Leaving Lilypad safely stowed with Bette in Apache Junction, we
took a short vacation from our vacation and flew to Seattle to see granddaughter Olivia in “Annie” and
celebrate her thirteenth birthday, watch Xan start his basketball career, and
begin our search for new winter headquarters on Vashon Island. The decision to
be nearer to these two wonderful growing spirits was easy, but getting Liz to
accept moving has been hard. She can’t handle the term “moving to Vashon
Island” and is careful to explain to friends and family that we will always be
on San Juan Island for the summers. But for the winters, we want to be closer
to Xan and Olivia and the wonderful family they share. So our travels in
Lilypad will soon be coming to a close and we are looking for a place to rent or
buy on Vashon.
|
Hiking in Organ Pipe Cactus National Preserve |
Then one more night at Road Haven in Apache Junction and we
were back on the road again. It was with great relief that we escaped from the
greater Phoenix metropolitan area and headed to the remote Organ Pipe Cactus
National Monument in the southern part of the Sonoran Desert. Administered by the National Park Service
this lovely park on the Mexican border was only recently reopened to the public
in the wake of a drug smuggling-related shooting death of a ranger and subsequent
border security build up. We attended “coffee with the superintendent” and
learned that in 2002 there were 15 border patrol officers in the area and now
there are 550. These agents and the park personnel play cat and mouse with
folks who (aided by humanitarians who leave caches of food and water) try to
cross the desert to a new life in the United States. In 2013 4,000 people were
intercepted in the area. When we headed north away from the park we were merely
waved through several armed checkpoints, exactly like our passage through
border patrol checkpoints in Texas; which made us think that the perfect way to
smuggle people north would be to engage older white women in RVs to drive them
out. But back to the park, having been assured that it is “safe,” we took a lovely hike up the unspoiled desert hill,
full of organ pipe cactus, ocotillo, teddy bear cholla and
other beautiful desert plants. We
stayed two nights, enjoying the solar-heated showers in the campground and the
volunteer-naturalist-led slideshow programs in the evenings: one on the desert tortoise and the other on the
coyote.
|
Arizona Oldtime Fiddler plays Ashokan Farewell |
Heading for Yuma, located on the corner of Arizona that
borders both Mexico and California, we wanted to see what makes this town so
appealing that there are some 4000 hotel rooms and 24,000 RV hookups. We never
figured out the appeal but we now know that people do not go there for organic
food. However there were some
interesting moments. The highway between Quartzite and Yuma mostly skirts Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
territory and lots of snow-birds ply this stretch of road to camp free on their journeys north or south. Lilypad fit
right in boondocking behind the VFW, between the $300K rigs and a handful of
homeless people camped in the bushes. The next day we found a very
disappointing Farmers Market, but while
we were there we happily learned of a monthly jam sponsored by the Arizona Oldtime
Fiddlers Association happening that afternoon. Off we went and Liz hopefully sallied forth
with her fiddle and was surprised to be signed up on a list to lead a tune. It
was nerve-wracking but great fun and we met Dan Levenson
who played like a dream and agreed to take her on as a student. Later, we
Skyped a lesson with him and, among other things, he told her to relax, trust
her own instincts, and stop playing like a violinist.
|
American Pelicans float the Salton Sea |
Liz got to practice this new technique and posture at our
next stop: two nights alongside the
beautiful Salton Sea. The pelicans appeared unimpressed as she fiddled at the
sea shore . Presumably if your species has survived for millions of years,
nothing humans do is that interesting. But humans are going to have to do
something soon if they want to save this critical refuge that is a stopping place
for 40% of the migrating waterfowl in North America. The Salton Sea was accidentally
created in 1905 by industrialists attempting to divert the Colorado River to irrigate the desert, and it surprised future generations by not drying up in
the years following. Runoff from theset agricultural lands is the primary
source of water now and, as you may have guessed, this water is laden with
fertilizers and pesticides. A few decades ago the Sea supported five types of
fish and a depth of 60 feet. Now motorboats can barely maneuver due to low
water, and the only fish that survive is tilapia. Another notable organism
besides the birds is the beautiful pink barnacles that were introduced by
amphibious watercraft during World War II. The shells of these dying animals
create lovely pink beaches that crunch when you walk. Now birds find haven
here and we saw two species of pelican, black necked stilts and many gulls. To
see them fly across the Sea, landing on a landscape that once bustled with
human activity and now is all theirs, really makes one reflect on the
egregious impact of human greed and folly.
|
Lisa taught us how to pick citrus |
Then back to the city: La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs
and other connected cities too numerous to mention. Faithful readers of our blog remember when we
first encountered the town of Palm Springs a year ago and marveled at the downtown
historic district. This time we learned much more about the development of the
Coachella Valley including the “checkerboard” allotment of land to indigenous
people which has resulted in some of the wealthiest tribes in North America.
Although historically the allotment system was used as an excuse to not supply
basic services to tribal lands, the municipalities are now grateful for the
leases and gratuity of the tribes in returning profits from the casinos to the
greater community. We visited a beautiful hillside oasis spring on Cahuilla
Indian land, attended a great evening of drumming and dance, and enjoyed the
hospitality of a casino parking lot while we were in the area. While visiting
with our friend Lisa we learned about an event called Lunafest, sponsored by local Soroptimists. This excellent two
hour program featured nine short films by, for and about women, with proceeds benefiting
the Breast Cancer Fund and local Soroptimist charities including a recovery
program for chemically dependent women.
|
Super Bowl Party with Marie-Josée and Lisette
|
While camped at the Palm Springs Wal-Mart Janna got caught
taking pictures of an adjacent camper-trailer which turned out to be owned by
two delightful women from Quebec. We found we had been sharing a similar travel
route from Louisiana, where they had been pursuing Lisette’s interest in
Acadian ceramics. We had a great time with them and trotted out our high school
French which they good-humoredly tolerated as we discovered Marie Josee’s
interest in all things athletic. We met up again at a sports bar to watch the Seahawk Super
Bowl heart-break, and totally enjoyed it when they loudly cheered the
Seahawks …....in French.
|
We've touched all 4 deserts on this trip |
Then it was time to be away from cities and into the
wilderness again. We woke up this morning in a sweet boondocking site alongside a
wall of volcanic material that shapes the beautiful landscape in the Mohave
Desert National Preserve. This is the last of the four US deserts and now we have seen them all: the Great Basin Desert in Utah, the Chihuahuan in Texas, the Sonoran Desert (above) and now the Mojave. We are headed north and west now, so will soon be leaving the deserts behind. This is our fifth night of dry camping and we are
feeling pretty smug with Lilypad’s capacity and our learning of how to stay
away from shore power for extended periods. But it is time to plug in again and today we
head to one of the great finds of our trip 12 years ago: Tecopa Hot Springs
southeast of Death Valley. Tonight we will have electricity for Lilypad and hot
mineral baths for us. What could be better?
Escaping the greater Phoenix metropolitan area is *always* liberating and enhearterning. I always suspected tilapia could survive in any kind of water, however polluted....tilapia, cockroaches and Keith Richards would survive a nuclear holocaust. Very happy to see Liz not just playing but *leading* Ashokan Farewell! I am pleased thinking of you heading north/northwest....you could still manage some more semi-arid locales (SE Oregon), but it's time for lots of green landscape & the smell of the Pacific....
ReplyDelete