We have traveled for a month now. Its educational and interesting every day!
Taking up from where I left off…. we went for a 10 mile bike ride in Quartzsite, AZ the morning before we decided to move on from there. The ride was great, except for the last two miles! Poor Rosie was so tired, she plonked on the ground as soon as we reached Dory! We packed and left, only to have the Jeep tire come apart on us soon after we hit the road. Johan put on the spare and we drove direction Yuma, AZ. At Yuma, Dory started giving trouble with its “Check engine” line staying on and the cooling fan running nonstop. With intense trouble shooting and running diagnostics Johan figured a control module was bad. He ordered a new one to be shipped to Ajo (using this wonderful feature called General delivery).
Before we left Yuma we visited their prison museum right at the bank of Colorado river. We did some research and realized that the Colorado river which runs all the way from the Rocky mountains had not been able to reach its intended destination (Gulf of California) for 16 years prior to 2014. Due to various dams built across the river, it does not reach the ocean. It did reach the ocean for a couple of weeks in 2014 by lifting a dam in Mexico. The advantage of the river reaching the ocean is that it allows marine life to thrive at the junction.
Once out of Yuma, we traveled to the Organ Pipe Cactus national monument. We spoke with the rangers and then camped at the Twin Peak campground. We went on long hikes here, once near arches at Mount Ajo, and another time at the nearby Milton copper mine. We went to an oasis called Quitobaquito which was really right off the Mexican border. It was an exciting trip, with the border within our reach and border patrol all over the place. Quitobaquito had Sonoran pupfish, which is an endangered and protected fish species. We learnt to recognize cacti such as Saguaro, Cholla, agave, hedgehog and the Palo Verde tree. We left the national park and are now camping at BLM lands near Ajo. We were at breakfast at a restaurant today that was selling Saguaro syrup and Prickly pear (another cactus) syrup. Both are rich in minerals. It is interesting to realize that food is made out of these cacti. The syrup is cooked pretty much the same way as maple syrup. Saguaro syrup tastes like heavy molasses.
Ajo has large abandoned open pit Copper mines. In 1911, a leaching plant was built in Ajo to process 5000 tons of ore a day. A smelter was set up in 1950, which increased the capacity to 30,000 tons. Due to unions and EPA requirements, the plant was shut down in 1983.
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