1/10 - 1/25/06 Kofa Redux - Solitude & Friendship at Palm Canyon |
Palm Canyon Photo Gallery |
1/17 - I am seriously remiss in posting an update on our time out in
the Kofa Refuge. Amazingly, we've been here a week already. We're at
a different location than last year's Crystal
Hill site; we're very near Signal Peak, where native palm trees
grow in rock crevices. More to come on that. We're about 25 miles from
Quartzsite (known simply as Q to the RV crowd). 
Q as in rhymes with zoo. We are at the peak of the annual RV confab
here. The closer you get to Q, the more RVs you see: literally hundreds
of thousands scattered all across a million acres (give or take) of
Sonoran desert. Some are sprinkled around, some clustered in small village-like
encampments, others in vast temporary townships.
Regular readers must know by now that I need my space. Out here in
Kofa there's plenty of it. Before our new Canadian friends stopped by
for a couple of days, I could look out for miles in all directions (you
can see a long way in the Sonoran) & see just one other camper.
But Timmy & I have enjoyed the company of our temporary neighbors.
Timmy has been mooning over Tanya all day, while they went for a 14
mile bicycle ride in the desert. He's in love! 
And before that, we were visited by some new friends from the Phoenix area, sisters Liz & Elaine were our guests for a couple of days. I'm not sure how personal I want to get in these pages that after all are out there for all the world, but for now I will reveal that Timmy also made a play for Elaine and Liz is now more than just a friend to me. So with all this company and a great new area to explore, I've had trouble finding time to catch up on these pages, which nowadays have to play second fiddle to my contributions to RVTravel.com. Deadlines you know.
Great news on the energy front. The sun continues to shine every day
(the desert may not bloom this year) & with our swiveled & tilted
panels we are getting as much as we need. But we're still not running
the microwave. It gets a little cool out here, but except for yesterday's
chill & savage windstorm, it's been quite pleasant & our little
cat heater has been enough to keep us cozy at night. 
OK, back to Palm Canyon. It's a deep chasm in the face of Signal Peak, the dark shadow in the center of the sunset image above. From outside, it looks like any other canyon in a rugged southwestern mountain. But as you hike in, its depth becomes apparent with dark purple-brown rhyolite walls soaring above. We hoped to see bighorn sheep up in the cliffs, but no luck. Near the upper end of the trail though, the palm trees come into view, an improbable mini-jungle high up in a deep crevice, holdouts from another time. Once we realized what we were looking for, we began to pick out smaller clusters here & there. Then we spotted a single palm, nearly at the top of the canyon, hundreds of feet up, with a golden eagle soaring above. For a short hike Palm Canyon really provides a lot of natural wonder.
1/22 - At one of the loneliest campsites we've ever
found, Timmy & I have enjoyed more company than just about anywhere
we've been. Thursday, after Martin & Tanya headed off for Yuma &
Holtville, my fishing pal Rhett stopped by for the night on his way
back to the rainy northwest. He's been on a desert sabbatical working
on a novel. Then yesterday afternoon we stopped by the FullTimeRV Class
of 05 (of which we are proud members) encampment out in the LaPosa LTVA.
I said to the first guy I met "Is this 05?" & he said
"You bet. Welcome. I'm Tad." I introduced myself as Jerry
& Tad asked "Are you jerryriverguy?" I replied "That's
me & this is Timmy." Well I thought it was pretty grand to
be greeted like that. Then I met up with Malia Lane, with whom I have
occasionally corresponded for many months. Malia is another solo RVer.
She has traveled all the way to Alaska on her own; check out her website:
MaliasRV. It was
great to get to meet her in person & share tales about this lifestyle
that we both love.
For the second day in a row a pair of ravens has dropped into our camp.
I'm not sure what they're finding out there to nibble on...gotta be
slim pickings. By they are kind of fun to watch, strutting about with
the breeze ruffling their feathers & the sun lighting up their blackness
with blue iridescence.
Today I deserted Timmy to go check out the big top in Q, the huge tent which is the center of the big RV Show here. Just about anything you can imagine for RVs was on sale there, plus stuff that had no connection to RVs at all. Like an 8' tall metal sculpture of a horse! Go figure. For cute you could buy a little stuffed toy RV with puppy face, feet & tail. Lots of cookware, hardware and women's wear. I was quite interested in the wind turbines, very likely my next investment to help get us over those less than sunny days when it's also often windy. I also enjoyed the Andean band playing one of my favorite forms of authentic folk music. I couldn't keep my feet still listening to them.
Timmy was most happy when I returned. Aren't dogs wonderful that way? Never "Where have you been?" It's just "I'm so glad to see you!"
1/31 - We moved on from Kofa several days ago, but I never got the
chance to close out our stay there. So this will have to be a sort of
Kofa epilog. The big news is that romance blossomed in the desert. Liz
& I are now together. I brought her out to spend a couple of days
with us near Palm Canyon & she has joined Timmy & I on our travels.
See what happens when you answer email from mysterious admirers! Life
aboard Gypsy will never be the same, fortunately.
Before leaving Q, we stopped for a visit with Malia. I should mention that Liz is an indefatigable hiker & solo backpacker. I really wanted to have these 2 courageous women get acquainted.
Kofa & Palm Canyon were very enjoyable, on many levels. I'm sure we'll be back. We're now at Lake Pleasant, another favorite location from last year's travels.
<< prior adventure next adventure >>
