Mar 11, 2023 (Sat)
10:00 am Arivaca, AZ
One of the features of this RV park is that they have showers. While we could shower in Harvey, there is exactly enough space to stand straight (no slouching) and trying to soap yourself without moving your arms more than six inches from your body is challenging. Also, no bending over, so don’t drop the soap!
We jump at any opportunity to use somebody else’s shower! Usually, though, this means there’s a couple of showers for men and a couple for women (and sometimes you pay for them…).
Here, the showers are free!
They are also exactly the kind of shower you would find in any single-wide trailer, because the office is a single-wide trailer! The bathroom has a toilet and a shower/tub, and have at it.
Gini walks in wanting to know where the women’s showers are. “You’re standing in it,” replies Robert as he climbs in.
Nevertheless, the water pressure is good, there’s plenty of room for soaping up and a pleasant waiting area for the non-showering person. We’re clean!
10:30 am
Way back when (a year ago, in fact) when we bought Harvey from Ed and Heather, Ed gave Robert a rundown on how everything worked and where stuff was. He also pointed out where he hid a hide-a-key. Robert’s thought was, “Now why in the heck would I need a hide-a-key? I don’t think it’s possible to lock yourself out of Harvey.”
Turns out that not only is it possible to lock ourselves out of Harvey, but we’ve managed to do it. Here’s how: move the latch for the rear door to the position you think is “Open,” but is really “Locked.” Then close the door and voila—you are locked out!
Somehow, Robert’s sieve of a brain managed to retain the knowledge of where the hide-a-key was, and despite getting jiggled across two countries, the key was still in position. Whew! That saved us from a day gone sideways!
Thanks, Ed!
12:00 pm Arivaca, AZ
We stop in town on our way out and we’re barely in time for the Farmer’s Market. It’s a little different than the sorts of Farmer’s Markets we are used to. For example, there’s no produce (well, there’s a lady selling oranges across the street from the Farmer’s Market, and some Hispanic folks selling shrimp, but that’s it).
We can get vulture hot dogs, and lots of necklaces, bracelets, some more necklaces, some different types of bracelets and honey and cookies, and some honey cookies.
But we did find out how the name of this town is pronounced: Ah—REE—va—ca.
12:50 pm Between Arivaca and nowhere
A Border Patrol station. This time we have to stop, but they just wave us on.
Hey smugglers: we’re your folks! The Border Patrol doesn’t suspect us of anything!
The desert is getting very crowded around here
1:45 pm Near Sells, AZ
Yet another Border Patrol inspection station. Slow down to 55. Then 45. Then 35. Then 25. Then 15. Then creep through the station, while five people in camo and lots of fancy-looking gear stand around. These slowdowns remind us of the construction slowdowns in Canada last summer. Except there, the construction folks would wave at us. These guys just grunt.
3:00 pm Gunsight Wash BLM Camping
Just south of Why, Arizona (Why?), is the famous Gunsight Wash BLM camping area. Well, it’s famous with us, because it was recommended way back on our first boondocking experience in the Ironwood Forest, when Gini made friends with a fellow camper.
So here we are, ready to try it! We have no idea why this is called “Gunsight Wash.” The closest we came to an answer on-line was “Gunsight Wash is a wash near Why, Arizona.”
Turn left at Granny’s Kitchen to get to the Gunsight Wash campground
Honestly, all these desert campgrounds are beginning to blur together in our heads (except for that one where there was nobody for miles—that was cool).
Here, we can see other campers, and we’re all within scream range of each other (that is, if somebody starts screaming, we’ll hear them and drive Harvey over to run down any bad guys; although since we always put sunshades on Harvey at night, it’d be a fairly comical rescue, which might cause the bad guys to fall down laughing).
Harvey sitting in the wash
It’s too cloudy for star gazing, and we can’t even see Tucson rising. Maybe we’ve been on the road long enough…
Map
How we got here
Gini & Robert
Harvey Staff