After my last little run around to towns I moved camp to a different perspective of the Kofa Mountains and parked along the MST&T Road on BLM land. The road condition isn’t as rough as Palm Canyon because of less traffic so also quieter with RVs more spread out. Oops, probably shouldn’t advertise that. Only a few miles north of Palm Canyon Road yet still looking NE-SE at the ragged Kofa Mountains to the east and the Chocolate Mountains to the west.
The cell signal is inconsistently weak and strong though I am distantly surrounded by at least four towers according to some apps I found. Towers high me in a valley. Of course it’s winter windy in the desert with plenty of sunshine for solar charging. Maybe the wind affects the signal.
I haven’t been happy with auto-focus on my camera, old or new, for many months. Finally dug out a different lens, 55-300mm, and auto-focus seemed to work quite well. Also checked with the 18-55mm kit lens and yes, auto-focus worked fine. I am bummed because it appears my favorite go-to 18-200mm lens no longer talks to the camera during auto-focus. My eyes are not great so I do rely on that working. Because I don’t like to constantly change lenses I’m sticking with the bigger one but taking a different perspective and find myself having to back further away from the subject to get it in the frame. It will be on hold to replace my favorite lens, laptop replacement first, so I’m grateful to have backups.
I don’t like the power lines I’m almost parked under but did get an interesting shot of the light on the wires one morning after sleeping through sunrise. It’s kind of creepy. Out shooting sunset and could hear noise from the electric wires. Wonder if that’s what is screwing with my signal.
The whipping winds have kept me inside a lot. 20-30 mph gusts make 56° too chill for me. I hesitate to complain at all about the weather while hearing about folks dealing with unprecedented cold and snow. So even though sometimes the camper is rocking my tiny house, powered by solar and propane, I’m quite comfortable. I do know from personal experience a camper is brutal to keep even semi-warm under 32°. I highly recommend keeping some kind of fuel and camp stove available for emergencies.
Finally a day with lesser wind and I went for a walk.
Quite nice with the sun to my back. Then turned around and the “breeze” brought sniffles to my nose.
Found it challenging to experiment with different perspectives using the changed camera lens. Nice to see the Ocotillo leafing out.
Often see multi-armed Saguaro cactus that resembles some character.
Yet up close is rather interesting too especially when the cactus works so hard to heal itself from some aggressive action.
I was out for about an hour and didn’t cover more than .25 mi. But at least I got out.
One night I had a really good signal and watched a movie on YouTube. This is not something I normally do. Kind of an experiment as I’m contemplating a 7-day free trial on Hulu to watch Nomadland. I truly enjoyed watching the Perseverance Rover landing on Mars in close to real time on YouTube. Hard to believe we’ve gone from walking on the moon to landing on another planet.
Another nice day I sat outside for a couple hours reading. Then I let Sierra out for a little bit. She headed right for her hidey-hole under the truck and into the wheel well but can’t get there now that the camper is sitting where it should be in the truck bed. What a memory. She circled the truck a couple times, sniffed the fire ring, tried some dry grass, and wandered a little bit before I called her back, scooped her up and put back in the camper. I was worried about her getting cactus stuff in her fur or running off. We’ll see if I do that again.
Joann drove down from Prescott Saturday to camp one night. She arrived by 8am with breakfast Mc sandwich in hand. The camp set-up in her mini-van is coming along comfortably and usable while still a work in progress.
She drove us into the Kofa NWR to within sight of the end of the ten-mile MST&T Tower Road (Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph) with a few stops and side trips along the way. Some nice looking campsites along the road but very few campers.
More cholla as we climbed in elevation.
A totally different perspective looking down into the valley we just came from.
Returned to camp for lunch and sat outside for a bit but the wind picked up so Joann suggested another drive up Palm Canyon Road. Being a weekend there were lots of RVs and tenters along that road.
We did walk a little up Palm Canyon trail but the wind was brutal and the valley was disappearing in dust. Although Joann brought firewood it was too windy and we were wind battered so it was an early night.
Chuparosa, first wildflowers of 2021
Sunday morning was tolerable sitting outside using our rigs for wind block and we chatted for hours sharing stories and catching up since our last visit in January. I’ve isolated so much in the last week I talked her ear off. She left around 2pm for a 2 1/2 hour drive home already talking about another camp-out in the future. And who knows where that will be getting a different perspective.
Hi Gaelyn, Well, regardless of your camera problem these photo’s are just perfect glad you had some company for a while Take care and have a great week.
Thanks. I’m a whole lot happier with the focus. Was nice to have a visitor. It gets a little lonely out here in the desert.
