From Mica Mine Road March 13th 2014

Just a quick note, since some of you may be on my flight plan. I have now decided to pull up stakes here in the Ajo Hills and am heading North. Planning about two weeks or so to get to the Canadian border, I thought I would try the Oregon Coast State Parks again, hopefully without becoming snowbound on the way at the Willits, CA Safeway parking lot. My last effort was disrupted by snowstorms in Northern California, so I didn’t really visit too many places

On the way I shall pass through  Bakersfield, CA - there to visit the Verizon store and inquire about getting an updated MiFi for Internet access, then the Redwood Forest Avenue of the Giants where I shall resist any temptation to attempt to pull the trailer through the big tree that sits in the middle of the road and has room for cars. Anyway, that's the plan - subject to change as external conditions dictate. . Maybe, with luck (bad), I could pick up a Redwood Forest rat (apparently they are giants) on the way through.

 

Oregon could take about a week after which, the Columbia River Gorge has some nice spots, including US Army Corps of Engineers campsites at some of the dams on the way. In the end, I will stop at the Boardman Regional Park, south of the Tri-Cities for a day or two. This is a past favourite and puts me in striking distance of the border at the end of the month.

 

Meanwhile, back in Ajo, my first of this year’s forays into the Scrabble world at my friends, Gayle and Don Weyers in Ajo resulted, predictable, in defeat, though I did manage a creditable second place in one game. Not content with one loss, I returned for more of the same yesterday Wed, March 12th and got thumped again. Perhaps I should have studied my crib-sheet of two-letter words beginning with “Q” a little better.

 

My primary preoccupation of late, however, has been the search and destroy mission of a packrat that took up residence in the motor compartment of my truck. One might recall that I had a rat nesting issue about a month ago while camped on Plomosa Road and thought that the situation had been resolved with a couple of pressure washes at the local car wash. That rat, I never actually saw but there was plenty of evidence in the form of nesting materials.

 

The Mica Mine Road fiend (now deceased), I had seen on several occasions and ample evidence of its presence was to be found in the form of cholla cactus spikes and fruits along with plentiful droppings littering the entire engine area. When popping the hood in bright sunshine, he/she/it sat and stared with ratlike innocence, though by the time I went to find a suitable weapon with which to dispatch it, the rat had disappeared into the bowels of the motor. I tried mothballs, another motor wash, poking with a BBQ fork and rat traps but nothing proved successful until I spotted a grey bit of fur by the light of my flashlight down in one of the many engine cavities but out of reach of all my tools – except, my ski pole. In the end, this spear completed the job, though it took me an hour or more to poke the rat out onto the ground. Now I have traps set and am hoping that the rest of the tribe doesn’t arrive to commence a settling of scores.

 

From Mica Mine Road March 4th 2014

March 4th Mica Mine Road (N32 19.845 W112 53.311)

Seems a long time since I last jotted a few notes but the reality is that not much happens in the desert, particularly with me since there are few trappings of civilization to confuse my life.

I am now camped in the hills west of Ajo, Az, a spot that I have visited on several occasions in other years and now share with Hugh and Christine Richards, plus Penny and Katie, the dogs, we being a respectable 500 metres apart. 

As you know, I returned from Vancouver Island after visiting my mother and helping her move into a new home back in January. She is still doing fine but has goods days and some that aren’t so good. Anyway, I talk on the phone when she is able and she seems well taken care of at her new place.

 

Since sending the group e-mail in late January, not a whole lot happened over on Plomosa Road. One notable event, however, was the running of the Parker 425, a desert road race on a course looping through Bouse but starting in Parker. Some vehicles do two laps, others three, according to their speed capabilities. For spectators, this can be a dusty experience, depending on which way the wind, if any, is blowing relative to where one positions oneself. From a distance, such as where I camp up on Plomosa Road, it appears as if the entire desert fills with sand to a height of 50 to 100 feet or so. I went to watch with Paul Chu, friend of Ted Webber, who had taken his camper down the night before “to get a good spot” at one of the viewing areas near Bouse. While he said the camper was fairly airproof, it is hard to imagine not getting a coating of dust on everything. Anyway, lots of noise and excitement as specially designed desert rails and trucks come screaming by at high revs and high speed. Lots of people were wearing masks to breath, so I only stayed an hour or two and then headed back up into the hills.

