Wednesday, Feb. 13, 14, 2013, Congress, Arizona
It was hard finding a camp site last night
After getting lost in Chino Valley and Prescott, I finally found a place to camp, south of those places. I should never of tried to find a place to camp in those places in the dark as I was following my GPS map which is rather on the small side, as far as what one can view, so when you get lost, it’s hard to know exactly where you are. I suppose that’s what getting lost is all about, otherwise, I guess you wouldn’t be lost in the first place? :O)
What happens is I miss a turn and then try to get back on track, ignoring my GPS lady, until I’m turned around and don’t know which what to go in the dark. I finally pay attention to the GPS lady and just do what she tells me and eventually I get back on track. That’s what happened, but I finally got back on 89 south from Prescott and continued on down the road in the dark keeping my eyes open for a place to turn off and camp. Only trouble was there was several inches of snow on most of the side roads and I wasn’t going to attempt any of those in the dark.
Turned off at Kirkland Junction.
I turned off at Kirkland Junction and was ready to take most anything as it was eight thirty pm and I was real tired. All I could find was a turnout in front of a gated side road that went to a ranch. Since it was big enough fro me to get off to the side, I took it.
I sleep well there, until morning when the commute drivers go to work, but that was ok, because I got to bed early and that got me moving early, which is good so I wouldn’t run into any of the ranch guys, not that it should matter.
I looked at the maps some more.
I looked at the maps and decided to go out this road, with was road, which I did and turned on to road sixty south from there which was also called the Date Creek Road. A real nice road, my kind of road, finally. The sign said twenty miles to Congress and it was all dirt.
Road 60 south, Date Creek Road, my kind of road, below.
At last, my kind of place.
I drove down the road a couple miles and crossed a cattle guard where there was a pull out, where I stopped to shave and get something to eat.
And I stayed for quite awhile at this nice place.
It was so nice, I stayed most of the day, until about two pm. Below, you can see the spot by the cattle guard where I pulled over.
I made a pot of coffee and filled the thermos and napped a bit on and off and walked around a bit too.
I took a little walk.
Below, is a picture I took on a little walk I did, about a mile out and back.
I almost camped there, but around two pm, I got back in the van and headed south for Congress. A nice pleasant ride down this dirt road, no bothers and if it got dark, I knew where I could camp, which is always a good feeling when out.
Ghost Town Road.
Just before getting into Congress, I turned onto Ghost Town Road and drove to the end where I saw a big mine on the map earlier.
The mine was old and didn’t look like they wanted me in there, so I took the cemetery road which was just before you got to the mine. I drove by a couple RV’s boon docking out there and pulled into the Congress cemetery.
I checked out both the Congress cemeteries.
Below, is a picture of my van parked by the Congress Cemetery.
I was thinking this area looked nice for camping, so I would stay the night. I hiked around a bit to look around then got back in the van and drove around looking for a place to camp, when I ran into the real old Congress cemetery.
It’s called the pioneer cemetery, you can see below.
There weren’t many grave markers left on these graves, mostly rocks.
The old cemetery is pictured below.
This old wooden plot stood out the most for me, as you can see in the picture below.
Reflections.
Once in a while it is good to go to places like this and reflect on the people that were and the people that are and just how life is or isn’t? To look at the memorials and reflect on how they are all rotting away and will eventually be gone, everything is just a place marker in time and then is gone. Nothing is permanent, no matter how much we may think it is.
And a place to camp for the night too.
I found a suitable place to park the van for the night. I’m across the valley from the Ghost Town Road, just across from all the people’s lights that have settled on that road.
Below, is a picture of where I’m now camped for the night, you can see the Ghost Town Road houses in the background.
There were quite a few places one could camp around here and the desert looked fairly lush. I took a little walk around the base of the hill, just before dark. Lot’s of big cactus, as you can see in the picture below.
The picture below is of the big old mine that is shut down right near where I’m camped.
So, this is where I’m spending the night. It’s a bit warmer here than where I was last night, which is nice.
Tomorrow, I plan to work my way down toward Quartzsite.
Had a great day.
Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, Quartzsite, AZ.
I made it to Quartzsite.
I made it here around two pm today. Wi-Fi sucks right now as it’s dinner time, so I’ll be lucky to post this.