ranch hostage wrote:
But he hasn't been able to line anything up for this winter! I would imagine the RV parks are the same. Hopefully, they keep a couple of slots open for travelers ...
Most of the AZ and NM RV parks we have stayed in during the winter try to keep at least a few spaces for short-timers. That's their way of impressing you with their amenities and getting you back next year for the whole season.
If you take a look at the Good Sam Website, you will see that cities like Tucson and the Phoenix-area suburbs have scores of RV parks and thousands of RV spaces. Last winter we never had reservations anywhere in NM or AZ and always found a space in the first park we tried. If the ones in the big cities or suburbs are full, try smaller cities and towns a little further out. Places like Casa Grande, Marana, Benson, and Green Valley are still within convenient commuting distance to Phoenix or Tucson if you really want to visit their sights or attend their events.
And don't pass up state parks, especially in NM. Their parks are very reasonably priced and generally have at least 30/50A electricity and water, with an RV dump and heated restrooms with showers. Their nightly rates can be as low as $14 for an electric site.
As I am sure you already know from your Leisure Van travels, your Federal senior pass also gets you national park, monument, forest, and BLM campgrounds for half price. Although not common, some even have electricity--like the BLM campground at the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site north of Alamogordo, NM.
Just FYI, if you are at all interested in birds and other wildlife, don't miss Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, NM. From November to March, it has huge flocks of snow geese, sandhill cranes, and even a few whooping cranes. Makes a great photo stop!
I almost forgot, so had to add a P.S.: Don't miss the Pima Air & Space Museum in southeast Tucson. With more than 300 planes and spacecraft, it is probably the largest air museum outside the Smithsonian. Allow at least half a day for the museum and more if you take a tour. I spent two hours there just talking with a WWII vet who had been a tail gunner on a B-24 in the Pacific. We were standing beneath the museum's B-24 while we talked. My Dad had been a B-24 pilot and I learned more about the plane from that gunner in 2 hours than from my Dad in my whole life!
