December 30-31, 2021 Dateland to Tacna , Arizona

 64 degrees and partly cloudy.

The front tire had a bad valve on it. Fortunately Dateland, town of 400,has a tire shop- Roberts Roadhouse. He was able to fix it right up. We are at Dateland RV park for the night. They have this huge grove of date palms and a travel shop. They have been here since the 1920's. They have date shakes, but we have been spoiled by the ones at China Ranch, these are not as good so we did not get one. 

Here is the bus at our spot at Dateland RV park. The sign is falling apart, but it is not a bad place. It is kind of nice to be somewhere there us greenery , hook ups and palm trees. We took a walk into the town of Dateland. On Easy street was the elementary school and the post office in the same building, The car port covers have solar panels on them. 

Mountain east of Dateland. Camp Horn was an army training camp for Patton's troops for WW2. This is an old runway. 15,000 troops lived here in tents. All the buildings are gone now. 

Not sure what this concrete structure was at Camp Horn, but it had lots of graffiti in it. This is the Camp Horn memorial for soldiers killed accidentally in training. 

Back at Dateland travel shop is one on the eucalyptus trees and some brittle bush blooming. It is supposed to rain pretty hard tonight and tomorrow. Our neighbor is prepared. He tarped his roof. 

Around sunset the rain clouds rolled in. This is a close of a sunset we got before it started to rain. Driving over the Mohawk Mountains. This looks like it should be  Mohawk Mountain.

We are now at Copper Mountain RV resort in Tacna, Az, just east of Yuma. We will stay here till after the holidays. It is great to have hookups again after almost a month boondocking. Our solar works great when it is sunny and warm, but it has been cloudy, cool and rainy and we had to use  the generator a lot. 

Nice swimming pool here. A bit cold to swim yet. Welcome to Camp Quitcherbitchin, some holiday ornaments in the RV park, They had a big New years party with dinner and music here tonight from 7-10 pm. Geezers partying- this is an over 55 resort. We didn't go, but looked in the window and it was packed. Save water drink wine!

Once again all the clouds went away by sunset except these over the Mohawk mountains to the east. 

December 26-29, 2021 Painted Rocks, Arizona

 67 today and sunny. They had predicted cloudy, so this was a bonus. 

We relaxed. John read and I worked on a masterpiece. Here it is so far. The center are fall leaves I set in resin. The orange and red needles behind it are also going into the basket. 

Some interesting facts about rattlesnake bite victims from the bulletin board at the campground along with warnings to leave them alone. Most are age 17-27 year old males. The majority of the bites are to the hands and arms because they are trying to pick them up. Alcohol is involved and 20% have tattoos. The closest hospital is 70 miles away if you need treatment. Sunset during dinner outside  tonight.

High of 59 and cloudy all day. Right at sunset the clouds parted and we got sunset. A stone turtle in our campsite.

Clouds reflections at sunset. Sunset tonight. 

Started a row of scarlet needles on the basket.  John cooking a gourmet dinner. 

It was 59 today and partly cloudy, then it clouded up and we had rain squalls. Just tiny bits of sunset, most was blocked by the storm clouds. 

Storm moving in at sunset. Weds it was 60 and mostly sunny. It was very nice. The rain showers started moving in at sunset. 

Evening light on the mountains around camp. 

Sunset in the wash behind camp. 

December 23-25, 2021 Painted Rocks, Gila Bend, Arizona

 71 today. The forecast predicted cloudy all day, but it was sunny and lovely. Pretty clouds rolled in the afternoon. We are getting pretty good about just hanging out and relaxing. 

Our campsite at Painted Rocks. We think it is the same campsite we had last time we were here. It is in the back of the campground backed up the wash and foliage. The sites are huge and far apart. It is really, really quiet and dark here. My favorite. In the campground is this hill covered in black rocks that are covered with petroglyphs. Not good light for photos, but more will follow. 

Petroglyph rocks at Painted Rocks campground. We were surprised to  run into some friend from  Tecopa Sandra and Ed. Great to see them.

They took this photo of us. John cooking dinner tonight at sunset. 

Sunset. John left his chacos out last night as usual. This am one was gone. I went looking for it, didn't find it, but found this under a tree. A fellow camper said that foxes are taking things. 

These lovely mackerel sky clouds were around this afternoon. It was 75 degrees and mostly sunny. Heavier clouds rolled by sunset, we thought we would have no sunset, but at the last minute we had this lovely one. It is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. Yippie.

64 degrees. It rained for about 12 hours. Rain on the desert is magic. It smells heavenly.  This rainbow was across the valley.

The petroglyph rocks in the campground we are at. Beautiful clouds after the rain.

The bus in beautiful clouds after the rain. The campground from our site. The petroglyph rocks are the small black ones in front of the big red ones. 

Some of the petroglyphs at sunset.

Sunset reflected in a rain puddle. 

Reflected clouds. Sunset to the north.

Sunset from camp.