Venturing Out: San Francisco, California to Yuma, Arizona

Monday, November 7, 2016

Getting up this morning, we eagerly anticipated our big trip into the big metropolis of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge. It was suggested that we take a look at the Golden Gate Bridge from the lookout area in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area before crossing the bridge. We took a little drive in this area to the Marin Headlands Visitor Centre. We contemplated leaving the trailer there so we could drive up to the high point above (as no RVs were allowed) for an amazing view of the bay, but then decided after taking a few pictures of the bay and bridge we would just go for it and cross the bridge.

Crossing the bridge, conjured up memories of some favourite movies and tv shows for us as we are big movie buffs. Movies like, Dawn of Planet of the Apes (2014), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Godzilla (2014), Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) only touch on the list of movies and tv shows that use the Golden Gate Bridge in them. To read the complete list, check out moviepilot.com (Google) and search for Golden Gate Bridge shows.

It was an amazing feeling to cross it, although we didn’t feel that it seemed as majestic as the bridge we took from Washington into Astoria, Oregon over the mouth of the Columbia River. The Golden Gate Bridge provided us a very cool and memorable experience for sure!

Our goal was to drive to our friend Anthony’s place in Redwood City and then figure out a place to park the trailer. It took us a couple more hours to get there as we hit the city right at peak traffic hours (4 pm to 7 pm). When we got to our destination, we parked our trailer in an area that does not allow overnight parking. Yes, we did. And yes, I have huge anxiety when it comes to doing this. Actually, there is a four hour parking limit there so we were prepared to have to leave when asked.

We slept all night without anyone knocking on our door and when we got up in the morning, (Tuesday, November 8) we left the trailer there and took Piper to a sitter that I found and booked through dogvacay.com. This is an excellent way to find care for your pet no matter where you are in the USA and also in Canada. The company checks the sitter’s credentials and you pay through the company online with your credit card and then they pay the sitter. It is an excellent set up and you can use a map feature to find a sitter near you. We were very pleased that Piper was at home and comfortable at Kathryn’s place. Later in the day, Kathryn sent a couple of photos to show Piper relaxing on her couch and one of Piper eating her food. Those are always good signs and it was very reassuring.

After dropping Piper off, we drove and parked at Hayward Station and took the Cali Train into San Francisco. We had pre-purchased tickets to Alcatraz for 11 a.m. The booking information was very clear about not being late for the ferry or they would not honour our tickets. While waiting for the Cali Train, we met Sally and Gary who were very helpful in guiding us along in our new experience taking the train and then helping us catch a city bus after that to get us closer to Pier 33 where we needed to board the ferry. After getting off the bus, Dan and I ran for many blocks to reach Pier 33 with only 10 minutes to spare! We even left earlier in the morning than we planned and just made it!

The Alcatraz tickets include ferry return and a self guided audio tour of the Cellhouse. Tickets were $35 each. When we arrived there, first stop was mandatory to listen to a Park Ranger tell us about the rules and regulations and what we were going to see that day. Next, we headed over to the theatre area to view a fifteen minute film clip that gave a quick history of Alcatraz. Dan and I learned history we didn’t know about like the various uses of the island over the years.

Alcatraz was originally built as a military post in 1868 with a lighthouse, military prison, and complete with military personnel and cannons to protect the entrance to the San Francisco Bay. After a few years, Alcatraz became a federal prison (1933 to 1963) because (grasping from the film we watched), the military didn’t want to maintain the Alcatraz facility anymore so the government, needing facility to house criminals at the time of the prohibition, made it a federal prison. From 1963 until 1969 the prison sat empty. Then in November of 1969 a group of aboriginal people from San Francisco moved onto the island for 19 months as part of various public protests in a wave of Native activism through the 1970s. Today, the island is managed by the National Park Service and has been designated a National Historic Landmark (1986). (Information from wikipedia.com re Alcatraz)

Guard look-out tower

Room where criminals would pick up standard issued clothing, towels, soap,
and change of clothes on shower day.

Shower floor

Showing two levels of the three levels of cells

Spiral stairs

Typical size and contents of cell

Me behind bars!

When we had our fill of the island, we returned to the mainland and walked to Pier 39. Pier 39 (recommended by numerous friends) is a pier area with restaurants and all sorts of shops, local seafood, fudge, and even friendly looking seals that sun themselves on the docks. It was really nice to sit down at the bay’s edge and have a seafood meal of lobster tail, swordfish, salmon, and shrimp at Pier Market Restaurant.

