The Bill and Kit Excellent Adventure Journal-Issue #30

Friday, April 3, 2009:

Off once again, heading east and a return visit to Tucson. Traveling through the desert we decided to stop at every interesting thing we encountered. This was it; a rather unusual sign at a roadside rest area.

Unusual sign at a roadside rest area

Stopped for the night at the campground on the US Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG). That must be the entrance to the base up on the left…..at least I hope so or this could get interesting.

US Army Yuma Proving Ground Entrance on Left?

The base was very large; after all they fire huge guns, rockets and missiles on this base. Not to mention the bombing range…..ah, looking forward to a quiet and peaceful stay. The campground facilities were very nice however with all the amenities. They were not very full so we were assigned a site off to ourselves…..the guy with the rig in the second photo chose any site he wanted and no one argued. 

A site to ourselves

Who's gonna argue?

I found this sign at the entrance to the base campground kind of interesting. Must be some sort of Army logic at work here. 

Sign at the entrance to the base campground

As most military bases we have visited on this trip, the YPG has its own static display of equipment. Since I have previously shown photos of Navy and Air Force hardware I thought it only fair that I throw in a few of the Army’s stuff as well.

 Yea I know they all four look the same but honest there were about 20 different tanks in this outdoor museum. The one on the upper left actually had hundreds of bullet holes pock marking its armor.

Saturday, April 4, 2009: Today is an auspicious day…..one of us qualifies for A Golden Age Passport as well as Social Security benefits; can’t wait to become a double dipper!

Leaving YPG we headed north a bit to check out some BLM land that reportedly has a lot of boondocking potential. Sure enough, even though it was late in the “Wintering-over Season” there were plenty of people camped out in the desert in their RV’s. We were amazed at the creative and varied ways folks adapted to primitive conditions for an extended period of time.

The guy in the photo below has solar panels, a wind generator, a large external water tank and an even larger waste water tank on a small trailer. Basically he could probably stay there forever.

Come to find out there are a ton of websites devoted to the boondocking lifestyle and all have great suggestions on a variety of subjects.

Continued our eastward trek by traveling on US-80 and then US-8. Passed through the Imperial Valley and noticed a lot of fertile farmland thanks to irrigation from the Colorado River. 

Pulled in kind of late to the Doobie RV Resort in Tucson (that’s Dewey and Bea, but I know what you were thinking…..especially if you are a child of the sixties). 

Love, Dad/Mom, Poppy/Guma, Bill/Kit