Mileage: 59,904 Wine Ridge RV Resort Pahrump, Nevada

Today we had planned to go to town. Our Jeep has a leak in the front differential which we want to have checked before we do anymore off-road activity and I needed a new phone. Pahrump, Nevada was the closest town with a Jeep dealer and an AT&T store. We drove a little over an hour today and we were here before noon. It was a nice drive!

We spent the day doing chores and bills and other mundane but necessary things. It is important for us to group all our errands and be thoughtful about what we need because things are further apart out here!

I started the laundry and left for the phone store. It took 3 hours but I have a working phone…YAY!!! Sharing a phone is hard even on a very good relationship. You just don’t realize how much you use it, need it, depend on it until you need to share it!

I went back to get Tim and we went to Walmart together.

Then the grocery store.

The grocery sold beer, and wine, and liquor. There was a small casino in the store near the cash registers. We are in Nevada now!

We saw a BBQ place on the way in and that was dinner.

Our appointment for the Jeep is early tomorrow morning. Hopefully it is a simple thing and won’t take too long to repair. We only have a campsite for one more night. There is a Baker to Las Vegas marathon that runs through here this weekend and they expect the place to be mobbed.

Day 4 Sunset Campground Death Valley National Park Death Valley, California

We were slow this morning to make a plan.  We had our coffee outside.  We went to the visitor center to see the exhibits and the Death Valley 30-minute movie. 

We packed lunch decided to take a short off-road ride to Echo Canyon. 

We were forced to turn around at this rock staircase.  This Blazer tried twice before giving up.  We didn’t want to take a risk.  Notice the recliners on the top of this Blazer!  Sometimes off-road you meet some characters! 

We passed a lot of abandoned mining sites.  There were places that someone had started to dig and just gave up!  The ground here is so hard and unforgiving…it must have been a very difficult job.  So many men traveled out here with dreams of getting the gold.

On the way back we had the sunroof off.  I was standing on the seat, with my head through the roof, taking in the canyon as we passed through. 

We went to Zabriskie Point.  This overlooks the Death Valley Badlands.  The rocks were soft ice cream colors, French vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, mint…so tremendously beautiful.

We drove into the Timbisha Shoshone Preservation Area.  We had our dinner at Timbisha Tacos.  It was delicious!

Day 3 Sunset Campground Death Valley National Park Death Valley, California

Death Valley conjures visions of heat and desolation, sand and rocks.  With names like Furnace Creek, Funeral Peak, Dante’s View, Devils Hole, Badwater Basin, Last Chance Mountain, Dry Bone Canyon, Deadman Pass, Lost Lake and more…this place is surely a desert oven. But in all things, there is something good and precious to be found, if we take the time and if we are paying attention.

We started our day on Artist Drive.  This is one of the most beautiful places in the park.  We hiked up to a ridge for a better vantage point. 

At Artists Palette, the colors are something to behold. 

We took almost 50 pictures along this path.  Here are some of our favorites.

We stopped to hike to Natural Bridge.  We met Jay and Jill from Iowa.  We took pictures for them and then they for us.  We ended up hiking to the end of the trail with them, chatting as we walked.  Jill and Jay are retired school teachers.  They both still work, though.  Jay drives a school bus because he loves it and Jill substitutes in 2 local elementary schools.  They were great people and easy to talk to.  They are on spring break and they love to travel.  They are trying to visit as many of the national parks as they can.  Maybe we will see them again one day!

We walked out into Death Valley at Badwater Basin.  The salt crystals can be 1-5 feet deep across this dry lakebed.  We could see the heat shimmering above the surface of the salt.  We were 282 feet below sea level.  As the Panamint Mountains grow, Death Valley will sink even deeper.  The hottest temperature on earth, 134 degrees Fahrenheit, was recorded here.

If you look on this picture, you can see a small sign on the mountainside marking sea level. 

We took West Side Road to Warm Spring Canyon to Butte Valley through Mengel Pass to Goler Canyon for our off-road adventure.  This was the roughest, most challenging off-road adventure we have ever undertaken!  We started off-road at 11:30 am.  We drove over these mountains!!

