and a landing place when we cannot or do not want to travel either temporarily, or long term.

A different kind of landscaping

Benson AZ has the longest waiting list, currently around 7 years. That works for us as we want to travel right now anyway, and cannot tap our 401Ks without penalty for another 4.5 years. We put down a $500 deposit (refundable if we change our minds) to get on the list at Benson AZ Saguro Co-op. We are number 374.

We plan to travel many more years, don't think we want the trouble of a deeded house again, and have no desire to rent. A SKP co-op gives us a community of like minded folks, a community center on site, and the opportunity to travel without worrying about our "home/homestead" as the co-op looks after it in our absence. When we are no longer capable of living in a co-op we would also be incapable of living in a house, and it will be time for an assisted living facility. A list of all the SKP co-ops and locations: http://www.escapees.com/baseco_op.asp

We still have yet to visit the Yuma AZ, Pahrump NV, Wauchula FL, or 2 California co-ops, and we want to re-visit and re-evaluate the Sutherlin Oregon co-op. If we change our minds as we visit more co-ops next calendar year, we can get our $500 Benson AZ deposit back, losing only the additional $20 handling fee.

Thus far this year we visited the Lone Star Coral co-op in Hondo TX, The Ranch in Lakewood NM, Rovers Roost in Casa Grande AZ, Saguro in Benson AZ, and 2 years ago Evergreen Coho in Chimacum WA, and Timber Valley in Sutherlin OR. Our favorites so far are Saguro, The Ranch, and Timber Valley. FL is not a player for us, so we will skip that co-op. The Ranch is a nice friendly park, and nearby Artesia NM is pretty nice - however the co-op is out of town a good ways. The Ranch had lots available right now - no wait.

We don't recall the Oregon park very well as we were not in the market for a co-op at the time, so we plan to revisit as it this coming summer as a potential area for us. The WA co-op is not an area we are interested in. It is in the NW peninsula of WA, fairly remote, and with limited roads in and out, plus the ferry system. We doubt Yuma AZ will work for us either as we want a year around weather capable park and Yuma may be too hot in summer. For us, 'light snow' and 'a few' freeze temp nights are more acceptable than extreme heat in summer.

So in a nutshell, that is our current long term plan.

Time to slow down, people!

Saguaro SKP Park, Benson, AZ

We spent last week in Benson, AZ.  We have stayed in Benson a couple of times, but it has been awhile.  So, we have been busy driving around southern Arizona getting familiar with the area again.  We liked it quite a bit last time and we still do.  We drove to Davis-Monthan AFB/Tucson one day.  On the second day, we drove to Ft. Huachuca Army Base/Sierra Vista and to Patagonia to see where we would be spending our winter.  On the third day, we drove over to Casa Verde near Phoenix to see another Co-op park.  That park wasn’t as nice as the one in Benson.  

Look George!  It's delivery Oats!

After all that driving around, we decided to stay home to do a little resting and catching up on everything.  

We did some walking around the park, took photos of the casitas that we liked the best.  The Casitas face east so quite a few of the photos are of their backsides.  Most of them have nice porches and decks facing towards the east.

The lots are very spacious and people do quite a bit of landscaping.  We were assigned a front row site and fell in love with the view.

  

Across the street we were able to watch Quail run back and forth.  They are very comical little birds.  They really kept the cats entertained. 

We know we have not seen all of the Co-op parks yet, but we decided to get on the Saguaro SKP's waiting list here in Benson.  There are 372 people waiting to have a site here which means it may take up to 7 years to get a site.  

In the meantime, we plan to keep looking at the other parks.  We might change our minds and decide on a different park.  We can be on more than one waiting list.  We will have to wait and see.