From time to time, I would see Walt and Susan Brugger who were camped in sight just down the trail with their friends Jim and Patti – they of fridge cleaning fame. I gave each couple some nice steaks from the butcher in Quartzsite as a thank you for the messy job. Jim, and Patti seem to have recovered from what they reckon might have been swine flu (H1N1). This lasted several weeks and was not, from their description, a pleasant occurrence.

 

One day, I heard an ad on Quartzsite radio promoting Steve’s burgers as a greasy, gooey experience not to be missed. If this appeals to any of you, feel free to rush on down and try one out while the place still exists. There was also something about a 6” high pile of fries if the thought of the burger wasn’t enough on its own.

Once again this year, Bouse offered the outstanding attraction of Rowdy and Bandit, the miniature Brahma bull and Sicilian donkey about whom I have written before. For those in the neighbourhood, this act takes place on Thursdays at 2 pm. off Plomosa Road as it exits the outer suburbs of Bouse. The bike has been fairly stagnant this year, so I have decided that it is time to get pedalling again and have been out for a couple of short rides. After so long of me being as rusty as the bike, muscles and points of tenderness need to be worked on slowly, so it may be a week or so before I venture further afield.

There is virtually no wildlife except an occasional hummer to report in the desert this winter though anecdotal reports of a herd (maybe 3 or 4) of cattle were being bandied about by the neighbours. I did actually see them back in December, so know that they exist. What they live on is beyond me since the desert surface is bare of what I would consider to be edible vegetation. Ironwood tree leaves and other shrubbery must make up their diet though, on sighting these cattle, one has to wonder whether they are actually of any use to the rancher since there is no meat on them at all..

 

Since returning from Canada, I have been leaving the solar panels flat on the roof (as opposed to tilting them). The combination of a flat screen TV and LED lights has lowered my power consumption from what it was before I had these things to the point where I can maintain the batteries at 100%, even with the odd jolt from the microwave to heat the morning mug of coffee. Early winter (December), the sun is quite low in the sky so incoming rays have less potency. From now on, the sun is higher and I should see increases every week. All this information, and more, is measured on the Tri-Metric Monitor – first requirement for any of you considering life as a boondocker using solar energy instead of shore power or a generator.

 

Back in early February, Gerry and Heather Percy visited Plomosa in their big Motorhome. They managed to get it fairly close to where I was camped, stayed a few days and then departed for Why. I discovered that there was a new bike shop in Quartzsite so went off in search of extra-thick-thorn-resistant tubes and replacement tires. Arriving at Bill’s Bikes, I found that there was diesel fuel pouring onto the ground from somewhere up in the motor of the truck. Not sure what to do and having no mechanical recourse as it was a Sunday, I decided to drive the 25 minutes back to camp on Plomosa, hoping that the truck wouldn’t burst into flames. In fact, I even took off the seat belt in case I had to leap out. Back at camp in one piece, I looked under the hood and found that fuel was bubbling out from under the fuel filter cap so took that off and then back on and everything worked just fine – a minor miracle. While checking under the hood, I discovered a large rodent nest of moss and grass, presumably originating from home at the Shuswap since there is no moss in this part of the world. From time to time at my cabin, I have seen marmots (groundhogs)sitting on the truck tires, so having one or more make a nest is not that surprising. I went to a carwash in Parker and sprayed the whole area to see if I could get rid of the diesel smell. Trouble is, they don’t use hot water in the south so my efforts were only partly successful.

Wed, Feb 26th, I moved to Ajo (about 4 hours), and joined up with the Richards who had been in the area a week or so already.

Friend Darch, with Kiki the wonder dog, drove over from Apache Junction for a couple of days, camped in my trailer and then hurried home as he was trying to sell his Motorhome and had a hot prospect on the line.

My camp at the end of the Richards’ trail is a very tight squeeze with a small turning circle around creosote bushes and some cacti. I finally wiggled myself into position in a nice spot and got set up but will do (actually have already done) some selective pruning to smooth the progress of my exit when the time comes in a couple of weeks.

There are only a few other rigs in the general area and one is hard pressed to see any signs of life unless one climbs a hill and scans the desert for a few miles.

As you will see from the pictures, Mica Mine Road is a bit mountainous with peaks rising from the valley the better part of 1000’ in places nearby.