Marina before Pier 39

Pier Market Restaurant was the first restaurant to occupy this pier. This was an expensive meal, but a delicious one. To finish off our adventure in San Francisco? Fudge of course. A stop at Chocolate Haven for fudge completed our day in San Francisco. We grabbed a cable car back to the train station. It had taken an hour and a half to get to the pier area in the morning so we knew we had to leave by 4 p.m. to get to the train station by 4:30 p.m. We took the 4:30 p.m. train back to Hayward Station, picked up Piper, saw our friends briefly in Redwood City and returned to the trailer. And yes, we had been found out…Two bright red stickers were slapped on the trailer with warnings. They thankfully were just warnings.

Cable car

Dan riding the Cali Train

One of our warning stickers!

We pulled out that night, not knowing where we would end up, but knowing that we needed to continue our journey and get ourselves back out towards the coast. After driving in a literal circle while trying to find somewhere to pull in for the night, first heading West, then North, then East, then South, and then West again…we found a fairly level spot on the road near the town of Marina. Dan pulled in behind a couple of trucks and equipment trailers and parked on the road and didn’t put the pods down so we would look less conspicuous. We went to bed immediately as it was already 10 p.m. and it had been an awfully long day. We were exhausted.

The next morning (Wednesday, November 9) we were awakened early by a couple of people talking outside by the trucks parked nearby and Piper got a little excited warning us with a bark! Now for those of you who know Piper, a bark is highly unusual although she seems to have decided that is her job, protecting us, as she barks a little more than ever now with her “yard” changing almost daily around her. We really wanted to get up and get going early anyway. The night before we had decided to go to Denny’s for breakfast. This was the morning after the election and we thought someone would be talking about their new President, but not one person was talking about it! We actually had to ask a passer-by who won, and he said “Trump” and kept walking. We didn’t know what to think, but we were told a few times that we were in Hilary territory and figured that was why no one was interested in discussing Trump’s victory. After breakfast, we went to a nearby Wal-Mart for food and a couple of household items.

We drove to Monterey to get fuel. A fellow we had met earlier in the trip, I believe at Devil’s Churn, suggested getting the app GasBuddy. This app helps to see where gas prices are lower in the area giving us the best chance to get the best price. After filling up, we continued on Highway 1 and passed Carmel-by-the-Sea. We would of explored these areas more, but instead we were concerned about finding a location to stay in the Big Sur area that was affordable and would also work as a base to explore the area a little more.

The area South of Big Sur is home to Los Padres National Forest and there was a huge fire that destroyed acres and acres of land this past July and the government has shut down all the Los Padres National Forest in this area to visitors for now. We found a beautiful ocean view camping spot at Kirk Creek Campground near Big Sur for $25 a night, no services, in fact, there wasn’t even water available on location at all. They had shut their water supply off as it was carrying bacteria that made people sick.

Before finding this camping spot, we had stopped at another park up the road and they wanted $63 plus tax for a spot without services, $75 for a spot with services! That’s just highway robbery. Dan and I have decided that the “C” in California means CHARGE. They charge for everything out here. Charge for a camping spot, charge for fire/stove permit, charge for National Park fee areas, charge for your dog camping with you, charge for fire wood, charge for day use of certain parks, and the list seems to go on and on.

Taking into account that a long weekend (November 11 - Veterans Day) was coming and getting a spot for $25 a night, we decided it may be a great idea to stay for four nights.

Our campsite at Kirk Creek Campground

Trail at Kirk Creek that goes down to the creek
and then to the ocean

Love these, but don't know what they are?

Thursday, November 10, after having a relaxing morning in camp, we headed South to Hearst Castle to organize a tour of the castle for Sunday when we would check out of Kirk Creek Campground and be driving through the area. The road was very narrow and winding. On the way there, we stopped at an Elephant Seal Sanctuary, just past Ragged Point before Hearst Castle. The seals were laying side by side, some on top of each other, others were battling for a female, others playing in the water, but most just laid on the beach soaking up the sun. Every once and awhile you would see one move to a new spot on the beach and then splash their own backs with sand. The seals would often scratch themselves and their fins looked like they had fingers as they scratched. It was fascinating and captivating to watch them.

