I departed my Plomosa Road campsite of exactly two months’ duration on Feb 6th, heading east toward a rendezvous with friends Darch and Catherine Oborne in Tucson. Up until that point, life in the desert at Plomosa had been moving along quite smoothly with one or two notable exceptions.
Back in late January, Ted Webber and friend, John Porter, were on site with me, both in their respective Motorhomes. Ted and I went golfing one day at Emerald Canyon, north of Parker. This is, in my view, an exceptionally scenic but tricky course with lush green fairways and greens winding their way through narrow rock canyons – quite challenging for those of us who lack golf ball guidance systems.
On the bike, I went for a 19 mile ride to The Four Peak’s thumb, then back over some steep hills to what I call the South-West Plomosa Pass. Continuing on, I went to visit Handy Bob (Bob Shearer) at his site about 1½ miles to the North of us. He is still in the installation business for solar equipment and even had a box full of Tri-Metric Monitors on hand. He said that he didn’t really want people coming to his campsite (just in case they owned generators?) but, with a good reference from someone he knew, would be willing to visit them. Preferably, potential clients would see him at his summer property near Roundup, Montana. I always suggest that anyone with interest in solar, get a monitor (Tri-Metric) first, since it gives all the information needed to know about the power and battery requirements of their RV. Bob seemed, if anything, to have hardened his assessment toward commercial solar dealers in general and the Quartzsite ones in particular. In fact, he managed an almost continuous rant all the way from his trailer to mine during a bike ride.
Bob can be a little testy (to put it mildly) but his information is good. I had been experiencing lower than normal amperages from my solar system, along with heating near an in-line fuse connecting the positive cable from the solar controller to the battery. Bob told me to change out the fuse holder because they can develop a resistance that makes the controller think that the batteries are charged long before they actually reach that state, thus telling them to slow down the charge. Anyway, I changed the holder and immediately gained about 3 amps – very satisfying!
Re: Telus Internet Stick – It seems that, with everything turned off, I can do an e-mail session, check the weather and look at my bank information for about 3 Mbs ($3.00). “Turning off” includes: (Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services)
Disable
Automatic Updates
Google Software Updater
Google Update Service
Kodak Camera Connection Software
Windows Media Player
In Internet Options, go to Multi-media and clear boxes for;
Show Pictures
Smart image dithering
There may be other things that one can do to minimize the data costs but I have yet to think of any and would appreciate any advice from those of you who have suggestions. At the point when Google (my home page) opens, I read only 67 Kbs download and 6Kbs upload. When I open Hotmail, that number changes to 670 Kbs and 110 Kbs but rises with each move to open a new e-mail, move back to the Inbox, go to Contacts etc. If I only do this a couple of times a week, it saves a drive to the local wi-fi place.
The sewer pipe has been dripping out the end-cap, which means that the tank valve is stuck partially open. I dug a pit, drained off a pipe load of liquid and have tried to shut the valve. This is counter to desert etiquette but, as no one else is nearby, I won’t lose much sleep. I guess if one can justify use of an outhouse at home, then pouring a little sewage in a desert hole has about the same environmental impact. Since performing the operation above, I have attached a blade-action valve that I have been carrying for some time onto the end of the drain pipe. This should work unless the new fitting gets knocked off on a curb or rock. Ideally, the original valve needs to be loosened – I suspect that it is just jammed with crap and paper (to put it plainly).
Walt and I pulled out the landing leg for a second time to replace a small nylon bushing that had been missed on the first effort. This time, the operation proceeded quite smoothly as the ground that I had to dig was already soft. The bushing was designed to keep the leg and gears straight without too much play under tension. Plomosa experienced a few chilly nights, one down to 20° with the advent of a large high pressure system passing by.
On Feb 6th, I left my happy home for two months and headed for Tucson. I decided not to meet Darch and Catherine at a casino in Maricopa as suggested since they wouldn’t have been there until late in the evening. Instead, I went via Gila Bend to Tucson, where I found the Snyder Hill BLM area (N32 09.492 W 111 06.945), just off the Old Ajo Highway on San Joachim Road. This is a small patch of desert with some shade trees, quite near road noise but satisfactory for a short visit. In fact, the area was supposed to be closed due to pipeline construction nearby but the warning sign had fallen (been thrown) into some bushes.
Next day, it was only a ten minute drive to our new rendezvous point at the Camino del Sol Casino on Valencia (N32 07.793 W111 04.935).
