Transition

November 16, 2015

Ajo, Arizona

I spent the last five nights outside. First in the Mojave National Preserve (?), up high on Ivanpah Road, next to Hart Mine. It got cold, below freezing. I drove up in the dark and finally found a turnout next to a mine road, and crashed in the back. Around 4:30 am a pickup truck drove out from a nearby side road, paused near my car, then drove on. I got up, shook out my sleeping bags, rolled up my two pads, quickly washed up and drove out. The car thermometer read 30 at the place I crashed, and went down to 26 as I drove down the dirt road towards the road that leads to Searchlight, Nevada.

The next night I spent near Bouse, Arizona. Again, it was dark; I found a road that led into the desert and crashed. The next morning I saw I was kind of close to some settlements, so I drove up the road a bit to find some cover so I could hang up my sleeping bags and do my exercises naked. I drove out towards evening after eating dinner.

The next night, I spent on Darby Wells Road south of Ajo. Again, it was dark, and I found a turnout close to the road. The next morning several Border Patrol trucks drove by. I was naked but had enough cover to conceal my private parts.

The next night, I drove out towards Charlie Bell Road. I stopped before getting to the boundary of the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. I found a spot off BLM road 8112K.

The next day was beautiful: around 75 degrees, very light winds, sunny. I got high a lot and aired out my sleeping bags and did my exercises naked with no one around to disturb me. Except in the evening when a truck of gun nuts a few hundred yards away shot off some rifle rounds. I was glad they weren't hunting me. I hope they didn't kill anything. 

That night I stayed in the same place. The weather turned; it got very windy. I had set up a canopy during the previous day for shade. It blew so hard during the night that I got up to fold up the canopy, because I thought it might get blown away. It rained.

The morning brought clear skies and light winds, which later turned to cloudier skies and stronger winds. I set up the canopy again and it served to keep me dry during a few showers. A jeep convoy of old people passed just after I finished shaving. I must have looked pretty clean to them. They all gave me friendly waves. I walked over to where the shooters' truck had stopped the day before, and found a beer can and bottle. I carried them to a fire pit at a camp up the road.

That night I was debating whether to stay outside or go in to a motel. I had arranged to meet a realtor about final approval for an apartment the next day. The weather was windy, cold, cloudy. I decided to save the motel money for one month's internet at the apartment.

Tonight, I am in the apartment. No internet, except for 50MB roaming data provided by the cell phone service. They don't have good coverage in this area, unfortunately. The apartment is furnished, with cable TV, but a lot of the channels I want to watch are unavailable; a "Complete Signal Loss" or "Partial Signal Loss" message pops up on the screen. Some other channels come in fine.

There was no hot water when I tried it. I flipped a couple switches in the fuse box, and the water heater started making a sound. I still wasn't getting hot water, but I'll try in a while when the water heater has time to get working.

I wrote down lots of thoughts in the desert. I'll try to write them out on the computer soon.

Now to see if I can post this diary with the limited data roaming allowance.

Oh yeah, the last renter in this unit was a Border Patrol guard. The realtor told me he kept everything dark because he worked at night and slept during the day.

I'm concerned about allergies in this place, as I am in every indoor place. So far, so good. Nothing too serious. If I can get all the TV channels I like, and hot water for showers, and an internet connection, I might enjoy the winter here.