February 9, 2021 Sky Camping

I walked down Main Street this morning. On my way back, I saw a coyote walking in the wash behind the grocery store. I really wanted a picture but common sense prevailed. February is mating season and the coyote can be particularly aggressive at this time of year. I crossed to the other side to continue my walking.

We were packed up and ready for our first roof top tent adventure. We left directly after breakfast. We left our perfectly warm, safe, comfortable RV at Ajo Heights.

On our way through town, we stopped to look at some of the street art. We have posted the first one before but it is a good reminder…Humanitarian Aid Is Always Legal.

We were on pavement for a short distance.

We took Darby Wells Road and just kept going. We wanted to be closer to the mountains and further from people. We were able to achieve those goals. The nearest camper was 6 miles away! How is that for socially distant? We found a perfect spot for our overnight wilderness camping.

The camper is supposed to be up and ready in 1 minute…we need some practice before we are that proficient…but it is easy enough to get it up and ready! We have two good sleeping bags and we brought extra blankets because it was forecasted to get down to 48 and we were not sure how warm we might be. We packed a lot of gear from the RV. As we get better at overnight camping and supplement our gear with some better options…maybe we will have to pack less than a full Jeep load for just one night!

We were in a really stunning area. A beautiful setting with expansive views of the valley far below. It is hard to visualize with pictures…but Tim would like to share this video with you.

We spent the afternoon gathering firewood and exploring the area around our campsite. I spooked a little cottontail.

This is a packrat nest. They like to incorporate shiny bits into their nests. It is important to keep the hood of the car open when camping in their habitat…they like to build nests in motors and chew on wires and stuff!

Bits fall off of cholla cacti. The bits are then carried sometimes by wind or water but more often by animals and on peoples clothes…(as Tim can attest…they are very pokey and are hard to get out of skin and socks)… where they drop to the ground and grow a new cactus. Sometimes they are also called jumping cholla for this reason. They are very resilient and need very little to plant themselves.

We saw lots of these little lizards darting about.

I took a nice walk but not too far from our setup.

We enjoyed a nice bottle of malbec and a fire as we watched the shifting light and the clouds. We listened to an owl hooting off in the distance. The peace and the solitude were deeply soothing and relaxing.

We were camped not far from the Barry Goldwater Range where military piolts train. For a while this evening we had our own private airshow, the jets weaving serpentine arcs across the sky.

We enjoyed a dinner of turkey chili and grilled pitas as we watched another sunset. It was so cloudy that we didn’t think we would see much color but we were pleasantly surprised.

Cotton candy colored clouds.

We got up together during the night when Tim thought he heard something scratching around in the engine. We didn’t see anything with our big light! The clouds obscured all but a few stars. The tent was sturdy and comfy and warm enough. Temperatures really didn’t plunge into the 40’s until around three this morning. We slept and woke up with the sun rising over the mountains. It feels good to push ourselves to try this new thing…we are so fortunate and happy! We had so much fun!