Not-So-New Neighbors

Quartzite, Arizona

These folks moved in several days after we arrived.  They are from Idaho.  Everything they have looks brand new.  I see them pulling things out from boxes and unwrapping them.  Sometimes they are gone for the day and return later with more new items.  I suspect the trailer is new also.  I watch them stumble along trying to do everything.  Hooking up the new sewer hose to the new portable holding tank is really a spectacle to watch.  I guess the first time there was a back splash of sewage that drenched the guy's clothing and he some got onto his face and eyes.  I missed that but I certainly heard it.  See, that is where the problem lies with these people.  The woman is crazy.  She yells, screams and curses at her poor brow-beaten husband all the time.  He's meek as a mouse and takes all the abuse without a word.  She'll yell "you stupid moron, you idiot" and so on with every other word a foul curse word which I'll leave to your imagination.  Sometimes she lets loose on their little dog as if it has any idea what she's ranting about.  I'll add that she's probably the ugliest woman I have seen in a very long time too.

So when Mr. Minnesota (previous post) caused me to move, I was ready anyway for I had grown tired of listening to this crazy woman.  Thank you Mr. Musicman.

New Neighbors

Quartzite, Arizona

One day this big rig moved in across the way from us, not as close as this first photo appears. I watched as he set up camp which took all of the next day and then some.  They were from Minnesota.  I couldn't believe all the crap I saw him unload out from the back end of his six-wheeled trailer: one full sized Harley Davidson motorcycle, a smaller dirt bike, a small ATV and then a BIG ATV, plus two bicycles. There is the SUV car also which his wife drove separately.  In addition to those two shade structures are chairs, two tables, a big master chef barbecue and untold number of storage boxes no doubt filled with more crap.

Everything was fine and entertaining to watch until he started up his music.  I don't want to hear that!

Enjoy the sounds of Nature people!

I decided to move.  It was okay as you will see in the next post.

A Whole Lot of Nothing Going On

Quartzite, Arizona

Here we are two and a half weeks later and they still do not have the stickers for the 2020 season to sell in order to live here up to April.  Everyone (there's not that many yet) is staying for free and able to use the trash, water and dumping facilities.  Beans and I are still at the same spot.  

No one has moved in near us and it is pretty peaceful and quiet overall.

Beans was finally able to get her first lizard of the season a couple days ago.

It eventually got away.

Lizard hunting is tough work.

Stinky Pete's Today

Quartzite, Arizona

So just to remind you, this was Stinky Pete's Emporium and Gift Shop early this year.

After 20 years of service to the community the town of Quartzite condemned the place.  

I can't imagine why.

When we left Quartzite in March the place had been pretty much scraped away clean.

So I was excited to return this year and see what new was on this prime piece of real estate.

NOTHING!

Was I disappointed?

You bet!
I was hoping for a Dollar Tree, Petco or maybe even a Walmart.

They could at least allow us to use the space to park in for the cramped grocery store next door.

But noooo...that would make some sort of sense, so let's block it off.

I'll do some investigating over the winter 

and see if I can come up some good rumors as to what will be done Stinky Pete's lot.

Just being silly on what I was hoping for. 
The reality is that there isn't much that could survive in this town for the entire year.

Petroglyphs

Quartzite, Arizona

I returned to the dried riverbed where I discovered the petroglyphs I featured on the blog last year.

Look closer as this is a full-bodied image, not just a stick figure.

This time I climbed up the rocks to get a better photo of each.

All are facing south, exposed to the harsh Arizona sun.  If these were pictographs, painted on the rock rather than etched in, they would have long since faded away.

This pretty much looks like a snake.  I can see a head at the top.  

I just don't understand the right angles at the tail end. 

A view of the river bed from that first grouping.  I wonder how this looked 800, 1000, 1200 or however many years ago when the Native Americans created these etchings.  It could have been flowing water with lush growth along the banks.

This grouping there was no way I could access it.  The rock face is vertical.  How did they do it?

   

Perhaps they built a type of scaffolding to stand on.  Why go through all that bother?

Well I think they somehow had a vision as to how the world would be in the distant future.

A world filled with idiots who would deface their work with graffiti. 

So they placed their art in high inaccessible places.

This one here was off by itself.  The only way I could see it being done was by lying on your stomach on the ledge above and hanging over the side, upside down, having someone you really trusted hold your feet and legs.

This grouping I wasn't about to try to climb up there to get close-up pictures.  Sorry.

I zoomed in some for this shot

Around the side of the rock outcropping I discovered a few more I hadn't seen last year.

That is a pretty good crescent moon.

Is that a rabbit below it?

You know there is a rabbit in the full moon.  Look next time.  It's there.

