My Trails

No Arms

There was a story told to me by two people camped here at Gunsight Wash about a woman and her son who lived in the desert behind the BLM boondocking area. She was known as the crazy lady. Sometimes people get an unflattering label attached to them just because they are different than what we perceive is normal. This story is based mostly on rumor but here is what was told to me:

Long before this land was BLM, a woman and her son lived in Ajo, AZ. It is not altogether certain if the son got mixed up with the wrong crowd and got into drugs or if he was afflicted by some disorder like severe ADD, but whatever the reason, the mother took her son and moved to a remote part of the desert. No one knows what they lived in or much of anything more about how they lived. The story is that every day the woman would walk her son two miles to the road where he would meet the bus. There are rumors of how they lived but the only fact that can be substantiated is the display of rocks that the boy crafted during their time there.

I wanted to see if there was any evidence of the rock art that still existed so I rode Honda back through the desert yesterday. The people camped there gratiously showed me around and told me what they knew about the lady and her son. Apparently, the son did most of the work of carrying stones, laying them in heart-shaped rings around every bush and tree, making walkways, and building rock gardens. It was probably some kind of therapy activity.

The people that are camped there now are cleaning up some of the trash left. I guess not all the old lady and her son’s activities were making home beautiful. Eventually, the land became BLM and they moved all squatters out.

Ajo was home to the first copper mine in AZ, but since it closed the only thing that keeps the town alive is the tourists driving through to visit Organ Pipe National Monument, and the modern, mega complex located a few miles south in Why, AZ., comprising the headquarters to hundreds of boarder patrol agents. Every day the helicopter stationed there takes off to patrol the surrounding area.

Organ Pipe cactus don’t like frost. They are mostly indigenous to Mexico but some thrive in the south part of Arizona. This is all part of the Sonoran Desert, a place so arid that here the Saguaro have trouble getting enough moisture to make arms. Where I’m camped about the only thing growing is creosote bushes. Everyone says that no one is enforcing the 14 day limit. Even the camp host says that if a ranger comes through and says anything we will just play musical chairs and shuffle everyone up.

Petroglyphs

13 gallons of water

For over a week in the middle of January, I was one sick puppy. I had a fever that flirted with 103 degrees and the energy resembling that of a slab of meat. Concensus is that it was the flu, and if there is even a remote chance it can be prevented in the future, I will certainly get that flu shot next year. Even now my energy level is not quite up to par and I still have a bit of congestion deep in my lungs.

I have been to Mexico for dental and my annual meds. I still have one more trip tomorrow for the permanent crown. There is more work to do on my teeth but I’m trying to space it out each year so as not to break the bank. It is a toss-up whether the fixes will ever catch up with the damage. Like most of us this age we all wish we would have taken better care of our teeth.

Yesterday I rode Honda up to Imperial Dam LTVA. I keep hoping that AT&T has put up another tower and now I will be able to get cell signal. Imperial Dam LTVA is the best long term facility that I have ever stayed at and they keep making improvements to it all the time. They now have separate lanes to fill water tanks and relieve congestion at the faucets. For the long term visitor, Imperial Dam has everything you need except….. AT&T cell signal.

Of course I had to stop at Imperial Date Company and have one of their delicious date shakes. It has been quite some time since I’ve had any ice cream and that shake sure tasted good.

The trip wouldn’t be complete without stopping to wander through the old war tanks on display outside the Yuma Proving Grounds. There is a new building on site that advertised itself as a visitors center but it was locked tight. I looked through the window of the door and thought I saw chairs arranged in front of a screen. Maybe there is a time they will show a film.

I drove back through Yuma and stopped to pick up a couple cheeseburgers at Burger King. I would like to take some fresh fruit back to my camp but I’m always afraid the checkpoint entering California will trip me up. There is probably no worries because I have always been waved on through whenever I have been on my motorcycle.

In the place where I’m parked there are several pretty, young ladies all around me. Someone said I should try to hook up with one of them, but I’m afraid I would have better luck winning the billion dollar Power Ball lottery than that ever happening. However, if I was to win the lottery, it might not be too difficult to find one that would have me.