It started off tame.

Lunch spot.

We passed a quarry.

Lots of old mines.

Lots of burros.

This is our view passing through the valley.

Striped Butte.

This was an old geologist’s camping cabin.  You can stay here overnight if you choose.  We could peek inside the front window and there was furniture and dishes for anyone.  We didn’t go inside to check it out.

After the cabin, the road got a little rougher.  On other trails we might have turned around.  We had been traveling though for hours and had about ½ tank of gas.  We had talked to a guy earlier in the day who mentioned Mengel Pass twice…now we know why!  We were committed to finishing this trail.  Tim and his Jeep did an amazing job of getting us over some pretty interesting rocks! He always follows his brother Jeff’s two simple rules. Go slow and don’t be afraid to get out and look!

At this point in the trail…it just abruptly dead ended!!  This is not what we expected…this is not what the map said.  Where did we miss our turn???

I walked back a short distance to where I thought the road should be…no road!  We were not panicking yet.  I already knew that I had enough water and snacks packed if we had to stay out overnight.  We did NOT want to be driving this trail in the dark!  We were 25 miles from any road or civilization.

We drove about ¼ mile back the way we had come.  All at once I saw what I thought might be our road.  We walked down the steep bank and we were found! 

The scenery became very pretty as we passed through Goler Canyon. 

We emerged from the canyon into the valley.  We now knew that we would make it to pavement before dark.  We got to the road at 6pm! 

We found a gas station and a pizza place in Panamint Springs.  It was nice to sit down, have a glass of wine, and relax!

We still had 56 miles around and through the mountains to go before got back home!

We are so grateful to be able to share this adventure together.  For now, this existence is good for us.  We are immersed each day in nature.  Our souls are suffused by beauty.  Our minds are filled with wonder and curious about things we don’t know and understand.  Our bodies are soothed by the warmth and sunshine.  We keep ourselves open for new experiences and we usually find them!

Showers and bed sure felt nice!

Day 2 Sunset Campground Death Valley national Park Death Valley, California

We started out early, excited to see what the trail had in store for us. The ranger at the visitor center recommended an adventurous 4WD trail in the northern corner of the park. Today was a Sunday and we were told the regular exhibits would be really crowded.

We stopped to stretch our legs and admire the view.

We visited the Rhyolite Historic Gold Mining Town. This was a gold mining community for several years in the early 1900’s. It is now a ghost town.

Our driving instructions were to drive 30 miles to Beatty. Turn left and at mile marker 71 turn left at the second gravel road. Look for the barbed wire fence and the closed gate. Go through the gate and close it behind you.

The adventure begins.

We drove across the Sarcobatus Flat. As we drove we began to see feral burros. These burros are a nonnative, invasive species. We saw around 50 today. They looked up at us as we passed, a little startled by our presence but for the most part they didn’t run from us. Goldminers who died passing through this desert stranded their burros. The burros have thrived here in this harsh environment.

We gradually climbed up into the mountains. The surrounding landscape was spectacular. As we stood on the ridge, we could hear the burros braying to one another far below.

It always amazes me…the loveliness that can grow from gravel.

We had to pass through another gate to get into the National Park. There was fence that is supposed to keep burros out. The park tries to manage the population inside its boundaries. The burros cause damage to plants that are food for other animals and they also have a tendency to mess up water sources as well.

Tim walked down to investigate an old mining site. He couldn’t see the bottom of the shaft.

Lunch with a view!

We are certain that there is a story that goes with this old car…

We drove across the desert and found our own way back to the highway about 9 miles from where we entered.

A dust devil over the salt flats.

Through Mud Canyon.

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.

The Harmony Borax Works mined borates. Chinese laborers scraped the salts from the flats and then other miners boiled it and harvested the borax crystals. 20 mule teams hauled the borax to trains 165 miles away.

We had a great day!

Mileage: 59,841 Sunset Campground Death valley National Park Death Valley, California

We watched the sunrise as we drank our morning coffee.

