January 26th 2006
From Plomosa Road – Quartzsite
N 33° 46.023’ W 114° 10.339’
From the remote, calm, and pristine desert setting of Mica Mine Road, in the hills west of Ajo, to the sardine-like proximity of a half million or so RVers visiting Quartzsite for the annual RV show comes as quite a culture shock. Anyway, that’s where I am, having eluded smugglers, fended off “illegales” and played scrabble with locals back at my last location on Mica Mine Road. Actually, I saw no smugglers or illegales during my stay there but did play scrabble.

One or two of you have noted (with some relish) what you considered might be a discrepancy in my method of describing GPS positions. Sorry to disappoint the gloaters but, as there is more than one way to skin a cat, so too are there several options for writing GPS positions. To clarify:
One could write down the degrees, minutes and seconds (to the closest tenth of a second)
i.e 32°19’ 49.7”
I think that this equates to accuracy within one thirty six-thousandth of a degree (approx. 10 feet)
One could write down the degrees and percentage of degrees to the nearest hundred-thousandth of a degree (most accurate to within 3.7 feet)
i.e. 32.33050°
Or one could do what I do and that is to write the degrees, followed by minutes to the nearest thousandth (3 decimals).
i.e. 32°19.835’
This method gives good accuracy to within a little over 6 feet and is equivalent to one sixty-thousandth of a degree. Since the GPS itself is accurate only within 15 feet or so, any closer really doesn’t matter.
Thanks go out to Neil McKendrick for pointing out that there appeared to be a discrepancy between the system that I was using and the one utilized by Google Earth. This latter, one can look up on the Internet, input co-ordinates and come up with a picture of where I am. I’m not sure if the Golden Falcon itself can be spotted but Neil advises that he can see his house in Calgary. In any case, the lay of the land is out there for anyone with a computer and Internet access to view.

On Jan 6th, I went to Ajo and visited the Museum, since my new friends (man with shotgun, lady with oranges) were on volunteer duty. They (Gayle and Don Weyers from Wisconsin and now Ajo) were about to have a tuna sandwich lunch but lacked a can opener. Prepared, as always, I hauled out one of my several Swiss-army knives and got to work. For this, I received a complimentary lunch with my free museum visit so a good deal was had by all. The Weyers threatened to come out and camp in my area some night, scrabble board in hand, a plan that has since materialized. I played a couple of losing games (who would have known that “Aa” was a word for lava?) in the sun one morning in front of their tent, not too far from my campsite and then went off on the bike to inspect a seemingly bottomless hole in the ground (an old mine site that Don had told me about).
For some time, the bicycle had been showing signs of age, abuse, or a combination of the two. When I put strain on the chain while in middle gear of the front sprocket, the chain would roll off with a clatter leaving the opposite knee to whack the handlebars with a thud. Other than being an excellent test for the reflexes to see if I could anticipate the separation in time to stop pedalling, this scenario courted almost certain disaster since, with only one foot remaining on its pedal, I tended to topple off to the other side. A close examination of the components in question revealed that said sprocket was severely worn and needed replacement.

I finished my stay at Mica Mine on Jan 17th and headed for Quartzsite, via Yuma to visit Mr. B’s bike shop. A day or two previously, I had run into the Percys, now back from Canada, at the Internet Deli in Ajo. They told me about Mr B’s having a Foothill’s Road store, not far from the east end of town. By the time Mr. B finished, the bike was running smoothly again with new front sprocket and new (used) rear cassette, along with a new chain. Unfortunately, the knee (in line behind the hip) isn’t up for replacement yet, so will have to heal itself.

