This morning during Tricia's departure inspection of the truck and trailer she spotted a crack in one of the welds on our weight distribution/stabilizer hitch assembly.
It could have happened months ago or it could have happened yesterday as we exited the Castle Dome Mine Road.
There's no way to tell, but it is something we'll have to address sometime in the near future.
With only 79-miles to travel today we risked the fact that it would hold until our arrival at the new campground.
After arriving safely I started making phone calls to find a welder in the area.
Our route today only passed through two small towns, Ajo (pop. 3,039) and Why (pop. 167), there is the tiny town of Lukeville, AZ (pop. 35) just 5-miles south of here at the Mexican border, but I'm not counting on one of those 35 people being a welder.
As I expected the only welder I found was 37½-miles back north of here in Ajo. Luckily when I talked with him on the phone he said he'd be able to look at it the next morning and fix it "better than new" for around $40-$60 cash. I quickly agreed to meet with him at 9:00AM.
We arrived at the Twin Peaks Campground in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument just before noon, drove by our campsite to confirm it was already empty and then proceeded to the dump station to empty our waste tanks and fill our fresh water tank in preparation of spending a week long visit here.
One thing we noticed when driving around the campground was that there is a larger than normal percentage of Airstreams located in the park. We know there is a small Airstream Rally that will be held here next weekend after we leave and just figured that a few of them arrived early for the festivities.
When we spoke to both of the Airstreamers near us, the one next door and one just across the street, neither one of the them knew anything about a rally here next week.
The Twin Peaks Campground is named after the mountain right behind our campsite.
When we're visiting for a week we tend to setup all our antennas and satellite poles.
Huge saguaro cactus dominate over the landscape around the campground.
Here is a hillside filled with organ pipe cactus which the park is named after.
After we finished getting all set up we did what we usually do when arriving at a new National Park property and that is go check out the Visitor Center. First order of business is to get my National Park Passport Book stamped, before I forget, and then inquire about the must see and do items in the park.
Sure you can get most of the same information from the park's website, but every once in a while a Ranger will share something that's not mentioned on the website and therefore it's never crowded.
FRIDAY - This morning I woke up, ate breakfast and headed out for my appointment with a Spanish gentleman named Abel. He's the only welder within 80-miles of the campground that's willing to look at repairing the broken weld on our trailer hitch.
When I arrived at the location he gave me on the phone yesterday I was a little skeptical. Sure there was a small cargo trailer in the front yard with the word WELDING hand painted on it with a phone number below it, the same phone number I had called yesterday.
It was located on the main highway that passes through town and there was also a very decorative metal fence adorning the front of the property. I was 20-minutes early as usual, so I waited outside the fence and figured I'd call the number again just after 9:00AM if nobody came out to ask why I was there.
At 8:55AM a truck pulled off the highway and went down the side of the property to a large metal building at the rear of the lot. Two minutes later my phone rang and it was Abel asking if I was still in need of some welding today. I told him I was already here and then pulled into the property and went around back to the building.
Turns out Abel rents this small parcel of land from a friend and has moved all of his equipment in where he does welding more or less as a hobby. He retired from full time work several years ago and now just does favors for friends and makes metal yard art to sell.
He took a quick look at what had broken on our hitch and said, "I can fix it back like it was for $40, or I can fix it right for $60, whichever I prefer." For me it was a no-brainer, I asked for the $60 fix!
Start to finish it took about an hour to repair. In the end I gave him $80 for his honesty and expertise and now feel confident that we are good to go when it's time to hitch up and go next Thursday.
SATURDAY - Today is our first day getting out of the campground and
"seeing what there is to see" around the rest of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
When we were in the Visitor Center on Thursday we learned that the Ajo Mountain Drive reopened two days ago after being closed since last June when the monsoon season arrived here in southern Arizona.
They have just now finished the task of clearing the road and repairing the damage caused by last years abnormally heavy rains tht occured in July and August.
So for once we were in the "right place at the right time". Usually we are a little too early, or a little too late, for seasonal activities.
They have prepared a very detailed guide of what to expect while exploring the drive and point out several things to look for.
The guide challenges you to seek out a few very special cactus plants throughout the drive. They are called "Crested Cactus" which is a mutation that occaisionally occurs. There are several speculations as to why these mutations occur, from genetics, to a climatic weather events.
One thing is known for sure, in nearby Saguaro National Park there are "tens of thousands" of saguaro cactuses and yet they have only found 25 that are crested. Doesn't mean there aren't more, just they haven't yet been discovered.
Also one of the Rangers here was quick to point out that there are a larger number of saguaro cactus here in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (330,689 square acres) than there are in nearby Saguaro National Park (91,327 square acres). To put that into persective Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (516 square miles) is nearly half the size of the entire State of Rhode Island (1,214 square miles).
When you realize that the National Monument is nearly four times larger than the National Park it makes sense there would be more cactuses. It is the sheer density of the cactus in the National Park that makes it a unique location.
Naturally occuring organ pipe cactus in the United States can only be found inside of the National Monument, all other organ pipe cactuses are found directly across the border in the Mexican State of Sonora.
AJO MOUNTAIN DRIVE
(a 21-mile scenic loop)
As you can see the weather was a little overcast, but we decided to do the drive anyway.
WARNING: You are going to see a lot of photos that look just like this one.
Can you see that anomaly near the bottom center of this organ pipe cactus?
Hers's a close up of it. That designates this cactus as "crested".
