Randy's Burgers

We went to the place where I got that great hamburger awhile back.  After 4 pm Randy sells his burgers with grilled onions for only a dollar.  He does this so he hasn't a bunch of left over hamburger and starts each new day with fresh meat.  Since we were getting such a great deal on the burgers we ordered some curly fries to make our meal complete.  They come in about an 8 inch square block! 

This is the best we could do with the fries. 

 There will be some eggs and potatoes to be had for breakfast the next morning.

Randy is from Everett, Washington and comes down here to Quartzsite, Arizona each winter selling his burgers, corndogs, fries, etc.  He must do pretty good for these six months or he wouldn't have been returning for the past 36 years.

Spring is Near

But you wouldn't know it by the weather a couple days before you see this post.  The cold wind is blowing hard and rain is on its way later with wetness all day the next day and no let up in the wind.  I think about those out here living in tents and am thankful we have the Little House on the Highway for shelter.  Temperatures are barely in the 50's (10 C) during the day and near freezing at night.  The good news is that come March 1 and onward it will be in the 70's (21 C).  Locals who live here year round are saying this is an unreasonably cold winter for the area.

I hiked up into the foothills near camp one day. 

 Camp is right about center in the photo...somewhere.

Up here on the slopes I found ocotillo growing.  

It isn't all that common on the valley floor.

It is one of my favorite desert plants.  

These buds will open out into beautiful bright red blossoms which the hummingbirds and bees enjoy. 

Regarding bees, I went back down from the slopes following a narrow steep-walled canyon wash.  Every so often I would come across a small pool of water setting among the rocks and each one was filled with those dang bees seeking the moisture.  These bees were the very same ones that unprovokingly attacked me at the mine.  The narrowness of the wash gave me little room to get pass them and you can imagine the fear I experienced at each watering hole.  "Please, please, let me get by real fast and not get attacked!"  I escaped unharmed.  Normally I don't fear bees but these guys are a whole different animal.

Stone Cabin

I came across this old miner's cabin during a hike in the foothills at our new location.

A lot of work went into building this home.

Imagine mixing mortar and fitting all these rocks together.

The entrance.

Cement floor.

At the threshold was a date of construction.

I don't find that very often in homesteads I find so this was nice to see. 

It is '54' not '34'.

There was a lot of detail in the making of the fireplace with choice rocks placed in around the mantle.

Someone wanted a nice home they could admire to live in.

Up on the missing roof must have been a rain catchment system and tank.  The water pipe ran down through the wall then up out the elbow to a missing faucet.  Below must have been a sink.

A little nook to place a bar of soap perhaps?

Shaving kit too maybe?

Outside the remains of a outdoor kitchen and cooking facility.

I imagine the roof extended out over this area.

A shame a lot of the original structure is missing not to mention the vandalizing and paint graffiti.

Old Trailer

One day during one of my walkabouts I came across this old trailer, 

"caravan" to my followers across the pond.

I enjoy seeing the old travel equipment well cared for and still doing the job.

Nearby was this rock art which I could not make out what it was supposed to be.

A few days later during another walkabout I went by the trailer once again and their owners were home.  Nicole and John were a young couple from Wisconsin.  No question as to why they were here in Arizona at this time of the year!  Nicole said the trailer was a 1989 model.  They had a kitty too.  A gray part Maine Coon cat what was two years old.  I wish I had thought of taking a picture of her.

The BIG One

Late in the afternoon when the sun is low on the horizon the angle of light is good to cast a reflection off anything shiny out from camp.  Many of the reflections are false coming off of plain white quartz but still every once in awhile one proves to be a crystal.  That is how I located those crystals on the previous post.  A couple days after finding the small crystals I walked out to investigate a shine.

I was shocked when I saw the size of this crystal mixed in with the other rock.  

It is in the center of the photo.

The little ones and this big one I call champagne quartz crystals due to their off-color, 

not totally clear like glass, very much the color of champagne. 

I was asked about what I plan to do with these finds.  I have been trying to think of a way to display them in the motor home or at least some sort of suitable container.  I saw on eBay these divided compartment jewelry boxes with a glass lid.  Something like that might work.

I doubt I will ever find a crystal this big again.  After all, I've been looking for years and years.

Happy Valentines Day

My sweet Beans.

Crystal Camp

That is the name for our new camp. 

 I found the three crystals to the right in and near camp in the first few days. 

Size: half an inch for the three on the right, three quarters an inch for the left one.

The jagged crystal has a black/grey tint to it and is called a smokey quartz crystal and rare to find.

Amazingly I found it right in our old camp the day we were preparing to move.

And to think we had been walking over and around it for the past four months.

Now we walk around all the time with our eyes to the ground.

The late afternoon is the best time to find them as the sun lights them up for us to see.