After, we went into Hearst Castle and booked our tours of the castle for Sunday, we returned to our camp to enjoy the beauty of its surroundings.

Friday, November 11, we simply enjoyed the day for what it was. I really enjoy days like this. Exercising, hanging out, working on the blog, exploring, etc. Then again the next day (Saturday, November 12) was a similar day but we ventured 25 miles up the road looking for a cell phone signal. We wanted to call my Dad to wish him a Happy Birthday, but to no avail we could not get a signal. We knew that the next day as we traveled the other direction to Hearst Castle we would get a chance to call. We had decided to go the opposite direction to see some things we may have missed on the way by. This area capitalizes on the idea that you are in the middle of nowhere! I was in a small cafe and they had a small pack of mixed nuts for sale for $12! Outside at the gas station, gas was 7.00 a gallon (normal prices average 2.50 to 3.00 a gallon to give example)!

On Sunday, (November 13), we hooked up the trailer and left around 8:10 a.m. as the castle was a distance away (located near San Simeon State Park, 35+ miles) and with a winding narrow road and the chance of thick fog, we gave ourselves plenty of time to get there for our 11:00 a.m. tour. We arrived around 10:30 a.m. so just had enough time to walk and potty Piper and make sure she was settled in the trailer before we left her.

The tour of Hearst Castle starts at the visitor building which is 5 miles away at the bottom of the hill from the castle. Buses take tourists up the hill and history of the area and how Hearst Castle came to be (voiced by Alex Trebec) was played over the speakers in the bus. This was very helpful as Dan and I had no idea what this was about but that our friend Anthony recommended it. We could of watched a film about it before leaving on the bus, but as time didn’t permit, we watched it after our tours.

Hearst Castle

We decided to take a tour of the Grand Main Floor and another tour of the Upstairs suites/bedrooms of the main house. This castle houses 38 bedrooms and three guest houses offer another 20 bedrooms combined. There are two pools on site, one indoor and one outdoor, tennis courts, pool hall, library, and horse stable further down the hill. A long story short, Mr. Hearst’s father discovered a silver mine when he was forty years old. Upon discovering the silver, he became one of the richest men in the world. Mr. Hearst Sr. invested in property and ran one of the largest ranches in the States and Mexico.

This particular hill was a site where the Hearst family had family camping trips and became a very fond spot of the young William. His father died fairly young leaving his much younger mother the family fortune. When his mother passed he was 54 years old leaving him the family fortune. As a young boy he had travelled the world with his mother and became captivated by castle architecture and art especially depicting religious Saints, Mary, Joseph, angels, etc. Upon inheriting the family fortune, he set out to build the castle in his dreams and made it a place to have friends (Carey Grant, Charlie Chaplin, to name a couple) and family visit. He even had a zoo complete with polar bears, zebras, tigers, and giraffes among others. To this day, zebras can be seen grazing in the fields alongside the cattle.

Bell towers, Hearst Castle

One of the beautiful entry gates

Christmas tree in Grand Room

More Christmas decorations

Billiard Room

Indoor Pool

Mr. William Hearst was Owner/Publisher of multi newspapers previous to his inheritance and continued to work as Publisher even from the castle where he had his own plane (DC3) and landing strip to bring him newspapers everyday for editing and then returning them for final copy and print. He employed full time pilots for this who would also bring guests in by plane as well. He worked on the building of this amazing property for 28 years until his passing. Things were sometimes built, torn down and rebuilt, and some things were never completely finished. This is how Hearst Castle remains today. It is an amazing place with incredible detail and art work. There is much more to this incredible story so if you are interested, please check out the website at HearstCastle.org.

Our time at Hearst Castle left me feeling very happy. I really appreciated how Mr. Hearst shared his fortune with his friends and left this amazing legacy to be shared with the public for years and years to come.

That night we pulled into El Chorro Regional Park and Campground and spent the night. This park is located near San Luis Obispo.

The next morning, (Monday, November 14) we went for a hike in the park next to the campsite. We found the botanical garden trail and trekked up hill for quite awhile. All three of us enjoyed the hike and we took advantage of the hills down to run.

We decided to move on to another campsite and make our way towards Santa Barbara. On the way, we stopped in the City of Solvang for a coffee and bakery treat. This town is called the “fake Denmark”. It was fun to walk some of the streets and see the different buildings complete with windmill on the main street through the city. The bakery had a Danish flair and offered some traditional Danish baking. It reminded me a little of my Grandfather’s Norwegian heritage and the baking my Mother used to make for Christmas as well.

