January/February 2019

Still a little cool and very wet in our home area, so we decided to head out west for a few weeks. The hope being that the warmer, drier climate would help the old arthritic spine & hips. (It did)

We headed for Arizona, taking back roads with the pickup & camper. Over nighted at a Texas rest area, then a night spent at Marfa, Tx... looking for those famous Marfa lights. Tough night, gale force winds, temps in the low 30's. And to top it off, I forgot to crack open the top vent.. so the CO2 monitor woke us up at 2AM with it's terribly loud beeping. Opened the door for a minute to clear the air, cracked the upper vent and a window, and slept until well after daylight. It doesn't take a lot of air circulation to be safe, just don't forget.  😋

On thru New Mexico, spending one night at rest area there.  We were going to spend some time at Rock Hound State Park. But when we got there at around  1pm, it was already booked up. So on to our next pick of stops, the rest area just west of Deming.

Into Arizona, we were looking for inexpensive camping. And we found it. South of Bowie about 10 miles is a place called Indian Bread Rocks. It is government land, managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Secluded, quiet and best of all, free... for a max stay of 14 days.

We enjoyed our weeks stay here, but decided to move farther west. Into the Sonoran desert, between Tucson and Phoenix, east of Red Rock.

It was another BLM camping spot, in the middle of a cactus forest. A literal forest of all kinds of cacti, all with thorns, all will stick, some worse than others...  think Cholla.   Not a lot of wildlife to be seen, other than a few birds, but the coyotes would serenade you every night.

In the above picture, I used Lanora as a reference for size of this Saguaro cactus. It appears about 40' and below is the terrible Cholla, about 7' tall, 5' around.  Couldn't get her any closer than that.

Above,  Sunset in the Sonoran Desert.  And below, moonrise at the same time in the east.

Our time here was up, time to head back toward South Texas, visiting kin along the way. Poor brother  and sister in law live in a good place for a break, and have always been welcoming with a warm meal and bed. And I love being at his ranch, seeing the improvements he has made to the place of his Grandfather and his Father.