TRAVEL DAY
From: Desert View RV Resort, Needles, CA.
To:Oxbow Recreation Area BLM Campground – Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, Cibola, AZ.
Day 119 – We departed Desert View RV Resort at 9 a.m. (Pacific Standard Time) and drove south near the California/Arizona border for most of the trip, crossing back into AZ (and Mountain Standard Time) right before reaching our destination near the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge.
It was 59 degrees and sunny when we left Needles, CA. It was also very windy. At times it was a long lonesome highway but it was easy to keep occupied with excellent scenery most of the time. Once we got beyond the mountains and were getting closer to the campground, it was mostly a flat, agricultural landscape around us. Lonely highway gave way to retirement and vacation communities and very small agriculture towns.
We turned east off the highway onto a dirt road, following a sign to Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, crossed the border back into Arizona and changed time zones, and arrived at our campground at the Oxbow Recreation Area. It was 12:30 p.m. (mountain time), 70 degrees & sunny with little wind. This is a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campground. We stayed here in 2018 and loved it. It’s only 5 miles from the entrance to the Refuge.
Upon arriving at the campground we drove around and checked out campsite availabilities. There were only about 20 sites, none of them were numbered but you could tell where the sites were because the sites contained a picnic table and fire ring in a cleared space. There were maybe 8 spaces available in three areas. We were delighted to find that the campsite we had in 2018 was still empty, and we grabbed it. We’d picked up a payment envelope at the iron ranger; we paid cash for two nights, unpacked & settled in. (We only signed up for 2 nights because before “reserving” the site, we wanted to check out the Wildlife Refuge first to make sure all the birds had not yet migrated back north.)
The high today was 73 degrees. There were some trees at our campsite, which offered shade and some privacy. The section we were in was quieter, traffic-wise, without many vehicles driving through. We had a water view. Hummingbirds checked out the kitties on the dashboard (because there are red blankets for the cats up there) and regularly looked inside the screened tent (because there are red chairs inside the tent). Coots swam below us in the water. Smaller birds flitted about in the trees and bushes. The only noise was from cars going over the bridge nearby; the bridge crosses the Colorado River. Because it was BLM land, there were not a bunch of resort/vacation facilities lining the River. We took a walk and got some more pictures of the area around us.