This organ pipe cactus appears to be striped.
This is what the skeleton of a dead saguaro looks like.
This saguaro sprouted all of their limbs at the same time.
Much of the one-way loop road looked just like this.
Here the organ pipe, saguaro and cholla cactus all share the same hillside.
This three foot tall saguaro is probably already 25-years old.
This one appears to be asking the other one for a dance!
Check out this Crested Saguaro.
This one had an odd shape to it!
During the drive we passed through several canyon like settings.
One other thing the guide had us looking for were natual stone arches.
Can you spot the one in this photo?
Here it is close up.
With the fair amount of recent rain here even the ocotillo were leafed out.
This poor saguaro lost it's top and nearly it's arms due to past frost damage.
With the arms bent down we got a glimpse of what the tops of the arms look like.
This photo looks like a saguaro nursery for 75-year olds.
Organ Pipe Cactus typically live to be 150-years old and reach 23-feet in height.
A double arch, do you see it?
That top one won't last much longer, maybe only another couple thousand years.
Still more arches.
We've reached the halfway point in the drive and are now headed back towards the exit.
This is called a "Jumping Cholla" and has hanging fruit from it's branches.
The roadway continuously traverses through wash areas in the desert.
This cholla tree was near the only toilet/picnic area along the drive.
A close up of it's dead lower branches reveals it's skeleton framework.
We're not done with locating rock arches just yet.
All right, this is the last one.
Not sure if that clump of growth near the bottom right makes it crested or not?
We know it wasn't listed in the guide booklet.
This one had arms growing every which way.
This one looks like it's swinging it's arms and jogging in place.
Another Crested specimen.
And another.
Again, final one I promise.
These were some of the largest organ pipe cactuses we saw all day.
This one appears to be nearing the end of it's lifespan.
This is a piece of Jumping Cholla that's broken off the tree...
...and unbeknownst to us hitch-hiked back home on Trica's shoe.
SUNDAY - We got a pleasant surprise today!
Karla Locke, who reads our blog and often comments in our Facebook Group, realized we were in the same general area after I updated our new Facebook Group photo yesterday morning.
I'm not sure if they were heading to Twin Peaks campground before or after seeing the photo, but they arrived here mid-afternoon and we got a chance to chat for awhile.
We first met Karla and her husband Tony in Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas last March. They too travel around the country in their Airstream. They had previous commitments that prevented them from visiting longer than just one night, but Tricia and I are glad to have had the chance to see them again.
Safe travels Karla and Tony, and keep the Facebook comments coming!
MONDAY - We are going into our second day in a row of all-day on-again off-again light to moderate rain showers, something that is desperately needed here in the Southwestern United States.
The general area we are in is under a Flash Flood Watch, but this campground is high up above the desert floor, so we're in no real danger here. When it comes time to leave on Thursday that might be a different story.
In between rainshowers today, Tricia got out and hiked the 9/10-mile Campground Perimeter Trail that encircles the entire campground. Of course she took her phone/camera with her, so we have a few photos to share.
CAMPGROUND PERIMETER TRAIL
We've been under these dark threatening skies for two days now.
Here's an example of a full-grown Organ Pipe Cactus located just outside the campground.
Here's a younger and healthier specimen with the Twin Peaks in the background.
This one is obviously still sprouting new arms.
This Barrel Cactus is sporting some older blooms.
They kind of look like little pineapples to me.
Here is a large Ocotillo Cactus and after two days of rain...
...is leafing out all over the place.
Another look at the Twin Peaks with the diverse desert enviroment surrounding it.
No! That's not a road going over that mountain.
That's the Mexican/American Border Wall as seen from our campsite.
TUESDAY - Finally no more grey skies!
Today we're heading out to the very southern border of the National Monument, which happens to also be the Mexican/American border.
First we'll need to drive 5-miles south on AZ-85 to the community of Lukeville, which is just short of the Mexican border. Here we'll make a right hand turn and continue 15-miles out to Quitobaquito at the end of South Puerto Blanco Drive.
There is an abandonded ranching homestead out there with a natural spring that feeds a man-made pond near the border. The endangered Desert Pupfish call this spring and pond home and the National Park Service is doing all they can to restore the area to a stable enviroment where the Desert Pupfish can survive.
QUITOBAQUITO
Our drive today parallels the Mexican/American Boder Wall.
Just to give you an idea of how tall the wall is...
...that is a full sized excavator working on the drainage ditch.
Look what we found right along side of The Wall.
Our very own Crested Saguaro Cactus.
Every so often we would see these "gates" in The Wall.
There is all kinds of craziness going on with this saguaro's arms.
This one would make a good saguaro basketball player with those long arms.
This one I call "The Four Tops".
Here I am acting tough in front of The Wall.
This is the Quitobaquito Pond just inside of the United States.
There were a pair of botanists there tending to the new plantlife being introduced in the pond.
Hard to believe this pond is only fed by rain water and the small trickle of water from a nearby spring.
One of two experimental ponds the botanists were trying to grow plants in.
Here is a photo of some of the endangered Desert Pupfish.
A lone Pied-Billed Grebe was floating around on the pond.
It's not a duck! Belive it or not, it's closley related to the flamingo.
Here is a fine healthy example of a saguaro.
I call this one the "Kangaroo Saguaro".
Notice the little "joey-like" cactus growing from the main stalk?
Another super tall saguaro with super long arms.
There's no shortage of super tall saguaros out here.
The endangered Quitobaquito Desert Pupfish
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