“Fall-ing” for Arizona

It has been three months since we returned from summer travels in the Southern states + Minnesota this summer. We’ve been basking in the cool’ish fall temps and adventuring closer to home. Check out other Arizona gems here. Here’s what we’ve been up to!

Divin’ into Dive Bars

We love us some dive bars, but had yet to visit the most iconic Arizona dive bar: Crown King Saloon. There’s a good reason for this: Crown King is not on the way to anywhere. It requires a long, extremely slow drive down a 28-mile rutted dirt road, high into the Bradshaw Mountains of Northern Arizona. The majority of the visitors arrive in 4WD Jeeps or Razr ATVs — with good reason. Even in our Jeep, our teeth were almost rattled out of our skulls.

A historic place, it once boasted a successful mining operation and over 500 buildings, including boarding houses, saloons, butcher shops and all the trappings of a bustling town. In fact, the Crown King Saloon building itself was once a popular whorehouse and saloon run by John “Burro” Revello. If your nickname is Burro, you gotta be one rough-and-tumble dude.

Today, Crown King has only 100 full-time residents, and their one-room schoolhouse has exactly 6 students. But it’s a popular destination for adventure seekers, off-roaders, motorcyclists, and people seeking a cold beer and juicy cheeseburger in a unique place.

The Saloon is jam-packed with historic photos and mementos, a fun place to wander in wonder, especially on weekends when they host various events and live music, and the town has two other restaurants, too.

On your way to Crown King, you’ll pass right through Cleator, Arizona, and another even divey-er bar: Cleator Bar and Yacht Club, so named for the eclectic assortment of abandoned boats and water vehicles out back.

Their tag line says it all: “Where The Desert Meets The Dock.” Upended jet skis, a pirate ship, buoys hanging from trees, and an outdoor bar in a ramshackle pontoon boat complete the semi-kinda-nautical theme.

Like Crown King, it’s a popular stop for off-roaders and curious travelers, or people who like junk.

The town of Cleator itself started in the gold rush days of the 1860s, when this building was the general store. It’s a quirky little place — not worth a trip for its own sake, but if you’ve already traveled the dusty road to Crown King, you might as well check out this “town,” too, all visible via a 30-second drive through town.

Another great Arizona dive bar ….? You’ll want to seek out the remote Desert Bar in Parker, Southern Arizona, similarly reachable via — you guessed it — a long, slow, dirt road. Read more and see pictures about it here.

The Red Rocks of Sedona

Twenty years ago, newly-dating couple Philip and Tessa took their first road trip together to Sedona, Arizona, pretty much cementing the relationship with a mutual love of travel exploration.

Fast forward to 2025, and we celebrated our anniversary with a return visit to the same Enchantment Resort. It’s a stupidly-expensive luxury destination with a world-class spa and amenities galore. We had to re-learn how to do non-RV travel … what do you pack in a suitcase, again?

The 6.5-mile Boynton Pass Trail leads out right from the property. It’s a relatively easy trail, except the very end where it’s up-up-up for some very steep rock scrambling. The gorgeous red rocks of Boynton Canyon surround you throughout the entire hike.

This trip wasn’t in the RV, but previous trips to Sedona have included staying at Rancho Sedona RV Park. It is close to town, a 5 minute walk to the shopping village of Tlaquepaque, and the start of some hiking trails. It’s very quiet and peaceful, but reserve many many months in advance; they are fully booked mostly year-round. For more Sedona hiking options, read our 2018 blog post here.

Adventures in Sewage

We have been RV’ing since 2013, so we’ve learned a thing or two about dealing with wastewater over the years. Regardless, during this last trip we had more unexplained, unpleasant smells than ever before, despite dumping our tanks every few days. After returning home, we decided to splurge on a professional tank cleaning with Kleen Tank, a nationally-franchised company that specializes in hydrojetting the insides of the tanks.

The technician noted not only a lot of build up on the walls of the tanks, but even some mold growing inside the gray tank. (For the uninitiated: gray=sink/shower water, black=toilet water) Thankfully, not only did the hydrojetting solve our problems, but we also obtained the secret recipe (ok, not really secret, it’s on their website) for an effective, cheap, easy-to-make holding tank liquid. Tah-dahhh:

Mix eight ounces of Calgon Ageless Bath Pearls and 40 ounces of PINE-SOL® in a one-gallon jug. Fill the jug with water. Shake gently and allow any foam to settle down. Use four to eight ounces (as directed) in each tank, every time you have emptied them.

They also suggested we purchase from Amazon some extra parts which would make it easier to back-flush our gray tank, which our RV doesn’t have the right built-in configuration to be able to do a back-flush. The long tube and 90 degree turn give easier access in our wet bay, but the real superstar is the “Valterra Flush King™ 45 Degree Reverse Flush Valve Attachment” (top of the below picture, and available via Amazon and others), which can be hooked to a hose and create do-it-yourself jetting program.

The Kleen Tank service cost $300, but was worth every penny to us. They (of course) recommend you repeat it every six month or once a year — much more frequently than our current program of once every 13 years — but hopefully this reboot will keep us fresh-n-fruity for a while now. We also did some RV body work (in you’re in Phoenix, Touch-Up Pros did a phenomenal job), resulting from an unfortunately encounter with a tree stump in Powhatan State Park in Asheville, NC last summer. Oopsie Daisies.

Our Spotlight on Casey, Illinois

This past summer, we spent a day in Casey, Illinois, which is home to more than 30 oversized objects, including ten officially certified “World’s Largest” items by the Guinness Book of World Records. RV America Magazine, published by the discount camping club Passport America, asked us to write an article about this adventure, and it was just published in their fall issue. Click on any page to expand and read, or click here to read the entire issue. If you’re traveling between St. Louis and Indianapolis off I-70, Casey is totally worth a visit!

Adventures in Despair

If you’re an Arizona Cardinals fan, you know all about disappointment and crushed dreams. But the Cardinals have taken it to new lows, even for them, becoming the first team in NFL history to lose three straight games after leading by 7+ points entering the fourth quarter. Oh well, at least we have our RV available for tailgating with great friends and family in the stadium parking lot, to ease our pain.

Tourists in Our Own Town

Being a 58-year Arizona native, it’s always surprising to me that we can still find new stuff to explore — but every year it happens and we become “tourists in our own town,” particularly when friends and family visit from out of town.

A probably unexpected “wait, you haven’t done that yet?” was a tour of Cardinals Stadium, which was our 5th NFL tour (of 32 total teams). NFL tours are our newly-formed “checklist” goal, after having X’ed off almost all of the national parks!

Fun With Family in Retirement

Philip has been threatening to retire for some time now, but it is rapidly becoming a reality, with many of his real estate projects selling and closing of late. He is adjusting to the weirdness of free time, working out and reading and **thinking about** taking over cooking duties, and spending lots of time with our three grandkids, who live just a few miles from us.

We also have another grandbaby (girl) coming this April, from daughter Taylor — her first!

As for me, I finally finished a two-sided king-size quilt for the RV, made from 72 destination tees we have amassed over the last 13 years of RV’ing. Now we can take the memories along for the ride! And, it’s Finn-approved!

Driving the RV into the retirement sunset doesn’t negate the need for ongoing trip planning — thankfully, it just means we have more time to devote to it! We’re currently working on next summer’s trip to Wyoming, Montana and Idaho — and looking ahead to the following winter’s trip to south Florida!