Even though I am surrounded by hills, my Internet signal is quite good, plus both phones have weak to middling reception and text on the Canadian one works most of the time. Tomorrow, I’m heading into Ajo for what will be my first Scrabble defeat of 2014 from friends Don and Gayle Weyers. As it is already quite late in the winter, they will only be able to crush me once or twice before I move slowly North at the middle of the month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jan 27th 2014 back on Plomosa Road

 

Jan 27th 2014 back on Plomosa Road 16.6/1.9 (N33 53.117 W114 03.424)

I left the south December 23rd to fly back to Canada for a visit with my mother, hospitalized on Vancouver Island with a bout of suspected pneumonia.

Now back in the south, I have relocated the trailer on a site not too far (300 M west) from where I was before, off Plomosa Road near Bouse, Az. In my absence, friends Walt and Susan, along with their friends Jim and Patti, kept an eye on the trailer and even cleaned out the rotting food that followed after the fridge stopped operating. This happened – I cannot tell a lie – due to pilot error. The principle operator (me) forgot to turn on the extra propane tank valve after refilling the tank a few days before my departure. Anyway, these stalwarts have earned my everlasting gratitude. At first there was a residual odour but a combination of vinegar spray, pine cleaner and coffee grounds, along with freezing temps have pretty well cleared that away. Jim and Patti somehow managed to contract a case of what they suspect to have been Swine Flu (H1N1) which put them into self-imposed quarantine in their trailer for several weeks. This is a tough and unpleasant way to spend one’s winter. From all reports, there is a fair bit of the disease going around, not only in the south but also in Western Canada.

Meanwhile, back on Vancouver Island, my mom survived her trip to the hospital and has now moved into a new residence called AllCare-Sidney (2269 Mills Road, Sidney BC, V8L 2C3). Here, a team of nurses and Care Workers provide all the help required, food is good and my mom can get out for occasional walks if someone accompanies her, either a friend or staff member.

While visiting, I stayed nearby at a cottage on the sheep farm owned by John Romashenko of Saanich Peninsula Realty - there’s a plug for you, John!  He sold my mother’s house on Wain Road last Spring. This works for me as I can come and go as I wish, cook for myself and only have a short drive into Sidney. John was also kind enough to lend me one of his vehicles for the duration.

Here in Arizona, temps have been hitting the high 70s (25C +), skies are mostly sunny and the Quartzsite RV Show has been in full swing. As in past years, hordes of boondockers like me as well as other RVers descend on this sleepy little town in the desert to gawk at RV accessories, woolen socks “like grandma used to make”, Honda generators and, of course, shiny new (also used) motorhomes and trailers.. All these things we want, mostly don’t need and can’t afford anyway. Anyone wanting LED lights, information on trips to the Yukon and Alaska or back pain remedies should go to this show because all the vendors are there along with the requisite giant plates of curly fires and gravy for the not-so-health-conscious among us.

My trailer has chosen this time to show its age, once again, by making clunking sounds that emanate from the front landing legs, thus rendering them ineffective. Two years ago, friend Walt changed one leg gear to fix a similar problem and volunteered to go to work again. This time, we changed the other landing leg crown gear which was badly worn but decided that the problem actually lay in the motor gearbox which contains four concave plates forming a sort of clutch that, when too much weight is applied, go clunkety clunk clunk. Walt repaired everything he could and, in the process, I discovered that my manual jack mechanism actually worked and will act as a backup if ever things grind to a halt again.

Ted Webber is camped with me in his motorhome, so rides as co-pilot with me on parts trips to Quartzsite that often include lunch at “Bad Boys” restaurant, possibly one of the best finds in Q. Yesterday, we swung by the little town of Brenda - not listed in my GPS) on our way back from Q. to visit Dave and Gail Lewis. They are staying at Desert Gold RV Park, a big park with paved roads and plenty of trails on which Dave can exercise the Razr (ATV side-by-side) to his heart’s content

I am back on the US cell for voice calls but the Canadian cell works best for texts as I have an unlimited amount of text capacity with Telus and the US phone won’t text to or from Canada anyway. E-mail, as always, works just fine and gets checked daily, or more, if I get restive to see your responses.

Now that life has calmed down a little and my mom is settling into her new place, I may get a little time to go biking. Both the bike and I need to work off a little rust, and, in my case, shed a few pounds while I’m at it.

Attached are a few pics including me and my mom at the AllCare New Year party, sheep in the fields, Quartzsite and not much more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Plomosa Road December 16th 2013

 

 

December 15th from Plomosa Road 16.6/1.7 (N33 53.206 W114 03.169)

Greetings from Arizona. To some, this lengthy summary of my travels may come as a shock if you are new to the list and may never have seen one before. To others who have endured these missives in years past, just keep the “delete” button handy.