In Yuma, or rather, outside Yuma, I checked into various campsites that had been suggested by Gerry Percy. Following his instructions to Fortuna Pond, I managed to locate the pond itself but all sites along the edge were full of fishermen, on the hunt for elusive crappie and other species that are stocked by the AZ Fish and Wildlife Department. Someone I met told me that all fish die in the summer because it is so hot (average daily temps in July and August reach 105° - 110°). The first of Gerry’s sites that I had marked on the map was in the middle of a broccoli field (GPS error, no doubt) – a healthy environment, I am sure, but one in which the farmer might have been a little upset to have my truck and trailer stuck up to the axles in his irrigation ditches. Yuma is the US hub for winter vegetable growing and crops of lettuce, broccoli and other greenery are everywhere. The farms employ masses of Mexican labourers, some of whom may have walked by my trailer in the middle of the night. In the end, I managed to find my way to Yuma Lakes (aka Redonda Lake) and settled in the moondust of the 14 day BLM there – N 32° 44.564’ W 114° 28.850’. Moondust is a category of dust that is very light and slowly billows upwards when anything disturbs it. It is so named from the pictures of Neil Armstrong jumping on the moon’s surface many moons ago. Unlike the moon, rain changes the billowing moondust to wallowing mud, so camper beware – this could be a real trailer trap. No rain on my horizons, however (not a cloud to date for most of my stay in the south this winter), so I encamped in the dust for a couple of days. Yuma Lake is not a very attractive spot unless one obtains a place on the upper deck, overlooking the lake itself. There are only a few spaces there, so chances are low that one would be available. For two days, however, it was a place to stay within range of the city, so I didn’t really care. With bicycle purring, I moved north to Plomosa Road (BLM signpost 815), found Ted Webber and Connie, along with a billion (slight exaggeration) other people, including their friend Cline who hosts at an RV camp area in Eastern Utah during the summer months and spends winters in Arizona. I have been for a couple of bike rides in both directions from the camp, mounted the new bike computer that I bought from Mr. B (the old one succumbed to a malaise consisting of multiple fractures and an uprooted electrical connection), to check it out against the GPS – the GPS reads less mileage (today’s trip 7.04 v:s 7.20 miles) than on the computer. I have checked and double checked the tire size and computer setting for that size but have no answer for this anomaly. It may be something to do with the tire doing some extra spinning without forward motion, though that sounds slightly incredible, since it is a front tire - will have to work on this one.
Temps have lowered considerably since leaving the Ajo area. Nights are close to freezing again with daytime highs in the 60s – pleasant for bike riding and, for energy conservation, staying under bedcovers in the mornings until the sun hits my skylight and begins to heat the trailer interior. Many motor home groups are out here in the desert. ½ million dollar buses camping for free may seem a bit odd but there is room for these groups to congregate and enjoy activities which might not be possible in a regular RV park setting. Our nearest collective is the Alpine Coach Association, a gathering of about a hundred coaches. They hold seminars and conduct group activities of various kinds. Yesterday (Jan 22nd), I went in to Q to take a look at the big RV show tent and displays. The numbers of people and lack of parking are good reasons to seek out remote areas as I do and avoid better known boondocking haunts like Quartzsite. In any event, the show itself was interesting with lots of good stuff on display. I managed to resist the impulse to buy anything other than a hot dog that took ½ hour to manufacture. The only memory to remind me of the day in town is a sore hip from all the walking The Internet Café is still operating on Main Street (actually, there are now two), so I was able to check e-mails from the parking lot across the street. There are quite a few Internet dishes on motor homes out at Plomosa Road but, to this point, I have been unable to connect to one of them. With a little driving around, I’m sure that I could find someone with an open signal.
My new neighbours, Ted and Connie, moved off today to another location further along Plomosa Road on the Bouse side of the pass. I shall join them in a few days, once the allure of Quartzsite has worn thin. The new site ought to be at approximately (within 6’) N33 49.634 W114 03.368.
Efforts to vote in our Canadian election proved fruitless. I had been told that there was a way to download forms from the Internet, get them verified at a consulate and send them in. All this seemed very time consuming so, for the first time, I didn’t vote. As it happens, the mayor of Salmon Arm got voted in as a Conservative MP. I have met him and think that I would have voted for him anyway – my conscience is now clear.
On the general interest front, there are two items that have caught my eye. Both are from USA Today.
Zhao Ziyang was a Chinese reformer who died in the 1980s. The other day, some people were arrested and jailed for observing the anniversary of his death. It struck me that having the Olympics in Beijing opens the door to opportunities for scandal, possibly in excess of those that plagued Salt Lake City, with involvement from the French judge, our Canadian Pairs skaters, Salé and Pelletier along with the corrupt management of the International Skating Federation. In China, it would be simple for the Chinese to savour gold while foreign athletes languish in jail – or is that too harsh?
American “dry foot laws” were put to test last week when several Cubans landed on an abandoned bridge piling somewhere in the Florida Keys. They were returned to Cuba after officials determined that the piling did not constitute dry land under US policy. Cubans who reach “land” are allowed to stay and apply for refugee status; those caught off-shore get returned to Cuba. Maybe, installation of a whole lot of pilings off the coast of BC would alleviate our Chinese refugee problems?
JW