I would be remiss if I didn’t do another blog about the desert since this year I have waited so long to get back to it. The sea is magnificent and ever changing, really it can be quite hypnotic at times. I especially love it when it is stormy and the waves crash on the shore. But the opposite is what I love about the desert. It changes so slowly it appears to be dead or near to it. Of course appearances can lie.
We are back at the Sonoran Desert National Monument and camped exactly where we were last year. It is so familiar, from the bumpy road in (about 8 miles) to the same disfigured looking cactus near our campsite. It is very odd because when I talk to other boondocks they often say that they have never seen a Saguaro Cactus with the limbs drooping down but you can see by my photos that this desert is full of them. Another desert mystery .
And once again we are all alone and I love it. We did make time to go and see our friends Jim and Connie in Arizona City which is just 30 miles from here but other than that we have been wiling away our days walking and riding around the area. It’s really easy walking because the desert is rarely cluttered with underbrush. The plants are evenly spaced to conserve water and the ground is covered with small and medium sized rocks. Very few large rocks appear on the ground, only in the washes. And it is incredibly flat right up to the mountains.
This particular desert is covered with an array of all kinds of colored rocks. It is puzzling to me that so any different types are found together. I know that some of them are formed in different time periods but somehow they all cover the ground here. Dale has lost his initial passion for all rocks and is quite particular now. He has become a Rock Snob. I, on the other hand, still pick up dozens of pretty or interesting rocks and bring them home. For the most part Dale calls them junk (how soon we forget…) but I don’t care, I take them home and make him tumble them for my water features.
There has been quite a lot of rain and cool weather in this area and as a result the desert is quite green. That will last until the heat comes. The wild flowers are a bit late but I hope there will be more up in Queen Valley where we go next.
Both of us were exhausted when we got here and unfortunately we took a wrong turn on the way and turned a 2 1/2 hour trip into a 5 1/2 hour ordeal. But these few days of solitude and peace have renewed us. Dale was especially tired from all the work refitting the new trailer, he really needed the rest. I still don’t know why we push so hard but I suspect it is because we are aware of our limited time to keep coming south and we want to extend as long as we can.
So we are off to Arizona City on Thursday to pick up some more mail and visit with our friends and then on to Queen Valley where we will get settled and await our son’s flight into Phoenix. Then let the fun begin again…
More to come