two day trek

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:43 am

Well, we did our two day trek. It was a little windy and cool here when we left but we figured it would be okay once we got down the mountain to the flatland. It just got a little more windy. We made it to Wickenburg by noon so we stopped and had a little lunch and walked around a bit. then, we started west Rt. 60. That is a two lane state route. It's relatively straight and flat. After we left Wickenburg proper, there was no one behind me until we got to Aguila. We passed through Gladden. Nothing there except one RV park. Nothing else at all. The land was flat with scrubby bushes. You could see mountains in the distance on either side of the road. It kept getting more windy. As you approach Aguila there were big machines preparing the land for planting cotton. As they were plowing up the ground, the wind was blowing it away. The air was thick with dirt and dust. We had to slow down a lot as visibility was near zero. Some fields were planted and the rows were covered with row covers and in between were the little ditches for irrigation. We passed through Aguila and it was still dusty and you could only see along the edges of the road. There were a few other cars. It stayed windy and dusty the whole day. The dust and blowing dirt started to make my eyes burn. My wrists were aching from keeping the truck on the straight and narrow.
We came to Wenden. It's not much but a few buildings, but they do have a school for farm workers children and some children are bused from nearby areas.(within 40 miles). There is another road leading north from Wenden that goes to a state park and Alamo Lake. It has RV parks and fishing camps on it.
We stopped in Salome. It has about 2,000 people in the winter. We drove around the streets and came to a developement called Indian Hills. It was laid out in a square grid with fenced plots where people come in the winter and live in motorhomes and small trailers. They have an airpark too where small planes can land. There was a library at the airpark so we turned onto the street and there was a big sign that read, "Airplanes have the right of way." Well, the street was also the runway for the planes. We quickly turned into the parking lot and investigated the library. It is only open 25 hours per week. It was a nice small library with computers for patron use. The librarian said it is usually busy in the winter, but when the people take their motorhomes and trailers and go north for the summer it sort of quits. They do have migrant workers that harvest the cotton and vegetables that they grow. We wanted to stay there for a while longer but there was nothing else to do. So, we proceeded along to the Interstate to Quartzsite.
I must apologize for no pictures. We had our camera but it was so windy and dusty that we didn't stop to take pictures. More on Quartzsite tomorrow. Dooley

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