We got our first glimpse of a Joshua tree as we headed north toward Death Valley. It is an odd looking tree with bottle-brush like appendages on its limbs. It looks like a Lorax tree!

We rounded a bend to incredible mountain grandeur. Indescribable beauty. I made a foolish attempt to capture the loveliness with a camera.

As we drove through the Mojave National Preserve, we realized that we had chosen the perfect camping spot last night by the dunes. There were no other places in this sandy wilderness that we could have stayed!

In Baker, California we crossed over Route 15. If we had gone 15 in the first place it would have been so much quicker…but then we would have missed a truly gorgeous ride.

We took Scenic Route 127 through Tecopa. We took a short ride along the road to the town. We passed this dry riverbed of the Amargosa River.

We stopped in Shoshone to fill the RV and Jeep with fuel.

We told someone the other day that we were headed to Death Valley. His response was something like…Why would you go there? It is just a bunch of sand and rocks. I suppose that many people might see it that way. We however think that this park is worthy of the word “magnificent.”

We got settled in the Sunset Campground. We were going to rest awhile but we were both eager to get out and explore.

We drove the Jeep to Dante’s View. The scenery was outstanding. Dante’s View is at 5,475 feet of elevation. Below us we could see the Badwater Basin or Death Valley. The lowest point in North America, the basin is 282 feet below sea level. The snow-capped peak in the distance is Telescope Peak. It is 11,049 feet high and only 20 miles away. What natural power formed these incredible peaks and valleys?!?

Then we took the Jeep trail called Hole in the Wall.

Everywhere we look there are beautiful mountains. Mothers Nature’s finest handiwork. There are mountains that appear to be draped in all shades of rumpled velvet. There are mountains that are a tapestry of striped bands in muted shades of red and gold and brown and green and grey and cream. There are mountains covered in a patchwork quilt of uneven remnants.

We saw a chuckwalla. We also saw a mouse and a lizard…both too speedy to capture on camera.

We were only out for a little while this afternoon. I cannot wait to see what we can find out there tomorrow!

Mileage:  59,674 Keslo Dunes Amboy, California

It was time to leave Camp Cummins.  We are grateful for the free place to stay and the super good service. 

This morning we got on 10 west and took the road to Vicksburg.  I did another short stint driving the RV.  I hadn’t driven it for a couple of weeks and it took some time to get reacclimated.  Even so, I never feel like I can relax, there is a lot to pay attention to!

In Vicksburg we took the backroad to Parker and then to Lake Havasu.  This scenic route was stunning.  We took pictures, but you really had to be there!

We spent the day gaping at the passing mountains and just enjoying the ride.

We saw huge sand dunes in the distance as we got closer, we saw a sign to Kelso Dunes.  We took the road not certain where it would lead us.  There was a large parking area and we decided to stay. 

We watched the changing light as afternoon turned into evening.

Day 2 Camp Cummins Phoenix, Arizona

We had to be up and ready for our service call by 6 am. We set the alarm for 5 am. It was cold and dark and it seemed really early!

We headed for Bright and Clean Laundromat. We got 4 loads of laundry washed, dried, and folded in 1 1/2 hours! Gotta love a laundromat for speedy work!

A little after 9 am we were at Rio Vista Community Park. We planned to bike on the New River Trail. First we visited the adjacent Peoria Veterans Memorial.

New River Trail.

Because there were lots of trees, there were lots of birds. It was spring along the bike path…every bird was singing. We saw several kinds of ducks, cormorants, hummingbirds, finches, herons, and lots of other brown and grey unfamiliar birds. We actually saw 2 roadrunners. One was running quickly, the other was in this tree. It appeared to be gathering nesting stuff.

We took the path south and then we saw this sign.

All at once our path was covered by water…lots of water. You can see our tire tracks in the picture. We were going to go through and then we realized the water was getting deeper and ahead we could see the water rushing and forming rapids…we turned around!

We went back the way we came and tried the path on the other side of the river…no go! Usually this is a completely dry riverbed. The recent heavy rains have caused this river to fill and flood the surrounding banks.

