San Pedro Valley...

We live in an RV park. The park is located pretty much in the middle of San Pedro Valley, about 50 miles southeast of Tucson, Arizona. 

Like most of Southwest Arizona the San Pedro Valley is part of the Sonoran desert and is named for the state of Sonora, Mexico. And why not? This was part of Sonora, Mexico before it was part of the USA. Mostly you'll see wild grasses, mesquite brush, cactus of several varieties even including a few saguaro cactus. The elevation here is about 3,600' which is a little too high for saguaro cactus- they have to be transplanted here.

There's very little developed housing here in the valley. The majority of the land is devoted to ranching and, around St David and Pomerene, some farming. Residential housing is primarily found in Benson (a railroad town which our park borders) and Sierra Vista (home to the US Army's Ft. Huachuca). Plus there are a few smaller settlements like St. David & Pomerene (both were settled by Mormons nearly 200 years ago), Tombstone (think Gun Fight at the OK Corral, Wyatt Earp, and boot hill) and, though not strictly in San Pedro Valley, there's also Bisbee (open pit mining where copper is king; it's also the county seat of Cochise County).

The valley is named for the San Pedro River. For all intents and purposes the river looks like a dry river bed and generally speaking you can see no water visibly moving. But there is water flowing thru the river. The valley was formed by geological activity that is essentially a crack in the earth. That crack is filled with rock and (this is important) sand. The San Pedro connects conveniently with a river in Mexico and is the only north-flowing river from Mexico into the USA. That water from Mexico is flowing thru the sand from south to north, out of sight. Dig down into the sand a foot or two and (ta-dah!) there's the water. Well... a foot or two of a 'wet' year. There's at least one place along the course of this sand-and-water filled river which is over 3,000 ft deep.

 

SKP Saguaro Co-op looking ENE

Our park is named SKP Saguaro Co-op. It's affiliated with Escapee's RV Club. And you may notice that SKP is the phonetic equivalent of Escapee. Escapees RV Club is a national association of RVers with a network of association-owned RV parks and services of interest to RVers including mail forwarding. The Escapees' parks are available to Escapee's members at a discount price (sort of). Escapees rules would require the lots in our park be available to all Escapees members but our lots are available only as a lifetime lease. Hence the affiliation is treated separately as 'Co-ops'. SKP Saguaro Co-op, founded in 1985, isn't the only SKP park- there are 11 scattered around the west and south perimeter of the USA.

SKP Saguaro has 299 lots which are held by lifetime lease. In addition there are 22 smaller lots which were set aside for annual rental by non-leaseholders (the '300 row') plus another 24 lots available for 6 month rental agreements (the '700 row'). And there are another 25+ lots without water, power or sewer connections which are available for short term rental (called 'dry camping'). Non-member residents are those that don't have a lifetime lease but are members of the parent organization, Escapee's RV Club, and have signed a rental agreement. Currently there's a waiting list of over 350 RVers who want to buy a lifetime lease here at SKP Saguaro Co-op.

Here's a satellite image of the San Pedro Valley- the crack in the earth which has been a stable event for several million years-

A Google Earth image showing part of the San Pedro Valley from Benson to
St David (an LDS saint, not catholic).

And here's what Google Earth shows us the park looks like from very high up...

SKP Saguaro Co-op. That's AZ-80 on the right edge- the park entrance is about 1/4 mi up a grade. What looks like more RV lots to the West is actually a real estate development that never got off the ground.

Most of the park is arranged on a North/South rectangular grid except the upper (and more recent) portion is at a distinct angle. That's where our lot #265 is located:

Zooming in, Lot 265 is circled in blue with our vehicles out front. Thank you Google Earth!

A shot across San Pedro Valley at all important rain fall. Nearly all our moisture comes from
T-storms like these.

An afternoon T-Storm off to the West of the park in the Whetstone Mountains.

Everywhere we look in the park is a 'view'... either East across the valley floor about 12 miles to the Dragoon Mountains, or toward the West and the Whetstone Mountains- roughly in the direction of Tucson. 

It's really a gorgeous landscape here. Possibly best enjoyed during the uncomfortably hot summer when the snow birds disappear to their cooler home lands!