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 ;)

Travel Days in the SCOARCHNIG desert southwest

From Felicity, CA it’s just 8 miles to Yuma, AZ, however as usual we will pass through the the main traffic area to fill up on the east side of town.  Diesel is $2.30 in AZ compared to $2.80 per gallon in San Diego.

We have a tradition of stopping at Dateland for a date shake, and this trip is no different.  While here we catch the weather report that our cool 98F will skyrocket tomorrow.  Borrego Springs is looking at 118F and Phoenix 120F, time to make some time. 


We turn south off I8 onto US85 and arrive in Ajo AZ (AH-ho) at 4PM with the thought of a quick overnight on the BLM sites along Darby Well Road, but it is still 95F out and we look for an easy overnight RV park.  Ajo is the Spanish word for garlic, although the only garlic in town is at the IGA.

Until 1985 this was a thriving copper mining area, then the mine closed leaving nearly everyone in the town unemployed overnight.  The tiny town of Ajo now relies heavily on tourist traffic as it tries to revitalize itself.  Of the many RV parks we pull into Belly Acres a small older park which offers FHU for $22.50.  Not good for the bigger rigs.


Continuing south from Ajo is the Organ Pipes National Monument.  Definitely a place that deserves more time and a Jeep to explore. 


The short nature trail from the Visitor Center we see our first Organ Pipe along with more saguaro.  We also see the biggest cholla ever.  We’ll see bigger ones later, but don’t think I’ve ever had to look up at a SoCal cholla.


Just past the campground is the Desert View Trail, a short 1.5 mile loop.  This trail should be done counter-clockwise, from the trailhead opposite the restrooms – not the marked end of the trail behind the restrooms.  We did it backwards! 




From the trail we see vast numbers of saguaro cactus on the west facing slopes.  But as the trail climbs higher the Organ Pipe cactus dominate the east facing slopes.  When young they are beautiful, but do not seem to age well.



And a single little fishhook cactus among the giants


From the top of the trail the fence is clearly visible along the Mexico US border and the elevation gain is only ~200 ft


Returning north on 85 to Why, AZ and the junction of 86 into Tucson.  This is a beautiful drive with the saguaro in blooms of white and red, a massive crested saguaro can be seen on the north side of the road.

The Saguaro National Park is divided into west and east sections, separated by the city of Tucson.  Having not been to the east section before, we decide to make the trip.  After seeing all the magnificent blooms in the morning we were disappointed that none were blooming in the park.  That’s where we learned they open their flowers during the night and close again during the morning to conserve moisture.

There are pullouts along the 9-mile loop road on the east section and some have the opportunity to hike.  But parking an RV (30 ft limit) has very limited possibilities.  This section is also more urban with homes in the background of many viewpoints.



We hop back on 10 east and decide to call it a day in Benson AZ.  The Butterfield Resort & Observatory has an evening star party and it’s off the freeway.  Well there is no freeway noise, but it is on a busy railroad line – who knew?  And the star parties in the off-season are hit-and-miss, we signed up along with several other guests, but the party was cancelled.  Still a park with its own observatory is a plus.  The off-season rate of $32 for this 5-star resort was still a very nice overnight.  There are 2 driving ranges with balls and loaner clubs, and a brand new pickle ball court.



For miles along 8-east are signs for ‘The Thing’, or the ‘Continental Divide Trading Post’.  We managed to escape the lure of ‘The Thing’ again, but I wanted a new dream catcher for my hiking staff – I used my last dream in Yosemite .


The Continental Divide Trading Post is about what I expected …


But they did have dream-catcher, albeit with only 3 dreams – of course I can add my own so that’s ok, and a postcard of Annie Oakley.  Fran’s roots are in the home town of ‘Little Miss Sureshot’, Greenville OH.  Review my blog on our visit to Garst Museum and her gravesite HERE.

We pull into the west end of Deming NM with the idea of topping diesel, but all 3 of the old stations are now closed.  There are quite a few RV parks here and we’ve stayed at a few, and the Walmart offers overnight parking, but we’re just here for gas and lunch this trip.  I find diesel on the east end of town at $2.50/gal a bit steep, at least it’s on the way to St Clair Winery. 



Seems most of the blogs I read are beer drinkers.  A good beer can be found anywhere, by son is a chemist and makes a nice beer, but wine is a challenge and red wine an art.  I'll be tossing in my personal  hedonistic reviews to balance things.

I prefer dry red wines and did pick up a nice D.H. Syrah (D.H. are the signature wines) for dinner, this Lescombe’s Chardonnay (Lescomibe is the founder) is a very dry wine and their only white aged in oak – perfect with the smoked salmon we brought for such an opportunity.   With a nice breeze on the grass area of the patio.

Note that there is $10 NM corkage fee  … we were not advised of this and were able to have it waived after a brief discussion.

We leave Deming toward Silver City, but with the late start and fires in the area, we are headed toward Truth or Consequences with plans to stay a couple days at Elephant Butte State Park.  None of the ‘developed’ sites are near the water so there is no need to get the perfect waterfront site.  Look for one that is level and near the WiFi towers.  We’re in site 51 next to the WiFi tower.  The WiFi at times is quite nice, but at others times drops off – typical park WiFi.


A roadrunner provides morning entertainment as it fights off its mirror image for the bugs on the next site’s truck.



There is ample parking at the lake but the water is not all we expected.  The 2-stroke engines leave an oily film and there are lots of bugs near shore.  Fran gave up on her SUP as a StandUp Paddleboard, jet skis and boat wakes made it a challenge.  She is paddling back on her SUP as a SitUp Paddleboard.


Well there are ticks also and we left a day early.  My technique for removing a tick is to saturate a Q-tip in vegetable oil and slather the critter.  Then with ample oil on the Q-tip turn the tick slowly in a circle a little at a time.  Once it backs out destroy the bugger!  This has worked on my lazy SoCal critters, no promise it works on yours.

A brief stop for lunch at the Walking Sands Rest Area, which is a unique looking stop on I-25.  The restrooms and picnic pavilions are elevated to allow the sand to ‘walk’.


By late afternoon we arrive in Albuquerque where we have reservations for a two night stay the day after tomorrow.  The Albuquerque KOA Journey was most accommodating in finding us a spot for one night including all deposits already made.  Sweet!


This is a nice park, altho a bit expensive.  The WiFi works, as does the cable TV (47 channels), showers are included in a 3/4 bath (shower, toilet, sink).

At $56 it is a bit expensive, so this is a one night splurge and in this weather not a bad deal .

We'll continue to move fairly quickly.  The RV seems t like the hot weather tho.  With the cruise control set at 65 the diagnostic panel says we are averaging 16.2 mpg.

Into the mountains next and hopefully a bit cooler!  A lot cooler would be better!