H&P South once more 2024-25

 We drove down to Why to check out the RV parks, then we checked out Gunsight Wash BLM. It was decided to pass up this area at this time and head for Quartzsite. Back at Ajo, we found the land fill, got rid of some garbage, then hit the IGA. Back at camp, we went for a walk, Pat hugging a Saguaro, well, she was close. Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range is just north of us, you can hear the jets but are very hard to see. I think a lot of the time they are down low, just below the horizon. So far I have no photos of them  Quail were back this morning, finally got a picture. You don't see a lot of wild life here, so it was nice to see them. Most critters around here are nocturnal and we are not.😁 Today we are heading for Gila Bend, and staying at Sonoran Desert RV Park. Dump, fill, laundry, then off to Quartzsite.

 All the fuel savings we had coming down the I5 we lost on I8 from Yuma to Gilla Bend. The truck had to down shift a couple of times,to keep us at 58 mph. Other than that, the trip was fine, lots and lots of desert.  We found a nice spot just off of Darby Wells rd. outside Ajo and set up camp. It was a bit windy when we got here but the next day was beautiful. Very little wind and sunny and warm. I did a little maintenance around the trailer, then sat in the sun and read. It starts to get chilly when the sun goes down, around six pm.  The view out our window. I took a walk around and took these photos. This is what a dead cactus looks like. The largest Cholla I have seen, it is just behind us. A Barrel Cactus just after a bloom. There were at least eight Quail feeding around the trailer this morning, unfortunately, I did not get a good photo of them, so you will have to take my word for it. Yesterday, the 26th. it blew all day and we just sat in the trailer and read. Goo...

The trip to Tumco, ( The United Mining Company ), took an hour and a half Salton Sea. We have been here before and there were other campers here then, maybe a dozen or so. This time we are all alone. We have double checked and camping is allowed. We found a nice spot and got set up. Some history I found on the net. Hedges began as the Gold Rock mining camp, that grew up around the Gold Rock Mine discovered by Peter Walters in 1884. He soon thereafter sold out to developers who renamed the mine the Golden Cross in 1892. In 1893, Golden Cross Mining and Milling Company began a development program bringing in a stamp mill to work the ore in the local mines. The camp grew into a town amidst the mines, named Hedges , in honor of the firm's vice president C. L. Hedges. The town was renamed Tumco in 1910, for T he U nited M ines Co mpany, the company that bought the Gold Cross mining company from its previous owners. The Tumco Mine operated from 1892 until 1917, and again from 19...

After leaving Sawtooth, we headed to Salton City, the PA there offers one night free if you stay three nights. We stayed three. Our route. Jan 17th we went to El Centro, there is a Costco and a huge Walmart there. All stock up, we went back to the trailer and watched these guys for a while. Even got to sit outside till the sun went down, then it gets chilly. As you can see, some have buggies, some just hang and one guy has one with two seats.  Taking off. Next day we checked out Borrego Springs and Ocotilla Flats, looking for a BLM site to camp at for a few days. We did not find anything we liked, so we are going to Ogilby next. If you are an ATVer, then Ocotilla Flats is the place for you. Too much dust and noise for us. Some of the Ocotilla are in bloom though. Up a BLM road, looking back at Borrego Springs. On our way back to the campground, we found a guy selling fresh dates, I bought four pounds. They are very good.  Back at the site, we watch these guys practise controll...

 Our original plan was to go to Red Rock Canyon St Pk, a few miles north of Mojave. With the temperature still very low at night, we decided to head farther south. After doing some research, we found Sawtooth Canyon BLM campground. It is about half way between Barstow and the Lucerne Valley. This BLM area is different as it has designated camping sites, sixteen of them, free. We found one that was a nice pull through. It is very pretty here, this is the view out our door. Here are some photos I took walking around the campground. Dinosaur themed play ground. This picture is in the middle of this picture. Our trailer is behind the spires above. Gives you an idea of the size of them.  We were only going to stay for one day but it is so pretty here, we have stayed three.  We will pass by Joshua Tree BLM and head to a PA in Salton City. We will stay there at least a couple of nights and check out the BLM around Borrego Springs. If we find a nice site, that will be our home fo...

 Heading south from Bothe-Napa St. Pk. the hwy became a freeway around San Francisco. The traffic was not too bad, so we made good time to Patterson. There is a Passport America campsite there called Kit Fox RV Park. We have stayed there before and did not have a good experience. The site they gave us last time was tight and hard to get into. We thought that we would give them another try. The chances of getting a bad site again seemed slight, especially if we asked for a pull through. That was the way to go, the pull throughs are two dollars more and worth it. Our trip for the last two days. The red dot is Patterson. In the middle of the night the wind came up and the trailer started to rock. It looked like we would have a tail wind as we went farther south. Usually, the trailer squiggles around and the ride is uncomfortable. Not sure why but it was fine. Our fuel mileage was great, at one point we saw 17 litres per 100 kms. Normal is around 21 - 22. We stopped at Rotten Ronnie's ...

 Our stop for the night was Richardson Grove RV park. A couple of miles back there is a state park but the sites are too small for us to fit in. We found that out the last time we came through here. Nothing special about the RV park but it is at the right location for our trip and there is a fuel station just out by the highway.    Our route January 8th on a beautiful warm sunny day. The first part of 128 is very windy and up and down. Vehicles over thirty feet, not recommended, whoops. I didn't have any trouble. Bothe-Nappa St. Pk. is very old and the sites are small, we did find one I could shoe horn in. Quite unlevel but we prevailed and got set up. There are no services other than garbage and nice wash, shower rooms but all in all a nice park. There are trees and big rocks behind the trailer. Yes, that tree is in front of the trailer, a bit of jockeying to get it in and out. it is nice and quiet, peaceful and very pretty.  Jan. 9th 6 - 24 deg.  Today we took...