I had re-duct taped my mirror, re-applied ointment to my head gash, and re-evaluated my second hike of the day. I felt I was good for a small hike to my southeast, down a cart track cars were banned from, perhaps climb the small hill that the road looked to end at.
I am sitting here writing this after having re-assessed the price paid for seeing the red rocks hidden up in the hills to the west of me. I’m out here in nothing but swimming trunks, soaking in a bit of winter desert sun. There is blood pictured in this post, just to warn you.
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The day started at 6:30. Early to bed, early to rise seems to be the thing I’m doing now. Go look for a good sunrise.
I only had time for a little hike for my first afternoon, it was about one and a half hours before sunset. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me, plenty of time to hike up the valley accross from my rig, to these little hills!
It was time to leave the Roadrunner BLM camp, time to move on, time to discover a new area. My planning this trip has been absolute shit, yet I don’t care. I seem to have fallen into a pattern of starting to think it’s time to go, open the googles map and take a quick look around, with no more than a direction in mind. I scout an area with the satellite imagery view, throw down a marker, and head that way. That’s it for planning.
After a very sober New Year’s celebration that ended before the beginning of the new year, we were actually fresh and ready for a hike this first day of the new year. Carolyn was interested in seeing the Petroglyphs we had got to previously, and we were more than happy to show her something she had not seen. I figured it would be a nice break for her from her normal work routine.
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The day dawned quiet and peaceful. No road noise, no people yapping, no generators. About the only sound is the distance whistle and hum of trains passing, about two miles from my site. My plan was to do a hike in the morning then head back to Quartzsite to meet Larry and Carolyn for New Year’s Eve. I figured I’d hike onto the nearby hill and see what the view was like. Not many Cholla up there, so I could get there without getting pricked by them. But I find new discoveries up there too.
I wasn’t even halfway to Vicksburg, and already having adventures. What would await once I found my campsite? I drive off onto Vicksburg Pit Road, my first drive off into the wilds of BLM land on my own!
It was time for me to leave the camp Carolyn had invited us to. She had left the previous day, not even saying goodbye to me, but not for lack of trying. She caught me in the classic awkward RV moment, I was in the shower, for the second time in this rig so far. I had the generator and the heater on, which make a fair bit of noise – but I thought I heard a knock on the door. I stick my head out of the bathroom door, not totally sure I head a knock, but after a second yell “I’m in the shower!”. No response. I hastily finish up, get dressed and open a curtain to see outside, only to see Carolyn taking off in her RV. Crap – crap, crap, Crap, CRAP! Find my phone – she can’t have left without saying anything, I thought she was a friend?
In socializing around the fire, you find that among kindred spirits, secrets are shared that you just wouldn’t tell someone you’ve only known for a short time. There is something in the human DNA that tells us if they’re OK to be around a fire with, you can trust them with your deeper thoughts. I know I’ve gotten to know Larry and Carolyn better than I thought I would, especially Larry – who turns out to be a wise and deep thinking man who always seems to have an insightful contribution to the topic at hand.
But sometimes you just get a hot tip, and that is the subject of today’s post. Pamela was one of the visitors that came by, and she was returning for a second brief visit with her friend JR. I saw them pull in with one of those 4X4 off road things, wondering who they were. They were just finishing visiting with Larry, and came over to my Rig to say ‘hi’. We had talked about my time in White Tank Mountain Park, and my pleasure at seeing Petroglyphs. They mentioned there were some here too, not even 2 miles away! JR kindly gives me the coordinates, and I record them on my phone – going to visit these for sure.
