We may get rain today in the Sonoran Desert just south of Ajo, AZ, and if it’s more than just a drizzle, it’ll be the first rain we’ve ever seen in the desert, and I’m pretty stoked. The washes (dry “river” beds) might fill with running water, and we might see blooms on cacti and ocotillo […]
Month: February 2022
Mines, a Desert Cemetery, and One Awesome, Useless Map
We’re having a delightfully quiet week (or longer, if our tanks will last) here in the Sonoran Desert just south of Ajo, Arizona. We’re only about 30 miles from where we were last: Organ Pipe Cactus Nat’l Monument, so the landscape is pretty much the same, but there’s no campground, and thus fewer people around. (We did […]
Tracy’s Parking Skills for the Win Again
We made it into a great boondocking spot in the desert just south of Ajo, Arizona, thanks to a wee bit of luck and a lot of work. Here’s kind of a technical post about finding a boondocking site and actually getting into it. Finding a Site in Hilly, Cactus-covered Desert Here’s the rundown on […]
Saguaros and Sunrises
So, in an earlier post I think I said that saguaros are old enough to start sprouting limbs after about 35 years, but I just heard from a National Park tour that it could take them up to 65 years. How fast they grow and mature depends on the rainfall in the area. We’ve walked […]
Ajo’s Springs, Mountains, Sky
I feel like I did back in Death Valley when I’d go hiking in the morning, become awestruck by the scenery and take tons of photos, then sink back into a coma in the late afternoon shade, unable to describe what I’d seen or even pick shots that vaguely illustrate any of it. Here goes […]
A Green Desert
Finally, I got out for a hike: first real one since I was sick at Imperial Dam. It was only about three miles, but it felt great to be away from the trailer and to see expansive views! Senita Basin This area of Organ Pipe Cactus Monument is named after the Senita Cactus, which grows […]
Bull Pasture and Victoria Mine
On our first two days at Organ Pipe National Monument in Arizona, Tracy went hiking in the mornings while I goofed off around the campground, trying to rest. This post is illustrated with his photos and info I found online about the places he went—I wish I’d gone so I could describe it personally. I […]
Easing into Life on the Road at Organ Pipe Cactus Nat’l Monument
We are gloriously at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, an internationally protected biosphere south of Ajo, Arizona, but closer to the town of Sonoyto in Mexico, which we can see at night from the campground. Tracy will be catching up on his hiking and birdwatching here while I continue to recover from Covid (I hope […]
Cave Troll Plots Escape from Mars
Okay, maybe I’m taking these metaphors too far. But a travel blogger who finds herself stationary in a near-lifeless desert and then gets stuck in her bedroom, thus reducing her world to a smaller sphere than her readers’, has to resort to colorful language. The good news behind all the flourish is that this cave […]
Whale Tail Tiny House Finished
I did it! My largest, most extravagant, wrongly named (turns out it’s a fish), finished-with-Covid-19 tiny house. It’s a bit lopsided, and I ended up with more mystery parts than usual, but it’s still pretty darn cool. Some of the lopsidedness is due to the design (I think it’s supposed to be slightly off kilter) […]