Onward, we travelled inland a bit to Cachuma Lake Recreational area and another part of Los Padres National Forest where we got a beautiful campsite at Paradise Campground. There were no hookups, but there was water available. We decided to stay here for the next three nights. Again, no cell reception or WIFI.

The first night, the owls were hooting in the trees and the moon was full. The moon was as full as it could be. The media and locals were calling it a “super moon” and expected it to cause huge waves and warned the public to be aware of high surf and possible rip tides.

One of the best tips we have received in our travels thus far is that the cheapest camping is in the National Forests. That is one of the biggest reasons we look for National Forest, but also because Dan and I both dislike the tightness and no privacy of RV parks and choose to avoid them whenever possible.

Tuesday, November 15 we woke up to find the field by us busy with grazing wild turkeys. These birds are bigger than our dog! It was neat to see them in their natural surroundings. In the later morning we went into Santa Barbara and Goleta to do some shopping and the laundry.

Wednesday, November 16

Today, we had decided to stay at camp and explore the area a little. Aliso Loop Trail down the road from our campsite made for a very scenic hiking trail with its tall grasses, brush, valleys, and hills. This area reminded me a little of the Drumheller Valley in Alberta with its sandy rock formations and low lying bushes. It was a sunny day and while it was warm, there was a cool breeze that offered us a little break from the heat of the direct sunlight. Two things to watch for on the hike today, poison oak and rattle snakes. Thankfully we didn't get involved with either!

Central Coast California is so dry right now, grass is not surviving, trees are dried up dying for a drink, things are becoming a dust bowl here. Drought has seized the area. You can see in the photos of the hike where the creek bed is only damp now and no longer shows signs of even a trickle of water. Cachuma Lake nearby looks very low and we learned that is the main water source for Santa Barbara and surrounding areas.

After the hike, we drove a little further down the road to find it closed. The road was washed out! No water and now this, likely from a flash flood or something of that nature.

We had a wonderful time and all three of us returned to camp very satisfied with our day and with our legs reminding us that we had a great hike!

Aliso Loop Trail

Thursday, November 17
Moving on to the next place, we hoped to find a spot to stay near Malibu Beach. We headed back out to the coast highway from Santa Barbara. The water looked beautiful and a little calmer than we were accustom to. It still wasn’t water that we would consider going into as it is not very warm and a little rough still. We noticed more surfers in this area and somehow the sand on the beach seems different to us, more like a “laying on the beach” type of sand. There were many houses strung out along the coast line and they reminded us of the area seen in the introduction or panning back into the sitcom Two and a Half Men. Very beautiful indeed. But, again, we did not feel like paying big money to sit by the ocean in the wide open so we decided to head inland.

Ocean Views Highway 1 to Malibu

Malibu

Taking a scenic route, we hoped to find something in the Santa Monica Mountains that are located just to the East of Highway 1 from Malibu. Much to our chagrin, there was nothing here for camping. It was a very interesting area though with many narrow, winding streets branching from the main artery through with residences sitting high on the hills. We got to experience the impossibility of the ability to turn around on these roads when we turned off the main road to go into a State Park and found it to be closed with gated arm across! Thank goodness for our GPS that helped us find a loop through the residences that eventually returned us to the main road again.

Because we are always trying to avoid huge metropolitan areas, it forced me to try to find somewhere else to go that would be away from the cities while Dan continued driving. We were now in the area of Las Angeles and there was no way we were going there. I found a spot on the allstays.com map in the Angeles National Forest area, East of Glendale. It was full hookups and a nice place, but still $45 a night. We were awakened early to the person next to us leaving early for work and on the other side of us a little dog that yipped for hours. We were originally going to stay for three nights, but after this first one, we decided to leave.

Lake level in the Angeles National Forest noticeably low

Friday, November 18

I found a camping spot for us on Lake Elsinore and pre-booked with the campground. Thankful we had a spot, we headed SouthWest towards Lake Elsinore. We were almost there and the lady I had booked on the phone with, called us and said she was sorry, but she gave away our spot as she had someone come in that needed two spots and now she had nothing left. Unbelievable! She reassured us that there were other campgrounds in the area and was sure we would find something.

