Q 2…..the Rally!

Sunday is our last full day in the Apache Junction area and I’m feeling strong enough to tackle the Mesa Market Place Swap Meet….1 1/4 mile and 1600 booths of shopping pleasures!  Think of a flea market on steroids!
  I’m in pursuit of breakfast and a new pair of Crocs.  Find both and a few other can’t-live-without items.  Check out my new Dawgs!

The Avon booth supplied the purple nail polish!  ( I am a bit tired of looking like a homeless desert rat!)
Monday AM we pack up and head the 160+ miles to Quartzsite and the fiberglass rally.  On I-10, just past Phoenix, a rock comes out of nowhere and hits our windshield!  It leaves a dime sized hole, our first broken windshield.  The crack stabilizes and we decide to deal with it later.
Glenda and Jeff are already there.  We decide to camp just behind them, back away from the main gathering.  Many trailers are already here.

We walk around looking for friends.  Find Bob and Mary a few trailers away.

That the famous Dome Rock right over Bob’s head!

It’s too early for registration to be open…instead George is baking bread in his volcano.

Wednesday John and BJ arrive from Mesa.  They like our little back lot and settle just to our east.

Our spot early in the week before the masses arrive.
Thursday we decide to climb Dome Rock!  Two years ago we went as far as the road goes and could not see any way to get higher.  One of our new Casita friends says he has been to the top and there is a faint trail.  Donning our hiking boots, camelbacks and trekking poles, we trudge off.  It is a perfect day for a hike, cloudy and cool!

Casita Land is soon far below.


There’s another couple coming up the road behind us.  We meet Mike and Jackie from Bar Harbor.  They have a toy hauler with a powered parachute inside.  Fun couple who offers to take our picture.

The picture is deceiving…we are on the edge of a cliff.  The Casita gathering is just left of my shoulder.
As we strive to go higher, I zoom in on my hubby.

There is no trail!!! At least we could not locate one.  It occurs to me that we are being slightly stupid in our endeavor.  The rocks are loose and the incline is steep.  We could easily tumble down the mountain.  Admitting defeat, we turn around.

I shoot into the sun to document our view of the top…so close…but still just over half-way to the top.

We are just above the white slash (tailings)!
The week is passing peacefully, it’s surprisingly quiet!  We meet the dog walkers who wander by our camp.  At night, when the wind permits, we have a campfire.  Another couple from Tennessee joins our little group and we spin travel tales.
Meanwhile  the rally grows and spreads out.  There seems to be a desire to not be on top of each other. 
I manage to get sunrises and sunsets.









It’s Saturday morning and I am posting from Burger King.  Been here at least a couple of hours…wondering what I’m missing back at camp?  We plan to stay at Q a couple of more days…not sure what’s next.  Dreading the thought of going back to the cold and ice.  Maybe it will be over in a few weeks???

For Better or Worse at Lost Dutchman SP

The better part is now!  We are at the Lost Dutchman State Park near Apache Junction, AZ.  The worse part started one week ago tonight when a severe sore throat and fever awakened me from a sound sleep.  I could tell that whatever crud had hit me,  it had hit hard.

We were finishing a 5 day stretch of visiting with David’s family, celebrating his grand daughter’s marriage and slightly drowning in the hordes of friends and relatives that were coming through his daughter’s home in Scottsdale.  But it was time to go and I should be well!

Somehow we managed, mostly David managed, to get us out of there and relocate an hour to the east at the state park.  The plan was to spend time hiking in the majestic Superstition Mountains, do a little biking, then tend to the domestic chores of washing clothes and grocery buying.

Superstition Mountains.

All the tasks were completed, but slowly, with lots of naps in between.  Tuesday was wash day and sleep.  Wednesday was groceries and sleep. By Thursday I was on the phone to the doc at home pleading for something, anything and…bless his heart… he prescribed some magic antibiotic that started working within 24 hours.  I’ll skip the illness details…but it was not a normal sinus infection!

Our plans of staying here for 4 days changed to 7 days.  We moved to the overflow loop as our site had other campers arriving.

I was able to catch a few sunsets.

 

 

There’s a few more…..but thought this is enough!

One day we drove east on Highway 88, into the Tonto National Forest where we camped for almost 3 weeks several years ago.  Sadly, our favorite campground in the forest, Tortilla, has been closed for several years.  We hear that budget cuts are responsible.  The drive to Tortilla Flat is breathtaking with the road snaking up and down through the mountains.

Canyon Lake is two miles before one finds Tortilla Flat.

 

This monstrous rock hangs over the town? (4 stores) of Tortilla Flat.  It has a name but can’t remember it…something about a shoe heel.  What I do remember is climbing it!  Not from the side pictured but from a gentler angle.

 

While hubby weaved our way back through the mountains, I hung out the window trying to capture the essence of Tonto.

By yesterday I was able to join a ranger led hike from the campground.  Loved hearing about the flora and a little of the area’s history. 

The native Americans told a tale of a great flood where bad people drowned and good people followed their wise men’s advice and climbed to the top of Superstition Mtn. Some bad people got turned to stone as they tried escape the flood.  They are said to be statues on the way to the top.  The early settlers heard this story and named the range, Superstition Mountains.