We went back the way we came and tried riding north. The path was passable. Soon the river formed a “Y” with a canal. Our bike route took us along the canal. Across the water, we could see baseball spring training happening. We decided that at the next intersection, we would cross the water and come back along the other side to get a closer look at the players practicing. We ended up on a hard packed gravel surface that ran right behind the training center. We even found a stray baseball!

We watched for a little while and made our way further along the path…it started to get a little narrower and a little rougher…but no worries. The trail was intersected by this ditch. It was 4 feet deep and the sides were at 45 degree angles. Tim got his bike across and then came to get mine. I scrambled nimbly down the first side and up the other…well not so nimbly!

Ahead we had to pass beneath a bridge, ducking to get through. “Where are you taking me???”

The next obstacle was this very steep and gravelly hill…we could still see a path ahead…so we kept moving forward.

Once I got down the hill with my bike, we made our way along the narrow path in the riverbed.

Once you are in the riverbed…you have to get up and out…

Once again, Tim had to help me get the bike up the hill…I was on my own…but I got there…look how steep…

We rode for awhile across hard packed trail.

This worked for a long time…and then we got a little stuck. The rushing New River was to our left and the edge of the riverbank next to the highway with a fence was on our right…should we turn around and go back…or keep moving forward. Normally, there would be no water flowing in the New River and we could have just walked right across to the bike path on the other side. We could see where we needed to be. It seemed silly to go all the way back and around…I voted to move forward. We had to walk on the top of the embankment with our bikes for a long way.

I could see ahead what looked like a large opening in the fence. Tim went to check it out…no go! It was a steep 8 foot drop-off. Our only option was to backtrack to where we had seen a hole in the fence.

I crawled through first and Tim and I fished the bikes through the hole. Now we were along the highway. Which way should we go??? We looked at GPS and we could see that further ahead was an on-ramp from Bell Road. We were hoping that there might be a bike lane along the bridge across the water. I really didn’t want to turn around until we were forced to!

We made it! Lunchtime!

This is the view from across the river. On the left you can see the drop-off that made the embankment impassable. The hole in the fence is on the far right.

We had expected a fairly flat, tame bike ride and instead we got an adventure!! It was never unsafe, though sometimes challenging! We could always turn around and go back the way we had come…but we needed to see what was at the end! Thank goodness there was a hole in the fence!

We spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for the RV to be ready. It needed a new gasket and that took additional time. The people at Cummins have been very accommodating and the service has been amazing! We sat in the customer lounge updating the blog and our phones and lounging.

We didn’t get the RV back until 5:30. Tim took it next door to the RV wash and baby got a bath. By then it was 6:30. We had the option to stay at Camp Cummins another night and we decided to say put. It was going to be dark and we were not sure where we would stay tonight if we started driving late. Tomorrow we plan to head north and west toward Death Valley.

Mileage: 59,371 Cummins Sales and Service Parking Lot/Campground Phoenix, Arizona

We left this morning to go back to Phoenix for our service appointment tomorrow at Cummins.

We stopped in the town of Ajo. There were a lot of murals around town. This we saw as soon as we parked the RV.

We took our bikes down and rode around town. We stopped at the Desert Rain Cafe and had the best breakfast burritos ever!! Tim had eggs with cheese and bacon jam with fresh squeezed blood orange juice. I had eggs and cheese with chorizo. We both added some green chiles at the suggestion of the server…just so yummy!

As we rode around town and through artist ally, we saw this mural.

This was an old copper mining town and there is a lot of history here. The town is quaint and friendly.

An opinion about the border wall in front of a small house on the main road.

We stopped in Gila Bend at the Chevron station for diesel fuel, fresh water, and cleaning our sanitation tanks. We arrived in Phoenix at about noon. I did the shopping and Tim did some RV maintenance.

We got to Cummins at 4:30. This place is amazing so far! They greeted us warmly, checked us in for our appointment tomorrow, and welcomed us to use their parking lot this evening. There are 50 amp plugins available. We got hooked up.

