Bouse, Parker & BLM Lands

Friday, February 19, 2016...Our partly cloudy day began with a road trip checking out more BLM camping areas and a couple nearby towns.

 Our trip took us thru a desert Open Range with not a cow in site to Bouse, AZ, (pronounced to rhyme with "house").  This town was founded as a mining camp for the Old Dutchman Mine.  The economy now is dependent on tourism, agriculture, and retirees.  Largest building in site was a Dollar Store.  20 miles east of Bouse is the former site of a WWII US Army tank training camp.  Only a few tank tracks and old foundations remain.

Here in AZ & CA hillside letters (also known as mountain monograms) are a  form of geoglyph or hill figures.  They are large single letters emblazoned on hillsides, created and maintained by schools or towns.  They are an important part of the western cultural landscape.  It is a myth that they were built to identify communities from the air for early pilots who air-dropped mail.  The first 3 mountain monograms ever built were done so to end rivalries between different graduating classes at universities.  California "C" (UC Berkeley)...Utah "U"(University of Utah) and "Y" (Brigham Young University). Then came Colorado "M"(Miners of the Colarado School of Mines) with a hillside letter.

 The roadsides are in bloom with these purple flowers.  So beautiful.  Looked like Larkspur.  ???

Parker, AZ, is the county seat of La Paz County.  The town was named after Ely Parker, the first Native American commissioner for the US government.  The original town was laid out by a RR location engineer for the Arizona & California Railway.  He was Earl H. Parker.  Parker was a load and pick-up cargo town on the Colorado River.  Here we found Walmart where we picked up a few goods.

 Desert...

AZ/CA train heading to Parker in the distance.






Below is the RR trestle over the Colorado River.

Look at those beautiful clouds.  WOW!




Our afternoon ride took us thru more of the vast BLM Land checking out where we would like to camp in the future.  Definitely like where we are located on Main Street in Quartzsite; but, the I-10 noise can be annoying at night.

Out on the BLM...you just choose a spot out in the paw paw patch for your rig and set up camp. Some areas have a FEE and others are 14-day FREE camping.  There are two different BLM areas here.  So, one can camp 14-days in one area...then move a couple miles down the road and camp 14 more days in the other area.  All boondocking or dry camping.

 Quite a number of homes and lots for RV's have 4 foot walls around with the walls going a determined depth into the ground.  This is to deter the slithers advance into your territory.

 More BLM camping. Some use rocks to stake out their area of use.





We also took in the idea of getting a solar panel to help keep our batteries charged when we decide to do this. Chatted with a very nice sales lady who was very knowledgeable on what we would need for our rig and type of camping. Definitely a portable panel...not a roof attachment.  Learning quite a bit about this area for a comeback.  Until next time...take care...be safe.  See you by the campfire.