The summer of 2013 passed with lots of activity, largely in the form of trips back and forth to Vancouver Island visiting my mother. She moved from her house to a residential building (Beechwood village) in Sidney back in early summer. Other than that, the Shuswap schedule didn’t vary a lot from other years when I golfed three days a week, got steadily worse, decided to ride a cart in mid-summer because of ongoing hip issues and spent the fall chopping firewood. Thanks to Joe and the crew who felled, hauled and stacked the tree that I would have been unable to manage by myself.

 

This year, the trip south was marked by cool weather, cool enough to convince me that plugging in, both truck and trailer at times, became necessary as temps dropped as low as 3°F (-16°C) at jackpot, NV.

I left the cabin on Dec 1st as usual, snow threatening and weather fairly mild. The deepest snow on my whole trip was probably in Salmon Arm with about 5 or 6 cms on the ground and slick roads. The last things I want to see are icy roads, since the trailer carries a lot of weight and responds poorly to its brakes on slippery surfaces. Most of the trip, however, was on good roads, south from me to the Omak, WA Walmart (N48 24 927 W119 30.449), always the first and last stop of my winter travels, then over the dreaded Blue Mountain Summit on I-84 to Farewell Bend State Park N44 18.503 117 13.467 on the Snake River where, for $17, I had a nice site under trees in a grassy campground. I had been a little concerned on Blue Mountain because a number of large semis were chaining up on both sides of the pass, leading me to think that they knew something that I didn’t. Conditions, however, remained dry enough though I was waiting, particularly on the eastern downslope, for patches of snow and ice that, thankfully, did not materialize. Plugging in is a useful benefit of paying for campgrounds as I can run a small electric heater, save a bit on propane and keep batteries topped up to operate the furnace fan if necessary. In addition, the microwave has power enough to heat a frozen dinner. These things are taken for granted once I arrive in the south where plentiful sun charges batteries via solar panels and I have no fear of running low on power.

 

This year, I sensed that the “house” batteries in the trailer were weakening (a ninth season was asking too much), so stopped at a Camping World in Meridian, ID (west of Boise) where they sold me a new set (Exide GC 135s, on discount with my Good Sam membership) and installed them for me. I reckoned it to be an easy day’s drive from Farewell Bend to Jackpot, NV and Cactus Pete’s world renowned dinner buffet. This was not to be as weather socked in completely just near “Bliss”, ID (not living up to its heavenly promise), snow started in earnest and roads quickly turned icy). On the I-phone, I found Hagerman RV (approx - 42 49.437 W114 53.690) not too far away and booked in. Hagerman is the gateway to Valley of 1000 Springs, along which waterfalls shoot out of the escarpment to join the Snake River below. The next day, only a short drive to Jackpot – I was glad to do this in daylight in clear weather rather than at night in a storm. At Jackpot, temps were predicted to become very cold and did, in fact reach 3°F (-16°C). The casino/hotel at Cactus Pete’s (N41 58.771 W114 40.405) allowed me to plug both truck and trailer in for free while I booked a room connected directly by warm elevator to the dinner buffet. I can live in the trailer with all heaters going at these temperatures but reckon to waste a lot of propane doing so and the lure of a nice shower after many dry nights was too much to resist. I forgot to mention that the trailer usually contains no water, just anti-freeze in the lines and tanks until I arrive at a point of the trip where I feel that it is safe to fill them without concern over freezing. This year, that was Lake Havasu City – even Vas Vegas was experiencing sub-freezing nights.

