theboondork's RV blog

O dark 30

3/7/2023

You could break a nail clicking all the pics today.

Sunrise over I-10

I took a few pictures of the sunset last night, but they weren't very interesting because there weren't many clouds. So I got up before the sun this morning at approximately 0 dark 30 in hopes of a better sunrise, but the lack of clouds made the sunrise not so great either.

Partially because of the disappointing sunrise and sunset, and partly because I like it here, especially my boondocking campsite, I re-uped this morning for one more night. In doing so, I got a chance to talk to the head Ranger who explained how the overflow camping system works around here. She said that when the full hookup campsites were taken, only then will they open the seven overflow campsites to campers; if they agreed to camp with no hookups.

I was hoping I could request a boondocking site here every time I visited, but she said that's a no-no, and the only reason I could re-up in my boondocking area like I just did this morning is that their reservations sites are still full.

It's warm enough here now that I have to turn on my vent fan before lunch and cool the place off a little. It's weird to think that a week ago, it was cold and snowing on me, and now I have to cool the camper off. Of course, the desert is always pretty chilly at night, usually in the 40s or 50s, which I consider good sleeping weather. And the ten day forecast is still calling for around 80° highs, and no sign of cold weather again. I hope that's the case because this is the coldest winter I've spent since I left Colorado.

What about the mouse? The situation is the same, the traps were found to be unmolested this morning with the peanut butter bait still intact, and no telltale signs of a mouse in the area. I'm not a vindictive person, but in this case I do hope that pernicious little beggar chokes on the peanut butter he got from me earlier.

Theboondork

Full moon over the Lance.

Purple desert flowers. There kind of hard to see because they blend in with the environment, but they're everywhere.

Desert sunset

It's little, but it demands respect from man and beast alike.

Very small purple desert flowers

Sunrise at Picacho Peak State Park.

A whole forest of Saguaro's

Picacho peak.

There's other yellow flowers vying for your attention in the Spring that grow right alongside the Poppy. But the Poppy commands the majority of attention. The photographers point all their cameras at the Poppy, leaving this flower, whatever it is, to wave in the breeze all alone.

Something I did not know. Mexican Poppies close up at night, so when I thought I would get some early morning pictures of the Poppies I could barely see them. This picture was taken about 9 o'clock in the morning when they're just starting to open. There apparently like me, they don't like to get out of bed until things have warmed up outside.

6 Comments

Judith

3/8/2023 08:56:22 pm

Ah. Some lovely photos today, including the Lance looking nice and homey. Glad you are finally feeling warm.

Tom

3/9/2023 05:39:03 pm

Thank you Judith. The Lance is nice and homey but I still need to improve the seating to make it more comfortable and that I'll probably do when I get back to Denver.

I think for the first time this winter its finally warm enough that I have to open up the windows and vent fans, and oh what a great feeling it is, especially after sitting in the snow in Tucson of all places.

Tom

Linda

3/9/2023 02:07:53 pm

How unusual to hope park is full when you arrive. Makes sense in this case though.

3/9/2023 05:58:23 pm

Yeah Linda that is a weird circumstance, but since I don't like to make reservations if at all possible, much preferring the freedom to come and go as I please, this makes it a lot more likely I'll be able to get a campsite at Picacho Peak State Park as long as I arrived there early enough in the morning to get a first come, first served site.

Picacho peak is a very busy State Park in the winter, for obvious reasons and I imagine they turn away a lot of people for no good reason other than following some inane rule thought up by some bureaucrat in Phoenix.

For instance, near my boondocking spot was there was a really big group camping area, with no hookups, but picnic tables with covers, and room to park dozens of cars, and there was no one in that group camping site during the two days I was there. Since that group camping site has to be reserved ahead of time, why couldn't the park use that as overflow and let people park their RVs there until somebody actually reserves the place for group camping. They would make more money that way, and they would have a lot more happy campers with a place to stay. But that would require some bureaucrat in Phoenix to sign off on something like that, and knowing the government the way I do, that wouldn't happen until there's something in it for the bureaucrat.

Sorry this is so long Linda I accidentally stepped up on my soapbox and couldn't get back down again, that frequently happens to me when talking about the government.

Tom

Larry Worsham

3/10/2023 05:39:35 am

After completing a 30 day trip from Texas to Calif. and back through AZ and NM I feel that the Govt. folks that manage State Parks have not acknowledged that demand exceeds supply. The AZ parks are well maintained and the employees are courteous but they are inconstant on policies regarding walk in's and same day reservations. You are right that they should consider opening up group area's when not reserved for walk in boon dockers. NM State Parks have gone all in on the reservation system. They sued to hold several spots for walk ins in their parks but no longer seem to do so. The freedom involving RV ing that we experienced in the past is gone. HOW IS THAT FOR A SOAP BOX! Safe travels!

3/10/2023 06:53:07 am

I think everyone over the age of 65 should have to turn in their soapboxes to protect the sanity of their immediate families. And at that age were too old and unsteady to stand up on a soapbox anyway without falling off and breaking a hip.

That being said, your observations are spot on about the state parks. And the problem with fixing that is the state parks are run by the government, and are not necessarily required to show a profit. In fact the less people that show up at a state Park the better it is for the employees because there's less work for them to do. And unlike a regular civilian business, which wants more customers and less employees, if you look at the way a government hierarchy is set up it behooves management to have more employees, because the more employees you manage the higher your pay grade, and the amount of customers you have is barely significant.

And speaking of the parks in New Mexico, I don't know about all the parks but the ones I've visited in the last couple of years have "secret" first come first serve campsites. Apparently when New Mexico struck a deal with Reserve America; heretofore referred to as "Satan," it required that the state parks not advertise that they have first come first serve sites, and the only way I have found out about the sites are talking to the hosts or a Ranger. You certainly will not find them mentioned in Satan's reservation system on the Internet.

This is the kind of deal you get when you have country bumpkin politicians making deals with billion-dollar companies like Satan. A little wining and dining, and a couple of free rounds of golf will get local politicians to sign on to just about anything.

Now if I can just get off this soapbox without breaking anything.

Tom

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