874 January 13, 2023 New Jeep, Desert, And Jets

I began Thursday with a nice walk.  I decided to avoid the noise of the main road and chose instead to walk on the parallel country road.  It was all good.  There were a few dogs but they all appeared to be behind sturdy fences.  I saw this sign on a property.

I checked maps and found a way to navigate back to the highway.  All at once, on that corner, there was an immense black shepherd.  The dog barked and looked menacing and looked loose.  I backed away slowly and rerouted myself.  The dog did not follow and all was well!

Tim decided to bike to town and called me to meet him at Oasis Coffee.  We split a delicious cappuccino sitting under the palms in the square.

We packed the Jeep for our overnight adventure and left after lunchtime.  This camping trip is only possible because everything fell into place while we were in Atlanta. When we bought the new Jeep, it did not have a roof rack that could accomodate our roof top tent. We left our tent in Maryland with Kyle. We ordered a new Gobi rack in September. It took 3 months to produce. We had thought that we would go home to receive the rack and pick up the tent. When Kyle and Allison decided to come for Christmas in Atlanta, Kyle offered to bring the tent to us in the back of his truck. We were able to change the delivery address for the rack and it was delevered in Atlanta on December 22nd just an hour before Kyle and Allsion arrived with the tent. Tim was able to install everything in time for our departure on January 3rd. We really wanted to have the tent before coming west. There are so many opportunites to camp on public land here in Arizona! Thank you Kyle and Allison!!

We drove to Access Gate 9 in the Barry Goldwater Range.  We wanted to travel across to Hat Mountain and find a camping spot there.  We noticed a change in the landscape.  There was a lot of tall, brittle, dry grass.  We knew this was not a safe area to have a campfire and so we continued to traverse the desert looking for the perfect site. 

There was a pass between the rocks.  As we approached, we could see that the road became very rough.  Tim got out to evaluate and he decided that we would not go any further. 

We retraced our route and settled in a campsite about 7 miles from 85. 

We watched lots of jets throughout the afternoon and into the night.  At times there were as many as 6 planes at a time; some across the highway and others in the tactical range to the east.   We were surrounded, though completely safe, in the protected zone.  We could hear the roar as the planes neared and we could hear a couple of bombs exploding; the sounds of freedom as our good friend Dean would say.  It was a little spooky and thrilling to watch the maneuvers particularly after dark.

After about 2 hours, the pilots turned in for the night.  We sat by the fire and watched the heavens light up with a zillion stars.  The moon had not yet risen and the sky was inky black; perfect for stargazing.  We were reminded of the song  “I want to sleep with you in the desert tonight with a million stars all around.”

I slept well zipped up in my sleeping bag.  The temperature dropped to 46 degrees at about 5am.  We didn’t wake up until 7:24. The day was already brightening.  Sun on my face, hot coffee in my belly, and the heat of the morning fire on my legs…it was a great start to the day.  The first jetfighters appeared at 8.

We packed our gear and then trekked into the desert, hiking just over a mile before turning back.

We had our breakfast when we got back to the Jeep and then we drove back to Ajo.  We unpacked and cleaned up and rested and showered and then went to town for lunch.  We had been looking forward to eating at Farmers Market but they closed early today.  We had simple paninis at the coffee shop.