TheBanyanTree: Camping in the Desert

[Kitty]

Thanks for giving us a link to your blog.  I really enjoy traveling along!

Kitty
mzzkitty at sssnet.com
kcp-parkplace.blogspot.com
parkplaceohio.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Theta Brentnall" <tybrent at gmail.com>
To: <thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 5:32 PM
Subject: TheBanyanTree: Camping in the Desert


> 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
>