Why AZ

Why Arizona is a tiny unincorporated town located at the intersection of state road 85 and 86, which was originally a “Y” shaped intersection. The last census listed the population at 167, so not a big town, it is two hours west of Tucson on AZ-86, it is 30 miles north of the Mexican border, and is at the entrance to the “Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument”, it is ten miles south of Ajo, which was the site of a huge copper mine, and is still the closest location for most supplies. There is the world famous “Why Not Store” which has fuel pumps, propane, Mexico insurance, general store, and of course gun storage lockers.

So how the hell did we end up in Why Arizona? Well this is the story of how we came to this hot spot…it started with a YouTube video done by Bob Wells, who specializes in cheap RV living, he did a piece about a little RV park called Coyote Howls East that offered an unserviced site for around $500 per year, there is water available, and a dump station, no electric at all, the sites are approximately 50 feet by 50 feet. This got Miss Laurie looking at Arizona as a possible winter destination, and she found that there was a RV park called what else Coyote West, it had full service lots for $220 per month, plus electric. So I said let’s try it, if it’s terrible, we will just dump the tanks, fill the water and move on, I mean seriously that’s like $17 a day, how bad can it be?

So we leave a county park near Tucson and drove the two hours across AZ-86 to the metropolis of Why, it was December the first and at that time we were towing my van on a tow dolly so as we pulled off of the road onto Kater Road within a few hundred feet we are now in front of the park, it’s shortly after lunch and as we get checked in, I’m unloading the van, and Miss Laurie is checking us in. Now first of all we are forty feet long and the sites are a little on the tight side, and our site had changed from our original choice, it is very dusty and even moving at five miles an hour the coach is creating a dust storm. Well I after unhooking the dolly squeezed into our site, we on the back row and there was a small lane that we used to get into the site, as we are finally in position, I have set the brake and as I open the coach door I’m met by Miss Cindy, inviting us to happy hour at 4 pm, that was the introduction to an amazing month.

Well we made Happy Hour that day and about thirty more over the next month, and met many great people, from many different walks of life, most of them snowbirds escaping the cold weather, but a few have made this their permanent residence. With summer temperatures well into the triple digits, it would be a little more than uncomfortable in any coach, I don’t care how dry the heat is. There were potlucks most Fridays at the happy hour gathering, and many afternoons someone would just bring some snacks, it truly became the centre of the social activities, there is also events at the community center, a weekly breakfast, potlucks, fellowship gatherings on Sundays, a monthly flea market, as well as other social events.