Suddenly, I’ve made it to my friends’ camp near Gila Bend. Let me explain…
Yesterday morning, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, I woke up at 4:30 am. I was wide awake. There was no hope of getting back to sleep. But it wasn’t raining, and it wasn’t windy, the two factors that were preventing me from traveling to Stacey and Kim’s camp near Gila Bend. So I decided to take advantage of the situation, and was on the road in the dark at 5:30.
Normally I don’t like traveling in the dark. But in this case, I was passing through areas I’ve seen before, so admiring the scenery was a lower priority. This was a means to an end, making an attack of opportunity to get where I actually wanted to be instead of waiting around for things to happen in the city. My Harvest Host stay at Catalina Brewing Company was fun, but I wanted to get away from civilization and back to enjoying the wilderness. Cities stress me out, even a relatively easy one to get around like Tucson.
Since I hadn’t restocked my supplies, I stopped at Walmart in Casa Grande, which opened at 6:00 am while I was already on my way. The “no overnight parking” signs all over the lot didn’t apply to me since I hadn’t parked there overnight. The store was empty that early, without the usual hordes of oblivious shoppers blocking the aisles, so I was in and out quickly. I continued on.
The wind picked up and blew me around pretty hard during my last few miles on I-8, but soon enough I reached my exit and followed Google Maps to Stacey and Kim’s camp. We said our hellos, and then they went into town for their own supply runs since I was there to keep an eye on camp. It was only 8:30 am. It’s a nice spot, on BLM land not far off the highway, but I-8 is quiet enough that the noise doesn’t bother us. It’s not I-10.
This large, friendly sign is on the main road right next to our camp. I find it odd since we’re rather far from the border, and the only people here are other campers like us. My friends said they’ve had no issues. I figure that even if people are engaging in such activities, they’re not going to be advertising it. They will be much more successful at their illegal endeavors if they keep a low profile, which means not bothering campers like us as they pass through. Plus, if this is true here, it’s true anywhere in southern Arizona. The sign just seems like needless fear-mongering to me. Still, it was smart to not leave everyone’s stuff completely unattended, either, so it was wise for them to wait to go into town until I was there to keep an eye on things. I found a comfortable place to park, set up Starlink, and got some work done.
Clouds moved in during the early afternoon, and the winds intensified. Once again, we had steady 20 mph winds with the highest recorded gust of 34. Then it rained. Again. Fortunately, the ground here is quite solid, like Quartzsite, not soft like Ironwood. We’re also on high ground, and any runoff flows down to a nearby wash. I won’t get stuck here.
What’s interesting is that after studying the weather forecasts and wind predictions, my original plan was to travel west during the early afternoon — precisely when the worst of the storm actually hit. I would’ve been in trouble and had to pull off somewhere to wait it out. That’s what Yellow Wolf had to do as she tried to join us here. But as it is, I was already here. Life works in mysterious ways. It cleared off late in the afternoon, and Yellow Wolf got here without incident. We watched the sunset, chatted, and then retreated to our respective vehicles for the night.
I woke up to the strangest sight, a dense fog over the desert. Deserts are typically dry, but with all the rain and temperatures down near freezing, the relative humidity was high, causing the fog. It looked like a completely different world than I’d arrived at the previous day. I took some photo and video opportunities before it burned off, giving Stacey and Kim the opportunity to deploy their solar panels for some much-needed recharging after all the rain this week. We’re all working this morning, but I’m looking forward to hanging out with everyone over the weekend — weather permitting, of course.
Smokey Da Van 