Camino Del Sol is quite large with paved parking lots – very friendly to RVs with no time limits. A free Club Sol Card gets one a t-shirt and $10 credit to play slot machines, plus a15% discount on food (two breakfasts at Moby’s Restaurant). Inside, the Casino smelled quite smoky and constant buzzing and ringing noise from slot machines is extremely bothersome, Staff from the (? Yaquis nation Indian Band) were very friendly everywhere. In the parking lot, some people ran generators most of the night, evidently not converts to the Handy Bob Lifestyle. With plenty of RVs parked, one has to think that these people just don’t care. Unfortunately, I have no instrument of punishment with which to vent my generator rage, so the “parking lot pariahs” kept on generating undisturbed. One problem with camping with others in a well-lit casino parking lot is that there is no access to an open desert style “peeing tree”, meaning that waste tanks fill more rapidly than is their custom. The trailer remained hitched to the truck as we had Darch’s Jeep for excursions, starting with the local Walmart for groceries. Darch and Catherine had arrived from Phoenix by early afternoon. The next day, a bike ride at “Fantasy Island”, along the east border of Davis Moynihan Air field. Along the route, I managed to bounce my bike a little heavily and bent the seat post, thus requiring a replacement. We had dinner at “In N Out”, a protein burger special consisting of a meat patty in lettuce (no bun). Afterwards, we went to Voyager RV where Christine was giving a presentation on the Indian Ocean leg of their sailing trip. Hugh had had to fly home to BC because of serious health issues. Christine called me later in the evening to say that she had talked to Hugh; he was undergoing a number of tests and treatments that would preclude his returning anytime soon. Their son, Nick, has apparently volunteered to fly to Tucson in the next week or so to drive the rig home with Christine. 
Feb 9th it was off to Ajo Bicycle Shop for new seat posts (2), windshield repair on the Jeep and a ride on the Tucson Mountain trails. This last was quite rough and only semi-enjoyable for me with lots of loose rock on steep slopes (plenty of walking). One somersault causing significant bleeding but no real damage from one forearm (nothing new) added to the satisfaction of not having damaged one of my hips. Darch went to ride the dreaded Amorigosa? Trail from part-way up the Catalina Highway to the bottom at Snyder Road. This would have been well above my level so I shuttled the Jeep. During the 3 hour wait, I went off to see about replacing the GPS that I had lost while packing up our bikes from the Fantasy Island ride. I did find, and buy, a Garmin Nuvi 1390 LMT GPS at a Radio Shack down the road. This was not actually a replacement for my portable off-road GPS but rather one that operates mainly in the truck, particularly useful when navigating through cities such as Tucson. With this GPS, I simply enter a destination and it leads me along, even speaking in one of several available voices. For now, I have programmed “British” English as my language of choice. While driving back for Darch, I received a call on my cell from an RV dealer who had found the lost GPS on the ground, some miles away from where I must have left it on the bumper of the Jeep. How it rode that far before falling off is a mystery but I was very glad to get it back. Now I have two GPSs, both with a use of their own.
Feb 11th, we drove to Whitewater Wash Wildlife Refuge (N31 33.636 W109 43.131) to meet Kathy and Bert in their new diesel-pusher Motor Home. Bert is very sensitive (read paranoid) about driving the MH anywhere off pavement, so he was less than ecstatic about the small amount of washboard and large quantities of dust at this site. The parking lot (free) was small (4 RV spaces) and dusty but the birdlife was quite spectacular. Nights were cool with lows of -17°F (-6C) but days were in the 60s. Huge flocks of grey Sand Cranes (80% of the entire US population), along with shovel beak ducks and teal live here and wade around in the shallow lake. On a day drive up to the Chiricahua National Monument, we saw thousands of these cranes in flight, wheeling around in circles and presenting a dark, constantly shifting cloud in the sky.
The Chiricahuas were worth the visit – exotic rock formations carved out of the original volcanic materials included spires and balancing rocks. There is a camp on Pinery Road area just outside the park – not very attractive, so probably not one for the list.
Feb 13th was moving day for Darch, Catherine and I – Bert and Kathy stayed at the Refuge for an extra day of bird watching. The plan was to inspect the old mining town of Bisbee en route to camping overnight at the Las Cienegas (marshes) Wildlife Refuge. Since the mine closure, Bisbee has been transformed into a narrow-streeted tourist town full of antique, jewellery and souvenir shops, certainly worth a visit as the entire town (very picturesque) is situated in a narrow valley near the huge pit of the mine. Houses dating back to the mining era are perched on and under rock formations with most buildings having weathered at least a half-century of use. Along the way, we stopped at several spots that Darch was interested in for future biking purposes, then found Las Cienegas (N31 42.342 W 110 35.465) before dark. There are two official campsites 2½ to 3 miles down the trail here but we chose to park in an “unofficial” clearing in the prairie a few hundred yards from the highway along a fairly smooth dirt road. With an elevation of 4625, I was concerned about cool temps overnight but we bottomed out at only 27° (-3°C). Overall, this site is grassy and very pleasant. From its look, it might be somewhere in southern Alberta.
Kathy and Bert arrived on the 14th. Bert managed to break his electrical connection holder for the car while entering our camp spot, so was unhappy about that. They have a satellite dish with Internet connection but, even with the code, I don’t seem to be able to connect. My Telus stick has a strong signal, so I shall turn off all the programs that download and give it a try. We spotted a herd of antelope or deer nearby but not as many birds as one might expect. Nighttime temps 27° but daytime highs in the 70s.
JW
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