From Jackpot, it is about a 7 hour drive to Alamo, NV where, normally, I would camp at the Wildlife Preserve on Lake Pahranagat. This night promised record temps for Alamo at 12°F (-11°C) so once again I headed in to a park. In this case, it was the night of the new “Sound of Music” on TV with Carrie Underwood that caught my attention; Alamo RV (N37 21.850 W115 05.598) had cable TV, so I bit the bullet and checked in. Carrie, as always, was photogenic and the show was worth watching. However, Julie Andrews was missing and they used an obviously fake indoor mountain set instead of grassy meadows, so the show only gets 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Next stop – the Blue Beacon Truck Wash in Las Vegas (N36 12.840 W115 07.716). By now, the truck, trailer and bicycle on back were coated in a layer of road salt and badly in need of a scrubbing. I have been to this Wash before - easy to find just off the highway in North Vegas and they do an excellent job. Shiny again, I arrived at Lake Havasu State Park N34 29.671 W114 21.400 for a night to do a water fill-up and hit the Chinese Food buffet not too far away. Unfortunately, this latter had disappeared and the premises were for lease, so I hunted around, then plugged “Chinese” into the GPS and up came the Golden Corral just around the corner. A very worthwhile find, the Golden Corral has senior’s rates and is a very long buffet with all types of foods. The next day, after a shower in the Park facility, a very short drive (15 mi.) to Cattail Cove State Park (N34 21.299 W114 09.952) where friends Dave and Gail Lewis along with Gillian and Ian Wright were camped. Neither Lewises or Wrights plan to camp in the desert this year, seduced by the charms of easy power, running water and clean restrooms. I believe that Dave mentioned a State Park package of 7 nights camping for the price of 5 to make their camping a little more affordable.  Some brief socializing and then on to Plomosa Road the next day – with a stop in Parker at the Walmart for fresh supplies and an external hard drive for my computer. Back at Cattail, Dave had copied some movies and comedy shows from his computer to mine, these to show on nights when nothing acceptable appears on the dish or if Shaw Satellite fails altogether as had been intimated by their reps back in Canada. In order not to clutter my own laptop, the external drive holds a lot of data “on the side”, so to speak.

 

So far at Plomosa 16.6/1.7 (MM 16.6/west on the trail about 1.7 miles), I have seen Walt and Sue Brugger, camped two stone throws away, along with their entourage of friends, as well as Gerry and Heather Percy, who are camped at the west end of Plomosa Road but headed soon to the Yuma area. We have enjoyed reciprocal visits – me to jump start their car with my truck and cables, they to deliver clam chowder. We will likely meet up later in the winter, possibly at Q. RV Show time (Jan 18th). In a few days, Dec 19th, I am expecting the Michauds, Lyn and Linda to show up for a day or two and a quick expedition to Q.Temps here were chilly for a few days (45°/27°) but have now recovered to more seasonal norms of 70°/50°.

 

I was pleased to discover that my Shaw signal works fine with the exception that Canadian HD channels are absent. I can get the same channels in “classic” mode and all the US networks in HD. This might be an alignment thing with the dish or something else so a dish tweak on some quiet day is on the list. Bottom line – I get everything I’m supposed to get but some of it is not in HD (no point in complaining to Shaw or asking questions because, if I do, they will aim the death ray at my dish and that will be that!).   

 

Some of you know that I acquired a “Sleek” signal booster before leaving Canada. It works well at the cabin and also works down here in the desert. Sometimes, it takes a few minutes to get itself focussed but, once connected, it can raise my MiFi Internet signal from 0/1 bars to 2/3 bars, an excellent investment at Canadian Tire last Fall. I was having a little trouble acquiring signal but, after chatting with the Verizon guy who suggested that I should not only place the antenna on the roof (as it was) but also expand its base with some sort of flat metal plate rather than one small washer that I had been using. As it turns out, I have been collecting, over the years, a variety of shortbread biscuit tins given to me by my mother and containing the annual Christmas present of shortbread and Christmas cake. One of these tins, a nice red in Santa Claus theme now holds the “Sleek”. It had to be filled with rocks to keep it from blowing off the roof but seems to do the job quite well and gives the roof a festive appearance at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Boardman RV Park and Marina March 25th 2013

From  Boardman RV Park and Marina March 25th 2013

 (N45 50.731 W119 42.457) El – 228’)

Meanwhile, back in Vegas:

I had thought that a three-day stay at a Casino should merit at least an effort to gamble, so, having an afternoon to waste, I went in to do battle with Sam’s phalanx of people and machines. First I checked out the Craps table but it was moving far too quickly for me to understand the protocol, then a quick look at the Blackjack tables showed me that minimum  bets were too high ($3.00), so I settled for the Blackjack slots. Thinking to get in and get out fast, I put in $20, played for a dollar a game and came out with $21, half an hour later. This made me a winner so, head high, I quit and went home to the trailer to watch TV – such was my gambling experience in Las Vegas.

Even though my departure was next day, I thought it politically correct to try and bring the Doberman next door into my camp. To this end, I invested one of my few remaining Costco dog cookies from the truck door to see if it would respond. Evidently, this dog had never experienced a Costco dog cookie and ignored it for a while. Its owner-lady explained to me that they didn’t have a Costco where they lived so I guess that made sense?

