Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Roberts Ranch RV Resort, Why, AZ - Jan 15-21
We moved east a mile to this campground. It was about $4 cheaper for the week and had boondock sites where no one was using generators. As an added incentive, we also had met a couple of bridge players who lived here. It's hard to say which place we preferred in Why, both had certain advantages. It's a pretty interesting area, all in all, and we plan to be back.
We drove down to Puerto Penasco, Mexico, for a day. It's about 95 miles from Why. You have to get special Mexican insurance before you go, which costs about $20 for full coverage. It is amazing to drive about 2 hours through the desert & come upon such an attractive village by the sea. It is nicer than other towns we have been to in Mexico. There are really fancy homes, mainly owned by Americans, all along the beach. 
You can buy wonderful seafood of every variety, which we did. There are abundant restaurants of every type to choose from. There is also the Earthship CEDO, a project of the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans, demonstrating how to construct low-cost, energy-efficient and simple-to-build structures using waste materials (eg. old tires and aluminum cans) plus sand and cement. CEDO is a non-profit organization dedicated to research, education & conservation in the coastal Sonoran Desert.
We went back to Organ Pipe for one last drive out to Senita Basin and Quitobaquito Spring & Pond. The white granite soil of Senita Basin is particularly hospitable for Elephant Trees, named for the grey, scaly trunks which resemble elephant's feet. At Quitobaquito, there was a flowing spring and a fairly large pond -- a real desert oasis. Early in our stay here, our new Dell Inspiron 8200 computer arrived, so we spent many hours in the clubhouse, using their electricity, to get things working on it. It's a slow process, but we are making headway.
We drove down to Puerto Penasco, Mexico, for a day. It's about 95 miles from Why. You have to get special Mexican insurance before you go, which costs about $20 for full coverage. It is amazing to drive about 2 hours through the desert & come upon such an attractive village by the sea. It is nicer than other towns we have been to in Mexico. There are really fancy homes, mainly owned by Americans, all along the beach. 
You can buy wonderful seafood of every variety, which we did. There are abundant restaurants of every type to choose from. There is also the Earthship CEDO, a project of the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans, demonstrating how to construct low-cost, energy-efficient and simple-to-build structures using waste materials (eg. old tires and aluminum cans) plus sand and cement. CEDO is a non-profit organization dedicated to research, education & conservation in the coastal Sonoran Desert.
We went back to Organ Pipe for one last drive out to Senita Basin and Quitobaquito Spring & Pond. The white granite soil of Senita Basin is particularly hospitable for Elephant Trees, named for the grey, scaly trunks which resemble elephant's feet. At Quitobaquito, there was a flowing spring and a fairly large pond -- a real desert oasis. Early in our stay here, our new Dell Inspiron 8200 computer arrived, so we spent many hours in the clubhouse, using their electricity, to get things working on it. It's a slow process, but we are making headway.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 4:47 PM 
