We bought diesel today for $1.899!!! The price has gone down again!

Since our fresh water tank was nearly empty (we'd only filled it part way before leaving Congress), we moved to an RV park today.

We'd driven by Desert Gardens RV Park earler in the week to check it out and saw several flat, wide spots we thought would be OK for a month. However, when we drove in to get a spot, we found that the sites we'd seen were overnight sites, not long-term sites. The long-term sites turned out to be ratty-looking, narrow sites, so we moved on.

Our next stop was B-10 Campground on Main Street. This is not a fancy campground (I don't think there is such a thing in Quartzsite), but it's clean with wid"er" sites. Although it's more expensive than Desert Gardens, in our opinion, it's a nicer park. Currently, we don't have anyone on either side of us or in back of us, and this late in the season, we probably won't.

Miles driven: Maybe 5?
GPS coordinates: N 33° 39.790'/ W 114° 13.669'

Earl and I had lunch at Silly Al's (great pizza) with fellow Escapees Boomer, Guy Gipson.

Guy has recently taken over the Day's End directory from originator, and long-time editor, Bob Eds (Day's End is a listing of free or inexpensive places to park over night or, in some cases, longer).

We drove over to Blythe to do shopping. Our first stop was K-Mart where we picked up toiletries and other items that are usually less expensive there than at grocery stores. We noticed that the new grocery store next to K-Mart was finally opened (in what used to be a furniture store), so we went over there to complete our grocery shopping.

We found the store, Blythe Ranch Market, to be very nice...it has a great produce department and a full service meat case that was almost as long as the store is wide! The meat department seemed to be geared to the Hispanic population, with cuts of meats that one rarely, if ever, sees in most grocery stores (how does "Cow Lips" grab you?).

There were a few items that we couldn't find here, so we went to Albertsons to pick up the remaining few items. While walking around the store, I compared the prices on an assortment of items between the two stores...in all cases, we'd spent less at the Blythe Ranch Market than we would have spent at Albertsons. We'll definitely do our main shopping at the new store rather than at Albertsons!

Originally, we were going to stay at the Escapees park in Congress, but after two weeks we were ready to move on, so we left this morning and headed back to Quartzsite.

After setting up on BLM land off of Dome Rock Road, we went into town to stop at the Rada Cutlery vendor to buy some stuff for the camper. We ended up buying a really nice 11" frying pan and 2 quart sauce pan, three Rada knives, a cheese knife, and a can opener. We'll need some other kitchen equipment, but nothing else really reached out and spoke to me..."buy me, buy me!"

After we were done at the Rada place, we drove over to visit with Mike and Mary to let them know we were back in town.

Miles driven: 98.0
GPS coordinates: N 33° 39.790'/ W 114° 13.669'

We drove up to Congress to fill up with diesel ($2.429) and pick up our mail. Then we continued on to Bagdad, a remote town out in the middle of nowhere. Here's an article from the Desert USA website about a father's and son's trip to Bagdad.

On the way up US-93, we passed an area thick with Joshua Trees, indicative of the Mojave Desert (whereas the Saguaro is indicative of the Sonoran Desert.

Bagdad has a small Bashas grocery store where we stopped to pick up a few groceries. It also has a gas station where we discovered diesel was going for $2.159 per gallon, or $.27 LESS per gallon than we'd just paid in Congress!!! Can anyone explain to me how a town out in the middle of nowhere (and I mean absolutely nowhere) can be selling diesel cheaper than a less remote town?
When we left Bagdad, we continued the loop back out to SR-89 north of Yarnell, the road that we'd driven day before yesterday on our trip to and from Prescott. It was a really pretty drive.

SNOW!!!

No, not here at the Escapees park south of Congress, but on our way to the Costco store in Prescott.

As we topped the hill and drove into Yarnell, there was snow on the ground...not a lot, perhaps a couple of inches. The snow then pretty much disappeared until we got near Wilhoit just before traversing the road (SR-89) that winds up and through the Bradshaw Mountains (where there is a length limit of 40'). Here there was a lot more snow, maybe as much as 6" or more, and remained all the way into Prescott. It sure made for a pretty drive!

Enough rain already! This is the third day we've had gray skys and rain and we're getting really tired of it! Where's the sun?

We were going to make a trip to the Costco in Prescott, but didn't feel like making the drive in the crappy weather, so we drove into Wickenburg, instead, to pick up a few things that we needed at the Safeway.

Before leaving Gila Bend, Earl took the truck to Love's to fill up with diesel ($2.089/gallon) and pick up breakfast at McDonald's.

We then headed north on SR-89, taking I-10 west to Exit 103 where we headed north on Wickenburg Road and Vulture Mine Road into Wickenburg and on to the Escapees park in Congress, North Ranch.

Miles driven: 100.6
GPS coordinates: N 34° 6.26' / W 112° 49.891'

We left Tucson this morning and headed back the way we'd come, along SR-86, through Ajo. We stopped so I could take pictures of one of the Crested Saguaros we'd seen on our way to Tucson. We did see another one, too, but there was no place to pull off the road.

We're spending the night at the Elks Lodge in Gila Bend.

Miles driven: 170.8
GPS coordinates: N 32° 57.150' / W 112° 41.799'