Death Valley National Park to GA and places in between

We left Quartzsite AZ on the 12th of Feb after the rally and headed out on a 385 mile trek to our reservations at Furnace Creek campground in Death Valley National Park. February is an ideal time to visit Death Valley (unlike the time in June when we drove across the desert). 12-17 Feb: We joined John and Kathy Roeder here for the week, and took day trips from here to visit the park extremities (Scotty's castle is still closed due to last year's flooding). Furnace Creek allows reservations and it was full so it was good we got them. They also have two other campgrounds just across the highway, one of which was mostly empty (no shade) and the other, Texas Springs, is first come first served but is a pretty campground if you enjoy rock formations as a backdrop. We might try for Texas Springs next time. There are several great hiking trails and driving trails within Death Valley. Being an aviation buff, I really enjoyed looking down as the F-18's flew through the valley under us at Father Crowley overlook near Panamint Springs. We also enjoyed watching dogfights and air to air refueling when we visited Ubehebe crater at the Northern end. It was dry, since they only get about 2" of rain per year (I think we got that much the day we left though) 17- 20 Feb: We stayed at Desert Eagle FAMCAMP in Las Vegas. Not big fans of Las Vegas, although we did join up with John and Kathy to take a night tour of the strip and see the lights. We prefer the nearby attractions, like Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire state park, and Red Rock Canyon scenic drive. The FAMCAMP is nice, they are friendly there, and if you get lucky you get to see the Thunderbirds in the traffic pattern. 20 Feb: Our need to get back for scheduled doctor appointments required me to break the last 2,000 miles into long driving chunks that we don't usually like to do, but we did it. Looking at the map, Holbrook AZ looked to be a good stopping point, and a check at campendium.com revealed a free campground at the South entrance to the Petrified Forest National Park! Crystal Forest free CG south of Petrified Forest entrance was actually a pretty nice place to spend a night, with a covered picnic table. No hookups, but another campground across the street has hookups for a small fee. The campground is right at the southern entrance gate, so you can watch as they come in and unlock the gate in the morning. We figured it would only take about an hour or two to go through the park (after all, how many petrified trees can you look at). This turned out to be much more interesting than we expected, so we spent most of the day taking small hikes around the petrified trees and geological formations. This is a beautiful park! We even crossed paths with another Scamp from GA, Linda Fisher Crowley! 21 Feb: This was a late drive to Kirtland AFB NM FAMCAMP. It was getting dark as we arrived due to our long stay at the Petrified Forest, so we just picked a spot and left in the morning. No reservations, but they had plenty of room. 22 Feb: Another long drive brought us to Caprock Canyons state park, TX. We arrived late in the afternoon, but early enough to hit a trail and get some good sunset pictures over the canyon. 23 Feb: We stopped to visit our adopted family June and Pat in Rockwall TX and parked the Scamp in their driveway overnight. Nice being able to visit once in awhile! 24 Feb: Twiltley Branch COE MS. Nice place to kayak. Unfortunately, due to our fast moving schedule we didn't stay long, but this is a pretty campground and we had a long pull through site. We actually thought we were on one of the campground roads, but it was just a really long site! 25 Feb: Arrived home in time for Saturday church.

