After leaving Patagonia Lake State Park, we drove a short distance up I19 to spend a night in a casino parking lot. After unhooking, setting up the RV, and checking in with security, we headed out to get some laundry done. Once the laundry was done and put away, we met up with Dan and Mary for dinner at Manuel’s Mexican restaurant. This is a favorite of theirs and most of the staff knew them. We had a great time and plan to hook up again with them before we leave the southwest later this spring.
Our next stop was a primitive campground run by BLM located at the Painted Rock Petroglyphs site near Gila Bend, AZ. This campground cost $8/night for very large sites equipped with a concrete picnic table and a fire ring. The sites are spaced far apart and everyone had plenty of room to spread out. Of course, these sites did not have any hookups, but that is not a problem for us; we just rely on our solar panels to keep our batteries charged and we’re good to go.
The petroglyph display was relatively small and took less then an hour to view. What made them fascinating is that they contained petroglyphs from two distinct eras. Some were made over 1500 years ago and others only a few hundred years ago. The petroglyphs from the two eras differ in style and the placards around the site explain how to determine one style from the other.
After two nights at the Painted Rock Petroglyphs site, it was time to move further west. We set up camp on the south side of Palm Canyon Rd about 2 miles or so from 95. We had driven down to this popular boondocking location to check it out while we were in Quartzsite in mid-January. On our first day here, we drove into Quartzsite to get some propane and fill the truck with gas. The next morning we headed into Blythe, CA to pick up our mail. We have gotten to the point where we only get our mail forwarded to us once a month. We chose Blythe for our January delivery while we were in Quartzsite (you do not want to get general delivery at the Quartzsite post office) and figured we might as well use it again for the February delivery. Once that chore was done and we were back to the RV, we decided it was time for a bike ride.
We had been told that there was rock structure down one of the canyons in the nearby mountains that looks like a skull. Rumor has it that the Native Americans used to have fires inside the “mouth” of the skull. The ride up to the beginning of the canyon was very strenuous as it was a constant uphill grade and the dirt road was soft in a lot of places. We thought we would be able to bike all the way in but when the going got really tough, Amy suggested we park the bikes and hike the rest of the way. That turned out to be a good decision.
While we were looking at the skull formation trying to decide if it was worth all that effort to get there, a couple of men showed up in a Jeep. They had clearly been here before as they discussed what may have changed since their last visit. One of them asked if we had noticed the ape shape in the rocks above the skull. We hadn’t but as Dan was looking at it he said, “Actually, you know what that really looks like?”, and Amy immediately responded, “Homer Simpson”. Yup. We agreed it wasn’t an Ape but Homer Simpson and, of course, we did debate as to whether there is any real difference between the two.
Once we walked back to where we left the bikes and began the long ride back to the RV, we quickly realized how much of a grade we rode up to get there. We weren’t really sure, at that time, if it was the loose sand or the incline that made it so difficult. It was definitely the incline!. Even with the loose sand and gravel, we had to ride our brakes while coasting down the road. Needless to say, the return ride was much more enjoyable than the ride up.
The next morning, we packed up and headed to Indio, CA to meet up with Jim and Corrine. We spent one night in Indian Waters RV Resort to do laundry, visit a Costco, and resupply our groceries. We ate dinner out with our friends and began to lay out plans for the days and weeks ahead. You see, when we asked Jim and Corinne what their plans were a few days prior to this they said they didn’t have anything really planned and we replied in kind. So instead of each of us wandering aimlessly alone, we decided to meet up and wander aimlessly together. So, you can assume the next several postings will cover our time in the southwest with Jim and Corinne.
Nice drone footage! 🙂