A Short Update & Misc Stuff...

It's been in the upper 90s for the past few days but the daily high temps seem to be sliding downward soon.  I will be staying in Quartzite until monday of next week, then I will be heading a few miles west to check out the camping at Ehrenberg. Ehrenberg is BLM land where you can camp without the 14 day limit so a lot of nomads overwinter here.  This will give me the opportunity to meet new people, share ideas, and make new friends.

I packed up today to make a trip into town for supplies.  I thought I might have to drive to Phoenix to find a store with a good choice of organic products but I went to Blythe CA instead and located a store named Albertsons right off the interstate.  It was great!  Lots of organic products of all kinds, and really good prices too.  So I'm happy... 😊

Police night visit...

The other night I was lying on the couch watching a video when two people in a 4 wheel ATV pulled into the camping area next to me.  They moved very slowly and had several large spotlights they were using to scan the area, including the van.

They pulled up near to the front of the van  shining lights in the windshield area, which is where my registration permit is supposed to be, and it was, so I got up and popped out the side doors to ask if there was s a problem.  

As soon as I stepped out a female police officer was right beside the front bumper of the van and another male officer coming up beside her.  She told me that I hadn't done anything wrong, (that I knew, at least not intentionally) but they were looking for a red astrovan with solar panels on top and wanted to know if I had seen it come by.

The way my van is situated I have a pretty good view of any passers by, but no astrovan.  They asked if I would call them if I saw it and I said I would.  I asked if I was supposed to call 911 or another number, the make officer said 911, and the female officer said all I had to do was mention the red astrovan and they would understand.  

I don't know what that person(s) did, but it must have been serious.  The officers spent several hours scouring all of the camping areas around me before they made there way back towards town.

The sound of my guitar and the birds...

The other morning I was inspired to get my old guitar out of its case and play.  I really enjoyed it.  I just picked and strummed with no particular song or melody in mind, I was just having fun.  But while I was playing I kept hearing birds singing nearby.  I hear birds occasionally, but not very often and when I move or make a noise they seem to disappear, so this was a bit unusual.

Pretty soon there were many singing birds in the trees nearby and they were very vocal.  I kept on playing, and they kept on singing.  After about 30 to 45 minutes my fingers were getting sore, haven't played for a while, so I stopped and within a few minutes the birds moved away and things were quiet again.  This wasn't my imagination, they seemed to be reacting to the sounds of the guitar.  I thought that was pretty interesting, I wonder what they heard.

Coyote...

I awoke this morning before dawn to the howl of a coyote nearby, really close.  It was too dark to make it out, but it was pretty cool to hear the details of the  howls being  so close by.  It's really beautiful.

Goodyear blimp...

As I pulled back into camp after my shopping excursion this afternoon, I noticed a blimp on the eastern horizon and it appeared to be heading my way.  So I grabbed the camera and snapped some shots as it passed by.  Goodyear, AZ is located just outside of Phoenix, and it's heavily populated with various Goodyear businesses and industries, so I imagine the blimp might be a fairly common sight.