Boondocking With the Sagauro

LOVING THE SONORAN DESERT !

Finally we see the sign "Entering Ajo".

As soon as the MotherShip is docked, Chuck sits down with a glass of wine to toast the beauty that is the Sonoran Desert. Saguaro cacti surround our campsite!These royality of the desert are huge! AND very old. Most are 50 years old before they start growing their arms!

We arrived in the late afternoon, and before long Ann and Bill walked up for a visit. They, along with RV Sue, arrived the previous day. Soon, the Arizona sky treated us to our first Sonoran Sunset!

The beauty of the sunset reflected in the back window of The MotherShip!

Is there anything more beautiful than a windmill at sunset with saguaro all around?

The desert night sky.  Glorious first night here! It was fun to share it with Ann and Bill.

Ann plays with Samantha, her beagle. She had to get Sammy a special pair of booties while in Quartzsite because Sammy cut her foot on a piece of glass. The booty protected her feet! She actually loved them and wore them proudly!
Ann has a great stained glass business. She creates stained glass windows for RV's! She makes them to fit the front door or cresent shaped ones to fit snug in the corner of RV windows! If you remember about 3 blogs ago, I showed the stained glass window of Jerry the cat? That was Ann's creation! If you would like to take a look at her work, this is her website!
www.littlehousestainedglass.com

 The next morning, the sun rose with blinding colors. Here you can see the reflection of the sunrise against the MotherShip on the left with the actual sunrise on the right! The desert skies are amazing!

MEETING THE BAYFIELD BUNCH !

Just as Chuck and I were getting ready to walk our hound herd, we got to meet the famous bloggers from Canada! It was ultimately through Al and Kelly that we found this beautiful spot in the desert! They told Sue via their blog, http://thebayfieldbunch.com/
then Sue told me and introduced me to their blog. I have been following it ever since! Great folks who drift down to the SouthWest from Canada! They travel with 2 dogs, Pheebs and Motormouse... who didn't get to come and meet the hound herd!

Chuck having a serious conversation with Al and Kelly! The Bayfield Bunch prefers boondocking over staying in campgrounds and have discovered many free BLM (Bureau of Land Management) camping areas thoughout the SouthWest.

It was great meeting you two! Thank you for letting us share your piece of heaven! Wish we could have stayed longer!

 Radar and DoogieBowser look out the door of the MotherShip hoping to see Pheebs and Motormouse!

Scotty taking it easy on his doggie bed!

Later that morning, the hound herd did get to visit with Samantha and Julie. Ann and Bill went hiking and ended up at our front yard for a fun visit! Really glad we met them at Quartzsite! They are from Oregon and this is their first visit to the Sonoran Desert!

Then Sue shows up and we have a party!
Ann found a sign painted on an old piece of tin scribbled in Spanish translated to "This camp occupied".  The hound herd have to check out the visitors. From Left, Chuck, Sue, Ann and Bill, hounds... white one is DoogieBowser, black etc is Scotty and red/brown one is Radar.

Unfortunately, the desert is littered with trash, more than just the small tin sign! In the above photo of Ann and Samatha you see an old kerosene can that Chuck found discarded and here is the body of an old Radio Flyer wagon... some of the discarded items are great reminders of days gone by!

The MotherShip sits amid the saguaro, mountains and a copper mine on the right!

 This was our front yard, we loved it here!

 Colorful Ocotillo near our campsite!

Sometimes, it seems the saguaro are purposely striking funny poses! See the little Casita travel trailer tucked behind them? BLM land has lots of folks taking advantage of the Arizona sun and the free camping!

The day gave way to strong winds, leaving us with  weird windswept clouds above us!

No real sunset tonight, just these unusual clouds.

The next morning Chuck decided we needed to leave. The batteries  in the MotherShip were not holding a charge, even after Bill brought down his generator yesterday and charged them for an hour. We need to leave this beautiful place and go back home to trusted and known mechanics to get the MotherShip checked out!

The MotherShip in the distance with a grouping of saguaro, Ocotillo and barrel cactus against in impossible blue sky makes leaving here harder.

Goodbye Darby Wells Road

Leaving and headed north through Ajo AZ.

We hope you enjoyed boondocking with us!

