March is over, Winter is past, and it’s already Spring moving to Summer in the Sonoran Desert which means the temperature is rising. I’ve been so busy taking video, I’ve slacked on still pics. So many of these are from my phone.
Sunset
My birthday month may be over but I will continue to celebrate life. April begins the fifth month on the road for this winter season, except now it’s Spring moving to Summer, and me soon moving northward away from soon to be triple-digit desert summer heat. I do relish the 90s until over my body temperature. No reason to rush, as now I’m retired and not returning to another summer season as a Park Ranger. Feels a little strange. However, I have a second RV home to return to in Skull Valley. And though their recent days were in the high 70s their nights were still dropping close to freezing. I’ll give that at least another week or two. Yet moving is still inevitable after three weeks as my boondocking life is rather dictated by propane, keeps the ice cream frozen.
It is difficult to leave this peaceful desert. Haven’t seen another human since Sandee left four days ago and I love that. But it continues to get warmer moving to Summer. For desert life that’s perfect. Ants are busy moving flower food. Lizards are out eating ants. Butterflies, birds, and bees are pollinating. Ground squirrels scurry from shade bush to shade bush hiding from hawks. Although I haven’t seen them, snakes follow the food chain. Thank goodness I’m way up the list. Coyotes and owl sing me to sleep with their desert life lullaby. I believe one of the reasons the desert holds me is the fragrant biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) given off by many plants of the Sonoran Desert.
bumper collection
In the morning I enjoyed the palpable silence, deserquies (my word for desert silence). I didn’t rush. Only headed to the town of Ajo, it’s not going anywhere in a hurry on a Saturday.
But I did want to check out the Plaza’s market vendors one more time and did buy a bag of five home-made Ginger Snap cookies. Delicious! Also scored a pair of shorts at the thrift store. How is it I only brought one pair of shorts and three t-shirts? It’s getting more than warm down here moving to Summer.
I bought propane and checked into Belly Acres RV Park for one night, propane cost more than the space. And that space was in the far back corner, because I’d like it that way. There were many empty sites available. Did the long overdue laundry, showered, and uploaded the latest video on YouTube. Sunset was a delightful strip of color above rooftops instead of a big open-forever desert view. I heard coyotes howl from the nearby wash and felt a tinge of longing. Then reminded myself, it was only for one night. And only my fourth night in a RV Park all winter.
It was actually pretty quiet after dark and even the following Sunday morning. Once again, in no rush as I planned to drive no more than two hours maximum moving to my next short-stay camp/boondock. After a quick stop for ice cream I headed north to Gila Bend then west on I8. Traffic was light and lacked an overload of big semi-trucks. Made the drive more relaxed and enjoyable. Except for the crazy wind right on the nose and in my face as the truck’s AC isn’t working. I stayed in Mohawk Valley a couple years ago and the flowers were exquisite. I did see some yellow Brittlebush and Palo Verde along the highway but my camp along Historic SR80 lacked any flowers. Still a rather pretty view and staring at a huge tower the signal was blazing. Considering the proximity to train tracks and I8, it was pretty quiet, and only for one night.
Though moving again I was in no morning rush, especially as I would be going into Yuma to shop. Thank goodness the store was on the east side of town where I wanted to be later.
Then on to meet Gayle at a new camp just north of town. I called it #campVFWBLMyuma, and that says it all. I’ve driven by this site before and never found it inviting enough to stay. Though in full winter there are probably hundreds of RVs parked pretty close together in a wide dry-wash with scattered creosote bushes and shade giving 30-foot invasive Tamarisk, or Salt Cedar, trees. No worry of flooding as there hasn’t been enough winter rain to dampen a small rock. With temperatures moving to Summer in southern Arizona the remaining RVs amount to no more than 25 with more leaving every day the temperature breaks 90°. It’s a noisy place with highway, train, military, and plane noises. It’s only for a few nights.
So why am I here you may ask. Gayle is having major dental surgery done across the Arizona border in Los Algodones, Mexico and I’m going with her. You may remember when I too went through major dental work, more than once in fact. I was grateful to have Berta along. Gayle had already been through a consultation in March and her next appointment was Thursday at 7:30am Arizona time. So on Tuesday, she drove us to the border parking lot for details about camping overnight. $10/night/RV dry camp in a fenced lot, with security, on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, a stone’s throw to Mexico. We returned to camp where there is little shade and the inside of RVs is almost 100°. Sitting outside in vehicle shade I hear birds chirping all around and I’ve seen hummingbirds and maybe swallows. A five inch lizard climbed onto Gayle’s foot and grabbed a fly off her leg with darting tongue, before slowly climbing down, pausing in her shadow and slipping under a creosote bush. How weird is that?
The next hot afternoon we left #campVFWBLMyuma and met near the border lot. Parking was no problem so I angled for least direct sun and most wind on the camper. We planned two nights at #campBorderMexico. And with temperatures pushing 100° it really felt like moving to Summer in southern Arizona.
Watch for this coming soon
I will be organizing a March 2023 Geogypsy Journey in the magical Sonoran Desert at least near my last #campBLM8115A between Ajo and Why, Arizona. Sure hope some of you will join me. There will certainly be more information coming. And if you are at all interesting in the health benefits of those fragrant desert BVOCs, I highly recommend reading this study.
Health Benefits of the Diverse Volatile Oils in Native Plants of Ancient Ironwood-Giant Cactus Forests of the Sonoran Desert: An Adaptation to Climate Change?
Abstract
“We document the species richness and volatile oil diversity in Sonoran Desert plants found in the Arizona Uplands subdivision of this binational USA/Mexico region. Using floristics, we determined that more than 60 species of 178 native plants in the ancient ironwood-giant cactus forests emit fragrant biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), especially with the onset of summer monsoons. From these desert species, more than 115 volatile oils have been identified from one biogeographic region. For the 5 BVOCs most commonly associated with “forest bathing” practices in Asian temperate forests, at least 15 Sonoran Desert plant species emit them in Arizona Uplands vegetation. We document the potential health benefits attributed to each of 13 BVOCs in isolation, but we also hypothesize that the entire “suite” of BVOCs emitted from a diversity of desert plants during the monsoons may function synergistically to generate additional health benefits. Regular exposure to these BVOC health benefits may become more important to prevent or mitigate diseases of oxidative stress and other climate maladies in a hotter, drier world.”