Camping In The Desert

It was a beautiful evening at the RV park, and the crescent moon and planet Venus were setting in the western sky:

After spending the night lined up with a bunch of big RVs at Hickiwan Trails RV Park, we set of down the road through the town of Ajo, which is a townsite next to a big open pit mine.  It is a pretty place though:

We are in the heart of Saguaro cactus country around here, starting just east of Tucson, and carrying on out beyond Ajo here:

After traveling down I-8 (and going through another couple of border patrol check points), we arrived in California and Slab City, a place we've visited a couple of times before.  It is just an old Army base from the war, only concrete slabs remaining, where people have squatted in old RVs, and where in the winter all sorts of newer RVs come for a free parking spot.  If any of you have seen the moving "Into the Wild", some scenes were shot at the "Ranch", which is a stage that anyone who is inclined can perform some music on Saturday evenings.  The story in the movie is a true story, and the scene at Slab City did take place in real life.  Here's the Range:

29 November, Tuesday

After leaving Slab City in the morning, we went to one of our favourite places, Borrego Springs.  It has some nice shops, but Doreen didn't seem to find anything she wanted, so we left after a couple of hours to look for a camping spot.  The State park was just so expensive (California is just about bankrupt, so they keep jacking up the prices), so we just went and parked in the desert, which most people do.

After leaving Borrego Springs, we went and camped at Calico Ghost Town, which is directly north (about time we got going north).  But I'll leave that for later, we need to get going!