When we got to Lake Elsinore, campgrounds lined the one side of the lake and we noticed that the one campground was fairly open so we pulled in to La Laguna Resort and Boat Launch. The spot with water and electric was $30 per night. Pretty decent. We took two nights. We were only biding time in this area because we had a spot booked at Orangeland RV near Disneyland for Sunday and we didn’t want to be too far away from there.

Lake Elsinore

Our campsite at Lake Elsinore

Lake Elsinore has encountered an extremely nasty and toxic bacteria that floats like scum at the water’s edge. It likely has happened because of the lack of rainfall they’ve had in the past few years. The young lady at the office said that in August they pretty much closed the lake down. It was a beautiful site though and fairly quiet considering it is right in the city. There are signs posted regarding the dangerous waters and toxicity of the lake.

Saturday, November 19 we enjoyed the warmth of the sun and beauty of Lake Elsinore. We took a little drive around the entire lake, found a sushi restaurant for lunch, and then did a little grocery shopping. The city is smaller and we liked the size of it; probably close to the size of our little city back home.

Monday, November 20

Time to go to Orangeland RV in Orange, California located only a few minutes drive to Disneyland! We pulled in here for two nights with the goal being to visit Disneyland on Monday. The staff were very friendly and extremely helpful. They let Dan send a few parcels to their location prior to us getting there. We are very grateful they let us do that as we had been trying to get a few items for the trailer and Dan thought it best to order online rather than run the countryside for them. We were greeted with warm, friendly smiles and a whole lot of packages! They also give out a welcome package that contained all sorts of wonderful things like gloves, Sudoku puzzle book, lens cleaning cloth, a pen, and a few other useful things. Most amazingly, we were allowed to pick the fruit from the trees in the park! Navel oranges, segmented oranges, grapefruits, and limes were in abundance on the trees. Dan and I picked a few off of the trees and enjoyed the fresh citrus even taking a few with us when we left.

Oranges, grapefruit and limes we picked at Orangeland RV

There are many, many things to do at this park and while it is a higher fee to stay, they provide a lot of reasons to stay there besides their close proximity to Disneyland. On site, there is a pool, jacuzzi, billiard room, exercise room, shuffleboard, laundry, picnic and BBQ area, dump station, dog area, newspapers, putting green/miniature golf, and many other amenities. I will add that the laundry facilities are excellent and priced affordably too.

As we approached the RV park, we saw black clouds forming and when we arrived, Dan told the staff that we brought them rain. Sure enough, it poured! It poured all night! We were happy to have rainfall as California needs it desperately, but we were hoping the next day would be nice or at least not pouring rain.

The main reason for venturing to Disneyland? For old times sake…neither of us have been since we were young teens. The RV resort offers shuttle rides to Disneyland and return as well right from the front door of the main office at only $3 per person. I arranged with one of the staff, Roxanne (who graciously offered to help us out) to check on Piper through the day and potty her while we were at Disneyland.

We were not aware that the children were out of school for the entire week. We knew that American Thanksgiving was coming up on Thursday, but we never thought about the children being out of school all week too. So you know what that meant? It meant that we visited Disneyland at a Peak time, costing more for tickets, and the place was a ZOO. We stood in line for rides anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. The shortest lineup all day was 30 minutes wait.

Disneyland was beautifully decorated everywhere for Christmas. We arrived around 8:45 a.m. We started our adventure in Disney by taking an old fashioned bus down Main Street to Tomorrowland. We rode Hyperspace Mountain (one of our childhood favourites) first (Star Wars themed now), checked out the Tomorrowland Theatre (Star Wars clip), and went to the Star Wars Launch Bay where we watched another film clip and then stood in line to meet Chewbacca. I told Chewie that my youngest son would be so jealous! lol

Dan and I riding Hyperspace Mountain

Next, we went to It’s a Small World that was decorated for Christmas as well, even integrating Christmas music into “It’s a Small World” song. This was a must do for me as my Grandma rode through this with me years and years ago and she loved it. Riding through brought tons of memories back to me of my Grandma. I felt the ride was torturous then, but now, nostalgic.

On our way through Fantasyland, we actually stood in line and met Tinkerbell!

Getting close to lunch, we dined at River Belle Terrace in Frontierland. After lunch we rode the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (again, in memory of my grandparents…this ride, my brother and I tricked them into riding by telling them it wasn’t a fast ride or a roller coaster, lol, mean of us, but fun!)

