It is very sunny here. The high temperatures are only in in the mid-60s, but it feels much warmer out of the wind and in the sunshine. We have needed to pull the solar blinds down every day to keep it from getting too warm inside the motorhome. I am soaking it up! I do use a hat and some sunscreen, but I am more lizard-like in my old(er) age, and I love the dry heat.
We took a great trip yesterday to two of our favorite 4WD destinations in the area – Horse Tanks and the King of Arizona Mine which gave its name to the area. Two friends, Vicki and Mark who are camped near us,drove their truck too.
In the desert a “tank” is a depression that holds water. While the four tanks in this area are natural, there has been work by the Wildlife Refuge staff to increase their capacity. The road is a good 2 track for about a mile, but it then deteriorates into a definite high clearance road; lots of rocks and washes. The road ends into a turnaround big enough for 4-6 vehicles.I only went to the first tank which was dry. It was disappointing because last year it had water and was full of life. Vicki and I found a good sitting rock and waited for Kevin and Mark to climb up to the other tanks. Only the uppermost tank had water.
We then went back to King Road and headed to King of Arizona area. We visited the Polaris mine area. There are a number of still active claims in the area with a few miners living on the claims. This one is very, very empty. You take a high quality graded gravel road until the last mile, with the last quarter mile being narrow and very rocky. The 4WD and high clearance were necessary then.
We did stop an old processing plant site along the way. We found it last year, but I couldn’t find out much about it. It was definitely for further processing the ore, and the leftovers were a white powder that has been washed and compacted.
The road ends into a big parking area with a gate keeping vehicles from going father.
I hung out at the Jeep soaking up the sun, while Kevin, Mark, and Vicki went closer.
There were two windows in the cliffs below Portrait Mountain behind the mine.
We wandered around a while, had lunch, then came back to our campsite. We ended the afternoon by having a “Happy Hour” around the portable fireplace before having dinner. Nice trip!
This morning I pressed all the strips for my scrap quilt. I don’t like pressing, so I kept an audiobook going. Kevin was 3D printing something too, and that takes quite a bit of power too, so we ran the generator a couple of hours. We have solar panels, but they are mounted flat, and the shallow sun angle of winter doesn’t provide as much power as they get in summer. After we ate lunch, we drove into Quartzsite to look for a sunshade for our awning. There definitely aren’t as many people parked in the desert as usual, but I noticed more small rigs and tents than I have seen before. Parking in town was a zoo as usual, but we found a spot at the far end of “the strip.” Kevin decided on a burgundy sunshade since we couldn’t find a black one, so we are looking quite stylish now! It does wonders for keeping the brightness bearable. We had another Happy Hour around the fire pit, but with the breeze everybody wore jackets this time, even around the fire pit.
I think we will leave here a bit earlier than planned, probably Friday. Kevin is a bit worried there will be a big influx of people for the Rock Show beginning Saturday, and we don’t want to wait too long for the water and dump lanes. Our normal spot was available, and we chatted with a couple we know who are already there – Dan and Marge. They have been coming for 30 years!