Historic Clifton, AZ

As you by now know, I don’t like to travel via the interstates. Sometimes they are hard to avoid and you just have to take a detour to get away from them. That’s exactly what I did. Instead of continuing east on I-10 into New Mexico, I headed north on hwy 191 toward Clifton, AZ.

Historic Clifton, AZ

The desert is a funny place, it never looks the same. On the drive east of Tucson it looked dull, no real colors, but once I hit 191 colors returned. Not the greens of Nevada, but the yellows / gold of California. Yellow grasses and yucca plants dominated the scenery, beautiful in its own way. I spent the night in Clifton, an old mining town of yesteryears. There is still some mining going on, but seemingly in a different capacity.
I had a pretty late start today and I knew I had a long drive through the mountains ahead of me. One hundred twenty miles don’t sound like much, but up mountains, plus a couple of photo stops, it took me five hours. It was so worth it. I took hwy 78 east, a narrow, winding one lane road through the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. I hadn’t seen trees in almost four months, except for the occasional palm tree or Joshua trees; the smell of pine was just wonderful. I love the unobstructed views you get out West, but there is something to be said for camping in the middle of the woods. Hopefully, the trees are tall enough to keep away the lights of any nearby city.
Once I left the mountains and forest behind I was greeted by endlessly rolling hills covered by yellow grasses and sprinkled with juniper trees, I just couldn’t stop starring, so beautiful. Sorry, but I can go gaga over the beauty and diversity of nature.

Rolling hills - Mule Creek

I didn’t get to Truth or Concequences as I had hoped, but I knew I shouldn’t push it. To my luck, only about thirty miles east of Silver City in the Gila (Hee-lah) Forest there was a sign for a campground right there in the woods. I found myself a nice spot and settled in. Hoping for a starry night, the moon is

Gila Nat'l Forest

almost full. I am going to treat myself tonight to a nice dinner, linguine with shrimp (frozen ) in a tomato/zucchini sauce made from scratch, yummy. Who says camping has to be all about hot dogs? Actually, what I am doing should really not be considered camping.

Well, the night was very nice and quiet. I didn’t see many stars, but I could have read a book outside since the moon was so bright. Illuminated my site like a safety light.

Palm Springs street "camping"

I had been in the Palm Springs area around Thanksgiving and lots of places looked familiar, except the gas prices. Regular had gone up $1.04 per gallon in just over four months. California is just too expensive; $4.15 for regular was not even the highest. Glad I filled up for a mere $3.95.
Since I had been here before I chose to drive along the western instead the eastern side of the Salton Sea. Unfortunately, the sea and communities along its shores don’t look much better than on this side either.

Salton City - dead palm trees

If you read my previous post about the Salton Sea you might remember all the dead fish on the beach. I didn’t see any dead fish this time, but lots of destroyed communities right at the edge of the sea. A little further inland you could find homes with nice front yards, but the whole area felt very depressing. Even the desert to the west of hwy 86 seemed not as alive as in other places.

Salton Sea Beach - remains of a home

As so many times before, things can change very quickly. Just a bit south around Westmorland, the desert was replaced by huge fields of green; wheat, lettuce and other produce. Along the northern parts of Alt-86 orange trees were full with oranges ready to be picked.
I stayed at the Wiest Lake campground. The smallest lake I have ever seen, but people still rode their big motorboats in tiny circles. What I hadn’t expected were the feeding lodges across the street. Between the aroma of cow manure and the flies, this was not the best camp spot, but it was quiet. It was a state park, there was no ranger, no pay box and no rates posted. Got to love these places. Office closed for the weekend. I hoped to see someone in the morning, no such luck. I left a note and money; I had only used water, no electric.

ATV at the Imperial Sand Dunes

In the morning I headed east on hwy 78. Passing the great Imperial Sand Dunes and than thru the desert, where some of the cacti have started to bloom, to the oh so wonderful interstate to Yuma, Arizona. I didn’t spent much time in Yuma, just gassing up and getting some groceries.
Since my leg is hurting too much when I walk, I can’t explore any of the places I pass through, which really stinks.

Blooming ocotillo and saguaro cacti

I dry camped near the town of Wellton between some fields. They are a little strict about parking campers on the street around Southern Arizona. There are too many snowbirds in the winter time and the place is just overrun with RVs.
I always try to avoid the interstates as much as possible and sometimes that leads me to some interesting dirt roads. Driving along cultivated fields, followed by desert, followed by areas covered in volcanic rock (my favorite ) sprinkled with great saguaro cacti. You just never know what you might see.

I just found out that my tenant will stay until August, which means I’ll be on the road for an additional two months, yeah!