Rambling RV Rat: Time Flies by In Southwest Arizona

The phrase “time flies when you are having fun” surely is true! Our calendar has been packed with a variety of activities in addition to pickleball and line dancing, from admiring the creations of local artists at the Mountain Quail Invitational Art Show to locating more geocaches hidden within the desert.

Not only is it fun to find and log the hidden geocaches, I love seeing different areas of the desert. Here the wildflowers were scattered like throw rugs on the desert floor.

Lots of colorful blooms in this wash.

The desert is full of interesting finds, from rock art...

...to a pet cemetery...

...to a memorial garden for human loved ones.

My gal pal, Mademoiselle Rochelle, and I celebrated Valentine's Day with my parents at the Quartzsite Community Center. The town hosted an afternoon dance there, complete with refreshments and DJ, for a cost that fit right into this stuffed rat’s cheese budget: FREE! Sadly, like the prior 2 years, this event was poorly attended. In fact, even if I counted the volunteers, town employee who organized the event, and the DJ, we didn’t total a dozen participants. (Obviously, they need to work on promotion/advertising!) The good news was that we had a wide berth for dancing. Furthermore, a lack of attendees increased our odds of winning a door prize.

Dad was the winner of one of the two door prizes.

For a third year, we attended the DRV Owners Travel Club Luncheon. Held at The Hub in Mesa, it was an afternoon of good food, conversation, and camaraderie among 30+ fellow DRV Owners. Afterwards, we had our annual visit with Marie, whom we met, along with her hubby Bob, when we all workcamped at Crazy Horse Memorial in Custer, South Dakota in 2015. People may think the nomadic lifestyle is a lonely one. But we have met wonderful people through the years with whom we have sustained long-term friendships.

We have had unseasonably warm weather in Quartzsite this year, with temps hitting 90F+ degrees late in February. It has been so warm, the desert creatures are already emerging!

This young snake met his demise before I stumbled upon him while hiking with Mom.

Scorpion!

This lizard went for a swim in our makeshift birdbath.

We spent a glorious day in Parker. First, we met up for lunch at Pirates Den with Shirleen/Hank. (We met these wonderful folks through the now-defunct RVillage app when we all ventured North to Alaska in 2016. We all have kept in touch, and whenever our paths cross every few years, we get together. We last saw them in 2022.) Then we headed out to the Kelly Hughes Band Desert Party on BLM lands off Shea Road. Kelly ALWAYS delivers on his guarantee of a good time.

This harlot at the Pirate's Den tried to seduce me, but I remained true to Mademoiselle Rochelle.

Kicking the dust up (literally!) when dancing in the desert.

We had two off-road Jeep adventures with the Rock-N-Slow Rollers, courtesy of Clayton as leader and Helen/Ted as tail gunners. Our first outing was a loop ride along Parker Mesa, which offered views of Vampire Mine and the Bill Williams Wildlife Refuge. Though not a technical ride, the trails were very rough because of the effects of the summer monsoon season. The power of water to change topography never ceases to amaze me.

Hayden-Rhodes Aqueduct.

Ocotillo in full bloom.

Bill Williams River in the background.

View of Parker Mesa.

On another day, we all ventured to Conglomerate Mine and Patton’s Cave. Though we have been to the latter site on a prior occasion, we traveled along trails we had not done previously. That is the beauty of off-roading in the desert. There are so many trails from which to choose to traverse to a site. And this route was quite scenic, including seeing my very first non-captive desert tortoise!

Love is in the air with these desert creepy crawlers!

Jackpot! A desert tortoise in the wild!

How friendly the saguaro cacti are--they always seen to be waving to me!

Movie set in Bouse.

Patton's Cave.

Since we dwell in these desert lands, we thought it only fitting to join the Friends of the Sonoran Desert in their monthly clean-up efforts. What an awesome group of folks. We all share a desire to keep our public lands clean and accessible for us all to enjoy. The leaders identified 16 specific areas within BLM La Posa North/Scadden Wash for us to tackle. We saw abandoned cars, old appliances, and broken tents. Our group collected at least a dozen broken down/rusty/tireless bicycles We picked up more dirty diapers and underwear than I care to think about! Dozens of cardboard boxes, pallets, and hundreds of empty bottles/cans were strewn on the desert floor. I gotta tell ya, it was quite appalling! And they call my Rodentia brethren hoarders! I think you humans are worse than any packrat can be! See for yourselves by watching this video done by a volunteer of the Friends of the Sonoran Desert.