Early January updates...

Hello all…

I guess if you saw my last video post you know that I left Quartzite AZ and I’m now in Ogilby CA, so here’s a little information to fill in the gaps…

When I got back from my ‘visit to the city’ on Sunday the 7th, my previous camping location in the Plumosa BLM camping area was taken.  So, I cruised around the area that evening for a while searching for another spot, but the camping area had filled up a lot more than it was when I left.  There were many high-end motor homes, usually several grouped together, with quite a few OHVs.  I prefer to be alone and away from people in general, in a quiet, undisturbed location whenever I can.  It was getting late and I was tired from driving so I decided to try the BLM Roadrunner campground south of Quartzite.  I had cruised through that area before and i remembered thinking that it looked like a good option if I needed a place to stay.  So, I pulled in but I didn’t check in with the host to register because they were closed already and I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay there or not. I found a good spot pretty quickly, away from the masses and not too close to the highway, and settled in for the night. 

Sunday I got a few pictures of my camping spot, and I also took a few shots of the surrounding plant life and landscapes too. 

Leaving Quartzite…

I had actually planned on staying at Roadrunner for an extended period, but once you check in you are locked in for the full 14 days and can't come back to the campground until 14 days past your check out date.  Even if you leave early, the dates are locked in whether you are there or not.  That doesn't really seem like much of a problem but if you are limited to a few campgrounds in one area and you are ping ponging between them every 14 days, you can actually end up with no place to go if your not cautious about your time frames.

So since I had to run my errands and pick up a few things on Monday anyway, I thought I might go south towards Yuma AZ to check on some other possible camping areas.  The advantages of heading to Yuma were warmer weather and a little higher humidity, both a plus when the weather is leaning towards the cool side, and it’s a lot of fun exploring new places lol.

I ran all of my errands, and my last stop was Albertson’s grocery store in Blythe CA so I just got out to the van, put my refrigerated items away, and headed south.  I stopped at the Pilot Knob LTVA (Long Term Visitors Area) just outside of Yuma to visit a friend of mine who I met in Ehrenberg.  LTVA’s are BLM land for people who pay a fee to stay long term, no 14 day limits.  Non-residents can get a season pass for all BLM lands, from usually September to March or April, for $180, or you can go short term for about $20 a week.  Pretty good deal overall, and I might use that option in the future after I learn the ropes of nomad-ism, but for now I prefer camping in the free areas if possible, it saves money and I enjoy changing locations especially when I’ve been in one spot for an extended period.

We had a nice visit and it was getting late so I headed out to find a camping spot.  I searched for BLM land nearby and found a spot that had good ratings and reviews about 15 miles north east.  At the time there was road construction going on so I went via the back roads and found the spot.  There are two areas here, the Sidewinder Road area, (wonder what that means… snakes…  lol…), and the American Girl Mine Road area just adjacent to Sidewinder.  I opted for the AGM road and it turned out to be a really nice place, at least so far.  You really don’t know until you spend some time at a spot if it’s going to be something you enjoy, part of the process…

The American Girl Mine is an active gold mine, one of the first mines of the gold rush era, according to Wikipedia.  I hope to travel back down the main road to see if I can get some pics of the operations before I leave and I will share them with you.

Just a few miles west of here there are huge areas of sand dunes, yep, acres and acres of sand dunes.  In some of the pictures I am posting you can see them off in the distance.  I did drive down that way, out of necessity really, due to construction on the interstate, but it was really amazing.  I couldn’t find a good spot to get off the road and not get stuck, so I didn’t really get any pics when I was there, but I did manage a short video, it doesn’t do justice to the Dunes, but…

I used my telephoto lens to zoom in on the view of the sand dunes from my AGM road camp spot.

AGM Road BLM land is in Ogilby CA, not far from Winterhaven.  The first couple of days we had rain, the first rain I had seen in months.  No major poor downs or anything, pretty light, but I enjoyed being in the desert with the rain falling.  After a rain there was this fragrance in the air that was invigorating.  I remember the thunderstorms we would have back home, and afterwards there was this clean, fresh scent that filled the air.  It’s like that, but different… lol  If you really close your eyes and try to distinguish the different fragrances it seems to be almost like an exotic herbal mix.  I could smell the creosote bushes, the wet sand, the rocks, the Palo Verde trees, etc… but much of it was beyond my limited olfactory capabilities to discern.

Of course, I have sunset pics.  These were taken the night I arrived, the colors, oh my…

Here are some samples of the pictures I took over the past several days including landscapes, interesting (to me anyway) tree and plant formations, and of course amazing sunrises and sunsets.  The sunrises have been beautiful too, but not as spectacular as the sunsets, they're a bit more reserved and shy…

sunset photos...

Anastasia with the sand dunes in the distance.

The formations of the trees and plants are so amazing...

One of many ant hills, the size of this one is about 2-3 feet in diameter.

recent sunrise shots

I’ve made my first trip to Yuma for supplies and I really like it.  They have a Sprouts Farmer’s Market here, which is basically a Trader Joes, and a Fry’s grocery which is owned by Kroger, so my rewards card worked there, both have lots of organic food and veggie options at reasonable prices.  The laundromat I used was really nice, I’ll be going back, and I ran a lot of errands, found everything I needed, all within a few miles of each other…

On a sidenote...  Have you ever wondered how the park rangers keep up with the large number of vehicles on the BLM lands?  

Periodically the rangers glide over the entire camping area, photographing vehicles and their locations.  This helps them to maintain the 14 day limits for campers.  I wanna ride...

 

That's a lot of information and pics, I'll try to update more often to keep the posts small.  Anyway, in closing, I don’t know how long I will be staying at AGM road, it all depends on the weather I guess, or my wanderlust, but I’ll keep you informed…

Until next time, thanks for sharing my adventures...