 

From Vegas, it was north along Highway 95  to Tamarack Beach BLM (free) at Walker Lake (N38 44.813 W118 45.805) near Hawthorne in Nevada, an easy trip of about 525 Kms with only moderate headwinds and reasonable fuel mileage on the truck. I stayed 3 nights at Walker because there were reports of very cool nights (18 degrees at Klamath Falls) further north. Not much happens at Walker Lake other than that the odd car came in to use the pit toilet. One night very windy – the weather forecast issued a warning especially for Walker Lake, threatening wind gusts up to 60 mph. This happened and the trailer was rocking and rolling that particular night. Luckily, I wasn’t quite broadside to the wind, but it was still a little worrisome.

From Walker, I had thought to go slowly in easy installments north to the Columbia. However, Klamath Falls still promised temps in the teens, so I kept moving. In the end, 1200 kms later, I arrived at the Columbia River at Biggs Junction. Here I had a little disaster as I whacked a bollard (concrete post) that had been placed about 2 feet out from the fuel island at a Pilot Station, presumably to prevent people like me from hitting the fuel pumps themselves. Whether darkness or just tired eyes from staring at the road for 15 hours contributed, I don’t really know but I heard the crunch and found that I had cut the corner too sharply. The small driver’s side hatch and latch were caved in and there is a dent in the undercarriage, things that I will have to get repaired at some opportune time this summer. For the time being, the trailer was still mobile, so I exited the Pilot and went next door to a different station where they didn’t know me, acting as if nothing had happened. Boardman is about 65 miles east of Biggs on I-84 following the Columbia River upstream along Umatilla Lake, a reservoir created by the John Day Dam lower down the Columbia. The river in this region is actually a series of lakes between dams and never appears to have much current.

 

Being about 11.30 at night when I got to Boardman, I decided not to waken all the campers, so spent the night next door to the RV Park in a large paved lot used by the marina, anglers for their boat trailers and other day-use visitors. There were no signs prohibiting camping, so any of you travelling this path and looking for a cheap overnighter, should feel free to stop at Boardman. The next morning, I checked in to Boardman RV Park and Marina, which doesn’t seem to appear on any maps but is quite an extensive complex of recreational facilities operated by the county.

  Boardman is a favourite stop from previous years with RV sites nestled in amongst large trees and grassy lawns with flocks of geese making riverside walking a slippery proposition. The park offers free WiFi but my own signal was better, so I used that. As most of you know, free camping is my “addiction”, so if one goes to a place where one pays ($19 per night), it needs to be agreeable. Despite the low elevation, nights at Boardman were still cool – in fact, my hose froze at the connection to the trailer one morning, so I had to lay it out on the lawn to thaw.

I shall leave Boardman on Tuesday; stop overnight at the Omak Walmart and get home (with luck) on Wednesday. The plan is to get a few things organized there, and then go out to visit my mother in the 2nd week of April. She will be moving from her house into a residential complex sometime this Spring, whenever a vacancy crops up, so there will be a number of things to help organize.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Las Vegas Sam's Town Casino and RV March 18th 2013

 

Of the few people who had ventured out in the desert to find me, nearly all become lost – this largely because they either didn’t follow my GPS instructions or didn’t have a GPS with them, or, in the case of the young Mexican outside my door one morning, they had been walking for three days without food, looking for work as a plumber in the US. All my pipes seem to be functioning so I gave him some bread and water, practiced my Spanish to get details of how he crossed the border and called the US Border Patrol. My new friend had sprained his ankle the day before and needed help. He told me that he had been able to see the white of my trailer in the distance and had homed in on that as a beacon. I asked if he wanted me to call in the Patrol and he agreed. He was hoping that they would feed him before they took him back to the border. Interestingly, he had no idea of exactly where he was going or where to find work but was very certain about one thing – never again!

 

Hugh Richards came to visit and got lost due to my faulty instructions, having mixed up miles and kilometers on the phone. After he ended up in the middle of nowhere, having run into a dead end, we did meet up, had a chat and then parted ways.

 

Strangely, given the frequency of rain this winter, there are very few wildflowers blooming in the desert. Some small flowers are up but I don’t know enough to identify them.

Much of the desert closes to the public on March 15th to give Pronghorn Antelope an opportunity to Fawn (not “spawn” as per a previous note) without prying eyes on them. I suspect that the desert travel prohibition will not affect the several hundred local Border Patrol members who will continue to tear around in their trucks and on ATVs, not to mention using frequent helicopter flights for surveillance, hopefully slowing down so as to minimize the dust cover on fawning animals.