Happy Trails from Geri. Chuck and the hound herd!

On the road ro Ajo AZ !

ON THE WAY TO AJO !

Restful sunset at Sue's Pond with white egret and great blue heron in the background.

Ann and Bill left the day before, and we were to meet them the next day at Sue's Pond near Yuma.

Sue was there also when we arrived! We had decided to stay at a nearby campground with utilities so we could charge up the MotherShip's batteries.

We finally got there about sunset, just in time for the evening performances of the coots, the white egret and the great blue heron!

Ann and Bill's Casita reflected in Sue's Pond.

Sue's PTV and  BLT camped under a cottonwood tree at Sue's Pond. PTV Perfect Tow Vehicle and

Best Little Trailer!

Chuck, Sue, Bill and Ann all enjoying a perfect sunset!

The next day Sue, Bill and Ann hitched up their Casitas and headed to Painted Rocks!

(exit 102 on Interstate 8 near Gila Bend AZ)

Chuck decided that we should stay in the rv park one more night to get a full charge to our batteries. We were still experiencing some electrical problems.

The Casita Convoy spent that night at Painted Rocks. They had a great boon docking campground there. Ann also gave such glowing reviews of the petroglyphs there, Chuck and I decided to stop on our way to Ajo AZ.

PAINTED ROCKS AZ

Please remember, you can click onto any of the photographs to view them full size!

When you first walk into the area of the rocks, you see this huge pile of rocks in front of you. Every single one of them has rock writing of some sort! It reminded us of the petroglyphs found at Three Rivers in NM.

Some of these stones were covered with petroglyphs!

This rock was about the size of a very large pig!

This was a very interesting stop, one well worth making. Chuck and I decided not to stay at the campground here, but to head on down to Ajo to meet Ann, Bill and Sue boondocking at Darby Wells.

Because we have so much to show you from our visit at Darby Wells, I will continue on the next blog. Hope you enjoyed your visit !!!  Geri, Chuck and the hound herd.

Quartzsite days

Solar !!!

RVSue has a solar panel mounted on her van, the PTV! (Perfect Tow Vehicle), she is showing Chuck how she raises it up to catch the best of the sun's energy!

Next, Bill comes over to check it out. Bill and Ann have a solar panel attached to their Casita also!

Solar panel is up! Chuck and Bill approve while Scotty and DoogieBowser look for Sue's crew!

Her dogs come by later for a visit!

You can see Bill and Ann's solar panel mounted at a permanent angle on their Casita in the background!

The "Q" Experience

Quartzsite takes on a carnival experience every Spring! Colorful tents pop up like weird desert blooms!

The closer you get to the carnival, the worse the traffic becomes!

Flags flying, children crying, feet dying!

We walked and walked and walked! So Many vendors! So little energy! LOL!

 Traffic going in to town, traffic leaving town! I was lucky, I just bought a couple of pair of socks and some ice cream!

"Q" Gives a sunset !

Our campsite at Dome Rock lit up our last night there! What a sky, what mountains!

The Ocotillo cactus behind Sue's rig, reaches

up into the sky as if to greet the sunset!

This was our last campfire and our last gathering of friends! Clete and Chris had left this morning and tomorrow this campground would be empty!

 Oh.... but what a glorious sunset for our goodbyes!

Our last morning... from left to right:

Sue, Chuck, Bill and Ann, ??? and Rosemary (jeeeeeze--- I forgot your husband's name!),and Jim and Carol, all pets there and accounted for!

Jim and Carol left right after this group photo! Several folks had already left, but they had arrived a few days earlier than we did... sadly I didn't get any photos of some of these nice folks!

Bill and Ann left next, headed to Sue's Pond near Yuma. Sue and Chuck and I decided we needed breakfast at the great Mountain Quail Cafe! Then we filled propane tanks and headed back to the "Q" circus to see if we missed anything! Sue picked up a few needed gadgets and some LED lights. We spent one more night in camp and then we headed down to Sue's Pond near Yuma! We had so much fun (EXCEPTING for the electrical problems!) and we were glad we made the trip! We made new friends and reacquainted with our old friends! Life is good!

See ya at Sue's Pond next then on to Ajo!

Geri, Chuck and the Hound Herd!