SONORAN DESERT NATIONAL MONUMENT (AZ)

MONDAY - With a relatively short travel day, less than 100-miles, we didn't leave the campground until 9:30AM.

We are headed to a First-Come-First-Serve dispersed camping area out in the Sonoran Desert so arrival time could be important. We try to arrive between the time people leave in the morning and ahead of the people who are arriving for the night. We estimate that time to be right around noon.

With only one short bathroom break, we arrived right on time and only found one other camper here. They obviously had spent the night before and were not planning on leaving today, judging by the chairs, BBQ and temporary dog fences they still had set up outside.

While traveling on Interstate 10 towards Phoenix, Tricia got all excited when she spotted the Buc-ee's logo on a billboard up ahead. After she read the verbage on the rest of the sign her excitement subsided.

Buc-ee's advertising department really knows how to pull on their customer's heartstrings.

We also saw signs for a Blue Beacon Truck Wash, but decided ROVER and THE POD could wait another few weeks before getting all shined up for the holidays.

Just outside of Phoenix we transfered from Interstate 10 over to Interstate 8 (known as the Phoenix Bypass) to arrive at our campsite for the next three nights.

This dispersed BLM camping area is located in the Sonoran Desert National Monument. The camping area is called Lost Horse Tank and that's the Lost Horse Peak in the background of this photo. It's not much of a peak, rising just 309' over the desert floor to an elevation of 2175'.

Our wide open desert view with mountains for a backdrop.

Those were our closest, and only neighbors when we arrived.
We did have two more show up later, just before sunset, but they parked even farther away.

WEDNESDAY - We've enjoyed some down time during our visit to the Sonoran Desert National Monument for the last three days, but now it's time to move over to our final stop in Arizona.

This will also be our last stop before making the "big push" to return to Florida just in time to celebrate the New Year.

For the last three days we've been keeping ourselves entertained by...

...watching the morning sun rise in the east...

...before traveling across the sky and setting in the west.

That's what this retirement life is all about!
(that is until we head out on our next adventure!)

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