Day 85 - 4/11/14 Goodbye Tucson / Petroglyphs / BLM for the Night

Goodbye Tucson.

With my morning Ice Tea in my cup holder, and before 7:00 am, I am on my way towards San Diego.  I will miss the new friends I met at the casino parking lot over the last few weeks.  As we talked last night, I looked up at the casino hotel room balconies, overlooking the area, and commented that when I used to travel on business over the years I never met people sitting in a hotel room.

I made it to Petroglyphs in Gila Bend or should I say 20 miles northwest of the town with the name the same as the river.  It was mid morning before the full heat of the day.

This used to be a state park but is now owned by the Bureau of Land Management under the Federal Government.  Those of us that boondock call it by its initials as BLM.

A car with 2 couples inside it pulled up behind me as I drove in the parking lot, and one of the woman said "They said that we probably wouldn't see anyone out here."

I was thinking the same thing, but one more car did stop with two young woman in it to check out a bit of history while we were there.

The two couples were from Minnesota and Wisconsin.  With one couple that winters in AZ.

I know it looks like a pile of rocks and it is but for some reason it was used by prehistoric and post historic peoples to leave their mark for the future.  

There are even a few markings made by people that came this way in the 1800's and early 1900's.

Check out this lizard the 2 couples spotted.  You have to look close as it blends on well.

More current.

There is a very large solar farm at the exit off I8 where you go to the Petroglyphs.

They are parabolic so the transmit energy to the center collector.

When I arrived in Yuma, AZ it was 97 degrees.  The warmest yet for me and it's hot.  I stopped at McDonLds again for an afternoon ice tea & a berry smoothie.  

I chose to stay at the BLM site in Yuma tonight.  They don't charge to boondock.  You need to carry out what you use.

It is at a nice pond where a few people were fishing when I arrived.

In the shade there were a few misquotes but at dusk when I took this I had to stay inside the camper.

There are only a couple other campers here so it is very quiet.  I had to drive about 5 miles on dirt roads to get to this site near the river.

Tomorrow there is a festival in Yuma so I plan on going.  Check tomorrow's blog.