Idiots Counter Cabin-Fever? Idiots Conquer Consistency? Idiots Combat Complacency?
The Idiots love their Arizona home. Self-quarantining in a spacious, sunny home with mountain views and beauty all around is not such a tough gig. But they are not immune to “same old, same old” boredom... and when the going get tough, the tough go camping!
There is nothing like grabbing a tent and a couple of sleeping bags and setting up camp under the stars on a clear desert night! At least that is what the Idiots have heard. They don't do that. They have a comfy 25' RV with a full kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. Roughing it means they have to run their television on battery power while they binge a season of Working Moms.
Full disclosure – the Idiots are back home. They camped for a week without internet and are posting these tardy reports about the Covidiots wandering from the comfort of home.
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Days 1 and 2
When one chooses to replace sitting around home doing nothing with doing nothing somewhere else, the choice of where to practice that indolence becomes less fraught. When the question “Where would you like to go?” is answered with “I don't care – as long as it is not here!”, the options are boundless.
The first destination was Indian Bread Rocks, a popular “boondocking” site. For non-RVers, boondocking refers to finding places – free or nearly free – to set up camp without supporting facilities. You are on your own for water and electricity, but the price is right! In the US, a lot of land is held in trust for the American public by the Bureau of Land Management. This land is intended to used for the benefit of the populace, so leases are granted for grazing, drilling, mining, and logging... but it is also often available for people to just find a spot away from the road to park and camp for free.
Indian Bread Rocks is a few miles from the Bowie, Arizona, exit off Interstate 10. Bowie is a little town that refuses to die - though it barely hangs on. With virtually no facilities, including no gas station, there is little reason for interstate traffic to pull off here. A few may be drawn in by the frequent advertising for “Fresh Jerky” but even that place is closed during these difficult times.
(And what in the heck, exactly, is “fresh jerky”? Jerky is, by definition, dried out meat intended to last pretty much forever... so “fresh” is a questionable adjective to apply!)
A drive down Main Street provides glimpses of a simpler time, when every town was a potential oasis for early “motor car” cross-country travelers.
One does not stumble upon Indian Bread Rocks. It is several miles out of town on a rural road, then more miles on a graded dirt road. Crossing the cattle guard, there is a day parking area and a very unimproved rocky path along a cliff-side of rocks that someone must have thought somehow resemble Indian bread. Readers can consider the photos and decide for themselves.
It appears that some people may spend the whole winter in spots tucked in along the cliff, setting out solar panels for power. The (Cov)Idiots were only staying one night, scoping it out for possible future visits, so they found a nice wide spot near the end of the dirt track and spent a delightful evening watching the light go down across the desert.
It is easy for a photographer to get lost in the dramatic vastness of the landscapes, but to really appreciate the desert, one also has to look at the details. Sure, the sunsets and mountain vistas are spectacular – but the details of a dead prickly pear cactus are also fascinating. (Also – you've gotta watch out for snakes!)
Day two was a rarity... a gray, rainy day in the desert. The Idiots wandered backroads in the Jeep, checking out various BLM boondocking areas. Anticipating temperatures near freezing, they opted to camp at Roper Lake State Park near Safford, Arizona, where they would have electricity to run their heating system. As so often happens after desert rains, they had an intense rainbow that lasted about 30 minutes. It was fading as they pulled into their campsite to enjoy the last hour of sunlight.
My brother and I used to go boondocking back during our college days and shortly after. It was a rarity for us to stay at a location with facilities, even when we trecked over 5 weeks from Michigan to Alaska. And my brother spent most of this summer going camping to avoid the lockdown blues as well.
