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We
took the opportunity to go RV camping during
Ginny's holiday break in her speaking tour to promote her book Sustainable
Gardening for Florida. The plan was to drive quickly across
the southern tier states and then slow down once we got to
California. We stopped at Biloxi MS, El Paso TX, and Gila Bend
AZ. 
The only thing that slowed us down was a freak snowstorm in
Houston during rush hour.
When we got to Gila
Bend, everything seemed okay, but this mock gravesite with the skull
of a cow and old boots in the campground should have been a
clue. That night there was a big sand storm. Fine sand
began to come through the canvas on the sides of the pop-top of our camper,
so we pulled it down. Then we moved the van into the
wind-shadow of a large RV, which was much taller and longer than our
little van. Still, we were buffeted for hours more during the
night. We learned later that the entire roof of a nearby military
visitors' quarters building was ripped off during the storm.
 We
left before dawn the next day, but when we stopped during the daylight, we
cleaned a fine layer of silt from every horizontal surface in the
van. We
were still finding silt days later.
<<
The western rest areas provide good incentives for staying on the
sidewalks.
We stopped in
Quartzsite, Arizona. This town is famous as a rendezvous site
for RVs in the winter. You can camp on public land for two
weeks without charge. A whole economy has sprung up in the
form of flea markets and vendors of all kinds. December is not
a busy time, so we could move about easily. We understand that
when "things" really get going in January and February, you
can walk down the
main thoroughfare faster than you can drive it.
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That sandstorm wind blew through here the
night before and only those tents with good storm lashing
made it through it one piece. |
And of course, you can buy rocks of any
kind--even quartz. |
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