I spent the afternoon catching up on the blog. We went to Carrabba’s for dinner.

Some nice wine and good food…a very productive day!

Day 2 Twin Peaks Campground Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Ajo, Arizona

It rained heavily and steadily all night.  It was still raining this morning with the forecast for more rain.  We packed a picnic lunch knowing we would probably have to sit in the car to eat it. 

We are getting low on supplies and so today was another PBandJ day.  I had bananas and asked Tim if he wanted a PB and banana sandwich?  “Yes, with mayonnaise!”  Do you eat your peanut butter and banana with mayonnaise???

Off we went.  Today we took the 41-mile scenic loop, North Puerto Blanco Drive. 

It rained.

All at once we could see glimpses of blue sky…real or imagined???

“This is not a desert…this is a garden,” said a visiting Saudi Arabian Prince.  The Sonoran Desert is the “hottest, wettest, and most botanically diverse of North American deserts.” 

We saw a couple of black tailed jackrabbits, a cottontail rabbit, and lots of birds.  There was a large bird sitting on a cactus.  Using our super nice binoculars, we could see that it was a huge owl.  We saw another large bird take off spooked by the Jeep.  We saw phainopepla.  We have been noticing them for weeks but did not know until today what they were.  They look like black cardinals.  There were also lots of cactus wrens, white winged doves, and dusky-capped flycatchers. 

Golden Bell Mine, an old copper mine.

Chain fruit cholla.

We have seen several water tanks marked with blue flags.  We don’t believe that they are for tourists but rather for people who have crossed the border.  These are not labeled on any map.

We have also seen these safety stations.  Written in 3 languages is this:

“If you need help push the red button.  Rescue personnel will arrive shortly to help you.  Do not leave this area.”  Along with the water tanks, these stations seem to be there to protect people from dying in this desert.  Today was a cool and damp day.  I can only imagine what walking across this desert would be like in the summer heat.

As we drove a couple of miles from the Mexican border, we saw many sets of fresh footprints in the mud.  We came upon 6 people.  There was one woman, two children around 9 or 10, and 3 men.  They appeared to be trying to dry their things out.  They had blankets and clothing spread across bushes.  They waved happily at us as we approached.  We did not stop.  Soon after passing them, we saw Border Patrol coming toward us.  Whether the van was out on regular patrol or whether someone reported the family, we are not sure.  When we turned the Jeep around after eating our lunch, they were no longer anywhere to be seen. 

Tim loving his sandwich!

The last portion of the scenic loop paralleled the border wall.   For the first 12 miles it was just this short fence.  In some places it was wrapped with barbed wire and in some places there was none.  It is easy to see how anyone who wanted to could easily cross.  We later learned that this is supposed to serve as a vehicle barrier to keep people from driving across the border.

The last 2 miles of wall were high with razor wire.

Last night during the heavy rain, my thoughts and Tim’s coincidentally returned to the young man we had seen walking earlier in the day.  We both independently wondered where he was and if he was safe.  Being this close to the border and witnessing these families has stirred up a lot of complex thoughts and feelings and made for an awful lot of good discussion.  As a mother, I cannot imagine how desperate you would have to be, to walk your children across the border.  To risk not only your life but the life of your children for the opportunity for a better future.   I understand that there are humanitarian issues, political issues, and economic consequences.  I also know that as people who live far away…we really do not understand what is happening here.  I’m also not sure that there is a good answer.  The people we saw these past two days are not smugglers.  You can bet the smugglers have a far more sophisticated means of staying out of sight.  I am reminded of what Stan told us in Big Bend.  He commented that he and I had the good fortune to be born on this side of the fence while the Mexican people had the misfortune to be born on the other side.  How easily we take for granted the life we have here and all its privileges and freedoms.  It seems really inappropriate for us to judge these people.  After all what we all really want is the best possible life for our children.

There is memorial at the visitor center for this young ranger who lost his life when a violent altercation that began in Mexico ended in the shooting of the young man when he was called to intervene. Since then, there have been a lot of changes to make things safer for everyone.

