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Avenal, California
January 31st:
We left the Coachella area at 10am.
Traveled through the Palm Desert area along I-10 and through eastern San Bernardino along I-215.
We continued north on Hwy-395 into the Mojave Desert to the Hwy-58 Boron Rest Area where we had lunch.
The Boron area is famous for the Twenty Mule Team Borax Soap, which is still mined today.
We then continued through Bakersfield, back to I-5 and stopped for the night at a truck stop near Avenal.
Be Home tomorrow!
Total Miles This Trip: Miles 2,560
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Coachella, California
January 30th:
We left the Benson area at 9am after saying our goodbyes to new friends, and traveled west on I-10.
Drove through Tucson, to the I-8 Gila Bend Bypass and back west on I-10 past Quartzsite.
Arrived at the Spotlight 29 Casino, in Coachella, California at 4pm.
Normally we would have stopped just inside the Arizona border, but we drove an extra 90 miles (410 total miles today) west, since the drive was easy through the desert.
We’ll be spending the night in the large casino parking lot.
Tomorrow we’ll head towards Boron, California.
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Chiricahua National Monument
January 29th:
We drove about an hour south-east of Benson to the Chiricahua National Monument. The park was established in 1924.
Early 1800’s Swiss settlers in the Chiricahua Mountains often encountered Apaches who lived in the region. Geronimo and the Warm Springs Apaches hunted, fought wars and lived in this area.
One family ran a vacation / horse riding dude-ranch in the park until the 1930’s.
The park is known for it’s hiking trails and extensive hoodoos and balancing rocks.
We visited the visitors center and hiked the 4 mile, 600ft (comparable to a 60 story building) elevation change Echo Trail.
The trailhead started at the 7,000ft elevation level and was 42 degrees at noon. We completed the challenging trail in 2 hours.
We also saw deer and wild pigs in the park.
Tomorrow we leave the Benson area for the California border along I-10.
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Kartchner Caverns State Park
January 28th:
After breakfast, we drove 20 minutes south-west of Benson, to the Kartchner Caverns State Park.
The caverns were discovered in 1974, when local cavers found a narrow crack in the bottom of a sinkhole, and followed the source of warm, moist air toward what ended up being more than 2.5 miles of pristine cave passages.
The caverns were kept a secret at the time, to prevent vandalism.
The discovery of the cave was finally made public in 1988 when the landowners sold the area to the state for development as a park and show cavern.
Prior to its grand opening in 1999, the state spent $28 million on a high-tech system of air-lock doors, misting machines and other equipment designed to preserve the cave.
We took the 2 hour underground tour of the caverns and it’s many passages.
After the cavern tour, we went on a 2 hour hike in the hills surrounding the park. Our rise & fall elevation during the hike was 4,300′ to 5,100′.
Tomorrow we’ll do some desert hiking east of Benson.
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Arizona Stars
January 27th:
The Butterfield RV Park is well known for their on-site telescope observatory. The owners constructed the “university grade” telescope in 1999 for their personal enjoyment.
The telescope gained such an interest in the park, that they opened the observatory to guests.
The 15 foot swing dome observatory has nightly star shows, weather permitting.
At 7pm, we met with other guests and had a great time learning about the stars, nebulas, distant galaxies and constellations in the Arizona sky.
We stayed in town today and did a little shopping & exploring the local sites.
Hit a couple local thrift / mercantile stores and the Benson Train Depot & Visitor’s Center.
Tomorrow, we’re off back into the desert to the Kartchner Caverns State Park.
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Bisbee & Tombstone
January 26th:
Much colder here in Benson, than Quartzsite. Was 26 degrees colder at sunrise, than yesterday morning.
After breakfast, we drove an hour south to the small town of Bisbee, just a few miles north of the Mexico border.
Bisbee was founded as a copper, gold, and silver mining town in 1880, and named in honor of Judge DeWitt Bisbee, one of the financial backers of the adjacent Copper Queen Mine.