Another crystal I found a few weeks ago on the dirt road near camp.  Cars, trucks, RVs, ATVs had been driving over it for who knows how long.  People go for their walks on this dirt road as do I.
 But there it was.  You never find your fortune by looking into the sky.
Size: one inch long.

Tried to get a better picture of the smokey quartz crystal.

New Camp

We moved a mile south to get away from the interstate and highway traffic noise.  If the wind was from out of the north the interstate noise was quite loud.  The highway noise was always present as we less than a quarter of a mile form Highway 95.  In our new location we are much further away from both plus not having any neighbors nearby either.  It is very nice here.

Of course this means a longer walk into town for a quart of milk or loaf of bread.

"We Love the Earth"

Beyond the pig-sty trailer I discovered more abandoned hippie camps in a dense growth of tamarisk trees within a wash.

The general policy with these hippies is to collapse the tent when through with it and walk away.

That is a back pack sitting on the tent among some discarded clothing and one shoe.

Someone just left their guitar case lying nearby.

Two moving pads used as blankets probably and a broken camp chair.

The other shoe too.

Oops, dropped the pack of Q-tips.  Oh well...leave it.

Everywhere is their trash can.

Done with it?  Just leave it.

Another collapsed tent.  

I lost count as to how many there were.

There were many debris filled fire pits.

That's the framework of a camp chair.

One of three tents that were standing; two were currently occupied but the residents weren't home when I happened by.  This one is abandoned though.  Why?

These camps were set up in the shade of the tamarisk trees which happened to be in a wash and when it rains, the water rolls through.  This tent got flooded out with water and mud.

So what do they do?  Go to Walmart and buy another cheap tent?  These hippies must not be hurting for money as to readily abandon tents, blankets, sleeping bags, clothing, shoes, food, guitar cases, etc.

I just walked away incapable of understanding the mentality here...or lack of it.

Update on the pig trailer:  The next day there was a Subaru Outback parked nearby.  One dread-lock guy was sleeping in the front seat, another guy in back with the hatch open.  Standing nearby was a tall blonde girl, nice looking, who really didn't look the part to be with these dirt-bags.  Another woman (I think - she was all bundled up and I couldn't tell for sure) with two dogs came walking over from the tamerisk tent camps.  One guy called out to her "Hey, do you remember anything from last night?" When I came back by after taking the above photos everyone was up and about, going in and out of that vermin infested trailer.  The Subaru was running...just barely.  Sounded like a piston rod was knocking.  The car had Colorado plates.  I may find it abandoned there next.

  

Dirt Bag Camp

On down the way from the trailer in the previous post was this abandoned camp.

There's not much more to add to what the images show.

The Bureau of Land Management personnel will come in a clean these camps up probably in April.

This is in part what our camp fees go to, clean up after pigs.

For the huge amount of acreage this area has for camping, sights like this are very few indeed.

For the most part campers here are very mindful in keeping the desert clean, 

even cleaner than it was when they first arrived.

Sign was sitting in on the driver's seat of the car.  

At least someone in these hippy dirt bag camps is aware of their condition.

Pigs in a Trailer

One day while out riding my bike I came across what appeared to be an abandoned camp.  There was trash, clothing, garbage, broken tents, food and general debris scattered about.  The reality of it was people were still "living" there as I returned the next day hiking to the site.  Upon arrival the BLM Ranger was there.  We got to talking.  I said how I was here the day before and now some of the food items were missing, the collapsed tent was gone and the fire was still smoldering from the previous evening.  He said it appears the tent had been drug on down to the trailer a hundred yards away.  He said that he encountered the individuals (modern day hippies) earlier in the week and told them they needed to clean up the place.  "Oh we will.  We love the Earth man."  I asked about the trailer in the distance thinking that someone was camped there.  The Ranger told me it was abandoned although he felt it was being inhabited at night for the slide out for sleeping is out whereas a few days earlier it was not.  "I was told it is infested with fleas and bedbugs."  He got into his truck and drove away. 

 I walked down to the trailer.

I opened the door and was greeted with this sight and an indescribable appalling stench. 

 It was all I could do to step inside.  Notice the apples are in good condition.  People have been in here, living, within days.

More food in the Safeway basket.  The container on the counter with the yellow lock tab held beads and jewelry making handcrafts.  It is the only thing I touched while inside.

The over-powering  trash dump/landfill-like smell was getting to me.

The upper right corner is the pop-out slide for sleeping the Ranger remarked about.

I couldn't bring myself to open cabinet doors.

Someone had been sleeping on the bed to the left also.

Drug paraphernalia. 

The pop-out that was closed a few days previously meaning at least one person was sleeping among this filth in the last few days.  Trailer had Washington plates.

Upper portion of the photo you can see the tent I saw a hundred yards back the day before that the Ranger said had been drugged down to the trailer.  The brown tarp, pile of blankets and pillow indicates to me someone slept outside on the ground last night.  Inside the trailer was even too disgusting for this individual to cope with.

Dirt-bag camp number two up next.