We headed out to the Arizona desert in mid-January, after our wonderful 2-1/2 month visit with family. Our first stop was in Quartzsite for the big annual RV Rally. The entire desert is covered in RVs.
It’s an enormous party and many RVs are clustered together in wagon circles. You can shop til you drop, with aisle after aisle of vendors in the big tent set up for the rally, as well as acres of flea market style booths set up all over town.We walked through the big tent and bought a few little things, but we were more in the mood to just veg out in the desert.
We haven’t been living in the RV since Oct. 31, so we enjoyed just getting back into the lifestyle. The only social contact we had was with Brenda and Hector of Island Girl Walkabout blog. We were very much looking forward to getting to know them better after meeting them briefly last year. We got together a couple of times over the weekend and we had such a great time! I wish I’d taken some pictures! Here is a picture of the 4 of us out to dinner that I snagged off of their blog. They are so much fun and we can’t wait to meet up with them again. Hector is an AMAZING photographer. If you’ve never seen their blog, you should check it out.
We headed down to Yuma to checkout the boondocking on BLM land off of Ogilby Road that Nina of Wheeling It blog wrote about. We were out in the middle of wide open nowhere and we loved it.
We vegged out some more, hiked a little bit, enjoyed a few happy hour campfires, and got to watch our favorite TV shows. Yep, you heard that right. We caved in and signed up for Direct TV. So now it doesn’t matter how far off the grid we camp, we can still watch the morning news shows with our coffee, and never miss another episode of Big Bang Theory. AND we absolutely love our new solar panels which generate enough power to let us enjoy not having to worry about running the generator at all.
Lucy says “Let’s go for a nice long hike to the American Girl Mine Pit. I’ve got my red boots on and I’m ready to go!”
We spent a week on Ogilby Road, then went in to one of the RV Resorts in Yuma for 3 days (for free). They were giving out coupons for this resort when we were walking through the big tent in Quartzsite. No strings attached. It was great! It gave us the opportunity to leave Lucy in an air conditioned RV while we made a day trip over to Los Algodones, Mexico, to do a little shopping. With a full hook-up site, I was able to do all my laundry and also take nice long showers. We had Royal Flush come out and give our black tank a proper cleaning. Then Papi and crew showed up to wash our car and RV for $45. So we were all clean and shiny and ready to head back out to the dusty wilderness.
Next stop, Why, in southern Arizona. This was another free BLM site we found on the Wheeling It blog.
The town of Why is a little blip on the map, but the nearby town of Ajo actually has some interesting touring. We took a drive out to the old copper mine pit which was what supported this entire town for over 100 years.
Every single ring of this pit had railroad track on it when it was operational. We heard a lot of interesting stories from the curator of the Copper Mine Museum, an old fella that worked in the pit for many years.
I couldn’t believe our luck that we were in town for the Annual Old Time Fiddlers Contest! And it wasn’t just a local thing. I heard introductions of Contestants that came from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado. I’m sure there were other states represented, but those were just some of the ones I remember. We heard amazing fiddling from young and old, men and women. The oldest fiddler was 89 years old! and good! I got some great video.
We were camped only a couple of miles from the entrance to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We drove 20 miles through the park to the Visitor Center, then hiked to the Twin Peaks campground. Then we drove the scenic 21-mile dirt road around the Diablo Mtns. It was so beautiful. We picked up the scenic drive guide and stopped at each numbered pull-out to read the paragraph about what we were seeing. 28 cactus species live here in the monument. I am now a cactus expert.
This is an Organ Pipe Cactus…
We brought a picnic lunch and stopped at this ramada to devour it. It was a perfect day.
I don’t know how he does it. Ouch!
We enjoyed our visit to Why and now we’re ready to move on.
Cheers!
Bear Tracks 
Sounds like a great time. Super pics and info on some spots we will be sure to check out next winter when we are bach down there!
WS
Great post! I am curious what the temps were during each of your stops, for reference later when wifie and I venture. Wonderful pics too!
We’ve enjoyed mid-70’s to mid-80’s the entire time. I need a light sweater outside after the sun goes down because it chills down pretty quickly. But basically it’s been perfect weather!
Wonderful recap and accompanying photos. You visited some spots we plan to hit in a couple of weeks 🙂
I’ll give you all the deets when we see you soon!
Sounds like we were very close to being able to meet up!! I didn’t know you were coming to Why…Darn! We love our stay in Why. It was really hard to leave area. We saw that the Fiddler’s Contest coming on the weekend, but we missed it since we had a service appointment and a date to meet friends in Tucson. Looks like Hector and Brenda’s visit brought a few of us down there:) I recognize most of your photos!! Good times for sure!
Yeah, I just read your update and exclaimed to Mike “Oh my gosh! They were right here!” Sorry we missed you. Loved your blog post about the area.
So glad you got to see the Fiddlers Contest! We managed to see them last year too. You’ve followed a great little itinerary. Lots of my favorite spots!
Nina
I loved the fiddlers! It was a toe-tapping good time.
Beautiful sunset/RV photo. Thanks for the shout out! We’re going to Yuma in early March for dental follow-up stuff, and will try the BLM on Ogilby Road. Lucy looks so adorable in her red booties!
We loved Organ Pipe too, you got some great photos there. Believe it or not, the Copper Mine Museum was closed when we visited (at least the two times we drove to Ajo). And what great timing to see the fiddlers, sounds like great fun.
We look forward to meeting up again.
Brenda
Lovely photos making me wished we are out west. Except for Q the rest of your stops were new to us . We will check them out someday.
They were worthy spots indeed!
Linda,Does Lucy like her red boots?(I take it they are to protect her little paws on the hot sand or pavement.)Hugs,Marquise–I will have to send you a photo of my little girl after she got groomed 3 weeks ago.
Hi Marquise. Actually, I think Lucy “tolerates” her boots. Wouldn’t go so far as to say she likes them. We’re still experimenting to see if they actually provide any benefit. If I keep her feet hair clipped short, she doesn’t pick up much dirt.
This seems to be the hot spot to visit this year. We will have to bookmark this area for a visit in the future. Thanks for a great recap. 🙂
It was interesting. I would say that Organ Pipe was the most awe-inspiring.
Great photos showcasing the wonderful state of Arizona! The organ pipe photos…fabulous!
Thanks, Nancy. It’s so beautiful there at this time of the year.
We have also been home (in Atlanta) since October 31st, but aren’t quite ready to hit the road again. I think I am waiting for the early wildflowers in the Smokies! It’s funny how many bloggers have been in Ajo and Why recently. I love the photos… we were there and enjoyed the cactus but the copper mine museum was closed as was part of the Cactus Pipe National Park. Now that it’s fully open, we will have to check back there again. I would love to see the museum and the Fiddler’s contest! What good timing y’all!!
Wildflowers in the Smokies are worth waiting for! Hope you share some pics for all of us to enjoy.