 

On March 13th, I had my last milk/Scrabble run to Ajo where, despite a spirited offence, I managed to lose again. By this time, daytime temperatures were rising into the mid 90s (35C) so I decided to depart for cooler climes. First stop on March 14th was Quartzsite for one day. Q. was pretty dead with most vendors either gone or packing up to go. However, we (Steve Wilson and I) toured what was left and returned to our camp on an unattractive piece of ground off Plomosa Road near Highway 95. Next for me was Las Vegas where I called and booked in at Sam’s Club Casino and RV Park. Here, I could plug in to power and run my air conditioner. This trip took about 4 hours via Havasu and Bullhead City along the river (not the fastest route). Sam’s was easy to find using the GPS since it is directly off Boulder Highway at the Henderson end of Vegas.

Sites at Sam’s are very small, so it was quite difficult to squeeze in beside the people on one side (who had a dog pen for their Doberman plus a van and a Motorhome using up far more than their allotted space) and the electrical box on the othe.r Once in place and hooked up though, the air conditioning was bracing after the heat of the past few days. The campground also offers hot showers, cable, sewer hook-up etc. Sam’s is a large casino with lots of facilities, including the buffet. After getting a Player’s card (free), one receives a $5 discount on meals, a sure summons to overindulge.

The next day I took the free shuttle down to the “Strip” (Las Vegas Boulevard), where most of the big hotels and Casinos are located. The first activity was to hop on the Mono-Rail ($5) and go to the southern terminus at MGM Grand – planning to walk from there back to where I had started. Just finding my way out of the maze of parking lots and then this massive casino took the better part of an hour. The “Strip” was jammed with people, many of whom were dressed as leprechauns celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Most of these people had jugs of green beer in hand and were well on their way to being intoxicated. As this was only about 2 in the afternoon, I’m sure the evening atmosphere in town could have been messy. I walked along taking pictures, watched street acrobats jumping over 4 standing people at a single bound and listened to an Elvis impersonator on one corner. The ”Strip” is basically a wide boulevard enclosed by massive hotel/casinos, all at least 20 stories high and each of which has a theme and, in some cases, quite outlandish architecture. The walk from MGM back to Harrahs was quite entertaining and I was glad that I had taken one of my “golf” pills to assist the bad hip in surviving a long hike on pavement.

 

Going back a few weeks in the news, these two items struck my eye in USA Today.

            1. The State of Mississippi finally ratified the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery – 148 years late!

            2. Only in the US – A Missouri State legislator proposed legislation that would make it a felony for any fellow legislator to introduce gun-control legislation – imagine living in a place where people of this quality control your government?

 

From Vegas, I think that I shall head up 95 in Western Nevada, then over to Klamath Falls on 97 in Oregon. If the weather looks clear, I might stop over at an Indian Casino Kla-Mo-Ya, just north of Klamath and take a stab at viewing Crater Lake. Two previous attempts to see the lake have failed due to blizzard conditions and zero visibility but one should keep trying. From there it will be up to the Columbia River where I will probably stop a day or two at Boardman County Park and Marina. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Rusty Water Tank (decomissioned) Camp Feb 28th 2013

From Rusty Water Tank (decommissioned) (N32 17.183 W112 51.132)

As my present location is very pleasant and there appears to be little interest in overdue camping enforcement by BLM Rangers, I am staying put for a while. 

In the last couple of weeks, I have been a little more active than usual. Hikes of 4.3 miles and 3.3 miles, plus a couple of 10 mile bike rides have sweated off an ounce or two. These have been in company with Steve Wilson, on his Honda for the rides, with his walking stick for the hikes.

 

Various friends have announced intent to visit the region, though not necessarily my specific campsite here at Rusty Water Tank. The Richards, Hugh and Christine, have returned to Mica Mine Road in company with Dave and Gail Lewis. They are about 6 miles away as the cactus wren flies, longer by road. Darch and Kiki (his lab), along with friends, plan to come and shatter the tranquility of Rusty Water Tank for a few days as well. Dog lovers, though welcome, should probably keep their pets away from my campsite as the cholla cacti are omnipresent and unforgiving to errant (unleashed) pet-paws. Dave and Gail came to visit in the ATV and I went to them in the truck for an afternoon firepit session.

