Water Under a Bush

Partly sunny as we turn onto I8 W after leaving camp. Los Colinas was nice but we felt closed in. The park is clean, well kept and has a lot of activities. They are close to town and have golf courses close by. The sites are all southwest landscaped and attractive.

Today we are traveling to Tonopah, AZ which will be our last stop before the rally in Quartzsite. We are traveling through the Sonoran Desert today. We pass the jagged Sand Tank Mountains and the Table Top Mountain and Wilderness Area while the Mariacopa Mountains dot the horizon on our left. All of the ranges have different shapes and although they are not really high they are magnificent. I don't think of mountains in the desert but they are there! Periodically we can see large patches of green further up the road. As we get closer there is some kind of crop growing that looks like grass, then it quickly goes back to dirt. This is a hard, desolate but beautiful area filled with many types of cactus and small bush like trees that look like Asparagus Fern leaves.

We turned off I8 at Gila Bend onto Rte 85N. this is the Pheonix Bypass and a much better route than going through Pheonix on the interstate. Driving over the Buckeye Hills and through the city of Buckeye. We will visit here tomorrow.

Tonopah is just a little spot on the map but it is our destination for the next couple of days. Tonopah derives it's name from the Western Apache, meaning "Water Under a Bush". This refers to it's location in the Harquahala Valley.Under the vally there is an extensive subterranean aquifer. The wells that are dug here never lack water!

We pulled into Saddle Mountain RV Park. It's Sunday and the office was closed so we found a site and settled in. The park is very nice - no railroad - nice gravel sites with palm trees. Our neighbor is from Vermont!

After getting settled it was lunch time so we tried the local spot Tonopah Joes! Fair at best and really wouldn't recommend it if you are passing through this way. With full stomachs we went to explore Tonopah. Not much here to see, but it has it's own special beauty.

Some of the sites are filling up now and Glenn & Marcie Ronken have become our neighbors (for a little while). They are from Ohio and will be at the rally also. Unfortunately the electric wasn't right on their site so they moved to another one on the other side of the park. We enjoyed meeting them and hope we see them at the rally.

Went for a walk and just relaxed. Tomorrow we will meet Dave & Theresa in Buckeye.