Quartzsite boondocking

John and Kathy Roeder talked us into attempting boondocking at Quartzsite, AZ for the first time ever. Not the first boondocking for us, but the first time we traveled to Quartzsite. We were a little bit wary of the unexpected, having no idea of whether we would even find the "boondocking" area, but we decided to forego our usual FL trip to try out AZ for a change. We already had a 90 watt solar panel that I added on top of our Scamp, and we also had a portable 90 watt panel for an extra charge if needed. I did decide to upgrade our 100 amp "marine" battery to a 155 amp "golf cart" battery just to give us an extra margin of watts for my CPAP and the heater fan, but as it turned out, it never really got cold at Quartzsite and we had plenty of sun all week. The fiberglass group gathering this year was held between Feb 6 - Feb 12 and was the 10th anniversary of the fiberglass gathering there. The weekend before this was superbowl weekend, so we stayed at Arizona Oasis RV park just before the rally so we could be sure to have TV coverage. I had my Falcons shirt and my GA bulldogs hat on, and when the USAF Falcons overflew the stadium, it was a good omen for the Falcons, and they surged to an unbelievable halftime lead! Alas, they forgot they were playing against Mr Cool, Tom Brady and the Patriots. Arizona Oasis also provided up with the opportunity to empty our tanks and fill our water tanks and extra water jugs to maximize our boondocking capabilities! (There are no toilets, dump station, hookups or water at Quartzsite BLM) We left Arizona Oasis and soon found the area right along I-10 that we were looking for. We checked in for our free 14 day camping permit, and then headed to whatever spot we felt like occupying in the BLM Dome Rock area. Picked a spot on an upper ridge, set up our Scamp and screen room, and kicked back for an enjoyable week with many friends old and new that camped nearby. The weather was great as far as I recall (I'm writing this 3 months later and tend to forget any bad stuff), although it was windy enough at times that I did not even attempt to put our awning out. Our Coleman screen house did just fine though. Fortunately we were able to make it through the week without having to dump or refill, and the battery filled up with solar energy very quickly every day. Quartzsite boondocking might not be for everyone, but we enjoyed it and plan to be back next year! We got together with different friends and enjoyed pizza and beer at Silly Al's pizza, and some great burgers at Bad Boyz Cafe. Best part of Quartzite is the laid back atmosphere and good winter weather, and getting together with friends.

Traveling from GA to Quartzsite AZ via Big Bend TX and Arizona state parks

This year we decided to try the free BLM camping at Quartzsite, AZ. Since it's over 2,000 miles from our home, it's definitely not an overnight trip. I've decided to jot down a few notes about how we got from here to there. Departed home 4 Jan after Marilyn’s doctor appointment. We stayed overnight in the MS rest area on I-10 at the LA state line. Arrived San Antonio on the 5th and camped in Jen’s driveway. Departed Jen’s house on the 17th and stayed at the following places; 17 Jan: Seminole Canyon state park TX. This park is on Hwy 90 (we like hwy 90 vs the little bit shorter I-10) and has some petroglyphs that can be seen on the canyon walls if you take the ranger led hike. If this is your first state park visit in TX and you plan to spend a few more nights at TX state parks, you can buy an annual pass that covers the daily entrance fee for you and your companions, which is a good deal. 18 - 23 Jan: Big Bend NP Rio Grande village. Site 43. We love touring Big Bend. Last time we stayed at Chisos Basin but waited to long to make reservations so this year we got a spacious pull through site at Rio Grande village. This trip the weather was warmer than last year's winter storms so no ice on the step to test my balance (although strong winds knocked me over on one of the canyon trails this trip). We took the international ferry (rowboat) to Boquillas Mexico for a lunch and a beer (don't forget your passport). Had a scare as this was on inauguration day and some Federales came roaring into town in their Humvees, and we were worried they were closing the border! 23 - 26 Jan: Davis Mountains state park. Scenic tour and Ft Davis. Their is a 73 mile scenic loop where you can drive (or take your bike if you are so inclined) that goes through various topographies of this region. Fort Davis is a good place to visit and see what the Buffalo soldiers had to endure. The McDonald observatory is also in this area, so you can sign up in advance for one of their star parties and have an unbelievable view of the night sky. 26 Jan: Aguirre Springs NM. Beautiful but steep curvy drive. The National Recreation area first come first served campsite is fine for little 16' campers like ours, but 20' and longer might be pushing it. The campsite has hiking trails and a good view of White Sands missile base. No hookups, but you can collect drinking water at the host station at the entrance. Nice cool site up in the hills. 27 - 29 Jan: Catalina state park, AZ. Nice CG, visited Allen and Aurora Glasgow who live close by (I worked with Allen and we shared an apartment at my first Air Force base in 1970). Nice hiking trails at this campground, and we got to watch the Roadrunner, followed by Wiley E Coyote pass right through our campsite! Spotted a golden eagle on one of our hikes. 29 Jan - 4 Feb: Lost Dutchman state park, AZ. Site 64 was looong! We could have fit another entire Scamp or Casita ensemble in our campsite! This is a really pretty state park with a great view of the Superstition mountains. There are several trails with increasing difficulty levels for beginners to the pros. Lots of mining history and scenic drives in the area. We also got to visit another coworker from my Air Force history on our way through Goodyear, AZ, John and Glenda Pannell. 4 - 6 Feb: Arizona Oasis RV park. Stayed for the super bowl, ATL lost a heartbreaker. See next blog for more details. This campground accepts Passport America rates!