A Treasure at the BLM

"Dream as if you'll live forever.  Live as if you'll die today."

There are many kinds of treasures.  Sometimes we think of treasures like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or trunks of pirate’s gold in a sunken ship.  Other times it might be the friendship of a very special person or the spouse of a child.  Treasures come in all forms.  This treasure was something we didn’t expect to see right on the BLM.  In other words, we found something other than dirt and sand or rocks and cactus.  We found an old rock cabin.  It’s not hidden.  It’s out in the open and I’m sure many others have seen it.   It was in an area that we had not visited before.  Anything out of the ordinary and unexpected we think of as a new found treasure.

The LTVA was established as a place for campers to spend the winter.  The year?  1983 !

Our ride into the desert on Tuesday started out heading east on one of the many sandy riverbeds.  However, it wasn’t long before we got a tad bored with that and turned around.  Bored?  Well, it was a been there, done that thing.  We decided we were going to go someplace we hadn’t been.  We were going to do a little exploring.  There are four different and separate LTVA camping areas south of Quartzsite right off Highway 95 and within about 4 miles of town.  We were going to check all four out.

We started on a trail from La Posa South.  The trail definitely was not due north.  It went a little east, a lot west and even more north.  Eventually we ended up at La Posa North which is a camping area  just south of Rice Ranch at Quartzsite.  Even though there were quite a few campers set up for the winter, there were many more great places to settle in.  Some were already rocked off thanks to the occupants from last year. 

Next stop was La Posa West.  It was just across highway 95.  In January this place is packed with RVs since it backs the location of the Big Tent.  Campers here don’t have to fight long lines of traffic trying to get into the main attraction.  It’s just a short walk to all the entertainment and shopping .

Cabins in the BLM?

We were surprised to see that La Posa West and La Posa Tyson Wash were connected.  We did not know that the Old Yuma Road ran from one to the other.  It does!  The roads and trails within these two parks wind through many great camping areas.  No wonder these parks are full. 

 

The trails also head up into the local hills and that’s where we went.  We discovered the little cabin that at one time belong to someone.  It was half there.   There were several rooms separated by rock walls, a well used fireplace and even cut-outs for windows.  At one time many years ago someone actually spent some time here.    It was a fun find and to us a little treasure.  However, we weren’t the only ones out on the trails exploring the area and the cabin.

We worked our way around the trails and back across the road to La Posa South.  What a nice ride.  I want to do it again but Wednesday is reserved for another part of the desert.  We’re going to visit the gold mines.  We’re thinking that we’re really going to find gold!!

Terry’s been working on a little stagecoach light.  It’s been glued, had putty put in the right places and sanded.

Bet you’ve never seen one of these.  Well, maybe I should say I hope you’ve never seen one of these.  This used to be the adapter that was plugged into our Honda 2000 generator.  We’ve used this plug for a couple years … never a problem.  Never a problem that is until a few days ago.  One prong melted away along with the plug when it came partially loose.  Another repair.  We’re getting used to these repairs and doing repairs isn't a fun thing to get used to.  

‘Tis life on the road.