TheBanyanTree: Camping in the Desert

[Theta Brentnall]

Gerry and I have been out camping in the Arizona desert for the last week
and a half.  And I do mean literally in the desert.  We're in our motorhome,
Cleo, sitting out on BLM land with no pavement, no hookups and no horizontal
yellow lines to tell you where to park near the town of Quartzsite, AZ,
which is at the intersection of I-10 and Arizona H-95.  There's not a lot
here in the summer, but it's a happening place in winter.  We came for a
rally of RVers called the Escapees.  This is a group that is organized just
the way we like it.  No Board of Directors, no by-laws, no rules, and a very
strict schedule: i.e., happy hour is at the fire ring at 4 pm.  Them's the
kind of rulz we like.

There was a big RV show in town, with hundreds of vendors selling everything
you ever imagined for the RV and a whole lot of stuff I personally would
never have imagined using.  And still can't imagine.  But I'm a minimalist
kind of person anyway.  I don't need strings of lights for the awning for
every holiday season of the year, as an example.  Bah humbug, that's me.
Mostly we've just been enjoying the desert, except for a few days ago when
we had tornado warnings, 70 mph winds and 3" of rain in a 12 hour period.
That's a third of the total annual rainfall around here.  But it was
exciting, and after it blew over we've had skies so intensely blue that find
myself standing there like a hick visiting New York and staring at the
skyscrapers, head thrown back, jaw hanging open, saying, "Wow!  Will you
look at that!"

Since the rains, little bushes that had looked like bundles of dead, white
twigs have put out minute grey-green leaves that don't really look like
leaves until you get your nose right up to them.  From a few feet away they
just make the edges of the twigs look a little fuzzy.  Other bushes, also
appearing dry and barren, have more enthusiasm for the water and have put
out bright green leaves and, wonder of wonders, stalks of yellow flowers.
One day, dead; next day in full bloom.  These desert plants don't fool
around when a little (or a lot) of moisture comes their way.

We've seen a few birds, a yellow-rumped warbler who is an old friend from
the Alaska trip last summer.  He's traveled a long way for such a little
guy.  A hummingbird tapped on our window in the hopes that the red handle of
the emergency exit widow was really a flower, but he zipped away when he was
disappointed.  Road-runners dash across the desert pavement that looks like
a mosaic roadway where we're parked and little Inca doves call mournfully
from the scrub mesquite in the arroyos.

So, we've been here more than a week, and what have we done?  Nothing.  Best
kind of trip.

Theta

http://thetayb.blogspot.com