Working Our Way Slowly East - First Stop Gila Bend, Arizona

Gila Bend Arizona

[Click here to enlarge photo]

We left California yesterday and are heading back to the east coast. Our first planned stop was to be at Holt's Shell RV Park. Their website said that they didn't take reservations but not to worry there would be a spot for us! Ha! Our friends Bob and Betty arrived there first. They paid for there site only to find out when they got to it, it was already occupied. What! They did get their refund and decided to dry camp outside of the campground. By the time we arrived, they had already set up and were enjoying cold beers outside their rig.

For those of you who don't know about dry camping or boondocking, it's basically parking your rig anywhere that will let you and spending the night or nights there. The good part is that it's usually for free. The bad part is that you have to provide your own utilities... water, electric and sewer. We're okay for a few days with our onboard tanks and generator. However, people who are seriously into living off the grid have elaborate solar systems and high capacity deep cycle batteries.

This is us in our choice parking spot. We call our rig CiciBlue, just in case you were wondering.

Besides having the campground here, this place is also a truck stop. So it's a huge parking area for big rig trucks. So staying here you live with the continual sound of air brakes and that distinctive smell of diesel exhaust that so reminds me of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City. There is a Subway Restaurant here, but it is the one and only restaurant here... no wonder Gerard got so skinny!

Sunsets in the desert are awesome and I didn't want to miss a "Golden" opportunity. So armed with my trusty Canon I captured what I could.

Sunset reflecting off a big rig in the parking area.

This is the tall and skinny me! LOL! You know you need to get these shots at sunrise and sunset when you're in the desert. It's mandatory!

Okay help me out here! I did some research about Saguaro Cacti on the Internet. It said that Saguaro Cacti are only found in the Sonoran Desert in Southern Arizona. I know that you can't believe everything that you read on the Internet, but I would like to believe something! So for what it's worth, I know I have seen and photographed Saguaro Cacti in California. Just saying! Anyway, they are awesome and cool to get up close and personal with. They are a hundred years old before they start growing arms.

The sun was behind me in this shot. I thought the light was cool!

The sun is just behind the cactus here. The base of the plant just glows!

The sunset is a wonderful backlight

One more with the sunset back-lighting

This is my entry in #goldenhourphotography by @juliank and @photocontests daily photography contest.

Thanks to @majes.tytyty for the Enlarge Image function tutorial.

All photos and text in my posts are my original work.
@originalworks

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Enjoy!

Roger