I’m still at the RTR hanging out until after the big tent show. I have attended some of the seminars here at the gathering, and while I can say that I have not learned anything new, it is fun to go and listen anyway. Today’s talk was on going to Algodones for dental, vision, and medicines, and it is good to hear people talk about positive experiences while there. I probably will attend the talk by a BLM Ranger tomorrow and one about boondocking on Friday. The Big Tent show starts Saturday and I will head south to Yuma after that.

I guess everyone knows that my refrigerator stopped working. My options were to drive back to Phoenix and try to get it fixed, go without a fridge, or figure out a temporary fix. I decided to buy a small portable compressor fridge that would let me get by for a while and also be a backup in case this happens again. My luck with this gas refrigerator has not been good.

Yesterday, while running to town to pick up the new fridge at a store that accepts Amazon deliveries, I lost the ramp to my motorcycle loader. If you change your routine while packing up, you will undoubtedly forget something. I left the motorcycle here when I went to town and forgot to tighten the clamps that hold the ramp on. I drove up and down the road twice once I realized it was gone but to no avail. This morning I walked past the neighbors camp and there it was laying by his trailer. I guess he thought finders keepers.

I think one reason the people camping out here have so many dogs is for warmth at night. With the clear, cloudless sky, it gets down close to freezing every night and I’ve heard some say they have to snuggle with their dogs. Once the sun breaks over the hill, though, it warms up fast. By noon or sometimes earlier I can get out on the motorcycle for trips into town. All this sun is giving me good charge with my solar, too.

These van dwellers bring back a lot of memories of my time traveling in a van. Life was sometimes simpler then, and I could go places and do things I can’t in my class C, but I wouldn’t want to go back to stooping over all the time, not being able to take a shower, and digging cat-holes in the woods. I guess I’ve gotten soft.

and more Signs

Quartzsite has been pretty dull for a week now. The weather for the last four days has been rainy and cold and the desert empty of boondocking RV’S. Yesterday, many more rigs started filling the area where I was camped. I found myself trapped between a group advertising themselves as Solo SKP’s and another with a sign that said Christian Fellowship. I’m sure both groups were nice and they would willingly take me in, but I didn’t feel like I belonged to either one.

I was ready for a change of scenery anyway so I packed up and headed south of town to a gathering known by the name RTR or Rubber Tramp Rendezvous. If you have a $500,000 motorhome, this is probably not the place you want to be. 90% of the people here live in a van and enjoy a simple life of off grid existance.

I was surprised at how many young people there are here. The majority are retired but quite a few working age couples and singles have found that not having a house and the lifestyle that goes along with it has given them the freedom to travel and be happy on a lot less income. Some have Internet business, some work part time at places like Amazon, and some camp host or work for the Forest Service.

I didn’t write this to debate their lifestyle or even judge what they do, and I suppose why I drove in here was more curiosity than anything else. So far most of the people I have met are very nice, not at all what you would think of when you hear the word “Tramp” in their title.

The one bad note I have to report is a dead refrigerator. I’m not sure what I will do to remedy that problem. The best report is sunshine all day today and forecast to stay that way for several days to come. I will try to get a picture of the sea of camper vans in this area to post later.

Q

I’m parked on a lonely stretch of desert, just off Plomosa Road, nine miles north of Quartzsite AZ. There are a few RVs about but nothing like I have seen before. It is still early for the influx of snowbirds that come here for the mega reunion and event know as the big RV tent show. I expect the area where I’m camped to fill up in the next two weeks.

The weather has been cool so today was my first trip into town. On my way I explored Hi Jolly campground and road down 95 to check out the LTVA south of town. Each area was filled with many more rigs scattered about than here on Plomosa rd. It seems like people want to be close to town and those places fill up a lot quicker.

My new batteries are doing a good job. They run my electronics, pump, and furnace with plenty of power and hold up well overnight. It is very overcast today so I will see if my solar can bring them back up to full charge.

My propane will probably be the first supply I will have to replenish. With all the cold nights lately, I let my furnace kick on if it gets down to 50 degrees in Minnie. During the day my catalytic heater does a nice job of keeping me warm but I never use it at night.

That’s about it. If I do anything I’ll let you know.