This is where the camel experiment took place. They brought camels form the Sahara to here in Arizona to see if they could be used as beasts of burden across this wide desert. It didn’t work out…every one has there own “real” reason why; in any event, they set some of them free. The ashes of the last camel and their handler Hi Jolly (the locals’ version of the guy’s real name) are buried here under a stone pyramid with a copper camel on top. Just a bit of unique local color.
That is the sign on the front window of the local bakery. Great cake donuts!
The mountains surrounding this side valley were painted with beautiful color tonight. An impressive ending for the day.
It was one of those great desert hikes that rose from cactus strewn flatland up through a green rugged slot canyon. The focus of the hike was a side canyon filled with palm trees. It is always amazing to see them in the desert. They seem to be able to find just the right spot even here. Pretty amazing. There were supposed to be lots of big horn sheep. We saw none…a bit of a bummer. Overall though a fun walk.
Clothes, jewelry, tools and what-nots. Some yummy chipotle beef pemmican (had to taste test it) and lots of plain ole rocks. Well, to these folks they are serious, collectable rocks (they call these gatherings Gem Shows) but they mostly look like regular old rocks to me. I saw a lot of boxes with oriental writing and a few with Arabic. Not sure what that might mean about all this stuff. Needless to say, we looked but didn’t buy. We had fun though and we might even wonder through again while we are here.
We came over a crest on I 10 and there it was, a sea of white dots scattered across the desert.
There are lots of motorhomes and the first of many 2012 shows has already begun. There is a huge event tent and venders lining the road as we head for the camping area. We bypassed all that today. We figured we had better get settled in during daylight since it is a cross country drive to find that perfect spot. We plan to check out the “attractions” tomorrow.
We picked a site a couple miles off the highway and not too close to any of the already staked out areas. It seems the practice is to gather stones from around the area and define a perimeter for your space here. We didn’t go as far as to do that but we did respect all those that had already been laid. People are friendly and we have been told that the folks with lots of boondocking experience are full of advice…good and perhaps not so good…for any newbies like ourselves. Guess we well see what we learn.
We are going to sample life at one of the LTVA (Long term visitor area) on BLM (Bureau of Land management) land. These are just big open sections of desert where hundreds of thousand of motorhomes converge for the winter. The blogs claim that in a typical January a million people show up at the one we are heading for in Quartzite. We are planning to stay a couple weeks but have a fallback itinerary in case it doesn’t turn out to be our cup of tea. We just have to see what it is all about. Stay tuned.
We are back in the motorhome tonight. It feels pretty good. Tonight we are stopped at Saddle Mountain in Tonopah. It’s an RV park we have heard lots of good talk about as we wandered around last year. The people are certainly very friendly. We had visitors welcoming us just minutes after we arrived. It was actually instigated by some folks who recognized the rig from an encounter last fall. A number of the current residents are seasonal volunteers at various parks around the country. We might slide through here again when we start seriously thinking about doing some volunteering so they can teach us the ropes.
We have parked the rig for the balance of the year near Phoenix AZ. No problems but, it seemed like a good opportunity to visit with family for the holidays. After the New Year we will resume our travels.
“Shooting the Moon” with the Sail plane