WEST TO YUMA & NORTH TO MITRY LAKE

SOME DESERT CATTLE FENCING

Based on the weather reports last night & this morning we decided to pull up stakes & head for Yuma. Weatherman had wind warnings for northern Arizona so we knew that would filter down to our area for sure. Don't want to be out on the Interstate on big windy days. Chance of possible rain plus an unsettled weather week ahead too. Figured if bad weather was coming in we would be better off closer to Yuma where we could at least slip into town on boring rainy days & mix it up with the local shoppers if we had to. A GREAT BOONDOCKING SITE NEAR PAINTED ROCK, ARIZONA

We were on the road by 10 & climbed aboard Interstate 8 heading west about 15 minutes later. We immediately ran into some heavy wind gusts & some blowing dust so figured we were going to be in for it, but 20 minutes later the winds & dust were gone. Don't know where they went.....they just went!! OUR NUMBER ONE DESERT DOG BOY

Rolled into the eastern end of Yuma around 11:45 & headed for a mall on the south side that had a Fry's Grocery Store. Kelly slipped in for some stuff & I headed for a Subway Shop next door to do a little stuffing myself. We really noticed how much warmer it was in Yuma & I could feel a lot of humidity in the air compared to the desert we had just left on the other side of the Castle Dome Mountains to the east.

A fellow RV'er we had met at City of Rocks State Park awhile back had drawn us up a detailed map of where to find some free camping on BLM lands called Mitry Lake north of Yuma so we headed up that way & immediately got ourselves turned around heading for Quartzite. Finally figured out our mistake when we got to the road with the big military guns. Big U-turn & back to Yuma looking for the corner with two gas stations. Found it & got some gas while there. $1.53 a gallon. Most we had to pay so far was $2.03 a gallon back west of Deming, New Mexico.

Drove the 9 or 10 miles up to the Mitry Lake area & had us a look at some free boondocking sites. The nicer sites were up along a canal but the road going in was a bit rough & the drop into the canal was steep & we worried about the doggy guys falling into the water so we found a spot down along the water's edge of Mitry Lake itself. Nice area but there was a lot of garbage lying around from the many local fishermen who frequent the shore along the water's edge. Doesn't look like any attempt has ever been made to clean things up so we were disappointed. A sign near the boat launch stated that sometime in November or December the whole shoreline was going to be sprayed with some kind of poisonous chemicals to kill the heavy vegetation & make the lake more accessible to fishermen. Something is very, very, wrong here!! Can't imagine what this area will look like by next year at this time when more party animals & fisherman flock into the area leaving their litter behind. One site we stopped at had a large carp lying on the ground that they had hauled out of the water & just left there to die. I took my shovel, scooped it up & put it back into the lake but I think it was already dead. This was the kind of thing we noticed last year at a lot of our boondocking sites. Wherever Mother Nature is present, there is beauty & wherever man is present, there is generally a hell of a mess!!!! I am constantly appalled at how people have no regard for the environment. Smashed liquor bottles, garbage thrown on the ground, etc. etc. etc.

MITRY LAKE, NORTHEAST OF YUMA, ARIZONA

Finally found a sort of ok site but it was right beside a dusty dirt road with people roaring up & down so we'll only stay one night & head further west in the morning. There were a couple of older fellows here fishing when we got here but they were good enough to move their truck & we pulled the rig into the spot for the night.

OUR SITE AT MITRY LAKE

Checked the weather & they have scaled it back a bit so it doesn't look too bad now. Will probably just slip over to the west side of Yuma in the morning & see if we can find a better spot. And yes, our Verizon air card works great here at Mitry Lake & we have four reasonably clear TV channels too .................................

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/