Quartzsite Craziness, Ajo, and Wild Weather

Thursday, November 21, 2013


Well, we never found the mega-multi-armed saguaro cactus, so after a quiet day on Tuesday, Greg explored more mining roads, while I made new curtains for our back window, we left Dome Rock Road on Wednesday. We decided to use up the rest of our water since we were going into Quartzsite to refill it and dump. After both of us showering, we managed to keep our shower water use to about nine gallons. I solved my hair washing dilemma by washing it in the kitchen sink. A “real” shower is going to feel incredibly luxurious!

This Episode's Fierce Wildlife

Sunset over Dome Rock

Our first stop in Quartzsite was the RV Pit Stop. There for $10 for dumping and an additional $4 for water, we got ready for more boondocking. Our next stop was K&B which was a combination hardware store, home store, and RV store under one big awning. We found some LED lights to try in our incandescent and halogen light fixtures. They should draw down the battery far less when we dry camp.

You can find any kind of RV-related service in Quartzsite

Water is precious in the desert

Many stores do not have real buildings

Outdoor-only restaurants are typical also

 Next stop was the Desert Oasis Bookseller. It is run by Paul who is known as the “Naked Bookseller”. As we drove into the parking lot he was outside tending the outdoor tables and had his back to us. All we could see was his long hair, straw hat and nakedness. When he turned around we could see his aviator sunglasses and his “sack” cinched around his privates! Sewn on it was a tiger or shark tooth. To be honest, he's got some age on him, and is pretty lean. Too much time in the dry, sunny desert has made him leathery. He quietly went about his business while we browsed. We purchased a few items, but to make change he had to leave to get it. As Greg said, he didn't have any pockets!

Yep, Paul in the all-together

This is the UFO section

Paul is also a Vaudeville star.

We got a late start heading south on 95 towards Yuma. A lot of RVer's stay in Yuma in the warm winter, but our goal was to make it to Ajo by nightfall. There is a favorite boondocking spot on BLM land just south of town, that we have read about on a lot of blogs. It's in the Sonoran desert, where you are surrounded by saguaro cactus, and just north of Pipe Organ Cactus National Monument which borders Mexico. We reached Yuma and drove east on I-8 until we arrived at Gila Bend. From there we headed south to Ajo.
Racing the sunset we arrived at dusk. There was a beautiful sunset as we drove back Darby Wells Road. A wide graded road took us a mile back into the area along the high tailings piles from the nearby copper mine, the oldest in Arizona. We reached a fork in the road with a sign that said that area is frequented by smugglers. Hmm...We drove both directions on the forks. There wasn't a soul anywhere! All the white RV's stick out like sore thumbs amongst the desert vegetation. No one was there! It was getting darker by the minute, we had to turn around twice, and frankly, I didn't want to boondock there without other campers. We drove back into Ajo and checked into Belly Acres RV Park.

Yuma Proving Ground

Gila River

Dates

Dust from plowed farm fields along I-8

AJO

Copper tailings piles

Darby Wells Road next to the copper pit mine

Sunset is pretty but not when you are trying to find a campsite

It was disappointing to miss camping in such a beautiful and interesting spot, and we had already boondocked for 12 straight nights and were hoping to stretch it longer. Belly Acres was a sweet little park, the brother and sister who own it were very friendly and we slept well and felt safe. Well, I slept like a log. Greg woke to the howl of coyotes and heard what sounded like quail “whining” under the rig to get away from them! The owner thought they might have been javelinas, but we don't think they would fit, and in our encounters with them last winter in Texas, we never heard them make a sound. Anyway, Greg couldn't wake me, so I missed the “surround-sound” experience.

A neatly kept little RV park

Ajo Town Plaza

This morning with the sun shining, we decided to leave the area and drive east across the Tohono O'odham Nation. We considered going south to the Pipe Organ Cactus National Monument, but after checking their website and finding parts of the scenic drive closed, we assumed due to border problems, we didn't go there. The drive across the reservation was scenic with thousands of saguaro cacti along the route. Just before Tuscon we were going to head south into Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge to dry camp, and then tomorrow head east through the mountains across a scenic route towards New Mexico.

Sonoran Desert on the Reservation

Kitt Peak Observatory southwest of Tucson

We pulled over for lunch and checked the weather. What?! When did this big rainmaker get in the forecast? A small chance of rain for the next few days had turned into major flooding in the area we had just come through and where we were going. A lot of the boondocking spots are dry washes that turn into rivers in a downpour. Okay, change of plans. We decided to get on I-10 and sail on over to New Mexico where we were heading eventually anyway. That state looked to be getting less rain, but more wind, and everywhere was getting unseasonably cold.

Weather moving up from Mexico

We could see thunderstorms from 20 miles away

Threading the needle between storms

A few patches of blue sky

We managed to avoid most of the rain coming from Arizona into New Mexico. We could see huge downpours around us. At dusk we pulled into the Lordsburg, New Mexico welcome center where we spent a wild, windy, sleety night last winter. This time we pulled way over to the end of the parking lot. Last year we parked in the middle and had trucks pulling in and out on both sides of us all night. We found an Albuquerque TV station and discovered that the weather forecast had worsened and there is going to be snow and mixed precipitation over most of the state. It looks like we can go south of Deming to Rockhound State Park and have most of it miss us. They have electric hookups and we can run our space heater and ride out the weather and cold while we cocoon for a few days. So, tomorrow we'll get some groceries in Deming and be all set. Over the next few weeks, we plan to stay at several New Mexico State Parks and use our annual pass to camp for $4 a night. Then we'll start to work our way to Florida for Christmas.
Once again we've been chased out of Arizona by the weather, twice last winter. This year we have also been finding closed areas and uneasiness due to border issues. It is frustrating to be shut out of beautiful, wild areas, or having to be extra alert due to possible dangers because of these issues. We vacillate between feeling like it is much ado about nothing, and feeling like it is a serious consideration. I don't know what the answer is, and don't want to debate the politics, I just know that we are unable to freely visit amazing places within our own borders and it makes me angry and sad...