Wandering About the Desert Southwest

Time to catch up a bit. We have been camping in places with poor wi-fi and poor or NO cellular. Once again I find myself in a library trying to put this together. We are staying in our second Thousand Trails RV Campground and I have not been pleased with either of them. For two days we had no water and three days we had no sewer. Christmas Eve we were asked to move to a site that had no sewer problem. Since it was raining, they told me that I could wait until Christmas Day to move. I chose to move, because we were going to church and then to dinner at my brother's home. We might as well be boondocking in the desert. Good thing we are set up for carrying water and holding our waste water. I thought I would vent my spleen before I got to the good stuff.

Our journey has continued to be one of connecting with people and very little sightseeing. When our friend Sue, from church, saw where we were staying she connected us with one of her longtime friends, Pete and Carol Massa, who live near San Diego. We met for lunch and had a terrific time. It felt like we had been friends for years.

Pete and Carol Massa with Kay and Russ

We also visited with Kay's longtime friend, Molly and her husband Ryan. Kay never met Molly in person, but met her years ago on a scrap-booking site. They have stayed connected through Facebook and what a joy it was to meet in person.

Molly and Ryan Di Fede with Kay and Russ

We did do a little sightseeing while we were in San Diego and stopped at the San Diego Botanic Gardens. I thought it was free on Tuesdays, but I did not read the fine print, "for residents of San Diego County." Well, we were there, so I paid and and we went for a tour. It was a lot walking for Kay. Since none of you were able to join us, here are some pictures of what we saw. They had plants from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and from the desert Southwest. I should have taken notes, because I cannot remember the names of the plants.

After leaving Pio Pico Thousand Trails Campground we went to Quartzsite, Arizona to do some boondocking in the desert. Since it was our first venture at doing this, I opted to stay in a Long Term Visitor Area (LTVA) and pay the $40 fee to stay two weeks. For $40 we got access to a dump station, fresh water, and dumpsters. We could have stayed in a none fee area close by at no cost.

Jake at Quartzsite, AZ

Sunset in the desert

Sunset in the desert

Sunrise from our campsite in the desert

Sunrise from our campsite in the desert 

It gets dark in the desert away from city lights

The moon rising and our fire dieing out

We were pleased with our stay in the LTVA. Kay was a little disappointed by the "desert," because it was more like a gravel parking lot than her perception of what a desert should look like. Kay also thought that it would be warmer than it is in the desert Southwest.

After leaving Quartzsite we went to Verde Valley Thousand Trails Campground in Cottonwood, Arizona for two weeks and we have now arrived at Mittry Lake Recreation Area near Yuma with free camping. I will post pictures from the last two weeks in my next post.

We are still enjoying the journey.

Kay and Russ