Mileage:  59,235 Twin Peaks Campground Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Ajo, Arizona

Our day started early.  We were at Camping World before they opened at 8:00 am.  We were hoping to get our transmission serviced today before we left Phoenix. 

Camping World had a 2-week backlog.  They did recommend Cummins Sales and Service but they couldn’t see us until Thursday.  Cummins recommended Freightliner who couldn’t see us until the 19^th.  Just another day on the road, solving problems.  We decided to go to Cummins on Thursday.  In the meantime, we had a couple of extra days to explore.  Our good friend Claudia from Tucson had said that Organ Pipe was a great place to visit.  It was 2 hours due south of Phoenix.  We took 85 south toward Ajo.  A quick internet search and a phone call to recreation.gov and we had a campsite in the park.  With Tim’s Lifetime Senior Pass it was $10.00 a night…perfect.

We passed the Barry Goldwater Range.  This is a military training area two times the size of Delaware.  It is a tactical aviation range.  Pilots from all the military branches fly here.  We have been hearing and seeing lots of military jets and today was no exception.

Our campsite.

Apparently pack rats are a real concern here. They advise you to leave your hood open to avoid having pack rats eating away at your engine parts. The rats like insulation and other soft stuff for their nests. We saw one in a garden near the visitor center. He was 4-5 inches long and fast.

There were also warnings about Africanized bees rattlesnakes, and feeding coyote.

After we settled, we packed a lunch and went for a drive on the 21-mile scenic loop, Ajo Mountain Drive.  Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument “celebrates the wildlife and plants that have mastered survival in the extreme temperatures and little rainfall that characterizes the Sonoran Desert.”  The air temperature in the summer can reach about 115 degrees.  The ground temperature though, can reach 175 degrees…ouch!

This is a green desert, lush with groundcover, tons of wildflowers and 28 species of cactus.  The park is named for the organ pipe cactus.  Early settlers noted that dead organ pipe cacti looked like church organ pipes.  These cacti don’t grow naturally in any other place in the United States, though they are common to Mexico.  The cactus blooms in the summer months with a lavender white flower.  The cacti only produce flowers after 35 years.  The plants themselves live about 150 years.  The blossoms only open at night.  The plants are pollinated by bats. 

Fairy duster flowers, so delicate and pretty!

Tim putting some glass on it!

The drive along Ajo Mountain Drive was lovely. 

There was a young man walking when we entered the trail.  About two hours later, on our way out of the park, we passed him again, still walking.  He wasn’t carrying anything with him.  Tim stopped to ask him if he needed water.  He replied in Spanish saying “Hablo Español…no hablo Ingles.”  Tim asked “agua?”  The man replied “Si!”  We stopped the Jeep and Tim gave the guy water.  The man hastily opened the bottle of water and gulped it down.  Tim noticed that the man’s lips were dry and peeling.  He reached into the cooler and gave him apricots, two more bottles of water, and our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  The man was very grateful, and thirsty, and hungry.  As we drove away, I saw him sit on the side of the gravel road and eat the first sandwich.  I’m proud that he stopped to do the right thing.

We got back to the RV just as fat raindrops fell.  A nice afternoon siesta!

Later in the afternoon we went back out to explore the town of Lukeville.  This is really only a tiny little border crossing town with a gas station/convenience store.  We noticed a dirt road, Camino de los dos Republicas and decided to follow it awhile.  This park shares 31 miles of its southern boundary with the border of Mexico.  There is a brown sign at every park entrance. 

We could see the wall in the distance.

Then closer.

Then, the road ran parallel to the wall. 

For about two miles the wall was wrapped in razor wire…then all at once, there was only this short fence.  

We have seen firsthand how porous the border is.  We passed the Ajo Border Patrol Headquarters on our way here.  There was an inspection station that was closed today. 

Border Patrol trucks were everywhere. 

The whole issue of wall or no wall is extremely complicated…what isn’t so very complicated is treating one man with kindness and compassion.