Hitched and Rolling

Leaving San Diego’s beach and surf we entered into a fog dense enough such that everyone had their hazard lights on. We crawled along at half pace following signs for i8 and eventually and found our way there, only to find the fog abruptly clear which revealed a phenomenon totally foreign to us: the sun in our morning eyes. For the first time since the trip began that we were heading… East! Having come south down the west coast, we had finally basically taken a left, forming the southwestern elbow of our trip. 

I found it striking how quickly the beach surf vibe of San Diego turns into desert. I think around 40 minutes after leaving the coast we were fully sounded by Mars-like terrain. 

Our destination today was the Phoenix Arizona area, around 5 or 6 hours away. Bre drove most of the day and I worked. We stopped in the early afternoon in Yuma, Arizona. Bre had worked in Yuma as a travel nurse some number of years ago, and was excited to show me around the town she remembered fondly. We walked around Main Street and stopped into a couple shops and got some lunch. Next to our lunch spot was the tourist visitor center, and we stopped in to grab a postcard. While inside, I saw a bunch of gear for the “Yuma Criminals”. As it turns out the Yuma Highschool mascot is the criminals, which I found really amusing. 

The story (which I will include in full in photo form below) is basically that in the early 20th century the school building burned down and so the school was moved into the previously-abandoned prison for some time, during which the nickname was adopted. 

We headed further east towards phoenix and started corresponding with Bre’s friend Julie. Julie is a flight nurse which means that she works on a helicopter transporting people who are in highly emergent situations. In other words she is a total badass, but I digress. 

Julie lives in the phoenix area and she and Bre had discussed camping when we came through town, but had not planned out any specifics. Using the variety of RV and camping apps to which I have access (namely harvest hosts and iOverlander) I was able to identify a campsite that might not be too crowded. Our concern with crowding came from the fact that all of the regional state parks were fully booked, which we suspected might be related to it being the weekend and the fact that a once-in-a-century meteor shower was forecasted. 

The campsite that I found was remote such that one had to drive 25 minutes after the end of the pavement to get there. We shared the coordinates with Julie, stopped at the grocery store for some supplies, and drove into the desert to find the campsite. After about 6 miles bumping down the dirt road and praying we didn’t get a flat (we don’t have a spare), a white Toyota raced up next to us and Julie popped her head out of the passenger side window. What fun! 

Julie’s boyfriend Scott was the driver of this decked out off-roading Tacoma, and after saying hello they followed us the rest of the way to the site. When we got there we found about eight camp sites, only one of which was occupied. Success! 

Due to it being the middle of December the sun quickly set. We had a couple of beers and donned headlamps and sweatshirts as we set up our cook stove and got camp ready for the evening. Our new stove, which was a wedding gift from my friend Jack, worked beautifully, and we enjoyed a nice spread of fajitas complete with roasted onions and jalapeños. A delicious and filling camping staple. 

After the sun went down the four of us set up our sleeping mats and sleeping bags by a neighboring empty campsite, creating two roughly full sized outdoor mattress configurations from which each couple could watch the sky. The meteor shower was called something like Geminid, and the show was great. We saw dozens and dozens of shooting stars as we listened to Pink Floyd on the Bluetooth speaker and chatted. 

At some point Julie and Scott wisely migrated to Scott’s truck’s camper bed but Bre and I ended up sleeping out all night. It got COLD such that even the fur-coated poodle with which we travel curled up under the sleeping bag with us. In the morning everything was covered with the thinnest layer of rigidity, indicating that the dew and condensation on our bags and cloths had frozen (albeit briefly) in the Arizona mountains. 

By 8 or 9 AM the sun had stuck back, and we were now warm as our bags sunned dry in the neighboring campsite and we packed up the van. After the long and dusty drive back to town, the four of us assembled in cave creek at a bunch spot (aptly named “Brunch”) for some pancakes and eggs. No complaints here!! 

After brunch we walked around town and checked out various shops. Cave Creek is a cool little town. We went into a gem shop where I sat in a crystal throne that was for sale for over $100,000. The sign encouraged sitting and taking a photo so we obliged. 

In the afternoon Julie and Scott headed back south to Gilbert and Bre and I met up with Jill and John, friends of my parents (and mine) that happen to live in cave creek. We met at a restaurant called the Horny Toad and caught up about the wedding, life on the road, and Jill’s rekindling of her former life as a champion rodeo barrel racer. It was great to see them and catch up. 

As I have said (and possibly written) before, hitched and rolling is all about people, and our stop in the phoenix area left our hearts full having gotten to spend such nice time with so many friends.