Chasing the Eclipse - CA- AZ

The total eclipse will be April 8th.  And passing right over our Dayton house.  With the new tires on Rufus he's ready for a Road Trip.

DAY 1:
After a brief stop at the Buckman Springs Rest Area for a leg stretch we were ready to deal with the Yuma traffic.  We no longer stop in Yuma but continue on to Wellton for gas.

But YIKES!  The Chevron we usually stop is now selling E-Diesel.  Diesel infused with Ethanol.  I did use in once while passing thru Bakersfield.  Rufus coughed and sputtered and went into Limp-Home-Mode.  $1600 damage!

However the Circle-K in town had real diesel!  Our new Wellton stop.

The Antelope Hills Petroglyph Site is just 7 miles east of Wellton.  Our trip has now begun.

I learned of this site from San Diego’s Arm Chair Hiker on his blog HERE.  As he points out the site is next to a significant mining operation and access to glyphs is restricted.  But it was a nice quiet place to stop for lunch.

The small parking area has a kiosk that details the history and a bit about the glyphs

Most of the glyphs are located high on the hillside.

Fran and i were married in Palm Springs, and a Date Shake is kinda our beverage for a toast.  Dateland has sure grown since our previous visits.  Got an EV, they have chargers! and it’s become very popular.  A bit of a line and we were off with a medium date shake!

I had planned on spending the night at Dateland, but it was still early.  I knew the glyphs at Painted Rock would not disappoint and were a couple hours away.
We have camped at Painted Rock for many years, but things change.  It was free, then a $4/$2 fee was imposed , now it’s $8/$4.  But the gotchya is the payment must be made online at Recreation.gov!  and with poor cell service there … and the $8 ‘convenience fee’ …

We spent a nice night under the stars there,  The ‘Painted Rock’ is now fenced off.  That’s good as folks like D.E.W take pleasure in defacing them. 

Just hope D.E.W lives to regret this

There are still many to enjoy.

Last time we were here in 2018 the Camp Ground Host and friends set up a golf course,  That blog is HERE. 

DAY 2:
After topping off the gas tank in Gila Bend we turned south toward Ajo, Why and the Oregon Pipe Cactus NM.  We’ve driven through Ajo many times and this time stopped at the City park to have lunch,

… and take in some of the many murals the town is becoming known for.

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That's gotta be Frida! Right?

A nice view of the school with Saddleback Mountain behind.

Having been to Oregon Pipe Cactus before the Wall was built we decided not to see the damage first hand and continue on to Tucson.  Our destination was the Lazydays KOA.

Awesome Arizona clouds did bring a little rain

DAY 3:

The RV park is huge!  All the amenities of a KOA and located in Tucson.  This worked out really great, altho a bit expensive.  Nice FREE hot showers and an easy drive to El Charro where we had made plans to meet with Gay and Joe for lunch at El Charro.  This is the same place we met last time, and I again ordered the Carne Seca Poblano, it's so good.  They are such a delightful couple to be with, we are privileged to be their friends.

With good friends Joe and Gay for a good time, good food and a lot of caching up.

Fran Joe Gay and me

We currently settled in at Patagonia Lake State Park.  We need to go to Nogales in the morning for diesel.  Didn't have any on the way here!  Plan accordingly ;)