Nice to get a change of scenery and a visit with a good friend. Even at 52 degrees sounding warmish I agree that whipping constant wind can be untolerable and would be enough to keep me inside too. Love the little red flower. Happy desert days to you!
Joann and I always have fun together. Today, up to 75°. You might not want to hear that. 😉
LOL Sounds glorious!!
Love your photos, and especially the one of the dust over the valley. On the other hand, I’m very glad I wasn’t there to take the photo, it only takes one or two days of that kind of wind and I want to move. Reading this post makes me wonder why I’m heading to Q and Plomosa Road tomorrow, Phoenix/Mesa has been lovely the past couple of days.
Thank you. Today was calm, quiet, and at least 75°. Multiple days of excessive wind makes me cranky.
Pictures are great!…..As is the blog.
Thanks Mary. Glad you found it.
Just love all these pictures of things I never see. The cactus is fantastic and no you should not advertise where you are with those gorgeous views. Although, I have to say that talking electric wires woukd give me pause. That Sunset light and the light on the Cholla are really fantastic. Maybe someday I’ll get there and you’ll get here to see all my water, gators and birds
I love that about blogging, seeing and sharing where we are. We should work on the idea of that in real time.
So much fun that you could have good company for a bit out there in the Kofa! We drove some of the roads with Judy one year when we were camped at Imperial, but never have actually boondocked there. When we visited the parts of the road where we would be comfortable taking the MoHo were fairly well populated with other rigs, and we didn’t want to go deeper into the rocks and dips. I do love your different perspective with the new lens. Keeps us on our toes for sure and challenges previous ways of doing things, so kudos to you! Of course, you know I love backlit cholla! Vaccines for us March 4 so who knows….maybe a March trip while we wait for the second one. If not, maybe April…but by then you will be in snow country I assume back at bryce. Wait and see.
I am grateful to have a few traveling friends that come to me when able. I wouldn’t have taken the truckcamper up that road, now either even knowing it’s in pretty good shape. Where I am is good, and certainly not crowded. As it gets too warmer down south I will head back northwards. Mid-April back to Bryce.
Palm Canyon looks so surreal in the dusty haze. You are your biggest critic with your photos, they all look great to my untrained eye.
I’d think it would be the power lines that interfere with your cell signal
I’ve always been my own worst critic, and in small size the photos look fine but most definitely not crisp or in focus.
Two things I hate is when the autofocus plays up and powerlines!! Despite the problems though you have taken some fabulous shots. I am getting far behind with everything at present and March is full of appointments and things we have to do so catching up is getting more difficult. I thought that lockdown would be hard and I would be looking for things to do but that just has gone the other way.
Keep safe and keep up the fab photos. Warm hugs from us both, Diane and Nigel
Sort of like retirement, thought we’d be bored and instead are so busy hardly have time to…
I usually camp out on MST&T road, and usually have great AT&T service, even in Jan when the Q towers are overloaded and slow. But, don’t give away our best camping areas! Stuck in Canada this winter, but hope to be back next year. My cat loves it out there too, but few to nil cactus where I camp.
Some times and days the signal is better than others. Of course not as crowded this year. I like it here and will be back. Bummer being stuck in winter.
I did a double-take seeing Sierra outside. Love your desert photos, but wind would be brutal with sand blowing. We’ve had high wind gusts in Breckenridge, too. Now we’re in a melt/freeze cycle. Hope you can find some warmth.
Before Sierra became a RVer she used to go outside. It’s me who’s nervous about it. 82° today.
Those brutal winds do take their toll. Even with our warmer temps they keep us indoors. Love your gorgeous desert shots, the lighting is lovely on those mountains! I really do need to learn more about my camera, I’m always shooting on auto 🙂
Today, even sitting in Shady Lane I can feel the wind is beginning to pick up. Took me a lot of years and practice to get off AUTO. You’ll do it if and when.
I saw your comment over on Doug and Yuma’s blog, and, yes, if you haven’t been out to and beyond the cemetery off of Darby Well Road, you definitely need to go. Your truck can handle it with ease. With your photographic talent, you’re sure to get award-winning images of that beautiful area!
Thank you for the nice compliment. If I get down that way I will certainly check it out.
Can’t see effects of the wind at all in these glorious pictures! ! Glad I remembered I didn’t scroll down last time to see what I’d missed. Such a nice visit with your friend in spite of that wind, which would definitely keep me inside. You did good getting out as much as you did. … I’m reading Nomadland… hard to imagine they made this non-fiction book into a movie.
I try to park so I can be outside with the camper blocking the wind, at least a bit. But then Joann in a mini-van and my small house was difficult to be inside visiting. I understand the book is very different than the movie.