Return to Wickenburg

I was in the Wickenburg area this time last year. And I stopped briefly my first year on the road. It's a good locale for early spring in the desert. My question to myself was whether I'd go back to familiar camping areas or try something new. New won out, because one of my reasons for living this nomadic life is to have new experiences.

As I drove north from I-10 on Vulture Mine Road I came upon Box Wash. Though the scenery was very nice, it was too close to the road and crowded with large RVs. The cell signal was also weak.

A little farther along was Vulture Peak Road where I stayed last year. It's also a nice place, closer to town and with a great cell signal. It wasn't crowded. I found a good spot and almost stayed, but I was on a quest for something new, right?

So next on the list was Constellation Park, right on the northeast edge of town. Plenty of spaces, excellent cell signal. No electricity, water or toilets, no tables or shelters, so it's essentially urban boondocking for $8 a night. The rodeo grounds are across the road. Not great, but not bad. I decided to give it a try.

It was a quiet night—no generators or traffic—and the weather was nice and brisk. I'll stay another night then probably move to Vulture Peak.

Mega-breakfast

Two food related posts in as many days? Has this become a foodie blog or something? No. But a guy has to eat. In this case, it's a breakfast of potatoes, mushrooms, bacon, onions, eggs and cheese. I don't whip up something like this very often because it leaves me with a bunch of pans and dishes to wash.

I started by dicing half a potato and putting it on to parboil. While I was waiting for that to cook, I diced some bacon. Diced bacon, you ask? Yeah. I cut quarter-inch strips off the end of the package of pre-sliced bacon. I also diced part of an onion and some mushrooms. Dice dice, baby.

I have only one burner, so things need to be cooked sequentially. I drained the cooked spuds and put them aside. Then I fried the bacon, adding onions when the bacon started to brown.

When the bacon-onion combo was done, I removed it from the pan, leaving the bacon grease for frying the potatoes and mushrooms. One good thing about cooking outdoors is that I can do the shake-and-flip thing with the pan and, if some of the bits go flying off, I don't have a floor to clean. I leave it for the critters.

Then I added the bacon and onions back to the potatoes to reheat. I put this high-fat, high-carb, high-calorie, high-flavor wonderfulness on a plate and fried up a couple of eggs. I put the eggs on top of the rest and sprinkled some grated mozzarella over everything. Too bad I didn't have any of the salsa verde left.

That should hold me until tomorrow. And give me plenty of energy to wash the dishes.

Adventures in Mexican canned goods: El Pato salsa verde de tomatillo

I didn't know ducks (pato) were in the salsa business, but I travel to learn new things, so...

I like salsa verde a lot, especially on pork dishes. It's tart and can run from mild to very spicy, so I was curious where this brand fit in the flavor spectrum.

Fresh tomatillo, water, chile, onion, corn starch, iodized salt, cilantro, cumin, garlic and seasonings

It's a little runny for dipping purposes (despite the corn starch) but fine for pouring onto food. Too bad I didn't have any carnitas handy. I'd rate El Pato at the milder end of the scale. More flavor, less heat.

Flexibility

Sometimes things get in the way of our plans. With luck, those things aren't serious. And, if you're like me, the thing that messes with our plans is often only oneself.

So, my plan yesterday was to leave Lake Havasu City and go to Ghost Town Road in Congress, Arizona. If there wasn't a good camping spot available there, then I'd move down the road to one of a couple of sites near Wickenburg.

There are two ways to get from Lake Havasu City to Congress, neither of them a straight line, unless you want to go off road. I chose the southern route only because I wanted to drive the California side of the Colorado River between Parker Dam and Parker. I hadn't been that way before. It would be something new. But first, laundry. Then supplies. Then another store for the things the first store didn't have. Then gas. And lunch.

One of the reasons for this relocation was to beat the heat. Lake Havasu is at 735 feet, Wickenburg is about 2,000 feet and Congress is about 3,000, therefore cooler. When I checked the weather forecast during lunch, I saw Saturday night at both places was going to be in the 30s. Woo, too cold. The intelligent thing would be to stay at Lake Havasu until it warmed up in Congress or Wickenburg. But my mind was already in travel mode. Must. Move. Forward.

Then, a little south of Parker, I felt fatigue creeping up on me. Maybe it was my body saying not to go to cold weather. Okay, but where? Quartzsite. Only a minor detour in the original route. Two sides of a right triangle instead of the hypotenuse.

So I'm at the Hi Jolly camping area north of town until tomorrow. It will be in the high 40s tonight instead of the mid 30s. That's not bad. And I can get a shower at the truck stop before I leave. Mmmmm. hot showers.

Camping essentials

Gotta have your priorities

Zorro the Wonder Dog got his Easter costume

Zorro has come a long way since the days he used to chase rabbits. Now, even though he's not religious, he's totally into the holiday because of colored eggs, candy and Peeps.

Ex-campground

Five Mile Landing used to be a campground on Goose Lake, which is a backwater of the Colorado River. It's a few miles north of I-40, between Arizona and California. Sadly, the campground didn't get enough fee-generating visitors to make it profitable for the concessionaire running the place. They threw in the towel and the US Fish & Wildlife closed the place, except for day use. You can launch a small boat, fish from the shore or do some birdwatching. No tables, shelters, toilets or anything else. It has all been ripped out.

The boat launch—if you can squeeze it through the reeds

But it's still a nice oasis in the desert. I stopped by on my way back from Oatman. Take State Road 1 northwest from Golden Shores and look for the turn at the mile two marker. The unpaved road to the ex-campground has seen better days, and there are some sandy patches, but it's totally doable.

Where are the oats, man?

Oatman, Arizona, is known for the semi-wild donkeys that wander about town. (Watch where you step.) They've learned they can get the occasional handout from tourists. And the merchants have learned that tourists will cough up the occasional buck.

Roger overstayed the 14-day camping limit

Alynn and Terri

Alynn and Terri were in the park offering tattoo readings. I had to find out what what the deal was with that, of course. They looked at my various tats and gave their impressions of my mental and metaphysical nature. I think they were about 60 percent in the ballpark.

Hmmmmm...

Give me a wider bed then maybe this would work for me.

Mesquite Bay North, Lake Havasu

I'm off exploring this morning, seeing what sort of public access there is to Lake Havasu. This was my first stop. Mesquite Bay North—and South—are small day use areas on the north-ish end of town.

Other ways to do it

For those who are into planes

$300 would get you a ride in this B-25

No harm

It was extremely busy at the Pemex station I pulled into in San Felipe. The SCORE off-road racers were in town and it seemed like everyone wanted to fill up at the same time. They were short of pump jockeys. The ones they had were running around, getting flustered, going crazy. Before I could say anything, one of them started pumping diesel fuel into the Rolling Steel Tent, which has a gasoline engine.

"Whoa! Alto! Alto! No diesel, gasolina!"

He had pumped a couple of liters before before I could stop him. But I didn't panic, because a few weeks previous I happened to have seen a video demonstrating what happens if you accidentally put diesel fuel in a gas vehicle and gasoline in a diesel vehicle. (I can't find the video now, otherwise I'd link to it.) They run like crap but... once you put the right fuel in, they run like they're supposed to, with no real damage. So I figured two liters of diesel mixed in thirty-three gallons of gasoline wouldn't be anything to worry about. It might be no different than bad gasoline. And I was right. I noticed nothing odd at all. Thank you, Internet, for peace of mind.