We had a great couple of days together with Frank Ramsey, my roommate and squadron-mate from Vietnam days and his wife Janis. A few dinners out, a round of golf that I prefer not to talk about (Franks home course, a mountainous, but beautiful desert course, destroyed me), and plenty of time to recall our experiences as Lopez FACs (forward Air Controllers) made for a most enjoyable way to spend time while the RV was getting its annual checkup.
Frank and Janis have a place in Alaska where they spend the summer and keep their bush plane, a Maul, that Frank uses to get into the back country for hunting and fishing. We’ve been putting a trip to Alaska on the back burner for sometime but the invite from Frank and Janis to see Alaska the right way may be too good to pass up.
From Phoenix we made a short drive to Tonopah, AZ where there is a great hot springs. The private area that Sandi and I rented for two hours had a beautiful rock hot tub with a water temp around 106F. There was also a cooling tub which we did not use. Lounges and chairs faced to the west and the setting sun. The private area was enclosed on three sides and completely open facing the desert. What a great way to watch a beautiful sunset.
We finally arrived in Quartzite, AZ, the boondocking destination for thousands of RVers. We heard from our great friend, Marilyn Darling, from Mexico and Yellowstone and met her and several other friends whom we had travelled with into Mexico. We joined up with another 100 other RVers who belong to a group called the “Boomers” all baby-boomers born between 1940 – 1960. We were all parked in the middle of the desert on BLM land. The “Boomers” are an interesting group—no officers, no rules. A working display of anarchy. If you do not like what you see or what is going on, you are free to leave anytime. Our visit here coincided with a huge flea market and a rather large RV show each with hundreds of vendors selling everything from RV-unique items to things that I can’t imagine anyone needing – miracle eyeglass cleaner, kitchen aids that chop and dice (just like seen on TV), tools, nuts and bolts, jewelery, and much more. We did get new RV slide-out awnings and a few other item that we really needed. It is also a rock-hound’s mecca
and all kinds of lapidary equipment, rocks and fossils are on display and are available for sale.This town is quite different. It has a gum museum (never been to one of them), a book seller that has a store on Main Street who does not wear any clothes, and there is a monument to Hadji Ali, a Syrian camel driver that came here in the early 1860s to help the U.S. Army with a test to see if camels would work in the American deserts. Known locally as Hi Jolly, he is buried beneath a pyramid monument in the local cemetery. We are surrounded by mountains, but the desert is flat and quite suitable for boondocking. It really is like a big party. It has been fun but we were ready to continue on towards California.
From Quartzite we headed to Yuma and then into california where we faound a great place out in the desert to spend a few days. The rains came and we watched an Arroyo "dry stream bed" go from bone dry to a raging flood torrent. The wheather forcasters commented that they had never in a liffetime seen Arizona entirely in the green forcasting rain. Many had more than a half a years rain in one day. We endured the rain and 50 mile-per-hour winds and really apreciated the nice weather when it returned. We took a side trip without the RV into Algedones, Mexico where we had another tooth filled and both got a couple pairs of glasses.
Then on to El Centro Naval Air Facility. Small Navy Air base that is used for training and also is the winter home for the Navy's Blue Angels. It was quite thrilling to see a daily air show right over the RV when the Blue and Gold F-18s would return from their practice sessions.
North of El Centro in the Salton Sea, one of the Important Birding Areas. An awesome inland sea, that is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, is a great place to see birds. I've seen nearly 100 species and have added a couple new birds to my life list. I think the Eurasian Widgeon is the best so far. A close look in the photo will show Ross Geese. Snow Geese, American Avocets, Shovellers, Pintails, Widgeon, and more. What a place.