Mistletoe in a Palo Verde.

We have loved our time here and plan to come back before we head east.  I still need to hike at least part of the Siphon Draw Trail!

Tomorrow we head west, back to Quartzsite and the rally at Dome Rock.  Hope everyone comes along! 

 

the rally at Dome Rock. siphon draw flat iron basin

Fun in Q with Fiberglass Friends

 

In 2012, during our first winter in Arizona, we are camping in the Tonto National Forest at Tortilla and meet some lovely Escape owners from Texas.  One of them, Duke, makes an impression when he insists we not miss the big RV show in Quartzsite.  We change our plans and go….and manage to find and camp with his crew on Dome Rock Road!

Fast forward two years and we have a repeat occurrence! 

Last Saturday finds us creeping down Dome Rock Road looking for the shiny red truck with the Texas flag.  And it’s there just past the traditional spot for Casitas.  Our friends are with their friends and our Casita joins 5 other fiberglass trailers.

This is Dome Rock!  We are so glad to be here!!!  Missed this place so much last year!  ( It might look a tad disappointing to some…..but not to us!)

This is the “gang”!  Veteran fiberglass trailer owners and professional rally attenders!

Sunday morning we pack up our trash, stop at Love’s to dispose of it and hurry to find a parking spot near the Big Tent.  Methodically we pace the tent, trying not to miss anything.  The crowds increase as the morning progresses and we quit early afternoon.   How can I explain the joy of finding a 25 cent strainer for the bathroom sink or the two dollar broom/dustpan combo?  No big purchases…just stuff we need.  But still fun to buy!

Monday we are introduced to the free pancake breakfast and find the 6 dollar showers at the laundry.  It’s nice to camp with these experienced Q boon dockers!  We ride our bikes on the dirt road and try to pick out a special spot for our return trip in two weeks.  We ride, then walk up the old road on Dome Rock.

(We are camped center, far right in the above scene.)

This is all RV’s, trailers and the miscellaneous that come for the big show.

 

Our party increases when Casita owners, fresh from the rally in Lajitas, Texas, join us on Monday.  And someone is having a birthday!  Great excuse for a party!

The grocery is a bit lacking in Q….I decide to go to California for supplies!  It’s only 22 miles to Blythe and a huge Albertson’s.  Finding a real supermarket is one of our camping pleasures.  We usually just do without until we find our normal supplies.

That night we eat and laugh, eat and laugh!

The moon is full….the desert is bright at night.

Saying “goodbye” is hard on Wednesday….solace comes from knowing that there’s always another year and a return trip to Q in two weeks…to camp with a 100 or so fiberglass trailers!

We are off to Phoenix and family time!

(Posted from the Mustang Library in Scottsdale, AZ.)

Desert Rats at Cow Pile Rock

 

Green is not the color most people would use to describe the desert.  But green  and lush is the only way to speak of this lovely bit of heaven just south of Ajo, AZ.

We arrive at the famous (from RV Sue) Darby Wells Road just south of Ajo to meet up with Glenda and Jeff.  Their site is superb with all types of desert plants and a great view of Cow Pile Rock.  There is a strange cactus here….one I’d not seen.  It’s the Organ Pipe cactus….the national park bearing its name is just a few miles down the road.

The green is abundant in the above picture of an organ pipe cactus, a paloverde shrub and Cow Pile Rock in the background.

We are a bit off the dusty dirt road but not too far.  The border patrol are going by regularly.  We make camp less than 200 feet from our neighbors, Glenda and Jeff.

This looks like a place that I can get centered….the stress from the cold drive is still hanging on.  The tall rocks are calling me…..”climb me, climb me”!

That night I wake up and the full moon is flooding the desert creating light and shadows everywhere.  The stars are so near and bright….it feels magical! 

The next morning I grab my camera and water and strike out in the direction of the rocks.  I’m alone; I need to be alone!  My eyes scan the ground for snakes, thankfully none are spotted.

After a bit of trial and error I make it to the rocks noticing that climbing Cow Pile was out of the question….too steep and too slick.  Managed to get to the smaller middle rock without too much effort.

That’s not a person on the rock but a wonderful small stone that made the perfect resting place.  Leaning back into the stone and letting all the stress flow into the rock,  peacefully I returned to camp.

Our camp seemed very far away….photo with wide angle….That’s us in the middle.

 

And our campsite zoomed in…..

David is following my progress from the comfort of his lawn chair.   Notice all the young saguaros and organ pipe cactus surrounding us.

Glenda and Jeff’s camp……

The week proceeds peacefully.  David and I ride our mountain bikes on the dirt roads and take a few hikes.  One hike we explore the back of Cow Pile Rock still looking for a way up.  We saw a possible route but deferred… not agile enough, now.

Photo taken on the exploration hike….this is Teddy Bear Cholla, cactus on right.  Unknown mountain.

David, enjoying the view.

Back side of Cow Plop and our truck (center).

Lots of mountains in the distance.

We said goodbye to the Darby Wells area and tonight we are back in civilization at Coyote Howls West in Why, AZ.  Another few days in the boonies and we would have definitely been desert rats.  Heading to the Quartzsite tomorrow AM and the big RV show.  Looking forward to visiting with our Texas Escape friends.