Frozen ice cream in a warm desert watching for wildflowers

I wouldn’t have frozen ice cream in a warm desert if the fridge didn’t work on propane.  Or, I’d end up plugged in to electric in a RV Park.  I’ve done more of that this winter than usual.  I want to be out boondocking in the desert while watching for wildflowers.  It’s a prickly situation.

Last week I returned to Quartzsite from a brief boondock at Kofa NWR south of town when the fridge wouldn’t stay on.  Back to Shady Lane RV Park, a delightful place really.  I called a local recommended mobile RV tech who was busy and referred me to another tech.  Has to be one of the best skills to make money in Quartzsite over the winter.  I had diagnosed the problem as a faulty thermocoupler.  After looking at it, a neighbor thought an electrical circuit board issue.

RV tech Mark arrived in the afternoon, adjusted the regulator, cleaned the burner area, and seemed to solve the problem.  Fridge stayed on using propane.  Once that was established I returned the fridge to electric as I’ve paid for that in my rent in the park.

The next day I headed north to Parker for some groceries.  I considered traveling further north to boondock near the Colorado River south of Havasu City.  But then I remembered, it was a long 3-day weekend plus Valentine’s Day.

And as I loaded the ice cream, the fridge turned off.  I waited while eating lunch.  No go.  I can’t eat four pints of ice cream at once.  So I called tech Mark and returned to Quartzsite.

Doves mating outside the window on Valentine’s Day

Plugged back in at Shady Lane RV Park in the same space as always.  Mark needed to check on parts and I hope it is only a thermocoupler as a circuit board could cost multiple $100s.

In the meantime, something (I’m going to blame all the Valentine cut flowers in the Parker stores) set my nose to tickling, sneezing and head stuffed up that felt like a cold for two days and could have been a never experienced before allergy.

Turns out Mark has the correct thermocoupler and once replaced all again seems in working order.  I stay overnight using propane for the fridge.  I should be thankful the repairs didn’t cost more than $180, plus five nights at $22.58 each.  It’s really cheaper to rent by the month or entire six-month season.

I want to boondock, eating frozen ice cream in a warm desert while watching for wildflowers.  Yet not to far from town right now, just in case.

Dome Rock BLM is really too close to town, airport, and freeway to enjoy my desired deserquies*.  But the nearby mountains and desert terrain are gorgeous, the neighbors few, and the signal great.  I’ll take it, at least for a few days.  The fridge turned off and back on a few times the first night out.  Since then, just fine.

The kind of characters I hang out with in the desert

As I try to do at every new camp, walk to the nearest points/plants of interest.  Here, that’s just slightly downhill.  Always good to park high in the desert so no chance of flash flood in a dry wash washing your RV away.  Don’t laugh, it happens.

To discover where water flows in this desert, head to the neon-green Palo Verde trees. Even naked of leaves the shiny slick bark stands out in an often brown Sonoran Desert environment sparkling under the sun.  Don’t be fooled, it grows spikes.  I approached and saw perfectly framed in the branches another Sonoran desert icon.

Palo Verde means “green pole or stick” in Spanish, referring to the green trunk and branches, that perform photosynthesis. It is a nursery tree providing shade and water to growing Saguaro cactus.  The Palo Verde was designated the official state tree of Arizona in 1954.

Last week’s rain brought out a few tiny flowers, purple phacelia and something yellow I’m still trying to figure out.  I downloaded an ID app on the phone but am still struggling to use it.  Practice makes better, so I need more flowers, and maybe better pictures.

One evening along my saunter during that golden hour before sunset I found some human constructs.  Not ancient or particularly offensive, the desert varnish indicates it’s been there for a while yet indeterminate amount of time.  Is it just me?  I am often baffled by people’s need to leave their physical mark on the land.  I caught some flack, and some support, commenting on a RV Facebook group about an artist’s very pretty painted rocks when I asked her not to leave them on our public land.

Kind of a drag when there are limited clouds at sunset to provide an iconic Arizona blaze of colors.

But I will continue to walk when the temps are comfortably warm and the light is good.

And frozen ice cream in a warm desert, seems a perfect combination after an afternoon walk watching for wildflowers.

My favorite flavors often difficult to find.

*deserquies – silence only found in the desert. [I made up this word from the root of desert and quiet.]