In case you’re worried about us, don’t be! We’re pushing comfort boundaries for sure but all is good and safe. There are plenty of hotels and private campgrounds to fall back on if it gets really tough. Until then we will chase the experience. We watched Nomadland on Netflix, but what does it feel like? Perhaps we will learn something about ourselves along the way.
If you guessed we got a spot in Gilbert Ray, pay up. Once we figured out the swap sites con, we hit up the map and saw a National Monument 120 miles south on the Mexican Border. But did that Monument have giant Saguaros? It sure did, plus a campground complete with flush toilets, solar showers, dishwashing stations and a visitor center with WIFI. We wondered what we were doing standing in line at a rigged county park when we could be making tracks to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument where we had just reserved three nights on our iPhone. You gotta stay flexible. When a plan is not working, make another plan (if you have an iPhone and cell service, obviously).
But we did not go before checking out Saguaro National Park again. Our last visit was 2019 during the government shutdown when Congress wouldn’t pass a budget extension. We parked old Betty at the closed visitor center and biked around gawking at giant cacti after being accosted by a couple living out of their car (we now know how they feel!) The highlight of this visit was Jimmy, a NPS maintenance worker who just so happened to spend 10 years shooting A-6 aircraft off of carriers in the 90s. Eric is very familiar with launching aircraft off of aircraft carriers in the 90’s. It was old time story hour for Jimmy and Eric until the Park Rangers got annoyed that none of the discussions had anything to do with the park and ordered Jimmy to start maintaining and Eric to start admiring cacti.
We looked at lots of humanesque cacti on our exit from the National Park to our new destination, the way cooler National Monument. You would be excused if you had never heard of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. With no ad budget and a location even more remote than the impoverished O’odham tribal reservation that stands between tourists on I-10 and the Monument on our southern border, you would never even know it was there. Obviously, those folks on I-10 did not want a solar shower as badly as we did. We drove 112 lonely miles on the Ajo Highway, jamming to polka inspired tribal tunes on the local public radio; listening to readings of job openings, happy birthdays, community calendar and upcoming gatherings at the Desert Diamond Casino. We believe that when you are on the right track, the universe sends you a sign. The sign this time came in the form of a piece of jewelry made by Johnny Thunder Eagle Star sold at the Why General Store in Why, AZ. Johnny has a few pieces in the Smithsonian and the town of Why has a kick-ass mural. We saw the signs and it opened up our minds that we were heading to something good.
Life on Pipe Organ Cactus Monument is a tenter’s heaven. With nary an electric or water hookup in sight, the campground is a paradise for campers in search of a return to nature. If you are smart and grab your shower in the afternoon, the solar hot water is piping hot and plentiful. Twenty two hundred miles into the adventure and with zero good night stays under our belt, we needed a break. We have caught the Sonoran Desert at that rare moment when life is comfortable. The typically ever present wind rarely tries to knock down our tent. Day time high temperatures are a perfect 75 and night time lows are in the 40s making for great sleeping. The park itself is so beautiful it almost looks manicured. Mornings and evenings cast the desert in stunning colors.
The 21 mile Ajo Mountain Drive into the cactus forest showed us a landscape in a rare full bloom due to the late snow and rain that hit America’s southwest. Unfortunately many will miss the bloom as the loop is being closed on April 3 for a month for Jimmy and his pals to do some maintenance. The flowers will be gone by the time it reopens. It’s great when a plan comes together.