The Copper Queen Mine was a copper mine in Bisbee. It’s development led to the growth of the surrounding town of Bisbee in the 1880s. Its ore-body ran 23% copper, an extraordinarily high grade and was acquired by Phelps Dodge in 1885.
In the early 1900s, this was the most productive copper mine in Arizona. While copper mining declined in the area in the 1930s and 1940s, the Copper Queen continued to be mined by the open-pit process during the years following World War II.
With decreasing returns, Phelps Dodge closed the copper mine in 1985.
We toured the Copper Queen Mine museum and enjoyed the guided mine tour, going 1,600 feet underground – riding the same 1940’s man-train the miners used to go to work underground. We walked up drifts in the mine and learned all about mining for copper.
After lunch, we stopped in Tombstone, on the way back to Benson.
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Benson, Arizona
January 25th:
We left Quartzsite at sunrise (7am) and traveled east on I-10 and turned south on Hwy-85 and east on I-8 around the busy Phoenix area.
The desert sunrise was beautiful in the eastern sky.
Continued east on I-10 and had lunch in a rest area. Arrived in Benson just after 1pm.
We’ll be spending five nights at the Butterfield RV Resort. We’ve stayed at this full-service in the past and love it.
Tomorrow, we’ll be exploring the nearby Tombstone and Bisbee areas.
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Last Day in Quartzsite
January 24th:
Of course, we returned to the RV show after breakfast. According to the sponsors, ‘opening day’ broke their one-day attendance record and normal totals for the show is 150,000+ attendees.
Today we also took a gander at the rock & mineral buildings near the Big-Top tent.
We are not members of the ‘Dirt-People’, but our good friend Gorden would have insisted playing in the rocks and dirt, if he & Patrice were along with us this trip.
Donna & I had a great time visiting other campers and enjoying the Quartzsite desert area.
Tomorrow we leave the Quartzsite area, and travel 300 miles south-east to the town of Benson, Arizona.
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Searching for Treasures
January 23rd:
Had another nice campfire gathering after dark last night.
Visited the Quartzsite RV Show tent after breakfast again, to wander the vendors to see all the items being sold.
Also visited an old flea market in town. Donna found an old 1800’s iron trivet for her antique 1800’s iron for a few dollars, and I found an old 15′ long American flag banner in new condition for $4.
Flag poles and flags are very popular out here in the desert. At night, you can see many pole lights in the distance shinning, blinking or flashing their colors.
Thanks to my wonderful loving mother-in-law, she gave me a pole-top light last year to keep my flags lit at night.
Returned to camp for lunch and to visit our fellow campers. Had a couple Arctic Fox’s leave today and three new arrivals.
Tomorrow will be our last day in Quartzsite.
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RV & Outdoors Show
January 22nd:
Had a great time last night with the fellow campers sitting around the propane fire-pits visiting and telling travel stories.
Since there are so many campers for miles around, the few cellular towers in the area become slow in the evenings. I’ve found the best time for posting to the blog is just before sunrise.
After breakfast, we traveled the couple of miles into town to explore the Sports & RV Show under the big-top tent.
There are 100’s of vendors inside and outside the tent area. They have everything that you didn’t know – you don’t need!
Picked up a couple of small household items and of course, free giveaway stuff.
Ate lunch in town and returned back to camp at 2pm. Weather today was cloudy, breezy and in the 60’s.
Had some sprinkles in the afternoon, but cleared by sunset. Dead quiet and pitch-black darkness out here at night in the desert.
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Quartzsite, Nevada
January 21st:
We left the Las Vegas area at 8am, traveled south on Highway 95, and arrived just a couple of miles north of Quartzsite, AZ at 1pm.
We met up with 20 other Arctic Fox owners on the BLM lands that surrounds Quartzsite.
The population of the area is less than 200 during the hot summer months, but swells to almost a half million ‘Snowbirds’ that are fleeing the northern state snows in the winter.
The area is all dry camping, but water, dump stations, food, restaurants, propane and fuel is all available in nearby.