We grabbed a Fast Pass to go to the Haunted Mansion for later in the day. One thing we did not know is if you have a Fast Pass for one ride, you can not get another until you use the one you have. Darn.

Feeling a little frustrated by the huge crowds and lineups, we decided coffee and fudge would make everything better and it did! We headed back to Main Street USA for our treat.

After the delicious fudge and coffee, we went back to Fantasyland to ride Matterhorn Bobsleds and after, the lineups looked a little shorter, I convinced Dan to ride Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride with me.

Matterhorn Bobsleds

Mr. Toad

We decided to stand in the massive lineup to go on the Indiana Jones Adventure. This is a newer ride that we have never been on. Despite the long lineup, the ride was fun.

Waiting in the line for Indiana Jones ride

Immediately after the Indiana Jones Adventure ride, we had to run over to the Haunted Mansion to use our Fast Pass. (Fast Pass gives you a time in the day with an hour window to use it) The Haunted Mansion, decorated for Christmas with the “Nightmare Before Christmas” theme was almost totally different from when I rode it last. The Haunted Mansion reminds me of my friend Michele. We were in Disneyland at the same time as teens and we met up and rode this one together. I had already been on it and when her and I rode on it, there was a suit of armour in the hallway standing there. I said to Michele, “I never noticed that armour before…” and right at that moment, the thing moved and motioned its axe towards us…both of us screamed and then we laughed!! Good times.

We had just enough time to finish our big day at Disneyland with one more ride and what a perfect way to end the day, Pirates of the Caribbean. This ride amazes me. The robotic movements of the “pirates” are so lifelike it’s scary! They have now added Captain Sparrow (Johnny Depp’s character) to the ride as well.

Exhausted and sore from a long day of walking and standing, we returned to our shuttle pickup area for 8:30 p.m. pick up. It was nice to sit back and let someone else drive us back to our tiny home. Roxanne did a great job with Piper who was happy and content upon our return. A great day for sure, but not something we will do again until we have grandchildren that are at least 10 years old and we will definitely research better next time to be sure we are not hitting a peak time.

Cinderella's Castle lit up for Christmas

Christmas tree on Main Street U.S.A.

On Tuesday (November 22) we stayed in our spot until Noon check out time and decided to head back to the coast. It was our goal to drive the coast all the way down, but then taking into account the traffic that was even worse than before because of the holiday, we soon became frustrated with this idea and then decided to change directions, avoiding getting too close to San Diego and headed East towards Yuma, Arizona.

We drove for the afternoon in an ever changing landscape from ocean to hills, from sea level to 4000 feet and pulled in to spend the night at Golden Acorn Casino (free). They had an excellent deal for prime rib dinner ($7.77) so we decided to eat dinner there and it was delicious! We let the security guard know we wanted to park for the night and he said that was fine. There were a few other RVs parked, but we were all widely spaced out from each other. It’s interesting to note that with the much higher elevation comes much colder nights and we quickly switched from our shorts into our jeans for the evening.

Wednesday, November 23

The morning brought sunshine and warmer temperatures as we drank our coffee and scrutinized the map trying to figure out where we should go next. Remember all those parcels I mentioned earlier? Dan ordered two books, “The Wright Guide to Free and Low-Cost Campgrounds” by Don Wright and “The Complete Book of Boondock Rving, Camping Off the Beaten Path” by Bill and Jan Moeller. Both of these books were recommended by people we have met in the past month of traveling. It is always our goal to find free camping when possible to save money and also because these camping spots almost always divert off the beaten path. And when you go off the beaten path, you see a whole lot more than road and traffic! We decided to head to Yuma, Arizona and found numerous BLM (Bureau of Land Management) camping spots near there. These sites are almost always free. For our Canadian friends, BLM is pretty much the same as what Canada calls Crown Land. I am not familiar with camping Crown Land back home, but know quite a few people who do and it will be my goal in the future to explore these areas a little more. Here in the States, the government will sometimes add facilities like picnic tables, pit toilets, and grills to areas where dispersed camping is allowed and as the area begins to look more like a developed camping area from high usage.

So, it was decided, we drove I-8 East to Yuma through an amazing landscape of giant boulders, sand dunes, and flat lands with no trees (similar to Saskatchewan, Canada prairies). We look forward to Arizona, a whole new chapter of learning, laughter, and fun!