What a wonderful group of RV Escapees! Forty-nine rigs boondocked together for a wonderful week at Usery Pass Regional Park in Mesa AZ under sunny skies and 75 + temperatures! This Chapter knows how to put on a rally. Bill and I packed lots of water and early in the morning, hiked up to Wind Cave and another on the Merkel Loop. I say early, as it was too hot later in the day for hiking and there would be a greater chance of snake appearances. Yes, the snakes have emerged from their winter's hibernation.
Our lunch at the Organ Stop Pizza was a real treat! Pizza was delicious, but secondary to the World's largest Wurlitzer Pipe Organ with its 6000 pipes and percussion instruments played by a world class musician! Amazing! This is a theatre organ designed for the silent movies. Because an orchestra would be too costly, the theatre organ could be played by one musician and the organ made to sound like an orchestra with all its stops. It has been described as part military band, part symphony orchestra and part special theatrical sound effects. The console has 4 manuals(keyboards), 276 keys and 798 stops and controls. Four huge turbine blowers produce the wind required for its operation. And the sound? Unbelievable!
This is Wind Cave, our hiking destination, one thousand feet up and two miles long, taking about three hours to complete. Spring breakers made it a very busy trail. We were thankful for the coolness of the shade at the top. We had a wonderful view of the city of Mesa in the distance and the camp below. Patches of wildflowers, lupins and yellow buttercup type flowers greeted us along the way.
Sunsets in the desert skies, roasting marshmallows over an open campfire and singing and kazooing (a new word) were fitting ends to the day! A wonderful week! Thank you, Chapter 44!
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