During the end of January each year (starts tomorrow), is the large Sports & RV Show in town, which we’ll visit tomorrow.
We’ll be here for four days “living off the land”.
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Customs & Mustangs
January 20th:
Everybody thinks gambling when visiting Vegas, but we come exclusively for hiking and sightseeing.
Two sites in Las Vegas that we visited today had to do with cars, and their museums just happened to both be free.
First, we visited the Counts Customs fabrication shops – home of the television show ‘Counting Cars’.
The custom cars and other vehicles (many seen on television) were fun to see and even saw one of the employees we recognized from the show.
We then went to the Shelby Mustang Fabrication Shops & Museum. We learned all about Carroll Shelby, his racing past and his production facility.
Didn’t buy one of the $1,000,000+ cars for sale, since we don’t have room in the trailer.
Tomorrow we leave south for Quartzsite, Arizona.
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Las Vegas Strip
January 19th:
Night time here in the desert is nice for evening walks, but gets cold (40’s) as soon as the sun goes down.
We had a leisurely breakfast and did a few chores around camp today.
Took a drive along the ‘Vegas Strip’ where all the large casinos are located and then walked around the area, looking at the sights.
We haven’t been to the strip in several years and some of the older big casinos seem small now, compared to the gigantic newer ones.
Temperatures are in the low 60’s and sunny.
We went out to dinner and did a little shopping before hitting the hot tub at camp.
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Hoover Dam Hike
January 18th:
We drove out to the Lake Meade National Recreation Area today and to the Old Railroad Trail trailhead, overlooking Lake Mead.
The railroad was built in the early 1930’s during the Hoover Dam construction. The railway moved cement, gravel and supplies along the rails to the dam, until 1936, when the dam was completed. The last time the railroad was used was in the 1960’s during a dam generator update.
The 7.5 mile trail along the since removed tracks and five tunnels, was 7.5 miles and ended at the dam visitor’s center. It was a perfect day for a hike with the weather in the low 60’s.
After the hike, we had a picnic lunch and then drove a short distance to the Hoover Dam Museum in Boulder City.
Tomorrow we’re going to explore the Vegas Strip.
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Las Vegas, Nevada
January 17th
The weather was clear and cold in the high 30’s last night out in the desert. We had a leisurely breakfast this morning, since our travel today is a short one.
Left the Valley Wells area at 11am and continued north-east on I-15 into the southern Las Vegas area.
Arrived at the Oasis RV Resort just after noon and checked-in. The park is located a couple of miles from the Las Vegas strip. Weather is in the mid 60’s.
We’ve stayed at this full-service (three swimming pool) resort a few times during NASCAR races or while traveling through the area.
We will be roughing it here in Las Vegas for four days.
Tomorrow we’ll be hiking the ‘Historic Railroad Trail’ near Hoover Dam.
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Mojave Desert
January 16th:
We had a little rain and lots of fog last night. Left the Bakersfield area at 10am and traveled east on Highway-58, over the Tehachapi Pass (no snow), and into the Mojave Desert.
Had lunch at the Boron Rest Area and continued east through the Barstow area and onto I-15.
The weather out here in the desert is clear and in the mid-60’s.
Continued east on I-15 to the Valley Wells Rest Area, 20 miles from the Nevada state line. The rest area has large open areas to park our trailer away from the interstate.
We’ll be spending one night here, then continuing onto Las Vegas tomorrow.
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Bakersfield, CA
January 15th:
We left Rocklin at 9am and traveled south on I-5. Was foggy through the central valley, which is normal between storms in the winter.
Had lunch near Tracy, at one of the I-5 rest areas.
Usually we dread traveling on I-5 due to roadway pavement conditions, but due to recent paving & pothole improvements, today’s travel was a breeze between Sacramento and Bakersfield.
Hit a little light rain north of Bakersfield.
Arrived at the Flying J Truck Stop just north of Bakersfield at 3pm. We’ll be spending the night here and traveling out into the Mojave Desert tomorrow.
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ITINERARY:
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Rocklin Roamers 