Ajo, AZ

This morning we headed south on AZ 85 to Ajo. Stopped at an overlook for the Barry Goldwater Air Force Range. Very interesting. It's used as a training area for pilots of all services. In Ajo we stopped at the St. Jude Shrine. We were thinking perhaps a church or something. Actually it is a small adobe structure with a variety of statues, pictures, etc. From there we went to the downtown square. The old RR station is still there. Drove to the "New" Cornelia Open Pit Mine overlook. This is a copper mine that thrived until about 1916. Unfortunately the mine visitor center, the city historical museum and the city welcome center are all closed on the weekend. Seems like a strange time to close to me. I would think the weekend would be when the area would get the most visitors.
We camped at a Pima County Park, the Ajo Regional Park/Campground. Free. Ramadas, trash collection & pit toilets. The GPS unit shows us camped on a river. Actually it's the Sikort Chuapo Wash. It likely only contains water after a big storm. I don't think I would like to be here during such a storm; the "road" through the campground is pretty crude.
Took another picture a minute ago. It's the one in the upper right hand corner with a mountain on each side and a huge flat spot in between. The flat spot, was at one time, a large mountain full of copper. A smelting plant was built into the side of the mountain and fed as the mountain was cut down from top to bottom. Amazing.

Continuing our journey East

We said our goodbyes about 9:00. We hadn't been gone for an hour when we were both wishing we had stayed for the weekend. Oh well. We'll see some of our new friends at the Southwest LD GTG in Benson at the end of February. We stopped in Buckeye off I-10 for a much needed Wal-Mart & grocery store run. There is a Fry's Grocery store in Buckeye. Well worth a stop. Excellent deli, bakery, meat dept., etc. They also have a gas station with the cheapest has in town. $2.95/gallon.
After Buckeye we headed south on AZ 85 to Gila Bend. In Gila Bend is a Holt's Shell station. They have a free dump/water fill, propane & an RV park. Escapees pay 1/2 price in the park. For only $13.58 we had a FHU site. There is a laundry in the park. $1.00/load of wash, $.75/dryer. A very good price. If you don't want to part with $13.58 you can camp for free behind the gas station. After being in the desert for ten days, we enjoyed the luxury of electricity, water and our own personal dump station. Gave the tanks a much needed cleaning & drained the water tank. We're all ready for another ten days of boondocking.
Tomorrow we head south on Hwy 85. No special destination.

The end of Q

Last night, our friends Frank & Cookie, and Buddy the dog, showed up. Hadn't seen them since the Balloon Fiesta in 2008. Jim & Gayle left this morning. Jim's not feeling real well so they are heading to Phoenix where better medical facilities are available should they be needed.
We took one last trip into town today. There is a very interesting area across the highway from the McDonald's. Lots of antiques, collectibles, etc. Had lunch at Sweet Madeline's Restaurant & Bakery. Basic American style menu. Reasonable prices, good quality plus a nice bakery.
"Q" was very interesting; we're glad we came. Now when people talk of Q we'll understand what it's all about. It was on our list of must see places, but I don't think we'll coming back. We had the pleasure of camping with some really nice people.

Here who was there:
Roger Nickey the organizer and amazing cook. His wife is still working so she stayed home. We agreed that's not all bad. Someone had to support the Social Security system at least until we all die.
Jerry (Budster) Galang & Gidget the dog. Also left working wife home.
Jim & Gayle Cummings. Full Timers from Pensacola, FL.
Jerry & Ann Marcus. Full Timers on their way to Alaska.
David & Mary Gardner. David is a professional photographer. He's doing a photo essay on RV'ers. Carol & I are going to be in the book.
Jim Melvin. A Full Timer we had previously met at Crater Lake. Jim was an Eagle Scout!!
Rick & Annie Olson & Dweezel the Dog from CA. Annie was the resident nurse.
Frank & Cookie Kebelman & their dog Buddy. We first met them at the Balloon Fiesta in 2008. Frank is a retired Marine colonel. Cookie is an amazingly skilled Jill-of-all-Trades. She's made some incredible improvements to their LD.
Plus another handful of LD owners stopped by to say hello.

Q Days 5 & 6

Monday early I was walking Gopher and stopped to talk to our "neighbor" Gayle Cummings. She was on the way to the hospital in Blyth, CA with Jim. He was having abdominal pains. Turned out to be gall stones.
While walking this morning, Gopher made a dog friend. Turns out the dogs owner was from FL.
About 9:00am on Monday, we ventured into town with the camper. First stop, the great bakery. Again. Need to stop that I suppose although we can't really come up with a good reason why. Parking for an RV is really tough. I had heard about Rice Ranch from an Escapee so we went there. Turned out to be an excellent tip. There is a very large, level dirt parking lot with easy access to the sidewalks along the main streets. About a two block walk to the Big Tent. The array of stuff for sale is beyond imagination. Acres & acres of stuff. We were in the market for LED lights, a comfortable stadium for Carol and five of the MicroFiber Chenille Sponges. $1.50 each. They do an amazing job at cleaning smudges off computer screens. Carol wanted some as gifts for her friends. About 3:00 we got back in line to dump our tanks and top off the water tank. About 45 minutes.
We met three other Lazy Daze couples today. One couple we had met at the Northwest LD GTG we went to last summer.
All in all, another wonderful day.