So perhaps the rabbit jumps out of the moon every month.

Quartzite or Bust

Quartzite, Arizona

One way or another people make it out here.

Tow truck, pickup truck and fifth wheel trailer.

Taken with my iPhone from a long distance away is why it looks like this.

Honda Cat

Quartzite, Arizona

One afternoon I rolled the bike around in the shade to do some maintenance. 

Never one to miss an opportunity.

She stayed up there for a long time.

Yeah, I know I'm cute.  Give it a rest Dad.

If I have this compartment pulled out in no time at all...

Not Going There

Quartzite, Arizona

Saw this bright red post off in the distance during one of my daily hikes.

Nope.

Moving right along I found this large piece of rose quartz.  There is a lot of quartz out here (hence the name of the town) but I have never found rose quartz before.  I'm keeping this one.

It is about the size of the palm of my hand.

We Have a Winner

Quartzite, Arizona

Of all the rock art I have seen out here over the years none of them have been this elaborate.

This is the entire U.S. and the Canadian Provinces.

I cannot begin to imagine the time and effort that went into this creation.

The scale and placement of the states are very well done.

The white rocks make up the Great Lakes and Canada.

Here I am standing in the Pacific Ocean looking east.

Well done.

Happy Hour

Quartzite, Arizona

I wonder what it is these folks like to do?

Aww...sweet.

Found during that evening walk with Beans.

See her?

I didn't come across any more rock art on my walk that day so here's a picture of my sweet Beans.

Gracie

Quartzite, Arizona

Long time followers will be familiar with these rock art figures as I've shown them in the past.

Yep, you have a lot of time to kill out here.

This will be very heart-wrenching for these folks to see when they return.  

The plastic flowers are still there from early this year.

They will be pleased to see that Gracie's grave is just like they left it.

They did a very good job in this burial for I've seen too many times where someone had buried their pet only to have it dug up by coyotes later.  I just came across one back at the Vulture Mine Road camp.  It was a large black dog wrapped in a quilt and obviously buried too shallow.  I spared you the sight by not taking a picture and putting it on the blog.  The body needs to be buried deep with a lot of rocks on top.  I had read that when the immigrants were coming out west in the pioneer days they came across burials from previous wagon trains that had been dug up.  They then began burying those who died on the journey on the trail itself so that when the wagons passed over the grave it compacted the earth even more, protecting the dead from becoming scavenger food. 

Waiting for Their Return

Quartzite, Arizona

People have been coming here for years, 

many of them returning to the very same spots they left behind in early spring.

There is an unwritten code of etiquette here in the desert.  People generally do not move in and squat on what appears as "developed" land.  They know the same people will be returning along with the friends they've made from years past.  The desert is huge.  There are lots of open space to camp.

There are hundreds of these "developed" sites waiting for their residents to return.  It must be a pretty nice feeling to return "home" seeing the little spot you made for your carpet and shade cloth still there just as you left it five or six months ago.

This is Alright!

Quartzite, Arizona

No tourists, no cactus and lots of lizards to chase.

I'm likin' this. 

You did good Dad!

Temporary Winter Residence

Quartzite, Arizona

It wasn't my plan to arrive here this early but like last year the cold weather up north pushed us here.  This year we arrived one day earlier than last year.  I'll blame that on the flies.

Here we can stay where there is water, trash dumpsters and sewage disposal from Sept. 15 through to April 15 all for only $180.  There are free places on BLM land also but you are limited to a 14-day stay and then must move on to somewhere else at least 25 miles distant.  That is what I used to do years past.  Last year was the first time I paid the $180 and it was nice not having to move all the time.  So I plan to do that from now on.  That's like $26 a month rent with free utilities.  Pretty nice.

Upon arrival I found this notice.  So I couldn't buy my sticker but could still stay.  

I decided to stay at the southern location for I needed to fill up the water tank there. It is the only one with water.  Rather than move to our permanent home elsewhere only to have to break camp and bring the RV in to get my sticker, I'll just stay put and when I get the sticker move on to our permanent location north of here.

This will be full of snowbirds in a few weeks.

Right now it is to our liking.  

Beans is happy.

Vicksburg

We drove west to a place we've been before only to find those pesky tiny biting black bugs were there also. Not only them but regular flies were in abundance too.  What's going on?  It was hot and we were confined indoors for the remainder of the day.  The next morning we moved a few hundred yards down the dirt road and amazingly there were a lot fewer pests.  We stayed there, endured another toasty day then left the following morning for our winter home thirty some odd miles away.

Enough is Enough

Vulture Mine Rd.

Wickenburg, Arizona

After a week Beans had had enough of not being able to chase lizards off road.

And I had had enough of those annoying black bugs (too small to photograph) so we moved on.