 

Gayle and Don Weyers, along with their semi-pro-scrabble-playing-friend were also slated to visit Rusty Water Tank for a game of boondocking scrabble but a recent severe-weather alert, plus the fact that Gayle’s friend has to catch a plane back to Albuquerque, meant instead that we postponed for a day or two..

Life is still very quiet out in the desert. Other than Border Patrol vehicles going by in the distance, one rarely sees or hears anything (other than the howling of wind at the moment). Of course, coyotes also howl at night, mourning doves coo, owls hoot and cactus wrens chatter, so at least the desert is alive with some noise.

 

The anticipated storm did arrive with significant rain pelting down during the one night and part of a day. When I went to Ajo on a milk run, there was plenty of pooling on roads. I even saw snow in the distance up on some hills to the East. The power went out and flickered back on while I was in Ajo but cell service and Internet were out on arrival back at the trailer (back again at 6.00). Apparently, there are two companies providing power to different sections of Ajo. At some point their lines cross each other, so it was only bad luck that the lines of one fell over on top of the lines of the other. Ajo residents were very upset because there was little information to be found. In retrospect, it turns out that one of the companies has what I consider to be a common sense rule that workers can only work for 15 hours at a stretch. The problem was that the power line issues were almost sorted out when workers downed tools and went home for their mandatory rest. Here in the desert, we who live under solar power happily ignore the problems of those “on the grid”

 

En route to town, I checked various camp sites up and around MM Road. I think that, RWT, if one discounts the abundance of Cholla, is the best. Some of the ones where I could get Internet and cell access were not very level and possibly too rough, even for me, to get to with the trailer.

A week or so ago while Steve and I were sitting on the Astroturf lawn enjoying the sun, along came a Border Patrol Officer on his ATV. He told us that he was tracking a group of Mexicans who weren’t very far away. After he left (driving between 11 o’clock and noon on my carefully-constructed sun dial rocks, we went to check but could see no tracks – maybe he was on a make-work project?

 

February 22nd - Darch arrived with his friends, Richard and Linda, from Whistler/Powell River in tow. He had lost them several times on the way, breezing through amber and red lights and then overshot the turn here at RWT. According to them, they were in the dark as to where to go much of the trip as Darch disappeared into the distance ahead.

On the shoulder of the hill above camp is a cave. With Darch, there is always a requirement for activity, so we climbed to this cave, to find that it had been inhabited at one time. Signs of a fire pit, along with a spatula and sardine tin were evidence of other climbers, possibly a centuries-old Tohono O’odham Shaman or, more likely, a modern day drug-smuggler’s lookout?

Richard and Linda stayed one night and headed off to see London Bridge at Lake Havasu. Darch stayed an extra day and then went home to Apache Junction. Thoughts of a bike ride were in the air until Darch discovered that his padlock key for the bike chain was MIA, presumably left behind at home. We settled for a fire and BBQ, finally using some of the wood that I have been carting around since Plomosa Road. As an activity, I decided to take a few pics of local varieties of cactus and shrubbery as several of you in the Great White North have been inquiring.

I thought it would be a good idea to buy a few Jalpeños with which to spice up the stewpot. Tastewise, this was quite successful but I did learn that one should avoid rubbing one’s eyes after chopping peppers – the sting is longlasting and painful.

Finally, the other day, I had my first win at Scrabble – a great moment in sport! I was lucky to get most, if not all of the high scoring letters, so skill was likely not a factor.

Temps nowadays 70/40, about perfect for me with cool nights and pleasant days. One of the by-products of warmer daytime temperatures is that a small, quite aggressive variety of bee smells out the water that I carry in the back of the truck. They seem especially partial to the red 10 gallon rubber bladder, possibly because the moisture aroma seeps through the material or maybe just because it’s colourful – I don’t know. In any case, there are afternoons when it receives attention from the “swarm”.

 

Some of you have enquired about the desert vegetation to which I occasionally make reference. I have included a few samples in the attached pictures. Needless to say, all forms of cactus a spiny and sharp. The “jumping” chollas, particularly, go out of their way to leave the mother plant and insert themselves in bike tires, one’s sandals and the odd dog paw.

Photos:

99 Sunset at Rusty Water Tank

87 Teddy Bear Cholla

88 Staghorn/Buckhorn Chollla

90 Chainfruit Cholla

92 Creosote bush

95 Palo Verde tree

106 View from cave over Rusty Water Tank Camp

110 Bees on water bladder

112 Hugh Gail Christine Dave at Mica Mine Road campfire