You know, plan’s don’t always work out.
I had planned to take a ride into a seldom traveled area of the desert to see if I could find a place where we had camped two years ago. On the hills near the camp spot there were lots of pieces of Desert Rose. I wanted to find the spot so I could take the Rock Hounds in the group, out there.
Since the area is very remote, I wanted to have another jeep along For safety. I asked Shirley and Bill to come along.
Patti is still sick so she couldn’t go. I asked Andre, one of our Canadian friends, if he would like to ride along with me.
He was happy to go along.
It was all set, we were scheduled to leave at 10:00 in the morning.
Around 8:00 Shirley called and told us that Bill wasn’t feeling well so they weren’t going on the ride.
Change of plan.
I was hesitant to go out there alone but I still wanted to take a ride.
I knew that Becky and Dennis were going for a ride with some of the Wednesday jeepers so I invited myself along with Andre as my co- pilot.
We left the RV Park at around 9:00 and followed Becky and Dennis to Freda and Gene’s place; where we were joined by them and Lily and Tom.
We all headed north on Moon Mountain Road. Past the desert golf course about a mile, turned right and crossed the Tyson Wash. We came to a large corral with a stone water tank.
The reason for the stone tank is because the steel one had been all shot up. Lets see if they will be able to shoot this one up.
There used to be a windmill here but either some asshole thought they needed it more that the rancher or the rancher got tired of fixing the shot up windmill. Either way the wind mill is gone.
There is water in the tank so I think that who ever takes care of the water must bring out a Gas powered pump to fill the tank with.
There is a water trough in the corral that was made in 1926.
Tom and Andre are checking out the water trough.
From the corral we went back across the wash and got back onto Moon Mtn. Road. We headed north. Where the main road makes a turn to the west, a small trail continues north. We followed the smaller trail after a little ways then we crossed the wash again and drove to some sand dunes. We went there to see if the wild flowers were blooming but it has been so dry this year that no flowers were visible.
We left there and headed north on a small trail going through the sand dunes and washes.
We stopped at a place where there were a lot of small rocks spread across the terrain. The rock hounds with us (everyone except me) spread out with bags and picks in hand to look for rocks.
After a while they had their bags filled. We left that area and continued north.
When you drive between Quartzsite and Parker you can see a large tailing pile to the west.
Until a few months ago this was a working mine but they ran out of money. The mine is now shut down until they can mine some investors to get going again.
We stopped at the gate and talked to a security guard who told us what was going on.
We turned around and headed east for a short distance where we turned south through a portagee gate and got on a small trail. After a while we found a place to have lunch in the shade of a Palo Verde tree.
After lunch we continued south on this trail until we came to a large wash. We stopped there and the rock hounds took off into the wash. After a while they came back. Tom had found a petrified tree on the far side of the wash so they all grabbed shovels and picks and headed back across the wash.
It was getting pretty hot and I was getting bored waiting for the rock hounds so so we left the rock hunter to their fun and followed the trail south and eventually came to Moon Mountain Road and went back to Q.
It was good to get out on a jeep ride.
My friend Bob showed up in the evening and we visited for a while.
Patti is still not feeling good so we are going to Parker today to get her checked out.
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