WE JUST CAN’T MAKE UP OUR MINDS!
Day 141 – Beginning of Week 21. Rob was up at 6:15 a.m.; I got up at 6:45. 44 degrees and sunny, but a little haze. We didn’t want to hang out too long because we had the potential of a long drive ahead of us today. This was a really good campground, and the environment here was excellent for us to unwind. We really appreciated being so close to the NWR since we visited so many times. We hope to find more of the same.
251 miles
Oxbow Recreation Area BLM Campground, no address or phone #, contact the Yuma Field Office, (928) 317-3200, blm_az_yfoweb@blm.gov. Located 23 miles south of Blythe, CA
(I-10 east from Riverside, CA to Highway 78 south just before Blythe, CA) or 68 miles north west of Yuma, AZ. BLM campground, $15 per night or $7.50 per night with senior pass. Just 5 minutes from the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge (so convenient) on the CA/AZ border and the Colorado River. No hook-ups, no dumping station, no water at campground. (Water & dumping is located at “the Cibola store” 5 minutes from the campground.) Most sites had a fire ring & a picnic table. There are several areas within this campground. Each has restrooms. We picked the area closest to the bridge which crossed the River. No one else was camping there. None of the campsites were numbered. First-come first-served, pick a site, pay the host, and the site is yours. 14-day camping limit. This was a wonderful campground, quiet, private, great setting on the River. Supposedly gets very busy in the summer. No problem in the winter when the weather is perfect. We would definitely stay here again!
We packed up and headed out at 9:20 a.m. Luna, not wanting to leave, was caught sleeping sitting up, enjoying the sunlight.
Luna enjoying the sun
First we drove to “the Cibola store” to dump tanks and refill the freshwater tank. Our original plan was to go north to Interstate 10, then east through Phoenix to get to Highway 60 and spend the night around there.
Change of Plans #1: Let’s go north instead, avoiding Phoenix (no more big cities, please) in search of the higher desert scenery. So we headed north on Highway 78 to Interstate 10. We took the 10 east a short distance to Highway 95 north to Interstate 40 east, leaving California and crossing into Arizona. Beyond Kingman we stopped for a gas and potty break, also picking up sandwiches from Subway. We pulled off at the side of the road & ate our lunch. At that time we figured we’d better decide how long we wanted to drive on this route & where we’d stay for the night.
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
Change of Plans #2: Rather than hurriedly continuing on I-40 east to New Mexico, staying for one night at a time at various independent campgrounds along the Interstate as we got tired of driving, we decided to jump on Highway 93 southeast about 20 miles after Kingman & to drive on a slower, more scenic route through the higher desert. This was the right decision. Highway 93 was a mostly two-lane road with light traffic & very few towns. We discovered another BLM campground and stopped there for the night.
We arrived at Burro Creek Recreation Area BLM Campground, 18 miles below the tiny town of Wikieup, at 3:20 p.m. It was 79 degrees, sunny & a little hazy. The girls were ready to stop driving & so were we. Burro Creek runs through a deep canyon with colorful rock mountains on either side. We chose site #7 overlooking the canyon. Gorgeous. There were 30 campsites, about ½ of them occupied. The campsites were large & there was a good distance between each site, lots of privacy, no amenities except for public restrooms, a picnic table & fire ring at every site, (although there was a dump station & water was available), $7 per night with the senior discount, perfect. We set up camp and sat outside overlooking the canyon, then had dinner. Very nice.
The drive today, particularly after getting off Interstate 40, was scenic & changeable. Earlier today it was rather boring, dusty, flat desert land – like being on the road to nowhere. Then the terrain began to change as did the plants and bushes. Once on Highway 93, the hills got higher and lots more tall cactus appeared. It was more colorful. Really made us wonder what was ahead in our journey.
The high today was 81 degrees, humidity still extremely low – so low that our skin, eyes, hair, and noses are definitely feeling the dryness. We will be wrinkled little prunes when we get home, LOL. The kitties were quite glad to arrive at a destination, but not sure by the time it got dark whether they would like it here. (They really did like it at Oxbow.) They’ll have time to decide tomorrow; we decided to stay here an additional night. It’s really lovely here & honestly, what is our hurry? Bosque del Apache will be there whenever we get there.